Tag: Religious Freedom

Need a 2012 Voter Guide? Take your pick –

Peanut Gallery – In America, churches can’t force anyone to do anything. Freedom of Religion includes freedom from government interference, freedom of religious choice… and freedom of concsience.

That said – pastors and churches have every right to proclaim the Gospel Truth as they see it. They might be right, they might be wrong – but they are free to say what they want to from the pulpit as long as it conforms to the standards of the particular church or association of churches to which they belong.

Parishoners can agree or disagree and are free to vote with their money and/or their feet. We live in America folks – not Saudi Arabia.

So… here are a selection of voter guides for you to ponder. They are all pro-life, so don’t bother looking for a counter argument here. But they come from different sources and therefore have differing degrees of authority depending on your point of view. This list is not exhaustive and I welcome your pro-life additions that others might be able to use. But it’s a start… and November 6th is only a few weeks away.

From the US Conference of Catholic Bishops –

In this coming election and beyond, we urge leaders and all Catholics to share the message of faithful citizenship and to use this document in forming their own faithful citizenship consciences, so we can act together to promote and protect human life and dignity, marriage and family, justice and peace in service to the common good. This kind of political responsibility is a requirement of our faith and our duty as citizens.

The full document – Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship – may be found here (click on link.)

From the Catholic Spanish Leadership Alliance –

Our lives are filled with grace and blessings too numerous to count. But we are also filled with struggles of every kind. No small part of those struggles is how we feel about certain things and what our individual opinions are about other things. Often we have strong opinions and old habits to which we cling. It seems that in this presidential election year, more than most, we are challenged to reconcile our strong feelings, opinions or old habits with what our Catholic teaching tells us is right and wrong as we come face-to-face with our expressed commitment to our faith versus our public choices in the voting booth.

For the full text of – Catholic Voters Education Guide – please click here.

From the Family Research Council –

FRC Action seeks to fortify the traditional foundations of civil society through efforts to educate, inform and influence elected officials in support of the country’s historic ideals of equality under the law, and the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness on which the nation was founded.

For the full text of –2012 Values Voter Presidential Voter Guide – please click here.

Peanut Gallery: The Faith and Freedom Coalition also has a voter guide that it is sending out to swing state voters, but I haven’t been able to find a free online copy yet. If you know of other pro-life voter guides for 2012, please let me know.

Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election – Fox News

Peanut Gallery: Preaching politics from the pulpit? Nothing new here – in fact, America has a long tradition of political pulpit pounding dating back to the Revolutionary War. One of the chief advocates for rebellion was Scots Presbyterian minister John Witherspoon (Wikipedia link) who was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t easy then, and it’s not easy now.

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Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election
By Cristina Corbin – Published September 23, 2012 -FoxNews.com

More than 1,000 pastors are planning to challenge the IRS next month by deliberately preaching politics ahead of the presidential election despite a federal ban on endorsements from the pulpit.

The defiant move, they hope, will prompt the IRS to enforce a 1954 tax code amendment that prohibits tax-exempt organizations, such as churches, from making political endorsements. Alliance Defending Freedom, which is holding the October summit, said it wants the IRS to press the matter so it can be decided in court. The group believes the law violates the First Amendment by “muzzling” preachers.

“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit.”
– Erik Stanley, Alliance Defending Freedom

“The purpose is to make sure that the pastor — and not the IRS — decides what is said from the pulpit,” Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the group, told FoxNews.com. “It is a head-on constitutional challenge.”

Stanley said pastors attending the Oct. 7 “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” will “preach sermons that will talk about the candidates running for office” and then “make a specific recommendation.” The sermons will be recorded and sent to the IRS.

“We’re hoping the IRS will respond by doing what they have threatened,” he said. “We have to wait for it to be applied to a particular church or pastor so that we can challenge it in court. We don’t think it’s going to take long for a judge to strike this down as unconstitutional.” Continue reading “Pastors pledge to defy IRS, preach politics from pulpit ahead of election – Fox News” →

Please Pray for U.S. Christians

Peanut Gallery: This article, in brief, lays out the history of Government encroachment of religious freedom in America. It has been slow and steady for decades. But, now, the current administration has turned up the heat and believers are taking notice.

Why is this important? Because the more we suppress our expression of religious freedom at home, the less likely we are to advocate for religious freedom for others abroad. And if not Americans, who…?

How to Boil a Frog: They say that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger. But, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and pleasant, and then you gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late. The frog’s survival instincts are geared towards detecting sudden changes.

Rising Persecution of U.S. Christians
Posted on: 2012-09-21 02:58:20
By Joseph DeCaro, Worthy News Correspondent

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Worthy News)– A joint report by Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council shows that anti-Christian persecution is not only increasing in America, but that it’s coming from our own government.

“There are children being prohibited from writing Merry Christmas to the soldiers, senior citizens being banned from praying over their meals in the Senior Center, the VA banning the mention of God in military funerals, numerous attempts to have veterans memorials torn down if they have any religious symbols, such as a cross, and I could go on and on,” said Liberty Institute Founder Kelly Shackleford.

“Religious hostility is the red light on the dashboard that tells us we have a problem and that violence will come next if not fixed,” Shackleford said. “The recent attacks on the faith-based Family Research Council and the attack on the Sikhs are recent examples alone.”

Many public facilities are also masking American Christianity, according to ACLJ senior counsel David French.

“One of the most strident examples: the misuse of the Establishment Clause to attempt to ban any mention of God from historical markers, monuments or even museum exhibits. This represents an effort to whitewash God from American history and change our national identity.”

French said that though the Obama administration has contributed to this, it didn’t begin with his inauguration; in fact, anti-Christian persecution has been stewing here in America for decades. Continue reading “Please Pray for U.S. Christians” →

Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us

Peanut Gallery: I am pleased to re-blog Rebecca Hamilton’s article on Christian Persecution in the West. With my earlier appeal for prayer for American believers I barely scratched the surface of the “soft persecution” facing Americans. Hamilton goes into much more detail making the point that what begins “soft” ends “hard”… we are at war.

Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us.

September 7, 2012 By Rebecca Hamilton 18 Comments

Hearings on a discrimination suit filed by four British Christians against their government began September 4 in the European Court of Human Rights. The Christians say that they have lost their jobs because they would not comply with demands that they violate their Christian faith.

Their complaints range from a woman who was fired because she wore a cross on a necklace to work, to a registrar who lost her job because she refused to conduct same-sex cvil partnerships. These people have been the object of ridicule for filing these claims. But they have persisted, even in the face of predictions that they will ultimately lose the case. This article from The Telegraph gives more details:

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent

9:00PM GMT 10 Mar 2012

In a highly significant move, ministers will fight a case at the European Court of Human Rights in which two British women will seek to establish their right to display the cross.

It is the first time that the Government has been forced to state whether it backs the right of Christians to wear the symbol at work.

A document seen by The Sunday Telegraph discloses that ministers will argue that because it is not a “requirement” of the Christian faith, employers can ban the wearing of the cross and sack workers who insist on doing so.

The Government’s position received an angry response last night from prominent figures including Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury.

He accused ministers and the courts of “dictating” to Christians and said it was another example of Christianity becoming sidelined in official life. (Read more here.)

It appears that Britain has crossed the line into active legal discrimination against people of faith. This lawsuit and the attitude of intolerance toward Christians that caused it should be harbingers for the rest of us.

Violent persecution of a group of people doesn’t spring fully grown from nowhere. It grows from smaller things and lays down roots of acceptance in our minds and hearts in an incremental, almost invisible fashion.

Christians in much of the world are subjected to the brutality of violent discrimination that often approaches genocide. We haven’t gotten to violent persecution here in the West. But I believe we are moving in that direction. Continue reading “Christian Persecution: In the West, Where the War Is Forced Upon Us” →

Please pray for Coptic Christians preparing to elect Pope

Peanut Gallery: For most of the “Arab Spring,” Coptic Christians have been without a spititual leader. These are perilous times. Coptic Christians live under continual Islamist threat in Egypt. The latest riots only aggravate their already precarious position.

After the death of Pope Shenouda III in March, Coptic Christians are preparing to elect a new Pope in December. As the article below notes, it is not an enviable position.

“So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 1 Peter 5.1-5 ESV

Please pray that the Holy Spirit would guide and direct the election process for the new Coptic Pope… that he would a man chosen by God and an effective shepherd of God’s people.

The article below (The Christian Post) puts this election process in context –

New Coptic Christian Pope to Be Number One Target of Radical Islamists?
By Stoyan Zaimov, Christian Post Reporter – September 14, 2012|4:11 pm

Egypt’s Coptic Christians are getting ready to vote on a new pope in December to replace the deceased Pope Shenouda III who died in March – but some are worried that choosing a new Christian leader in the region may only incite more violence from their Muslim neighbors.

“A new pope will not offer any additional protection for the Egyptian Christians. In fact the election may well incite Muslims to more violence. The last thing they want is any hope or solidarity among ‘infidels.’ The new pope could certainly find himself the new #1 target,” said Christian Freedom International (CFI) in a statement emailed to The Christian Post. Continue reading “Please pray for Coptic Christians preparing to elect Pope” →