Religious freedom experts criticized this week a United Nations anti-blasphemy resolution for most likely hindering Christian evangelism and spreading Sharia law.
Paper warns of global financial collapse if nations do not respond in concert (Telegraph.co.uk)
As the unflappable Warren Buffett puts it, the credit freeze is “sucking blood” out of the economy. “In my adult lifetime, I don’t think I’ve ever seen people as fearful,” he said.
The 2008 Election – Religion, the Economy, and Values Voters (AP)
“Barriers remain to both major parties if they seek to appeal to religious voters on the economy. You’re either for or against gay marriage or abortion rights, but no one supports foreclosures and layoffs. Differences arise over solutions, and analysts say it can make more sense for campaigns to make general pitches on the economy than faith-based appeals.”
Southern Evangelicals More Likely to Support Torture
The report cited a survey of 600 Southern white evangelicals and said that 57 percent hold the belief that torture can sometimes or often be used to extract information from suspected terrorists, as opposed to 48 percent of the general population. The survey also pointed out that they are guided by their own life experience and common sense rather than the Bible when thinking about the acceptability of torture.
OUTRAGE IN COLORADO: More than 100 Muslims Fired When They Protest Employer’s Policy Prohibiting Prayer Breaks (NPR)
Greeley, Colorado – Last month, more than 100 Somalis were fired for walking off the job after the company refused to let them take breaks to pray at sunset during the Muslim holiday month of Ramadan. They are in the process of filing a class-action lawsuit against the company.
VIDEO AND ANALYSIS – 33 Pastors Defy IRS Ban on Political Endorsement
Some analysis by Michael Peabody – These pastors are deliberately challenging the IRS law prohibiting political endorsement from the pulpit. This shadows a story from a few years back when a pastor at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena endorsed Kerry. These pastors, however, have mostly endorsed John McCain as having the divine right of…
INDIA – 27 Seventh-day Adventists Die in Religious Violence
Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in India have reported at least 27 Adventists dead from anti-Christian brutality that developed in the eastern India region of Orissa in late August. Church leaders said there are still violent outbreaks in the area despite India’s Central Reserve Police forces patrolling the state.
Controlling Freedom of Conscience
By Robert Moon, Ph.D. – Historically, most governments required citizens/subjects to have the same religion or belief-system (e.a. Fascism and communism ) as the ruler(s). Exceptions were seldom tolerated. Those who publicly practiced an alternate belief system to the ruler(s) were often intimidated, persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and martyred. In the discussion that follows paradigms typically used by governments attempting to control freedom of conscience are referred to as: the Gold Rule Paradigm (GRP), the Gatekeeper Paradigm (GP), and the Over Stimulation – Fantasy Paradigm (OS-FP).
U.S. State Department Releases 2008 Report on International Religious Liberty
The US State Department (United States Council on International Religious Freedom – USCIRF) released the 10th Annual Report on International Religious Freedom. Read it here.
VIDEO ROUNDUP – ECONOMIC CRISIS – “The Sky is Falling, $700 Billion Should Fix It”
he economic landscape of the United States is facing a crisis of epic proportions. We are told that we are facing an economic depression if Congress does not sign a contract that will essentially admit liability for this crisis and that will form a new branch of government with no oversight. Video clips from news sources, analysts, citizens, and an old film.