For all practical purposes, it resembled an interfaith worship service. In a move designed to appeal to religious voters, the Democrats opened their convention in Denver last night with prayer, a gospel song, and a Torah recitation by a rabbi. A Catholic nun and Muslim women in headscarves also made appearances. (You may recall that Obama received some criticism when his staff asked two Muslim women wearing headscarves not to stand behind him at an appearance.)
Tag: Opinion
OPINION: O’Connor’s 4th Circuit Ruling on City Council Prayer
On Wednesday, July 23, 2008, in Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg, (4th Cir., July 23, 2008), the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of appeals upheld the policy of Fredericksburg, Virginia’s city council requiring prayers which open its sessions to be non-denominational. In an opinion by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, sitting by designation on…
It’s about the Kids, Stupid: A Review of The Future of Marriage by David Blankenhorn (Nicholas P. Miller)
In response to the articles by Professor David Crane and John Stevens regarding potential problems with a Constitutional Amendment banning gay marriage, attorney Nicholas P. Miller has offered the following essay in which he responded to The Future of Marriage, by David Blankenhorn. One of the bedrock principles of ReligiousLiberty.TV is to present opportunity for…
Namibia: Divine Right and ‘Moron’ (namibian.com.na)
This is a fascinating article about the relationship between church and state in Namibia. http://www.namibian.com.na/2008/July/letters/08193A2750.html EXCERPTS: Churches were major driving forces in getting Namibia’s independence on the formal international agenda through resistive courage, a record that worldwide is, unfortunately, neither consistent nor unblemished; they do support the wrong side sometimes! But in Namibia’s case they…
VIDEO CLIP: Compulsion in religion and the freedom to disbelieve
Dr. Ravi Zacharias speaks out in support of religious freedom and against attempts to create theocracy. He also tells a couple of very interesting stories about religious freedom in other countries. It was recorded at a recent event at the Atlanta Civic Center and you might also recognize the event MC. Ravi Zacharias answers a…
Ron Paul – “Something Big Is Happening” (CampaignForLiberty.com)
Regardless of what you might think about former presidential candidate and Congressman Ron Paul, the following is worth taking a few minutes time to read. This is from http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=115#more-115 The following statement is written by Congressman Paul about what he believes is a pending financial disaster. He will introduce this statement as a special order…
OPINION: Patrick J. Buchanan: The Wars of Religion Return (HumanEvents.com)
Conservative commentator Patrick Buchanan, in a column published by Human Events, explores the conflict between those who want to achieve “social peace” between people regardless of their beliefs and the “duty” to “make God’s Law man’s law.” The full article is online at http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=27282&s=rcmp Last week’s clash between Dr. James Dobson and Barack Obama is…
Professor Steven Calabresi on Enforcing Morality (Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy)
In this essay published in the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, Steven Calabresi, the George C. Dix Professor of Constitutional Law, Northwestern University School of Law, comments on Judge Robert Bork’s thought-provoking book, Slouching Towards Gomorrah, specifically focusing on governmental efforts to enforce morality. Calabresi argues that there is a place in the…
VIDEO: Increasing American Religious Comity (Pew Forum by way of Spectrum Magazine)
Thanks to Alexander Carpenter for finding this great video. Click here to watch and review the analysis: http://spectrummagazine.org/blog/2008/06/25/pew_video_increasing_american_religious_comity Although a majority of Americans say religion is very important to them, nearly three-quarters of them say they believe that many faiths besides their own can lead to salvation, according to a survey by the Pew Forum…
Marriage Amendment: In California, your state constitutional rights are in the hands of your neighbors
There has been much discussion about the California ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriages from a moral / social / religious perspective, but not much about the concept of overturning court decisions by majority vote. Vikram David Amar at Findlaw writes in a post entitled, “The California Supreme Court’s Gay Marriage Opinion: The People…