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Religious Freedom
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
More than 30 years ago, Ivanir dos Santos began combating racial discrimination and promoting rights of members of minority groups; he has never faltered in that mission. Today a priest of the much-discriminated-against Candomblé religion, Mr. dos Santos’ most visible achievement is the “Walk in Defense of Religious Freedom” in Rio de Janeiro. The walk has become “an annual event that draws some 50,000 participants from diverse religious backgrounds, including Candomblé, Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Spiritualists, and atheists.”
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that a 40-foot-high cross honoring residents of the Maryland town of Bladensburg killed in World War I will be allowed to remain on the public land for which it has stood for almost one hundred years.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
It was a big event: on its final day, a participant reported, “Close to 900 members of civil society and religious groups attended. By my count, we had 36 panels and 186 speakers over those two days (give or take a few). Over 100 governments coming today!”
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
In the weeks prior to the tragic raid, one such demagogue, the notorious convicted felon Rick Ross of the now defunct Cult Awareness Network, appeared on several network news shows and revealed that he had been “briefing” both the FBI and the ATF with his poisonous rhetoric.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Religion is extremely valuable to society, but only when people are free to examine the subject for themselves and draw the conclusions that seem right to them.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The origins of Islam in the U.S. today trace back to one simple concept, one word, three syllables: sla-ve-ry. When Ilhan Omar joined Rashida Tlaib in the House of Representatives at the beginning of January, 2019, wielding a huge copy of the Quran, she became the first Somali-American in Congress. A person of color and a Muslim, Omar fled Somalia as a child and emigrated to America at the age of 13.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
The case seems simple at first. Dominique Hakim Marcelle Ray was convicted in 1995 of the rape and murder of a 15-year old girl and sentenced to death. Ray subsequently converted to Islam in 2006 while incarcerated. The death sentence was to be carried out Feb.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Reading this recent article about a jailed neo-Nazi trying to hide behind “religious freedom” to protect his hate speech reinforced my faith in our collective ability to differentiate between legitimate arguments and specious ones—between those worth protecting and those who would go to any lengths to hurt others so they themselves could somehow feel strong.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Somewhere, thousands of years before Christ, deep in China, a spark was lit. We don’t know if it was a man or a woman but someone looked away from the pain, toil, and terror of life and saw a light. Religion was born.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM
Probably everyone reading this post has personally observed the large and growing problem of homelessness in the United States. And whatever the cause or causes, we’d all have to agree that the homeless are in need of help.
