Last week two Christian pastors were jailed in the United States for violation of court orders involving two different types of property disputes.
Category: Legal Issues
Is it Really Persecution? Phoenix Enforcement of Safety and Zoning Ordinances
The core issue will be whether religious groups should be given variance from content-neutral local zoning and safety regulations simply because they are religious, and more specifically, the extent to which individuals can ignore neutral laws in the name of religious freedom.
A Faithful Nation (Liberty Magazine)
A Faithful Nation By Michael D. Peabody Liberty Magazine EXCERPT: Just because Christians believe something does not mean that the government needs to make a law to enforce that belief. To put it bluntly, in America it is legal to believe things that could compromise your own eternal salvation. The state will not stand…
California Senate Judiciary Committee Passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012
On June 26, 2012 the California Senate Judiciary passed AB 1964, the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012.
American Values: The Individual Mandate vs. Social Darwinism
Many conservatives have eviscerated Obamacare, arguing that it would “raise premiums, unconstitutionally force people to buy health care, cause the deficit to skyrocket, slash Medicare spending to create a new entitlement, cause rationing, cause a significant number of doctors to leave the practice, and destroy the quality of American healthcare. Although I am a lifelong Republican, I must respectfully disagree with my conservative brethren on many of these points.
Principled Freedom: Religious Liberty Plays Musical Chairs
By Nicholas P. Miller – It is time to examine a position that provides a principled freedom, both religious and civil, the possibility of a public morality, and a common language with which to discuss and debate the issues. [dc]T[/dc]he recent presidential campaign has broken out into a disorienting game of religious liberty musical chairs; Catholic…
Notre Dame v. Obama and the Compulsion of the Morally Unwilling
It was wholly unnecessary for President Obama to complete his admirable health care initiative by disregarding the doctrinal or institutional teaching of the Catholic church, that is being defended, however hyperbolically, by the bishops, or the moral concerns of those individual Catholics – whether or not in a minority (minorities being the usual subject of human rights) — who still see or accept the teaching that artificial means of contraception degrades the marital estate.
Death of Snake Handling Preacher Shines Light on Lethal Appalachian Tradition (CNN)
EXCERPT: When Mack Wolford, one of the most famous Pentecostal serpent handlers in Appalachia, is laid to rest Saturday at his West Virginia church, a week after succumbing to a snake bite, his friends may very well show up with boxes of copperheads, rattlesnakes and cottonmouths. That’s the Holiness Pentecostal way in tiny mountain towns…
UPDATE: California State Assembly Passes Workplace Religious Freedom Act
On May 29, the California State Assembly passed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012 by a vote of 63-6. AB 1964 is now on its way to the Senate.
U.S. House Committee Votes to Strengthen Military Chaplains’ Liberty of Conscience
The U.S. House Armed Services Committee has adopted Congressman Todd Akin’s (R-Missouri) amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which creates a statutory conscience protection clause for members of the military in general and military chaplains in particular.