EXCERPT from New York Times: New Turn in Debate Over Law on Marriage By IAN URBINA Published: November 12, 2009 WASHINGTON – The fight over a proposed same-sex marriage law here heated up this week as the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said that if the law passed, the church would cut its social service…
Category: In the News
Religious freedom requires Baptists to hold in tension certain principles (The Baptist Standard)
EXCERPT: DALLAS-Baptists must hold in tension three sets of paradoxical ideas if they are to remain faithful to their heritage and champion freedom, Brent Walker told participants at the T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Award Dinner Oct. 30 in Dallas. … – The two religion clauses in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. – Religious…
PBS Series “Liberty’s Kids” Now on YouTube
An excellent educational cartoon series for kids (and adults) starring Walter Cronkite as Ben Franklin is now on YouTube. In this episode, Ben Franklin, Moses, and James discover disguised colonists raiding the tea-laden ship that Sarah is aboard. To watch the entire series, go to http://www.youtube.com/user/LibertysKidsTV The official website, which includes activities and information for parents and teachers is located at http://www.libertyskids.com/
Texas execution looms after jury consult Bible (Amnesty International)
EXCERPT: A Texas man who faces execution after jurors at his trial consulted the Bible when deliberating his fate should have his death sentence commuted, Amnesty International said on Friday. Khristian Oliver, 32, is set to be killed on 5 November after jurors used Biblical passages supporting the death penalty to help them decide whether…
Pope Benedict XVI on Religious Freedom (CNA)
A short Catholic News Agency overview of international religious persecution and the importance of preserving religious freedom.
Jehovah’s Witnesses Undergo Persecution in the former Soviet Union
Since their formation in the late 19th century, Jehovah’s Witnesses have suffered relentless persecution worldwide for their controversial religious beliefs. Archibald Cox, Jr., famous for his role as the Watergate prosecutor that helped force the resignation of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, once noted that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “the principal victims of religious persecution … in the twentieth century.” Persecution against Witnesses was especially strong during WWII when their political neutrality, conscientious objection to war, and refusal to salute any nation’s flag made them the target of governments and citizen mob groups alike. Except for the Jews, they were proportionally the most persecuted group in Nazi Germany; they were banned during the war in countries like Russia and Spain, and sometimes beaten and jailed in places like Britain, Canada, Cuba, and the United States. The ACLU reported that by 1940 in the United States alone, “more than 1,500 Witnesses . . . had been victimized in 335 separate attacks.”
3 states still ban religious clothing for teachers (Associated Press)
EXCERPT: PORTLAND, Ore. – A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms. Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws, which…
Religion in Public Schools: Academic, Not Devotional (J. Brent Walker – Washington Post)
EXCERPT: The Texas Board of Education, the nation’s second largest purchaser of public school textbooks, is revising its K-12 social studies curriculum and deciding how to characterize religion’s influence on American history. Three consultants have recommended emphasizing the roles of the Bible, Christianity and civic virtue of religion. As America’s children go back to school,…
Adventist Golfer put his faith ahead of on-course success (Tulsa World)
EXCERPT: A FIELD OF 312 golfers will tee off Monday in the U.S. Amateur at Southern Hills and Cedar Ridge. One of them – 24-year-old Louie Bishop of Murrieta, Calif. – knows he has zero chance of advancing to Sunday’s finals and, yes, he’s at peace with that. Bishop is a Seventh-day Adventist. He doesn’t…
Bill would give president emergency control of Internet (CNET)
EXCERPT: Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. They’re not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors….