Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:01.06\00:00:05.00 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:05.37\00:00:09.67 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:10.14\00:00:13.68 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:15.28\00:00:18.88 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:19.78\00:00:23.99 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:24.42\00:00:28.59 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:28.99\00:00:34.10 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:34.46\00:00:39.63 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:40.04\00:00:45.07 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:45.51\00:00:50.55 Our Land Glorious and Free -Liberty Under Fire #2 00:00:50.98\00:00:57.02 > 00:01:27.08\00:01:29.35 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time. 00:01:31.35\00:01:33.82 God's book, The Bible 00:01:34.79\00:01:37.56 Still relevant in today's complex world 00:01:38.39\00:01:41.90 It Is Written 00:01:44.47\00:01:45.73 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 00:01:46.10\00:01:50.44 > 00:01:57.31\00:01:58.41 CHRIS: Religious freedom. How can we all be so different, yet get along? It is the 00:01:59.08\00:02:04.65 foundational principle for any society around the world. Today joining me in the studio to 00:02:04.75\00:02:12.53 discuss the issue of religious freedom is Barry Bussey. Barry, welcome to It Is Written. 00:02:12.63\00:02:17.50 BARRY: Great to be here, Chris, for sure. CHRIS: You know, Barry, I always want to call you 00:02:17.60\00:02:20.50 Dr. Bussey. You have a number of degrees. You have an undergraduate degree in 00:02:20.60\00:02:25.81 theology; three master's degrees: constitutional law, political science, and peace and 00:02:25.91\00:02:31.75 conflict studies; and in fact, you're actually currently studying for a doctoral degree 00:02:31.85\00:02:37.59 at this time. BARRY: Mmhmm. CHRIS: You are currently the director of legal affairs with 00:02:37.69\00:02:42.09 the Canadian Council of Christian Charities doing some exciting work. Now, Barry, if 00:02:42.19\00:02:47.30 people wanted to learn about the exciting work you're doing on the fronts of religious freedom, 00:02:47.40\00:02:51.43 where can they find out more information? BARRY: Well, just 00:02:51.53\00:02:56.24 go to my blog at LawAndReligion.org, and that will take you right in there. 00:02:56.34\00:03:02.64 CHRIS: Now, on top of all of that, what makes you so special, Barry, is that you are a native 00:03:02.74\00:03:07.05 Newfoundlander. BARRY: Yes, I'm from the Rock. CHRIS: Yes, love the Rock. I'm going to be doing 00:03:07.15\00:03:12.49 some lectures there in the fall. Wonderful people, wonderful place. Both my wife and I enjoy 00:03:12.59\00:03:21.00 it immensely. Now, Barry, getting to the issue of religious freedom. BARRY: Mmhmm. 00:03:21.10\00:03:25.47 CHRIS: You recently wrote an article in the National Post that was featured about the 00:03:25.57\00:03:30.91 issue of religious freedom. BARRY: Mmhmm. CHRIS: So let's talk about this article a little 00:03:31.01\00:03:36.24 bit. What were you dealing with in this article? Why were you dealing with it? BARRY: Okay. 00:03:36.34\00:03:40.32 Currently, what's going on right now with the change in government, the government is 00:03:40.42\00:03:45.22 looking at all the various policies of the previous government and see whether or 00:03:45.32\00:03:49.09 not it's something it wants to continue or change, and so forth. And one of those happens 00:03:49.19\00:03:53.09 to deal with the Office of Religious Freedom, which was started by the Harper government 00:03:53.19\00:04:01.44 back some years ago. And Dr. Andrew Bennett is our ambassador for religious freedom and has 00:04:01.54\00:04:07.51 been going around the world just highlighting the importance of religious freedom for those 00:04:07.61\00:04:13.78 countries and those areas where religious persecution is a major issue. What is interesting - and 00:04:13.88\00:04:21.06 I should point out that religious freedom. Dr. Brian Grim down in Maryland has 00:04:21.16\00:04:31.63 studied the economic effects, for example, on religious freedom, and he's found that 00:04:31.73\00:04:36.84 countries where there's a lot of religious freedom, there's actually a very prominent. 00:04:36.94\00:04:43.41 economy is going well, a lot more freedom in other areas. CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: And so Dr. 00:04:43.51\00:04:49.65 Bennett has been going around the world representing Canada, and I think admirably. In fact, 00:04:49.75\00:04:55.69 even Prime Minister Trudeau has mentioned how great the work has been accomplished by Dr. 00:04:55.79\00:05:03.97 Bennett. And so currently, there's this discussion as to whether this Office of Religious 00:05:04.07\00:05:07.87 Freedom will continue. There's a big debate. Dr. Bennett refers to the issue of religious 00:05:07.97\00:05:14.28 freedom as kind of a blind spot in diplomatic relations. And it's been something that 00:05:14.38\00:05:19.55 scholars have been picking up on in many ways. What happens is, is that there's some folk who 00:05:19.65\00:05:25.82 are of the view that religion doesn't really matter when you're dealing with 00:05:25.92\00:05:32.06 international affairs. However, as I pointed out in that article - and I encourage your viewers 00:05:32.16\00:05:37.73 to look it up and you can look it up through my blog as well - is that religion has always been 00:05:37.83\00:05:46.88 an issue of international relations, even though many people tend to ignore it. I gave 00:05:46.98\00:05:53.62 a quote in there - two quotes - from two different people, one from John Kerry. John Kerry said 00:05:53.72\00:05:58.62 that if he were to go back to college today, he would take religious studies, because so 00:05:58.72\00:06:04.96 much of his work as Secretary of State deals with religious issues, different religious 00:06:05.06\00:06:12.60 groups not getting along and so forth. And he feels in his own self a lack of understanding, 00:06:12.70\00:06:21.11 that would be very helpful in his diplomatic work. Jimmy Carter, when he was involved in 00:06:21.21\00:06:28.45 the peace negotiations between Egypt and Israel back in the late '70s, 1978, he found that. 00:06:28.55\00:06:37.13 he said that. in a book recently called Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft, he 00:06:37.23\00:06:47.80 wrote in there that if he did not be sensitive. if he was not sensitive to the issue of 00:06:47.90\00:06:57.81 religion - because both Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat - Sadat of Egypt, Begin of Israel - if he 00:06:57.91\00:07:06.99 was not sensitive to the fact of their own. these men and their religious sensibilities, he 00:07:07.09\00:07:11.76 doubts very much he would have been all that successful in arriving at this peace treaty. 00:07:11.86\00:07:19.60 So religion is extremely important. And a lot of people look at it and say, "Well, you 00:07:19.70\00:07:24.01 know, it's a waste of money." Well, no, it's not a waste of money. The reality is, there is 00:07:24.11\00:07:29.28 serious persecution going on around the world because of religion. I mean, we look at all 00:07:29.38\00:07:33.08 of the various fights going on in the Middle East right now, 00:07:33.18\00:07:40.39 religiously-motivated. And so and a lot of it is we need to understand. We need to actually. 00:07:40.49\00:07:46.83 you know, the saying has always been, you know, "You need to walk in the moccasins of 00:07:46.93\00:07:51.10 somebody for a couple of weeks to be able to understand their position." CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: 00:07:51.20\00:07:55.60 And in many ways, we need to do that on an international level to understand what's happening 00:07:55.70\00:08:02.14 so we can learn to get along. And that's what's extremely important. We're on this one 00:08:02.24\00:08:06.82 piece of real estate we call Earth. There's a lot of opposition amongst a lot of 00:08:06.92\00:08:12.05 different groups. And what ends up happening is, is that people - and those of us here in the 00:08:12.15\00:08:16.46 West who we think we've got everything figured out, and when we go over to those countries, 00:08:16.56\00:08:20.46 we try to say, "Okay, well, we. you need to accept, you know, democracy, and you need to 00:08:20.56\00:08:24.90 accept all of these things," well, if you're not speaking to these people in a language that 00:08:25.00\00:08:31.54 they understand, all of your discussion about all of your various freedoms and your human 00:08:31.64\00:08:35.88 rights and all of these things may be very formed to their understanding, and you need to 00:08:35.98\00:08:41.15 be speaking in a language that they can comprehend. And so I think that's extremely important 00:08:41.25\00:08:46.89 and why I think it's important to have the Office of Religious Freedom. It's done great work. 00:08:46.99\00:08:52.03 Everyone admits it's done great work. And I think it ought to continue. CHRIS: And you know, 00:08:52.13\00:08:55.40 one of the things that's interesting, I read that article and then I read. sometimes you 00:08:55.50\00:09:00.40 learn a lot by reading the comments that people made. BARRY: Mmhmm. CHRIS: And there 00:09:00.50\00:09:03.94 was one individual that was particularly critical of the article, talking about that this 00:09:04.04\00:09:08.64 was simply an office for the spreading of Christianity. But the Office of Religious Freedom 00:09:08.74\00:09:15.48 is about all religious peoples, all religious groups, and the protection of those groups. Is 00:09:15.58\00:09:19.72 that correct? BARRY: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. In fact, the Office goes to great pains 00:09:19.82\00:09:25.39 to ensure that, look, this is not simply an issue of. or an office for spreading of 00:09:25.49\00:09:32.27 Christianity. But you see, this is part of the problem. That tells me as well that there's a 00:09:32.37\00:09:39.04 lack of understanding of our own history, because if you look back at the history of the West, 00:09:39.14\00:09:46.48 the West has been founded in a big way as a result of the religious struggles that 00:09:46.58\00:09:50.79 occurred at the time of the Reformation. And it was. it has been a profound development in 00:09:50.89\00:09:59.46 the history of mankind on this earth to allow. to have this society where you could have 00:09:59.56\00:10:05.43 many different religious groups and still have civil peace. The democratic project is one that 00:10:05.53\00:10:13.34 has been fundamentally affected by the concept of religious freedom. Former Chief Justice 00:10:13.44\00:10:20.65 Brian Dickson, in the Supreme Court of Canada decision Big M Drug Mart makes the statement 00:10:20.75\00:10:26.82 that religious freedom - or words to this effect - that it is a. in many ways, he says, a 00:10:26.92\00:10:35.03 prototypical right by that it's the idea that it was the forerunner to other rights. 00:10:35.13\00:10:40.07 Because when you think about it, when you allow religious freedom, you allow freedom of 00:10:40.17\00:10:46.04 speech. You allow individuals to be able to speak ideas that someone else may not agree with. 00:10:46.14\00:10:50.75 CHRIS: Absolutely. BARRY: But you give them the right. You know, Voltaire, who certainly 00:10:50.85\00:10:56.15 was not a religious individual. CHRIS: No. BARRY: .very funny character, and you know, had a 00:10:56.25\00:11:01.42 great sense of humour, I mean by that. And you know, he said, "Look, I may not agree with what 00:11:01.52\00:11:10.33 you say, but I will give my life in support of ensuring that you continue to say what it is you 00:11:10.43\00:11:16.94 say." In other words, it is so important to have freedom of speech, that even though I 00:11:17.04\00:11:21.78 disagree with you, you ought to continue. So both individuals who are atheists, as Voltaire 00:11:21.88\00:11:28.82 was, those who are religious in the West, have understood the importance of allowing freedom 00:11:28.92\00:11:33.56 of speech. The other thing is, we've got freedom of assembly. Allowing religious communities 00:11:33.66\00:11:39.36 to be able to go ahead and have their meetings without any fear and concern, "Oh, is there a 00:11:39.46\00:11:45.33 conspiracy against the government?" No. We have understood the importance of 00:11:45.43\00:11:50.17 freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, to be able 00:11:50.27\00:11:56.38 to carry on, and you can speak that message wherever you want to go. This TV program is part 00:11:56.48\00:12:02.82 of that whole idea. CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: And in many ways, freedom of religion has been that 00:12:02.92\00:12:08.56 prototypical right that has led to other rights. And it has been a wonderful blessing that we all 00:12:08.66\00:12:17.03 have enjoyed the ability to live in a free country. And the world is wanting to come because. 00:12:17.13\00:12:24.84 well, part of the reason why is because of freedom and because of religious freedom. So 00:12:24.94\00:12:30.45 understanding that history, understanding that background, is extremely important, and it's 00:12:30.55\00:12:34.95 why it needs to continue. CHRIS: And I want to dwell there for a moment, because you talked about 00:12:35.05\00:12:42.16 the freedom of religion, the Chief Justice calling it a prototypical right. And I want 00:12:42.26\00:12:47.23 to dwell there for just a moment, and taking those words "prototypical right." What 00:12:47.30\00:12:51.60 you're saying is that freedom of religion actually comes before any other rights, so to speak. 00:12:51.70\00:12:58.47 It actually, for lack of a better word - and you correct me if I'm wrong - it kind of sets 00:12:58.57\00:13:03.38 the path to the other rights we enjoy through the Charter. BARRY: That has been our 00:13:03.48\00:13:07.05 experience. And it's not that, you know, only religious freedom would allow other rights; but 00:13:07.15\00:13:13.56 the experience that we've had has been that when you have allowed religious freedom, this 00:13:13.66\00:13:19.73 has been the by-product. The by-product has been these other freedoms. Now, there's an 00:13:19.83\00:13:25.17 argument being made right now in the legal community that says, "Well, you know, we don't even 00:13:25.27\00:13:28.77 need religious freedom in the Constitution. Why do we have it? I mean, we have freedom of 00:13:28.87\00:13:34.51 speech, of expression, in the Constitution; we've got freedom of association. We don't need to 00:13:34.61\00:13:41.95 have in the Constitution religious freedom." And when I hear these arguments being made 00:13:42.05\00:13:51.29 now, it strikes me, is, there's a lack of understanding, perhaps, a lack of appreciation 00:13:51.39\00:13:59.13 for the history that has gotten us to where we are. CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: The history has been that 00:13:59.23\00:14:05.54 religious freedom came first. And the history has been, that has opened up - or at least, in 00:14:05.64\00:14:11.75 our modern era, in the era of the Reformation, the whole experience that has gone 00:14:11.85\00:14:19.02 through. Now, you know, you look at many different experiences of freedom, for example, the 00:14:19.12\00:14:27.60 American Revolution versus the French Revolution. The French Revolution, many would say, is a 00:14:27.66\00:14:32.87 very atheistic revolution. The American Revolution would say. or a lot of historians would 00:14:32.97\00:14:36.74 say, the American Revolution and the differences between the two countries that, in the American 00:14:36.84\00:14:42.71 mindset, there was a real sense that religion and the experience of religion, having the ability 00:14:42.81\00:14:50.39 to be free and worship as you please, was a big motivating factor. So I mean, yes, you can 00:14:50.49\00:14:57.26 come at it from a religious view, you can come at it from a nonreligious view, but 00:14:57.36\00:15:02.76 nevertheless, history is history, it is what it is. And if we, according to Dr. Grim, if 00:15:02.86\00:15:11.74 we give countries religious freedom, then all of these other freedoms kind of go with it, 00:15:11.84\00:15:17.21 including the freedom to have a free market, to be involved in industry and all the rest of it. 00:15:17.31\00:15:24.29 CHRIS: And something that I think that's very important - because we talked about. we 00:15:24.39\00:15:28.39 began with the conversation on religious freedom and its influence on international 00:15:28.49\00:15:34.46 communities. BARRY: Mmhmm. CHRIS: And now we've drawn this back to the individual. And 00:15:34.56\00:15:38.07 something that I don't want to be glossed over or missed by our viewer is, you talked about 00:15:38.17\00:15:43.20 atheists, agnostics, people who. secular. People who have maybe no "religious", quote-unquote, 00:15:43.30\00:15:50.55 belief system. BARRY: In fact, they often call them the "nons" right now. CHRIS: Yes. What's 00:15:50.65\00:15:54.52 very important is, when we talk about this Office of Religious Freedom, or religious liberty, 00:15:54.62\00:16:01.39 or religious freedom, we can often misinterpret that, that maybe it would be even better 00:16:01.49\00:16:07.66 called is the "freedom to believe as you wish", because the atheist, the agnostic, the 00:16:07.76\00:16:13.40 Muslim, the Buddhist, each of these individuals - the Christian - are given the 00:16:13.50\00:16:19.41 opportunity to believe as they choose. And so let's just take for a moment, if we remove the 00:16:19.51\00:16:27.88 right to religious freedom, what is the end game? Where is the logical conclusion? Where does 00:16:27.98\00:16:34.92 this take us? BARRY: Well, first of all - and I'll come to that - but let me just step back 00:16:35.02\00:16:39.93 a little bit. This is why the United Nations, for instance, has a repertoire for freedom of 00:16:40.03\00:16:46.23 religion or belief. So in other words, it does take in that other dimension that you 00:16:46.33\00:16:52.44 mentioned. CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: And I think that's extremely 00:16:52.54\00:16:54.98 important. In the Canadian Constitution in the Charter, it's freedom of conscience and 00:16:55.08\00:16:59.68 religion. So it's both, they're there. So where does it take us if we remove that? What happens 00:16:59.78\00:17:06.99 is, society has got to have some form of anchor as to what is truth. And I mean, again, this 00:17:07.09\00:17:12.43 is something that we all want to understand. What is truth? CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: Many people 00:17:12.53\00:17:17.30 say, "Well, there is no such thing as truth." Well, then, that's a statement of truth. 00:17:17.40\00:17:21.40 CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: Right? CHRIS: Absolutely. BARRY: So what it takes us to, I think - and what 00:17:21.50\00:17:26.84 we've seen in various experiments and political experiments over the years - has 00:17:26.94\00:17:33.25 been, the State, then, becomes the arbitrator of truth. So then, what does the State say on 00:17:33.35\00:17:42.76 X, Y, Z? And that has been the experience, where you see. you take away the individual 00:17:42.86\00:17:50.73 freedom, then something fills the vacuum, and that vacuum is often filled by the State. And 00:17:50.83\00:17:57.67 that's where it leads, and that then becomes very problematic. CHRIS: Now, we of course have 00:17:57.77\00:18:03.01 examples of history where this has happened. Rome is an example, and other places. Are 00:18:03.11\00:18:09.35 there any modern examples in the West where religious freedom has been played with a little bit, 00:18:09.45\00:18:15.69 and consequences to that, that you can think of? BARRY: Well, I mean, there's. well, I mean, 00:18:15.79\00:18:20.23 we've got the ongoing discussion right now. We mentioned last program the Trinity Western 00:18:20.33\00:18:26.90 University case, for example. But I mean, we're struggling right now. We're struggling in 00:18:27.00\00:18:33.78 the western countries on how you deal with issues on sexual orientation, human sexuality, 00:18:33.88\00:18:39.01 gender identity, all of these things. Religion has spoken an awful lot about sex and has 00:18:39.11\00:18:45.75 spoken a lot about how one ought to live. And in essence, it comes down to different 00:18:45.85\00:18:52.93 interpretations of what it means to be a human, right? And that's where a struggle is ongoing 00:18:53.03\00:18:59.13 right now. And how do we allow ourselves, or how do we ensure that we can have a society that 00:18:59.23\00:19:10.58 is free and that is respectful of everyone's, you know, sexual orientation, religious freedom, 00:19:10.68\00:19:18.39 and so on? And that is an ongoing discussion. We have had horrible experiences in the past 00:19:18.49\00:19:26.96 where western countries, i.e., Germany, for example, where religious freedom was taken away 00:19:27.03\00:19:34.04 during the Nazi regime, where what happens is, is that ideology, this concept and 00:19:34.14\00:19:45.28 understanding or view of the world that becomes so dominant, that everything gets taken up in 00:19:45.38\00:19:52.15 its. in this volcano, as it were. And we see it with. in that particular example, where 00:19:52.25\00:20:01.00 even the so-called Christian churches went right along with the State. CHRIS: Yes. 00:20:01.10\00:20:07.40 BARRY: Because remember, if you're not going to allow religious freedom as I'm 00:20:07.50\00:20:12.64 suggesting, then what happens is, the State comes in, and the State definitely came in there 00:20:12.74\00:20:18.28 on that particular occasion and took away religious freedom, and then, you know, we know what the 00:20:18.38\00:20:24.62 result is. So yes, religious freedom is something that we've got to be eternally vigilant 00:20:24.72\00:20:30.13 about. It's not something that we can just say, "Okay, well, we have now religious freedom, we 00:20:30.23\00:20:35.60 don't need to worry about it, da-da-dah." Well, if we have that kind of lackadaisical 00:20:35.70\00:20:41.27 attitude and there's a lack of empathy here, or there's indifference. if there's 00:20:41.37\00:20:46.94 anything that's supposed to be indifferent, that we have learned, is that the State is to 00:20:47.04\00:20:51.45 be indifferent. The State is to be neutral with respect to religious views and religious 00:20:51.55\00:20:57.19 opinions. And the moment that the State gets in and starts saying, "Well, no, I'm sorry, 00:20:57.29\00:21:03.02 but you can't have that religious view." Now, granted, there are limits, right? 00:21:03.12\00:21:07.60 CHRIS: Sure. BARRY: There has to be limits. "Peace, order, and good government," our 00:21:07.66\00:21:10.50 Constitution says. But if you're involved in something that is not against public policy, that 00:21:10.60\00:21:17.54 is private, that is not causing any kind of grave and imminent danger or anything of that 00:21:17.64\00:21:24.21 nature, but if it's something that says, "Hey, this is how I want to live." I work in an area 00:21:24.31\00:21:31.19 where we have a religious community there that doesn't agree with the idea of driving a 00:21:31.29\00:21:40.13 vehicle. So what do they do? They drive horse and buggy. CHRIS: Yes. BARRY: Every day, 00:21:40.23\00:21:44.30 back and forth to my office, several times a day, I see horse and buggies. It's great; it's 00:21:44.40\00:21:48.54 wonderful. I feel like sometimes I'm living in a museum, like, you know, back in history. Well, 00:21:48.64\00:21:53.51 they have every right to live that way if they so desire. CHRIS: Absolutely. BARRY: And 00:21:53.61\00:21:57.05 you know, so they have their own views about how much education their children have. They've got 00:21:57.15\00:22:02.58 a view that their young people should be out on the farm and should be working when they're 00:22:02.68\00:22:07.56 of age, and all the rest of it. Well, praise God, we've got a country where those people can 00:22:07.66\00:22:14.73 live that way. CHRIS: Absolutely. You know, and Barry, as we have our last few 00:22:14.83\00:22:19.83 minutes together, you know, it reminds me, I was lecturing at a university, and I was speaking 00:22:19.93\00:22:24.77 to a Christian club and expected my audience to be primarily Christians. However, the first 00:22:24.87\00:22:27.81 night, a good deal of the Secular and Philosophy Club came. And afterwards, we had 00:22:27.91\00:22:32.91 lengthy discussion with the members of that club. And they said this to me: they said, "You 00:22:33.01\00:22:37.72 know, there's something different about you." I said, "What's that?" And he says, "A 00:22:37.82\00:22:40.42 lot of the other clubs kick us out. But you listened to us." And then I said this to 00:22:40.52\00:22:45.36 him - and I want you to comment on this - I said, "Listen, I respect what you believe and you 00:22:45.46\00:22:51.40 think in the same way I would hope you respect what I believe. We may not agree, but we can 00:22:51.50\00:22:57.47 have mutual respect." So in these final two minutes that we have together, Barry, talk about 00:22:57.57\00:23:02.94 that. How does the Christian - how does anybody - relate to 00:23:03.04\00:23:08.12 people with different views? How do we treat them in a way that is agreeable to the Bible and 00:23:08.22\00:23:14.19 its foundational principle of freedom of belief? BARRY: You know, it's. when we talk about 00:23:14.29\00:23:20.06 personal beliefs and so on, we tend to be emotional, because we've had. we all have our 00:23:20.16\00:23:27.17 religious experiences. And when someone says something that is particularly offensive, we could 00:23:27.27\00:23:36.48 become very emotional and very upset very quickly. That's to be expected. But the reality is, as 00:23:36.58\00:23:45.49 a Christian, I look at the example of Christ. He is my example when it comes to the 00:23:45.59\00:23:51.66 whole concept of religious freedom. I think of Him speaking to the woman at the well in 00:23:51.76\00:23:55.93 Samaria, the Samaritan woman there. The Samaritans and the Jewish people did not see eye to 00:23:56.03\00:24:03.97 eye on religion. CHRIS: No, they did not. BARRY: And they were very much against each other and 00:24:04.07\00:24:08.24 they had very different concepts and understandings. But yet, Jesus was willing to sit down 00:24:08.34\00:24:12.75 with those whom He disagreed with, and He was able to have a discussion with her in broad 00:24:12.85\00:24:19.99 daylight in front of everyone without any kind of shame or any kind of sense that He was doing 00:24:20.09\00:24:27.23 anything He shouldn't have been. In many ways - and you look at the Good Samaritan, which we 00:24:27.30\00:24:33.77 have, you know, Good Samaritan laws and so forth - and it's all on the concept of respecting the 00:24:33.87\00:24:38.74 other. We have to respect the other, because the other has the image of God. And for that 00:24:38.84\00:24:46.65 reason, we love our fellow man as we love God. CHRIS: Hard to believe we're out of time, 00:24:46.75\00:24:50.49 Barry. Let's pray together, and why don't you pray for us in this issue of religious freedom? 00:24:50.59\00:24:55.46 BARRY: Father God, we just want to thank You so very much for this beautiful gift that You 00:24:55.56\00:25:00.16 have given. You have given us freedom of choice. Lord, help us in our own lives. Help us to 00:25:00.26\00:25:06.67 love our neighbours. Help us to love our own family when they make decisions that. on religion 00:25:06.77\00:25:12.91 and so forth that may not be in accordance with the way we want them to follow and to accept. 00:25:13.01\00:25:19.98 Lord, give us that grace. And thank you for the example of the Lord Jesus Christ in this 00:25:20.08\00:25:25.59 matter. And for that, we say thanks. Amen. CHRIS: Amen. 00:25:25.69\00:25:29.39 > 00:25:50.71\00:25:53.78 Today in the NEWSTART acronym, we're focusing on "S" for sunshine. Now, if you're like 00:25:55.65\00:26:00.96 me, you love being out in the sun. Sunshine boosts our spirits and brings joy to our lives. Our 00:26:01.06\00:26:07.23 bodies need sunlight in order to stay healthy, so getting proper amounts of sunshine each day is 00:26:07.36\00:26:13.23 important. Excessive exposure to sunlight, however, can be detrimental to our health, 00:26:13.34\00:26:19.24 resulting in premature wrinkling, aging of the skin, and skin cancer. But, in the 00:26:19.34\00:26:25.85 right amounts sunlight enhances our lives by improving our sleep. How does sunlight in the 00:26:25.95\00:26:32.95 day improve our sleep at night? Have you heard of melatonin? It's a hormone in our bodies 00:26:33.05\00:26:38.19 that enhances sleep. As we age, our bodies produce less and less melatonin. Studies show that 00:26:38.29\00:26:45.30 daily exposure to sunlight helps boost our body's production of melatonin. So, we sleep better. 00:26:45.40\00:26:51.51 Secondly, improving our mood. Most people seem to function and feel so much better when the sun 00:26:51.61\00:26:58.38 is shining. I know I do! It is well documented that seasonal variations in light levels can 00:26:58.48\00:27:04.75 have profound effects on mental health due to the increased levels of serotonin. Many 00:27:04.85\00:27:10.43 studies report that when we combine sunlight - especially as the sun rises in the morning 00:27:10.53\00:27:15.90 with exercise, it has a powerful effect on preventing as well as treating acute depression. 00:27:16.00\00:27:23.91 Sunlight also helps boost our immune system and even alleviates pain from swollen 00:27:24.01\00:27:30.11 arthritic joints! And, of course, we all know that we need the the sun to enable our bodies 00:27:30.21\00:27:36.75 to manufacture vitamin D. Our bodies need vitamin D in order to use calcium to build strong, 00:27:36.85\00:27:41.96 healthy bones and for other functions in our bodies. So, get on out there into the gorgeous 00:27:42.06\00:27:50.40 sunshine and get some vitamin D happening. Be careful, though; the best hours to be out in the 00:27:50.50\00:27:53.64 sun are before 10:00 am and after 2:00 pm. Jesus tells us in John 8:12 that He is the light 00:27:53.74\00:28:01.28 of the world. As the Sun of righteousness, He brings light and healing to our souls. I love 00:28:01.38\00:28:08.12 that. If you want additional information on healthy eating, visit our It Is Written website 00:28:08.22\00:28:13.76 at www.ItIsWritten.ca, go to the Live Healthy page, and you'll find links to lots of great 00:28:13.86\00:28:22.70 resources. See you next time! 00:28:22.80\00:28:25.37 > 00:28:29.87\00:28:30.87 CHRIS: The very foundations of modern religious freedom are found in the Reformation. Today, 00:28:33.14\00:28:38.35 I want to offer to you for any size donation The Great Controversy DVD, a collection of 00:28:38.45\00:28:44.19 history and music. Here's the information you need for today's 00:28:44.29\00:28:48.72 offer. > 00:29:26.80\00:29:28.00 CHRIS: Barry, I want to thank you so much for joining us this week. BARRY: Great to be here, 00:29:29.60\00:29:32.50 Chris. CHRIS: Friend, I want to thank you for joining us. If you're interested in some of the 00:29:32.60\00:29:36.97 other items that Barry's been thinking about, writing about, I invite you to go to his blog, 00:29:37.07\00:29:41.91 LawAndReligion.org. Please join us again next week. Until then, remember it is written: "Man 00:29:42.01\00:29:50.35 shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." 00:29:50.45\00:29:56.62 $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ 00:29:58.16\00:29:59.09