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America’s Quest for Religious Freedom
By Gregory W. Hamilton
Published in Liberty Magazine May/June 2013
In the sweltering summer of 1789, James Madison penned sixteen words in spare prose that became the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Herein the founding fathers of a young government pledged separation of church and state, thus guaranteeing religious freedom for its citizens and establishing a free marketplace for religion in the United States. Utterly unprecedented in Western history, this construction of a government without the interlocking authority of religion set a new course for faith and politics and has produced a vibrant religious culture unmatched anywhere in the world. First Freedom details the progression of religious liberty from pilgrims and Puritans to the creation of the Bill of Rights and how it shaped a new nation. – From Randall Balmer in his companion book for the PBS Special, “First Freedom: The Fight for Religious Liberty”
The Postmodern Debate Over Church and State
When it comes to understanding the constitutional principles of the separation of church and state, and the free exercise of religion, what is the truth? In today’s passionate melee over the Health and Human Services’ Contraception Mandate—or whether it be the issues of Gay Marriage, School Prayer, the placement of Ten Commandment monuments in public buildings, or the direct funding of federal and state funds into private and religious schools—factions on the religious and political Left and Right are co-opting and invoking the nation’s Constitutional Founders. Many summon them ignorantly and incredulously. More...
Address by Ambassador Bennett at Religious Liberty Dinner
April 18, 2013 - Washington, D.C.
Religious freedom does not just mean freedom to worship. It also means freedom to study one’s faith; freedom to preach it; freedom to engage in missionary activity; freedom to change one’s faith and— yes—freedom to hold no religious beliefs.
As many of you know, the need for action in defending freedom of religion in many countries is urgent. Religious persecution is on the rise around the world. We are called upon to act and to defend the human rights of all. We must do so, because religious freedom is not a theological issue, it is a human issue. Every society must recognize the basic human dignity of all, regardless of faith. We all possess free will. We must have the freedom to exercise this in matters of faith... More
Rising Tide of Restrictions on Religion
Summary of Findings
A rising tide of restrictions on religion spread across the world between mid-2009 and mid-2010, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Restrictions on religion rose in each of the five major regions of the world – including in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, the two regions where overall restrictions previously had been declining. More...
Full report of the statistical survey by Pew Forum
Romanian Conscience & Liberty Association Partners With City Hall
Conscience and Liberty Association, Romania in partnership with Lugoj City Hall, organized Monday, March 11, 2013 a symposium entitled Religious Liberty or Religious Tolerance. The round table was attended by representatives from churches and government from Lugoj, and took place in the city hall council’s chambers, and featured Gregory Hamilton, President of the NW Religious Liberty Association from the USA. More...
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POLITICS
• Statue of Rosa Parks Is Unveiled at the Capitol: More than half a century after Rosa Parks helped kindle the civil rights movement by refusing to give up her seat ... More
• Church, State, and the Postal Service: The Contentious History of Sunday Mail Delivery... More
• Postal Service Will End Saturday Delivery by August. The financially struggling U.S. Postal Service announced Wednesday that it plans to stop delivering mail on Saturdays starting the week of... More
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RELIGION
• Judge to decide Alaska Native religious defense in fishing trials With salmon beginning their annual migration back to the sea into Alaska waterways, nearly two dozen fishermen from Western Alaska... More
• Do Catholics Represent Evangelicals in America’s Legal Elite? At the Center for Law and Religion Forum, University of Michigan law professor Dan Crane has been doing an interesting series of posts on the under-representation of Evangelicals within America’s legal... More
• Southern Baptist Leaders Address Military Religious Liberty Worries. On recent worries about the curtailment of religious liberty in the armed forces... More
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FOREIGN AFFAIRS
• In Romania, Adventists launch ‘Freedom Caravan’ to defend religious liberty. As Romanian legislators consider changes to the national constitution, the Seventh-day Adventist Church is sponsoring ... More
• Kerry defends liberties, says Americans have "right to be stupid." Secretary of State John Kerry offered a defense of freedom of speech, religion and thought in the United States on Tuesday telling German students that in America "you have a right... More
• How China Plans to Wipe Out House Churches. China's Christians felt a noticeable rise in persecution in 2012 as the Communist government began the first of a three-phase plan to eradicate... More
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JURISPRUDENCE
• Massachusetts High Court to Consider “Under God” in pledge.The Supreme Court of Massachusetts has agreed to hear a dispute over the requirement that school children recite the Pledge of Allegiance with the phrase “under God.” More
• A Closer Look at the Contraceptive Coverage Lawsuits.Over 35 lawsuits have been filed by corporations challenging the Health and Human Services regulation requiring that most health plans cover contraceptives... More
• Contraception and Religious Liberty. Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, prominent Republicans and other social conservatives have spent the past year making inflammatory allegations that an Obama administration rule requiring employer health plans to cover birth control... More
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LEGISLATION
• Michigan enacts right-to-work law, dealing blow to unions. Michigan enacted far-reaching legislation Tuesday that threatens to cripple the power of organized labor in a state... More
• After 50 years, confusion remains over school prayer. Someone personally familiar with two of three landmark U.S. Supreme Court cases involving prayer and Bible reading in public schools wonders why 50 years later... More
• Preserve Marriage Washington: Referendum 74 has been officially certified to the 2012 fall ballot... More
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EDUCATION
• The great divide: separation of church and state.Florida bill would foolishly allow government to fund religious institutions... More
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HISTORY
• Was Jefferson for Jesus? Our Founding Father's Religious Resume. During our recent 2012 partisan campaign, with its familiar bipolar rhetoric regarding religion, we inevitably heard calls upon Jesus and the Founding Fathers, the latter... More
• How R.I.’s Roger Williams gave us Thanksgiving as we know it. Americans are confused about Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims whose Plymouth feast generates the story are remembered as pioneers of freedom of conscience, brave souls who crossed an ocean for the sake of religious liberty. Not quite... More
• Massachusetts Law Against Quakers. Religion was taken seriously in the seventeenth century in Europe and America because most people still believed that their faith dealt with issues of truth, not simply the opinions of men.... More
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