Category: Entanglement

December 17, 2015
screencap of Another Texas city endorsed Nativity scene in 2014
Another Texas city endorsed Nativity scene in 2014

Most Christmas seasons I’ve written blog posts about some religious freedom legal case involving a local or state government preference for Christianity during the holiday. Why haven’t I written many posts on it this year? I get sick of repeating myself and it seems like after each case, each year, we go back to square one somewhere else the next year. I needed a post this month so here are a couple of examples that show why some religious conservatives refuse to understand the first amendment.

November 19, 2015
screencap Governor Kaisch Speaking at The National Press Club 11/17/2015
Governor Kaisch Speaking at The National Press Club 11/17/2015

Ohio Governor John Kasich, who is trying to run for President, gave a so-called national security strategy speech at The National Press Club on November 17th. What is Kasich’s strategy? Christian propaganda into non-Christian areas of the world. To Ohioans like me, this is classic Kasich – pandering to religious conservatives rather than offering sensible, rational, and secular policies to solve problems.

November 2, 2015
image of a Vote Here Sign

Election Day is Tuesday and many of us still travel to a polling place to cast our ballots in person. In many communities the polling place is located inside a church. It is not illegal to have voting in a church but the location still needs to meet election laws such as having no electioneering materials within a proscribed voting zone. What should you look for and what should you do to make sure a church follows the rules?

States differ in how their polling places are set up but I will use Ohio as an example.

October 20, 2015
September 27, 2015
screencap of Pope Francis speaking in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday 9-26-2015
Pope Francis speaking in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia on Saturday 9-26-2015

Pope Francis gave a speech about religious freedom in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia. While he made some good points about the importance of religious freedom, any mention of the non-religious was missing. Religious freedom is just as important to secular people as it is to the religious.

Popepalooza hit Philadelphia on Saturday and Pope Francis gave a speech in front of iconic Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution were both signed. The topic was religious freedom. I was interested to hear what he had to say about it.

September 24, 2015
screencap of video of Dr. Ben Carson in Findlay Ohio on Wednesday 9-23-2015
Dr. Ben Carson in Findlay Ohio on Wednesday

Dr. Ben Carson, who is running for the GOP nomination for President in 2016, stopped in my hometown for a visit on Wednesday. WTOL in Toledo had video and a reporter on the scene and she asked about his recent comments about Muslims. He didn’t back down and in fact according to Ben Carson, Ben Carson can’t be President.