There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the Posse Comitatus Act, a 130-year-old federal law restricting the military’s role in domestic law enforcement.
Fifteen years later, home-school parents say legal battle was worth it
By Lorie A. Shane – Michigan Education Report – Chris DeJonge was in her second week of homeschooling when the knock on the door came. She opened it to find two employees from the local office of the Michigan Department of Social Services (now the Department of Human Services), who informed her that her children were truants and that she and her husband were breaking the law by teaching them at home.
Pastor who helped get “under God” in Pledge dies
ALEXANDRIA, Pa. (AP) – The Rev. George M. Docherty, credited with helping to push Congress to insert the phrase “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance, has died at 97.
OPINION: Obama vs. Pope Benedict (Washington Times)
“The first thing I will do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” Obama said at an address before Planned Parenthood on July 17, 2007. And if he does, it will trigger a harsh response from Pope Benedict XVI, as well as a political revolt among practicing American Catholics.
An idea lost on fanatics: Those behind the Mumbai attacks will never fathom religious liberty (LA Times)
By Tim Rutten – Los Angeles Times – The places the killers struck — luxury hotels, a railway station, a hospital for women and children, the Chabad Jewish center — are all powerfully linked in the popular mind with the modern world. As the French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy has argued, the jihadis have linked anti-Americanism, anti-British sentiment (the assumption is that London is Washington’s lap dog) and anti-Semitic antagonism toward Zionism into a potent new ideology. To the extent it seems to find an increasingly sympathetic hearing in some fashionable sectors of the intellectual West, including the U.S., Levy correctly labels it “the socialism of imbeciles.”
Bishops insist on work-free Sunday protection by European Parliament (DI-VE)
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Communities (COMECE) on Thursday expressed its regret at the refusal to put to vote several amendments aimed at the inclusion of a work-free Sunday in the new Working Time Directive by the chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Employment and Social Affairs.
European Church leaders call for protection of ‘Sunday rest’ (SofiaEcho)
The church representatives expressed their wish to see the Sunday rest day being better protected in national legislations as well as in the future EU working time directive which currently is being revised.
Pilgrims among first to recognize that socialism doesn’t work (Salem News)
America’s first experiment with socialism was an abject failure that cost the lives of more than half of the foundering settlers by 1627. After living the liberal philosophy for half a decade of want, Gov. Bradford and the other founders of the Plymouth Plantation came to recognize that, despite their struggles, perseverance and faith, something was very wrong; something needed to change if they were to survive.
São Paulo passes religious freedom charter (ANN)
Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders and religious freedom proponents in Brazil say the passage this month of the Brazilian Charter of Religious Liberty helps galvanize freedoms of belief already established by the country’s constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
VIDEO – Sign company removes pro-atheist billboard at request of California city
The city of Rancho Cucamonga, CA asked the General Outdoor sign company to remove an atheist billboard after several complaints from religious groups. Yet, religious groups would be up in arms if they were asked to remove a religious sign.