"Students of Faith" Video
As Presidents’ Day of 2021 passes, we should recollect and honor some Presidents who championed and protected Religious Freedom:
George Washington - “The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the field ..."
John Adams - “Nothing is to be more dreaded than a national government meddling in religion."
Abraham Lincoln - "He from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten."
Ronald Reagan - "Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant, and the rule of law under God is acknowledged."
Bill Clinton - “Let us instead respect one another's faiths, fight to the death to preserve the right of every American to practice whatever convictions he or she has." (1)
Donald Trump – “Our republic was formed on the basis that freedom is not a gift from government, but that freedom is a gift from God.” (2)
Happening Now: The So-Called "Equality Act" Discriminates Against Faith & Freedom:
"Everyone deserves to be treated with respect and dignity," wrote the U.S. Catholic Bishops (USCCB) but the soon to be voted on Equality Act "in many ways does the opposite and needs to be opposed." (3) It is a radical assault on religious liberty, the right to life and privacy rights and more accurately called the "inequality act."
Instead of respecting differences in beliefs and biology, marriage and sexuality, the Equality Act would: "punish faith-based organizations such as charities and schools ..., force girls and women to compete against boys and men in sports, share locker rooms and shower spaces with biological men who identity as women; risk mandating taxpayers to fund abortions; force people in everyday life, especially health care workers, to support gender transition; and expand what the government considers a 'public' place, forcing even some parish halls to host functions that conflict with Catholic beliefs." (4)
(firstliberty.org, 2/12/21(1); National Prayer Breakfast, Feb.2, 2017 (2); usccb/equality act (3)(4); prnnewswire.com, 2/19/21; washingtonpost.com, 2/18/21; cnsnews.com, 2/19/21; adflegal.org/equality act)
Be Silent No More!
Capital Switchboard 202-224-3121;
Representative's names at www.house.gov; Senator's names at
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
RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RALLY 2018
IN SERVICE TO THE CHURCH
Click here to watch Barbara on TeleCare TV.
NATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM DAY
Click here to view a video about National Religious Freedom Day 2014.
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.
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
