Category: Politics

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
October 1, 2015
image of a sign at the ProMedica protest on Wednesday
Sign at the ProMedica protest on Wednesday

Ohio has some of the most ridiculous and onerous abortion ‘regulations’ in the country. One of these ‘regulations’ requires a ‘transfer agreement’ between a hospital and a clinic under the guise of ‘patient safety’. ProMedica, a large private hospital group in the Toledo area is saying it won’t sign a transfer agreement with Toledo’s only abortion clinic because it doesn’t want to take sides in the abortion debate. By refusing to enter into an agreement ProMedica is in fact taking a side and it isn’t supporting women’s health.

Here is a brief explanation of Ohio abortion “regulations”:

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.

September 17, 2015
image of the Bill of Rights title

Today is Constitution Day. This is when we celebrate the date, back in 1787, when delegates to the Constitutional Convention signed the document in Philadelphia. Our Constitution is currently under attack by conservatives who really believe religion should trump the document of democracy and equality. We need to let our members of Congress know that this is a wrong move.

Back in June the so-called “First Amendment Defense Act” was introduced: