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.
Hermain Cain Opposes Murfreesboro Mosque Project (DNJ)
EXCERPT: Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain said Thursday an effort by local Muslims to build a large mosque here is an attempt to “sneak” Shariah law into the fabric of the U.S. legal system. “I think it is an infringement and abuse of our freedom of religion, and I don’t agree with what’s happening here…
Five-Day Work Idea May End Up in Trash Bin (Israel National News)
EXCERPT: A proposal to put Israel on a shortened work week, with Friday a half-day and Sunday a vacation day, may be buried before it gets off the ground. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has agreed on a Knesset committee to discuss the proposal by Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom, but it quickly ran into opposition…
Israel Looking Into Making Sunday Day of Rest (Bloomberg)
EXCERPT: Israel’s government is examining a proposal to shift the weekend to the western Saturday and Sunday, a step that may benefit financial markets and retail and leisure companies. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week appointed Eugene Kandel, head of the National Economic Council, to look into the implications of changing the weekend from Friday…
Speak Now – A Response to the European Sunday Alliance
In its Founding Statement, the European Sunday Alliance argues that, in the interest of synchronicity, Sunday is the appropriate day of rest for all of Europe, and makes no allowance or acknowledgment of what should be done for those whose faith requires them to rest on a day outside of Sunday. In fact, it is not hard to see how those who rest on a different day might be an annoyance or hindrance to Sunday rest, and even in the debate may be portrayed as roadblocks, troublemakers, or even anti-religious. Businesses who open on Sunday could be fined, and those who conduct their own entrepreneurial endeavors on Sunday could also find themselves operating against the law.
Adventist Church Issues “Statement on freedom of speech and defamation of religion”
This statement was approved and voted by the Executive Committee of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists on June 23, 2010, and released at the General Conference Session in Atlanta, Georgia, June 24-July 3, 2010. A distinguishing feature of humans is our God-given ability to communicate in the abstract through speech, symbols, and the…
Liberty Magazine: Would An Official Sunday “Day Of Rest” Alienate Believers Who Observe A Different Day Of Worship?
The European Sunday Alliance, a network of 65 civil society organizations, trade unions and Churches, recently made a pitch for work free Sundays to the European Union’s Economic and Social Committee in Brussels. The newly formed Alliance argued that a common day of rest would result in healthier families, a more cohesive society, and a…
Article18: Cuba — Three Protestant Pastors Interrogated; Roman Catholic Church in Havana Helps Free 126 Prisoners of Conscience
Like the classic American cars that drive up and down Havana’s hot streets, communist Cuba is a country from another era–Cold War isolationism, a American trade embargo that began fifty years ago, and a pair of aging dictator-brothers who have ruled the nation and restricted its freedom for decades. But while Cuba may be living in the past in many respects, its religious freedoms are a curious blend of old-fashioned totalitarian crackdown and modern globalist acquiescence.
Count the Cost – The Hidden Dangers of School Vouchers
This year 42 state legislatures are considering creating or expanding school voucher programs. Private parochial educators face serious pitfalls with some of these programs that could eliminate the effectiveness of their religious mission. In an ancient story of twin brothers, Esau, next in line for the patriarchal blessing, returns famished from a hunting trip. When…
Louisiana House Approves Ten Commandments Monument at Capitol (Reuters)
EXCERPT: “Williams’ bill provides for installation of a monument up to six feet tall, to be paid for with private donations. He says he modeled the bill on a Texas law that allowed placement of a granite monument displaying the Commandments on the Texas Capitol grounds, where it stands among more than a dozen monuments…