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Washington D.C., Dec 14, 2016 / 09:50 am (CNA/EWTN News).- It’s time to end coercion against those who recognize marriage as a union of one man and one woman and see the sexes as male and female, a group of religious and thought leaders has said.

“As Americans, we cherish the freedom to peacefully express and live by our religious, philosophical, and political beliefs – not merely to hold them privately,” said their statement “Preserve Freedom, Reject Coercion.”

“We believe that it is imperative that our nation preserve the freedoms to speak, teach, and live out these truths in public life without fear of lawsuits or government censorship,” they continued.

The statement, released Dec. 14, drew more than 75 signatures from Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox and other leaders. Signers included Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, Bishop George Murry of Youngstown, and Bishop Frank Dewane of Venice. They were joined by University of Notre Dame law professor Gerard V. Bradley, Princeton law professor Robert P. George, and writer and Heritage Foundation fellow Ryan T. Anderson.

Their statement affirmed that every individual is “created in the image of God and as such should be treated with love, compassion, and respect.” It also affirmed the belief that people are created male and female, saying that this is the basis of the family and the marital union.

For the statement’s signers, there was concern about laws that establish sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) as protected classes.

“SOGI laws empower the government to use the force of law to silence or punish Americans who seek to exercise their God-given liberty to peacefully live and work consistent with their convictions,” the statement continued.

It charged that such laws treat “reasonable religious and philosophical beliefs” as discriminatory and create special legal preferences for “categories based on morally significant choices that profoundly affect human relations.”

Under expanding laws concerning sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination, “people of good will can face personal and professional ruin, fines, and even jail time, and organizations face the loss of accreditation, licensing, grants, contracts, and tax-exemption,” the statement declared.

Potential victims of coercion include those who decline to participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony, like creative professionals, wedding chapels, non-profits, humanitarian ministries, adoption agencies, businesses, religious colleges and churches.

Wedding industry professionals have faced the threat of lawsuits for declining to make wedding cakes or conduct photography for same-sex union ceremonies. Adoption agencies have been required to place children with same-sex couples or to close. Religious colleges have faced pressure to enact policies recognizing same-sex relationships or transgender self-identification even if to do so would contradict the colleges’ mission and beliefs.

“In recent years, we have seen in particular how these laws are used by the government in an attempt to compel citizens to sacrifice their deepest convictions on marriage and what it means to be male and female – people who serve everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, but who cannot promote messages, engage in expression, or participate in events that contradict their beliefs or their organization’s guiding values,” the statement said.

Once-uncontroversial Religious Freedom Restoration Acts have in recent years drawn significant opposition from LGBT activists and their allies in politics and business.

For the statement’s signers, even narrowly crafted SOGI laws threaten “fundamental freedoms” and purported religious liberty protections sometimes included in such laws are “inherently inadequate and unstable.” The statement rejected SOGI laws at federal, state, and local levels.

“We represent diverse efforts to contribute to the flourishing of our neighbors, communities, nation, and world. We remain committed to preserving in law and stewarding in action the foundational freedoms that make possible service of the common good, social harmony, and the flourishing of all,” the signers declared.

Also signing the statement were the presidents of the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts, Aquinas College in Nashville, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and John Paul the Great Catholic University. The university presidents were among professors, theologians, writers, and other leaders like President Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission; Allan Sears, president of Alliance Defending Freedom; and Jerry A. Johnson, president of the National Religious Broadcasters.

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Mexico City, Mexico, Dec 14, 2016 / 03:37 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Cardinal Norberto Rivera of Mexico City commended to Our Lady of Guadalupe the millions of migrants who have left behind their country for a better future in the U.S., asking her to help Americans welcome them – especially President-Elect Donald Trump.

In his prayer published by the weekly Desde la Fe in honor of her feast day Dec. 12, Cardinal Rivera asked the intercession of the Virgin of Tepeyac for Mexico, “which is sinking in the swamp of corruption and poverty, is sick with violence and wounded by injustices.”  

“Move the hearts of the violent and the sinners, protect families, preserve our Catholic faith, give those who govern us the vocation of service, satisfy our hunger and thirst for justice, because we are under your protection, Holy Mother of God,” he prayed.

President-Elect Trump has sparked controversy – notably among Catholic leaders – for his disparaging remarks about Mexican immigrants, as well as his plan to build a wall along the Mexico-U.S. border, while making the former pay for it.

Below is the complete text of Cardinal Rivera's prayer:

We call upon you as the comforter of the afflicted, O Holy Mother of God, on this day of your blessed feast day, we have brought to you, as if it were an offering, the affliction of millions of your children who emigrated to the United States of America in search of bread for their families, of education to face the future, of the hospitality of those who also were one day strangers, and who knew how to form a great nation, diverse in its cultures.

Your children who emigrated, Merciful Mother, took with them the memory of their families and towns, but they also took you. And so, now there is no Catholic church in the United States that does not provide an inn as it were for your blessed image, because you are the patroness and empress of Mexico and of the entire continent.

Your loving Mantle crossed the oceans and also sheltered the Philippine Islands, but in reality you are the Mother of all Christians, because for your love there are no races, there are no borders, there are neither rich nor poor, neither saints nor sinners; you embrace everyone, you comfort all of us, you love like a true Mother, without distinctions, since you only seek the happiness of your children, and that happiness is not in this valley of tears, but in heaven, in the salvation your Son gives us, in the truth, beauty, and freedom that only God can give us.

O Most Clement Virgin! Repeat to your afflicted and threatened children those words full of tenderness and comfort that you revealed to humble Saint Juan Diego: “Am I not here who am your mother? What more have you to need?”

Strengthen the parents who are anxious over the possibility of losing their jobs; comfort the mothers who fear being separated from their families; give hope to the young people who don’t want to abandon their studies, encourage the families that are financially dependent on the money that their loved ones send them; give courage to the American bishops so they defend the sheep that God has sent them; and grant us Mexican bishops the courage and the grace to support them in adversity.

O Merciful Mother! Move the hearts of Americans so they make room for those who, with their hard work have given prosperity to their country, and touch the hardened heart of the new President-Elect who being a Christian – as he has declared – so he cannot see the poor and the immigrants as enemies but rather as brothers with whom he must be tolerant, generous and just.

But our supplication, O Mother, comes full of affliction for our Mexico, your beloved Mexico, which is sinking in the swamp of corruption and poverty, is sick with violence and wounded by injustices. Move the hearts of the violent and sinners, protect families, preserve our Catholic faith, give those who govern us the vocation of service, satisfy our hunger and thirst for justice, because we are under your protection, Holy Mother of God, despise not the supplications that we make in our necessities, but rather deliver us from all danger, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin!

Sweet Child of Tepeyec, dear mother of Mexicans, we come to you with roses; offer us, Holy Mary of Guadalupe, your blessed protection, your sweet consolation and that much desired peace. Amen.

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Washington D.C., Dec 14, 2016 / 04:03 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After almost 20 years, a landmark religious freedom bill may finally be getting a big upgrade.

And it wouldn’t come too soon, said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-sponsor of the Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act. “From China and Vietnam to Syria and Nigeria, we are witnessing a tragic, global crisis in religious persecution, violence and terrorism, with dire consequences for religious believers and for U.S. national security,” he said.

“Ancient Christian communities in Iraq and Syria are on the verge of extinction, and other religious minorities in the Middle East face a constant assault from the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.”

The Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act passed the House on Tuesday afternoon and will be heading to the president’s desk to be signed. It is bipartisan, with Rep. Smith, chair of the House Global Human Rights subcommittee, and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) as the co-sponsors.

The legislation upgrades the original 1998 International Religious Freedom Act, which helped make promotion of religious freedom a larger part of stated U.S. foreign policy.

Former Congressman Frank Wolf – “a tireless champion for the rights of the poor and the persecuted globally,” Rep. Smith called him – sponsored that bill, and is now honored in the new one.

“18 years ago, he had the foresight to make advancing the right to religious freedom a high U.S. foreign policy priority.  It is largely because of his efforts that religious freedom is taken seriously as a foreign policy issue,” Rep. Smith said.

The original law created the office of Ambassador at-Large for International Religious Freedom at the State Department to push other countries to honor freedom of religion, and monitor human rights abuses that are related to religious freedom. The new bill ensures that the ambassador reports directly to the Secretary of State.

The State Department since then has also published an annual report on the state of religious freedom by country. It deems certain countries “countries of particular concern,” (CPC) where the worst abuses of religious freedom are perpetrated by the government or without the government stopping them.

The new bill adds to this CPC list, creating a lower-tier “Special Watch List” for countries with poor records on respecting religious freedom.

Also, given that recent reports have emphasized the rise of “non-state actors” like terrorist groups, they get a special designation “Entity of Particular Concern.”

The new bill also mandates creation of a “comprehensive religious prisoners list.”

Globally, the state of religious freedom is dire and deserves special attention by the U.S., Rep. Smith insisted. “The freedom to practice a religion without persecution is a precious right for everyone, of whatever race, sex, or location on earth,” he said.

“This human right is enshrined in our own founding documents, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and has been a bedrock principle of open and democratic societies for centuries.”

 

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Washington D.C., Dec 14, 2016 / 04:50 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Rohingya Muslims in Burma, as well as Christians, face continued persecution, destruction of homes and places of worship, and threats to their lives, human rights organizations are warning.

Throughout the country’s history, Burmese officials have maintained control “through a divide and rule strategy, pitting Buddhists, Christians, and Muslims against each other,” said Fr. Thomas Reese, SJ, Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom in a Dec. 13 discussion in Washington, D.C.

“The plight of both Rohingya Muslims and Christians results from successive governments that have both perpetuated and supported religious violations,” Fr. Reese continued. “It’s time for Burma to defend religious freedom,” he urged.

Two reports by the organization highlight the abuses suffered by religious minorities in Burma, also known as Myanmar, as well as by practitioners of the majority Buddhist religion who dissent from the mainline practice or government positions.

Christians in the country face discrimination, forced conversions, violence and desecration of churches and Christian communities says the USCIRF Report “Hidden Plight: Christian Minorities in Burma.” Meanwhile, according to “Suspended in Time: The Ongoing Persecution of Rohingya Muslims in Burma,” members of the Muslim ethnic group are denied basic human rights like food, shelter, water, citizenship, or the ability to move.

The reports come days after international human rights organization Human Rights Watch released an analysis of images taken of a Rohingya village in Rakhine state, which it says link the Burmese army to the arson of the village.

"Burmese government officials have been caught out by this satellite imagery, and it's time they recognize their continued denials lack credibility,” said Brad Adams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch, in a statement to the BBC. The Burmese government has denied its involvement in the burning down of Rohingya villages, instead suggesting that the Rohingya set their own homes on fire to solicit international sympathy.

The United Nations estimates that since October more than 27,000 Rohingya have crossed the border to seek refuge in Bangladesh.

Since 1999, USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Burma a “Country of Particular Concern” for its “systematic, egregious, and ongoing violations of religious freedom,” explained the organization. In its reports, the commission offered hope that the new Burmese government would address these ongoing human rights concerns, but urged that the government take action on securing religious freedom promptly.

Rachel Flemming, an independent human rights researcher, detailed the abuses Christians – many of whom also belong to minority ethnic groups – face in the country. Throughout the country, Christians face restrictions in not only buying land for churches or for erecting Christian symbols, but also to assemble for religious worship. Christian churches, cemeteries, and other Christian spaces are frequently desecrated and attacked. Christians themselves are attacked by authorities and civilians alike – and these attacks are often dismissed as false claims.

Meanwhile, while forced conversions at gunpoint are no longer seen in the country, Flemming said, “a more subtle forced conversion” campaign is run through the military school system in some Christian areas.

These schools – run through the military – fill crucial gaps in rural Christian areas for secondary education, offer education free of charge, and promise students in these impoverished areas a guaranteed job within the government after graduation – but only if the student converts to Buddhism. Furthermore, while at these boarding schools, students are prohibited from attending Christian worship services, and are required to be initiated as Buddhist monks or nuns.

Tina Mufford, Senior Policy Analyst for USCIRF, detailed the longstanding discrimination and targeting of the Rohingya Muslims within Burma. Since 1982, Burmese law has defined the Rohingya people as non-citizens, providing cover for a broad array of violence and attacks to be carried out against them with impunity.

“Rohingya Muslims face a difficult day-to-day existence with little ability to honor their past, prosper in the present, or make plans for their future,” Mufford said, citing the USCIRF report.

“Burma’s government can choose to move forward,” she said, “or it can sit behind excuses.”

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