I don’t know the details yet. Buuuttttt … it appears the Supremes have ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby and against the HHS Mandate. The ruling, as I understand it (haven’t read it yet) is very narrow. It says: 1. Closely held corporations (i.e., non public, “family” corporations 2. Do not have to abide by the contraceptive portion of the HHS Mandate 3. Due to First Amendment protections of religious freedom. I have been told that is was a... Read more
The United States Department of State issued a report on human trafficking. The report singled out Pope Francis’ strong condemnation of human trafficking for praise. Read more
But … it’s the law! You must follow the law! That’s the com box battle cry whenever the topic of Hobby Lobby or the baker who has no problems serving gay people, but just doesn’t want to bake a wedding cake for a gay wedding, due to his religious beliefs. This argument also gets trotted out whenever a high school senior mentions God in his or her graduation speech. Now Boulder Colorado’s court clerk, Hillary Hall, is going renegade and... Read more
Congressman Frank Lucas has been getting elected to represent Oklahoma’s 3rd District for a long time now. I am acquainted with Congressman Lucas, and I have to say, he’s always seemed real enough to me. Frank Lucas’ erstwhile opponent in the recent Republican primary, Timothy Ray Murray, evidently saw something in the Congressman that slipped right past me. Even though Congressman Lucas garnered 82.8% of the total vote, and even though Mr Murray only got a teensy 5.2% of... Read more
The Guardian reports that Meriam Ibrahim is safe at the United States Embassy in Sudan. Her husband, Daniel Wani, spoke with Agence France-Presse by phone. The Guardian story does not make it clear whether the charges against Mrs Ibrahim have been dismissed. It says that she was released from police custody on the condition that she remain in Sudan. That sounds to me like she is still not in the clear. She was charged with forgery because she attempted... Read more
It’s about time. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of he Faith has ordered Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski to be stripped of the priesthood. This order came after a canonical trial. According to an article from Reuters, the Holy See has indicated that “criminal proceedings by Vatican judicial authorities would begin once the sentence was confirmed. If found guilty in a criminal trial, Mr Wesolowski could risk extradition to the Dominican Republic.” Mr Wesolowski is the former Vatican nuncio to... Read more
Members of the Supreme Court seem to be thinking alike. Yesterday, they handed down a unanimous decision requiring search warrants before law enforcement can go through cell phones. Today, they handed down another unanimous decision overturning a Massachusetts law that requires protestors at abortion clinics to stand back 35 feet from the clinic. The Court ruled that the 35-foot protest-free zone violates the First Amendment. I don’t know if this is a harbinger of a court that is reconsidering... Read more
Meriam Ibrahim has not been freed. The story I posted earlier was incorrect. She was arrested once again while she and her family were at the airport, awaiting a flight to leave the country. According to The Independent, the new charge is that she was using a passport obtained from South Sudan. Sudan does not recognize her as a South Sudanese citizen because it does not recognize her marriage to her Christian husband. Her husband has South-Sudan/American citizenship. Mrs... Read more
So, I got up this morning. Opened my bedroom door. And stepped into water. I slip-slopped my way down the hall and around to the kitchen. It was water, water, everywhere; water running the full length of the hall, and all over the kitchen. The hall toilet (they call it a “powder room” in the magazines) was stopped up and running, full-tilt. Ewwwwww. I unstopped the toliet, used every dirty towel in the hamper (they’re in the washing machine with... Read more
The most important thing we can do to stand for religious liberty today is to take action in support of Meriam Ibrahim, who has been detained — again — and charged — again — with a crime related to her conversion to Christianity. Mrs Ibrahim is being held at a Khartoum police station. This time, she’s charged with using a “forged” passport. According to reports in The Independent, the government of Sudan is refusing to recognize her passport because... Read more
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