State of Belief remains in production!
You’ve probably heard that Air America, State of Belief’s former network, has filed for bankruptcy and …
Read MoreSpring Newsletter 10
Something is rotten in the state of Texas
On March 11th, the Texas State Board of Education (Texas SBOE) voted on a variety of amendments to the state social studies, world history and U.S. government curricula. Prepare to be appalled at the outcomes. As reported by the Texas Freedom Network, the Board voted to:
– Remove Thomas Jefferson from the world history curriculum on the impact of Enlightenment thinkers;
– Include exploration of the right to bear arms in the curriculum on First Amendment rights and free expression;
– Strike down an amendment that would have required students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.”
– Include exploration of the right to bear arms in the curriculum on First Amendment rights and free expression;
– Strike down an amendment that would have required students to “examine the reasons the Founding Fathers protected religious freedom in America by barring government from promoting or disfavoring any particular religion over all others.”
Religious freedom for all – except our troops?
Servicemen and women are often viewed as “ultimate” Americans. Their patriotism drives them not only to perform a citizen’s basic duties, but to take on the additional responsibility of physically putting themselves between the rights and freedoms of Americans and those who would alter or restrict those freedoms. It’s logical to assume that such champions would themselves be beneficiaries of the things they defend but, when it comes to religious freedom in the military, this isn’t always the case.
A Letter from Welton
“Did you accomplish anything this week?” That question is posed to me every weekend by one or more people. Often the answer is “yes,” though my sense of accomplishment varies. Earlier this month, on March 9th, that query raced through my head as I spent most of the day in a meeting in an office of the White House. The accomplishment made that day, a step in the right direction for the ever-controversial faith-based initiative, was a small one; however, it involved far more than that single day. It required an investment of focused attention, persistent action, research, commentary and advocacy that began in 1999 and stretches ahead of us still.
About a year ago, I was asked to serve on President Obama’s Task Force on Reform of the Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The assignment of the task force was to recommend steps for bringing that office more in line with the Constitution.
Since the establishment of the “faith-based” office in 1999, when presidential candidates in both major political parties voiced support for allowing government funds to flow into religious organizations to support faith-based social ministries, I have been calling for its closure. The establishment of an initiative with such opportunity to compromise the First Amendment within the executive branch of our government posed an unprecedented threat to our nation’s fidelity to religious freedom – our determination to keep religion and government separate and the free exercise of religion guaranteed us all.
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Military arms no place for scripture
Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ found on military equipment? It seems like something you might read about in a Dan Brown novel. But earlier this year, an ABC News investigation discovered these references on rifle sights used by the U.S. military.
A troubling discovery to say the least, and an outrageous affront to the boundaries of religious freedom defined and protected by our First Amendment. These gun sights, manufactured by Trijicon, do no favors for the U.S. military, Christianity or any other religion. When the Bible verses on these sights came to light, Interfaith Alliance took a leading public role in calling for their removal and other significant and immediate changes in the U.S. military to better protect the religious freedom of our service men and women, and to prevent the misrepresentation of our nation’s priorities abroad.
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Spotlight on…Norma Cohen: An Interfaith Life Well Lived
In February, we lost one of Interfaith Alliance’s great organizers. Norma Cohen, a retired clinical social …
Read MoreLEADD celebrates its fifth anniversary
In 2005, when a small group of students, volunteer faculty and staff met in Tennessee to discuss the lack of what folks used to call “civics” in our public schools, they didn’t know that five years later they would have built a program that encompassed 156 alumni from more than 25 faith traditions, including those adhering to no faith tradition. Through this program, which became LEADD (Leadership Education Advancing Democracy & Diversity) in 2006, high school students have been immersed in the history of the First Amendment, particularly its Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, discussing religious pluralism in America and how our common future is dependent upon an appreciation of our diversity.