Archive for the ‘Faith IN Action’ Category

WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 22, 2012 — The National Clergy Council, representing church leaders of Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox, and Protestant church traditions, has declared a State of Emergency for the Churches in response to the order by President Barack Obama for religious organizations to compromise their religious and moral beliefs by complying with a mandate to provide employees with certain forms of insurance coverage.

In recent days, Jewish rabbis have joined all Catholic bishops in the United States in expressing alarm over the president’s “healthcare” mandates and other violations of the Constitution. The National Clergy Council deliberated for the last week on what it would do, consulting pastors, moral theologians, organizational executives and activists from around the U.S. As a result, the Reverend Rob Schenck, president of the Washington, D.C. based group, will begin the holy season of Lent 2012 by appealing to President Obama for answers with a “State of Emergency and Time for Speaking” declaration to be hand-delivered to the White House on Ash Wednesday morning, February 22.

Speaking for the council, Rev. Schenck says in his communiqué to the president,  ”[W]e state to you our unwavering position on the sanctity of our constitutionally protected right to espouse certain principles of conscience; and, we maintain and insist on our God-given, moral rights to act upon these principles of conscience within our respective institutions and in keeping with their attendant prerogatives. Furthermore, while we hope for a resolution to this crisis that includes the rescinding of your directives, we must hold to our convictions and positions and act according to our prerogatives no matter the legal, social, pecuniary, or political consequences.”

As Rev. Schenck explains in the document, the action he and his committee have taken is inspired by the Nazi-era hero Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “the German pastor and martyr, who is an exemplar of what it means to hold to and to exercise one’s religious, moral, and ethical convictions, even to the surrender of every other right, including the right to one’s life.” Bonhoeffer wrote on the “status confessionis,” a time when churches must speak out. Schenck says in his letter this is such a time, “during which we must take extraordinary action to respectfully resist your decrees, state our deeply held and felt reasons for doing so, and call our coreligionists, and all people of conscience to stand with us.”

On February 2, President Obama was publicly given the biography “BONHOEFFER: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy: A Righteous Gentile vs. the Third Reich” by its author, Eric Metaxas, when he and the president shared a podium at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington. In the State of Emergency declaration sent to President Obama, Rev. Schenck urges the president to read the book for insights to the National Clergy Council’s declaration.

Rev. Schenck, also president of Faith and Action, is currently writing his doctoral thesis on Dietrich Bonhoeffer at the Faith Evangelical College and Seminary of Tacoma, Washington.  See more about Confronting the President on Rob’s blog.

The spokespersons for the National Clergy Council on this subject are the Reverend Dr. Charles Nestor, senior fellow for Public Policy, available at 863-698-2270 or magrev1@yahoo.com; and the Reverend Norm Lund, Ph.D., Lutheran moral theologian and advisor on the Theology of Church and State, available at 425-402-9624 or NLund@OxfordTutor.org.

After many religious leaders, including Catholic bishops across America, publicly refused to comply with President Obama’s unconstitutional order to pay for abortion-inducing drugs and other unethical procedures including sterilization, Obama announced an “accommodation” to his orders. He now orders all health insurance companies to provide abortion pills and abortion-inducing devices “free of charge.”

In fact, President Obama only exempts places of worship. Thus, Faith and Action’s president, Rev. Rob Schenck, said this is no compromise because it violates the natural rights and liberties of all conscientious objectors and Faith and Action is taking your concerns to Capitol Hill.

Rev. Rob Schenck said, “It’s ludicrous for President Obama to offer a so-called compromise on this egregious violation of religious freedom. The First Amendment expressly forbids him from prohibiting the free exercise of religion. The U.S. founders were crystal clear on that. What’s there to compromise? Certainly not a constitutionally-guaranteed liberty. This action is reason for all religious people – all people of goodwill – to declare a state of emergency. We must speak now or be forever forced to hold our peace.”

Faith and Action invites you to join our chief of program, Peggy Nienaber, and many of our allies to combat this deadly and unconstitutional mandate on Capitol Hill. Here are the details:

Event: “Lines Crossed: Separation of Church and State. Has the Obama Administration Trampled on Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Conscience?”
Hearing by the House Committee of Oversight & Government Reform
Date: Thursday, February 16, 2012
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Location: Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2154, Washington, D.C.

Update: The House Committee of Oversight & Government Reform has provided the following video segment from today’s hearing. It features Bishop Lori and Rev. Harrison answering questions by Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan in addition to commentary by Rep. Walberg:

Also on February 16, our longtime partner Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition will lead a prayer vigil and protest the mandates outside the White House at 10:30 a.m. Members of our partner organization Priests for Life will join forces with Pat Mahoney, along with Operation Rescue, Rock for Life, Students for Life of America, and Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust.

Update: Rev. Mahoney and Father Denis Wilde, O.S.A., a Priests for Life associate, were among six pro-lifers arrested. They were cited for “failure to obey a lawful order” as they knelt in prayer in front of the White House. Each paid a $100 fine and was released from custody.

“Occupy Wall Street protesters have been occupying federal property for months, but when we kneel in prayer, the police are called in and we are arrested,” said Fr. Wilde. “We knew that was the risk when we gathered today and we will do it again regardless of the risk. What people of faith – of every faith – need to do now is stand with us.”

We humbly request your prayers for the success of all efforts to secure the unalienable rights to life, true liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Of course we are with you in faith and action!

One of the important opportunities we have at Faith and Action is assisting our anchor church pastors in serving as Chaplain of the Day at the US House of Representatives and the US Senate. The Chaplain of the Day functions in all the duties facing the Chaplain for the day they serve including opening the House or Senate session with prayer. That prayer officially becomes part of the Congressional Record. At Faith and Action, a number of our supporting church pastors have had that unique privilege.

Last week, the honor of serving as Chaplain of the Day fell to Dr. David Anderson, of Faith Baptist Church in Sarasota, Florida. Dr. Anderson is a long time friend, colleague, and pastor of an important anchor church. He will soon receive an honorary doctorate at Cambridge University, England. Following the delivery of his power prayer, he had lunch with Rep. Vern Buchanon of Florida and Speaker of the House John Boehner.

After David’s prayer, Speaker John Boehner rose to comment on President Obama’s efforts to force religious hospitals and universities to provide employees with health insurance that would cover abortifacients, sterilization, and contraceptives…stating this would be a attack on religious freedom in our country.

To read the introduction of Dr. Anderson in the US House as well as his timely prayer, click here.

February 7, 1954, a preacher convinced President Dwight D. Eisenhower and members of Congress to amend the Pledge of Allegiance. Fifty-four years later in 2008, Faith and Action’s Rev. Rob Schenck met that preacher and wrote “My Visit with a Living Saint.” In honor of the late Rev. Dr. George MacPherson Docherty, we’re republishing Rob’s memoir.

Dr. Docherty with President Eisenhower on February 7, 1954.

Different religious traditions use the term “saint” differently. For some, “living saint” is an oxymoron. By this definition, anyone deemed a saint has already passed to Heaven. For others, all faithful Christians are at all times “saints.” In common American parlance a “living saint” is somebody who stands out from others because he/she has lived a God-honoring life that has benefited humanity. The top qualities of living saints reflect the two Great Commandments: They love God and they love their fellow human beings.

To my amazement, one such “living saint” is still, well, living—and I had the privilege of meeting him yesterday! He is George MacPherson Docherty, a retired Presbyterian minister.

Now bedridden at 96, he carries the same dignity he did when he entertained presidents, lectured at universities and kept company with his golfing buddy Billy Graham. It was one of Dr. Docherty’s sermons that helped turn our nation back to God. In fact, it was his preaching that would lead to hundreds of millions of American citizens pledging their allegiance to the flag of “one nation under God.” It’s an amazing story.

For years I have known a little bit about how the Pledge of Allegiance was modified to include the phrase “under God.” It happened in 1954 at the height of the “Cold War” between the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The conflict boiled down to one basic element: The acknowledgment of God as sovereign over humanity and nations. Americans have always been a God-fearing people, while the Soviet Union was an officially atheistic state. America’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, states unequivocally that our most fundamental human rights come to us as irrevocable gifts from the Creator, not as privileges from the government. Soviet socialism sought to eradicate this notion of God-given rights and replace it with a purely secularist worldview and an all-powerful state.

In response to the advance of such radical secularism, the Knights of Columbus and other groups had launched national petition drives in the early 1950s to insert the phrase “under God” into the Pledge of Allegiance. But it would be a single sermon and a president’s response to it that proved the tipping point.

On Sunday morning February 7, 1954, Dr. Docherty, the Scottish-born pastor of Washington’s famed New York Avenue Presbyterian Church and the successor to pulpit luminary Peter Marshall, preached a sermon entitled “A New Birth of Freedom.” It was the church’s annual “Lincoln Day,” an observance in honor of the 16^th president who regularly attended services there nearly a century before.

Knowing then-President Dwight Eisenhower would be in attendance, Dr. Docherty revised an earlier sermon, this time weaving in his proposal that Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address reference to “one nation under God,” be added to the Pledge of Allegiance.

“We face, today, a theological war,” he thundered from the pulpit in his impressive brogue. “It is not basically a conflict between two political philosophies, Thomas Jefferson’s democracy over against Lenin’s communistic state. Nor is it a conflict fundamentally between two economic systems, between, shall we say Adam Smith’s ‘Wealth of Nations’ and Karl Marx’s ‘Das Capital.’”

Then the preacher launched his proposition, “To omit the words ‘Under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance is to omit the definitive character of the ‘American Way of Life.’”

(Ironically, it wasn’t until 1960 that Docherty himself became an American citizen.)

Eisenhower liked the sermon and bought Docherty’s argument, as did two members of Congress present that morning. (The above photo was taken immediately following the service.) The very next day the legislative initiative was underway and in record time the House and Senate passed the new language for the Pledge. In a floor speech just days after Docherty’s prophetic message, Michigan congressman Charles Oakman said, “The tough moral fiber which has characterized this Nation’s growth to a position of world preeminence must not deteriorate. It was fed on the belief that our destiny was bound to the will of God. It cannot survive unless this spiritual fuel is maintained.”

In answer to a rhetorical question about violating the so-called “separation principle” or the separation of church and state, Oakman said, “A distinction exists between the church as an institution and a belief in the sovereignty of God.”

The modified Pledge was signed into law four months later on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

Of course, as you probably know, the notorious atheist activist Michael Newdow has recently challenged these words in court. As a result, in 2002, the powerful Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the clause “Under God” as unconstitutional.

The U.S. Supreme Court then extended a rare privilege to Newdow in 2004. Although the emergency room physician had only just completed a law degree and passed his bar exam, the justices lifted the normal three-year waiting period and permitted Newdow to argue his own case in front of them. It didn’t help; the case was dismissed and sent back to the lower courts to review again. Newdow just reargued it at the Ninth Circuit. No opinion has been rendered yet.

Regardless what the Ninth Circuit or any other court decides, the story of “Under God” in our Pledge reminds us all this struggle for the soul of our American civilization is not over. It will require constant vigilance. It also reminds us of the power of the pulpit. When God’s Word is faithfully proclaimed from the “sacred desk” it reshapes the moral landscape. “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord,” reads Proverbs 21:1. “Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever he wishes.”

In the days ahead you’ll hear a lot more from me about George Docherty, his sermon and the Pledge to the Flag of “one nation under God.” While Dr. Docherty is still with us, I am working feverishly with members of Congress to petition the President to confer the Medal of Freedom on him. Dr. Docherty deserves such a great honor for his incomparable contribution to our country, but his receiving it will give the nation another opportunity to consider the profound meaning and consequence of these words. I’ll soon ask you for your help in getting this accomplished in short order. Dr. Docherty is a gift from God to this country, and I’d like to see us say thanks before he departs for Heaven!

Post Script: Rev. Dr. Docherty entered eternity on November 27, 2008.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the War Memorial Protection Act (H.R. 290) on January 24, 2012. It is a bill by Rep. Duncan Hunter of California, member of the House Armed Services Committee and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The War Memorial Protection Act would permit the inclusion of religious symbols on war memorials. Rep. Hunter introduced it in response to a ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court declaring that the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross in La Jolla, California, is unconstitutional.

Deacon Keith Fournier, an attorney and executive director of Faith and Action’s William Bentley Ball Memorial Archive, analyzes the Ninth Circuit Court’s ruling on the Mount Soledad Cross at Faith and Action’s website. Click here to read Deacon Fournier’s article.

In a statement about his bill, Rep. Hunter said, “For the 131 national cemeteries under the purview of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 48 distinct emblems of belief are currently authorized, including symbols for Atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims.”

He also said, “In the face of legal challenges against Mount Soledad and the likelihood of more to come, it’s important that Congress install the right protection for war memorials in federal law, allowing the spirit and tradition of honoring our nation’s military to continue.”

Rev. Rob Schenck couldn’t agree more. WND, the San Diego Union-Tribune, and sdnews.com covered some of Rob’s work of mobilizing Faith and Action supporters to join both national and local allies in defending the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross.

Last spring, Rob also took action because the Utah Highway Patrol Association was sued by a group called American Atheists Inc. for displaying the names of its fallen troopers on crosses. He and Pastor Myke Crowder of Christian Life Center in Layton, Utah, met with Utah Assistant Attorney General John Swallow. See Faith and Action’s write-up on that case and meeting.

Here’s video of Rev. Rob Schenck at the Utah memorials with Pastor Myke Crowder

Sadly, last fall the U.S. Supreme Court handed a victory to American Atheists Inc. by refusing to hear an appeal to a lower court ruling that requires the Utah Highway Patrol Association to remove memorial crosses for fallen troopers from public properties and strip its name from the crosses no matter where they are – even if the memorial crosses are on private properties.

“It was like making a fatal notification,” Trooper Chad McWilliams, president of the Utah Highway Patrol Association, said of delivering the news to the families of the fallen. “I could hear it in their voices. I was crying with them. To them, it’s a personal attack.” (See more in the Salt Lake Tribune)

The constant barrage of secularists suing over everything even remotely Christian is very personal, but not unexpected. Thus, Jesus Christ told us to take up our crosses and follow Him.

With your help, Faith and Action will continue to defend the First Amendment rights of all Americans. We need your prayers and humbly request that you consider making a tax-deductable donation by clicking here. Thanks from your Missionaries on Capitol Hill!

Even though January 22, 2012 was the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, it became a day of rejoicing as Rev. Rob Schenck welcomed Mrs. Caroline Ball, widow of the late great Supreme Court lawyer William Bentley Ball, along with their daughter Mrs. Virginia (Ginny) Duncan, and her husband Mr. Sandy Duncan to Faith and Action, which houses the new William Bentley Ball Memorial Archive and a view of the very Supreme Court where Mr. Ball argued for justice and  religious liberty.

About William Bentley Ball (1917-99)
Admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1969, William (Bill) Bentley Ball, Esq. argued nine cases as lead counsel and assisted in 25 other Supreme Court cases. In his many appearances before the Supreme Court and federal courts, Bill Ball defended religious freedom as the first freedom and a fundamental human right, second only to life.

He graduated from the University of Notre Dame School of Law in 1948 and upon graduation, he practiced corporate law at Grace & Company and Pfizer, Inc. 1955-60, he served as founding faculty member of the Villanova University Law School. 1960-68, Bill served as executive director and chief legal counsel for the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference in Harrisburg. In 1968, he founded the law firm Ball, Skelly, Murren & Connell in Harrisburg, which then served as legal counsel for the Catholic Conference. He also was active in the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Council, the Christian Legal Society, and the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. 

William Bentley Ball wrote articles for prestigious law journals. 

A treasury of articles by and about him is available online at First Things. 

After his death in January 1999, the New York Times recognized William Bentley Ball, and scholars praised his wit and wisdom in the National Catholic Register.

Considering all Bill’s accomplishments, Caroline said her beloved husband had a small staff and did most of the work on his own.

William Bentley Ball’s intellectual treasures will be archived at http://www.WilliamBentleyBall.org/.

Celebrating William Bentley Ball
Rob said, “You’re all friends or family or connected in some way to us and we’re so happy to have the Balls with us at Faith and Action, which is the hospitality and outreach center to our elected and appointed officials. Faith and Action’s mission is to bring classical Christian moral instruction into the conversation, into the debates around public policy and we do that from this platform. What a pleasure it for us to host the tribute to a great man, William Bentley Ball, in this facility.

“This is a great day for rejoicing,” said Rob before he sent all guests to partake of a feast.

Faith and Action staffers Peggy Nienaber and her twin sister Patty Bills welcomed and served the Ball family along with Greg Cox of our communications team. Peggy, of course, oversaw the renovation of our second floor room into the William Bentley Ball Memorial Archive.

The archive contains a striking photographic portrait of William Bentley Ball, his desk, his Supreme Court briefs, news clippings about him, his favorite law and classical books, and books he authored, namely “Mere Creatures of the State: On Education, Religion and the Courts” and “In Search of a National Morality: A Manifesto for Evangelicals and Catholics.” It also features some his drawings and handwritten poems.

“Married Togetherness,” one of Bill’s love notes to Caroline, is on display and it goes like this:

I’m not you, and you’re not me,
And neither one should try to be.
It’s not a question of being either;
A loving us is really neither.

After everyone had dined, Faith and Action cofounder Fr. Paul C.B. Schenck of our partner organization the National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill, blessed the archive with assistance from Deacon Keith Fournier, the executive director of the William Bentley Ball Memorial Archive. Paul’s wife Becky was there with the couple’s youngest daughter. Other guests included Day Gardner of the National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill, Crista Childs of Priests for Life, and Father Denis Wilde, O.S.A., a Priests for Life associate.

Paul explained how the memorial archive ended up at Faith and Action.

“I was aware of the work of William Bentley Ball, somewhat like I’m aware of the work of George Washington or Erasmus or some grand and almost mythic personality. Much of the work that we have the blessing and privilege of being a part stood on the foundation that includes William Bentley Ball.

“Then when I became a lowly priest of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg and was floundering around and just getting my sea legs, a knock came on my door and a woman presented herself as Ginny Duncan – no association in my mind with the mythic William Bentley Ball. She directed the Office of Ministry with People with Disabilities and I was very pleased to meet her.”

Paul leads the Respect Life Office in his diocese and further explained: “Ginny said she was a zealous pro-lifer who wanted to work together and cooperate between our two offices, and I was thrilled with that. Then she said her dad was Bill Ball, William Bentley Ball. I said fine, that’s nice to know too. Then it started processing. This is the daughter of William Bentley Ball!”

Soon after meeting Fr. Schenck, Ginny offered him the entire collection of her father’s books, Supreme Court briefs, and personal artifacts from his law office.

Paul said the more Ginny told him, the more he realized that Faith and Action would acquire the treasures of a visionary who was much like Blessed Pope John Paul II – a visionary who helped establish legal precedents for people of faith and religion, precedents that would help Americans in the 21^st century and beyond.

Ginny thanked Paul, Rob and the Faith and Action team. She said, “I just want to mention that we tried to contact several places to see if they were interested because my father’s belongings were in my basement, my mother’s basement and a carriage house at his law firm – everywhere. And it was deteriorating by the moment. So I thought we’ve got to do something or it’s all going to be lost.”

Paul and Ginny agreed that God wanted William Bentley Ball’s archives at Faith and Action in the very neighborhood where he championed human rights at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Greg treated everyone to a recording of William Bentley Ball’s booming voice as he argued a case before the Supreme Court, and after everyone celebrated the Ball family, Rev. Dr. Allen Church of the Reformed Presbyterian Church-Hanover Presbytery offered a closing prayer.

The next day, immediately after Faith and Action’s 2012 National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers, Fr. Paul Schenck celebrated Mass for the Ball family and other Catholic pro-life pilgrims at Faith and Action headquarters. 

Tony Melendez, the Catholic artist who describes himself as the “successful toe-pickin’ guitar player and vocalist, born without arms and a club foot” brought “the sound of hope and courage” to that Mass as he played guitar and sang the praises of Jesus Christ. Tony was accompanied by his brother and manager Jose Melendez, as well as fellow musicians Patrick Smith and Roland Guerrero. So even Tony’s performance was a tribute to William Bentley Ball, who had championed cases for the disabled. 

Faith and Action is grateful to offer the world William Bentley Ball’s wisdom and grateful for his beautiful life.

Faith and Action invites you to the 18^th National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers in Washington, D.C . on Monday, January 23, 2012. It will take place from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Room HVC 201 of the Capitol Visitors Center – and it is the only pro-life prayer service convened on the U.S. Capitol complex.

There is much history behind Faith and Action’s annual National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers and we will share a glimpse of it here. Our partner is Fr. Paul C.B. Schenck, Rob’s twin brother, of the National Pro-Life Center on Capitol Hill and our sponsors include the National Clergy Council and National Pro-Life Radio.

In 1994, Faith and Action was renting space in the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church when its founders Rev. Rob Schenck and Rev. Paul Schenck, now a Catholic priest, organized the first annual memorial. Evidently there was need for this memorial because turnout was impressive. Members of Congress, pro-life leaders from all over the United States, Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, Rev. Johnny Hunter of LEARN and media came.

As a result of the media coverage, Rob and Paul were summoned before the board of the Capitol Hill United Methodist Church and told that these Methodists were a “tolerance congregation”; they had both “pro-choice” and “pro-life” people among their congregational leaders; and they “affirmed everybody’s right to choose [abortion].” Therefore, Rob, Paul and Faith and Action were expelled from the property and their rental lease was void, effective immediately.

The chairman of the board was a physician and Rob asked him: “Doctor, are you so tolerant as a congregation that you find us intolerable?” 

The doctor answered, “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

As Rob likes to say, in that moment God’s sovereignty and providence were evident. In that moment, Faith and Action was homeless as a ministry, a group and organizer of the annual memorial. However, then-Sen. Don Nickles of Oklahoma had attended the first memorial and he said to Rob, “Well, next year you’ll just have to hold it in the Capitol.” 

Since 1995, the National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers has been the only full-scale pro-life and preaching event inside the U.S. Capitol complex.

The 2012 National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers on January 23 will feature performances by Kelly Clinger, a recording artist and spokeswoman for the Silent No More Awareness Campaign, and Tony Melendez, the renowned guitar player who was born without arms and plays with his feet.

The National Pro-Life Religious Council will present its 2012 Pro-Life Recognition Award to Chris Slattery, founder of EMC FrontLine Pregnancy Centers in New York; and Karolyn Schrage, executive director of LifeChoices in Joplin, Missouri.

With the many potential changes in Congress and possibly the White House on the horizon, we believe that our presence is needed on Capitol Hill now more than ever. 

With the National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers, we’re calling on national leaders to stand for a culture of life that protects the innocent and helpless, defends the traditional family, and allows for the public acknowledgement of God. 

We want everyone to know that as your missionaries to Capitol Hill, we are not in retreat! We are not going away! We are moving forward in God!

Federal law prohibits us from taking offerings during this event but – truth be told – Faith and Action needs financial support to continue our critical outreach to the nation’s lawmakers and Supreme Court justices.

Will you please help us stand for truth? Will you help us defend innocent babies, vulnerable mothers, and the family by making a $5, $10 or $25 contribution now? 

To make your tax-deductible gift to Faith and Action, click here.

The United States Supreme Court, in an opinion entitled Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has issued one of the most important Religion Clause cases of the last fifty years. In Hossana-Tabor the Court affirms the right of churches to make employment decisions without government interference.

Already being deemed one of the most important religious freedom cases of this decade, the Court determined that the government may not may not dictate who a church selects as its religious leaders.

Rev. Rob Schenck, lead missionary of Faith and Action, said regarding this historic decision, “”This opinion of the highest court is a welcome and refreshing affirmation of the literally sacrosanct freedom of Americans to exercise our faith without government interference. It should also cause a recalibration of the government’s attitude toward churches, toward any religious body, and that body’s sole authority to determine who is called to serve in its name. This ruling unequivocally sets the boundaries of the state at the church door. It’s about time.”

Faith and Action has consistently expressed thanks to the Court in those cases where they acted to preserve our historic and constitutional freedom from state encroachment. We are pleased to see a unanimous Court recognize again those freedoms. According to Congressman Randy Forbes, “[This] unanimous Supreme Court ruling reaffirms our nation’s historical, religious, and legal heritage in upholding the right of churches to select leaders who instruct their faithful, whether from the church pulpit or the classroom podium, based on religious conviction rather than government fiat.”

As we enter 2012, Faith and Action is preparing once again to host the premier pro-life event at the US Capitol – the 18^th National Conference for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers. Held this year on January 23^th (the business day closest to the Roe v. Wade anniversary), the 18^th annual Memorial is the only full-scale prayer and preaching service held in the US Capitol complex of buildings.

Started in 1995 by Faith and Action president Rob Schenck, the Memorial is intended as both a sacred remembrance of those lost and injured by abortion and as a celebration of God’s gift of life. Within this twofold approach, the event is at times somber and celebratory, sadness and rejoicing. Rev. Schenck commented that “we start out by remembering all those who have been lost (more than 50 million) to abortion – the mothers who are injured in souls and bodies, and the fathers who are demoralized by abortion.”

The 2012 National Conference takes on even greater significance as we enter what is likely the most critical election cycle over the last few decades, if not in the history of our nation. We encourage every participant to make the 2012 elections a matter of continuous prayer in that we will decide, as a nation, whether we will elect an administration and congress that support the sanctity and dignity of every human life, from inception to natural death.

At the National Conference for the Pre-born, both mothers and fathers will tell their stories of loss – and then healing. Joining them will be political leaders from both sides of the aisle. The Conference is Bible-centered, prayer oriented, and marks the only time this kind of event happens in the US Capitol complex. The National Conference for the Pre-born is co-sponsored by Faith and Action along with the National Pro-life Center and the National Pro-life Religious Council.

The event is open to Faith and Action friends and supporters, and Clergy are invited to join us on the platform.

Did you know there’s “another” celebration in addition to ”CHRIST-mas” that Christians ought to mark this season? It’s one Jesus observed and I think is deeply meaningful for all of us who care about the future of human culture–and particularly American civilization . . .

This is the first day of that “other” December celebration, Hanukkah (Hah’-noo-kah), an eight-day festival celebrating the amazing victory of Jewish resistance fighters against overwhelming Syrian Greek forces some 2,200 years ago. (Hanukkah is Hebrew for “dedication” because it refers to the re-dedication of the sacred Temple altar. More about that as you read on.) The story of that first Hanukkah is found in two books often sandwiched between the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, I and II Maccabees. Sometimes called Apocryphal or Deutero-cananonical Books, you’ll find them in Catholic, Orthodox, or a few other Bible editions. (Along with other titles in this section.) Evangelicals, Protestants, LDS, and other groups generally don’t include the extra books because they are not considered “inspired” in the same way as the other 66 more familiar Bible books.

Despite their lesser status, I and II Maccabees are considered to be historically reliable by most biblical scholars. The two volumes tell the dramatic story of what life was like for the Jews in the time between the close of the Old Testament and the opening of the New Testament. This was a critical period for God’s people–and in many ways laid the groundwork for the coming of the Messiah in the person of Jesus Christ.

Without going into all the detail (you can read it for yourself at the links below), let’s just say life got very difficult for the Jews of the First Century B.C. Here’s a nice summary from About.com:

“In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. This upset the Jewish people, but many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods. 

Well, that set the stage. A small band of Jews, led by a village elder named Mattathias, rose up against their pagan oppressors. A son of Mattathias named Judah became known as “The Maccabee” or “The Hammer” because he pounded on his tormentors, who vastly outnumbered his tiny force. In a miraculous upset, the Maccabean band reclaimed the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, cleansed it of the idols that had been erected at its sacred altar, and re-instituted worship of the One True God of Holy Scripture. Judah and his men held out for eight days against the enemy until reinforcements came and the Syrian-Greeks were defeated. That’s why eight candles are lit on the special Hanukkah candelabra–known as a Menorah or Hanukkiah. It recalls the seven-stemmed candelabra in the Holy Place of the Temple–only an eighth stem was added to mark the miracle.

There are lots of lessons in Hanukkah. In fact, it is an important enough holiday that Jesus Himself observed it:

“And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.” (John 10:22-23) http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesearchresults.php?passage1=john+10&version1=9

Why was Hanukkah so important that the Son of God observed it–and the Gospel writer recorded it for all time?

Rev. Rob Schenck suggests because Hanukkah focuses on three things:

1) There is only One True God, and He alone is to be worshipped

2) Human arrogance, self-worship, and the power of the state (in this case, personified in the emperor) will always threaten the freedom of worship,

3) We must be bold, courageous, and confident in God to deliver us from those who would make themselves a false god and limit human freedom to worship the True God.

As many of you may know know, Rob and Paul Schenck are Jewish by birth and upbringing, but Christian by faith. In their homes they have always celebrated both December holidays–Christmas and Hanukkah. “CHRIST-mas” is about the God who came to us in human form; Hanukkah is about the right and responsibility we have to worship God freely.

To watch Rob Schenck light the Hanukkah menorah click here. On the Faith and Action website you can also find the video of the lighting of the huge “Official Hanukkah Menorah” near the White House.

From the Schenck family and all of us at Faith and Action to your family during this holy season, Happy Hanukkah and Merry CHRISTmas!