Religion

Perhaps the strongest story of the power of forgiveness is found in the story, reported today by the Adventist Review, of Isaac Ndwaniye, the President of the East Central Rwandan Conference of Seventh-day Adventists who lost his entire family to mass genocide that was perpetrated by some of the people he has been called back to serve. If anybody ever had an excuse to abandon his calling, it is Pastor Ndwaniye.

Political careers are made by identifying, or in some cases creating, amorphous bogeymen who have nothing in mind but the destruction of “The Constitution” and the “American way of life.” The call to get rid of the bogeyman and “all will be well” is a pernicious promise.

“In this land, the various religious denominations have greatly contributed to building and strengthening society. It is important that today, as in the past, the voice of faith continue to be heard, for it is a voice of fraternity and love, which tries to bring out the best in each person and in each society. Such cooperation is a powerful resource in the battle to eliminate new global forms of slavery, born of grave injustices which can be overcome only through new policies and new forms of social consensus.”

Have you ever wondered what legal mechanism existed that permitted the legalization of slavery in the United States after the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791? How it was that men, women, and children were held in bondage after Francis Scott Key wrote the famous words, “land of the free, and the home of the brave” in 1812? How segregation persisted in law until the late 1960s?

In March 2015 a Ventura County Superior Court judge upheld the right of a for-profit Christian preschool to compel teachers to make a statement of faith and to obtain a statement by a pastor regarding how frequently they attend church, comment on their faith, and to endorse them as employees a Christian preschool.

On February 20, 2015, Rabbi David Saperstein was sworn in as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom. Saperstein is the fourth person to hold the post since it was created as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Steve Wohlberg, director and speaker of White Horse Media, has announced the completion of a 13-part series entitled, The Abortion Controversy, featuring Dianne Wagner and Antoinette Duck of Mafgia ministry.

By Jason Hines – Attacks on the President’s faith are an attempt to redefine the constitutional role of religion in American life. Both Senator Santorum and Pastor Graham have established a de facto religious test for the office of President. Why does it matter to Pastor Graham whether President Obama is a Christian? Why does it matter to Senator Santorum that Obama has a phony, unchristian theology? These things matter because to them a person should not be president unless they are Christian. And that Christianity cannot just be any Christianity, but a form of Christianity that is aligned with what they think is correct.

A campaign against the state of California mandating abortion coverage in insurance plans is intensifying. Several complaints have been filed with the federal government to keep it from violating what Christian legal groups consider American’s fundamental rights and go against their religiously held beliefs and conscience.

An atheist airman at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada recently wasn’t allowed to re-enlist because he refused to sign an oath containing the phrase “so help me God.”

Initially, Air Force personnel reported that enlistees used to be allowed to opt out of the oath’s appeal to deity, but the provision had been withdrawn on Oct. 30, 2013. The Air Force claimed that only Congress could reinstate it.

However, when the American Humanist Association and the media became involved, the Air Force sought legal counsel and reverted to the former practice. But that didn’t please some Christians.