In ruling the way it did, the Supreme Court protected the right of a religious organization to select its clergy without government interference and avoided placing church doctrine under government interpretation. Civil magistrates will not be in a position to where they are forced to determine which religious view, that of the clergy member or the church, is correct.
Category: Human Rights
In Nigeria, escalating religious conflict impacts Adventist Church (ANN)
Adventist News Network– Jan. 23, 2012 Abidjan, Ivory Coast Gilbert Weeh/ANN staff The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Nigeria is seeing a drop in church attendance and some church closures amid worsening religious conflict in the country. An upsurge of attacks against Christian churches by the extremist group Boko Haram beginning late last year has led…
Ruling on Ministers: What the Supreme Court said & didn’t say | Oregon Faith Report
Excerpt: The U.S. Supreme Court in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, held that the “ministerial exception” bars a school teacher from bringing employment discrimination claims against her religious employer. The Court’s ruling clearly grants religious institutions the freedom to employ (and terminate) employees who act as ministers of their faith. Yet the…
Modern Torture Techniques Emerged from Inquisition reports “The Atlantic”
In the January/February 2012 issue of The Atlantic, Cullen Murphy writes about the history of torture and relates it to current events. Excerpt: “The new science of interrogation is not, in fact, so new at all: “extraordinary rendition” and “enhanced interrogation” and “waterboarding” all spring from the practices of the medieval Roman Catholic Church. The…
10th Circuit Rules Oklahoma Amendment Barring Islamic Law was Unnecessary and Discriminatory
OKLAHOMA -The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court’s ruling that blocked the implementation of the “Save Our State” amendment. The amendment, approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in 2010, barred “Islamic law” in the state, even though there was no movement to impose sharia law in Oklahoma. Judge Scott…
Adventist church leaders meet with Hungarian ambassador on looming deregistration of churches
Religious liberty leaders of the Seventh-day Adventist Church this week met the Hungarian ambassador to the United States in an effort to help officials from that country better understand the potential effects of a looming deregistration of churches.
New York City ‘Workplace Religious Freedom Act’ Clarifies Religious Accommodation Requirements for Employers
On August 30, 2011, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the “Workplace Religious Freedom Act” (Int. 632-A) into law clarifying what requirements employers are required to meet to demonstrate that they have done all that is necessary to make a reasonable attempt to accommodate the bona fide religious needs of employees. Under pre-existing law,…
The Story of a Life by Lincoln Steed (Liberty Magazine)
EXCERPT: Charles Dickens began one of his essentially autobiographical tales by wondering aloud if he would prove to be the hero of his own life. Reality is so dynamic and changeable it is hard for anyone to know where their actions will lead them, or how they will bear up to the challenges of the…
Article18: Afghanistan — The Land that Freedom Forgot; A Profile on Religious Persecution in One of the World’s Most Depressing Nations (Liberty Magazine)
The following excerpt is from an article written by RLTV associate editor and Article18 creator Martin Surridge that appeared in the November/December 2011 issue of Liberty Magazine. EXCERPT: The sound and smell of motorcycles roaring down a street in Kandahar must have overwhelmed 16-year-old Atifa in the moments before the attack. Before she really knew…
New York Attorney General Launches Religious Rights Initiative to Enforce Anti-discrimination Laws
(Media-Newswire.com) – NEW YORK – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the launch of the Religious Rights Initiative, a project of the office’s Civil Rights Bureau that will address religious rights issues and enforce anti-discrimination laws. The Religious Rights Initiative will target faith-based discrimination and violations of religious rights through public education, outreach and…