Pompeo: We Will Do More Than Talk About Religious Persecution

By One News Now Staff

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for a first-ever Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom and one planned attendee predicts it's about more than just talk.

The three-day State Department event, set for next week on July 25 and 26, is expected to bring together government officials, religious leaders, and many more to discuss religious persecution around the globe.

In an interview on "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," a weekday show on American Family Radio, Pompeo said he predicts more than just talking when leaders and activists assemble.

"We do believe that just putting people together from all across the world in a room, and talking about this topic," said Pompeo, "will empower them to go back to their home country and advocate for religious freedom as well."

Some of those attendees live in countries where there is no religious freedom, Pompeo went on to say, so being able to meet with others who are aware of those difficulties helps create a "support system" for them when they return home.

Vice President Mike Pence will be speaking at the Ministerial as well as Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom.

Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman, made headlines in recent months when he began meeting with Kim Jong Un, North Korea's tyrannical leader, in an effort to de-nuclearize the country and stabilize the Korean peninsula.

The persecution of Christians by that regime is considered among the worst in the world.

Frank Gaffney, with the Center for Security Policy, plans to attend next meet as a member of Save the Persecuted Christians Coalition, which formed this year to advocate for persecuted Christians.

"Religious freedom in general is under assault and there are lots of minorities around the world that are suffering as a result of that," he tells OneNewsNow. "But none is suffering as much as is the Christian community and something must be done to stop that."

The New York Times reports that representatives from 80 countries, including 40 foreign ministers, are expected to attend.

The newspaper also obtained a list of organizations sponsoring side events to the conference. Those organizations are Alliance Defending Freedom International, Concerned Women for America, Save the Persecuted Christians Coalition, the Southern Baptist Convention, and the James Dobson Family Institute

Gaffney predicts Pompeo is leading a movement that will create concrete steps to deal with religious persecution worldwide.

"And specifically," says Gaffney, "I think the U.S. government is of a mind with us that what needs to be done is to start holding accountable the persecutors and start increasing the costs that they experience for engaging in this horrific inhumanity against people simply because they believe in Jesus."

Website: One News Now 

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Bolton Could be the First National Security Chief to Prioritize Religious Freedom

By Ken Blackwell and 

Former Rep. Frank Wolf 
The Hill

Among the Trump administration’s early successes, two stand out particularly, and incoming National Security Advisor John Bolton has the chance to take both to the next level.

First, the administration prioritized religious freedom in its recently released National Security Strategy, stating: “The United States also remains committed to supporting and advancing religious freedom — America’s first freedom.”

It adds: 

“[The United States] will advocate on behalf of religious freedom and threatened minorities. Religious minorities continue to be victims of violence. We will place a priority on protecting these groups and will continue working with regional partners to protect minority communities from attacks and to preserve their cultural heritage.”

Second, on religious freedom, the administration has backed its words with action. Especially notable are concrete steps taken to assist victims of genocide in the Middle East — including Christians and Yazidis.

The vice president’s October announcement that aid was coming gave the Christian and Yazidi communities hope. Now the money has begun to flow. 

After years of neglect, devastated communities are finally receiving the sort of support the United States has historically provided to those victimized by targeted extermination. 

USAID and the State Department have committed $55 million, and a chastened, more cooperative United Nations has pledged an additional $55 million to minority groups whose very survival has been in doubt since ISIS swept across Iraq’s Nineveh Plain in the summer of 2014.

However, those of us who have labored for years to promote international religious freedom as a top U.S. foreign policy priority, remain concerned whether America’s current policy toward ISIS genocide victims will ultimately succeed. We are worried because personnel is policy, and at the moment, there simply is not adequate personnel — at the State Department or the National Security Council.

While staffing at the State Department will take time with the departure of Secretary Rex Tillerson, we encourage newly appointed NSA Bolton to make swift and bold changes when he takes the reins of the NSC in early April. In particular, Bolton should immediately appoint a Special Advisor to the President for International Religious Freedom at the National Security Council.

While the administration has made important strides in helping communities targeted for genocide, the lack of coordination between the State Department, USAID, the White House, and NSC on this front risks failure or debilitating inefficiencies to U.S. efforts in this area. A special advisor would bridge the gap between agencies by serving as interagency coordinator.

The Hill article continues here

Religious Freedom Cases Stacking Up

By John Stonestreet
Christian Post

Court cases across the country continue to point to the big showdown coming soon at the Supreme Court.

In the ongoing legal battles over religious freedom, there are advances and setback. One win happened last month. When Amy Larson, a Christian photographer in Wisconsin who declines to photograph so-called same-sex weddings, saw what was happening to similar photographers across the country, she was concerned that her decision would violate local and state law. So, she decided she wasn't going to shoot any weddings.

But she also decided to challenge a local ordinance and the state law. And she won! But on somewhat of a technicality. The court ruled that the ordinance didn't apply to her because her business didn't have a storefront.

On the other hand, last week, there was a serious setback.

Minnesotans and videographers Carl and Angel Larsen serve all people, but, as the Alliance Defending Freedom states, they "draw the line at creating videos celebrating same-sex weddings because of the biblical teaching on marriage."

The Larsens knew that by declining to use their artistic talents to participate in something they believed to be wrong, they could face penalties. What kind of penalties? Well, triple compensatory damages, punitive damages of up to $25,000, and as much as 90 days in jail. Yes, you heard that right.

So, like Amy Larsen, they filed what's called a "pre-enforcement" challenge. It's a common way of preventing the sort of damage that a bad law can cause. Shockingly, the U. S. judge in their case compared their refusal to participate in gay weddings to "conduct akin to a 'White Applicants Only' sign."

As ADF stated, this ruling was "probably the worst language we've seen to date" in one of these cases.

Then there's the case of Kentucky T-shirt maker Blaine Adamson. He has long refused business if it meant creating t-shirt designs that contradict either his faith or his moral convictions. For example, he once refused to design a shirt that showed Jesus sitting on a bucket of fried chicken. And he refused business that promoted an "adult film." Whenever he feels that he can't design a shirt, he points customers to other t-shirt shops.

But it wasn't until he refused to design a shirt for a gay-pride parade that he was sued. Never mind he regularly serves gay customers, has employed gay employees, and that two lesbian printers have supported his case because "they didn't want to be forced to print messages that would violate their consciences."

Thankfully, the Kentucky Court of Appeals has sided with Adamson.

Of course, all of these developments point to the enormous importance of the pending Supreme Court case Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. I've said it before on BreakPoint and I'll say it again, this case might very well be the religious freedom equivalent of Roe v Wade.

In the end, the Court will either find a balance between the rights of religious believers and the public-accommodation rights of gays, or, it will rule that the price of citizenship is nothing less than the forfeiture of faith.

Christina Post continues


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'Gays' Target Kim Davis Again After 'Victory for Religious Freedom'

World Net Daily

A same-sex couple is seeking to reinstate its case against the Kentucky clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The case against Kim Davis, Ermold vs. Davis, was one of three dismissed earlier this year, including one that put Davis in jail for six days. Together, the dismissals were hailed as “a decisive victory in her fight for religious freedom” by her defender, the non-profit Liberty Counsel.

The legal group said Friday the plaintiffs in Ermold were seeking to force a “winner take all” decision between same-sex “marriage” and religious liberty.

The Ermold v. Davis plaintiffs appealed the trial court’s dismissal of their case, which never sought a marriage license and only sought to recover money damages from Davis.

In a brief, Liberty Counsel is asking the appellate court to affirm the dismissal.

“The Ermold plaintiffs only ever wanted money and attention from their suit against Kim Davis, and their attempt to reopen the appeal is nothing more than a desperate attempt to harass Davis and needlessly reopen a settled controversy,” said Mat Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel.

This is a ‘Hail Mary’ pass that doesn’t have a prayer. Kim Davis won a great victory for religious liberty, and the appellate court should refuse to reopen the case it previously dismissed,” said Staver.

World Net Daily's article continues

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito: Religious Freedom in ‘Greater Danger’ Than Free Speech

"It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there."

By Heather Clark
Christian News

During a recent speech in Washington for the national lawyer’s convention of the Federalist Society, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito opined that religious freedom might be “in greater danger” than the right to free speech.

“I am reminded of a song by the latest recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature: It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there,” he said.

Alito pointed to a case out of Washington State that was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, in which the owner of a pharmacy was required to stock the morning-after pill despite his religious convictions regarding abortifacients.

As previously reported, in 2006, Ralph’s Thriftway owner, Kevin Stormans, received a call inquiring whether the location sold the morning-after pill. After replying that the pharmacy did not carry it, he began to receive anonymous complaints via phone and email. Ralph’s Thriftway was soon also picketed and complaints were filed with the Washington Board of Pharmacy, which launched an investigation.

The following year, the state passed regulations requiring that pharmacies stock and dispense the morning-after pill, and the legal organization Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) filed suit on behalf of Stormans and two of his pharmacists, Rhonda Mesler and Margo Thelen, who objected to the requirement because of their Christian faith.

The pharmacy had asked for the right to provide referrals rather than provide Plan B and Ella themselves, but while the regulations allowed for referrals for a number of reasons, religious protections were not included.

“It violates their religious beliefs to sell these drugs,” Alito outlined. “Instead of selling them, the pharmacy referred customers to one of more than 30 other pharmacies located within a five-mile radius.”

Christian News story continues

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Rising Islamist 'Hyperextremism' Poses Threat to Religious Freedom Worldwide, Says Report

By Hazel Torres
Christian Today

It's not just Islamist extremism anymore. With the ever increasing threat it poses to the entire world, the radical movement has now been given the name Islamist "hyperextremism."

The Religious Freedom Report 2016, released by the Catholic nonprofit organization Aid to the Church in Need, cited the rise of Islamist hyperextremism as a major threat to religious freedom worldwide and called for immediate action to combat its "toxic" effects, according to the Gospel Herald.

The report pointed out that one in five countries has experienced attacks triggered by Islamist hyperextremism in the last two years. This has boosted the number of refugees for 2015 to a record high of 65.3 million while leaving one in 113 people as refugee or asylum seeker, the report said.

Of the 23 worst-offending countries tagged in the report, 11 have experienced a decline in religious liberty.

"In seven other countries in this category, the problems were already so bad they could scarcely get any worse," the report said.

The report described Islamist hyperextremism as a radical system of law wherein those who do not agree with the extremists' beliefs are systematically killed.

In Iraq and Syria, the report said Islamist hyperextremism is clearly seen in the Islamic State (ISIS) efforts to eliminate "all forms of religious diversity." The same threat is present in some African and Asian Sub-Continent regions, it added.

Groups engaged in this kind of extremism are known for their cruelty to their victims, having well-funded networks and the ability to maximize the use of social media to advance their cause.

"The intention is to replace pluralism with a religious monoculture," the report said.

Christian Today article continues

Archbishop: Obama Engaging in “Bloodless” Pro-Abortion Persecution of Catholics

By Justin Petrisek
Life News

The Obama administration’s use of the HHS mandate to attack the religious freedom of Catholic educational institutions and other organizations is part of a “bloodless” persecution in the U.S. of those seeking to bring the “healing balm” of truth, love and mercy into our culture, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori recently stated.

“Just because this polite persecution is bloodless, we should not imagine that it is victimless,” Archbishop Lori said at the ceremonial opening of the newly-expanded Divine Mercy University in Arlington, Va., on May 19.

Archbishop Lori noted that what Pope Francis calls “polite persecution” in a free society arose due to the exclusion of faith from public schools, our laws, court decisions and government policies — such as the HHS mandate — that seek to impose limits on religion. The mandate forces employers to provide morally objectionable health insurance that covers contraceptives, abortifacients and sterilization despite their deeply held beliefs.

In his address, titled “Religious Freedom in the Year of Mercy,” Archbishop Lori, who is also the chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty, spoke on the connections between the Year of Mercy invoked by Pope Francis and the current struggles for religious freedom in the United States. The archbishop warned that the “polite persecution” eroding religious freedom in the U.S. is creating a “merciless society.”

Many were hoping this month’s U.S. Supreme Court decision on the HHS mandate would be a victory for religious freedom, but the legal challenges against the Obama administration are set to continue. On May 16, the Court unanimously vacated the appellate court decisions and remanded the cases challenging the mandate back to the lower courts. The case brought by the Little Sisters of the Poor received the most media attention, but a number of Catholic colleges and schools were also plaintiffs in the cases heard before the Supreme Court.

Alongside the family, faithful Catholic schools and universities act as “structures that stand between the power of the state and the individual conscience,” Archbishop Lori continued. These structures are vital for human flourishing, yet they are constantly faced with external threats that seek to destroy and marginalize them. These institutions are also the ones experiencing the greatest threats to their religious freedoms, he later said, applauding the efforts of the Little Sisters of the Poor and Catholic educators who have opposed the HHS mandate.

“Let’s be clear what religious freedom means. It does not mean the freedom merely to escape cooperation with evil by the skin of one’s teeth,” Archbishop Lori said. “Rather, it means the space necessary to create in our institutions a true culture of life [and] a culture that respects the teachings of the faith.”

Article continues here