Tampa, U.S.A. — On August 20, Kelly Shackelford, President and CEO of Liberty Institute, and Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, officially released The Survey on Religious Hostility in America at a press conference during Platform Week at the Republican National Convention.

Simultaneously, they launched an interactive website at www.religioushostility.org, where more than 600 cases of religious hostility, most occurring during the past decade, are documented and available for public download.

Whether a federal judge threatens a high school valedictorian with incarceration for referring to Jesus in her graduation speech; a city official prohibits senior citizens from praying over their meals; or the U.S. Department of Justice tells churches and synagogues which pastors and rabbis they can hire and fire, attacks on Americans’ religious freedoms have dramatically increased, both in frequency and in the types of incidents.

On the site, the public can view a U.S. map that contains a sampling of the 25 most egregious incidents of religious hostility. There is also a place to share personal stories of religious discrimination, and a photo gallery representing more than a dozen groundbreaking cases.

“There is really no place you can go in America to avoid these chilling attacks—every community and every age group is affected,” Shackelford said. “We have hundreds of examples. It’s more prolific than we’ve ever seen in the history of our country.”

Perkins added, “As our country enters one of the most critical elections of our time, it’s vital that people of all faiths continue the important work of defending our most precious liberty.”

In 2004, The Survey of Religious Hostility in America was born when Shackelford, along with a number of Liberty Institute’s clients, testified before the U.S. Senate about the growing religious hostility in America. Because the opposition insisted these select testimonies were simply isolated incidents, Senators Kennedy and Cornyn asked Liberty Institute to provide additional information, which led to the development of the first hostilities document.

Led by President and CEO Kelly Shackelford, Liberty Institute is a nonprofit law firm, dedicated to defending and restoring religious liberty across America — in our schools, for our churches and throughout the public arena. Liberty Institute’s vision is to reestablish religious liberty in accordance with the principles of our nation’s Founders. For information, visit www.LibertyInstitute.org.

Since 1983, Family Research Council (FRC) has advanced faith, family and freedom in public policy and public opinion. President Tony Perkins and his team of seasoned experts promote these core values through policy research, public education on Capitol Hill and in the media, and grassroots mobilization.

Through outreach to pastors, FRC equips churches to transform the culture. Strategically located inWashington, D.C., FRC is the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power. For information, visit, www.frc.org.

Image Courtesy of   Bocman1973 / Shutterstock.com

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Tampa, U.S.A. — Liberty Institute and the Family Research Council, two organizations committed to protecting and advancing religious liberty rights in the U.S., have joined to release The Survey of Religious Hostility in America—a compilation of more than 600 documented incidents of hostility to religion that have occurred in the United States, most of them over the last 10 years.

The organizations’ presidents, Kelly Shackelford and Tony Perkins (Perkins will serve on the Republican platform committee) will present the survey and its findings on Monday, August 20 at 1:00 PM EST during platform week of the Republican National Convention at the Marriott Waterside Hotel, Tampa, FL.

Shackelford said: “America today would be unrecognizable to our Founders. Our First Liberty is facing a relentless onslaught from well-funded and aggressive groups and individuals who are using the courts, Congress, and the vast federal bureaucracy to suppress and limit religious freedom. This radicalized minority is driven by an anti-religious ideology that is turning the First Amendment upside down.”

Perkins said: “As dark as this survey is, there is much light. The secularists’ agenda only advances when those who love liberty are apathetic. Let this be a call to stand for religious liberty in the U.S.  The Obama administration no longer even speaks of freedom of religion; now it is only ‘freedom of worship.’ This radical departure is one that threatens to make true religious liberty vulnerable, conditional, and limited. This is no accident, and it has huge ramifications.”

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Washington, U.S.A. – Family Research Council (FRC) said that President Barrack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex “marriage” is disappointing but not surprising.

In an interview with ABC News, Obama announced that he now supports legalizing same-sex marriage. It was the second time in his career that Obama has appeared to reverse course on the issue. In 1996, as a candidate for the Illinois State Senate, Obama endorsed same-sex marriage. But since winning national office – first as a U.S. Senator, and then as President Obama had said that such couples should have access to all the legal rights and benefits of marriage through “civil unions,” but that “marriage” should remain defined as the union of a man and a woman.

“The President’s announcement that he supports legalizing same-sex marriage finally brings his words in sync with his actions.  From opposing state marriage amendments to refusing to defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DoMA) to giving taxpayer funded marriage benefits to same-sex couples, the President has undermined the spirit if not the letter of the law,” FRC President Tony Perkins stated.

“As demonstrated by yesterday’s overwhelming vote in North Carolina, redefining marriage remains outside the mainstream of American politics, especially in the critical battleground states and among minority voters. In North Carolina, the amendment received more than 60% of the vote in majority-black counties.

“Considering that ten of the sixteen battleground states have marriage amendments that could be overturned by the President’s new policy position on marriage, the announcement almost ensures that marriage will again be a major issue in the presidential election.

“The President has provided a clear contrast between him and his challenger Mitt Romney.  Romney, who has signed a pledge to support a marriage protection amendment to the U.S. Constitution, may have been handed the key to social conservative support by President Obama.”

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To celebrate National Marriage Week (Feb. 7-14), Family Research Council’s Marriage and Religion Research Institute has released a new paper entitled 162 Reasons to Marry. This important new study demonstrates that marriage is beneficial across a wide range of personal outcomes, including family, religion, education, finances, crime and health.

162 Reasons to Marry shows that married persons:

• enjoy stronger relationships with their children;
• worship more regularly;
• participate more actively in their children’s education;
• work more productively;
• enjoy greater financial stability;
• have better mental and physical health; and
• are less likely to commit crime or abuse or to be victims of domestic violence.

Furthermore, those raised in intact married families are more likely to practice sexual chastity, to worship more regularly, to expect and attain more educationally, and to exhibit better physical and mental health. They are also less likely to experience poverty as children or to experience or commit violence.

Dr. Patrick Fagan , Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute, writes:

“Marriage is the foundational relationship for all of society, and therefore we can be sure that there are many more than the 162 reasons for marriage enumerated here. All other relationships in society stem from the father-mother relationship, and these other relationships thrive most if that father-mother relationship is simultaneously a close and a closed husband-wife relationship.”

Fagan says the outcomes evaluated (family, religion, education, marketplace and government) represent all five of the major institutions, or tasks, of society.

Fagan said:

“The family is one of the five major institutions of society. Within a family built on a good marriage, the child gradually learns to value and perform the five fundamental tasks of every competent adult and of every functional society – raising a family, practicing religion, receiving an education, working in the marketplace and participating in government.

Children raised in strong families are mentored in all these areas, often unconsciously, and gradually they learn to act similarly. That is how we grow a great society.  There is no short cut on this one.”

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Truth Wins Out sent an open letter to Montgomery School Superintendent Joshua Starr strongly urging him to stop disseminating “ex-gay” fliers by the discredited organization Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays (PFOX). The virulently anti-gay group distributed 8,000 sheets at five Montgomery County schools in the span of a week, even though Starr calls the fliers “reprehensible and deplorable.”

“While non-profit literature must not be blocked based on viewpoint, it can and should be prohibited if it contains blatant misinformation that jeopardizes the health and well being of students,” wrote TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen in the letter to Starr. “The PFOX flier easily fits this description and the group has a dubious history that includes bizarre and bigoted practices that have no place in your public school system.”

The letter points out that PFOX board member Peter Sprigg, who works for Southern Poverty Law Center hate group the Family Research Council, once said that he wanted to “export” LGBT people and that he supports criminalizing homosexuality. In August 2010, PFOX president Greg Quinlan spoke at a conference where he made an outrageous and offensive anti-gay slur:

“I wasn’t your flaming faggot, you know,” Quinlan said. “I can say that because I’ve been there and done that. You know, the one’s whose wrists are so limp that when the wind blows they slap themselves in the face. I wasn’t one of them.”

“Let’s not beat around the bush: If an unsavory organization insulted other minorities with despicable epithets and demanded that they be ‘exported’ or jailed – no school in Montgomery County would be distributing their leaflets,” TWO’s letter said. “The fact that you would allow this politically motivated organization to spread its noxious message about LGBT people shows an unreasonable and unfathomable double standard.”

Furthermore, the former president of PFOX, Richard Cohen, was permanently expelled from the American Counseling Association for multiple ethics violations. Cohen is the individual most associated with the discredited mental health techniques trumpeted by PFOX.

Image Courtesy of   Zherui WU / Shutterstock.com

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Family Research Council (FRC) have praised the decision by the California Supreme Court to allow the proponents of California’s marriage amendment, Proposition 8, to defend its constitutionality in federal court.

The ruling was necessary because, although the amendment defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman was adopted by voters in 2008, California’s Governor and Attorney General have refused to defend it against a federal constitutional challenge in a case now known as Perry v. Brown.

Now-retired U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker ruled in 2010 that Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution. The decision was appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, but judges there asked the California Supreme Court to first rule on whether proponents have standing to defend California law when public officials refuse to do so.

FRC President Tony Perkins issued the following statement regarding today’s ruling:

“We welcome the decision of the California Supreme Court upholding the right of those who put California’s marriage amendment on the ballot to defend it in court.

“It is unconscionable that the Governor and Attorney General have abdicated their responsibility to defend their state’s constitution against attack in federal court. However, the silver lining is that the people’s decision to preserve the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman will now receive a robust defense, not merely a perfunctory one.

“We hope that the judges of the Ninth Circuit will recognize the absurdity of Judge Walker’s claim that a right to homosexual ‘marriage’ is found in the U.S. Constitution, and preserve the right of the people ofCalifornia to govern themselves,” concluded Perkins.

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