EXCERPT: Angry protests by Egypt’s Christian Copts have become a familiar scene. Hundreds clashed with police last November over plans for a new church building in Giza, leaving two protesters dead. And in January of that year, Copts protested in the southern town of Nag Hamadi after six members were killed in an attack on…
Category: Civil Rights
Religious Liberty 2010 – A Year in Review
By Jason Hines – 2010 has been an interesting year in the area of church-state relations, both at home and abroad. While we cannot cover every event of magnitude that took place this year in this forum, we will touch on some of the more important events have taken place over the last 365 days….
Colorado School’s Rosary Rule Disputed (KKTV)
EXCERPT: COLORADO SPRINGS — An announcement made by a Colorado Springs middle school, stipulating how students can wear rosaries, has the ACLU speaking out against the decision. The group says religious liberty does not stop at the entrance to a public school. [District spokesperson Elaine] Naleski says some students were offended at how others were…
Stopping US Muslim backlash (AJE)
EXCERPT: Religious leaders – Muslim, Jewish, and Christian – met in Washington, DC, on Tuesday [September 7] to denounce anti-Muslim bigotry. More than 30 religious leaders [were] in one room with one aim: to stop a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment that has already had violent consequences. There was the attack on a Muslim taxi driver…
Liberty and tolerance: Our checkered history with religious equality (OregonLive.com)
Here is an excerpt from a great article by Willamette Law Professor Steven K. Green published on OregonLive.com on September 10, 2010. Liberty and tolerance: Our checkered history with religious equality Published: Friday, September 10, 2010, 9:00 AM By Steven K. Green This seems like a good time for a refresher on an important American…
Hitchens on the Danger of Emotions Underlying Self-Pity of Beck Rally (Slate)
Christopher Hitchens in Slate: In a rather curious and confused way, some white people are starting almost to think like a minority, even like a persecuted one. What does it take to believe that Christianity is an endangered religion in America or that the name of Jesus is insufficiently spoken or appreciated? Who wakes up…
Mau-Mauing the Mosque: The dispute over the “Ground Zero mosque” is an object lesson in how not to resist intolerance. (Slate)
By Christopher Hitchens Read the full article here: http://www.slate.com/id/2263334 EXCERPTS: The dispute over the construction of an Islamic center at “Ground Zero” in Lower Manhattan has now sunk to a level of stupidity that really does shame the memory and the victims of that terrible day in September 2001. One might think that a mosque…
An Analysis of the Results of the Federal Prop 8 Same-Sex Marriage Trial
In short, Judge Walker ruled based on the evidence presented, as any trial judge should, and regardless of his own personal sexual orientation or biases, Prop 8 supporters simply did not make a viable case for themselves. Sloganeering may have won the election but did not win a trial where real evidence was required. Prop 8 supporters may later look at the ruling and claim it was wrongly decided but as this essay points out, the reality is that they did a poor job presenting their evidence and only put two witnesses on the stand, both of whom had previously written statements that contradicted their testimony in favor of Prop 8. When both of these witnesses were neutralized, Prop 8 advocates had nothing left with which to prove their case and any effort by any judge to add in facts to uphold Prop 8 would have been the very definition of judicial activism.
Religious leaders denounce Arizona immigration law (BBC)
EXCERPT: June 4, 2010 – Religious leaders in the US and Latin America have denounced Arizona’s controversial new immigration law. The law requires police to question people about their immigration status, if officers suspect the person is in the US illegally, and if they have stopped them for a legitimate reason. Archbishop Rafael Romo Munoz,…
Michael Newdow – Question to Justice Scalia: Does the Establishment Clause Permit the Disregard of Devout Catholics?
Dr. Michael Newdow, an attorney and physician famous for his litigation on church-state issues from an atheist perspective, and and previous article contributor to ReligiousLiberty.TV, has now published an important law review article for the Capital University Law Review that discusses the history of American religious freedom and tolerance and why the majority should carefully consider the…