On July 27, 2011, Jan Schakowsky (D – Illinois) spoke in support of HR 440, to provide for the establishment of a special envoy to promote religious freedom of religious minorities in the near east and south central Asia.
A coalition including Jewish and Muslim groups have launched a lawsuit challenging a proposed ban on circumcision that is due to go before San Francisco voters in the Fall. The coalition asserts that a ban on circumcision, a ritual practice
Circumcision Ban: Violating Religious Freedom? (Odyssey Networks) Read More »
On this 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, the Adventist Review is examining the history of the fiercest conflict ever on American soil. In light of the modern human trafficking that most people are only now becoming
Slavery and the Civil War – How the North and South were to Blame (Adventist Review) Read More »
I’m not willing to pick cocoa beans or cotton for a dollar a day, so who is? Trafficked boys on the Ivory Coast and factory children in Asia whose fingers are small enough to work intricate and dangerous machines fill this gap. – One of the biggest reminders and strongest points I repeat daily is that I have done nothing to secure the position I have in life of being in a free country, just like these modern day slaves have done nothing to have their entire lives indebted to us because of the harsh demands we put on them with our high consumerist behavior. These socially conscious products contain more than just a new age aura or a better selling point; they represent a desire for the priority of humanity instead of selfish search for profit.
Buying Power: Human Trafficking and the Local Marketplace Read More »
Although they garner little attention from the international community, recent cases of violence directed toward Protestants in the region, among them Adventists, intensify the need to protect the region’s tenuous religious liberty.
Graz also urged caution in the use of the term “fundamentalist” to describe the individual alleged to have carried out the attacks, instead proffering the term “extremist” as a more accurate description of the type of ideology and behavior that falls far outside the norms of a religious community.
“There’s a risk that ‘fundamentalism’ will become blurred in people’s minds with the idea of ‘conservative Christianity’ — a confusion that could serve to widen the gulf of misunderstanding between different religious traditions,” he said.
EXCERPT: A group of atheists has filed a lawsuit to stop the display of the World Trade Center cross at a memorial of the 9/11 terror attacks. The “government enshrinement of the cross was an impermissible mingling of church and
Atheist Group Wants to Stop World Trade Center Cross (CNN) Read More »
EXCERPT: Liberty Counsel announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in New York asking a state court to declare the state’s Marriage Equality Act void and to declare void any same-sex marriages that have taken place under the Act.
By Martin Surridge – The former Soviet republic of Uzbekistan occupies a precarious and oft-forgotten spot in Central Asia. Unlike other egregious religious liberty offenders such as Saudi Arabia, China, and North Korea, Uzbekistan is discussed little in the United
California Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Fiona Ma (D-San Francisco) and Assembly member Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) have introduced a bill that would directly ban local bans on circumcision. In a press conference held in Los Angeles yesterday, July 21, 2011, Ma and Gatto said that the bill would render the San Francisco ballot measure moot.
