DOCSLIB.ORG

IRS on Behalf of Nonbelief Relief Preferential Treatment Treatment of Churches Vis-À-Vis Other Tax-Exempt Nonprofits

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
IRS on Behalf of Nonbelief Relief Preferential Treatment Treatment of Churches Vis-À-Vis Other Tax-Exempt Nonprofits Graduate / ‘older’ Why do we The bible student essay portray atheists as taught me that contest winners broken believers? God is a jerk PAGE 12-17 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 Vol. 35 No. 9 Published by the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. November 2018 FFRF sues IRS on behalf of Nonbelief Relief Preferential treatment treatment of churches vis-à-vis other tax-exempt nonprofits. Nonbelief given to churches over Relief’s tax exemption was revoked annual financial report on Aug. 20 for failure to file the Form 990 return for three consecutive years. FFRF is taking the Internal Revenue Nonbelief Relief “has and will suffer Associated Press Service to court over yet another reli- harm, detriment and disadvantage as President Trump shows off the “religious freedom” executive order he signed on gion-related tax privilege. a result of the revocation of its tax- May 4, 2017, in the Rose Garden, surrounded by members of the faith community The national state/church watch- exempt status, including tax liabilities and Vice President Pence. dog filed a federal lawsuit Oct. 10 in and loss of charitable donations D.C. district court to challenge the which are no longer tax-deductible by preferential exemption of churches donors.” New Treasury report vindicates and related organiza- Nonbelief Relief is tions from reporting asking the court to re- FFRF’s stance on politicking ban annual information instate its tax-exempt returns required of status, and to enjoin FFRF welcomes a new report high- openly flout the law and are not held all other tax-exempt the IRS from continu- lighting deficiencies in the IRS’ en- accountable.” groups. The defen- ing to preferentially forcement of a rule that prohibits The report is particularly timely dant is David J. Kaut- exempt churches and churches and other 501(c)(3) nonprof- because President Trump and Vice ter, acting IRS commissioner. other affiliated religious organizations its from engaging in electioneering. President Pence continue to repeat The plaintiff is Nonbelief Relief, a from annual information filings re- The U.S. Department of the Trea- their lie about “destroying the Johnson humanitarian group created by FFRF’s quired of other 501(c)(3) nonprofits. sury Inspector General for Tax Admin- Amendment,” a provision FFRF has executive board in 2015 as a separate From 2015 through August 2018, istration — which is an independent long worked to uphold. 501(c)(3) entity for atheists, agnostics Nonbelief Relief has given out nearly arm of the federal government that In May 2017, FFRF sued Trump over and freethinkers to remediate condi- $600,000 in charitable grants — work oversees the IRS and acts as an IRS his executive order on religious free- tions of human suffering and injustice which will now be injured and imper- watchdog — recently published a re- dom, an order that he claimed “stops on a global scale “whether the result iled by the government’s actions. port criticizing the IRS for failing to the IRS from revoking a church’s of natural disasters, human actions or The significant tax benefits to enforce the politicking ban, known as or nonprofit’s tax-exempt status if it adherence to religious dogma.” That charitable organizations under the the Johnson Amendment, and for em- chooses to support a political cause.” relief includes assistance to individuals IRS code include exemption from ploying subjective standards to deter- Trump signed the executive order with targeted for nonbelief, secular activism federal income taxes and deductibility mine what constitutes political activity. great fanfare during a National Day of or blasphemy. of donations for income-tax purposes, “This report confirms what FFRF Prayer ceremony in the Rose Garden The IRS refused a request by incentivizing contributions. In return, has been warning about for years,” before a largely clerical audience. He Nonbelief Relief to be excused tax-exempt groups are expected to comments FFRF Co-President Annie said: “This executive order directs the from registering the annual Form annually show that they deserve to Laurie Gaylor. “While most (c)(3) non- IRS not to unfairly target churches and 990, which cited the discriminatory retain these benefits by filing the Form profits follow the law, many churches See Politicking on page 3 See IRS on page 19 Survey: Secular voters could offset Religious Right Editor’s note: This survey and article Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. Question 4 ( 8,736 total responses ) were completed prior to the Nov. 6 “Our survey shows that politicians election. can tap into this potent force with What is the most dangerous threat to the separation of church and state? A new survey of 8,500 secular vot- the right message, and leave the reli- ANSWER CHOICES: President Trump's ers reveals a bloc of highly educat- gious pandering behind.” 35.76% ed, frequent voters determined to According to Pew Research, Supreme Court nominees counter the Religious Right’s hold one-quarter of Americans and one- over the U.S. government and who third of Millennials are now nonre- Betsy DeVos's religious takeover of public education 9.19% would strongly support nonreligious ligious, but of the 535 members of candidates. Congress, only one — California FOX News & the Christian 13.52% FFRF conducted the digital survey Rep. Jared Huffman — is openly Nationalist echo chamber of registered United States voters in nonreligious. early October to help educate the When asked why so few atheists or "Religious Freedom" bills public about secular voters in ad- other nonbelievers are serving, more in state legislatures across 23.70% the U.S. vance of the 2018 midterm elections than half of FFRF’s respondents cited in early November. widespread discrimination against Political inaction of 17.38% “The Religious Right controls all atheists, and more than a third cit- freethinkers three branches of government, but ed a belief that many atheists are secular voters are fired up like never before and ready to vote,” says FFRF See Survey on page 24 Freedom From Religion Foundation survey Page 2 FFRF | FREETHOUGHT TODAY | Madison, Wisconsin | November 2018 Supreme setback won’t deter FFRF This column first ran on the Free- peals court levels, both courts took the thought Now! blog at patheos.com/blogs/ unheard of opportunity to actively urge freethoughtnow. higher courts to overturn precedent they are bound to follow but disagree By Annie Laurie Gaylor with. We’ve never seen anything like this before. he suspenseful on-again, off-again confirmation hearings were gru- Not an abstraction Teling, raising hope until the end This case law is not an abstraction to that despite all the odds, Brett Kava- us. We know, admire and work with many naugh might be defeated. His unfor- of the champions of the First Amend- tunate confirmation as the newest Su- ment who have brought and won Estab- preme Court justice is a game changer lishment Clause challenges before the for our causes and our country. Shortly Supreme Court. Vashti McCollum, who after the U.S. brought the winning lawsuit, McCollum Senate shame- v. Board of Education (1948) against re- fully approved ligious instruction in the public schools Kavanaugh, a that all the other school-related Su- photograph was preme Court decisions are built on, was tweeted of an an FFRF honorary director and friend. older woman Her son, Jim, the erstwhile young boy poignantly cry- pressured and bullied to attend religious ing at the site classes that brought about the landmark of the protests challenge, is now himself a retired con- in Washington, stitutional attorney and FFRF Lifetime D.C. She was Member. Ellery Schempp, who as a high Annie Laurie Gaylor asking: “How schooler protested bible reading in his are we going to public schools and brought about the re- find the strength to keep fighting? Are sounding ruling Abington Township School we going to be out here for another 30 District v. Schempp (1963), is also a friend years? I don’t have 30 years left.” and FFRF Lifetime Member. I, too, was sickened watching the We knew Roy Torcaso, another FFRF male-dominated U.S. Senate ignore the honorary director, who brought Torca- will of the people and confirm a man so v. Watkins (1961) affirming Article 6, who stands against true religious liberty Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution that and women’s rights, a nominee whom trol over government. Unless religion is and contraceptive rights. there can be no religious test for pub- more than 2,400 law professors opposed, kept in its place, all personal rights will The Christian Supremacists aren’t lic office. Ishmael Jaffree, the Supreme and whose behavior even prompted for- be in jeopardy.” Abortion rights on the playing around. Led by zealous Vice Court victor in Wallace v. Jaffree (1985), mer Justice John Paul Stevens at age 98 Supreme Court have been hanging for President Mike Pence, who journalists who successfully challenged prayer in to speak out against his confirmation. years by a 5-4 thread, and now with Ka- Michael D’Antonio and Michael Eisner the guise of meditation in Alabama Like the woman in the photograph, vanaugh replacing Anthony Kennedy, it call “The Shadow President” in their schools, was FFRF’s first Freethinker of I, too, know that everything I’ve spent looks dubious that “religion will be kept chilling new biography, today’s embold- the Year in 1987. my life working for — abortion rights, in its place” on our highest court. ened Christian Nationalists in and out of We were honored to meet the Weis- freethought, secular government — is our government openly seek to repeal man family that sued over clergy prayer imperiled. Dangers of new court or cripple Roe v.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Imposing Non-Legal Duties: Family, Religion, Patriotism and the Roots of Contemporary Conservatism
    IMPOSING NON-LEGAL DUTIES: FAMILY, RELIGION, PATRIOTISM AND THE ROOTS OF CONTEMPORARY CONSERVATISM Mark McGarvie, J.D., Ph.D. The College of William and Mary School of Law P.O. Box 8795 Williamsburg United States [email protected] 757-221-1737 Abstract This paper recognizes the legal separation of public and private spheres as characteristic of Americans’ ideas of democracy secured in their constitution. It asserts that political and social presssures emanating from right-wing or conservative movements are diminishing the distinction between public and private spheres in popular opinion. These movements recognize and encourage the existence of non-legal duties arising from family, patriotism, and religion. In asserting a broad-based social recognition of these duties, modern-day conservatives limit the scope of the private sphere and threaten the political autonomy upon which democratic self- government depends. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A huge conceptual gap exists between telling someone what he must do because the law mandates it and telling him what he should do because cultural values expect it. Yet, this distinction is less significant in the lives of most people than it is in academic or legal discourse. I argue here, with only a whisper of hyperbole, that the cultural diminution of this distinction threatens the basis of democracy by undermining individual autonomy and the protection of it in rights as the focus of law. Western law requires duties to be established by legislation or entered into by contract — nobody is compelled to accept another’s worldview or moral sense as determinative of his behavior. Moreover, the cultural imposition of non-legal duties frequently substitutes emotion for rational thought as grounds for imposing obligations.
    [Show full text]
  • T H E N at I O N a L C at H O L I C W E E K Ly Sept. 23, 2013 $3.50
    THE NATIONAL CATHOLIC WEEKLY SEPT. 23, 2013 $3.50 September 23, 2013 America 1 OF MANY THINGS P J U ew chapters in America’s long when he died suddenly in the summer history are a source of greater of 1967. 106 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019-3803 Fpride for us than our decades- Contemporary critiques of the Ph: 212-581-4640; Fax: 212-399-3596 long association with John Courtney Murray project suggest that his answer Subscriptions: 1-800-627-9533 Murray, S.J.; and nothing in the present was not necessarily wrong, but that www.americamagazine.org issue should be interpreted to the the compatibility question itself is twitter.com/americamag contrary. Father Murray was a friend, unanswerable, at least on the level at E C Matt Malone, S.J. associate editor and contributor to this which Murray pursued it. An answer at review for more than 20 years. In almost that macro level requires so many levels EXECUTIVE EDITORS Robert C. Collins, S.J., Maurice Timothy Reidy two dozen articles he explored the of abstraction that the result is often relationship between Catholicism and an unwieldy historical, philosophical or MANAGING EDITOR Kerry Weber American democracy, seeking to show theological superstructure that cannot LITERARY EDITOR Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. not “whether Catholicism is compatible support itself. SENIOR EDITOR & CHIEF CORRESPONDENT Kevin Clarke with American democracy,” a question It is almost certain, moreover, that Murray considered “invalid as that the answer to the compatibility EDITOR AT LARGE James Martin, S.J. well as impertinent,” but to show “that question, even in its most general form, POETRY EDITOR Joseph Hoover, S.J.
    [Show full text]
  • The Passion of the Christ Six Years On
    The Passion of the Christ Six Years On: What Happened? By Don Perlgut (Appeared in Metro Magazine , issue 164, April 2010) http://www.metromagazine.com.au/magazine/pdfs/M164-Contents.pdf Introduction Opening on 25 February 2004, Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ confounded numerous critics and observers by becoming one of the most successful films of all time, particularly in the USA. The film also arrived with enormous controversy about its antisemitic portrayals and excessive violence, and resulted in an extraordinary media storm. Almost six years on, what has happened? Why was the film not as successful in Australia as in the USA? Were fears that the film would encourage a rise in antisemitism justified? Does Hollywood provide more films for the Christian audience who embraced The Passion ? Where has the audience gone? Antisemitism in The Passion of the Christ Suggestions of antisemitism in the film were already well-documented as early as May 2003, with the widely reported Report of the Ad Hoc Scholars Group Reviewing the Script of ‘The Passion’. This group of four Catholic and three Jewish scholars was convened by specialists at the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Anti-Defamation League. 1 They provided a confidential analysis of a shooting script, which was only made public after the film’s release in 2004. In their report, the group unanimously concluded that the script had significant historical errors, the version of the script they read would promote antisemitic sentiments and the script violated many magisterial Catholic documents including several Vatican instructions.
    [Show full text]
  • Je Ne Suis Pas Charlie. Metadiscourses of Impoliteness Following “France’S 9/11” in Selected Print Media
    Topics in Linguistics - Issue 16 – December 2015 DOI: 10.2478/topling-2015-0010 Je ne suis pas Charlie. Metadiscourses of impoliteness following “France’s 9/11” in selected print media Milan Ferenčík University of Prešov, Slovakia Abstract Almost immediately after the Charlie Hebdo shootings of 7 January 2015, some print media made room for alternative opinions of what had happened. The articles and the discussions they inspired are replete with evaluations which lend themselves to analysis using methods and procedures of Politeness Theory. The paper examines an example of a metadiscourse of (im)politeness which questions the “moral orders” underlying the cartoonists’ as well as other participants’ social practices vis-à-vis their ideological foundations, esp. freedom of speech as one of the principal liberties of our society. To that end, the approach to politeness as “social practice” is employed which, while insisting on multiple understandings of politeness, places participants’ evaluations at the centre of politeness research. Keywords Charlie Hebdo shooting, impoliteness, metacomment, politeness as discursive struggle, politeness as social practice Introduction aggression which was extensively covered in The quote from my example of a European mainstream mass media and metadiscourse, i.e. a discourse about ultimately invited audiences to take discourse(s), succinctly formulates the positions. The “Charlie Hebdo discourses” position in which many people seemed to almost immediately polarized the European become “trapped” following the deadly populace along two opposing memes: Je suis attacks on Charlie Hebdo’s staff on 7 January Charlie and Je ne suis pas Charlie. While the 2015 and who, while decrying the murders, former sprang out as an immediate and did not approve of Charlie Hebdo’s satirical spontaneous negative evaluation of the journalistic practices which preceded them.
    [Show full text]
  • The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India
    THE CATHOLIC BISHOPS’ CONFERENCE OF INDIA Vol. XXVII India January- December 2018 GUEST EDITORIAL never did anything worth doing by accident, nor did any of my inventions come by accident; they came by work”. These words “I of the great Greek Philosopher Plato in brief summarises this first edition of the refurbished “Catholic India” information magazine of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference as the apex body of the Catholic Church in India through its Office Bearers and its various offices continuously conducts programmes and activities in favour of society and for the animation of the Church in India. Many of these activities which our Bishops, Fathers and Sisters do, not by accident, but through hard work and much effort are regularly reported on ourwebsite https://www.cbci.in . Over the last 15 months, the website has been visited by over three million surfers. The newsletter Catholic India which now comes out both as an electronic edition as well as a printed one provides just the gist of a few of the activities/happenings/events with a link to the detailed report on the website. This is a novel experiment to make the website news easily accessible to our friends, benefactors and well-wishers interested in our activities. We take this opportunity to thank all those who have made it possible to bring forth this publication. In particular my sincere thanks to Fr. Anthony Fernandes SFX who has compiled and set up the news magazine and to the Manager of Federal Bank, Connaught Place branch, New Delhi, for sponsoring the costs of its publication.
    [Show full text]
  • Perceptions of Religious Music in a Southern U.S. Public Middle School
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 3-30-2018 Perceptions of Religious Music in a Southern U.S. Public Middle School: A Case Study Emily Marie Mercado Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Education Commons, and the Other Religion Commons Recommended Citation Mercado, Emily Marie, "Perceptions of Religious Music in a Southern U.S. Public Middle School: A Case Study" (2018). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 4526. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/4526 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. ! PERCEPTIONS OF RELIGIOUS MUSIC IN A SOUTHERN U.S. PUBLIC MIDDLE SCHOOL: A CASE STUDY! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! A Dissertation! Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The College of Music and Dramatic Arts ! by Emily Marie Mercado B.A., Oregon State University, 2005 M.A.T., Oregon State University, 2007 May 2018 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ! ! I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Ann Marie Stanley for guiding me through this rewarding process. Her expertise, calming presence, and “get it done” attitude kept me sane and on track to complete a successful dissertation. To the rest of my committee Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Basic Christian 2005 Christian Information, Links, Resources and Free Downloads
    Wednesday, June 25, 2008 13:50 GMT Basic Christian 2005 Christian Information, Links, Resources and Free Downloads Copyright &copy 2004-2005 David Anson Brown http://www.basicchristian.us/ Basic Christian: Full Website Content 2005 Version (PDF) A Christian center with FREE Resources, Information and Links Testifying of God, Heaven and of good things through Jesus Christ both now and yet to come! http://www.basicchristian.info/BasicChristian.pdf Free Downloads: (PDF - MP3) from BasicChristian.org It is our Commitment to provide a Varity of FREE and useful Downloads. It is also our Commitment to provide them in a convenient way without pop-up advertisements, redirects and other annoying interferences between you and the information you are seeking. We also encourage everyone to have a safety offline backup version of the Basic Christian material. http://www.basicchristian.org/download.html BOOK OF REVELATION: Overview (6 Mp3 Messages) FREE Downloads Get the basics regarding the Bible's book of Revelation (6 Mp3 Messages) FREE downloads. The book of Revelation (revealed - unveiling) was written by the beloved disciple John at the instructions of the risen resurrected Jesus in approximately the year 100 AD.. Revelation contains seven letters given from Jesus to the entire Christian Church movement. Letters of instruction and also letters of encouragement. Did you know that all of the Apostles of Jesus died a martyrs death except for the disciple John and that according to early Church tradition the Roman government had likewise tried to kill John by boiling him in oil yet God delivered him and did not allow John to be hurt therefore the Roman government banished John to a small island named "Patmos" and it was there at this prison island of Patmos that the disciple John again saw the resurrected Jesus and wrote the things Jesus instructed John to write giving us "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" the Bibles' last book.
    [Show full text]
  • No Aid, No Agency
    NO AID, NO AGENCY Steven K. Green* ABSTRACT Over the past three decades, members of the Supreme Court have demonstrated increasing hostility to the Establishment Clause’s rule against funding religion, first enunciated in 1947. Over the years, the Court has not only narrowed the rule to allow for government aid to flow to religious schools and faith-based charities, it has more recently declared that to enforce that rule may amount to discrimination against reli- gion. This Article argues that a key reason for the decline in the no-aid principle rests on the weakness of the rationale underlying that rule: that funding of religion coerces the conscience of taxpayers. The taxpayer conscience rationale, though valid his- torically as basis for the clause’s prohibition on government funding of religion, no longer makes sense. And because the taxpayer conscience rationale is wanting, so too is the Flast v. Cohen rule permitting taxpayer standing to challenge government disbursements to religious entities. This Article then proposes an alternative basis for the no-aid principle, that being the concept that government has “no agency” over religious matters, a theory originally enunciated by James Madison. As explained, the no-agency theory is a structural or jurisdictional limitation on the power of gov- ernment to finance inherently religious activity. If adopted, the no-agency rationale would restore needed credibility to the no-aid principle. INTRODUCTION To state the obvious, the Supreme Court’s decisions prohibiting government financial aid to religious institutions have been controversial since the Court’s first holding in Everson v. Board of Education in 1947.1 There, a unanimous Court em- braced the “no-aid” theory underlying the Establishment Clause despite a bare majority upholding the aid in question: state reimbursements for transportation costs for stu- dents to travel safely to parochial schools.2 Speaking for the majority, Justice Hugo Black wrote: “The ‘establishment of religion’ clause of the First Amendment means at least this: .
    [Show full text]
  • Hold Your Story
    HOLD YOUR STORY HOLD YOUR STORY REFLECTIONS ON THE NEWS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN INDIA Edited by Chindu Sreedharan, Einar Thorsen and Asavari Singh Hold your story: reflections on the news of sexual violence in India Edited by Chindu Sreedharan, Einar Thorsen, and Asavari Singh For enquiries, please contact Chindu Sreedharan Email: [email protected] First published by the Centre for the Study of Conflict, Emotion & Social Justice, Bournemouth University https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/centres-institutes/centre-study- conflict-emotion-social-justice ISBN: 978-1-910042-28-1 [print/softcover] ISBN: 978-1-910042-29-8 [ebook-PDF] ISBN: 978-1-910042-30-4 [ebook-epub] BIC Subject Classification Codes: GTC / JFD / KNT/ 1FKA /JFFE2 CC-BY 4.0 Chindu Sreedharan, Einar Thorsen, and Asavari Singh Individual chapters CC-BY 4.0 Contributors Cover design: Create Cluster Editoral coordinator: Shivani Agarwal Printed in India CONTENTS Acknowledgements ix Foreword 1 Ammu Joseph Introduction 6 Chindu Sreedharan, Einar Thorsen, and Asavari Singh PART I MEDIA ETHICS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 1. The recipe for irresponsible coverage 17 Sourya Reddy 2. Just ‘facts’ are not enough 24 Tejaswini Srihari 3. When numbers become ‘just’ numbers 30 Anunaya Rajhans 4. What journalists owe survivors 36 ‘Anitha’, interviewed by Tasmin Kurien 5. Towards undoing silences 46 Urvashi Butalia, interviewed by Sanya Chandra, Maanya Saran, Biplob K Das, and Yamini Krishnan 6. An ethos of fearlessness 52 Nisha Susan, interviewed by Meghna Anand 7. A lack of knowledge mars LGBTQ+ reporting 57 Bindumadhav Khire, interviewed by Pranati Narayan Visweswaran 8. Journalists need more subject expertise 62 Jagadeesh Narayana Reddy, interviewed by Spurthi Venkatesh 9.
    [Show full text]
  • Exposed:The World Congress of Families
    EXPOSED: THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES AN AMERICAN ORGANIZATION EXPORTING HATE AUGUST 2014 2 THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES (WCF) • WWW.HRC.ORG/WORLDCONGRESS • AUGUST 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 ORIGINS OF THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES 9 WHO IS THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES? 12 RUSSIA 16 EASTERN EUROPE 17 AUSTRALIA 18 AFRICA 19 WCF AT HOME 4 THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES (WCF) • WWW.HRC.ORG/WORLDCONGRESS • AUGUST 2014 THE WORLD CONGRESS OF FAMILIES (WCF) • WWW.HRC.ORG/WORLDCONGRESS • AUGUST 2014 5 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY he World Congress of Families (WCF) is one of the most influential American organizations involved in the export of hate. Since 1997, WCF Thas held conferences and events around the world that foster homophobia and transphobia under the guise of protecting the “natural family.” It is connected to some mainstream conservative organizations and to the very highest levels of government in the countries where it operates. Thanks to WCF’s connections, its rhetoric and its willingness to associate with and encourage radically homophobic and transphobic activists, the group has had an outsized influence on anti-LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) sentiment and legislation in many places. This report explores WCF’s influence in more depth, focusing on Russia — where the organization had its genesis — as well as Eastern Europe, Australia and Africa. WCF is an organization with strong ties to American religious and conservative groups — including Focus on the Family, Alliance Defending Freedom, American Family Association and Family Research Council — and religious groups — such as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Knights of Columbus.
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations
    UC Berkeley UC Berkeley Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title A Crenelated Wall: The Rise and Fall of Southern Baptist Institutions for the Separation of Church and State, 1936-1979 Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/94z3m5b3 Author Ruckle, John Timothy Publication Date 2015 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California A Crenelated Wall: The Rise and Fall of Southern Baptist Institutions for the Separation of Church and State, 1936-1979 By John Timothy Ruckle Jr. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor David A. Hollinger, Chair Professor Richard Cándida Smith Professor Richard E. Hutson Spring 2015 © 2015 by John Timothy Ruckle Jr. All rights reserved. Abstract A Crenelated Wall: The Rise and Fall of Southern Baptist Institutions for the Separation of Church and State, 1936-1979 by John Timothy Ruckle Jr. Doctor of Philosophy in History University of California, Berkeley Professor David A. Hollinger, Chair This dissertation centers on the origins and projects of the Baptist Joint Committee (BJC), founded and funded in 1936 by the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), and the Protestants and Other Americans United for the Separation of Church and State (POAU), founded in 1948 as the brainchild of Southern Baptist elites. I argue these organizations were primarily concerned with opposing American Catholic projects, especially those which sought public monies for parochial schools. Ironically, the structures and organizations which greatly aided this effort to expand religious tolerance and liberty in this period had their origins in concerns about the Catholic Church and American Catholicism held by many Baptists.
    [Show full text]
  • No, Homosexuality Is Not a Risk Factor for the Sexual Abuse of Children by Thomas G
    B NDINGS Vol. 38 No. 1 A Publication of New Ways Ministry Winter 2018-19 No, homosexuality is not a risk factor for the sexual abuse of children By Thomas G. Plante their sexual impulse control is poor. But these individuals tended to be boys. If some, like most clerical sex offenders in AmericaMagazine.org the research data on this topic makes Father wanted to have private time with the church, select those with whom they October 22, 2018 clear that sexual orientation alone is not a an altar boy or perhaps take a boy off on have access and trust. risk factor for pedophilia or for commit- a camping trip or to a baseball game back The behavior and psychopathology Many people believe that homosexu- ting sexual crimes against children or in the 20th century, no one would have of sex offenders is complex, but there is a ality is the root cause of sexual abuse by teens or any- thought much of it. Boys were trusted large amount of quality research to help clergy in the Catholic Church since about one. Sexual us better understand their behavior, with 80 percent of the known victims have orientation by established best practices for evaluating been male. This has led some church itself is irrele- and treating them for their dysfunction. leaders to suggest that banning homosex- vant to child Best practices are also available for child ual men from the priesthood could pre- sexual abuse protection by better managing the envi- vent future victimization of children in behavior or ronment where children are involved the church.
    [Show full text]