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The entrance to El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in El Reno, Oklahoma, July 16, 2015, as US President Barack Obama arrives for a visit. Obama is the first sitting US President to visit a federal prison, in a push to reform one of the most expensive and crowded prison systems in the world

Prisons Now Recognize ‘Humanism’ As Religion

The most recent example is the inclusion of “humanism” as a religion in federal prisons, with the corresponding rights to time and space for activities, visits by humanist chaplains and access to literature and study materials. Often used as a code word for atheism, humanism, or “secular humanism,” refers to a unifying philosophy of life that seeks meaning in human events without reference to spiritual or non-material realities.

Afolabi Sotunde/Reuters

USCIRF Sounds Alarm on Nigeria Crisis, Urges Obama to Take Action

Hundreds of people have been killed in attacks by the jihadist group Boko Haram and in sectarian violence in the Middle Belt during the past two months, and emphasizes the intensification of Boko Haram attacks since the start of Ramadan. “The July 20 meeting in Washington D.C. between President Barack Obama and Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari offers both nations the opportunity to reinvigorate their commitment to, and develop initiatives that would, help curb both types of violence,” the statement says.

REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Drawing the Battle Lines for Religious Liberty and Same Sex Marriage

Kelly Shackelford’s debate with Evan Wolfson on Fox News Sunday highlights the battle lines for religious liberty in America now that the Supreme Court has grossly overstepped its authority by declaring gay marriage a constitutional right. This war will center on whether religious liberty extends to how you earn your living, get an education, and run a business.

Everton Bailey Jr./The Oregonian via AP

Oregon Official Silences Christian Cake Bakers Who’re Accused of ‘Mental Rape’ by Gay Couple

Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian upheld a preliminary finding that sentenced Aaron and Melissa Klein, the Christian bakers who refused to make a cake for a same-sex wedding, to a fine of $135,000 in emotional damages to the homosexual couple they denied service, but also added a new provision forbidding them to speak about their unwillingness to serve a gay marriage.

Gay Marriage White House Lit

ACLU: ‘We Can No Longer Support Federal Religious Freedom Law’

The ACLU — whose stated mission was once “to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States” — now states that while the organization supported the RFRA when it was passed, “we can no longer support the law in its current form” because “it is now often used as a sword to discriminate against women, gay and transgender people and others.”

Anthony Devlin/PA Wire URN:21012772 (Press Association via AP Images)

Connecticut’s Best Kept Secret Could Be Its Religious Liberty Exemptions Against Same-Sex Marriage

In April of 2009, the Connecticut state legislature amended a law to codify same-sex marriage to read that churches and religious groups cannot be forced “to provide services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privileges” to a same-sex marriage, or be forced to “provide adoption, foster care or social services” to a same-sex marriage.