Human Rights Archives - Page 14 of 41 - ReligiousLiberty.TV / Founders' First Freedom® - News and Updates on Religious Liberty and Freedom

U.S. President Discusses Imprisoned Pastor with Iranian President

Posted on October 18, 2013 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

On September 28, President Obama picked up the phone and called Iranian President Rouhani who was traveling back to JFK airport after speaking at the United Nations in New York. In addition to discussing Iran’s nuclear-enrichment program, the presidents spoke about Pastor Saeed Abedini, an American citizen, who was arrested because of his faith while visiting Iran over a year ago. This was the first time since the Islamic revolution of 1979 that a U.S. President has spoken with an Iranian president. Secretary of State John Kerry and the U.S. Congress have also been calling for Pastor Saeed’s release.

Religious Liberty News Briefs

Posted on September 24, 2013September 24, 2013 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

On September 19, a bipartisan group introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would prevent the federal government from discriminating through the tax code against individual religious believers who hold the principle that marriage is a union of one man and one woman. According to bill author, Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID)H.R. 3133, the “Marriage and Religious Freedom Act,” “will ensure tolerance for individuals and organizations that affirm traditional marriage, protecting them from adverse federal action.” The bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Steve Scalise, Chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-NC), and Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-IL).

Ultimate Values: A Method for Resolving Cases that Force a Choice between Discrimination and Religious Liberty

Posted on August 30, 2013August 30, 2013 by David Hamstra

By David Hamstra – It is tempting to resolve the question in favor of one or the other depending on what our moral intuitions tell us about the way the world should be, but to do so, as I will argue later, is to impose upon the weak the vision of morality held by the powerful, putting our society on a trajectory towards totalitarianism. Instead, I want to propose an principled way to approach these cases that will hopefully allow those on either side to find common ground.

“The Price of Citizenship”? New Mexico Supreme Court rules Christian must photograph same-sex ceremony

Posted on August 23, 2013August 27, 2013 by Michael Peabody

Yesterday, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect a photographer’s decision not to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony even if it would violate the photographer’s deeply held religious beliefs.

Pakistan: Adventist Sentenced to Life Imprisonment for Blasphemy (ANN)

Posted on July 30, 2013July 30, 2013 by ReligiousLiberty.TV

Sajjad Masih, 29, was convicted of sending blasphemous text messages in 2011, despite his accuser’s subsequent retraction and prosecutors’ failure to produce any evidence of his involvement.

International Report: Human Rights at Risk in Australian Internment Camp

Posted on July 27, 2013July 27, 2013 by James Standish

Today Australia faces a moral question for our age. This time it isn’t desperate European Jews searching for a sanctuary, it is desperate Iranians fleeing one of the world’s most repressive regimes. It is Iraqi Christians who have been murdered, bombed and beaten unmercifully since the invasion that we were a part of. It is shell-shocked Syrians caught between a despotic ruler on one side and jihadists on the other.

The Firebrand: The Dangers of Speaking Truth to Power (Liberty Magazine)

Posted on July 16, 2013July 27, 2013 by Martin Surridge

The story of Savonarola is not a lesson in the necessity of violence for a successful revolution, but rather a lesson in the dangerous consequences of speaking truth to power.

Serious Commitment to Faith is Par for the Course for 2013 UC Davis Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee

Posted on July 12, 2013September 27, 2013 by Michael Peabody

Although Bishop was the UC Davis scholar-athlete of the year in 2007, and was phenomenally successful on the course, even without Saturday play, he eventually gave up a promising career as a professional golfer in favor of a medical career because he knew that he could not continue to keep the Sabbath from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday and participate in professional tournaments.

What Changed? Will the Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Cases Affect You?

Posted on June 27, 2013June 27, 2013 by Jason Hines

Neither Hollingsworth nor Windsor demand that any church, even in states that allow gay marriage, be forced to conduct gay weddings. Moreover, these decisions do not affect the ability of churches to decry homosexuality or homosexual conduct as immoral.

No upside for babies – NIH should withdraw funding for research on cannabis use during pregnancy

Posted on June 26, 2013September 4, 2019 by Michael Peabody

An NIH-funded study at the University of Washington is intended to determine whether there are adverse effects of cannabis use by pregnant women on infants. The best case scenario is if the baby develops normally to the point of matching the “control group” that was not exposed to marijuana. At worst, they might be born underweight, have cognitive and behavioral disorders, or develop physical brain abnormalities identified in imaging studies, or fail to survive.