The David Pakman Show recently rebroadcast this "Classic Interview"  with Rachel Tabachnick in which they discuss her groundbreaking work on the New Apostolic Reformation, Dominion Theology, and the connection with Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX). It was originally broadcast on December 19, 2011.

In which I discuss Religious Freedom Day on the David Pakman Show. I said, among other things, "The idea of religious freedom was one of the most progressive and revolutionary ideas in a revolutionary age:  The Age of Enlightenment."

I can't be absolutely certain, but I'm pretty sure that Pope Francis is not walking around with Mao's Red Book stuffed into an inside pocket of his papal robes, or that he's starting a study group for Das Capital. Nevertheless, with the release of a new book titled "Pope Francis: This Economy Kills," the Pope's critics are sure to ratchet up their labeling of him with the "C" word (Communist), and the "M" word (Marxist).

The Christian Post headlined its recent story about the new report: "Communist or Christian? Pope Francis Defends Vatican Report Titled 'This Economy Kills' in Criticism of Global Financial System."

A prominent Christian right radio broadcaster has claimed that the terrorist attacks in Paris was an example of God's use of "idolators" to punish the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, for mocking Christianity. The perpetrators of the murderous attacks on the magazine, and a Jewish grocery store, stated that they were out to avenge the mocking of Muhammad by Charlie Hebdo. While both were at least partially correct in their assessments of the work of the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo, and while they are not two peas from the same pod, their stated beliefs does make for a strange confluence of religiosity.  

As is the annual custom, Mr. Obama issued the the Presidential Proclamation for Religious Freedom Day, 2015. I have republished the whole thing after the jump, but I wanted to highlight one part that I think gets at the heart of the matter (before he wanders off into how religious freedom figures into national security.)

The First Amendment prohibits the Government from establishing religion. It protects the right of every person to practice their faith how they choose, to change their faith, or to practice no faith at all, and to do so free from persecution and fear.

 

The part about changing your mind is crucial. We tend to think of orthodoxies when it comes to religion, but in fact, even many of the most conservative members of any given religious body, often thinks dynamically about what they believe and why, even if it is not always convenient to discuss it with others. (If this were not so, there would not be so many schisms.)  The freedom to believe as we will, means the right to change our minds.

Today is Religious Freedom Day!

And there are ways to participate on social media on this, the most important national Day that most of us have never heard of.

If this is new to you, here is the short of what you need to know:  

Religious Freedom Day was enacted by Congress in 1991, and been commemorated by presidential proclamation annually since 1992. And not much else happens. But this year, as you'll see below, more than a dozen organizations recently decided to seize the Day -- to begin to reassert the true meaning of religious freedom and to more aggressively challenge the distortions issued by the Christian Right.

"Silencing Dissent: How Biased Civil Rights Policies Stifle Dialogue on Israel" is a new article in Tikkun Magazine, (January 2015) by Chip Berlet and Maria Planansky.

Here are  the top paragraphs:

Outrage over Israeli policies toward Palestinians has continued to swell the movement for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS). In response, critics of BDS are spreading rhetoric that is corroding support for civil liberties, civil rights, and free expression of ideas in the United States.

Controversies over U.S. policies in the Middle East are not new, but the current stance of some institutions claiming to speak for the U.S. Jewish community, combined with biased federal policies targeting anti-Semitism on U.S. college campuses, raises the specter of not just blacklists and political witch hunts but de facto government censorship.

Here are the Recommendations from the Report "Constructing Campus Conflict: Antisemitism and Islamophobia on U.S. College Campuses, 2007-2011: published by Political Research Associates, 2014

Recommendations

Work To Reduce Interpersonal Islamophobia and Antisemitism on Campus

Create settings where students of Muslim, Jewish, Christian and other faiths can create bonds based on personal stories, specifically around religious and cultural rather than political concerns. This is the strategy being used by Eboo Patel at Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), and by the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions at the University of Wisconsin (LISAR).

Create frameworks for shared inquiry in and out of the classroom, where existing perspectives can be interrogated with more nuance and sensitivity.

What did Jefferson and 18th century evangelicals have in common?  If you guessed separation of church and state, you can go to the head of the class.  Historian John Ragosta's class anyway.

Ragosta, an expert on Thomas Jefferson's Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, is also an advocate for wider celebration of Religious Freedom Day -- the national day designated by Congress in 1991 to commemorate the enactment of one of the most important advances in human and civil rights in the history of Western civilization. Given its significance, it is strange that about all that happens is that president issues an annual Proclamation.  But as we have in past years at Talk to Action, we will join the president (and many others soon to be announced) including bloggers at Daily Kos celebrating Religious Freedom Day.

 

This piece originally appeared as an op-ed at LGBTQ Nation.

Something remarkable happened in the run up to the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Hobby Lobby vs. Burwell. A movement was born. A potentially historic movement that does not yet know its name -- but which may yet bring the light of hope to a darkening political landscape.

Two memorable speeches were delivered in the early 1980s on separation of church and state. The first was by U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and was given - at all places - before an audience at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va.

Because of the unusual venue, Kennedy's speech on Oct. 3, 1983, attracted a lot of attention. But about a year later, another politician delivered an equally impressive speech, and it also grabbed some headlines. This was New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's address to Notre Dame University on Sept. 13, 1984.

According to a statement on his web site, tonight will be Mike Huckabee's last show on Fox where he has held forth on Saturday night for more than six years. Apparently he is thinking seriously about getting into the GOP race for president.  If he runs, it will be in part because he has a good chance of being the Christian Right's preferred candidate.  He has certainly been paying his dues -- working in the trenches of the Christian Right for many years, as a headliner at many of the Pastor Policy Briefings organized by David Lane of the American Family Association and at the annual Values Voters Summit organized by the Family Research Council  -- and several major organizations of the Christian Right.