Freedom of Religion

Accessorizing Hate

Sarah O'Leary | Posted 05.29.2012

Read More: Women's Rights, Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, Bias, Jesus, Non-Profits, Gays and Lesbians, United States, Love, Bigotry, Minorities, Civil Rights Movement, Hate Crimes, Intolerance, Southern Baptists, Kindness, Non-Profit-Tax-Status, Religious Tolerance, Civil Rights, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Speech, Christianity and Homosexuality, Murder, Politics, God, Hate Speech, Politics News

When we choose silence in the face of bigotry, we threaten the lifeblood of our Union. We've all experienced more than a few bigots in our lives. Th...

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Catholic Institutions Say WHAT?

Elaine Vilorio | Posted 05.24.2012

Read More: Obama Birth Control, Catholic Church, Birth Control, Catholic Church Contraception, Freedom of Religion, Obama Birth Control Mandate, Teen News

I thought it ridiculous that Catholic dioceses, schools and organizations sued Obama over the mandate requiring most employers to include free birth control as part of their health insurance coverage.

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This Will Be The Largest Cross In The World

Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Branson Cross Fundraising, Video, War on Religion, Evangelical Christians, Corrections, World's Largest Cross, Christianity, Religion and Politics, Religion in America, Branson Cross, Freedom of Religion, Missouri Cross, Religion News

The "God-given vision" started out simply enough: build a 7-foot-tall cross on a mountain and invite people to meditate there with the Creator. Now, 2...

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New York Kosher Law Is Kosher, Court Rules

Reuters | Posted 05.12.2012

Read More: Kosher, Kosher Law, Judaism, Reuters, Religious Freedom, Commack Kosher, Kosher Food, Freedom of Religion, Religion News

By Basil Katz NEW YORK, May 11 (Reuters) - New York's kosher-labelling rules interfere with freedom of religion about as much as St. ...

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Getting It Right: "Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians"

John L. Esposito | Posted 05.15.2012

Read More: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Religious Persecution, Palestinian Christians, Freedom of Religion, World News

Michael Oren's March 12 Wall Street Journal article, "Israel and the Plight of Mideast Christians" exploits a real issue, the fears and plight of Christians in some Muslim countries.

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Catholic Cardinal Calls For 'Freedom Of Religion Battle'

AP | Posted 03.04.2012

Read More: Cardinal Dolan, Catholic-Contraception-Mandate, Contraception, Video, Freedom of Religion, Contraception Mandate, Religion News

HICKSVILLE, N.Y. -- Cardinal Timothy Dolan called on Roman Catholic worshippers Saturday to become more involved in politics as the church stands agai...

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Santorum: President Obama And Hillary Clinton Are Against Religious Freedom

The Huffington Post | Jon Ward | Posted 02.27.2012

Read More: Michigan Primary, Video, 2012 Election, First Lady, President Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Elections 2012, 2012 Election Blog, Hillary Clinton, Separation of Church and State, Barack Obama, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Worship, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Politics News

LIVONIA, Mich. -- Rick Santorum continued to talk about the separation of church and state one day before Michigan voters go to the polls on Tuesday, ...

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Muslim Students Have A Right To Privacy: An Interfaith Reflection

Erica Shaps | Posted 04.25.2012

Read More: Islam, Interfaith, Judaism, Muslim Americans, Muslim Student Association, Nypd Scandals, Nypd Surveillance, Brandeis University, Freedom of Religion, Islam in America, Faith on Campus, Interfaith Youth Core, Religion News

When I was on a Brandeis University Hillel first year retreat, it never crossed my mind that the police might be watching me. However, after last week, this worry is entirely legitimate, especially for my Muslim peers across the Northeast.

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VIDEO: Obama's 'War on Religion' Controversy

Posted 02.22.2012

Read More: Video, War on Religion, Obama War on Religion, Barack Obama, Freedom of Religion, Religion-and-Politics, Religion News

Has Obama waged a war on religion? Republican presidential hopefuls from Rick Santorum to Newt Gingrich to Mitt Romney have declared that Obama is...

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Honoring Religious Objections And Access To Contraceptive Coverage

Melissa Rogers | Posted 04.18.2012

Read More: Catholic Church, Religion and Politics, Abortion, Contraception, Obama Contraception, Planned Parenthood, Freedom of Religion, Religion News

It is right to honor the religious objections of faith-based employers, but it is also right to ask why we retain a system where the health coverage employees receive may be limited by those objections.

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Can the Not Crazy Christians Please Speak Up?!

Lorraine Devon Wilke | Posted 04.17.2012

Read More: Catholics, Jon Stewart, Sean Hannity, Moderate Christians, Ideologues, Christians, Catholic Bishops, Birth Control, Politics of Religion, Freedom of Religion, Vagina-Ideologues, Moderate Muslims, Women's Rights, Elections 2012, 2012 Election, Women's Health, Politics News

Please, my moderate, loving Christian brothers and sisters, will you take the stand to assert that true Christianity embraces ALL members and supports equality for everyone, including non-Christians, homosexuals in their quest for marriage, and women for reproductive freedom?

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Contraceptives And The Freedom Of Conscience: Framing The Catholic Debate In Other Terms

Christopher Cocca | Posted 04.11.2012

Read More: Abortion, Catholic Church, Contraception, Catholic Bishops, Freedom of Conscience, Freedom of Religion, Religion News

It seems natural that a Catholic might appeal to freedom of religion when protesting a federal mandate about contraceptives or abortions.

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HHS "ABC" Rule: Anybody But Catholics Has Religion Freedom

Sister Mary Ann Walsh | Posted 03.26.2012

Read More: Catholics, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Migration and Refugee Services, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Health and Human Services, Christian Scientists, Catholic Hospitals, Hosanna-Tabor, Amish, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Religion of Catholics, Religion and Politics, Catholic Religious Freedom, Religion News

This egregious violation of religious freedom marks the first time in our history that the federal government is forcing religious people and groups to ante up for services that violate their consciences.

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Nativity Project Makes Its Point Before Supreme Court

HuffingtonPost.com | Hayley Miller | Posted 11.30.2011

Read More: Faith-and-Action-in-the-Nations-Capital, Supreme Court, Holidays, First Amendment, Video, Christmas, Nativity Scene, Christian Defense Coalition, Freedom of Religion, U.S. Supreme Court, Politics News

WASHINGTON -- Christmas came early to the Supreme Court Wednesday when roughly 20 members of the Nativity Project, a nationwide campaign to "celebrate...

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A Christian Gives Thanks That America Is Not A Christian Nation

Parker J. Palmer | Posted 01.24.2012

Read More: Religious Freedom in America, Mary Dyer, Freedom From Religion, Christian Nation, Christianity, Religion and Politics, Founding Fathers, Established Church, Christian Nation Myth, Religion in America, Christianity in America, Separation of Church and State, Freedom of Religion, Religion News

As a Christian who does his best to take reason as seriously as I take faith, I find it impossible to understand America as a "Christian nation" -- and I believe that there are vibrant possibilities in the fact that it is not.

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Gilad Shalit, Iran Hiker Josh Fattal And Freedom Of Religion

Rabbi Jason Miller | Posted 01.06.2012

Read More: Josh Fattal, Iran, Freedom, Prayer, Israel, Gilad Shalit, Freedom of Religion, Gilad Shalit First Shabbat, Gilad Shalit Shabbat, Judaism, Religion News

I was thinking about the reaction to Josh Fattal's safe return home to the U.S. as I read a report about an Israeli Knesset member's outrage that Gilad Shalit traveled to a beach on his first Shabbat of freedom.

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Talk Is Cheap When It Comes To Religious Freedom

David Briggs | Posted 11.14.2011

Read More: Islam, Religious Freedom, Christianity, Buddhism, Religious Tolerance, Religious Freedom in America, Religious Understanding, Religious Freedom in France, Freedom of Religion, Protecting Religious Freedom, Religion News

When it comes to guaranteeing freedom of religion, it matters much less what nations say in their constitutions than what they are prepared to do to enforce those laws.

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Patriotism vs. Nationalism in a Post 9/11 World

Grant Lyon | Posted 11.08.2011

Read More: Winston Churchill, Nationalism, American Revolution, Fundamentalism, Islam, Ground Zero Mosque, Islamaphobia, Bill of Rights, Troops, George Orwell, 9/11 Anniversary, Yankee Doodle Dandy, 9/11, Fbi, Freedom of Religion, Sikhism, 9/11 Memorial, Patriotism, Westboro Baptist Church, American Flag, Socialism, Muslim, National Anthem, Gettysburg Address, September 11 Anniversary, Comedy News

If you believe in freedom of religion but don't understand the irony behind your anger at a mosque being built near ground zero, then you are the number one culprit of dumb nationalism in 2011.

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The Midnight Adoption Of Europe's Most Restrictive Religion Law

Joseph K. Grieboski | Posted 07.21.2011

Read More: Religious Discrimination, European Court of Human Rights, Freedom of Religion, Hungary, European Union, European Union Religious Freedom, Hungarian Constitution, Religious Freedom, Religious Tolerance, Religion News

The Hungarian parliament procured for the country the title of Worst Religion Law in Europe when it rushed after midnight to adopt the "Law on the Right to Freedom of Conscience and Religion."

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An Open Letter To Herman Cain

Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy | Posted 09.19.2011

Read More: Religious Tolerance, Sharia in America, Religion and Politics, Religion in America, Herman Cain Muslims, Herman Cain, Muslim Americans, Murfreesboro Mosque, Interfaith Alliance, Freedom of Religion, Islam in America, Sharia, Religion News

Please, for the sake of our democracy and for the integrity of religion, I urge you to temper your rhetoric and to cease your attacks on Islam.

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WATCH: Religion Compels This 'Pastafarian' To Wear A Colander On Head

Posted 09.12.2011

Read More: Religion, Pasta, Austria, Video, Flying Spaghetti Monster, Driver's License, Colander, Spaghetti Monster, Niko Alm, Pastafarian, Church-of-the-Flying-Spaghetti-Monster, Weird Austria, Weird Religion, Freedom of Religion, Weird News News

Religion compels this man to wear a spaghetti strainer on his head. Niko Alm, a self-described "pastafarian," has been given the right to wear a co...

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The Religious Right's Shadow Nation

Wayne Besen | Posted 09.09.2011

Read More: Religious Freedom, Religion and Politics, Religious Discrimination, Conservative Christians, Religious Right, Christian Fundamentalists, Freedom of Religion, Religion News

Lately, it seems Christian fundamentalists have campaigned to pervert the notion of "religious freedom" to mean they have the absolute right to control lives and dictate how other people live.

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Top S.F. Attorney Questions Proposed Circumcision Ban

Posted 09.04.2011

Read More: Circumcision Ban, San Francisco Circumcision Ban, Intactivism, Intact America, Sf Circumcision Ban, Religion and Politics, Religious Circumcision, Anti-Circumcision, California Circumcision Ban, San Francisco, Freedom of Religion, Therese Stewart Circumcision Ban, Religion News

By Lauren Markoe Religion News Service (RNS) In a potential blow to the proposed San Francisco circumcision ban, the city's top lawyer has conclud...

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An Analysis Of The Delta-Saudi Controversy

Rabbi Jason Miller | Posted 08.27.2011

Read More: Anti-Semitism, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Saudi Arabia, Airlines, Delta Airlines, Saudi Arabia Human Rights, Delta Saudi Arabia, Saudi Arabia Skyteam, Religious Discrimination, Skyteam Alliance, Freedom of Religion, Delta Saudi Partnership, Religion News

While the title of my post was misleading and inaccurate, I still believe that Delta is making a mistake by becoming a partner with an airline run by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

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Should The United States Promote Religious Freedom?

Thomas David DuBois | Posted 08.22.2011

Read More: Law, Obama Ambassadorships, Religion, Religion and Politics, Diplomacy, Freedom of Religion, Religious Freedom Envoy, Religious Tolerance, Foreign Policy, Religion News

Even with the best intentions, a ham-handed promotion of religious freedom runs the risk of being seen as naively hypocritical at best, and a cover for ulterior motives at worst.

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