By Bob Allen An 87-year-old former Soviet-era prisoner of conscience and Baptist pastor has been fined for conducting religious activities without state permission in Kazakhstan. Forum 18, an international news service that monitors religious freedom violations, says Yegor Prokopenko, pastor…
Mohler says gay marriage a religious-liberty threat
By Bob Allen “Religious liberty has never been threatened in our lifetimes, and probably in terms of the American experiment, like it will be threatened with same-sex marriage,” Albert Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, warned in a video…
Baptists fined in Belarus for illegal worship
By Bob Allen Four Baptists in Belarus paid fines after losing appeals for holding worship services without government permission. Forum 18, an international news service that specializes in religious-freedom issues, reported that Pastor Aleksandr Zolotarev, arrested in a Dec. 22…
Baptist, Catholic urge new religious freedom envoy
By Bob Allen A Southern Baptist official and a Roman Catholic bishop signed a joint letter March 4 asking two U.S. senators to allow a vote on a bill that would create and fund a new envoy to promote religious…
“Corporations are people, my friend” — Hobby Lobby and religious freedom
Less than two years after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s most significant legislative accomplishment, “Obamacare” is set to be back before the High Court next month. Oral arguments for Sebelius v. Hobby Lobby Stores,…
Pharmacist fired for refusing to sell Plan B sues Walgreens
By Bob Allen A Tennessee pharmacist and Baptist church deacon is suing Walgreens in federal court claiming the drug store chain failed to accommodate his religious objection to dispensing Plan B — also known as the “morning-after pill.” Pharmacist Philip Hall,…
Obama stresses religious freedom at prayer breakfast
By Bob Allen Promoting religious freedom abroad is a key objective of U.S. foreign policy, President Obama told a crowd of about 3,500 at the 62nd National Prayer Breakfast at the Washington Hilton Feb. 6. “There are times when we work…
Mosque opponents appeal to Supreme Court
By Bob Allen A group of citizens who sued their county about public notice for plans to build a mosque in their community sent an appeal overnight to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Daily News Journal in Murfreesboro, Tenn., reported…
Obama administration to appeal clergy tax ruling
By Robert Dilday The Justice Department will appeal a federal court ruling last fall that allowing clergy to avoid paying taxes on a part of their income designated as a housing allowance violates the constitutionally mandated separation of church and…