Religious Freedom Report 10.02.15 #religiousfreedom #christianlivesmatter

 A consistent theme amongst the people who oppose religious freedom is that they generally go after a person in his job or vocation. This is most notable if you are government employee, as was the case of Kim Davis and the numerous attacks by the "gay mafia" on the issue of religious conviction vs gay marriage.  The message seems to be this: You can have religious freedom, you just can't be employed at the same time. 

Bethany Blankley, Senior Editor for Constitution.com, writes:
 

The Bible is most often used when courts require oaths of office for U.S. Presidents and elected officials. The Judeo-Christian God is mentioned in all 50 state constitutions. The Supreme Court opens each session verbally declaring, “God save the United States of America.” The founders did not seek to create a theocracy understanding Biblical Christianity to be non-coercive. They understood that only through Biblical principles freedom and liberty exist (Gal. 5:1). As Dostoevsky and others from atheist countries assert, “if there is no God, everything is permitted.” 
The founders knew that in every human spirit lies an innate desire to be free. That spirit of freedom became the personification of American character. As Ronald Reagan said in 1952, “America is less of a place than an idea, and if it is an idea, and I believe that to be true, it is an idea that has been deep in the souls of Man.” As the soul informs the mind, heart, and body, it also informs every area of life in which people live—including politics The founders knew that in every human spirit lies an innate desire to be free. That spirit of freedom became the personification of American character. As Ronald Reagan said in 1952, “America is less of a place than an idea, and if it is an idea, and I believe that to be true, it is an idea that has been deep in the souls of Man.” As the soul informs the mind, heart, and body, it also informs every area of life in which people live—including politics


Mikey Weinstein continues his attacks on religious freedom and the military.  Chris D'Angelo Associate Editor, HuffPost Hawaii wrote:

A large sign was erected on a Hawaii military base in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with the message, "God bless the military, their families and the civilians who work with them."
Now, 14 years later, a nonprofit religious rights group is demanding it be removed, claiming it violates the Constitution.
In a Sept. 24 message to Col. Sean C. Killeen, commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Oahu, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation said the sign is a "brazen violation" of the Constitution's Establishment Clause and "sends the clear message that your installation gives preference to those who hold religious beliefs over those who do not, and those who prefer a monotheistic, intervening god over other deities or theologies."

Ron Crews, executive director of Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty issues the following statement:
 "Only someone with a great misunderstanding of the First Amendment or an axe to grind against religion would claim that such a slogan poses a threat or is in any way unconstitutional. The real threat is posed by those who want to whitewash any reference to God from public discourse -- even ones as innocuous and uplifting as this one."

 From the Alaska Dispatch News:
 Twenty-one states have enacted legislation that prohibits discrimination on the basis of one’s sexuality, and Alaska has been grappling with the same question since 2008 when similar legislation failed.
On Tuesday night, the Anchorage Assembly expanded anti­discrimination protections in the city.
A broad social question exists about how to balance equality with religious freedom. Should we allow individuals or businesses the right to refuse services to members of the LGBT community on the grounds of religious freedom?
A public debate on just that issue took place at the Bear Tooth Theatrepub in Anchorage Wednesday evening, co-sponsored by the UAA Seawolf Debate Team and Alaska Dispatch News.   Video of that debate is HERE

 Bill Piatt, professor at the St. Mary’s University School of Law and president of the Catholic Lawyers’ Guild of San Antonio, wrote in a recent Op/ed:

Our constitutional system recognizes the delicate balance between the First Amendment’s requirements that we neither establish a religion nor interfere with the free exercise of religion. We have long recognized, for example, the right of conscientious objectors to refrain from combat. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized a religious right to refrain from saying the Pledge of Allegiance or saluting the flag. Parents have been allowed a religious exemption from sending their children to public schools.
Similarly, employers may refrain from providing birth control to employees when they otherwise would be required to do so under the Affordable Care Act. Inmates have been allowed to exercise dietary and grooming choices in the name of religion. Employers have been required to accommodate the religious holidays of their employees.

These accommodations are sometimes controversial because of the conflicting values at issue. However, they represent a better approach than having the government attempt to force compliance in the face of a freedom of religion objection. Such coercion is counterproductive; it inflames resistance while, at the same time, it denies basic constitutional rights. Accommodating Kim Davis’ religious beliefs by allowing her to refrain from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, with her deputies acting in her stead, strikes a balance.
As other matters arise involving free exercise of religion issues, we should strive for accommodation, not compulsion.


 Adventist review:

More than 17,000 people rallied at a Seventh-day Adventist-organized event in Madagascar to pledge their support for religious liberty.
The daylong “Festival of Religious Freedom,” held in a sports arena in the capital, Antananarivo, was the first such event to be held in the Indian Ocean island nation.
The festival drew community and national leaders, including Interior and Decentralization Minister Olivier Mahafaly.
The event was jointly sponsored by the Adventist Church’s Southern Indian Ocean Union and the Adventist-affiliated International Religious Liberty Association, or IRLA.
Its purpose, said organizers, was to focus national attention on an often-overlooked yet fundamental human right and to express gratitude to the government for continuing to protect the ability of all Malagasy citizens to worship in peace and security.
“It’s a civil liberty that, too often, we take for granted,” said IRLA secretary-general Ganoune Diop.
“Yet recent reports show that more than two-thirds of the world’s population lives in countries where religious freedom restrictions are rated ‘high’ or ‘very high,’” Diop said. “If we cherish religious freedom, it’s good to express our gratitude, as well as call attention to the challenges others face in places where freedom is restricted by laws or by social hostility.”

Kim Davis, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Ben Carson to speak at Values Voter Summit

Eight Republican presidential candidates, including front-runner Donald Trump, as well as Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis will address thousands of grassroots activists at the Family Research Council’s 10th annual Values Voter Summit this weekend in Washington.

Other candidates who have confirmed their participation in the event include Ben Carson, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.

 The Values Voter Summit will be held Friday through Sunday at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington. Featured speakers include Arizona Sen. John McCain, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise.

SOURCE: Washington Times

Religious Freedom Report 09.21.15

 Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion held a large meeting in New York this last week:

The United States had a role in organizing the gathering and was represented by State Department Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom David Saperstein and USCIRF Chair Robert George. Their close colleagues in the parallel Canadian Office of Religious Freedom also pulled together the event.In an energetic speech, Saperstein urged the international lawmakers not to separate religious freedom from other issues, but to see it as foundational in every kind of policy. He encouraged them to hold hearings, to issue statements, and to attend trials for the persecuted. He mentioned that he and other officials attended the trial of two South Sudanese pastors recently, and that the pastors were acquitted of the most serious charges and released."Even a country as powerful as the United States cannot fight this battle alone," George said during a coffee break. George said European leaders, especially Germany, have "shown themselves serious about religious freedom." Now, he said, it's a matter of seeing if the group can maintain this broad base of support for religious freedom, a coalition that has disappeared domestically. 

 I'm not aware that the US is doing much at all for Christians in other countries. By  that I mean the government and not the many charitable and Christian organizations that are always active. John Kerry and Barack Obama  are so disengaged that they pushed through a horrible nuclear deal with Iran and didn't even bother to get US prisoners released that are being held there, which includes two pastors.

 Kristen Grant [The Federalist] wrote:

When Pope Francis comes to America, he will stand in Independence Hall and speak about religious freedom. No doubt he will echo the themes of his first apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium,” which declared that “no one can demand that religion should be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life… without a right to offer an opinion on events affecting society.”

When he does so, he will not be asking for a special megaphone for white men in clericals, but rather reminding Americans of a fundamental right of all people—including a lot of poor, female, black, Latino, and gay people—to bring their full humanity to the public square and contend there for the future of their country.

We'll see. 

 Congresswoman Anna G. Eshoo {D-Ca]and  Co-Chair of the Religious Minorities in the Middle East Caucus:
 
I've introduced a bipartisan bill in Congress to deliver relief and protection for religious minorities. The Frank Wolf International Religious Freedom Act would allow non-state actors to be designated as violators of religious freedom, granting the administration better tools to address extremism and violence in groups like Boko Haram and the Islamic State. And Congressman Juan Vargas, D-Calif., is leading on bipartisan legislation to grant persecuted individuals in ISIS-held territory access to priority refugee status processing at the State Department.
Progress was made last week when the administration appointed Knox Thames as Special Envoy at the State Department charged with focusing exclusively on the plight of religious minorities in the Middle East. Former Congressman Frank Wolf, R-Va., and I championed the law to create this position in the last Congress, and this long-awaited appointment is welcomed.
The papal visit presents a unique opportunity to send a message to the world in condemning the act of genocide as the most barbaric and criminal act of humankind, and propel a global response. It's an existential crisis for religious minorities in the Middle East, and it is a defining moment for America.

Democrats aren't generally very good at protecting religious freedom. There generally has to be some other goal in mind. Or it has to be so fantastic that it creates warm feelings when its announced, but in practicality, it's meaningless. 

 The Christian Post reported:

Hundreds of Christian conservatives gathered in the blistering heat in Nashville on Constitution Day Thursday, to rally for religious freedom in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling and called on the state to uphold its definition of marriage as being a union between one man and one woman.
As a crowd of over 400 gathered for the "Stand in the Gap for Truth" rally hosted by the Tennessee Pastors Network outside the state's Legislative Plaza, a number of issues, from the Iran deal to same-sex marriage, were discussed by prominent Evangelicals and state lawmakers.
Among the speakers who participated in the event was the husband of jailed Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, Joe Davis, the father of presidential candidate Ted Cruz, Rafael, Bishop E.W. Jackson and former Southern Baptists Convention Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission president Dr. Richard Land.

A few Tennessee state representatives, including Republican Rep. Mark Pody who spoke at the rally, also introduced legislation Thursday called the "Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act" into the state legislature. The legislation, if passed, would "void" the Supreme Court's ruling in June that struck down states' ban against same-sex marriage.

Idaho Statesman Editorial:

We don’t believe any faith group should be forced to perform or sanctify a marriage they don’t agree with. Those judgments are the purview of the religious organization and belong in their lane of traffic. Government intervention in religious matters is contrary to everything American. Such actions deserve our immediate wrath.
Last year city officials in Houston subpoenaed the sermons and other materials of some pastors, purportedly to investigate some petitions filed against the city’s equal rights ordinance. Whatever the motives, demanding sermons is an affront to religious freedom and deserved the overwhelming criticism it received.
We as a society have our work cut out for us defining and defending the lanes of traffic that will preserve religious freedom and still provide the equal access our Constitution guarantees.

Of course, previous to this summary, the editorial condemned Kim Davis for not quitting. After all, religious freedom is important...but not more important than work (liberal 11th commandment,  I think]. 

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/09/19/3994017/editorial-our-religious-freedom.html#storylink=cpy

How Kim Davis Could Have Been President of the United States

Viola Davis isn't all over the news today because she won an Emmy. She is all over the news today because she is a black woman who won an Emmy. She is now an iconic "hero." Bruce Jenner is now a "hero" because he decided to call himself Cait and wear women's clothes. Jason Collins is a "hero" not because he plays basketball, but because he is a basketball player who is "gay."  There's more, of course.

 If Kim Davis was a black lesbian transgender basketball playing actress who issued marriage licenses to anyone for any reason..she would likely have already been nominated by the Democrat and Republican party as their 2016 nominee. The media, who would have already skewed the polls to reflect her popularity, would be announcing her as the next President of the USA just by default. 

-----------------------

MEME REPORT:
THE HYPOSCRISY OF CAIR:

 

Religious Freedom Report 09.17.15

An appeals court has ruled that Obama's health care law violates the rights of religiously affiliated employees by forcing them to provide  contraceptive coverage.

Reuters:

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that President Barack Obama's healthcare law violates the rights of religiously affiliated employers by forcing them to help provide contraceptive coverage even though they do not have to pay for it.
Parting ways with all other appeals courts that have considered the issue, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis on Thursday issued a pair of decisions upholding orders by two lower courts barring the government from enforcing the law's contraceptive provisions against a group of religiously affiliated employers. Circuit Judge Roger Wollman, who wrote Thursday's decisions on behalf of a three-judge panel, said the court must defer to the employers' "sincere religious belief that their participation in the accommodation process makes them morally and spiritually complicit in providing abortifacient coverage."
The cases are Dordt College et al v. Burwell, No. 14-2726, and Sharpe Holdings Inc et al v. U.S. Department of Human Services et al, No. 14-1507, both in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit.

Radio host Bryan Joyce chastises Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz for standing up for Kim Davis but not for Charee Stanley.:

It's odd that Frazier would say Cruz is "committed to defending" religious freedom, because incidentally, there's another woman in the United States who, just like Kim Davis, says her religious freedom is under attack. But Cruz is nowhere to be found. Neither is Huckabee! Not only are they not meeting with this woman, but as far as I know, neither one of them has even bothered to drop a dime and call her.
The woman I speak of is Charee Stanley, a 40 year-old flight attendant who converted to Islam two years ago. She says she came to a mutual agreement with her employer, ExpressJet, whereby other flight attendants would serve alcoholic beverages to any passengers requesting a drink on her flights. But after her fellow flight attendants complained to management, Stanley says ExpressJet reneged on their agreement, and placed her on unpaid leave.


 For three years, Charee Stanley has been a flight attendant with Atlanta-based ExpressJet Airlines. But, two years ago, she chose to be a Muslim. The Washington Post said that "Stanley’s conversion brought an outward change — she started wearing a hijab. But the 40-year-old flight attendant also felt that her new faith prevented her from fulfilling what some might consider a fundamental part of her job: serving alcohol." The missing problem, however, is why did she wait TWO years to suddenly decide her religious freedoms were being violated??



Speaking to students at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Tuesday, September 15, 2015, Ronald A. Rasband of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, “Our society has become so blind by its quest to redress wrongful discrimination against one class of people that it is now in danger of creating another victimized class: people of faith like you and me.”

It appears, though, that even the Mormons have their tares amongst their wheat: Hermia Lyly wrote at "Young Mormon Femninists" in an open letter to Rasband:
My wife and I listened to your devotional from our home, hoping to hear words of comfort and love. Within a few minutes, we had to turn off your devotional address–both my wife and I were sweating and nearly shaking because we were so disappointed by your message. While my response to you is regrettably incomplete because I did not finish listening to your devotional, I felt the need to protect my home from your words.

"Sweating and shaking?" Really? Sounds like a tactic used by the Freedom from Religion Foundation where atheist heads explodes every time they see a cross or a commandment in public.

I have seen some touting a poll by ABC/Washington Post:

• An ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday has found that the majority of Americans believe that Kentucky clerk Kim Davis should be required by law to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, and said that equality under the law trumps a person's religious beliefs when the two come in conflict.

But, read the fine print. This is a sampling of 1,003 people. I don't think a case could be made for it speaking for the entire USA 

•  A quick word on the polls, a practice which is central to modern analyses of political races. I believe that polls are far more scientifically unreliable than they are generally made out to be, and think that wild inductions are not the safest way to go. Talking to 200 people and deciding what 200 million are thinking is . . . risky. --Doug Wilson

In Oregon there is another government official who risks losing his job because he does not want to officiate over any same-sex marriage.:

 An Oregon judge is fighting an investigative panel’s accusation that by declining to perform same-sex weddings on religious grounds, he violated both the state’s constitution and code of conduct for judges.
This and other allegations could result in the judge’s suspension or removal from office. Vance D. Day, one of 14 judges on the Marion County Circuit Court in Salem, Ore., readily admits that he asked an assistant not to schedule him for same-sex marriages but instead to arrange for another judge to officiate.
Performing the marriage of two men or two women “conflicted with his firmly held religious beliefs,” Day told the Oregon Commission on Judicial Fitness and Disability.

And in Ohio:

 An Ohio church is suing a strip club and its scantily clad staff for protesting outside the house of worship during the past five years. The Columbus Dispatch reports (http://www.dispatch.com ) New Beginnings Ministries Pastor William Dunfee filed the lawsuit against Foxhole strip club owner Thomas George and his employees last Friday in Columbus federal court.
The suit claims the topless protesters violated the Warsaw church's First Amendment right to religious freedom and the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Dunfee is asking the court to order protesters to stop blocking church entrances, intruding on church property and intimidating parishioners.
George called the claims "very false." He organized the protests after losing a suit against the church in 2009 for picketing outside his establishment.

Depending on where this goes in court, a precedent could be set on whether or not it is OK for naked people to protest in front of your church during services.  

Religious Freedom Report 09.15.15

Kim Davis is still at the forefront of most discussion here in the US.

LGBT magazine, The Advocate, has noticed that there are Democrats who oppose gay-marriage also. (You know, like Obama and Hillary Clinton said in their first presidential campaigns back in 08). Matthew Craffey (The Advocate) notes:

• Davis is in fact a Democrat. The Democratic candidate for Kentucky governor supports her actions and has actually said he wants to pass a law protecting county clerks from having to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if they have religious objections. The federal judge who sent Davis to jail for not carrying out her duties was an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush. In fact, the entire “religious freedom” protections idea stemmed from the bill President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1993. As an Illinois state senator in 1998, Obama also voted in favor of a version of a similar bill. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton has famously supported states’ rights on the issue of marriage, which would ostensibly allow “religious freedom” laws to be used to deny same-sex couples the ability to marry. The takeaway is the last big, big fight for LGBT equality will be fought increasingly regionally, and not so much within the two major political parties. For the most part, Republicans and Democrats who live in coastal states or large cities support full LGBT equality. It’s Democrats and Republicans who live everywhere in between who still have a way to go on these issues.......... as we’ve seen through these recent events, there is definitely work that our counterparts in the Democratic Party, the Stonewall Democrats, need to do as well. It’s each of our duties to make our respective sides better.

And in case you didn't know:

• National Stonewall Democrats is a Washington-based LGBT rights group affiliated with the Democratic Party. The word "Stonewall" in group's name refers to the Stonewall riots of 1969, a pivotal event in the history of protecting equal rights for LGBT people.

SE Cupp and Joe Loconte discussed the issue on CNN.
Cupp, CNN's faux Republican, said:

•  Even though I support gay marriage and am not religious, I really admire Kim Davis standing by her religious principles. And I sympathize with her inner struggle..................But since she was elected, and can't be fired for refusing to perform the duties of her job, isn't the reasonable thing to quit? --SE Cupp

Joe Loconte rebutted:

• Martin Luther King Jr.'s entire campaign of civil disobedience was based on the belief that citizens owed allegiance to the "natural law" — a moral law higher than that of any civil authority. As King put it in his Letter from Birmingham Jail: "One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws."
  
  Kim Davis stands firmly in this American tradition of nonviolent protest against laws that appear to her — and to many others — to be unjust, because they violate the natural law about sexuality and marriage. Is there no way to publicly accommodate the citizen who holds these beliefs?

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) released the finalized version of the First Amendment Defense Act. This finalized version specifies which entities and activities are protected by the bill, and which are not.

• “Matters of conscience and culture elicit passionate feelings on both sides of the political spectrum,” Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) said. “This finalized version of the First Amendment Defense Act, which we’ve been working with religious liberty experts on for months, makes crystal clear that we are only seeking to prevent federal government discrimination against people and institutions that define marriage as a union between one man and one woman.”

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES llllllllll llllllllll introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on llllllllll A BILL To ensure that the Federal Government shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or par-tially on the basis that such person believes, speaks, or acts in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman, or that sexual relations are properly reserved to such a marriage, and for other purposes. Entire Bill HERE

One barometer of the impact of such a law is that the New York Post HATES it: (Click through the headline for complete editorial):

Andy Ostroy, who bills himself as a Political and Pop Cultural "Analyst" for the Huffington Post makes it clear that everyone needs to just shut up and obey:

I have a suggestion to those whose lives are ruled by their religious beliefs: if gay marriage violates those beliefs, then don't marry someone gay. That's where your "rights" end. Period. [09.12.15]

 Not sure why he is called an "analyst."  A more apt title might be "Parroter-at-large."

 And Mary Reichard (World Magazine) reported:

• Utah and North Carolina have moved to protect freedom of conscience, though countermoves from federal agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission are creating jagged edges of legal complexity. In Utah, conservative Mormons and LGBT activists hammered out a deal called the Utah Compromise, which became effective in May.
  The Utah Compromise avoids what happened in Kentucky by making a list of clerks who have no religious objection to issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples or presiding over their nuptials. Couples can choose from that list of willing participants, thereby avoiding a nasty confrontation at the clerk’s front desk.
  “It’s working extremely well,” said State Sen. Stuart Adams, who helped craft the Utah Compromise. 
  

Religious Freedom Report 09.12.15

Again, the Kim Davis event in Kentucky dominates most of the dialogue on religious freedom.

If the issue is that people shouldn't push their views down other people's throat, then those who are attacking Davis should be open to an opt-out option.

The law actually requires religious accommodation where it’s reasonable. It’s part of our traditions, it’s part of our history, and it’s part of our law, specifically in Kentucky. In Kentucky, you can opt out of issuing fishing and gaming licenses if you’re a vegetarian. If you have a moral conviction there, you’re respected. So why not respect the moral convictions of Ms. Davis here and provide an opt-out? All she’s asking for is to keep her name and her title off the license. And the licenses could go out to same-sex couples. And I think it’s a possible solution that should be pursued, and she should not have been thrown in jail. That was unnecessary and wrong.  --Roger Severino (Director, DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, The Heritage Foundation)

 George Takei, pushes his same-old same-old drivel claiming no one should impose their beliefs on other while vocally believing people should impose their beliefs on others:

The critique that followed cited the Constitution, an analogy to interracial marriage, and the reminder that no American is free to impose her beliefs on others, saying such appeals to belief over civil laws are "entirely un-American."  --George Takei in a FaceBook post

Top Missouri officials are asking that a lawsuit brought by the Satanic Temple challenging the state’s mandated 72-hour waiting period for an abortion be thrown out. The "Satanic Temple" exists only to make a mockery of religious freedom.

“Women whose decision to terminate a pregnancy is informed by her deeply-held belief in Satanic principles of bodily autonomy and scientific deference should not be made to endure State-sanctioned proselytization of a conflicting religious perspective.” --Satanic Temple

"It's clear that religious freedom is under assault in this country, which is why we have to put so much energy around protecting religious freedom." - Carly Fiorina


A Miami Herald columnist hates that patriotic people who wish to uphold the US Constitution use so many patriotic words in their ideas:
The political right has long had a genius for wrapping noxious notions in code that sounds benign and even noble. The "Patriot Act," "family values," and "right to work." are fruits of that genius. "Religious liberty" is poised to become their latest masterpiece, the "states' rights" of the battle for a more homophobic America. --Leonard Pitts Jr. [Miami herald]

And from the "Christian Century" it never ceases to amaze me that liberal Christians are so willing to shoot their own freedom in the foot:

Kim Davis’s religious community has the right to define religious marriage for its own purposes. The county clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, wants to impose that definition on the office she runs and the civil marriages it administers, and she claims her free exercise rights allow this.--Steve Thorngate The Christian Century associate editor

From the #D'oh report a writer at a extremist lefty blog Addicting Info writes: 
Let’s be honest. The real persecution of “religious freedom” in the United States is against Muslims. --Antiphon Freeman--Addicting Info 
Of course, the names not a real one, it's another lefty espousing their strong opinions in a  cowardly anonymous way. [See "Daily Kos]

And again, from Missouri:
Republicans in Missouri are looking at expanding state protections for religious liberty after the jailing of a county clerk in Kentucky over her refusal to allow her office to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.......................The Missouri Alliance for Freedom — a conservative political organization ran by Ryan Johnson announced earlier today that they had secured two state senators to support legislation next year aimed directly at the Davis controversy. Sen. Kurt Schaefer, who is running against Hawley for AG, and Sen. Bob Onder, a St. Louis Republican freshman, have both promised to support legislation from MAF that will “protect religious liberty.”......................Missouri already has a Religious Freedom Restoration Act that stipulates the state must accommodate government employee’s sincere religious belief, provided that doing so is the least burdensome manner possible and it does not inhibit or interfere with a compelling government interest. While Davis’ supporters say her objections should be honored by the state, groups opposed like the ACLU say Davis’ refusal to allow anyone in her office from issuing marriage licenses for gay couples did not constitute a reasonable accommodation of her belief. --Missouri Times 09.09.15

Bobby Jindal Report 09.10.15

To begin with, Jindal makes it pretty clear what he thinks about Donald Trump. And without making any endorsement of Jindal or Trump, his first couple sentences were pretty good. 

• “You may have recently seen that after Trump said the Bible is his favorite book, he couldn’t name a single Bible verse or passage that meant something to him, and we all know why. Because it’s all just a show, and he hasn’t ever read the Bible. But you know why he hasn’t read the Bible? Because he’s not in it.........Donald Trump is dangerous, but not in the way you think. Many say he’s dangerous because you wouldn’t want a hot head with his fingers on the nuclear codes, and while that’s true, that’s not the real danger here. The real danger is that, ironically, Donald Trump could destroy America’s chance to be great again............As conservatives, we have a golden opportunity in front of us. The Democrats have terribly screwed things up, and are basically giving us the next election. If we blow this opportunity, we may never get it again, the stakes are incredibly high.”

Allahpundit @ Hot Air :

•  What Jindal hopes to achieve with the speech, I don’t know. He’s learned by now, I assume, that picking a fight with Trump to draw his attention doesn’t lead to any movement in the polls, as Lindsey Graham, Rand Paul, and of course Perry could tell you. Maybe it’s as simple as Jindal feeling sincerely disgusted by Trump and concluding he has nothing to lose by doing it. 

I tend to think Jindal speaks from conviction, and one which should make him  more appealing to the right. It's just not clear to me why his campaign has not taken off yet. It may be getting too late.

But, then, Paul Blumenthal for the Huffington Post charges that his campaign is getting big money donations from companies and organizations that will want a return on their investment.  I can't vouch for the accuracy of all his charges. But Blumenthal did write a similar expose on Hillary Clinton's big oil campaigns that donate to her campaign over at Mother Jones.

• Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal’s presidential campaign has been propped up by the $4.6 million he helped two supposedly independent outside groups raise in the first half of 2015. The majority of the funds raised by these groups comes from people and companies that have benefited from Jindal’s administration or continue to lobby his office. In total, a handful of donors with influence in Baton Rouge combined to contribute $2.5 million to Believe Again, a super PAC, and American Future Project, a 527 group.

 Louisiana based, The Hayride reports:

• If Bobby Jindal wants to make an impact in the presidential race, he must do well in Iowa. However, he has been stuck at or below 1% in the polls in that state. However, Team Jindal should be happy about the latest NBC News/Marist poll that shows Jindal doing his best numbers so far in that state. Bobby Jindal has reached a new high of 4% according to that poll. That puts him tied for 7th place with Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Donald Trump though is still crushing the entire field with 29% support and Ben Carson is the only other candidate in double digits at 22%. This comes on the heels of Jindal giving what has been widely regarded as one of his best speeches ever last month at the Defending the Dream summit in Columbus, Ohio. Jindal also recently got some fiscal conservative credentials from the Cato Institute when they found that he was the only governor in the race who reduced spending.

And on the story of the week: Jindal told Iowa radio host Simon Conway about the event involving Kim Davis:

•   “Here’s where we are in our country today. If you disagree with gay marriage, they put you in jail, as you see what happened in Kentucky, and yet if you mishandle national security information you’re allowed to run for president. It’s a crazy, crazy world we live in.”

Religious Freedom Report: 09.10.15:

The main issue of discussion is, of course, Kim Davis:

Rich Juzwiak, writing for Gawker, writes the way Gawker would normally do and claims that the only reason Mike Huckabee was interested in Kim Davis was for self promotion.

• Huckabee rushed to her side to impose his own agenda on her repugnant cause. The reason he did this is that he has spent so much time championing “traditional marriage” that when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of nationwide same-sex marriage in June, Huckabee watched one of his most prominent platforms disintegrate under his feet. He watched his relevance dry up on the spot. That must be terrifying for a presidential hopeful and famewhore like Huckabee.

Caitlin MacNeal reports at Talking Points Memo:

•  CNN's Alisyn Camerota asked Huckabee about Charee Stanley, a flight attendant for ExpressJet who was suspended for refusing to serve alcohol. She said it violated her religious beliefs. "Historically we have made accommodations for people with religious convictions," Huckabee said when asked if he Stanley has the right to refuse to serve alcohol.
  "You've seen it in Michigan where they spent $25,000 providing foot baths for Muslims students," he said, adding that the U.S. gave prayer mats to prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison.

Alan Wolfe (Politico) makes an important observation when he notes:

•  Rights, for one thing, while offering protection against an intrusive state, cannot be enforced without the help of the state. 

And we have seen clearly that there is no such thing as equal rights for everyone in the US even though some claim there are. The one that has the state backing will be more equal then any of the others.

Georgia is pushing for a Religious Freedom act. So far most of these so-called Religious Freedom Acts get neutered to the point "why even bother" by the time they are passed. 

• “The law worked the way it was designed to work,” state Sen. Josh McKoon, R -Columbus said. “We're not going to say your religious freedom trumps your duty as an elected official to follow the law.”

Worked? The way it was designed?

The Miami Herald, in an editorial, gave a kudos remark about Lindsey Graham:

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hit the nail on the head: “I support traditional marriage, but she’s accepted a job where she has to apply the law to everyone. And that’s her choice,” he said.

But Graham is a rather unpopular Republican. Even worse as a presidential candidate. So there's hardly much fortifying an issue by using him as an example.

Gun-rights group Florida Carry sued Florida State University president John Thrasher for banning students from bringing firearms to this weekend’s home football game against the University of South Florida. In what, so far, has got to be one of the most ridiculous arguments against guns, PalmBeach columnist Frank Cerabino writes:

•  Thrasher could cite his own deeply held Christian convictions to say that to allow guns on campus would require him to turn his back on his God, who made “Thou shalt not kill” one of the 10 Commandments.Jesus never instructed his disciples to “Standeth thy groundeth and smite thine enemies with lethal force, my children.”
  No, instead, Jesus spoke against people thinking they have the right to kill other people, even those who did them wrong.
   

That may be a good argument for Bible control when it is clearly unsafe to keep it in the hands of liberals who might use it against people who they think are doing them wrong.

Air Traffic Controllers Seek Revenge by Petitioning to Rename Ronald Reagan Airport

All I can say is "get over it." Although it's not clear whether they want revenge against Reagan or Boehner. 

The petition, started by Credo Action,  has received about 60,000 signatures reads:

• "...Republicans in Congress themselves pushed through legislation renaming an airport already named after America’s first president, George Washington. And unlike President Obama’s decision, which honors the local people and culture surrounding that landmark, the renaming of Washington National airport was met with resistance from local Virginia residents and leaders. It was also strongly opposed by airport workers themselves, given President Reagan’s role in breaking the air traffic controllers’ union and mass firing 11,000 workers.3, 4 Renaming the airport also resulted in significant costs that were left to local government in Virginia to cover.5
  Given Speaker Boehner’s current outrage and disappointment at President Obama’s decision to rename Mount McKinley, it’s time to give him the opportunity to make up for his own past mistakes. Sign the petition and tell John Boehner he needs to be consistent when it comes to naming America’s landmarks."

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MEME REPORT:
KIM DAVIS EXPLAINS HER MOTIVE

Liberty Counsel: Kim Davis Speaks From Prison on Day 5

LC.org

Grayson, KY – Liberty Counsel’s Chief Litigation Counsel, Harry Mihet, just visited Kim Davis at the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky. “I had an amazing visit with Kim. She exudes gentleness and is at peace. Her spirits remain high. She was brought to tears when she heard that so many people outside the jail and around the country are praying for her,” said Mihet.

She had been reading her Bible and wanted to share a Scripture with the public from 2 Timothy 1:7-8, which says, “God did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power and love and self-control. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in the suffering for the gospel and the power of God.”

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, commented: “Kim Davis has never sought the spotlight. Although some people have said she is a hero and some accuse her of wanting to be a martyr, neither is true. Kim bristles at the thought. She loves God, loves people, and loves her job. She remains faithful to all three and that is why she is here in jail. She may be a prisoner because of her faith, but Kim is freer than most Americans.”

Tomorrow there will be a press conference outside the jail at 2:30 PM, followed by a prayer rally outside at 3:00 PM. The address is Carter County Detention Center, 13 Crossbar Road, Grayson, KY.
Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.

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MEME REPORT:
HILLARY WRITES HER OWN SLOGANS

Kentucky Governor is a Democrat; Of Course He Won't Consider Religious Liberty

Senate President Robert Stivers and House Speaker Greg Stumbo have said Beshear could call a special legislative session where lawmakers could amend state law so that clerks would no longer issue marriage licenses, but merely record them. Stivers has also said he believes Beshear could make that same change by executive order.
But Beshear said Thursday that the legislature has given county clerks the legal authority to issue marriage licenses, and as governor he has no  authority to relieve them of their duty by executive order.
And — repeating what he has said for several weeks — Beshear said, "The General Assembly will convene in just four months and can make any statutory changes it deems necessary at that time. I see no need to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayers' money calling a special session of the General Assembly when 117 and 120 county clerks are doing their jobs."
[SOURCE: Courier Journal]

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MEME REPORT:
THE MAIN THING CHARGED AGAINST KIM DAVIS BY PUBLIC OPINION IS THAT SHE IS A CHRISTIAN

As a Constitutional Republic our US Leaders Swore an Oath to Defend the Constitution

“[W]e in the United States of America do not live under a monarchy. We have no king. There is no single governing official in this country. America’s ‘supreme Law’ does not rest with any man or any group of men. America’s ‘supreme Law’ does not rest with the President, the Congress, or even the Supreme Court. In America, the U.S. Constitution is the “supreme Law of the Land.” Under our laws, every governing official publicly promises to submit to the Constitution of the United States…

“This means that in America the ‘higher powers’ are not the men who occupy elected office, they are the tenets and principles set forth in the U.S. Constitution. Under our laws and form of government, it is the duty of every citizen, including our elected officials, to obey the U.S. Constitution.”

For Americans in our Constitutional Republic here is how Romans 13 applies to you. Replace the word “authority” with “U.S. Constitution”:

• “Let every soul (in America) be subject to the (U.S. Constitution). For there is no (Constitution) except from God, and the (Constitutions) that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever in America resists the (U.S. Constitution) resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves. For the (Constitution) is not a terror to good works, but to evil. Do you want to be unafraid of the (Constitution)? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same. For the (Constitution) is God’s minister to you for good. But if you do evil, be afraid; for the (Constitution) does not bear the sword in vain; for the (Constitution) is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil. Therefore you must be subject to the (Constitution), not only because of wrath but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the (U.S. Constitution) is God’s minister attending continually to this very thing. Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.”

Please explain this the next time you hear a Christian say we must submit to our corrupt elected officials. Remember, our elected officials swore an oath to Almighty God to defend and uphold the U.S. Constitution. Politicians, law enforcement, military personnel, and judges which break their solemn oath are by definition “criminals” and deserve neither submission nor respect from the citizenry which they are attempting to lord over, plunder, and abuse. God’s will is not for Christians to submit to tyrants, rather that we do not become enslaved by them:
SOURCE: Chuck Baldwin 

MEME REPORT:
HYPOCRISY

Mike Huckabee to Visit Kim Davis in Kentucky Jail

CNN Reported:

• Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is planning to visit the Kentucky clerk taken into custody for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples next week.
  Huckabee will visit Kim Davis, the Rowan County clerk, in jail Tuesday before he is set to rally supporters outside the detention center where she is being held, Huckabee spokesman Hogan Gidley told CNN on Friday.
  Davis declined to heed a U.S. Supreme Court order legalizing same-sex marriage, so on Thursday, a federal judge held her in contempt and remanded her to custody.
   "I think it's absurd to put someone in jail for exercising their religious liberty," he said on CNN shortly after the decision. "I think it's a real mistake and even those on the other side of the issue, I think it sets their movement back."

Ted Cruz Comments After the Arrest of Kim Davis

“Today, judicial lawlessness crossed into judicial tyranny. Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America.
“I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally. I stand with every American that the Obama Administration is trying to force to chose between honoring his or her faith or complying with a lawless court decision.
“In dissent, Chief Justice Roberts rightly observed that the Court’s marriage decision has nothing to do with the Constitution. Justice Scalia observed that the Court’s decision was so contrary to law that state and local officials would choose to defy it.
“For every politician — Democrat and Republican — who is tut-tutting that Davis must resign, they are defending a hypocritical standard. Where is the call for the mayor of San Francisco to resign for creating a sanctuary city — resulting in the murder of American citizens by criminal illegal aliens welcomed by his lawlessness?
“Where is the call for President Obama to resign for ignoring and defying our immigration laws, our welfare reform laws, and even his own Obamacare?
“When the mayor of San Francisco and President Obama resign, then we can talk about Kim Davis.
“Those who are persecuting Kim Davis believe that Christians should not serve in public office. That is the consequence of their position. Or, if Christians do serve in pubic office, they must disregard their religious faith–or be sent to jail.
“Kim Davis should not be in jail. We are a country founded on Judeo-Christian values, founded by those fleeing religious oppression and seeking a land where we could worship God and live according to our faith, without being imprisoned for doing so.
“I call upon every Believer, every Constitutionalist, every lover of liberty to stand with Kim Davis. Stop the persecution now.”

The "gay mafia" does not believe you are allowed to have an opinion that is different to theirs.

Z Richards

The "gay mafia" does not believe you are allowed to have an opinion that is different to theirs. Though it was building before, the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage has emboldened them to previously unheld limits. They will not just say they disagree with you, they will seek to get you fired, banned, censored...or whatever else they can do. The case of the Kentucky clerk is only the beginning. The "gay mafia" narrative is being endorsed and accepted by much of the main stream media as they go out of their way to show how wonderful they are by interviewing a transgender, or show how enlightened they are by working with a gay/lesbian person, create a show that has at least one hay character on it (even if the character is usually comic fodder and looks or acts like a buffoon (ie, Modern family, etc).

In the case of the Kentucky clerk, she was totally trashed by the media and every pro-gay activist that was/is available. One takeaway I noticed even clearer on this issue was that the gay mafia seems to believe that if you ever made a mistake in your entire life, you are automatically disqualified from having any opinion about anything in the future. (The rule does not apply to them, of course, because though we are all equal under the law when it comes to marriage rights, they believe their rights are just more equal).

The clerks argument was reported as her making a choice between "heaven and hell." I don't know if that's an accurate quote or if that was just how the lefty-press reported it. I don't have a theological argument or Bible verse to quote which would imply that God would send her to hell for having her name on a same-sex marriage license. A lot of theological arguments can be made, though, but all of them would not minimize the conviction that this clerk (Kim Davis) holds and has now gone to jail for. Lots of people have strongly held convictions. The number of convictions held decreases when jail is introduced. One of the promises that people usually omit when they are listing the promises that God has laid out for them is that He promised (He guaranteed) that there would be persecution.

When I first started going to church I remember hearing about 'persecution" and being told that it really doesn't happen like it did back then in Bible times..and especially not in America.  Maybe it wasn't to that extreme at that time, but when we have Christians being jailed and beheaded on an almost daily basis somewhere in the world.....it certainly is a reality now. Just not here (yet).

End time persecution will not be just a bunch of evil and nasty bad people randomly targeting Christians. It will more than likely start with a foundation of being done "for the greater good." Like, for example, if the greater good of society wants to embrace gay-marriage as a normal rite (and right), then the dissenters need to be minimized or maybe retrained, etc, Could it happen? Absolutely. It's already started. .

Kim Davis Has Been Arrested; The Gay Mafia Erupts with Joy

 Their message is simple: We rule

• A federal judge here on Thursday ordered a Kentucky clerk jailed for contempt of court because of her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

• The clerk, Kim Davis of Rowan County, was ordered incarcerated after a hearing here before Judge David L. Bunning of Federal District Court. The contempt finding was another legal defeat for Ms. Davis, who has argued that she should not be forced to issue licenses that conflict with her religious beliefs.

• “The court cannot condone the willful disobedience of its lawfully issued order,” Judge Bunning said. “If you give people the opportunity to choose which orders they follow, that’s what potentially causes problems.”

• Judge Bunning said Ms. Davis would be released once she agreed to comply with his order and issue the marriage licenses.  --New York Times

• That fascinating question arose as part of a crusade by Rowan County, Kentucky, Clerk Kim Davis to seek a religious exemption from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Before the U.S. Supreme Court put the kibosh on her claim, Davis in her legal brief argued that she understood her oath of office "to mean that, in upholding the federal and state constitutions and laws, she would not act in contradiction to the moral law of God."

•  Why? Because her oath included the words, "So help me God." Of course, the oath of office prescribed by the U.S. Constitution doesn't include those words. George Washington famously added them after taking the oath of office as president, and tradition has maintained them. Davis's claim, however, is nevertheless intriguing. It implies that obedience to divine law is somehow baked in to one's constitutional duties and obligations. --Newsday

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MEME REPORT:
OBAMA'S  MOUNT OF DENIAL

Why do Kentucky heathen rage? Short answer: because they're heathen. That's what heathen do.

As a general rule, pretty much all people from the left operate under the conviction that if you ever did anything wrong in you life, then you have no business having an opinion about anything. Take for example, the latest issues surrounding a Kentucky court clerk, Kim Davis,  who refuses to issue licenses for gay marriage. She has defied court orders telling her to issue them and is still not issuing them. The heathen-left is raking Davis through the coals over her marriage failings.
The message they are basically saying is  that Kim Davis failed at some marriages, so she cannot have an opinion or conviction about same-sex marriage or probably anything else for that matter. As the Psalmist asks, "Why do the heathen rage?" Short answer: because they're heathen. That's what heathen do.

Buzzfeed posted copies of Kim Davis' FOUR totally-how-god-intended marriage licenses. http://t.co/iLSnW4IEZY pic.twitter.com/mpXzs43R1T

— Q. Allan Brocka (@allanbrocka) September 1, 2015

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MEME REPORT:
ANOTHER OFFICER IS KILLED IN TEXAS