"Students of Faith" Video
“The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time; the hand of force may destroy but cannot disjoin them.” ― Thomas Jefferson
In Oct. 2020 nine pro-life activists participated in a “rescue” they believed could prevent the taking of innocent lives at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. This abortion clinic was shown in a 2013 undercover film taken by the pro-life group, Live Action. During that video an abortionist states that if a baby survives the abortion, and that some had, there would be no medical care provided and that the child would soon expire.
The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act was signed into law in August of 2002. It says from the point of birth forward a child who is born alive is to have the care that any child born at that gestational age would have as well as the same rights as any child.
A year and a half after the “rescue”, with predawn raids, the nine were arrested and charged under the FACE Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) plus a civil rights conspiracy charge. A FACE Act conviction calls for a maximum one-year prison term. A conspiracy conviction carries up to ten years in prison and fines up to $350,000.
At September 2023 trials in Washington D.C. eight activists were convicted of both charges. One had pleaded guilty. The actions of the activists inside the clinic, recorded on a security video, were shown during the trial on behalf of the prosecution. According to many who saw it that video showed the only violence was from clinic workers pushing and hitting the activists with a broom stick. Nevertheless, the judge stated that this was a crime of violence and, in a highly unusual action, instructed that all defendants be immediately incarcerated even before any sentence had been decided.
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1st Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN A MINUTE
September 2023: Pro Life Activists Convicted and Immediately Imprisoned
Through the intercession of Mary Immaculate, The Patroness of Our Country, we ask that our voices be heard, as we say together this prayer for religious liberty:
O God our Creator,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation, so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us— this great land will always be “one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
USCCB – Prayer for Religious Liberty
STUDENTS MAY PRAY IN SCHOOL
PUBLIC SCHOOLS
ARE NOT “GOD-FREE ZONES”
America’s children need not leave their faith outside the school house door.
For students to be silenced or disciplined by a school authority for appropriate religious expression should never happen. Sadly, young students may well conclude…
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Educational resources for parish members who work to support Religious Freedoms.
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AT WORLD MEETING OF FAMILIES: DEFENDING FREEDOM OF RELIGION
Barbara Samuells, president of Catholics for Freedom of Religion and a parishioner at St. Matthew’s, Dix Hills, shares her experience at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RALLY 2018
IN SERVICE TO THE CHURCH
Click here to watch Barbara on TeleCare TV.
Pope Francis has observed that “religion [cannot] be relegated to the inner sanctum of personal life, without influence on societal and national life.” Evangelii Gaudium. . . , no. 183. In insisting that our liberties as Americans be respected, Pope Benedict XVI said that this work belongs to “an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture.” Therefore, catechesis on religious liberty is not the work of priests alone. If religious liberty is not properly understood, all people suffer and are deprived of the essential contribution to the common good, be it in education, health care, feeding the hungry, civil rights, and social services that individuals make every day, both here at home and overseas.
CATHOLICS FOR FREEDOM OF RELIGION
MISSION STATEMENT
America’s First Amendment guarantees its citizens five freedoms, the first of which is Freedom of Religion. Freedom of Religion includes the freedom to worship according to one’s beliefs as well as the freedom to practice that faith in everyday life according to one’s conscience.
So that this First Amendment freedom may be practiced and preserved for generations yet unborn it is essential that Americans understand this freedom and the circumstances from which it came. A fitting place for the development of this understanding and protection of Religious Freedom is inside all faith communities.
Catholics for Freedom of Religion offers resources to parish members who work to support Religious Freedom by initiating parish laity groups with these suggested goals:
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To educate and inspire for Freedom of Religion
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To remain non-partisan, advocating for no candidate or party
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To invite and include other faith communities
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To become a permanent group within each parish to educate every generation of Catholics about our Freedom of Religion…how rare it is, how dearly it was purchased for us and how certainly it is being lost.
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To recognize and oppose attacks on Freedom of Religion from any source
“We hold it for a fundamental and undeniable truth, that religion, or the duty we owe our Creator and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence. The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.” James Madison
“While Americans presume that the Constitution guarantees their rights, in practice our rights survive or disappear based on how firmly we defend them.” Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
