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A MAGAZINE OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

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Editorial

BeginDiDg of the End (http://www.Iibertymagazine.org/article/beginning-of-the-end)

We m.ust not fiill for the claim of the many false prophetll in the different radical forma of

faith that violeru:e or force ill no 8118Wer at all.

A Freedom Priority (http://www.Iibertymagazine.org/article/a-freedom-priority)

From a speech at the rollout of the 2013 Report on Intemational Religioua Freedom, given by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, July 28,2014.

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Editorial

Begbmlng of the End

Published in the Nuvember/December 2014 (http:/lwww.libertymagfiZine.org/i88IU!Inuvember-december-1014) MagtJZine

Editorial, by Lincoln E. Steed {hltp:/lwww.libertymagtmne.orglauthorllincoln-e.-ateed)

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Back around dle age of television programs like Laugh-In I remember watching a skit premised on hDw a weather report from Egypt at tho timo of the

pharaohs and the Exodus might have SOUDded. The aunouncer hammed it up plenty as he umOIIIlCed darkness sweeping over the land from the north; then

huge hailstones from the 50IItb, and then "get dlis," he BDDoum.:cd with wide-eyed iDcrcdulity, "from the west. &ogsl"

I am DOt SUR hDw such a show would wmk today. It might be a little too real fm comfbrt. And the misapplied qualifier tbat some super-stmm or flood is .. of

biblic:al proportiODB" ill not uncommon. The oCher day a White HOUle apokeaman noted 1hat while 8ley ue always monitoring aeveral hot 11potll at once,

"lately the whole board seema to be lighting up." Earthquakes, floodll, drought. war, starvation, aDd pestilence are eDdemic to the news cycle. While

Christians might point to these thiDg9 u end-time markers. few seem to have noticed the full context of Jesus' answer to His diseiples 8!1king about the end of

tho world aDd of His retum..

In the book of Mathew in the New Testament you can read the SCCJ.ueDCe of events. Crowds had gathered in Jerusalem to hear Jesus speak. From other Bible

accounts we lmow that the crowd honmed Jesus as their kmg.lt muat have been a highly clwgeclatJJwBphc:re. SurgiDg endwsiastic crowds, watched by

Roman authorities ready to call out the riot squad--tmd watched by the Jdigious leadeD who feared tbat this man was takmg away their power. Their fean

were realized u IeiiUS then launched into an extended sermon ofwoea or condemnationa ofdle misguided religious pradices of the day and the corrupt clrun:h leaders who were encouragiDg the state of aft'air!l. He ended by saying. "Your house is left unto you desolate" (Matthew 23:38).

Then Hill disciplea came to Him to show Him the bu.ildiDgll of the great Temple built by Herod. They were Bhocked when ICIIWI preclictecl that it would be

destroyed so utterly that mot one stone would be left standing. This wu the SCCJ.UeDCe of events that led to the disciples COJIIiq yet again to Jesus as He sat on

the MoUDt of Olives neuby. 'Ibeit queation: .. When shall1hese 1hinp be? and what shaD be the sips of 1hy coming, and of the end of the world?" ��w

�� -

They were :really asking two questions and Jesus essentially confined Himself to the second, which embraced the fust. Perhaps He thought it better not to

specify the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. In A.D. 70---in their lifetimes, as Jesus indicated later-they saw this cataclysm. Only the foundation of

the western wall of the Temple is left standing today.

So far as the end of the world, and His coming, Jesus gave an array of signs. In some ways they descnbe our age.

He spoke of"wars and rumours of wars." But "the end is not yet" (verse 6). He spoke of famines and pestilences and many earthquakes. "All these," Jesus

said, "are the beginning of sorrows." (verse 8).

We seem to be well into the age of sorrows. Famine in the Sahel, civil war in Darfur, earthquakes in China and Haiti, spring turned to winter in Arab

countries, Ebola spreading panic and death, m.egastorms on the East Coast. And overall the growing reality of global warming that promises rising seas, more

turbulent weather, more severe drought, unleashed natural pests like locusts, and intensified military conflict over shifting water supplies and arable land.

How unfortunate that in the midst of this we should be fighting over religious solutions to very complex social and geographic problems.

I saw on a recent cover of the Washington Post a rather Vietnam era-type photo sequence of a bombing of ISIS. The first photo showed a bare hill with an

ISIS flag and a nearby fighter. The second photo showed the bill covered in an immense explosion from the bomb attack. The caption said something about

ISIS destroyed. It troubled me for several reasons. First: it smacked of Vietnam in the assumption that killing a soldier or two has an effect on the engine

driving the war-body counts turned out to be horribly misleading. Second: I looked closely, and there was still a figure standing amid the smoke. Third: who

really cares about a bare bill, anyway? ISIS in their advance, as had the Japanese and the Americans in World War II, typically just moved around the

opposition and bypassed them as ineffectual. Fourth: the threat of Isis is not that it may take Baghdad, but that it may threaten Washington, Sydney, or

Toronto. We are dealing with social dislocation and the idealism of youth harnessed to a radical religious agenda. The solution is less military than a desperate

need to redirect religious vision toward uplifting ends.

Actually the outline of the end-times that Jesus gave places a lot of emphasis on the religious conflict just before His appearing. In fact, as He outlines it, it is

the religious conflict, turmoil, and persecution that define the end-times. He said that His followers would be hated and persecuted as never before-in fact,

the persecution is to be so severe that unless the times are shortened, no one will survive. "And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another,

and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many'' (verses 10, 11 ).

For me, this is fulfilled today by unprecedented persecution. Christians are facing a final expulsion from many countries in the Middle East. Many minority

sects of Islam are facing genocidal attacks from majority forces. In other countries Hindus attack Buddhists and in others Buddhists attack Muslims. Many are

offended at another's religion or lack of religion and are prepared to harm or kill to advance their view.

How we can dream of the biblical promise that "they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain"(Isaiah 11 :9). That day will of course come. But it

lies on the other side of the woes that Jesus spoke of on the Mount of Olives. It lies on the other side of the burning mountain of global warming. It lies on

the other side of religious violence. The only way past these woes is a personal commitment to use religion to discover God for ourselves. We must not fall

for the claim of the many false prophets in the different radical forms of faith that violence or force is no answer at all. Our communities should teach

religious fulfillment and responsibility-not entitlement or a sword to set things straight. Only this way will the recruiting stop and true religious freedom

flourish, even in these wicked times.

Author: Lincoln E. Steed (http://www.libertymagazine.orglauthor/lincoln-e.-steed)

Lincoln E. Steed is the editor of Liberty magazine, a 200,000 circulation religious liberty journal which is distributed to political leaders, judiciary, lawyers

and other thought leaders in North America. He is additionally the host of the weekly 3ABN (http://3abn.org) television show "The Liberty Insider," and the

radio program "Lifequest Liberty."

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Published in the November/December 2014 (http:!lwww.libertymagazine.org/"ISsuelnovember-december-2014) Magazine

by A Speech by John Kerry (http://www.libertymagazine.org/author/john-kerry)

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Freedom of religion is at the core of who we are as Americans. It's been at the center of our

very identity since the Pilgrims fled religious persecution and landed in my home state of

Massachusetts. And many settled in the city of Salem, which takes its name from the words

"salam," "shalom," meaning peace.

But we're reminded that before long, even there--even there in Salem, newly founded in

order to get away from religious strife-unfortunately religious persecution arrived on the

scene. Women were accused of witchcraft. . . . Emerging differences between religious

leaders in Massachusetts and some congregations were led, as a result of that, to break away

and to found new settlements. Rhode Island was founded by people who wandered through

the woods leaving Massachusetts and wandered for an entire winter until they broke out on

this expanse of water; and they named it Providence, for obvious reasons.

One hundred years after the Pilgrims set sail for religious freedom, a Catholic woman was

executed on the Boston Common for the crime of praying her rosary. So we approach this

issue--1 certainly do-very mindful of our past and of how as Americans we have at times

had to push and work and struggle to live up fully to the promise of our own founding.

U.S. Secretary of State ddi.ven remarks at the rollout of the 2013 Rt:port

on International Religious Freedom at tho U.S. Department of State in

Washington, D.C., 011. July 28, 2014. The seaetary ill joined by Aaistaut

Secretary of state for Democracy, Human Riglrta and Labor Tom

Malinowak:i and Rabbi David Sapentein. (left), l'mlidcnt Obama'a nominee to serve as ambassador-at-large for hrtemational religi0111 freedom.

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John Wmtbrop was born in England, but his passionate faith and his disagreements with the Anglican Church inspired him to lead a ship full of religious

dissidents to come to America to seek freedom of worship. And on the deck of the Arabella he famously said in a sermon that he delivered before they

landed, "For we must consilkr that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us." And they have been ever since then, and they are

today.

And though we are obviously far from perfect and we know that, no place has ever welcomed so many different faiths to worship as freely as here in the

United States of America. It's something that we are extmordinari.ly proud of. But freedom of religion is not an American invention; it's a universal value.

And it's enshrined in our Constitution. and it's engrained in every human heart The freedom to profess and practice one's faith is the birthright of every

human being, and that's what we believe. These rights are properly recognized under international law. The promotion of international religious freedom is a

priority for President [Ba.rack] Obama, and it is a priority for me as secretary of state.

I am making certain, and I will continue to, that religious freedom remains an integral part of our global diplomatic engagement. The release of this report is

an important part of those efforts. This report is a clear-eyed, objective look at the state of religious freedom around the world, and when necessacy, yes, it

does directly shine a light in a way that makes some countries---even some of our friend&--uncomfortble. But it does so in order to try to make progress.

Today, of all days, we acknowledge a basic truth: Religious freedom is human freedom. AIId that's why I'm especially proud to be joined today by President

Obama's newly minted nominee as our next ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein. When it comes to the work of

protecting religious freedom, it is safe to say that David Saperstein represents the gold standard. Think about the progress of the past 20 years in elevating this

fight, and David has been at the lead every step of the way-serving as the first chair of the U.S. International Religious Freedom Commission, director of the

Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, and as a mmnber of the White House Council for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships ....

One thing is for sure: Rabbi Saperstein is joining an important effort at a very important

time. When countries undermine or attack religious freedom, they not only unjustly threaten

the people that they target; they also threaten their country's own stability. That's why we,

today, add Turkmenistan to the list of Countries of Particular Concern [CPC]. We have seen

reports that people in Turkmenistan are detained, beaten, and tortured because of their

religious beliefs. The government of Turkmenistan has passed religious laws that prohibit

people from wearing religious attire in public places or that impose fines for distnlrut:ing

religious literature. And the authorities continue to arrest and imprison Jehovah's Witnesses,

who are conscientious objectors to militacy service.

I want to emphasize: This effort isn't about naming countries to lists in order to make us feel

somehow that we've spoken the truth. I want our CPC designations to be grounded in plans, action that helps to change the reality on the ground and actually

help people. That's why we are committed to working with governments as partners to help them ensure full respect for the human rights of all of their

citizens.

And when 75 percent of the world's population still lives in countries that don't respect religious freedoms, let me tell you, we have a long journey ahead of

us. We have a long way to go when governments kill, detain, or torture people based on a religious belief.

North Korea stands out again in this year's report for its absolute and brutal repression of religious activity. Members of religious minorities are ripped from

their families and isolated in political prison camps. They're arrested and beaten, tortured, and killed. And we've seen reports that individuals have been

arrested for doing nothing more than carrying a Bible.

And North Korea is not alone. Earlier this month Chinese officials sentenced Christian pastor Zhang Shaojie to 12 years in prison for peaceful advocacy on

behalf of his church community. And just last week I welcomed the release of Meriam Ishag, a mother of two young children who had been imprisoned on

charges of apostasy in Sudan. From South Asia to Sahel, governments have silenced members of religious groups with oppressive laws, harsh punishments,

and brutal tactics that have no place in the twenty-first centmy.

In Iran. U.S. -Iranian citizen Pastor Saeed Abedini remains imprisoned. The Iranian authorities sentenced him to eight years behind bars simply because of his

religious beliefs. We will continue to call for his release, and we will continue to work for it. And make no mistake: We will continue to stand up for religious

minority communities under assault and in danger around the world, from Jehovah's Witnesses to Baha'is to Ahmadi Muslims.

So we have a long way to go to safeguard these rights. We also have a long way to go when governments use national security as an excuse to repress

members of minority religious groups.

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In Russia the government has used a succession of ever more punitive laws against what they call extremism to justify crude measures against people of faith.

In China authorities harass Christians. They arrest Tibetan Buddhists simply for possessing the Dalai Lama's photograph. And they prevent Uighur Muslims

from providing religious education to their children or fasting during Ramadan. And in Uzbekistan the government continues to imprison its citizens, raid

religious gatherings, and confiscate and destroy religious literature. These tactics continue to pose an incredible test. But make no mistake: These tactics will

fail the test of history.

One of the troubling trends identified in this year's report is how sectarian violence continues to displace families and devastate communities. Thousands of

Rohingya Muslims have been displaced in Burma in the wake of sectarian violence, and tens of thousands more are living in squalid camps without adequate

medical care.

In Pakistan, militants killed more than 500 Shia Muslims in sectarian bloodletting and brutally murdered 80 Christians in a single church bombing last year.

The Pakistani government has yet to take adequate steps to bring those responsible to justice.

In Nigeria, Bok.o Hal8m has killed more than 1,000 people over the past year alone, and that includes Christian and Muslim religious leaders, individuals who

were near-near-churches and mosques, worshippers, and bystanders alike. And we have all seen the savagery and incredible brutality of the Islamic State

of Iraq and the Levant [ISH.. ]-the wholesale slaughter of Shia Muslims, the forced conVCiliions of Christians in Mosul, the rape, executions, and use of

women and children as human shields.

All of these acts of barbarism underscore the stakes. Just the other week, ISH.. declared that any remaining Christians in Mosul must convert, pay a tax, or be

executed on the spot. Around the world, repressive governments and extremist groups have been crystal clear about what they stand against. So we have to be

equally clear about what we must stand for. We stand for greater freedom, greater tolerance, greater respect for rights of freedom of expression and freedom

of conscience.

With this report I emphasize we are not arrogantly telling people what to believe. We're not telling people how they have to live every day. We're asking for

the universal value of tolerance, of the ability of people to have a respect for their own individuality and their own choices. We are asserting a universal

principle for tolerance. The Abrahamic faiths---Christianity, Judaism, and Islam-have to find new meaning in the old notion of our shared descent. What

really is our common inheritance? What does it mean to be brothers and sisters and to express our beliefs in mutual tolerance and understanding? Answering

those questions is our mission today. Edmund Burke once famously said, "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." This

report is the work of good men and women who are doing something profound in the face of bigotry and injustice.

And let me share with you: around the world some of today's greatest advocates in this cause are doing their part every day, some of them at great risk and in

great danger. They are doing it in order to force light into darkness. In Pakistan. following the militant attacks I just mentioned, members of the Muslim

community formed human chains around churches to demonstrate solidarity against senseless sectarian violence. In Egypt, Muslim men stood in front of a

Catholic church to protect the congregation from attacks. And in London, an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood watch team helped Muslim leaders protect their

mosque and prevent future attacks.

There are many, many, many examples of people standing up for this universal value of tolerance and doing so for themselves at great risk. There are many

whose names and communities and watch teams we will never know. But they will not receive prizes; they may not ever receive recognition. Their courage

goes unremarked, but that makes it all the more remarkable, because they put their lives on the line in face of beatings and imprisonment and even death, in

the near certainty that their sacrifice will be anonymous. Believe me, that's the definition of courage.

So while serious challenges to religious freedom remain, I know that the power of the human spirit can and will triumph over them. It is not just up to the

rabbis, the bishops, and the imams. It's up to all of us to find the common ground and draw on what must be our common resolve to put our universal

commitments into action.

Author: A Speech by John Kerry (http://www.libertymagazine.org/author/johnkerry)

From a speech at the Rollout of the 2013 Report on International Religious Freedom. given by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, July 28,2014.



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by Dwayne Leslie (http:/lwww.libertymtsgazine.org!tNthor/dwayne-leslie)

EMAIL (IIALT0:11UBJ� NEW IW:EBOOK T1MI1lR CHTTP:ttnlllrTliU:OIIIIHOIE.? GOOGLE+ A..aMIADORFORINTIRNATiotW. �-rN:6'MWIU'ACIDOOK.CO� -�MMWtL8&JtnMMAZINE.ORCW.!'T(IIIIIIIIWPLUI.QOOQLE.CO...wiE?

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Whm the Obama admmistn1ion 811D011Dl:ed in July tbat Rabbi David Nathan Sapc:rstem had been IIDIDDiated as the State Department's religioua hedom

ambassador, American retigioua leaders hailed the selection, given the rabbi's smrling resume and put accomplilihmeldl. Amcmg other highlights, Saperstein

baa served 88 director and coUIUiel of the lleligioua Action Center of Reform Iudaiml, a position he baa held llince 1974.

I waa among those pleaaed by tbia newa, given my role 88 director oflegillative affitin for the Seventh-day Adventist wmtd church. The Adventist Church

bas a long. di.stillguished history of fighting to protect and promote religious fRledom, not just in 1he United States, but abo all ovt:z the globe. Rabbi

Saperstein is well aligned in this regard. having served as the fint chair of the U.S. Commission on Jntemational Religious Freedom.

I personally have been privileged to wOJk wi1h Rabbi Saperstein, mostly notably on workplace religious freedom issues. Having seen him in action, I will be

delighted on<:e the U.S. Senate finalizes his appointment. A by function of diU role is DWDitoriDg religious hedom pe:n�ecution and clixrimiDation on a

global basis. It's a plain fact that religious freedoms IIIVUDd the world ccmtiDuc to erode, and having tbis key ambassadorabip filled will seud an important

signal to the world that America places a high priority on safety and freedom for religious minoritiea. And that America is watching and will hold oppressora

accountable.

Providillg further encouragement, Rabbi S8jiCllltein has lllnmg connec:tions on Capitol Hill, wi1hin the State Department, and with a broad array of impmtlmt

nongovermnental Olptlizations (NGOs), reJationshipa that should greatly enhance his effectiveness in1hia :importllllt role.

I hope that Rabbi Saperstein's nomination will be CODfirmed in short orda' end that he can get on with 1he imporbmt work at bend Beck to Top

Author: Dwayne Leslie (http://www.libertymagazine.org/author/dwayne-leslie) Dwayne Le1lie, Esq., ia director oflegialative affai11l for the world headquarters of the Seventh-4ay Adventist Church, Silver Spring, Maryland

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Published in the Nuvember/December 2014 (http://www.libertymagtuine.org/ilauelnuvember-december-2014) Magazine

by Martin Surridge {htlp:/lwww.libenymiJgazine.mg/authorlmm1in-8unidge)

EIIIAIL (MALTO:?IUB.IEICTIIlHE IW:EBOOK nwrTBliHTTP:IInlllnBU:OIIIIHOIIE.? GOOGLE+ TEJIRORISr.11tEIENIIMAM, 1HE.IR. ft-rN:IIWMU'ACEDOOK.CO� -�MwrtL8EitTYMAGAZINE.0'*'�......-&.UIAOOOLE.COIIniiAIIE?

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W"rth the desert 8llllds of the Sahara to their nartb, the duke md duchess of Gloucester Wllll:heclas the pazadc of 3,000 tuJbaucd cavalrymen cantered past in an

ancient display of military atrcngdL A brigade of7,000 chain mail-clad waniora acc:ompamed the riders, 11 did muaketeera,lanc:era, and archers. A troupe of

dancera, musiciaDB, IICIObats, and make charmers followed.

These representatives ofBDglish foreign nobility were in KaduDa, Nigeria, wi'lllessing a apectacle imported ftom India, known u a "durbar," a ceremoniaL

procession held in honor of a visiting colonial vieeroy. The duke and duchess were iDdeed representing a monareb, but not a VICtorian king or an Edwardian

queen ftom during dle heiJ)1t of dle British Empire. Rather, they bad come to Nigeria to represent their niece, Queen Elizabeth n, who ruled as regent duriDg

this pmticu1ar ciuibE in 1959 and mnains on the British throne today.

That such m eveut occmmJ cmly SS years ago speaks volumes ofhow mw:h the world has c:baDgcd. but also of the mmy clli'liculties that Nigeria faced during

ill dccoloDizatioD process. For the Nigmm people, viole:m:c and tmvr would domiDaic the aext half ceotuiy, with lllOM lives lost than if their an:hcra and

lancers bad stepped onto a cold-war battlefield. In order to underltand the challeogea &cing Nigeria today, especially thc religioua conflict divided by

geography that has come to resemble a civil war, the aiDs of coloniaL hiBt01y must not be ignored, just u twllt:mpOllllf ac111 of terrible violenc:e must not be

excused.

The ruliDg elites of the British Empire were making themselves comfortable in northern Nigeria long before the duke and duchess of Gloucester arrived in

KaduJia in 19S8. Nigeria's split between a more arid Muslim llonh and a tropical non-Muslim soulh aloDg the teDth p8Jallel north bad existed for centuries.

Even though ODC of the motivati01111 for BuropCIID imperialiBm was the spread of Christianity-particularly in soudJcm Nigeria, whcie miaaimlari'* wouki

have great IIUCCCS8 doing 10-British oftic:iB111 WCR IDI1Cb lllOM comfortable in the DOith, and allowed their putiality to bcc:omc outright regional �=t!��

Men and horses drc511Cd in traditional costume perform dllring the Durber festival in KaaD, NigeriL 'I'he Durbar is a traditional hone-riding feaival hosted by the Eurir of the IIDrthm1 city to mark the Ei.d al-Adba Mnslim cel.ebntion.

In hiB book Ghosts ofEmpire: Britain's Legacies in the Modem World Kw118i Kwarteng

explains that one of the causes ofNigeria's religious conflict today was not Western hostility

toward Muslims, but, rather, that Islam was so attractive to the British.

''Islam was something they felt they understood," Kwarteng writes, "as many of the district

commissionms had experience in the Sudan or had served in Asia. British officials

appreciated the hierarchy and framework oflslamic society. The 'savages' of the south were

less well understood. There were, naturally enough. accusations that bias was showed by the

British to the north. "1

KwarteDg continues with a quote of the novelist Frederick Forsyth, who once wrote of the

British in Nigeria: '"The English loved the North; the climate is hot and dry 118 opposed to

the steamy and malarial South; life is slow and graceful, if you happen to be an Englishman

or an Emir.' The snobbery and cliiBs-consciousness that underpinned so much of British life

in the early twentieth centmy found the idea of feudal rulers familiar and charming."

Part of that channing fimill.i.arity was the game of polo, the sport ofkings, played upon horseback. Kwarteng cites a 1980 acknowledgment from the U.K.

Foreign Office that the British were ''hopelessly biased in favor of the feudal Emirs of the North" and that British officials came to the region with "a

romantic passion for Islam and for polo-playing." Kwarteng writes that it was "in the polo-playing north of the country [where] pageantry, royalty, and

invented traditions were combined in the institution of the durbars."

Decades later, with a burgeoning birth rate and a population of 175 million, Nigeria retains the feudal sense of class-consciousness and medieval attitude

toward violence with very little of the supposed colonial charm and pageantry. The present-day partition between a Muslim North and Christian South is

partly a legacy of British imperialism-a result of Christian missionaries introducing a new religion into the non-Islamic south and colonial officers

strengthening the arid northern regions. Today, according to the U.S. State Department's "2013 Report on International Religious Freedom," with

approximately 10 percent of the population adhering to indigenous religious beliefs, Nigeria is approximately 50 percent Muslim and 40 percent Christian,

making it the largest country split so evenly between the world's two major religions. Unsurprisingly this has resulted in escalated sectarianism, and in the

Middle Belt in particular, the central region ofNigeria where the two religions interact so disastrously, the growth of Christianity is especially dramatic. In her

analysis of the Nigerian religious conflict, Eliza Griswold, author ofThe Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Cbristianity and Islam,

describes how ''high birth rates and aggressive evangelization over the past centmy have increased the number of [Christians] from 176,000 to nearly 50

million. "2 A large number of these worshippers belong to Pentecostal denominations, which has added another level of complexity to the distrust. According

to Griswold, for Muslims in Nigeria "who find Christianity's explosive growth threatening, the Pentecostal language of being saved by the Holy Spirit is

especially difficult to fathom. The Trinity-Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--smacks of polytheism, and the idea that God could father a son is blasphemy." If

deeply held theological differences were not im:endiary enough. there are the added financial problems in Nigeria that could cripple even the most sanguine

society.

Even though some experts cite Nigeria as one of Africa's great economic success stories with a giant national oil industry, "more than half of Nigerians live

on less than one dollar a day, and four out often are unemployed. There are more than sixty million jobless Nigerian youth, a ready army free to man the front

lines in any religious conflict."3 Regardless of the level of poverty and unemployment, a growing number of Nigerians must choose a side to safeguard what

little they have.

Griswold writes that ''in many regions, the state offers no electricity, water, or education. Instead, for access to everything from schooling to power lines,

many Nigerians tum to religion. Being a Christian or a Muslim, belonging to the local church or mosque, and voting along religious lines has become the way

to safeguard seemingly secular rights." For the Jews, Jehovah's Witnesses, agnostics, atheists, and others left unaffiHated, Nigeria has become a dangerous

place.

The case ofMubarak Bala, a chemical engineering graduate from the predominantly Muslim area ofKano in the north, became an international news story in

July after his family admitted him into psychiatric care against his will for stating his atheism. According to the BBC, Bala received death threats for his

nonbelie� and the hospital held him for 18 days before international organizations and a doctors' strike resulted in the hospital discharging him.4 News ofhis

release broke only after he was in a secure location.

Kano is one of several northern states in which state governments fund and support sharia law enfon:ement groups, albeit "im:onsistently and sporadically."S

Kano in particular attracted the observation of the U.S. State Department and their "2013 Report on International Religious Freedom": women and men are

urged to remain separate when riding public transport, male taxi drivers are reminded not to wear short pants, and in Kano City hundreds of thousands of

cigarette packets and bottles ofbeer were publicly destroyed6 This system of sharia law in Nigeria's north includes government-funded sharia courts. which

some non-Muslims worry amounts "to the adoption of Islam as a state religion, while the state governments maintained no person was compelled �

sharia courts, citing the availability of a parallel common law courts system."7 Conversely, in the south of the country, in the coastal Nigerian metropolis of

Lagos, a nonsharia court heard the case of an 11-year-old Muslim girl in the Lagos public school system, caned by her principal in February for wearing her

hijab outside oflslamic studies class.

The public school system in Lagos is a direct descendant of the educational system put in place by colonial authorities, whose presence in the country inspired

some of the first Muslim uprisings in the region, which had shifted their focus from corrupt local kings and rulers to invading colonists. At. the British and

other "Christian colonial powers arrived in Africa, these holy wars morphed into battles against the infidel West. These jihads, while largely forgotten,

represent some of the earliest and bloodiest confrontations oflslam with the West; they drove colonial policy toward Muslims not only in Africa but

worldwide. They also laid the groundwork for Islam's opposition to the modern West. "8 Although much of the civil strife in Nigeria is a product of the

colonial era, the specific split between north and south in Nigeria is a consequence of climate and tropical disease as much as it is foreign intervention.

In 1802 followers ofUthman dan Fodio, an ethnic Fulani herder and Islamic religious teacher, joined their leader in launching a campaign to conquer "a large

swath of West Africa as their own Islamic empire. " However, as they traveled deeper south, their surroundings changed dramatically: "When they neared the

tenth parallel, the desert air moistened and the ground grew wetter. Here the notorious tsetse fly belt began, and sleeping sickness killed off the jihadis' horses

and camels, effectively halting their religion's southward advance.''9 The prevalence of malaria was a strong reason British colonial authorities preferred to

spend time among Muslims above the tenth parallel north. the circle of latitude 10 degrees or 700 miles north of the equator.

Today the religions remain divided by latitude and intermingle in the Middle Belt. Griswold states grimly that "since 2001, Nigeria's Middle Belt has been

torn apart by violence between Christians and Muslims; tens of thousands of people have been killed in religious skirmishes .... Yet these small street fights,

infused with deeper hatred, have often given way to massacres in churches, hospitals, and mosques. "1 0 These conflicts have become charged with the

language of holy war, leading one Christian writer to refer to Muslims in Nigeria as "cockroaches" in need of extennination, which Griswold claims is a

"deliberate reminder of the 1994 Rwandan genocide."

For more than a decade the world has watched with equal parts apathy and pity as Nigeria proceeded to tear itself apart. For the Western world and the former

European colonial powers in particular, most African conflicts fail to generate significant overseas concern, despite their colonial origins. Before

independence, the sport of polo contributed to colonial favoritism in the north and played a part in preventing national cohesion so many yesrs ago. ln the

twenty-first century a different sport threatens to exacerbate the conflict and deepen the religious divide.

For Nigerians, just as for so many other people around the world, the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil was a source of national pride, a unifying and patriotic

rallying cry for their country. The Nigerian national soccer team, the Super Eagles, had won the 2013 African Cup ofN ations and was heading into the global

tournament in South America with high hopes. Just as in Seattle, London, Barcelona, and Buenos Aires, crowds gathered in viewing centers in Nigerian cities

like Damaturu to watch one of the world's most popular sporting events unfold. On the night of Tuesday, June 17,2014, however, few in Damaturu were able

to enjoy the televised soccer match between Brazil and Mexico, beamed in by satellite from thousands of miles away.

According to a report by France 24's Nina Hubinet, a deadly explosion, caused by a bomb hidden in a tricycle taxi, ripped through the crowd, killing 14 and

injuring 26 others. Just two weeks earlier another bomb had exploded in a northeastern Nigerian soccer stadium, where it killed 40 attendees.11 The central

city of Jos suffered a similar viewing center bombing in May. Even though soccer is a favorite sport across the Middle East and the grester Islamic world,

northern Nigeria included, to many extremists, the global game reeks of Western capitalism and unwanted cultural influence.

Local as well as international media placed the blame for the attack in Damaturu on the now-infamous Islamic terrorist organization Boko Haram. Led by the

disturbingly charismatic Abubakar Shekau, the extremist group shocked the world in April when it abducted more than 200 girls in Bomo state in the far

northeast of Nigeria. The kidnapping& ignited an international outcry, spawning intense media coverage, strong attention on social media, and the famous

Bring Back Our Girls movement. While more than 60 of the 200 kidnapped girls managed to escape, the fate of the remaining victims is still unknown.

Nigerian citizens took to the streets in protest of government ineptitude at combating Boko Haram, whose atrocities in 2013 alone included the killing of more

than 1,000 people through targeting "a wide array of civilians and sites, including Christian and Muslim religious leaders, churches, and mosques, using

assault rifles, bombs, improvised explosive devices, suicide car bombs, and suicide vests.''12

The U.S. State Department acknowledges that Boko Haram has apprehended numerous apostates and "attempted to force them to renounce Christianity,

killing those who did not convert on the spot. One Christian group reported suspected Boko Haram fighters had attacked a majority Christian town near

Gwoza, Borno State, on 11 separate occasions, attempting to force residents to convert or flee.''l3

Boko Haram have also targeted Muslims "engaging in activities they perceived as un-Islamic.'' ln January of 2013 "gunmen reportedly killed 18 hunters

selling nonhalal meat at a market in Damboa, near the Borno State capital ofMaiduguri. Also in January, gunmen reportedly killed five men gambling by the

side of the road in Kano State."l4 The Islamist militants have escalated their rampage in the summer of 2014 with brazen attacks including the kidnapping of

the vice prime minister's wife in Cameroon, where Boko Haram-inspired fighters also killed 10 villagers in a remote village.

In May, militants killed more than 25 people in a northeastern Nigerian village of

Chikongudo, near Gamboru Ngala, a town where suspected members ofBoko Haram killed

more than 300 residents earlier that month. A state of emergency has existed in the

northeastern part of the countty for more than a year as the death toll continues to rise and

Nigerian soldiers fight what Looks to be a Long and bloody war for many years to come.

It has been widely reported that the eventual goal ofBoko Haram is to establish an Islamic

state in Nigeria, an aim that bears strong regional and historical precedent. When malaria

halted the advancing camels and horses ofUthman dan Fodio and his followers at the tenth

parallel two centuries ago, the political objectives were remarkably similar. However, Bolro

Haram would do well to study Nigerian history. Although it is true that dan Fodio embarked Rachel Daniel, 35, holds up a picture of her abdl.ultcddaughter Role. 17• 115 on aJ'ihad to purify Islam and to connn""'the reDion through force ofanns, the former her son sits beside h« at their home in Maiduguri. RDee was abducted a1oog

....... -- .,.

with more than 200 of her classmates on Aprill4 by BokD Haram militants herdsman also did so in order to promote the education of women.15 Given the recent

from a seeondazy tchool in Chibok, Bomo state. IsJamist attacks on female students throughout the greater Middle East, this might come as

something of a surprise. The very name of Boko Haram translates roughly as "Western education is forbidden," and the terrorist organization's kidnapping of

Nigerian schoolgirls demonstrates their consideration of the education of women as inhere:ntly Western. Vladimir Duthiers, Faith Karimi, and Greg Botelho

reported that Boko Haram vehemently "opposes the education of women. Under its version of Sharia law, women should be at home raising children and

looking after their husbands, not at school learning to read and write,"16 a message sharply contradicting the teachings of dan Fodio, one of Nigeria's leading

Muslim figures of the nineteenth century.

In contemporary Nigeria heroes oflslam can still be found, but they are not on the battlefield and do not call for violent jihad.

When Eliza Griswold visited Nigeria and reported on her journey in The Tenth Parallel, she

wrote of a visit she paid to a local Muslim king called the Emir of Wase. Tired of the

violence between Christians and Muslims, the emir and the local Catholic bishop had

collaborated in creating a small yellow pamphlet that contained a list of complementary

teachings of Islam and Christianity to inspire harmony and interfaith cooperation. Pointing

to similar verses in both the Bible and the Koran, the emir explained his findings with the

peaceful desires of a man who had seen enough death to last several lifetimes. The author

recalled that the king had "highlighted the Quran 's universal messages of coexistence for all

of humankind, many of which were revealed to Muhammad early on in his life as God's

messenger," as well as to Jesus during His ministty in Jerusalem and Galilee. "[He] made

the point," Griswold continued, "that if both of these men, beaten and bloodied-the

incarnations of their respective fa.ith&---asked God to forgive their aggressors, then who were

today's leaders to advocate holy war?'' Mulwnmadu Samba Haruna, Calholic: Archbilbop of Jas, Ignatius Kaipma, German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, Sultan of Solroto, Muhammed Sa' ado Abnbakar, Rev. Matthew Hassan Kukah, Imam of the National Mosque, Sheikh Mu8ll Muhammad

The Emir of Wase explained to his guest that Islam and Christianity were ''two religions that

were deeply linked," "but leaders did not know of, or else had forgotten. their common

bonds." "These verses command believers to live together peacefully." "We know that Jesus taught that if someone slaps you on the right cheek, tum to the

left. We know that Muhammad was sacked from his village and stoned at Ta'if, but he quietly left for Medina."l 7

The world may never know whether the local population of Wase ever transformed their thinking because of picking up the little yellow pamphlet produced

by the emir and the bishop. Perhaps its success will be judged on how few of the Nigerian people reach for their ri.tle instead.

1 Kwasi Kwarteng, Ghosts of Empire: Britain's Legacies in the Modem World (New York:: Public.Affairs, 2011).

2 Eliza Griswold, The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches From the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam (New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2010), p. 19.

3 Ibid.

4 BBC News, "Nigeria Atheist Bala Freed From .Kano Psychia1ric Hospital," July 4, 2014.

S U.S. Department of State, "2013 Report on International Religious Freedom."

6 Ibid.

7 Ibid. Back to Top

8 Griswold, p. 21.

9 1bid.

10 Ibid., p. 18.

11 Nina Hubinet, "Africa-Bolr.o Haram's War on the World Cup," France 24, June 20, 2014.

12 U.S. Department of State. "2013 Report on International Religious Freedom."

13 1bid.

141bid.

15 Griswold.

16 Vladimir Duthiers, Faith Karimi, and Greg Botelho, "Boko Haram: Why Terror Group Kidnaps Schoolgirls, and What Happens Next," Cable News

N�k, May 2, 2014.

17 Griswold, pp. 22. 23.

Author: Martin Surridge (http://www.libertymagazine.org/author/martin-surridge) Martin Sunidge has a background in teaching English. He is an associate editor ofReligiousLiberty.Tv, an independent news Web site. He writes iimn

Caiholln, Georgia.

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Cupyrigb.t C 2017 North Aml:riem Divillion of die Sevc:Dib.·day Advc:ali8t <llun:h (httyJfwww.JIIICbldvadillorW).

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by Keith BltJir (http:/lwww.libenymfJgazine.org/authorlkeith-blair)

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Religion is a complicated and controversial part of American society.! A majority of AmericaDS state tbat religion is very important to them.2 AJ tho same

time, a �ority of Americans believe that religion should have less of a role in the public square.3 The public square consists of people with varying

religioua and religious beli&:ti. lf 1111. individual's belief does DOt iDfriDge upon others' beliefs, then: is no problem. But when the beliefs affect others, lib in

the workplace, controveray is likely to OCCIU'.

Thill paradox underacorea the importance of the Ccmsti1ution'a religion clauses to aociety: the eatabliahment c1auae protect& thoae who do not want to have

religion dictated to them by the govertllllellt, and the free exercise clause protects the right of :individuals to practice dlcir religiODll without interference ftom

govemment4 While an exhaustive examiDation of the religion clauses is beyond the scope of this paper, they still must be examined in order to gain a fuller

llllderstandiDg of the issues involved with Title vn religious-discrimination cases.

Constitwio.Dal. CODSideratioDs must be evaluated if the ADA (Americans Wrth Disabilities Aet) regime is to be adopted in Title vn religious-discrimination

cases. Religion is protected by the Couatitution through the Fint .Amm1dmcmt, while disability is DOtS While the establishment clause does at fir:st blush

appear to pose a CODBI:i.tutioDal bmier, in actuality it does not Indeed, it CIID. be lllgUCCl that the establishment clause actually favom more IJCQllD!Dndation.6

Similarly, employees might ugue that the free exereiae clauae is nece•IIBl'Y to allow them to practice their religion wbile lltil1 keeping their workplace

obligatioDS.

A. EstabHshment Clause

Geuerally the eatablishm.ent c1auae attempta to provide a separation of church and state by mandating dlllt the govemment remain neutral toward all religion. 7

Specifically, the c:ummt test for the establishment clause was emmciated in Lemma v. KW1zmtln.8 Beck to Top

Pursuant to Lemon, a law must: (1) have a secular pmpose; (2) not have the principal effect of advancing or restricting religion; and (3) must not foster an

"excessive governmental entanglement with religion."9

While at first glance the establishment clause might appear hostile toward religion. it was an attempt by the Framers to protect religious freedom for all.lO If

the government were allowed to favor one religion over another, the religious rights of the nonfavored religion would, of course, be lesser than the favored

religion.l l Thus, the Constitution mandates neutrality toward all religions rather than favoritism toward any particular religion. Despite this neutrality toward

specific religions, the establishment clause is not violated when the government includes religious institutions along with secular institutions when

distributing certain benefits.12

One commentator has examined religious expression in the workplace and concluded that the balance of public accommodation has swung too far in favor of

employees.l3 This is in spite of the fact that the Supreme Court has become more receptive to religious expression in the public square since the 1980s.l4

Despite the evolution of establishment clause jurisprudence, Title VII religious-discrimination law has not allowed the same level of religious expression and

practice in the workplace. IS

During the 1980s the Supreme Court began to allow more religious expression in the public square.16 Professor Nantiya Ruan postulates that this

development was a result of the Court "returning to the religious clauses' historical roots and encouraging religion for the betterment of society."l7 While this

is a controversial conclusion, especially in light of the number of Americans who wish to limit religion's reach into the public square, it is likely an accurate

assessment of the Court's thinking.

In addition to the principles of neutrality and separation of church and state, some commentators have stated that the Supreme Court has used the principles of

tolerance and accommodation in its establishment clause jurisprudence. IS Professor Steven Jamar uses these principles, as well as the principles of neutrality,

equality, and inclusion. to advocate a new approach to Title VII religious-discrimination cases.l 9

Professor Jamar states that "official tolerance requires the state to permit a wide range of religious actions, even when those actions are antithetical, to some

extent, to the general welfare."20 It is this tolerance that allows Title VII to include religion in the list of protected classes.21 Professor Jamar states that this

tolerance of religion is actually a nonneutral position.22 The government has actually favored religion insofar as it has declared that the practice of religion

cannot be discriminated against in employment decisions.23

The principle of accommodation allows the government to take steps to favor religion "by allowing it room to exist," and that principle "extends to steps

which differentially benefit religion."24 Accommodation in the context of Title VII refers, of course, to what employers must do to enable employees to

practice their religion and retain their jobs.25 The principle of accommodation allows the government to move beyond the simple neutrality of the

establishment clause.26

B. Free Exercise

The free exercise clause was designed to allow individuals to practice their religion without government interference. However, the usefulness of the free

exercise clause is questionable after the Supreme Court's decision in Employment Division v. Smith.21 In Smith, the Supreme Court held that the free exercise

clause will not excuse an individual's noncompliance with a "valid and neutral law of general applicability on the ground that the law proscribes . . . conduct

that his religion prescribes."28 The Smith decision leaves people of faith little recourse if their ability to practice that faith is hampered by a law of general

applicability.29

Professor Alan Brownstein has written on how religion should be analyzed for free exercise purposes.30 He has identified issues that must be addressed if the

free exercise of religion is to be protected. The first of those issues is the privileging of religion.31 When the right of individuals to exercise their religion is

enforced, those persons are given a benefit that nonreligious persons do not receive.32 That privilege also applies to religious institutions that receive benefits

from the state, such as tax exemptions.33 With regard to privilege, Professor Brownstein states that the issue is not whether religious individuals should

receive different treatment than nonreligious individuals, but, rather, whether the exercise of religion deserves constitutional protection in the first place.34

Professor Brownstein answers the question in the affmnative, but then asks how the free exercise doctrine should deal with the fact that granting a religious

accommodation to religious individuals may confer secular benefits beyond the protection of their ability to practice their faith.35 The suggested solution is to

clearly enunciate what the privilege is that the religious individual will be receiving and also to clearly state what the government expects in return for the

privilege.36 In other words, while the state may accommodate religious individuals by not forcing them to violate their religious beliefs, it may take action to

mitigate the secular benefit that may accrue to individuals.37

Although the thought that religious individuals must mitigate any secular benefit they may receive as a result of a privileging accommodation is

counterintuitive, it is a rational solution. The mitigation of the privilege allows religious individuals who have received the accommodation to share in the

social cost of the accommodation.38 Being allowed to avoid an obligation because of one's religious faith has real value.39 Mitigating the privilege lessens

the surplus value of the benefit to religious individuals.40 BIK'k w Top

There is another justification for mitigatiDg the secular benefit received by the granting of

free exercise rights. In the Title vn context, if, for example, Sabbatarians wish to not work a

particular day of the week because of their religious failh, other persons will have to work

that day for the Sabbatarians. That may be a disadVliDtagc: to nonreligious c:mployc:es who

would prefer a weekend day off for nomeligious reaso.ns.41

C. Accommodation Furthers Religious Freedom

This reluctance to require more than a de minimis acoommodation by employers Seem!! to be

inapposite to the societal goal of allowillg members of all religions to practice their faith

freely.42 This is especially important for members of minority religions, who face

challenges of acceptance and skepticism from society at large.

In recent years religion bas taken on a gn:ater role in the lives of Americans.43 As the

practice of religion bas become more prevalent, many question the role that religion should

play in public life.44 Concurrent with the rise of religious practice bas been the

diversification of religi0Dll.45 While the United States at one time might have been

exclusively a Judea-Christian nation, that now is not the cue.46

Minority religions pose challenges in the workplace that are harder for employers to

acCOIIIIIWdate. While employers might not want to allow employees time off because of a day of worship, that can usually be accoiiiDlOdated without too

much cllsruption to the workplace. The harder accommodation might be for a Muslim who does not necessarily need an accommodation for a day of worship,

but might need an accommodation for daily prayers at numerous times throughout the workday. Indeed, religious discrimination claims by Muslims have

doubled since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attack:s.47

If Americans truly believe in cultural and religious diversity, then ensuring that minority religions are able to resolve conflicts between religious practice and

workplace rules is a necessity. If religious minorities are marginalized in the workplace, they will be marginalized in the rest of society. The marginalization

of religious minorities will make it easier to deny accommodations to those who practice more mainstream religions.

Freedom of religion is a concept that most Americans believe is fairly straightforward The Constitution protects individuals' rights to practice their religion

and prohtbits the government from establishing a religion.48 But of course it is not that simple. The Supreme Court bas rendered the free exereise clause no

help to many individuals.49

In Employment Division v. Smith the Supreme Court held that an individual's free exereise rights are not violated by the obligation to comply with a neutral

law of general applicability that conflicts with his religion.SO The individual may, however, have hybrid rights when the free exercise claim is combined with

another constitutional right. such as freedom of speech cr freedom of the press.S 1 As a result, an individual's free exercise claim may be trumped by laws that

ostensibly have no relation to religion as long as the law is one of general applicability.

The Smith Comt based its decision on two grounds. First. it did not support a regime in which individuals obeyed laws only to the extent that the laws did not

conflict with thcir religious beliefs.52 Second, the Court did not want judges weiglring the "social importance of all laws against the centrality of all religious

beliefs."S3 The Court clearly was uncomfortable with evaluating the religious practices of individuals.S4 However, the result has left the ftee exercise clause

virtually meaningless.

VI. Conclusion There is a disconnect between the thetoric on the vahte of religion in society and the protection afforded to employees of Iilith who encounter conflicts

between practicing their faith and workplace rules. While at least some in society claim to value religion and what religion adds to the public square, others

say that accommodating the needs of religious employees need be accomplished only if it does not cost employers anything.55 The federal court system bas

embraced the notion that an accommodation that poset� more than a nrinimal burden on an employer demands too m.uch. notwitbBtanding the benefits that a

plunilistic society and workfonx: may bring.S6

The ADA has provided a guide on how to strengthen reasonable accommodations given to employees.57 The ADA model offers greater balance in the

analysis ofwbat accommodations are reasonable and how much of a burden is required of employees. Wbile the cost to employers would necessarily increase

under the ADA model, that cost is outweighed by the benefits of employees being able to practice their tiith without the threat of losing their jobs bec&ruse of

a conflict with employmem requjrements.

Bac:kto Top

While religious-discrimination cases are covered by Title vn, thme are many diff'en::m:es

between religion and the o1her covered Title vn categories. Those difl'erences require that

the analysis of religious-discrimination clalms be different from the analysis of claims

brought because of discrimination based on race, sex. or national origin discrlmination.

In a religious pluralistic society, the religious rights of all must be respected and protected

Forcing employees to choose between their faiths and their jobs does not offer these

employees the respect or the protection that was envisioned when the First .Amendment was

ratified or when Title VII was enacted. Creating a more equal balance when evaluating

whether an accommodation is reasonable will help provide the respect and protecti011 that

employees deserve.

1 Nantiya Ruan, "AccommodatiDg Respectful Religious Expressi011 in the Workplace,"

Marq. L. Rev. 92 {2008): 3. Professor Ruan notes that religion is important to people of faith

who wish to be protected from religious discrimination and also to those who do not practice

a part.i.cular religion who wish to be protected from religion.Jd.

2 See "State of States: Importance of Religion," Gallup Poll, http://www.

gallup.comlpoll/114022/state-statea-importan.ce-religion.aspx (last visited Oct. 6, 201 0).

3 See "More AmeriCIIDS Question Religion's Role in Politics," The Pew Rcscan:h for the People and the Press, http://pcoplc-press.org/n:part/4451rcligion

politics (last visited Oct. 6, 201 0).

4 Robert A. Sedler, ''Essay: The Protection of Religious Freedom Under the American Constitution," Wayne L. Rev. 53 (2007): 817, 818.

5 See U.S. C0111t., Amend. I.

6 See Steven D. Jamar, "Accommodating Religion at Work: A Principled Approach to Title VII and Religious Freedom," N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 40 (1996): 770·

772.

7 id, at 766.

8 403 u.s. 602 (1971).

9 id, at 612, 613. Professor lunar examines the vitality of Lemon in subsequent cases. Jamar, supra note 6, at 766-768. While Lemon has not always been

applied in establishment clause cases, it appears to still be the applicable test. Lamb� Chapel \t Ctt: Moriches Free Sch. Dist., 508 U.S. 384 (1993) (applyillg

the Lemon test).

10 Sedler, supra note 4, lit 819.

11 Id

12 See id., at 820, 821. Professor Sedler lists various examples of the inclusion of religion with secular institutions. Those examples include the tax exemption

for conlnbutions to religious institutions, the tax exemption for property owned by religious institutions, and allowing parents ta deduct educational expenses

that include tuiti011 payments ta parochial schools. id., at 821. He also cites examples of the government providing benefits to children attending parocllial

schools that are equivalent to benefits that children receive who attend public schools. Id

13 R.uan. supra note 113, at 10, 11.

141d.

15 id., at 16, 17.

16 id., at 10, 11.

17 id., at 11. Professor Ruan also examines two recent establiahmeut clause cases in the Supreme Court. Van Orden 1t Perry, 545 U.S. 677 (2005), and

McCreary County \t A.CLU of Kentucky, 545 U.S. 844 (2005), in which the Supmne Court came to opposite oonclusions in cases involving the ei'TI'i)!i!hm'!'!!!

clause. id, at 12, 13. In Perry a majority of the Court allowed a Ten Connnandments monument to remain on the grounds of the state capital. 54�1 � lfl Top

691, 692. The Court, in its plurality opinion, appeared to allow the display in an attempt to encourage religion and acknowledge the religious traditions in

America. id., at 687-690. In McCreary County the Court did not allow a Ten Commandments display to remain in a county courthouse because the display

had a religious purpose that violated the establishment clause. 545 U.S., at 878-881.

18 Jamar, supra note 6, at 769.

19 id., at 770-772.

20 id., at 785.

21 See id.

22 id., at 786.

23 See id.

24 id., at 784. Professor Jamar views the granting of tax-exempt status to religious organizations, while secular institutions must pay tax, as an

accommodation to religion. Id. The exemptions given to religious organizations from certain Title vn requirements are also another accommodation of

religion. Id.

25 Id.

26 Id.

27 494 u.s. 872 (1990).

28 id., at 879, quoting United States v. Lee, 455 U.S. 252, 263, n. 3 (1982) (Stevens, J., concurring). Smith does, however, provide greater protection when the

free exercise right is combined with other constitutional rights, such as freedom of speech or press. See id., at 881.

29 Alan Brownstein, ''Taking Free Exercise Rights Seriously," Case W. Res. L. Rev. 51 (2006): 55.

30 See, e.g., id.

31 id., at 63.

32 id., at 71.

33 Id.

34 id., at 72.

35 ld.

36 Id.

37 I d. Professor Brownstein gives the example of the military conscientious objector. Conscientious objectors must perform alternative service in exchange

for not bearing arms in the military. id., at 72, 73. That service may be community service or nonfighting military roles.

38 id., at 73.

39 Id.

40 id., at 73, 74.

41 id., at 71, 74-76.

42 Ruan, supra note 118, at 17, 19.

43 See supra note 2.

44 See supra note 3.

45 Jennifer Buford, "Diversity and Religion in America," Lifostyk, http:/lwww.associatedconUmt.com/articlc/182043/divcnrity _and_ n::ligion _in_ amcrica.h1ml

(last visited Oct. 6, 2010).

46 Bilal Zaheer, "Accommodating Minority Religions Under Title VII: How MU8lims Make the C1111e for a New Intapretation of Section 701(1)," U. Ill. L .

Rev. 207 (2007): 497, 513. Zaheer states 1hat Islam will soon pass Judaism as1he largest minority religion in1he United States. Id.

47 Alana Semuel.s. "Workplace Bias Against Muslims, Arabs on Rise, Advocates Say," L.A. 1Jmu, Oct 3, 2008, at CS, available at

http:llwww.adc.�ll-n::lcasesl2006/october-2006/wolkplace-bi��.�-��gaiDat-muslimi-erabs-on-riBe-la-times/.

48 U.S. Const., Amend. I.

49 George W. Dent, "Civil Rights for Whom?: Gay Rights Venrus Religious Freedom," Ky. L J. 95 (2006-2007): 553, 558.

so 494 u.s. 872, 879 (1990).

51 Smith, 494 u.s. at 881.

521amea M. Oleske, Jr., "Fedeniliam. Free Exercise, and Title VII: Reconsidering Religious Accommodation." U. Pa. J. Const. L 6 (2004): 525, 540 (citing

Smith, 494 u.s., at 885).

53 Smith, 494 U.S. at 890.

54 See id.

55 See Liberty, May/June 2014, at 13, 14.

56 See Liberty, July/August 2014, at25, 26.

51 See id., at 26.

Author: Keith Blair (http://www.libertymagazine.org/author/keith-blair)

Keith S. Blair heads lhe Blair Law Firm in Columbia, Maryland. He baa served in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he litigated a number oftliX caaea.

He has also served 1111 din::ctor of the 'IU Cl.inil: at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

a Comments Llberly 1 A Magazine of Rellglo118 Freedom

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by Clijftml R. Goldstein (http:/lwww.libenymagtJZine.orglauthorlclijfonl.-r.-goldstein)

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It was. on the face of it. remadatble. Alguably one of the most iDtluentialleaders in the world. uuquably the most in1luen1ial religious leader in the world.

Pope FraDCis appeared in a shDrt 'Yideo as a humble suppliant, a simple brothe:r speaJdq obsequiously, even apologetically, to Protestants in 1he United States.

From his opeDiDg WOlds, '1>ear brothczs and sisters, exc:use me," to some ofbis last, "I ask you to bless me," the pope came across with an endeariDg. even

diaanning. eameatneaa that one might usociate with a beggar on the street, and not with the bishop of Rome. Every1hing in the video--from the simple room

in which it wu shot, to FraDCis' demeanor, to hill words themselvea--exwlecl a loving and self-effacing humility that gave hill plea for Chriatian unity a power

manifeady lacking in aay official Vatican decree.

Thill :rcmaJbble seven-mimlte video wu played before a gathering of Pentecostal preac:hera at the Ketmcdl Copeland Ministries amwal miDistcr9 confereDce,

held JIIIWity 21, 2014, in Fort Worth. Teus.

Rec:CII1 political changes in America have caused aome to say, ''lt•s not your faJher's COUDtty."' .An evCII1 1ib tbis--a pope humbly addressing, and beiq

en11waias1ically received by, a ccmservative Protestant c:hurch in the United States, all on the subject of Christian unity--could justifiably JDBb one say, .. It's

not your fittla's chun:h," cithe:r.

The pope's video wu prec:cdcd by a live homily from Bishop Thny Palmer, a member of a breakaway .ADglican community, die Communion of Evangelical

Epilcopal Churches, and founder of the Ark Community, which caUa itself"an intematicmal CODIJDllllity ofChrilltiana, coming together to form intimate

relationship�� hued upon a common spiritual pilgrimage." Palmer also worked a few years for Ketme!b Copeland Ministries.

Beck to Top

A friend of both Francis and Copeland, Bishop Palmer shot the video of the pope on his iPhonc and then brought it to the conference, where it was played, but

not before Palmer declared to these Pentecostal preachers that no reason for the Catholic-Protestant chasm still existed. Arguing that the 1999 document ''The

Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification" showed that Catholics and Protestants had

bridged the main theological divide between them, i.e., the question of salvation by faith alone, Palmer called for unity between Protestants and Catholics.

"Brothers and sisters," Palmer declared, "Luther's protest is over. Is yours?" Then, after he read from John 17 Jesus' prayer for unity, the video was presented.

With the camera right up to his face, the pope began in heavily accented English, speaking very slowly. "But I am not speaking English. But I will speak no

Italian, no English, but 'heartfully' [sic]." Then, switching to Italian, he continued: "It's a language more simple and more authentic, and this language of the

heart has a special language and grammar."

With this introduction Francis immediately set a tone, basically saying without saying it that this isn't a papal encyclical, a Vatican decree, but rather a humble

brother in the faith talking from his heart to others in the faith-not a typical approach for a pope. It's a radical change, for instance, from Boniface VIII's

papal bull Unam Sanctum (1302), in which he declared that "it is absolutely necessary for salvation that every human creature be subject to the Roman

Pontiff."

Francis next talked about how glad he was to greet this meeting, and he made reference to the division between Protestants and Catholics. "We are kind of,

permit me to say, separated."

"Permit me to say." Again, he's speaking in the language of a humble suppliant, not of the ''vicar of Christ."

Francis then gets into the heart of his message: "Separated," he said, ''because, it's sin that has separated us, all our sins. The misunderstandings throughout

history. It has been a long road of sin that we all shared in. Who is to blame? We all share the blame. We have all sinned. There is only one blameless, the

Lord. I am [yearning] that this separation comes to an end and gives us communion. I am [yearning] of that embrace that the Holy Scripture speaks of when

Joseph's brothers began to starve from hunger-they went to Egypt to buy, so that they could eat."

Here's where the subterfuge begins. It's "our sins" that have caused the separation. Numerous times he talked about everyone's sins, meaning obviously the

sins of both Protestants and Catholics. Of course, the Protestants were sinners, and the early Reformers were not always angels, either. But the Reformation

was hardly the result of"misunderstandings throughout history." Rather, it was a biblically based revolt against an ecclesiastical system that, at its core, had

corrupted the gospel of Christ and replaced it with a human-made hierarchical system that all but USUIJled the work of Jesus Christ in behalf of humanity.

The pope's use of the story of Joseph and his brothers was shallow enough to be vague, but the point wasn't lost. Joseph's brothers (the Protestants) were

starving; they needed something that they didn't have, so they had to go to Egypt, back to their brother Joseph (the Roman Catholic Church), in order to get it.

With the Joseph story, however, Francis might have revealed more of his true sentiments than intended. Joseph's brothers were mostly evil, treacherous men

who, out of jealousy and hatred, wanted to kill Joseph and throw his corpse into a hole (Genesis 37:20). Perhaps having twinges of guilt, they sold him into

slavery instead. They then dipped his clothes in animal blood. which they took back to their father.

Thus, in Pope Francis' homily, the treachery of the brothers (the Protest-ants) caused the separation in the first place, a slight deviation from his earlier words

about everyone being at fault. Then, only out of desperation for food did Joseph's brothers go down to Egypt (an interesting analogy, because in the Bible

"Egypt" is a symbol of sin and rebellion against God); and only then did they return to their long-lost brother, Joseph (the Roman Catholic Church), who

though justified in rejecting or even punishing these men--embraced them with tears instead, the ''tears oflove."

However powerful a story of grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, the account of Joseph and his brothers hardly serves as an honest metaphor for the

Protestant revolt against Rome. A biblical story that more accurately depicts the principles involved with the Reformation would be some of the scribes and

Pharisees, uniting with the secular Roman authorities, persecuting the early followers of Christ and forcing them to flee for their lives.

Pope Francis then followed with more humble words, such as: "I thank you profoundly for listening to me. I thank you profoundly for allowing me to speak

the language of the heart . . . . I need your prayers . . . . From brother to brother, I embrace you. Thank you."

Apart from the manner in which the pope spoke, and the way the message was delivered (by iPhone video?), Francis said nothing new, at least from the

Catholic side of the divide, that hadn't been said before, such as in John Paul II's encyclical Ut Unum Sint (That They May Be One). What was remarkable

was American Protestant leader Kenneth Copeland's response once the video was over. Coming to the pulpit, amid the clapping and cheers of the audience,

which had risen to its feet, Copeland uttered, "Oh, Glory! Glory! Glory!" and then said, "Come on, the man asked us to pray for him." He prayed for the

pope, saying that he too wanted the "unity in the body of Christ" that Francis was asking for.

Copeland then asked Tony Palmer to the pulpit, and with the same iPhone Palmer had recorded the pope, he had Palmer record him a message back to

Francis, thanking God for the pope and affirming Francis in his desire for unity. Then, in what were the most accurate and honest words spoken amid what

many could justifiably argue was one deception after another, Copeland said, in reference to the calls for unity with Rome: "I mean, when we went into the

ministry 47 years ago, this was impossible."

And that's because 47 years ago Protestants undei:stood what Copeland and many others today seem to have missed, which is that on the crucial issue of the

Reformation, how people are saved, Rome has not changed its position at all. It has not repudiated the teaching of the Council of Trent (1545-1563), where it

overtly rejected the Protestant stand on salvation by faith alone.

"If anyone says that justifying grace is nothing else than confidence [faith] in divine mercy, which remits sin for Christ's sake, or that this confidence [faith]

alone justifies us, let him be anathema" (Councils and Decrees of the Council of Trent, Canon 12). "Anathema," by the way, means "cursed."

These views are in stark contrast to the Protestant position that, yes, faith alone 'justifies us" and that, no, justification is not also "sanctification and the

renewal of the inner man." However much to the uninitiated these might seem like theological nitpicking, the difference on this topic gets to the heart of the

foundational question in Scripture: "How should man be just with God?" (Job 9:2). This difference also contains the pivot upon which Western Christianity

split in the sixteenth centuiy, the pivot upon which the Protestant Reformation first started before exploding across Europe. Most of the other issues that

separate Catholicism from Protestantism---purgatory, indulgences, penance, the Mass, and the priesthood---originate to one degree or another from the Roman

teaching that justification includes a righteousness that is infused in the life of the believer. This, in direct opposition to the Protestant teaching that

justification is the imputation, the crediting, of God's righteousness to the believer, which makes that person fully justified and forgiven before God. And this

status, which is all one needs for salvation, comes by faith alone, and nothing else.

Despite all the attempts in recent years to come to reconciliation on this topic, and despite the exceedingly disingenuous use of common tenns such as grace,

and faith and justification, such as appear in the document that Palmer bad mentioned, ''The Joint Declaration of the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World

Federation on the Doctrine of Justification"-the difference in understanding here bas led to two radically different concepts of salvation. There's a crucial

reason that in Kenneth Copeland's church the members don't celebrate the Mass, don't pray to saints, don't confess sins to priests, and don't receive

indulgences.

For example, a Vatican decree in 2012 (Umis et Orbis) in regard to "the gift of Sacred Indulgences," reads in part: "All individual members of the faithful

who are truly repentant, have duly received the Sacrament of Penance and Holy Communion and who pray for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff may

receive the Plenary Indulgence in remission of the temporal punishment for their sins, imparted through God's mercy and applicable in suffrage to the souls of

the deceased."

Of course, Rome has the right to promote indulgences. But only through the most cynical and manipulative twisting of language can indulgences, and many

other teachings like it, be said to be in harmony with the Protestant undei:standing of what Jesus had accomplished for humanity at the cross. Thus, one has to

wonder about all the excitement, and the utterances of"Glory!" Kenneth Copeland expressed over Pope Francis' exhortation for unity.

Protest Over?

It's hard to imagine any of the 265 popes who preceded him making the kind of humble appeal that Pope Francis did in this iPhone video. (Could one see

John Paul II, or Benedict XVI, doing this?) Yet, however refreshing this pontiff's approach, Rome hasn't changed its position on salvation. It remains as

entrenched now as when the Council of Trent cursed the Reformers and when Rome began a violent campaign of religious persecution against Protestants

that lasted for centuries.

Author: Clifford R. Goldstein (http ://www.Iibertymagazine.org/author/clifford-r.goldstein)

Clifford Goldstein writes from Mt. Airy, Maryland. A previous editor of Liberty, he now edits Bible study lessons for the Seventh-day Adventist Church.


• Join the discussion ...

�

8 LoSJin �

• ladhy • 2 )'llllrB ega

fools and silly women fall fer sweet talkers, especially thoae with nefarious reputations. Serious minclect folkMters of Jesus Christ will not be seduced �

v • Rsply • Sh11111 >

• Frank • 2 years ago

� Well said. Let's not be fooled. Rome changes not. 4 "" v • Raply • Shllra >

• canon • 2 ye��n�1111o

� Seventh Day Adventists are the only true prolestanls. Don't take my wortl for it, ask the papacy.

8 "" v • Reply • Shere >

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