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CSC Calendar
TUCSON, AZ
Desert Valley Church
Date: April 5
Time: 11:00am & 4:00pm
Speaker: Alan Reinach
TUCSON, AZ
Desert Valley Church
Date: April 5
Time: 12:30pm
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY LEADERS' LUNCHEON
PASSOVER SEDER MEAL
Canoga Park Church
Date: April 19
Time: 12:30pm
Cost: $25.00
Call to Register!
805-413-7396
LOMA LINDA, CA
Loma Linda Filipino Church
Date: May 2
Time: 7:30pm
Speaker: Alan Reinach
LOMA LINDA, CA
Campus Hill Church
Date: May 3
Time: 11:00am
Speaker: Alan Reinach
LOMA LINDA, CA
Loma Linda Thai Church
Date: May 3
Time: 2:00pm
Speaker: Alan Reinach
HONOLULU, HAWAII
Hawaii Festival of Religious Freedom
Date: July 12 & 13, 2008
Honolulu Central Seventh-day Adventist Church
Special Guest Speakers include:
- Ted Wilson, General Conference Vice President
- John Graz, Executive Director, International Religious Liberty Association,
- J. Brent Walker, Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
Freedom’s Ring
Radio Broadcast
Schedule
Creation and Religious Freedom, Part 2
Nicholas
Miller, Esq., director of the Andrews University International
Religious Freedom Institute, on the doctrine of creation and its
relationship to the civil and religious liberties protected under the
U.S. Constitution.
Broadcast Date:
March 1, 2008
Religious Liberty and the Gospel
Host, Alan J. Reinach, Esq., discusses how our modern concepts of religious freedom are based on the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Broadcast Date:
March 8, 2008
Free Exercise of Religion: What it's all about?
James Standish, Esq., Director of the North American Religious Liberty Association, discusses his chapter in the new book, Politics and Prophecy, explaining the principles of free exercise of religion.
Broadcast Date:
March 15, 2008
Politics and Prophecy: Marching to the Call of History
Professor
of History and Political Studies, at Columbia Union College, Douglas
Morgan, discussing the role of the United States in biblical prophecy,
and his contributing chapter in a new book.
Broadcast date:
March 22, 2008
An American Ayatollah?
Dr.
Jonathan Gallagher, Deputy Secretary General of the International
Religious Liberty Association, discusses his chapter in the book, Politics and Prophecy, on the dangers of Dominionism.
Broadcast date:
March 29, 2008
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Volume 1, no. 2, March 2008
In This Issue...
Homeschooling Declared Illegal in California
A
California appeals court held recently that parents have no
constitutional right to home school their children, and that only
parents who possess state teaching credentials are eligible to teach at
home. Read more...
False Sunday Law Rumors
Whenever
we receive information relating to Sunday laws, we examine the
information diligently and extensively. In addition to reacting to
information sent to us, we proactively monitor legislative developments
on Capitol Hill and attend many meetings with a wide variety of
entities at which prospective legislation is discussed. Read more...
Liberty Magazine to the Rescue
Pacific
Union College was up against the proverbial wall. A powerful coalition
including well-heeled agricultural interests [translate: “wine money”]
coupled with those who want to preserve Angwin’s unique character
pressed to amend the Napa County General Plan in order to prevent the
college from pursuing plans for an “ecovillage.” Read more...
First Immigration Rights Seminar in Watsonville
People
came from as far away as San Francisco to attend the first Immigration
Rights Seminar sponsored by the Department of Public Affairs &
Religious Liberty on January 26th. The Watsonville Spanish
Adventist church was packed with hundreds of people from the community
and from Adventist churches near and far. Read more...
New Liberty Sermon Now Available Online
Read more...
 Homeschooling Declared Illegal in California
By Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
A California appeals court held recently that parents have no
constitutional right to home school their children, and that only
parents who possess state teaching credentials are eligible to teach at
home. The decision has generated widespread press coverage, and
considerable concern among both homeschooling parents, and those who
value parental rights. You can read the decision for yourself at http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/B192878.PDF.
Home School Legal Defense Association has already created a petition to
“decertify” the decision, and is preparing to ask the California
Supreme Court to decertify. If successful, this would mean that the
decision will apply only to the family involved in the actual case, and
will have no precedential value for homeschooling generally. Failing to
decertify the decision, an appeal is almost sure to follow.
Unfortunately, we lawyers have a saying that “bad facts make bad law,”
and this is not a good case to send up to the Supreme Court to ask it
to determine the fate and status of homeschooling in California. The
lower court judge held that the parents were not providing the children
with a good education. It would make a much stronger case if the
Supreme Court were asked to rule in favor of parents who were providing
their children with an exemplary education.
It is unlikely that government authorities will act hastily to enforce
the decision, or to institute a “crackdown” on homeschooling. Press
reports seem to bear this out. The homeschool movement is very well
organized, and government officials would face significant resistance
and opposition if they attempted to act prematurely. So those who are
currently homeschooling need not lose sleep wondering if there will be
a knock on the door. Such enforcement especially seems unlikely in
light of the statement issued by California Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger on Friday, March 7th:
"Every
California child deserves a quality education and parents should have
the right to decide what’s best for their children. Parents should not
be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's
education. This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts and
if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials,
we will.”
The
court’s decision is based on a flawed understanding of the nature of
government, and it ought to provide citizens an opportunity to reassert
their most basic rights under a “republican” form of governance. Under
our constitution, rights reside in the people and are not granted
either by the government or our constitutions. We the people are the
repository of both original power and rights. The California
constitution provides the state with authority to provide education. It
does not grant the state exclusive authority over education.
The court’s opinion begins by quoting the state constitution, Article
IX, section 1: “A general diffusion of knowledge and intelligence being
essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the
people, the Legislature shall encourage by all suitable means the
promotion of intellectual, scientific, moral, and agricultural
improvement.”
Nothing in the California Constitution deprives parents of their
primary right and duty of providing an education to their children. To
read the constitution otherwise is to deprive citizens of a republican
form of government, which itself is guaranteed by the U.S.
Constitution. A republican form of government, at a minimum, must
respect the fact that original power and rights reside in the people,
and that the state does not possess unbounded or original
authority.
The court’s opinion also implicates one of the fundamental problems
hindering education reform: so long as parents are told that the
state will educate their children, parents are all too willing to
relinquish their responsibilities, and remain uninvolved in their kids’
education. A public high school teacher recently told me that he has
contact annually with about six parents of some 160 students that he
teaches. I don’t see how we can begin to reverse the problems in public
education without first enlisting parents, and teaching parents that
they have the primary obligation to educate their kids. Schools are a
resource to parents, but not a substitute for parental
involvement.
In the end, it seems likely that the homeschooling decision will lead
to some tighter regulation of homeschooling in California. Clearly, the
state does have authority to enact reasonable regulations to protect
children, and to see that they are provided with an adequate education.
The right of parents to educate their children ought to be respected,
but this does not mean respecting the right of parents to provide an
inadequate education. Of course, how the standards are established, and
how they are enforced provides much opportunity for both debate and
mischief. So it remains true that eternal vigilance is still the price
of liberty. Please stay tuned. The best source for homeschoolers
continues to be Private and Home Educators of California, www.pheofca.org.
(back to top)
 False Sunday Law Rumors
By James Standish
Whenever we receive information relating to Sunday laws, we examine the
information diligently and extensively. In addition to reacting to
information sent to us, we proactively monitor legislative developments
on Capitol Hill and attend many meetings with a wide variety of
entities at which prospective legislation is discussed. Further, we
undertake extensive research. For example, our team performed an
extensive review of Sunday laws in every U.S. state and the District of
Columbia, culminating in a 421-page report detailing every existing
state Sunday law.
When we receive information about Sunday laws from individual sources,
our team of dedicated Seventh-day Adventist professionals follow four
steps to evaluate it:
- If
the information contains claims that can be independently verified, we
perform the detailed research necessary to determine whether the claims
are factual.
- We contact the source of the
information directly to invite him or her to speak and/or meet with us
in order to gain perspective on the information.
- If
the source will not speak and/or meet with us, we contact people who
are in contact with the source—for example, his or her church pastor—to
ascertain why the individual refuses to communicate directly with our
Church’s religious liberty team and whether there are any indications
as to the credibility of the source.
- We review
our first-hand observation of the process on Capitol Hill, we speak
with personal contacts, and we access a variety of printed sources to
ascertain whether there are associated movements.
In short, we take information on Sunday laws very seriously and we follow a rigorous path to evaluate it.
Currently, there are two Sunday law rumors circulating in the
Seventh-day Adventist Church. We have run both of these through our
four-step process and, after this serious review, find both to be
unreliable at this point.
The first rumor claims that there was a secret meeting in Washington,
DC last November to plan for the passage of a Sunday law. We checked
every specific claim that accompanied this rumor and every one of them
proved false. The meeting did not occur at the site claimed, and the
high-profile individuals who allegedly attended the meeting are
documented to be in other locations at the time. After we made our
investigation public, the rumor morphed. The new rumor contained no
claims that could be independently verified. Our invitation to the
source of the rumor to meet with us has not been accepted. There has
been no Sunday law bill introduced in the subsequent four months and
our research has turned up no evidence that would tend to corroborate
the rumor. Rather, the closer we have looked at the situation
surrounding the rumor, the more it appears to be false.
The person who is the source of the current claim also circulated
another Sunday law claim approximately seven years ago. Once again, we
vigorously researched the elements that could be verified and found
each one to be inaccurate. In the seven years since that claim, no
Sunday law has been introduced in Congress.
The second rumor currently circulating is that the Pope will urge the
passage of a Sunday law when he is in Washington, DC in the near
future. The source of this rumor is the same as above. We have once
again followed our four-step process and to date have found nothing to
corroborate the claim.
The Seventh-day Adventist religious liberty team is dedicated to
advancing the cause of religious liberty and the gospel, including the
Three Angels Messages. We take Sunday laws very seriously, diligently
research any information we receive, and proactively search for
information on Sunday laws. When we receive credible information on
religious liberty matters, whether it is on Sunday laws or other
religious liberty matters, we use every avenue available to us to share
it promptly with our church family as a whole.
James Standish
Public Affairs & Religious Liberty
General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
Sunday Law Rumor – Additional Thoughts
By Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
God’s message for these last days is not premised on any “secret”
information, as Greg Hamilton, president of the Northwest Religious
Liberty Association, has emphasized. The everlasting gospel, the mark
of the beast, the fall of Babylon – these messages are proclaimed with
a loud voice by God’s messengers. There is nothing secret about it. The
idea that Adventists have given wide circulation to a report from a
single source, and have gotten very excited about the prospects of
secret plans for a Sunday law, is very unfortunate. It tends to bring
discredit upon the entire church. The final issues in the Great
Controversy will be very public.
Meanwhile, in my afternoon seminars, and occasionally during morning
sermons, I have asked Adventist members if they could explain the Three
Angels’ Messages in plain English to an inquiring neighbor. The short
answer is: no, the vast majority of those whom I have preached to
cannot do so. How is it that we can claim to believe in the three
angels’ messages, yet be so ignorant about what they are? I will put
the challenge to you, dear reader. Explain each of the three messages
in plain English. No particular word limit, certainly not more than 100
words per message, preferably less. If I get some replies worth
posting, please indicate whether we have permission to post on our
website, because I would be happy to do so.
My point is simply this: rather than get excited about secret
information that we cannot conclusively prove, one way or the other,
let us become diligent about studying the prophetic insight God has
given to us, and get excited about the truth. Then, let’s share present
truth with our friends and neighbors, so we can go home! For more on my
own perspectives on present truth, check out the sermons I have been
preaching, posted on www.churchstate.org.
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Liberty Magazine to the Rescue
By Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
Pacific
Union College was up against the proverbial wall. A powerful coalition
including well-heeled agricultural interests [translate: “wine money”]
coupled with those who want to preserve Angwin’s unique character
pressed to amend the Napa County General Plan in order to prevent the
college from pursuing plans for an “ecovillage.” The proposed
development would upgrade commercial facilities and provide added
residential housing, including much needed low income housing, and
would add 17 acres to the development footprint of the community. It
would utilize state-of-the-art building and conservation techniques to
minimize its environmental impact. Yet, the jury had already decided
that this project should not be evaluated on its own merits, and must
be blocked at all costs.
The cost to Pacific Union
College was to be substantial, for amending the General Plan would not
only block this project, but threatened to severely restrict its
property and development rights.
At the eleventh hour, it appeared that the college was going to lose
the fight. The tide was turning against it among the Napa County Board
of Supervisors. It was then that Liberty magazine came to the rescue!
College president Richard Osborn was flying home from a meeting, and
browsing through a recent issue of Liberty magazine, happened to read a
story about a land use case involving the Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act enacted by Congress in 2000 after several
years of testimony highlighted the growing problem faced by religious
institutions in the local land use approval process. President Osborn
suggested to college lawyers that they investigate the RLUIPA issues.
When they professed to lack expertise in this area, he suggested that
they contact the church’s religious liberty representatives, whom he
knew were knowledgeable.
I had the privilege to consult on the issue, and to help craft a RLUIPA
argument and letter to the Napa County Attorney, with very able
assistance from Nicholas Miller, Esq., director of the Andrews
University International Religious Liberty Institute. It was widely
acknowledged that this legal analysis saved the day for Pacific Union
College. It gave county officials pause. During that pause, they
realized that the college was entitled to have its development plans
considered on their own merits; that the future of the “urban bubble”
in Angwin should be evaluated with the other urban bubbles in the
county; and according to principles and practices that apply
consistently throughout the county.
Some apparently do not understand the federal statute, RLUIPA, or how
the amendment of the Napa General Plan can raise religious freedom
issues. They see the issue in secular, not religious terms. RLUIPA
requires that religious institutions be given equal treatment with
other institutions. The proposed amendments to the General Plan were
designed to restrict the development rights of only Pacific Union
College, and it that way, did not constitute equal treatment. There is
no question but that county officials both understood and gave careful
consideration to these legal principles. Moreover, despite press
coverage claiming that the college had threatened to sue the county,
county officials did not express fear that the college was threatening
to sue. Indeed, we had the opportunity to remind county officials that
we are here to serve the community, not to fight with it.
There is no guarantee that the College will no prevail in its
development plans, or that the project will not have to be
substantially modified or reduced before it can be approved. There is a
key environmental review process that will have enormous influence on
the final outcome. All of the concerns expressed by those who oppose
the project will be heard at the proper time and place, as the specific
project is evaluated. This is how the land use process is supposed to
work.
Thanks to Liberty magazine, Napa County has decided in favor of
fundamental fairness toward this venerable religious institution,
Pacific Union College, a good neighbor and member of the county
community for more than a hundred years.
Should your church or religious institution be facing a difficult
development process, it would be well to consult with religious freedom
attorneys at an early stage in the proceedings, to insure that the
relevant legal principles are followed.
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First Immigration Rights Seminar in Watsonville
By Alan J. Reinach, Esq.
People came from as far away as San Francisco to attend the first
Immigration Rights Seminar sponsored by the Department of Public
Affairs & Religious Liberty on January 26th.
The Watsonville Spanish Adventist church was packed with hundreds of
people from the community and from Adventist churches near and far.
PARL Director Alan Reinach opened the meeting with a rousing
charge: “no right is an island” he declared. “If your rights as
immigrants can be destroyed, my religious liberty can be destroyed. Our
rights stand or fall together.” He encouraged those who care about
their rights to be informed, and get involved in defending all of our
freedoms.
Susan Saylor, an attorney from the
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, gave the first
presentation, a survey of state laws that protect all who live in
California from discrimination in housing and employment. She was
followed by Adventist immigration attorney, Samuel Hernandez, from
Riverside, California, who gave an overview of the immigration laws,
and highlighted some specific problem areas. Interest was very high,
and the audience peppered the panelists with questions for more than an
hour. Pastor Luis Rendon translated for the monolingual panelists.
Preceding the Immigration Rights Seminar, Alan Reinach preached on
religious liberty in the morning, and presented a sundown vespers, “The
Sheep and the Goats” in the afternoon. Following the morning sermon and
baptism, ten people stood in response to Pastor Rendon’s invitation for
baptism. During the vespers service, Reinach read the parable of the
sheep and the goats in Matthew 25, where Jesus declares that those who
will be in the kingdom fed him, clothed him, and took him in when he
was a stranger. Reinach insisted that one true measure of whether
America is a Christian nation is our attitude and treatment of
“strangers.” In light of the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10,
Reinach observed that in Jesus’ eyes, there are no strangers – all of
us are brothers and sisters of Christ, for whom He died.
There has been strong interest in future Immigration Rights Seminars,
and plans are being developed for additional programs in San Diego,
Riverside and Phoenix. To host an Immigration Rights seminar in your
church, please contact Alan Reinach at mrliberty@churchstate.org, or call 805-413-7396.
New Sermon Available!
"Will the Real Christian America Please Stand Up?"
In a new sermon, posted on www.churchstate.org,
Alan Reinach provides substantial background on the historical
foundations of and carefully debunks the idea that the founding fathers
intended for the nation to be publicly and officially Christian. He
goes on to ask whether a Christian America engages in torture, spying
on its own citizens, indefinite detentions of citizens and immigrants
alike, pre-emptive wars and the restriction of civil and religious
liberty. He insists that the real Christian America takes a "lamb-like"
approach to power, protecting civil and religious freedom, and
respecting the Protestant principle that in matters of conscience, the
majority has no power. He asks listeners to stand with him in defense
of the real Christian America, and to do so, by joining the North
American Religious Liberty Association.
You can
read the sermon on our website. For information on having a religious
liberty speaker in your church, please contact mrliberty@churchstate.org, or call 805-413-7396.
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