With Wednesday’s expiration of the Congressional mandate for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), the American Catholic bishops have formally petitioned Congress to reinstate it.
To many observers, it may seem strange that the Vatican would choose to keep a secret of what has been called “the most significant meeting” of the Pope’s entire trip to the United States: his 15-minute encounter with Kentucky County Clerk,
Pope Francis says that he had wanted to remind U.S. leaders “that the greatest wealth of the country and its people are its spiritual and ethical heritage,” built on the founding principle “that all men are created equal by God and endowed with inalienable rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”
When asked about religious liberty aboard the papal plane during his return trip from the United States to Rome, Francis said that “conscientious objection is a right” and “if someone does not allow others to object on the basis of conscience, he denies a right.”
Pope Francis is reminding Americans of the centrality of religious liberty in their lives. During an address in the evocative venue of Philadelphia’s Independence Park, the pontiff called the park “symbolic of the American way.”
Pope Francis says “religious freedom and, more generally, spiritual freedom” are “pillars of integral human development,” his most recent in a chain of appeals for religious liberty during his U.S. visit.
Pope Francis had an unscheduled meeting with the Little Sisters of the Poor, a community of nuns who have been engaged in a major legal battle against the Obama administration’s HHS contraception mandate.
Pope Francis has come out swinging in his very first public address on American soil, telling President Obama that “climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation” while calling religious liberty “one of America’s most precious possessions” that must be defended from all threats.
Over and over again during his four day visit to Cuba, Pope Francis drew attention away from the Castro Revolution of 1958 to the deeper Christian roots of the Cuban nation.
In 1772 Sam Adams wrote “The Rights of the Colonists,” through which he set forth a litmus test for religions that could be tolerated under the new government colonists would form. Adams’ litmus test rules out theocracies like Islam.
Office Depot has formally apologized to a woman who sought to have photocopies made of a pro-life prayer she was to distribute to her parish for a prayer campaign that seeks the conversion of Planned Parenthood.
In a letter to the Thomas More Society public interest law firm, an attorney representing Office Depot says that the pro-life prayer its Schaumburg, Illinois store was asked to photocopy falls within the company’s definition of “hate material.”
Chris Queen’s new book Football, Faith, & Flannery O’Connor: A Love Letter to the South is just what the title promises, a breezy, fast-moving brochure for a somewhat loosely-defined slice of America. One of the most quintessentially Southern things about the South is that it’s not easy to say exactly where it begins and ends.
In an essay appearing Tuesday in The Week, Michael Dougherty suggested that the only appropriate punishment for Kim Davis given her contumacy before the law is to “actually martyr her” by burning her alive.
Christian Evangelist Franklin Graham has called for prayers for refugees flooding into Europe, telling his followers that as a child, Jesus was a refugee in Egypt because his parents had to flee from Nazareth to avoid the murderous wrath of King Herod.
Christopher Ciccone, brother of pop superstar Madonna, unleashed a strongly-worded defense of Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, who was jailed last week for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses due to her religious beliefs.
While Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk Kim Davis is in jail for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses, more than 30 magistrates in North Carolina have legally refused to perform weddings for gay couples.
A federal judge ordered county court clerk Kim Davis to jail for contempt Thursday for refusing to issue same-sex marriage licenses on the grounds that to do so violated her religious beliefs.
Conservative radio host and author Mark Levin says GOP 2016 contender Carly Fiorina should denounce the activist Supreme Court for its legalization of same-sex marriage nationwide, rather than advise a Christian county clerk refusing to issue same-sex licenses to either perform her government job or quit.
China’s most prominent Christian lawyer, Zhang Kai, who defended and gave legal counsel to a number of Christian churches throughout the country especially against the government’s cross-removal campaign, was carried off by police on August 25 and now faces up to six months of secretive detention.
Former Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) delivered a fiery religious speech tying his beliefs to the anti-Washington message of his presidential campaign, and seeking to tap into some of the anger and unrest among Republican primary voters. He joined a crowd of over 10,000 in Columbia, South Carolina, this weekend for a religious liberty rally on the steps of the state capitol.
In a new study, the liberal protestant Public Religion Research Institute claims erroneously that Catholics are left-wing when it comes to gay marriage, climate change, and even abortion.
After his traditional Angelus message on Sunday, Pope Francis launched a heartfelt appeal on behalf of persecuted Christians in the Middle East, saying that there are more Christians killed for their faith today than during the brutal persecutions by the Roman Empire.
The U.S. ambassador to the Vatican said that during Pope Francis’ visit to the United States next month, he expects the Pope will urge the U.S. to embrace its history of welcoming immigrants.
Republican presidential contender Ted Cruz says he plans to launch a grassroots campaign that will defund Planned Parenthood in all 50 states and prosecute all criminal violations by the nation’s largest abortion provider.
While manning a grill at the Iowa State Fair on Friday, Sen. Ted Cruz was ambushed by lesbian actress Ellen Page and ended up debating homosexuality and religious freedom, unaware of who she really was.
In some of his sharpest language to date, Pope Francis condemned global violence against Christians on Thursday in a letter to the vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Maroun Lahham.
In a strongly worded statement to American Catholics, Pope Francis declared that marriage between one man and one woman is “under attack from powerful cultural forces,”
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.
According to a recent AP-GFK poll, support for gay marriage among U.S. citizens has dropped six percentage points since their last poll in April, with more Americans disapproving of the Supreme Court ruling making gay marriage the law of the land than those approving it.
Provincial authorities in Zhejiang have confiscated the official seal of the local Christian Council, which is necessary to issue valid official documents, after the council released a statement earlier this month criticizing the government campaign to remove church crosses.
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.
Officials are responding to the Supreme Court ruling in June that required every state to recognize same-sex marriages.
In what some are decrying as another blow to religious freedom in America, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the Little Sisters of the Poor must comply with the HHS mandate that requires their health insurance carriers to subsidize contraceptive and some abortion services for employees or face onerous fines from the IRS.
In a statement Monday, the archbishop likened the decision to the principle of “truth in advertising,” saying that schools describing themselves as Catholic “take on the responsibility of teaching and witnessing the Catholic faith in a manner true to Catholic belief. There’s nothing complicated or controversial in this. It’s a simple matter of honesty.”
Gov. Beshear told county clerk Casey Davis Thursday that he should issue same-sex marriage licenses or resign, reports Kentucky.com. Davis said he is refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples because same-sex marriage is against his religious beliefs, and he is also refusing to resign his post.
The Communist government of Shanghai has mandated that Catholic priests and nuns of the diocese undergo “reeducation” classes on the central theme of the National Congress of the Communist Party.
Actress Candace Cameron-Bure shocked the panel of The View Tuesday, when she vigorously defended the Christian owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, who refused to make a cake for a gay wedding and were subsequently served a $135,000 fine and a gag order.
A Wisconsin atheist group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation has sued the government to have a World War II memorial affectionately known as “Big Mountain Jesus” removed from a Montana ski slope, insisting that the monument signifies an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the Forest Service.
Gov. Sam Brownback (R) of Kansas is acting to protect clergy and religious organizations from punishment for refusing to recognize or provide services for same-sex marriages.
