Religious Liberty in America Is in Peril - BILL DONOHUE/CATHOLIC LEAGUES FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS

(Reuters photo)

Religious Liberty in America Is in Peril

2/16/2017 BILL DONOHUE/CATHOLIC LEAGUES FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS

On Feb. 16, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice will hold a hearing on "The State of Religious Liberty in America." Hopefully, it will accelerate the push to secure this most fundamental of freedoms.

President Trump is considering an executive order on religious liberty, the draft of which holds much promise. But legislation is also needed: Religious liberty is currently imperiled on several fronts. 

The war on religion—and that is exactly what it is—is being led by agents of government and activist groups seeking to impose a militant secular agenda on Americans. What drives them more than any other issue is an irresponsible interpretation of sexual freedom.

The activists and lawmakers pushing this cause accuse many religious institutions of resisting their agenda. They are correct. Traditional Catholics, evangelical Protestants, Orthodox Christians, Orthodox Jews, Mormons and Muslims all reject abortion and homosexuality, and they find attempts by the government to encroach on their beliefs and practices objectionable. There is much to object to, especially at the state level.

Many states are considering pro-abortion legislation. In Connecticut, they are weighing a bill that takes aim at a familiar target: crisis pregnancy centers. These centers are the epitome of choice: They give young pregnant girls the choice of giving their baby up for adoption, yet the pro-choice lobby works to deny them this choice.

In Illinois and Maryland, lawmakers are considering bills that would allow Medicaid and state employee health insurance to cover abortions.

In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo is pushing the legislature to consider a bill that makes abortion legal for any reason and at any time during pregnancy, even if Roe v. Wade were overturned; he wants Roe codified in the New York State Constitution. Rhode Island lawmakers are studying similar legislation.

New Mexico is considering a bill that would force Catholic hospitals to pay for and perform abortions. The ACLU and other anti-Catholic organizations are lobbying for it.

Most outrageous, there is a coordinated effort going on in 18 states to expand abortion rights. Those behind these efforts want abortion to be covered in both public and private insurance plans, including Catholic ones.

This fight is being led by pro-abortion lawmakers in Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. In St. Louis, city lawmakers passed a bill last week that threatens to do the same.

On the LGBT front, the following states are weighing measures that would treat LGBT rights as analogous to race and religion in the workplace: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, North Dakota and Texas. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe recently signed an executive order that protects LGBT rights among state employees, contractors and subcontractors.

New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who chairs the bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities, and Baltimore Archbishop William Lori, chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, recently sent a letter to President Trump calling on him and his administration to make religious liberty protections a priority. They also called on Congress to do the same.

Lori specifically cited the Health and Human Services mandate issued by the Obama administration as a grave threat to religious liberty; it would make religious institutions such as the Little Sisters of the Poor pay for abortion-inducing drugs in their health care provisions.

The most immediate relief needed is to secure the kinds of religious exemptions in law that have been traditionally afforded. Not to do so is to allow the government to police Catholic non-profits and other religious entities.

President Trump needs to issue a strongly worded executive order on religious liberty, one as wide in scope as the law allows. Similarly, lawmakers at the local, state and federal levels need to pass bills that safeguard religious liberty from the heavy hand of government. At stake is the First Amendment and the beliefs and practices of millions of Americans. 

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The Three Key Reasons Why God Let Trump Become President - Hello Christian

The Three Key Reasons Why God Let Trump Become President

Hello Christian  Jan. 11, 2017

Donald Trump's inauguration is just days away. But the shock over his election win is still sinking in. How did he do it? What were the key elements? Were the prayers of the evangelical community a factor? Well, 'Focus On The Family' founder and evangelical Christian Dr. James Dobson believes that Trump's win boiled down to three key factors. 

"I am convinced it is because of three primary factors," Dobson wrote following Trump's victory.

1. "The sanctity of human life."
President-elect Trump made his pro-life position explicit very early in his campaign. “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to — I’m pro-life. The judges will be pro-life,” Trump said in an interview with 60 Minutes following his election win. He also chose a fiercely pro-life conservative Christian, Mike Pence, to be his running mate. 

2. "The Constitutional guarantees of religious liberty that are being shredded." 
Trump has been a bold advocate for protecting religious liberty, and this has gained him vast swathes of support. “I will protect religious freedom and I don’t care if that’s politically incorrect,” he said in a letter back in October. 

3. "The promise by Mr. Trump to appoint pro-life justices to the Supreme Court."
President-elect Trump has always maintained his ambition to appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court, a move that will guarantee the rights of the unborn and shape the future of abortion legislation. Trump said in the past that his appointment of pro-life justices to the bench will lead to the overturning of landmark ruling Roe v Wade"automatically."

Former Navy Chaplain Secures Another Victory for Religious Liberty - BOB ESCHLIMAN CHARISMA NEWS

Navy chaplain Lt. Cdr. Wes Modder (ret.) is ready for the next chapter in his life following his retirement with full honors. (First Liberty Institute photo)

Former Navy Chaplain Secures Another Victory for Religious Liberty

EDT 9/7/2016 BOB ESCHLIMAN  charisma news

U.S. Navy Lt. Cdr. Wes Modder once ministered to and counseled Special Operations warriors who defended America's freedom every day, but when the decorated Navy chaplain and former Marine faced a dishonorable discharge for simply doing his job, he needed a different kind of warrior on his side.

First Liberty Institute stepped in to defend Modder's religious freedom in a firestorm of controversy that caught the attention of the nation's media and political leaders. And, in the end, he was able to declare victory.

Tuesday, Modder's 21-year military career came to an end, not as a result of a court martial, or dishonorable discharge, but with a retirement ceremony held aboard U.S.S. Midway. He also received the Navy & Marine Corps Commendation Medal for meritorious service to his country.

"I am so honored and humbled to have had the privilege of serving my country for the past 20 years," he said. "After such a difficult season, I am grateful to retire from the U.S. Navy with a clear and honorable record."

It could have ended very differently, though.

Modder, who served as Force Chaplain for Navy Special Warfare Command, came under fire after a few sailors objected to the biblical views he expressed during private counseling sessions. In response, the Navy removed him from his unit and threatened to end his career. 

Attorneys for First Liberty Institute, however, escalated the case to the highest levels of the Navy's command structure. As a result, the charges against Modder were dismissed and he was restored to full active duty.

"Chaplain Modder's victory was a not just a victory for him, but for everyone who serves in our military," First Liberty President and CEO Kelly Shackelford said.

Modder's next "duty station" will be Stone Church in Chicago, where he was recently hired to serve as lead pastor. He said he's excited about this latest opportunity the Lord has presented to him.

"I look forward to continuing to follow God's calling to champion the cause of religious liberty for every American."

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New Shocking Poll Released on Evangelical Pastors' Involvement in Politics - BOB ESCHLIMAN CHARISMA NEWS

Pastor Rob McCoy of Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, Calif., not only encourages his congregates to be politically engaged, he's run for office twice himself. He's currently a local city councilman, but according to a recent survey, he is in a very small minority of conservative evangelical pastors. (Reuters photo)

New Shocking Poll Released on Evangelical Pastors' Involvement in Politics

10:00AM EDT 7/14/2016 BOB ESCHLIMAN  CHARISMA NEWS

Our religious liberty and foundational freedoms are at stake, biblical marriage is under constant attack, the LGBT agenda is advancing at a worrying pace and evangelical pastors are backing away from politics?

That was the findings of a new survey conducted by the Barna Group on behalf of the American Culture & Faith Institute. Barna called the results "nothing short of astounding," and he didn't hold back in his critical analysis of the findings.

"In an election year where nothing has been normal so far, the apparent choices of conservative pastors may be the most abnormal thing of all," he said. "This is clearly a time when Christian and conservative voters need their spiritual leaders to help them make sense of what is happening and how to respond biblically to the chaos and uncertainty.

"The fact that tens of thousands of conservative pastors—even more than during the mid-term election cycle—are planning to ignore this crucial election and have followers of Christ play little-to-no role in the electoral process is shocking. The message that conservative pastors are sending to congregants is their Christian faith should have no influence on this election and therefore they should be passive bystanders while people with opposing worldviews and values make critical governance choices for Christians.

"With all due respect, that is both a mind-boggling lack of leadership and a startlingly bold example of poor citizenship."

First, the not-so-surprising findings:

• By a two-to-one margin (44-22 percent), the conservative pastors interviewed felt that Republican nominee-in-waiting Donald Trump is likely to defeat his likely Democratic counterpart, Hillary Clinton.
• However, more than one-third (35 percent) said they did not know who is most likely to win.
• As for their personal preference, they preferred Trump over Clinton by a 6-to-1 ratio (60 to 10 percent), while the remainder preferred someone else (13 percent), refused to vote (6 percent), or were still undecided (11 percent).

These perceptions of the current state of the 2016 presidential election were the basis for responses to questions about how these pastors were specifically taking action to prepare their congregations for November. This would be the shocking part of the findings.

Each pastor was asked about eight specific courses of action they may have taken during the 2014 mid-term election, and could take during the 2016 cycle. They indicated "limited" activity in 2014, and even less of each activity in 2016:

• Sponsor a voter registration drive at your church—21% in 2014, 12% in 2016
• Actively encourage get-out-the-vote efforts—9% in 2014, 7% in 2016
• Invite candidates to speak at your church prior to the election—5% in 2014, 3% in 2016
• Preach at least one sermon about a public policy issue—37% in 2014, 21% in 2016
• Offer printed or online voter guides to your congregation—45% in 2014, 36% in 2016
• Include election-related information on your church website—5% in 2014, 4% in 2016
• Encourage members of your church to get actively involved in a campaign—29% in 2014, 20% in 2016
• Speak to your church about the importance of voting—78% in 2014, 62% in 2016

Barna, asked about why there is such a lack of engagement by conservative evangelical pastors in 2016, was equally frank. Pointing to the Rev. Franklin Graham's comments made prior to an event in New York earlier this year at which Trump later spoke, he said many pastors do not want to be judged for supporting a candidate who is morally imperfect.

"But the truth is that none of us—these pastors included—are morally perfect, which is why we need Jesus to save us," he said. "Both of the major party candidates this year are flawed, but all candidates have always been morally flawed—they're human! In the meantime, we need to work together to elect leaders who will allow the church to follow Christ with as much freedom and as little government interference as possible.

"Pastors should not ask congregants to place their full and eternal trust in a political candidate, but rather to choose the best person for the job since someone is going to be elected whether we participate in the process or not. How can conservative pastors justify sitting out the election when so much is at stake for the church itself? And please notice that theologically liberal churches are much more engaged in the electoral process."

Barna also stated the 2016 election is, in many ways, the easiest for churches to engage in going back more than a generation. He said the policy differences between Trump and Clinton—particularly on social, moral, and religious issues—are "more distinct this year than at any time since the Reagan-Carter election in 1980."

"The fact that conservative pastors choose to not get involved, while also refusing to preach about the biblical foundations for thinking about the major issues, suggests that perhaps our church leaders do not know what they and the Bible believe on these matters," he said. "Why else would they not exploit the opportunity to use the election as a reason to engage, instruct, and challenge God's people on His truth?"

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Religious Freedom Victory Has These Girls Turning Cartwheels - JESSILYN JUSTICE CHARISMA NEWS

A Kountze cheerleader (Courtesy/Liberty Institute)

Religious Freedom Victory Has These Girls Turning Cartwheels

1/29/2016 JESSILYN JUSTICE  charisma news

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Three cheers for the First Amendment, at least for the cheerleaders at a Texas high school. 

A judge ruled this week that the Kountze Independent School district is "not required to prohibit messages on school banners . . . that display fleeting expressions of community sentiment solely because the source or origin of such message is religious." 

The battle between the school district and the cheerleaders began in August 2012, with appeals going back and forth for years.  

"We're just all Christians and believe the Bible is from God and so if it's from God, why not?" one cheerleader said at the time. "That's what we were thinking and it's a positive message and it's uplifting." 

The girls were represented by the Liberty Institute.  

"This is an 8-0 victory for the free speech and religious liberty rights of all Texas students," says Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of Liberty Institute. "We are delighted that the court considered this case so straightforward that it did not even require oral argument." The battle is not yet over, though. 

"In light of today's Supreme Court ruling, we look forward to defending the Kountze cheerleaders at the Court of Appeals and resolving this case permanently in the cheerleaders' favor."

Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman filed a concurring opinion, highlighting the precedent this case sets for religious freedom in schools. 

Liberty Institute attorney Hiram Sasser says, "There is a great challenge in courts to students who express religious beliefs in schools."

"School officials are engaging in unlawful censorship of student speech and they need to be held accountable. We agree this is a serious problem. This case is a prime example for courts to help resolve that issue in favor of religious speech," Sasser says. 

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