How Justice Kennedy's 30 years helped and hurt religious freedom

ByKelsey Dallas@kelsey_dallas

Published: June 30, 2018 8:00 am

Charles Dharapak, AP
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy arrives for a roundtable discussion titled "Making Law Work for Everyone", Friday, June 13, 2008, at the Organization of American (OAS) in Washington. In writing for the court majority on the Supreme Court's decision on Guantanamo Bay on Thursday, Kennedy acknowledged the terrorism threat the country faces and the administration's justification for the detentions, but he declared, "The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)



SALT LAKE CITY — Justice Anthony Kennedy spent three decades on the Supreme Court, playing a pivotal role in rulings that expanded LGBT rights, protected religion in the public square and ensured access to abortions.

But when it comes to his religious freedom legacy, he may be remembered most for the questions he never answered, according to legal experts.


In his opinions legalizing same-sex marriage and condemning anti-religion bias, Kennedy advocated for tolerating religious beliefs. However, his rulings rarely gave a clear picture of how to legislate tolerance through state and federal policies, said Thomas Berg, a professor of law and public policy at the University of St. Thomas.

Kennedy's rulings "are partly responsible for religious freedom being such a political hot potato," he said.

By retiring this year, Kennedy creates the possibility for a justice to join the Supreme Court who may be more willing to directly address public policy but less willing to work with liberal colleagues. Kennedy may come to regret not taking stronger positions when he had the chance, said Fred Gedicks, a law professor at Brigham Young University.

"It's almost as if he lost the courage of his convictions in the last few years," he said.

Matt Slocum, APFILE - In this Oct. 3, 2013, file photo, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy speaks to faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania law school in Philadelphia. The 81-year-old Kennedy said Tuesday, June 27, 2018, that he is retiring after more than 30 years on the court.(AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

Hot-button issues

Kennedy was then-President Ronald Reagan's third choice for the Supreme Court when he was nominated in 1987. A Democrat-led Senate had rejected the Republican president's first choice, and the second nominee withdrew from the process after previous marijuana use came to light.

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Pope Francis affirms Catholic Church's commitment to Christian unity

Peter Kenny |Thursday, June 21 2018

 

(Photo: Albin Hillert / WCC)Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches greets Pope Francis on his first papal visit to the WCC's Ecumenical Center in Geneva, Switzerland on June 21, 2018.

The thirst for material things blinds human beings to their companions and that indifference abounds in the world's streets today, Pope Francis said in a homily at the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

Swiss government officials including Alain Berset, who holds the rotating Swiss presidency this year, welcomed him at Geneva's international airport.

Berset told journalists that he shares the Pope's commitment to peace and human rights.

At the WCC's Ecumenical Center on June 21, Pope Francis spoke about walking towards Christian unity and the pitfalls that we encounter on the journey.

"For us as Christians, walking together is not a ploy to strengthen our own positions, but an act of obedience to the Lord and love for our world. Let us ask the Father to help us walk together all the more resolutely in the ways of the Spirit," said the Pope.

"I wanted to take part personally in the celebrations marking this anniversary of the World Council, not least to reaffirm the commitment of the Catholic Church to the cause of ecumenism and to encourage cooperation with the member churches and with our ecumenical partners.


"Whenever we say 'Our Father', we feel an echo within us of our being sons and daughters, but also of our being brothers and sisters. Prayer is the oxygen of ecumenism," said Francis.

The landmark visit of Pope Francis to the World Council of Churches on 21 June is the cornerstone of the ecumenical commemoration of the WCC's 70th anniversary.

Pope Francis' day at the WCC began with an ecumenical prayer service in the chapel of the Ecumenical Centre from where he delivered his homily on "walking the ecumenical journey."

Pope Francis visits WCC Geneva 70th Anniversary

PESCHKEN reports



Published on Jun 23, 2018

Subscribe 263 Pope Francis’ visit of the WCC , World Council of Churches, 70th anniversary. This meeting also marked 50 years of cooperation between the World Council of Churches and the Roman Catholic Church in the quest for Christian unity.

The theme of the visit was: “Walking, Praying and Working Together”, and it started with a prayer service at the Ecumenical Centre chapel.

I met with H.E. Archbishop Thomas E. Gullickson, Apostolic Nuncio to Switzerland and Liechtenstein (located in Bern) asking him why it took 14 years between the last Papal Visit and this one.

© copyright 2018 by Christian Peschken – Broadcast via “Vaticano” at EWTN – All Rights Reserved

Serve the poor, shun 'palace intrigue,' pope tells new cardinals

World News

June 28, 2018 / 11:58 AM / 2 days ago

Serve the poor, shun 'palace intrigue,' pope tells new cardinals

Philip Pullella


3 Min Read


VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis installed 14 Catholic churchmen as cardinals on Thursday, putting another stamp on the group that will one day elect his successor.

Pope Francis leads a consistory ceremony to install 14 new cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, June 28 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Presiding at a ceremony known as a consistory in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis told the new cardinals that their mission was to serve the poor and the Church and not seek privileges.


Francis has now chosen 59 of the 125 cardinal electors under 80 years old who would be eligible to enter a conclave after his death or resignation. Eleven of the new cardinals are under 80.

With each future consistory, Francis will add to the number of cardinal electors he has chosen, increasing the possibility that his successor will continue his policy of a more open, inclusive and forgiving Church.

“What does it profit us to gain the whole world if we are living in a stifling atmosphere of intrigues that dry up our hearts and impede our mission?” Francis said at the service where he gave each man a three-cornered “red biretta” hat and a ring of office.

New cardinal Toribio Ticona Porco of Bolivia is seen during a consistory ceremony to install 14 new cardinals in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, June 28 2018. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

He urged them to shun “palace intrigues” he said sometimes take place in the Vatican and in Church administrations around the world and avoid “useless wrangling about who is most important”.

The new cardinals, whose selection the pope first announced on May 20, come from Italy, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Iraq, Pakistan, Japan, Madagascar, Peru, Mexico and Bolivia.

In the past five years, Francis, an Argentine, has tried to make the Church less Euro-centric, choosing more men from Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, increasing the possibility that his successor will also be a non-European.

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Adventist Theologians Approve Statement on Biblical Eschatology

(credit: Andreas Mazza)


Document reaffirms role of Bible prophecy and its missiological implications.

June 25, 2018 | Rome, Italy. | Biblical Research Institute, EUD NEWS.

Seventh-day Adventist theologians and administrators from around the world meeting in Rome, Italy, for the Fourth International Bible Conference from June 11-21, 2018, voted a Consensus Statement at the closing of the event on June 20. The conference theme was biblical eschatology, or the study of last-day events according to the Bible. The document voted reaffirms the Adventist understanding of biblical prophecy, end-time events, and its missiological implications for the church. Below is the full text of the document approved. ~ Editors

CONSENSUS STATEMENT

Fourth International Bible Conference
Rome, Italy

June 11-21, 2018 

Introduction

The Fourth International Bible Conference was held in Rome, June 11-21, 2018, with the theme of “Biblical Eschatology.” Almost four hundred Adventist scholars, pastors, educators, and church leaders, sharing a deep commitment to Scripture and a biblical worldview, gathered from around the world to explore biblical, theological, historical, ethical, missiological, and scientific perspectives on eschatology. The goal of the Conference was to affirm and explore biblical eschatology, foster fellowship and unity, and to bring about a renewed sense of the times in which we live so as to be better equipped to serve the Lord and His Church. We have been spiritually and intellectually enriched through Bible study and worship, seasons of prayer, lectures, discussions, and educational tours to significant biblical, historical, and archaeological sites.

As Seventh-day Adventists, we are impelled by the personal and profound conviction of the nearness of Christ’s coming as a literal, visible, personal, and worldwide event. We are keenly aware of the challenges being made to the historicist approach to biblical eschatology. These challenges include preterist, futurist, and idealist approaches to the books of Daniel and Revelation, scientific cosmologies that breed skepticism toward a divine supernatural resolution of the problem of sin and death, and speculation regarding things that have not been revealed.

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'Weed Apocalypse' dawns for California pot dealers on Sunday

By Rollo Ross, Reuters • June 29, 2018





FILE PHOTO: Customers queue for recreational marijuana outside the MedMen store in West Hollywood, California U.S. January 2, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File PhotoMore


By Rollo Ross

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Six months after California made recreational marijuana use legal, the so-called "Weed Apocalypse" arrives this weekend, as tight state regulations going into effect on Sunday have dispensaries scrambling to unload non-compliant product.

But while the deadline is giving pot shop owners headaches, it is creating an opportunity for consumers. They are already anticipating deep discounts on their favorite marijuana products on what has been dubbed "Green Saturday" - for the color of cannabis - and for black market dealers.

"There's going to be a lot of massive sales, a lot of retails fire-selling a lot of products," said Nick Danias, manager of The Pottery cannabis dispensary in mid-city Los Angeles.

"It's about getting rid of a lot of older product that doesn't meet city and state requirements and getting through that old inventory and moving on to the next steps after July 1," he said.

The state Bureau of Cannabis Control regulations require shops to sell only marijuana that has been tested for pesticides, potency and microbiological contaminants.

The government-approved pot will be marked with a harvest and "best use by" date and sealed in child-resistant packaging. The rules were designed to take effect on July 1, six months after legalization approved by voters in November formally took effect on Jan. 1.

Business owners say they have struggled to meet the deadline because of a lack of approved testing facilities in California, which has created a bottleneck in the supply of compliant marijuana that could drive customers to the black market.

The Bureau of Cannabis Control lists 31 labs for testing on its website but says only 19 are operational.

"We issued our emergency regulations back in November, and at that time, we were pretty clear about the fact that there would be a six-month transition period for retailers to use up their existing supply," said Alex Traverso, a spokesman for the bureau. "We felt that was a sufficient amount of time to deplete stock on hand and adapt to California’s new rules."

‘Drag Tots!’ and ‘Super Drags’ cartoons wooing kids

Michael Haverluck, OneNewsNow.com


6:40 am June 23, 2018


Adding more controversial programming to its lineup this year, Netflix – along with another network – has announced plans to air a new animated series about cross-dressing drag queens to introduce, desensitize or incite children to the homosexual lifestyle.

The sexual and perverted nature of Netflix’s and the World of Wonder channel’s disturbing cartoons has spurred Christian entertainment and movie critics to send out a warning to parents.

“More than ever, parents need to be on top of what their children may be watching, because the days of innocent Saturday morning cartoons is officially over – honestly, it’s been over for a while,” MovieGuide advised. “Two new shows coming this year are pushing cross-dressing lifestyles on children.”

Shows for the whole family to avoid

The World of Wonder channel is premiering one of the disturbingly perverse cartoon series on June 28, using the world’s most recognized drag queen as a voiceover for one of the characters.

“The first is Drag Tots! – a disturbing cartoon from the production company that makes Rupaul’s drag race about toddler drag queens,” MovieGuide’s Dr. Ted Baehr informed. “The cast voicing the toddlers are famous drag queens, like RuPaul himself.”

Netflix – which has already pushed the controversial envelope with its arguably suicide-glorifying 13 Reasons series and its new series paying the Obamas $50-million – is also getting into promoting alternative lifestyles to kids through its debut of Super Drags this year.

Here is how the streaming network giant is introducing the release of its new kids’ animated TV series:

All apparently wait for Christ’s appearing

It is in a crisis that character is revealed. When the earnest voice proclaimed at midnight, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him,” and the sleeping virgins were roused from their slumbers, it was seen who had made preparation for the event. Both parties were taken unawares; but one was prepared for the emergency, and the other was found without preparation. So now, a sudden and unlooked-for calamity, something that brings the soul face to face with death, will show whether there is any real faith in the promises of God. It will show whether the soul is sustained by grace. The great final test comes at the close of human probation, when it will be too late for the soul’s need to be supplied.

The ten virgins are watching in the evening of this earth’s history. All claim to be Christians. All have a call, a name, a lamp, and all profess to be doing God’s service. All apparently wait for Christ’s appearing. But five are unready. Five will be found surprised, dismayed, outside the banquet hall.

At the final day, many will claim admission to Christ’s kingdom, saying, “We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets.” “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils? and in Thy name done many wonderful works?” But the answer is, “I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me.” Luke 13:26, 27;Matt. 7:22. In this life they have not entered into fellowship with Christ; therefore they know not the language of heaven, they are strangers to its joy. “What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” 1 Cor. 2:11.

Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 412,413.

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Protestantism Unites with the Papacy

June 28

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Revelation 17:12, 13.

As we approach the last crisis, it is of vital moment that harmony and unity exist among the Lord's instrumentalities. The world is filled with storm and war and variance. Yet under one head—the papal power—the people will unite to oppose God in the person of His witnesses.

What is it that gives its kingdom to this power? Protestantism, a power which, while professing to have the temper and spirit of a lamb and to be allied to Heaven, speaks with the voice of a dragon. It is moved by a power from beneath.

“These have one mind.” There will be a universal bond of union, one great harmony, a confederacy of Satan's forces. “And shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Thus is manifested the same arbitrary, oppressive power against religious liberty, freedom to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, as was manifested by the papacy, when in the past it persecuted those who dared to refuse to conform with the religious rites and ceremonies of Romanism.

In the warfare to be waged in the last days there will be united, in opposition to God's people, all the corrupt powers that have apostatized from allegiance to the law of Jehovah. In this warfare the Sabbath of the fourth commandment will be the great point at issue; for in the Sabbath commandment the great Lawgiver identifies Himself as the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the former lays the foundation of spiritualism, the latter creates a bond of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will be foremost in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this threefold union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.

Maranatha, p.187.

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Former Irish President: Infant Baptism Violates Human Rights

Posted by Catholic News Agency on Tuesday Jun 26th, 2018 at 10:03 

AM

Mary McAleese has said that the baptism of infants is a form of coercion and is calling on the Church to change its practice.





DUBLIN — Former Irish President Mary McAleese has said that the baptism of infants is a form of coercion and is calling on the Catholic Church to change its practice.

“You can’t impose, really, obligations on people who are only two weeks old, and you can’t say to them at 7 or 8 or 14 or 19, ‘Here is what you contracted; here is what you signed up to’ — because the truth is, they didn’t,” she said in a June 23 interview with The Irish Times.

Baptizing babies, she said, makes “infant conscripts who are held to lifelong obligations of obedience.”

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List of Allentown Diocese priests publicly accused of sexual abuse or other offenses

Monsignor John Mraz, former pastor of St. Ann's Catholic Church in Emmaus, pleaded guilty in 2017 to possessing child pornography and was sentenced to six-to-23 months in jail. He is no longer in ministry (APRIL BARTHOLOMEW / THE MORNING CALL)


These priests have been accused in court cases or published reports over the past two decades. This listing includes summaries of their cases and their status with the Allentown Diocese.

The Rev. Thomas Bender, former pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament in Bally, was sentenced to seven years' probation in 1988 for molesting a teenage Pottsville boy in the 1980s. A civil case with the boy and his family was settled by the diocese out of court. Bender was laicised, or defrocked.

Monsignor Lawrence J. Bukaty, former pastor of St. Katharine Drexel in Carbon County, was charged with public lewdness after a park ranger saw him fondling himself on a nude New Jersey beach in 2008. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and received probation. The diocese at the time said he was sent for treatment. He is no longer in ministry.

Monsignor Bernard Flanagan was removed from ministry in 2010 when a review board set up by the diocese found credible allegations that he sexually abused a minor in the mid-1980s while serving at Reading Central Catholic High School. The diocese informed police.

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