A U.S. advisory panel on May 2, 2008 asked the State Department to expand the list of governments the U.S. considers the world’s worst violators of religious freedom. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom lists eleven “countries of particular concern.” The congressionally mandated panel also wants the U.S. to keep an eye on religious…
Religious Pluralism & America’s Christian Nation Debate: Revisiting the Intentions of America’s Constitutional Founders
By Gregory W. Hamilton The constitutional system of the United States of America remains the envy of the outside world despite the growing unrest of our European allies towards our country’s Administration, and the continual provocation against it by terrorists and a few hostile Arab-Muslim nations. Yet the greatest threat to our constitutional system comes…
NEWS BRIEFS: Global Privacy, Free Speech Issues
Study secretly tracks cell phone users outside US (AP) Researchers secretly tracked the locations of 100,000 people outside the United States through their cell phone use and concluded that most people rarely stray more than a few miles from home. The first-of-its-kind study by Northeastern University raises privacy and ethical questions for its monitoring methods,…
NEWS / OPINION: Law Professor Denied Communion Because He Supports Obama
No Religious Tests for Public Office? What about Political Tests to Receive Sacraments? Pepperdine University School of Law Professor, and former Constitutional law advisor for President Ronald Reagan, Douglas Kmiec was denied communion recently at a mass connected with a gathering of Catholic business people. The priest denounced Kmiec’s endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama, then…
VIDEO: Could Gay Marriage Erode Non-Profit Tax-Exempt Status?
On March 26, 2007, Brian Brown, Executive director of the Family Institute of Connecticut, testified before the judiciary committee of the state legislature in regard to raised House Bill 7395: An Act Concerning Marriage Equality. In this video, Brown argues that even if churches are not required to perform the ceremonies, legalizing same-sex marriage might…
Government, Religion, and a Mythical Past
By Karen Scott, Walt Pontynen, and Leigh Johnson In this article, originally published in Spectrum in 2002, the authors discuss the intent of the founders of the United States and how historical revisionism obscures our national heritage. (Re-posted with Permission.) AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER and poet George Santayana (1863-1952) wrote, “Those who cannot remember the past are…
Learning from the Past
THE IMPORTANCE OF PREVENTATIVE PEST CONTROL FOR YOUR HOME OR RENTAL PROPERTY So much goes into renting or owning a home in today’s society. Utilities, structural maintenance, appliance upkeep, landscaping.. the list goes on! An important aspect of maintaining and caring for a home is often dismissed or forgotten. And that is preventative pest control. Pest control…
Significant Differences Emerging Between McCain and Obama in Prospective Judicial Nominees (NY Times)
It is looking more and more likely that either Barack Obama or John McCain will be the next President of the United States. They will leave a lasting legacy in the form of their judicial appointments. The New York Times today posted a good analysis of how they may decide who interprets the law. Thanks…
Belarus: ‘We are reclaiming our history as a land of religious freedom’ (ChristianToday.com)
Read the full version, which includes a fascinating review of the history of religious liberty in Belarus, online at http://www.christiantoday.com/articledir/print.htm?id=19015 by By Antoni Bokun, Pastor of John the Baptist Pentecostal Church in Minsk Posted: Saturday, May 24, 2008, 10:54 (BST) Belarus has been renowned [for its] freedom of conscience for centuries. This is why religious…
Does Constitution apply to enemy combatant on U.S. soil? (AP)
In the War Against Terror, it may be difficult to determine who the enemy is. Does the Constitution apply to a U.S. resident held on U.S. soil? WASHINGTON (AP) — If his cell were at Guantanamo Bay, the prisoner would be just one of hundreds of suspected terrorists detained offshore, where the U.S. says the…