Calendar
WASHINGTON, DC
Capitol Hill Summit
Dates: June 17-20
To register: (301) 680-6687 For details, click HERE
CARSON, CA
Carson Spanish SDA
21828 Dolores St,
Carson, CA
310-549-0951
Date: June 27
Time: 11:00am
Speaker: Fabian Carballo
LOS ANGELES, CA
Central Spanish SDA
1366 S. Alvarado St
213-381-1905
Dates: July 3-4
Please call Manuel Arteaga Associate Pastor, for more info: 213-381-1905
JASPER, OR
America at the Prophetic Crossroads
Laurelwood Academy
Dates: July 8-11
37466 Jasper Lowell Road
Download Bulletin or
for more information:
Call: 360-857-7040 or
Freedom’s Ring
Radio Broadcast
Schedule
Rome as Global Peacemaker
Greg Hamilton, President of the Northwest Religious Liberty Association, www.nrla.com.
Broadcast date:
June 6, 2009
Kazhakstan and Afghanistan: Harsh Religious Laws
Joe Grieboski, President of Institute on Religion and Public Policy
www.religionandpolicy.org. Broadcast date:
June 13, 2009
United Nations Resolution Regarding Defamation of Religion
Angela
Wu, International Law Director at the Becket Fund for Religious
Liberty, in Washington, D.C., discusses a series of U.N. Resolutions
that shape international law to the standards of Islamic law, in
forbidding public criticism of religion.
Broadcast date:
June 20, 2009
Fair Housing Act Doesn’t Outlaw Discrimination?
Eric Treene, special counsel for religious discrimination, Civil Rights
Division of the United States Justice Department, discusses a case in
the Seventh Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that the Fair Housing
Act does not apply to discrimination that occurs after the rental or
sale of housing, and its implications for religious freedom.
Broadcast date:
June 27, 2009
Baptist Perspectives on the Separation of Church and State
Barrett Duke, Vice President for Public Affairs, Southern Baptist Committee, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Broadcast date:
July 4, 2009
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In This Issue... Volume 2, No. 4, June 2009
ACTION NEEDED!
URGENTLY NEEDED: JOB APPLICANTS WHO HAVE BEEN REJECTED BECAUSE YOU NEEDED SABBATH ACCOMMODATION
The
summer hiring season is upon us, and hundreds or thousands of Adventist
students are actively seeking work. We know that many will be rejected
by large companies because they indicate their desire for religious
accommodation so that they do not have to work on Sabbath.
Of course, this problem is not limited to students, but is an epidemic impacting job applicants of all ages.
A special variation of this problem is the online application. Some
will automatically reject those who fail to indicate availability 24/7.
We have developed both a legislative and a litigation strategy to
remedy this problem, but we cannot succeed without your help.
If you or someone you know has been rejected in the job application
process after requesting Sabbaths off, please let us know right away.
E-mail Alan Reinach at: mrliberty@churchstate.org or call 805-413-7396.
LAST CHANCE to Register for the North American Religious Liberty Association Capitol Hill Summit, June 17-20
The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Legislative Affairs
office will conduct its annual Capitol Hill Summit on June 17-20, 2009.
The program has been expanded from two to four days to provide more
time for unrushed training, lobby visits, Sabbath fellowship, and
opportunities for sightseeing in the nation’s capital.
To register or for more information, please visit: Capitol Hill Summit
Andrews University to Host Conference on Marriage, Homosexuality and the Church, October 15-17
A conference will be held at Andrews University that deals with issues
of marriage and sexual orientation in relation to Seventh-day Adventist
church teaching and public policy positions. The Church State Council,
a religious liberty ministry of the Pacific Union Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists, is proud to join with our colleagues throughout
the church in sponsoring this critically important
conference.
To register online, please visit: www.plusline.org/eventdetail.php
Prayer and Praise List
Each
month, we urge you to continue praying for those who have lost their
jobs due to faithfulness in observing the Sabbath, and for others
seeking to keep jobs, for those with active claims and cases in court,
and for others with religious liberty problems. Prayer changes things!
Please join us in making prayer an increasingly active and effective
part of this ministry.
- Sandra – to find work after being fired for refusing to work on Sabbath.
- Teresa – to find witnesses to support her case, and another job.
- Bruce – strength to endure ongoing harassment
- Anthony – for blessing in his work selling used cars
- Judy – success with her appeal
- Scott,
David and other postal service workers – for help in obtaining or
retaining Sabbath accommodations during a time of upheaval and
transition
- Esteban – guidance for the administrative judge deciding his case
- Saul – for help in finding work
- Ricardo – for blessing in starting his own business
- Dennis – for blessing on his case in Federal court
- Willie – for wisdom to guide the lawyers handling his case
- James – to find new work while his complaint is processed by the EEOC
- Richard – for his job to be restored and religious discrimination to be remedied in management
- Terrice – for physical healing of work-related injury and restoring of her work hours
- Rajina - that she would be accommodated for the Sabbath
Please feel free to send in your own prayer needs to be added to the list!
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TOP NEWS STORIES
Oregon Passes the Workplace Religious Freedom Act
On May 29th, the Oregon legislature enacted a bill to protect religious
accommodation in the workplace, a dream come true for the bill sponsor,
Greg Hamilton, President of the Northwest Religious Liberty
Association, a ministry of the North Pacific Union Conference of
Seventh-day Adventists. Hamilton has been working for passage of
this bill for several years and astutely shepherded it through various
political landmines. The governor is expected to sign the bill.
Read Hamilton's full report at: www.nrla.com
"Social and Moral Nonsense?"
The
L.A. Times commentator criticized the California Supreme Court’s
decision upholding Proposition 8 as “social and moral nonsense.” Read
Alan Reinach’s blog about the implications of the court’s decision
at: www.religiousliberty.info. (To read the court’s opinion see: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S168047.PDF
AJR 19 Introduced to the California Assembly
Assembly
Joint Resolution 19 was introduced into the California Assembly on May
18 and was assigned to the Judiciary Committee on May 26, 2009. The
resolution calls on the President of the United States and Congress to
repeal the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA, 1996), because it
discriminates against the approximately 18,000 gay marriages made legal
by the California Supreme Court, which marriages were recently upheld
in the court’s recent ruling on the constitutionality of Proposition 8
defining traditional marriage. The bill may be accessed at: California State Senate
Nevada Legislature Overrides Governor's Veto of Domestic Partnerships
The
Nevada Legislature overrode Governor Jim Gibbons’ veto of a bill
recognizing the legal rights and benefits of domestic partnerships. On
Saturday, the Senate voted 14-7 with the Assembly voting 28-14 the
following day. Nevada is the 17th state to legally establish the rights
of same-sex partnerships parallel to those enjoyed by traditional
marriage. The Church State Council has maintained no position
concerning civil unions or domestic partnerships within the five-state
Union. (To read more see: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/may/31/veto-override-domestic-partners-bill-becomes-law/
San Diego County Issues Citation Ordering Home Bible Study to Cease
Across
the nation a news frenzy has erupted over the story of a home bible
study being required to stop meeting unless it obtains a Major Use
Permit, costing thousands of dollars. Pastor David Jones and his wife
Mary Jones were issued a citation for conducting a weekly Bible study
at home, where an average of 15 people attended for over a year.
In a letter to the county from the homeowner’s attorneys, the Western
Center for Law and Policy, the discriminatory nature of the citation is
clearly exposed, since the County routinely permits weekly gatherings
in private homes for secular purposes, such as scout groups, poker
games, sewing circles, and the like.
Unfortunately, such a story is not exceptional. Stories like this
motivated Congress to pass the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized
Persons Act of 2000, protecting religious land use.
The Western Center for Law and Policy has compiled the news reports, and other relevant documents on their website: www.wclplaw.org.
If your church is involved in a zoning or permit conflict with local
government, be sure to e-mail us right away at: mrliberty@churchstate.org.
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
International
attention is being directed to the religious conflict between Muslims
and Christians in Nigeria, as the United States Commission on
International Religious Freedom issued its report, citing Nigeria for
the first time as a “country of particular concern.” Read fully story
at: www.umhb.edu
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FROM OUR INBOX
Matt McMearty
Associate Director, Church State Council
In recent months, we have received e-mails about the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). Since the election of
President Obama and the growing prospect of a filibuster proof
Congress, concerns have resurfaced about the possibility of Congress
ratifying the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. (To
read the Convention see: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm )
The Convention specifies the civil, political, social, economic, and
cultural rights of children to be protected internationally.
The UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on November 20, 1989 and
became binding on all ratifying countries on September 2, 1990. As of
December 2008, 193 nations have ratified it except the United States
and Somalia, even though the former played a significant role in
drafting its content and signed it on February 20, 1995. Presidents
Clinton and Busch did not submit the UNCRC to Congress for ratification
during their administrations.
Does the Convention pose a threat to state laws and parental rights?
Theoretically, yes it poses a strong threat, but realistically, an
actual threat hinges on many factors. First, ratification by Congress,
even though controlled by Democrats, is not guaranteed since all
Democrats do not think alike on issues affecting national sovereignty.
Second, if Congress ratifies, President Obama has gone on record in
support of the UNCRC. Ratification does not empower the United Nations
to enforce its implementation but only to review its progress within
each ratifying nation.
Third, implementation of the terms of the Convention hinges on what
branch of American government has responsibility for insuring its
implementation and application. Will it be the federal branch or each
individual state? The Convention does not specify how its provisions
are to be implemented by the governments ratifying it. In whatever way
it is implemented by ratifying nations—most of which I suspect were
fast to sign it for posturing reasons and slow to implement it for
practical reasons—its application as a matter of law in the U. S.
hinges on the ongoing makeup of Congress and the nature of its policies
requiring state legislatures to comply. Both state and federal
legislatures are beholden to their constituents who elect them.
Furthermore, the state laws that may be overridden by the principles of
UNCRC and the laws resulting from the same will be reviewed by federal
courts that will determine how the terms of the UNCRC are to be
interpreted in the context of American constitutional principles. This
means that a long legislative and judicial legal process will determine
the speed and extent of how the UNCRC would become law.
Thus, the effectiveness of the UNCRC depends on how each country
interprets and implements its terms within its own system of
government. Muslim countries (except Somalia) have all ratified the
UNCRC, but how many of these countries have actually enforced its
individualist terms through the lens of their communitarian oriented
laws?
Nevertheless, there are potentially substantial problems for state laws
regarding the rights of parents and children if this were ever to be
ratified by Congress. The UNCRC would override all state laws to the
contrary as specified by the Constitution’s requirements concerning
treaties. This point is not in contention, but what is in contention is
to what extent will laws be overridden and what laws will be
reconstituted. To read more about the disagreement over what
ratification may bring about see the following websites:
PRO
http://www.unicef.org/crc/
http://www.crin.org/issues/index.asp
CON
http://www.parentalrights.org/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={B56D7393-E583-4658-85E6-C1974B1A57F8}
http://www.unicef.org/crc/
Informative
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_on_the_Rights_of_the_Child
www.wikipedia.org-Rightsofachild
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QUOTABLE QUOTES
"The place of religion in our society is an exalted one, achieved
through a long tradition of reliance on the home, the church and the
inviolable citadel of the individual heart and mind. We have come
to recognize through bitter experience that it is not within the power
of government to invade that citadel, whether its purpose or effect be
to aid or oppose, to advance or retard. In the relationship
between man and religion, the State is firmly committed to a position
of neutrality." Justice Tom Clark
Abington School District v. Schempp
(1963), 374 U.S. 226
"The
lessons of religious toleration - a toleration which recognizes
complete liberty of human thought, liberty of conscience - is one
which, by precept and example, must be inculcated in the hearts and
minds of all Americans if the institutions of our democracy are to be
maintained and perpetuated."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Letter to Calert Associates
1937
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