Free Republic

LONDON (Reuters) - Sam Brownback, the U.S. Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, complained to the British ambassador in Washington D.C. about the treatment of an English right-wing activist who is in jail for disrupting a trial, according to three sources familiar with the discussion. Brownback raised the jailing of Robinson during a meeting with Darroch that covered a range of “religious freedom issues”, the British official confirmed earlier this week.

Equal treatment under the law is a cornerstone of our government—but one group of humans doesn’t get the same treatment as everyone else. What does being born change about a child? Speaking strictly scientifically, nothing of consequence. A child minutes before birth is the same as a child minutes after birth: same physical capabilities, same level of development, both highly dependent on others, they even look more or less the same. Both dream, suck their thumbs, respond to mom’s voice, and feel pain. But when it comes to both federal and state law, the difference between an unborn baby and...

The Supreme Court’s ruling this Monday on my case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, helped determine that people of faith remain free to pursue our chosen vocations. . . . after decades of developing my craft, my home state took it away from me. My case started in 2012 when I was asked to design a wedding cake celebrating a same-sex marriage. I politely declined that request because of my religious beliefs about marriage. But I told the customers that I would sell them anything else in my shop, or create a cake for them for a different...

A U.S. court has opened the door to restrictions on religious practices that are not considered “mandatory” by the faith.

Washington D.C., May 29, 2018 / 04:33 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. government will host its first-ever Ministerial Meeting to Advance Religious Freedom this summer, newly-confirmed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced May 29. “Religious freedom was vital to America’s beginning. Defending it is critical to our future,” Pompeo said at the announcement, which coincided with the release of the State Department’s annual report on the state of international religious freedom in 200 countries and territories. “Our Founders understood religious freedom not as the state’s creation, but as the gift of God to every person and a fundamental right for...

America’s Christian nationalists have a new plan for advancing their legislative goals in state capitols across the country. Its stated aim is to promote “religious freedom.” Not shy, they call it “Project Blitz.” “Blitz” accurately describes the spirit of the enterprise, but the mission has little to do with what most Americans would call religious freedom. This is just the latest attempt by religious extremists to use the coercive powers of government to secure a privileged position in society for their version of Christianity. The idea behind Project Blitz is to overwhelm state legislatures with bills based on centrally manufactured...

“I should be dead. Buried in an unmarked grave in Romania. Obviously, I am not. God had other plans.” So declares a lady who grew up under Communism. Her name is Virginia Prodan. I had not heard of her until she reached out to me through Facebook---to commend me for a recent column I had written about how Communism, despite its deadly track record, seems to be gaining some support among the young and naïve of the West. I have come to learn her story, to read her book, and to interview her on the radio. She has an important...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has agreed with the EEOC that a funeral home engaged in unlawful discrimination when it fired a male funeral director who was “transitioning” to female and dressing as a woman at work. The case is EEOC v. Harris Funeral Homes. The opinion is by Karen Nelson Moore, a Clinton appointee and one of the most left-wing federal appeals court judges in America. She was joined by Bernice Donald and Helene White. Donald, an Obama appointee, is also a far leftist. White was nominated by Clinton but blocked by then-Senator Spencer Abraham....

President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an open advocate for “sexual liberty” over religious freedom.. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has called on Trump to withdraw her nomination, saying that her “radical views on marriage and the appropriate use of government power place her far Commissioner Chai Feldblum began serving on the EEOC under the Obama administration in 2010. Her second term will end this July. Last year, Trump nominated her to a third term; if she is confirmed by the Senate, Feldblum will serve until 2023.outside even the liberal mainstream.” Key quotes from Feldblum: “I’m...

Faith is embedded in the history, spirit, and soul of our Nation. On Religious Freedom Day, we celebrate the many faiths that make up our country, and we commemorate the 232nd anniversary of the passing of a State law that has shaped and secured our cherished legacy of religious liberty.Our forefathers, seeking refuge from religious persecution, believed in the eternal truth that freedom is not a gift from the government, but a sacred right from Almighty God. On the coattails of the American Revolution, on January 16, 1786, the Virginia General Assembly passed the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom. This...

Religious Liberty Is Eroding in Canada. Here’s What Americans Should Learn. Outside of watching the occasional hockey game or purchase of maple syrup, most Americans pay little attention to Canada. We may know of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s colorful socks, but little of how unpopular he is among his constituency. We may discuss the single-payer health care system, but are unfamiliar with the government’s disrespect for religious liberty of our neighbors to the north. Faithful patriots in this country who are concerned by the attacks on free exercise of religion in America should also be concerned by the similar attacks...

“Religious persecution.” It’s a phrase that conjures up awful scenes of brutality and human rights violations in distant lands. Christians in many countries are routinely locked up, beaten or deprived of their livelihoods simply for attempting to practice their faith. Most of us can’t imagine what it’s like for the government to force us to engage in activities that violate our deeply held faiths or to recant what we believe. We don’t stop to think about it because such things never happen in America. Or do they? While Christians around our nation freely celebrated the Christmas season last week, a...

On JANUARY 1, 1802, the people of Cheshire, Massachusetts, sent a giant block of cheese to President Thomas Jefferson, being presented by the famous Baptist preacher, John Leland. John Leland was then invited to preach to the President and Congress in the U.S. Capitol. The subject of his talk was "separation of church and state." Baptists had been particularly persecuted in colonial Virginia, as Francis L. Hawks wrote in Ecclesiastical History (1836): "No dissenters in Virginia experienced for a time harsher treatment than the Baptists ... They were beaten and imprisoned ... Cruelty taxed ingenuity to devise new modes of...

Nightmare Before Christmas: Trump Re-Nominates Architect of Obama’s LGBT Agenda Chai Feldblum to EEOC. ( Full title ). President Donald Trump has re-nominated radical sexual identity activist Chai Feldblum, the architect of former resident Barack Obama’s LGBT agenda, to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Feldblum is a nightmare of a nominee for those who value religious freedom, private property rights, and the science-based standard that there are two sexes – male and female. As Obama’s most liberal gender ideology activist, Feldblum has said that whenever LGBT issues conflict with religious liberty and private property rights, religious liberty and private...

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - A California judge has ruled in favor of a Christian baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The judge denied a motion for a temporary restraining order filed on Wednesday against Cathy Miller, the owner of Tastries Bakery in Bakersfield, California. According to a press release sent by The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, the order would have compelled "Miller to create wedding cakes for LGBT persons, even though doing so would violate her sincerely held religious beliefs."

At Tuesday’s oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission—which will decide whether baker Jack Phillips can be forced by the state to design and create a cake celebrating a same sex wedding—it became apparent quite early on that the Court was grappling not merely with Jack’s case, but with a number of potential conflicts between religious freedom and same-sex marriage on its hands.Recognizing that the issues Jack faces in this case are sure to arise again, the justices struggled with where to draw the line for a constitutional rule which will protect First Amendment rights in light...

President Trump is fulfilling his promise to bring back “Merry Christmas” to the White House by including the phrase in his 2017 White House Christmas card. The Trump family is taking a different approach with their holiday greeting than the Obama family, who opted to use the more generic phrase “Happy Holidays” in their greetings, according to the Daily Mail. The White House unveiled the card, which is signed by President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and their 11-year-old son Barron Trump, on Monday in the White House “Bookseller’s” area after revealing the Christmas decorations to the public. A gold...

Can people of good will believe that LGBT people should not be denied services based on their sexual orientation and, at the same time, support the rights of a baker such as Jack Phillips to refuse to use his creative talents in ways the violate his deeply-held religious beliefs? The answer is yes - because I support LGBT rights and Jack Phillips, too. Eleven years ago, I helped lead a statewide campaign in Colorado to provide basic legal rights to the LGBT community. As a conservative Republican, I took at lot of heat, which I happily accepted — just as...

https://conservativetribune.com/atheists-coach-not-pray/

USDA beefs up protections for free speech, religious freedom New policy lifts threat issued during previous administration to shut down meatpacking facility over religious article on breakroom table Monday, November 06, 2017 WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued new policy guidance within its Food Safety and Inspection Service regarding freedom of speech and religion. The guidance removes the threat of a government-dictated shutdown of West Michigan Beef Company, a Grand Rapids–area meatpacking company owned by Donald and Ellen Vander Boon that employs 45 people, over religious literature on a breakroom table. The threat of government closure of...