EXCERPT: A federal judge has upheld the Georgia law banning weapons in churches, mosques and synagogues, saying gun rights advocates had not shown that carrying a firearm is necessary to practicing any religion. U.S. District Judge Ashley Royal late Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the gun rights organization GeorgiaCarry.org and the minister at the…
Category: Politics
Citing persecutions abroad, Obama declares ‘Religious Freedom Day’ (Examiner)
EXCERPT: President Obama yesterday carried out what has become an annual tradition of declaring January 16 “Religious Freedom Day.” Citing Virginia’s 1786 “Statute for Religious Freedom,” in which Tomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion,” the president said that although the…
Article18: A New Weekly International Blog by RLTV Associate Editor Martin Surridge
Read the Latest Article18 Blog Posts Here. This is the first entry for Article18 –RLTV’s first weekly blog specifically dedicated to religious liberty issues in other countries around the world. Each week, we will be focusing on a different nation, and the struggles facing its different religious communities, be they Muslim, Christian, Hindu, or Jewish….
Egypt’s Coptic Christians Call for More Religious Freedom (AJE)
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…
A Tennessee mosque, a good American story (First Amendment Center)
EXCERPT: By Charles C. Haynes, Director of the Religious Freedom Education Project December 31, 2010 — The No. 1 religion story of 2010 was the emotional, often ugly debate over plans for an Islamic center two blocks from ground zero in Manhattan, according to Religion Newswriters Association members – and just about everyone else making…
CalChamber Sounds Alarm on Employer Impact of Proposition 19
“This initiative would change the way employers are required to do business in our state,” said Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. “Essentially any employer would be required to offer marijuana users extra protections above those provided to other employees. If Proposition 19 becomes law, our state’s workers will face increased exposure to injuries and our employers will face increased exposure to liability. Proposition 19 is bad for employers and their employees.”
French Court Approves Veil Ban (AJE)
EXCERPT: France’s highest court has approved a law banning full-facial veils in public – with the exception of mosques – eliminating the last hurdle for the ban. Those behind the law argue that it will protect women’s rights. Its critics, however, say that it stigmatises Muslim women and it is a breach of religious freedom….
Mainstreaming Hate in the Netherlands (ForeignPolicy)
Here is an excerpt from an article by former Financial Times writer and Dutch media Middle East correspondent Ferry Biedermann published on ForeignPolicy.com on October 4, 2010. The rise of the far right has hardly caused a ripple in the Netherlands. The Dutch coalition deal was done before the end of September, marking the political…
Texas Ed Board Adopts Resolution Limiting Islam (NPR)
EXCERPT: AUSTIN — The Texas State Board of Education adopted a resolution Friday that seeks to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, as social conservative board members warned of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation’s publishing industry. The board approved the one-page nonbinding resolution, which urges textbook publishers…
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…