By Lauren markoe download
Religion news service
WASHINGTON (RNS) at a Conference full of people who defend the traditional religious values, Amardeep Singh knew that not everyone could appreciate his account of the "uncomfortable" taxi that had taken the previous day.
Singh, Rapporteur highlighted in the second national religious freedom annual Conference in Washington (May 30) Thursday, said the audience of several hundred to your taxi driver D.C. had the radio tuned to a religious commentator mentality, explaining that women become lesbians because they had been abused.
His historia de taxi, their say and the reaction to it - reveals flaws in the coalition of Americans concerned that Government and popular culture are eroding religious freedom and trying to eradicate religion from the public sphere.
"I felt uncomfortable knowing how our community, the Sikh community, is often widely stereotyped and those broad stereotypes are used so literally participate in acts of violence," Singh, director of programs at the Sikh coalition continued. Sikhs, lesbian, no group should be brushed wide, he said.
Below its target, Singh asked the taxi driver to stop, paid the fee and explained that he did not want to hear such prejudice. You have the right to listen, said said the driver, "but also I am going to exercise my right to not give you the business".
Sitting next to Singh on the podium, the Rev. Eugene Rivers III of the Church of God in Christ, listened attentively, narrowing his eyes as Singh spoke.
When he had finished Singh, rivers made it clear that it has different beliefs and draws the line of tolerance in a different place. "What the man said on the radio... really tests on the argument that in some cases the young women, in this case we are talking about lesbians, have arrived that the abuse orientation".
"The radio type can simply exaggerated the case," continued rivers, pastor of Azusa Christian Community and Senior Adviser of policy to the Church of God, Bishop President of Christ in Boston.
The panelists who came to assess the State of religious freedom in the nation accept the point that different beliefs could not occur together in anything beyond the need to protect religious freedom, and that sometimes, coalitions would present major challenges that must be met head on.
Rabbi Abba Cohen, a panelist and Vice President of Federal Affairs of Agudath Israel, an Orthodox Jewish organization, offers several examples of Jews see issues of religious freedom differently than non-Jews.
Orthodox Jews do not believe in abortion on demand, but I think that in some particular cases, Jewish law requires abortion, Cohen said. They support the right of any person to proselytize, but proselytizing may cause damage to the Jewish community, he said.
Still, taking the broader perspective, Cohen agreed with the Conference theme that religious freedom is under threat in the United States and that religious people must unite.
In another panel of the Conference, legislators and activists it spoke of the need for conservatives to court Allied Liberals to help defend religious rights and cited examples when the American Civil Liberties Union and Democrats had worked successfully with conservative religious people of the State.
Among the evidence of a deterioration of the religious rights offered during the one day meeting sponsored by the ethics and public policy Center: rule of the administration of Obama that require employers to provide coverage for contraception; the refusal of State universities several groups of students requiring its leaders to accept certain principles of faith; and companies that are allowed to relegate to the Muslim women with headscarves to jobs where the public does not see.
"We see that the religion is often treated with derision and ridicule," Cohen said. "In these troubled waters, is all hands on deck."
Muslim theologian Shaykha Reima Yosif, who wears a headscarf and he founded an organization to support Muslim women through art and education, said as an easily identifiable follower of Islam, has often been said ' go back where you come. "
The Yosif born in United States, however, said he has hope that religious leaders can set an example for the rest of the nation about the tolerance of traditions other than their own.
"He is not a priest or a Rabbi or a pastor who say those things."It is layman, he said, referring to the insults that have been thrown to her. "These ideals that we are gathered here today because we have to make sure that drain to the average American daily".
As Singh anecdote showed gay rights and same-sex marriage, they may be the most likely cause of friction as religious leaders try to assemble themselves into a force to protect religious freedoms.
Rivers said that its aims of tolerance where people obligated to accept nothing beyond what he knows as Biblical truth, or when opponents threaten their tax exempt status because of their beliefs. He said that he would be willing to go to jail to defend their religious views.
"If you make a mistake with the Bible, go to jail," he told the crowd, to an enthusiastic round of applause.
Elder Lance B. Wickman, legal adviser to the Church of Christ of latter-day Saints, took a softer direction. He had called homosexuality "a secular thing" and recognizes the protection of secular interests. But the secular-minded Americans must understand that religion is also fundamental to the identity of many people.
Too often, he said, religion is now considered a "hobby", in America, a "lifestyle choice" was limited to the home, Church, synagogue or mosque.
"It is building a new wardrobe," he said, "for the religious traditional values about sexuality and the family."
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