By Derek H. Davis, J.D., Ph.D. Excerpt: “President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Thursday, February 5, to create the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The office replaces the controversial Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives that George W. Bush created to provide government grants to churches and other faith-based organizations to administer welfare programs. “The goal of this office will not be to favor one religious group over another–or even religious groups over secular groups,” Obama stated when announcing the new office at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. The purpose, he said, “will simply be to work on behalf of those organizations that want to work on behalf of our communities, and to do so without blurring the line that our founders wisely drew between church and state.”
Tag: Barack Obama
Embracing Exclusivity: How civic religion at inauguration abridges religious freedom
By Michael Newdow – EXCERPT: “Two months ago, when the American people chose Barack Obama to serve in the highest office in the land, it seemed that Homer Plessy’s dream had finally been realized. America, we thought then, truly stands for the justice and equality guaranteed in its Constitution. Yet, in a few days, as our new president steps up to the inaugural podium, the reality will be that government-sanctioned favoritism – now for religion, instead of race – will continue.”
Judge Bork predicts ‘terrible conflict’ will endanger U.S. Catholics’ religious freedom (CNA)
Former Supreme Court nominee Judge Robert Bork has predicted that upcoming legal battles will have significant ramifications for religious freedom. He names as issues of major concern the continued freedom of Catholic hospitals to refuse to perform abortions and the likely “terrible conflict” resulting from the advancement of homosexual rights.
The role of religion under Obama (CS Monitor)
WASHINGTON – After decades of ceding God to the GOP, at least in the public square, Democrats – with President Obama in the lead – are speaking with a fuller religious voice. The watchword? Inclusiveness.
Barack Obama on Religious Tolerance and Persecution
Obama: Over time, what we are doing is setting up new norms and creating a universal principle that people’s faith and people’s beliefs have to be protected.
Lawsuit filed to remove “So help me God” from inaugural oath (USA Today)
A George Washington myth bites the dust: There’s no eyewitness documentation he ever added “So help me God” to the end of his constitutionally prescribed oath of office. The oath is in the news now that California atheist activist Michael Newdow – last seen in the headlines trying to knock “Under God” out of the…
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.
The Coming “War” Between the Obama Administration and the Catholic Church (LifeSiteNews.com)
he possible signing of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) by President-Elect Barack Obama would be “the equivalent of a war” an unnamed senior Vatican official recently told TIME magazine.
The startling comments make the second time this week that a Vatican official has forthrightly and in the strongest language condemned Obama’s extreme policies on abortion. Speaking at the Catholic University of America a few days ago, Vatican Cardinal James Stafford labeled Obama’s anti-life policies as “aggressive, disruptive, and apocalyptic,” also noting that, “On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake” (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111703.html ).
VIDEO – BREAKING NEWS: Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, on the Rule of Law
Earlier this year, he gave a lecture for the ACS convention regarding the importance of restoring the rule of law. He called upon the United States to reverse “the disastrous course” set by the Bush administration in the struggle against terrorism, arguing “the next president must move immediately to reclaim America’s standing in the world as a nation that cherishes and protects individual freedom and basic human rights.”
Barack Obama on Religious Tolerance and Persecution
Obama: Over time, what we are doing is setting up new norms and creating a universal principle that people’s faith and people’s beliefs have to be protected.