On March 17, 2009 Pope Benedict stood before a group of reporters and said that condom distribution not only wouldn’t cure the AIDS crisis, it actually makes it worse. These comments reignited a long-simmering debate over the proper place of contraceptives in health and social ...
On January 20, Barack Obama will become the new president of the United States, but the upcoming inauguration is already making headlines. Scheduled to give the invocation speech is evangelical minister Rick Warren, whose comments comparing gay marriage to incest and beastiality have made him a ...
“They don’t vote as a block anymore.” These words were recently spoken by Monsignor Joseph Rebman about Catholic voters. Once a powerful demographic, Catholics today are bitterly divided over whether it is acceptable to vote for pro-choice politicians. ...
There is no issue more divisive and heated in American society than abortion. While the battle plays out in our living rooms, streets and courts, if we ever hope to resolve the struggle over abortion we must first answer one central question: When does life begin?
In 2005, public outrage erupted after the publication of 12 Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, resulting in riots in Europe and the Middle East. While the flames of those riots have since faded, publishers worldwide are still forced to consider whether they too should publish similarly ...
Is President Obama's new pastor a Southern Baptist? Apparently, it depends whom you ask.
Time magazine posted a story June 29 stating Obama has "decided to make his primary place of worship" Evergreen Chapel, the nondenominational church at Camp David which is led by Navy Lieut. Carey ...
A resolution introduced in the Oklahoma legislature by GOP State Rep. Sally Kern blames the nation's economic woes on gay pride celebrations, lack of public prayer , abortion and "debauchery."
Dr. Ed Buckner, president of American Atheists, said that the bizarre claim "betrays not ...
From TFN Insider
Texas clearly doesn’t have a monopoly on
right-wing nonsense. A group of Oklahoma lawmakers is issuing a
proclamation that blames gays, abortion supporters and a host of other
demons for the nation’s current economic crisis. Really.
You can check out ...
Walt Kallestad, senior pastor of Community Church of Joy, Glendale, AZ, told Church Executive that the movement within his ELCA denomination to allow gay ordained clergy will not be accepted by his congregation or school. The ELCA churchwide meetings in Minneapolis next month will vote on allowing ...
Family Research Council (FRC) champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society. FRC shapes public debate and formulates public policy that values human life and upholds the institutions of marriage and the family. Believing that God is the author of life, liberty, and the family, FRC promotes the Judeo-Christian worldview as the basis for a just, free, and stable society.
As a non-sectarian, non-partisan organization, Americans United's membership includes Christians, Jews, Buddhists, people with no religious affiliation and others. Democrats, Republicans and independents have joined our ranks.
Americans United is an independent organization with no ties to any larger group or political movement. We are a true grassroots organization. Thanks to your support, Americans United is able to defend separation of church and state in the courts, educate legislators, work with the media to inform Americans about religious freedom issues and organize local chapters all over the country.
Since 1963, American Atheists has been the premier organization laboring for the civil liberties of Atheists, and the total, absolute separation of government and religion. It was born out of a court case begun in 1959 by the Murray family which challenged prayer recitation in the public schools. That case – Murray v. Curlett – was a landmark in American jurisprudence on behalf of our First Amendment rights.
ADF is a legal alliance of more than 1,200 Christian attorneys and 300 like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council is a public service agency working for the civil rights of American Muslims, for the integration of Islam into American pluralism, and for a positive, constructive relationship between American Muslims and their representatives. Since 1988, MPAC has worked diligently to promote a vibrant American Muslim community and enrich American society through exemplifying the Islamic values of Mercy, Justice, Peace, Human Dignity, Freedom, and Equality for all. Over the years, MPAC has built a reputation as a consistent and reliable resource for government and media, and is trusted by American Muslims as an authentic, experienced voice.
Zeyno Baran joined Hudson Institute as Senior Fellow and Director of Hudson’s Center for Eurasian Policy in April 2006.
From January 2003 until joining Hudson, Baran directed the International Security and Energy Programs at The Nixon Center. Through writings, seminars and briefings, Baran helped American policy-makers and opinion-leaders to understand the Eurasian region’s political, economic and social dynamics and the U.S. interests served by an effective partnership with key allies.
She has testified numerous times before congressional committees on issues ranging from U.S.-Turkey relations to political developments in the South Caucasus and integration and radicalization issues in Europe. Her current work focuses on strategies to thwart the spread of radical Islamist ideology in Europe and in Eurasia and to promote democratic and energy reform processes across Eurasia.
Founded in 1982 by constitutional attorney and author John W. Whitehead, The Rutherford Institute is a civil liberties organization that provides free legal services to people whose constitutional and human rights have been threatened or violated.
The Rutherford Institute has emerged as one of the nation's leading advocates of civil liberties and human rights, litigating in the courts and educating the public on a wide spectrum of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States and around the world.
The Institute’s mission is twofold: to provide legal services in the defense of religious and civil liberties and to educate the public on important issues affecting their constitutional freedoms.
Whether our attorneys are protecting the rights of parents whose children are strip-searched at school, standing up for a teacher fired for speaking about religion or defending the rights of individuals against illegal search and seizure, The Rutherford Institute offers assistance—and hope—to thousands.
The Interfaith Alliance champions religious freedom by respecting individual rights, promoting policies that protect both religion and democracy and uniting diverse voices to challenge extremism and build common ground.
We believe that religious freedom is the foundation for democracy. We believe that individual rights and matters of personal conscience must be held sacred. We believe that religious and political extremists are a threat to individual liberty and democracy. We believe that celebrating difference is the way to achieve a vibrant community.
Reason Foundation ( www.reason.org ) is a nonprofit think tank dedicated to advancing free minds and free markets.
Reason Foundation produces respected public policy research on a variety of issues and publishes the critically acclaimed Reason magazine and its website www.reason.com .
Reason also produces Reason.tv, an online community showcasing videos hosted by Drew Carey.
Mission
To move the people of God to embrace, live out, preserve and advance the truth of biblical sexuality.
Goals
Operating under the prompting of the Holy Spirit and desiring all people to live under the Lordship of Christ, we seek to:
1. Educate the Christian community on sexual ethics according to a biblical worldview.
2. Encourage and challenge Christians to live sexually pure lives.
3. Engage Christians in public policy relative to sexual ethics.
4. Embrace those harmed by pornography and help restore them to sexual wholeness.
One of the most talented and versatile hosts on television, Rob has hosted three national TV shows: "The Full Nelson," a weekly late-night talk show on the Fox News Channel, "Under One Roof," a primetime reality series on UPN, and most recently "The Rob Nelson Show," a nationally syndicated daily talk show produced by 20th Century Fox.
In the 1990s Nelson co-founded "Lead ... or Leave," a twenty-something political campaign that became the largest political organization of younger Americans since the '60s. He’s been featured on "60 Minutes" and on the cover of U.S. News and World Report, and has been a guest on countless news and variety shows, including "The Today Show," "CNN Talk Back Live" and "Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher."
Having worked in the Clinton White House, Nelson has written Revolution X: A Survival Guide for Our Generation and The Last Call: 10 Commonsense Solutions to America's Biggest Problems. He has a Stanford Law Degree.
In a nutshell, American Life League is a 501(c)(3) organization co-founded in 1979 by Judie Brown and nine other dedicated pro-life Americans. It is the largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States. ALL is committed to the protection of all innocent human beings from the moment of creation to natural death. It is rooted in pro-life integrity that stands up for every innocent human being whose life is threatened by what Pope John Paul II called "the culture of death." That ranges from the single cell human embryo to the elderly, the infirm and others at risk of having their life terminated by acts of euthanasia. The pro-life position notes that neither abortion nor euthanasia can ever be medically necessary or morally permitted.
Answers in Genesis is an apologetics (i.e., Christianity-defending) ministry, dedicated to enabling Christians to defend their faith and to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively. We focus particularly on providing answers to questions surrounding the book of Genesis, as it is the most-attacked book of the Bible. We also desire to train others to develop a biblical worldview, and seek to expose the bankruptcy of evolutionary ideas, and its bedfellow, a “millions of years old” earth (and even older universe).
The Ayn Rand Center (ARC) is the public policy and outreach division of the Ayn Rand Institute. The Center is named after author and philosopher Ayn Rand (1905-1982), who is best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for her original philosophy Objectivism.
Founded in 2008, the Center is located in Washington, D.C. and promotes the philosophical case for individual rights and laissez-faire capitalism to the public policy and business communities, the media and the general public.
The National Center for Science Education (NCSE) is a not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education. We educate the press and public about the scientific, educational, and legal aspects of the creation and evolution controversy, and supply needed information and advice to defend good science education at local, state, and national levels. Our 4000 members are scientists, teachers, clergy, and citizens with diverse religious affiliations.
NCSE is religiously neutral, though it cooperates nationally and locally with religious organizations, as well as scientific and educational organizations like the National Academy of Sciences, the National Association of Biology Teachers, and the National Science Teachers Association.
Exodus International is a network of more than 250 member agencies that offer hope and help to those affected by unwanted same-gender attraction.
To read more, visit www.exodus.to
Michael J. Behe is Professor of Biological Sciences at Lehigh University and the author of two books exploring the intelligent design of life: Darwin's Black Box and The Edge of Evolution.
Rick Brentlinger is a Bible believing Independent Baptist minister. He has served as a Church Planting Missionary, Bible Institute Instructor and Pastor at churches in Colorado, Hawaii, Virginia and Florida.
Discovery Institute's mission is to make a positive vision of the future practical. The Institute discovers and promotes ideas in the common sense tradition of representative government, the free market and individual liberty. Our mission is promoted through books, reports, legislative testimony, articles, public conferences and debates, plus media coverage and the Institute's own publications and Internet website.
Casey Luskin is an attorney with a B.S. and M.S. in Earth Sciences from the University of California, San Diego. His Law Degree is from the University of San Diego. He is co-founder of the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness (IDEA) Center (ideacenter.org), a non-profit helping students to investigate evolution by starting "IDEA Clubs" on college and high school campuses across the country.
Jay W. Richards is Research Fellow and Director of Acton Media at the Acton Institute in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has a Ph.D. in philosophy and theology (with honors) from Princeton Theological Seminary, where he was formerly a Teaching Fellow. He also has a Th.M. from Calvin Theological Seminary, and an M.Div. from Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. He is the author of many scholarly and popular articles in publications such as the The Washington Post, National Review Online, and The Washington Times, as well as several books, including The Untamed God and The Privileged Planet: How our place in the cosmos is designed for discovery, with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez. He is executive producer of the documentary, The Call of the Entrepreneur (Acton Media, 2007), and is currently writing The Christian Case for Capitalism (HarperCollins/HarperOne, 2009).
William Martin (Ph.D, Harvard, 1969), is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Emeritus Professor of Religion and Public Policy in the Department of Sociology at Rice. Since his retirement from teaching in June 2005, he serves as the Chavanne Senior Fellow for Religion and Public Policy at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice. His areas of specialization include religion, criminology, and issues related to drug use and drug policy. He has been a professor at Rice since 1968.
Gary S. Hurd received a doctorate in Social Science from the University of California, Irvine in 1976. His first faculty appointments were at the California College of Medicine (UCIMC), and the Medical College of Georgia (Psychiatry). In 1985 he returned to archaeology, the principal focus of his early research. He received honors for teaching and research with over one hundred publications, including abstracts and technical reports, ranging from topics in psychiatry, mathematics and chemistry to frass, fish digestion, prehistoric ceremonialism and forensic taphonomy. Hurd became involved in the creationist anti-science debate while the Curator of Anthropology, and Director of Education for the Orange County Museum of Natural History. He is a co-author of "Why Intelligent Design Fails: A Scientific Critique of the New Creationism" 2004, Rutgers University Press which was cited in the Kitzmiller v. Dover School Board creationism trial.
Dr. Paul S. Vickery, Ph.D., is a professor of History, Humanities and Government at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and also an ordained United Methodist pastor for 20 years, currently pastoring two rural churches. Originally from South Florida, he received Bachelors’ and Masters’ degrees in History and International Relations, respectively, at Florida State University. He received his Ph.D. in History from Oklahoma State University in 1996 and has published articles in the Chronicles of Oklahoma History, Oklahoma Humanities Council Readers, and the Journal of Mediterranean Studies. An amateur thespian, Dr. Vickery often portrays historical figures in local productions and speaks regularly for History Alive! And the Kansas Humanities Council. He published a book in 2006 entitled "Bartolome de las Casas: Great Prophet of the Americas" (Paulist Press).
Catholic Democrats is a national organization of concerned Catholics, based in Boston. We present the weekly scriptures on this page because our organization is grounded in the Gospels, and faithful to the social teachings of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. We have brought together people across the country who share an aversion to the current abuses of US military power, the exploitation of social issues to advance the economic interests of a few, and the misuse of our Catholic faith for political gain.
Patrick Whelan MD PhD is on the Pediatrics Faculty at Harvard Medical School, and a childhood arthritis specialist at the MassGeneral Hospital for Children. He has been active in efforts to represent the concerns of people of faith within the state and national Democratic Parties, and has written widely on the medical ethics issues that dominate the interface between religion and politics. He was a national co-director of the Catholics for Kerry, and serves as President of the Catholic Democrats - a network of 28 state-based groups articulating a Catholic message within the Democratic Party. He served for the last three years on the DNC Faith Advisory Council for Governor Howard Dean, and spoke at the Interfaith Prayer Service that opened the Democratic National Convention in Denver. He is currently co-director of Pax Christi Massachusetts (part of the national Catholic peace movement), and is a founding member of the Dominican Lay Scholars in Boston.
Thomas Peters, M.A., is a young Catholic currently studying and working in Washington DC. He runs the popular blog American Papist.
Thomas has most recently appeared on CNN, BBC World News, The Today Show & MSNBC.com, Theology on Tap, and has also appeared in Our Sunday Visitor, National Catholic Reporter, News Busters, LifeSiteNews, Inside Catholic, Busted Halo, Huffington Post, Catholic Exchange, National Catholic Register, etc.
Since 2005 he has been blogging about life as a Catholic American, and specifically about the interplay between U.S. politics and Catholic social teaching. He also recently started contributing to www.CatholicVote.com.
Joseph Amodeo is a graduate student at the University at Albany, pursuing a Master of Arts in Political Science with research focusing on religion and politics. Amodeo received his Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, in religious studies with a minor in political science from the University at Albany.
Endorsed by a major party, he previously ran for a seat on the Ulster County Legislature (District 9) in 2005. He has contributed articles to Religion Teachers' Journal and The Evangelist.
He is a member of the American Academy of Religion, International AIDS Society, American Public Health Association, American Political Science Association, and the APSA Sections on Health Policy and Politics, Foreign Policy, Comparative Politics, and Religion and Politics.
Amodeo currently serves as the Development Coordinator for an Albany, NY based foundation. In October 2008, Amodeo organized the Summit on Oral Health Care, HIV and AIDS, the first-ever statewide summit on the topic, which was attended by more than 200 health care leaders.
Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com, formerly Crisis magazine, and the President of Morley Institute for Church & Culture. He is the author of seven books, including Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster). He has written for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, National Review, the Village Voice, Roll Call, National Journal, and the Economist. He has also appeared on television shows such as NBC Nightly News, The O'Reilly Factor, The Beltway Boys, C-Span's Washington Journal, and Hannity and Colmes, and on radio programs such as "All Things Considered" on National Public Radio.
Before coming to Crisis, he taught philosophy for a total of 15 years at Fordham, New York University, and Mercer University in Atlanta, where he was chair of the philosophy department.
Dr. Hudson received his B.A. degree from the University of Texas-Austin, his M. of Div. from Princeton, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Emory University.
Chris Korzen is Executive Director of Catholics United and co-author of A Nation for All: How the Catholic Vision of the Common Good Can Save America from the Politics of Division. He holds a Master of Theological Studies from Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass. and is a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. Chris currently lives in Portland.
The Catholic thing - the concrete historical reality of Catholicism - is the richest cultural tradition in the world. It was born from Judaism and, through that spiritual parentage, even reaches back into the great ancient civilizations of Egypt and Mesopotamia. In its early days, it confronted, absorbed, and redirected what was then the most sophisticated society in existence, Greco-Roman culture. When that culture fell, Catholicism preserved what it could and rebuilt the rest over centuries, incorporating new influences from Northern Europe and, during the great age of exploration, from the entire globe. Today, it numbers over a billion souls on every continent. Despite its all-too-human imperfections, there is simply nothing like it.
That is the deep background to The Catholic Thing, the series of columns that begins today. This tradition has a great deal to say about politics and economics, culture and warfare, the temporal and the eternal, children and careers, and many other contemporary questions. In addition, it has inspired some of the greatest art, music, and architecture, while offering unparalleled human solidarity to millions through hospitals, soup kitchens, schools, universities, and disaster relief. Our confidence that the Catholic thing is without peer, almost needless to say, is not generally acknowledged in American culture. Anti-Catholicism still blocks much that it might bring to the public square, though that situation has greatly improved through dialogue with Protestants and Jews. The greatest obstacles lie in the main culture-forming institutions: the universities, the media, Hollywood. They think of themselves as representing a much wider world than the Catholic one. Readers of these columns are invited to judge for themselves.
Jon O’Brien, president of Catholics for Choice (CFC), heads the leading prochoice organization that addresses sexual and reproductive rights from a standpoint of culture, faith, and morality. Through his leadership, O’Brien is committed to maintaining a visionary approach to reproductive health policy, focused on shaping and advancing the way people, especially opinion leaders and policy makers, think and feel about reproductive rights. With more than twenty years experience in the field, Mr. O’Brien is a leader in developing global strategy surrounding reproductive health and rights issues. He has worked on five continents with local advocates and activists on policy development, advocacy, and communications. Highly sought after for his expertise, O’Brien has increased communications and advocacy efficacy by working with partners around the world—including family planning associations, medical practitioners, prochoice advocates, nonprofit leaders and policy makers—to develop new ways to approach and discuss the abortion debate.
A life-long Catholic born and raised in the Republic of Ireland, Mr. O’Brien’s initial involvement in reproductive rights was sparked by his reaction to the great injustices that women especially face as a result of the Catholic hierarchy’s influence over public policy in the country.
O’Brien has been honored by the International Parliamentarians Conference on ICPD, recognized as a “Key to Choice” by Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, and received the Abby J. Leibman Pursuit of Justice Lifetime Achievement Award from the California Women’s Law Center in 2007.
The Foundation for Moral Law is a non-profit, religious-liberties legal organization located in Montgomery, Alabama, dedicated to defending the acknowledgment of God in American law and government through education and through legal representation in courts around the country.
The Foundation for Moral Law was established in December 2002 during the legal battle over the Ten Commandments monument placed in the Alabama Judicial Building by Chief Justice Roy Moore, now the President of the Foundation.
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice brings the moral power of religious communities to ensure reproductive choice through education and advocacy. The Coalition seeks to give clear voice to the reproductive issues of people of color, those living in poverty, and other underserved populations.
RCRC was founded in 1973 to safeguard the newly won constitutional right to abortion. The Coalition founders were clergy and lay leaders from mainstream religions, many of whom had provided women with referrals to safe abortion services before the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade. The founders believed that there would be at most a ten-year struggle to secure the right to choose. In fact the struggle is far from over. It has changed and intensified, and the stakes are growing.
Tekton Apologetics Ministries is committed to providing scholarly answers to serious questions which are often posed on major and minor elements of the Christian faith. We believe in the importance of sound Christian doctrine which is based on a careful exegetical analysis of scriptures from the Holy Bible. We also believe that it is important to incorporate the findings of various theological and scientific disciplines in order to properly assess the veracity of scriptural evidences, and to carefully evaluate issues which are relevant to the Church as a whole.
Tekton started in 1996 as a small collection of articles hosted by another site called The Christian Apologetics Bookshelf. In 1998 the Bookshelf went defunct and Tekton became an independent ministry. In 2000 Tekton become a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. In 2001 Tekton became a full time ministry that was entirely reliant on donor support.
John W. Loftus is a former Christian minister and apologist with M.A., M.Div., and Th.M. degrees in Philosophy, Theology, and the Philosophy of Religion from Lincoln Christian Seminary and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. While in school John majored under the mentoring of Drs. James D. Strauss and William Lane Craig. John also studied in a Ph.D. program at Marquette University for a year and a half in the area of Theology and Ethics but didn't finish it. John is the founder of a Blog called Debunking Christianity which has gained quite a following with several team members as Bloggers who were former Christians, ministers, and apologists themselves. John is the author of the book, Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity, which has endorsements from Christian philosophers and apologists like Drs. Norman Geisler, James F. Sennett and Mark Linville, as well as by skeptics like Daniel C. Dennett, Michael Shermer, Hector Avalos, John Beversluis, Eddie Tabash, Dan Barker and others.
The Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., is an educational group working for the separation of state and church. Its purposes, as stated in its bylaws, are to promote the constitutional principle of separation of state and church, and to educate the public on matters relating to nontheism.
Incorporated in 1978 in Wisconsin, the Foundation is a national membership association of freethinkers: atheists, agnostics and skeptics of any pedigree. The Foundation is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization under Internal Revenue Code 501(c)(3). All dues and contributions are deductible for income tax purposes.
The Foundation acts on countless violations of separation of state and church on behalf of members and the public, including: Prayers in public schools, payment of public funds for religious purposes, government funding of pervasively sectarian institutions, and the ongoing campaign against civil rights for women, gays and lesbians led by churches.
The Foundation keeps several challenges in the courts at all times, and has ended a variety of violations of the First Amendment.
The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
HRC seeks to improve the lives of LGBT Americans by advocating for equal rights and benefits in the workplace, ensuring families are treated equally under the law and increasing public support among all Americans through innovative advocacy, education and outreach programs. HRC works to secure equal rights for LGBT individuals and families at the federal and state levels by lobbying elected officials, mobilizing grassroots supporters, educating Americans, investing strategically to elect fair-minded officials and partnering with other LGBT organizations.
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