Participants: Lincoln Steed (Host), Melissa Reid
Series Code: LI
Program Code: LI000124
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00:18 Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
00:20 This is the program that brings you up to 00:22 date news, views and discussion on 00:24 religious liberty events and developments. 00:27 My name is Lincoln Steed, Editor of 00:29 Liberty Magazine. And on the program 00:32 is Melissa Reid Associate Editor for 00:35 Liberty Magazine. Welcome Melissa, 00:37 welcome back, because you have 00:38 been on the program number of times before. 00:40 Well thank you so much, it's a pleasure 00:41 to be here. And like me you have 00:44 a lot of opinions as well knowledge on 00:46 religious liberty events. And what I would like 00:48 to talk about on this program is something 00:50 fairly recent as we film this program 00:54 January 1, the Pope of Rome, Pope Benedict 01:00 once Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict 01:03 gave a very good speech on World 01:05 Peace Day, yes, January 1, under the 01:08 overall title and I don't want to 01:09 misrepresent it but it was so significant to 01:11 me, Religious Freedom, the Path to Peace. 01:14 Yes, it's been an interesting; 01:18 we've seen a couple of instances of the 01:20 Pope addressing this particular topic. 01:23 January 1 was the date the you are 01:26 referring to that particular speech and 01:27 there was also one on January 10 where he 01:30 addressed the diplomatic core, 01:32 and again covered this exact same topic, 01:34 so it seems to clearly be a priority. 01:36 Yes some commentators have said that this is 01:38 gonna be his focus for the near term, yes, 01:40 and you and I could agree with that, 01:42 and I know our viewers who clearly 01:45 thinks religious liberty is more than a 01:47 passing importance, it's central. Yes. 01:49 So you know Seventh-day Adventists and other 01:52 Christians, and people of other faiths all 01:54 believe in religious liberty, so this is not 01:57 an exclusive thing for the Roman Catholic Church. 01:59 Right, right. In fact historically 02:02 you know I could look at several 02:04 hundred years ago and say that the 02:05 Roman Catholic Church went through 02:07 a phase but was anything but for 02:08 religious freedom. But at the present he 02:11 is saying very good things we have to 02:13 applaud them. Right, right, and we know 02:14 that January 1st speech was significant 02:18 as we know just that day or that evening in 02:22 Egypt, Christian Church was attacked, 02:25 yeah, was bombed, I think it was over 20 02:27 people were killed, 21 people, 21 people 02:29 killed, as the reporting you never know, 02:32 and it's worth mentioning on these 02:33 news events, the tragedy is usually 02:37 much, much greater than the number 02:38 killed, in fact in some ways 02:40 they're the lucky ones. I want people to be 02:44 meant for life will go through many, many 02:46 years of rehabilitation families just disrupted 02:49 and destroyed, right. This is a huge wave 02:52 of tragedy for many of these vicious attacks. 02:54 Yeah unfortunately, 21 people there, yeah 02:57 in the Pope's message we noted that there's 03:01 many places around the world he 03:02 mentioned you know specifically, 03:04 he mentioned Iraq, Iraq and the Middle 03:05 East as well as Egypt as we said. 03:07 Well he didn't mention Egypt in the 03:08 speech, he does in the second speech, in the 03:11 following, I'm sorry, yes, you are correct. 03:12 And in my view that probably sharpened 03:14 his opinions on this topic that he is 03:17 already interested in, yeah, because that 03:18 was almost in your face reaction that is 03:21 against this first speech on January 1, 03:23 I think it was later that day certainly it 03:25 wasn't incorporated in the speech, here this 03:28 action against the corps in Egypt, 03:30 that we'll talk a little bit more about that 03:31 later, illustrated very succinctly that there is 03:36 rising not just intolerance violent, 03:39 antagonism between, and against certain faiths. 03:43 Right, right, I know that he has mentioned 03:46 in the second speech as well, he mentioned 03:50 situations in Asia, situations in Africa, 03:53 and then we were discussing earlier, 03:54 and I thought this was particularly 03:56 interesting he mentioned Western 03:59 Europe, and also America, and how it 04:01 was less violence and more of, he was 04:04 critical more of putting religion 04:07 almost on the backburner and taking 04:09 it out of public discourse conversation, he was 04:13 critical of that. What he mentioned 04:15 and is consistent with what he said before 04:17 but also what we got the feature to Liberty 04:20 Magazine, he said the problem is not just 04:23 radical fundamentalism in religion which is a 04:26 problem but radical secularism, yeah, that 04:30 tries to exclude religion and on odd 04:33 occasion is actually violent toward them, 04:35 since it's not impossible for seculars to be 04:38 violently anti-religious. Usually it's just an 04:41 exclusion sort of mocking it out of 04:44 existence, so using existing laws to tamp 04:47 down religion. So we need to be 04:49 careful of both these extremes of over 04:51 religion or religion gonna mock, right, 04:55 and secularism that hasn't often and they 04:57 dislike of religious activity. Yes. 04:59 So I think he kept a good balance, 05:02 there were number of things that caught my 05:04 attention like I wanted to share this with our 05:07 viewers, he says on page six of my 05:10 printout of this January 1 speech, 05:12 he says religious freedom expresses 05:14 what is unique about the human person for 05:17 it allows us to direct our personal and 05:20 social life to God in whose light the 05:22 identity meaning and purpose of the person 05:25 that fully understood. Now that's not really 05:27 a definition of religious liberty, 05:29 but the seculars will agree with even the 05:31 secularists in the United States who is 05:33 more than comfortable with the first amendment. 05:36 I'm comfortable with that because I think 05:37 that's inherently true, but we need to be 05:40 careful when we are talking about religious 05:42 freedom that we don't in essence project or 05:45 demand that someone accept our religious 05:48 viewpoint to accept the principle of 05:50 religious freedom, right, right. 05:52 And he continues further he says to 05:54 deny or arbitrarily restrict this freedom is 05:57 to foster a reductive vision of the human 06:00 person to eclipse the public role of religion 06:02 is to create a society which is unjust, 06:06 inasmuch as it fails to take account of the 06:07 true nature of the human person. 06:09 And I think that's, that's correct. Yeah. 06:13 I mean in some ways if there's no religious 06:17 freedom and its absolute there would 06:19 be no religion and of course without 06:21 religion the human spirit is stifled. Yeah. 06:24 So in some ways you know he is into 06:27 tautology here but it's very well presented 06:32 we can't object to it per say. 06:35 My only caution on the January 1 speech 06:38 in light of what we had a program on this 06:41 some time ago was little bit further on, 06:45 and I don't want to misrepresent it so 06:46 look at up, he speaks of the family. Yes. 06:50 Very important and he says it should be 06:52 clear that, I'm sorry I got the wrong paper, 06:54 that was the fundamentalist, 06:56 but he speaks of the family and he says 06:59 parents should be allowed to inculcate 07:02 or teach their children their religious values, 07:05 and of course that central to religious freedom. 07:07 We know under the communist era that 07:09 was there frontal attack against 07:11 religion, right, used the children against 07:13 the religious parents and subvert the family 07:17 from with inside, turn the children against 07:19 their parents and ensure that it does not 07:22 go another generation. Right, and I was just 07:24 gonna add we've just recently had an issue 07:27 or story in Liberty where we've talked 07:30 about unfortunately the situations in 07:32 United States, where there's custody 07:33 situations, oh absolutely, and one and the state 07:35 stepping in and not allowing one parent to 07:41 teach their child religious pre-text or 07:45 whatever so it's interesting that 07:47 it happens there in sort of 07:49 western society as well. And the custody ones are 07:51 hard to judicate because it isn't purely 07:53 a matter of religious freedom, there is a 07:55 matter of minors and which parent will 07:59 have the authority to dictate 08:02 religious instructions. Right I thought that 08:03 one was particularly interesting because 08:05 the state decided to step in and be 08:07 involved and decide whether or not the 08:08 religion was appropriate or not. 08:10 Yeah. Anyway continue with what 08:11 you were saying. The angle that I would 08:13 make on that it's not in his speech, but we 08:16 need to be careful if a state has a 08:20 negative viewpoint of all religion or a 08:23 particular religious viewpoint, then it's 08:25 much easier for it to decide that it will step 08:27 in even if this is not a marital problem, 08:30 they could just decide that these parents with 08:32 their religious viewpoints don't 08:34 really reflect the goals of the state, right, 08:37 that they might feel authorized to step in 08:39 and in the United States where we need 08:41 to be careful of that while a law stand 08:43 good but if there's an idea that a certain 08:45 religion, and you know at the moment 08:49 this radical Islam you could easily find 08:53 the state could say well they're 08:54 influencing these children into radicalism 08:56 therefore we'll take them out, this is 08:57 hypothetical but it's a situation where it 09:00 could happen but unfortunately with 09:01 law once they do that they could just easily 09:04 decide well you know these snake handling 09:09 Christians and they are mentally unstable, 09:13 we don't want children in that environment. 09:15 So this whole aspect of the state 09:17 determining the religious viewpoint 09:20 of children in the families is a little dangerous. 09:23 But I wanted to point out this the family in 09:25 the speech is that the Pope's upholding the 09:28 family but I don't think it's a neutral 09:31 statement because in Europe at the moment 09:33 and we had an article in Liberty Magazine 09:34 that you're well aware of, yes, the church, 09:38 Catholic Church and many other churches 09:40 have been very vigorous in pushing 09:45 for what they call family rest days, 09:47 right, Sunday, yes, yes, not surprisingly, 09:51 there's some logic on it but. 09:53 It seems quite contradictory to 09:55 mandating a particular day of family rest 10:00 with religious freedom that seems to be 10:02 contradictory as far as. Right and that's 10:03 why we featured it in Liberty Magazine, 10:05 it has an inbuilt contradiction that 10:08 with the baggage of history of any 10:11 religion, but particularly in Europe, the Roman 10:14 Catholic Church has shown that in the past 10:16 it was hard to resist the lure of power to 10:20 enforce religious behavior, and so we 10:23 might be on another slippery slope, and yet 10:25 with very good intentions I think, 10:27 right, and nothing harmful in the 10:30 implementation of this because a family 10:31 rest day, fun. Yes, of course we value 10:35 family you know equally as far as you 10:39 know our beliefs and our priorities as well. 10:42 Of course, yeah, so overall this was a very 10:45 good speech in a very bad context of 10:48 continuing religious violence in one 10:53 country or another, and we have to, 10:57 as I started out this program we have to 10:59 give credit, it's due to the Pope representing 11:03 what is it, the billion Roman Catholics, yes. 11:05 For him to stand up in the midst of just a 11:08 swirl of violence much of it against 11:11 Christians, much of it against Roman 11:12 Catholics around the world, right, and to, 11:15 you know I would not call names and not be 11:17 aggressive about it but systematically go 11:20 through the logic, the religious logic as he 11:22 does in the speech, the legal background 11:25 he goes to the 1948 Universal Declaration 11:29 of Human Rights, United Nations, 11:30 Global governance and then he ends on a 11:34 very spiritual note. Right. And we have 11:36 to endorse that and we will support as 11:39 anyone of good intention would 11:40 support that as long as that's follow through with. 11:43 Right, right, and absolutely and I want 11:46 to echo that with the January 10 address 11:48 because this was, as I mentioned earlier was 11:51 the address of the diplomatic core and 11:53 it's really regard as the most important 11:55 public policy speech with the Pope makes 11:57 all the year. It's like the State of the 11:58 Union. Exactly the State of the Union 11:59 address and it says you know here that 12:02 Pope Benedict concentrated almost 12:03 exclusively on the theme of religious 12:05 freedom, and so to have to cover that 12:08 topic in such an influential event is 12:12 really, he identified religious freedom as 12:15 the first of human rights, the first. 12:18 And we do believe that, absolutely. 12:20 Few years ago as you remember our Liberty 12:22 Awards Banquet we had Hillary Clinton 12:24 who is now secretary of state for the United 12:26 States and she pointed out that you can 12:29 almost use it as a litmus test of all civil 12:32 freedoms, how a country administers 12:34 religious freedom, yes. So yes, religious 12:38 freedom is central not just because we are 12:40 involved with religious liberty and 12:42 presenting liberty magazine because it's 12:45 proven to be so for general civil governance. 12:48 We'll be back after the break 12:49 to continue this discussion. 12:58 One-hundred years, a long time to do 13:01 anything much less publish a magazine, 13:04 but this year Liberty, the Seventh-day Adventist 13:07 voice of religious freedom, celebrates 13:09 one hundred years of doing what it does best, 13:12 collecting, analyzing, and reporting the ebb 13:16 and flow of religious expression around the 13:18 world, issue after issue, Liberty has taken on the 13:22 tough assignments, tracking down threats 13:24 to religious freedom and exposing the work 13:26 of the devil in every corner of the globe. 13:29 Governmental interference, personal attacks, 13:31 corporate assaults, even religious 13:33 freedom issues sequestered within the 13:35 Church community itself has been clearly 13:37 and honestly exposed. Liberty exists for one 13:41 purpose to help God's people maintain that all 13:44 important separation of Church and State, 13:47 while recognizing the dangers inherent 13:49 in such a struggle. During the past century, 13:52 Liberty has experienced challenges of its own, 13:55 but it remains on the job. Thanks to the inspired 13:58 leadership of a long line of dedicated Adventist 14:00 Editors, three of whom represent almost half of 14:03 the publications existence and the 14:05 foresight of a little woman from New England. 14:08 One hundred years of struggle, one hundred 14:11 years of victories, religious freedom isn't 14:14 just about political machines 14:15 and cultural prejudices. It's about people, 14:19 fighting for the right to serve the God they love 14:22 as their hearts and the Holy Spirit dictate. 14:25 Thanks to the prayers and generous support of 14:28 Seventh-day Adventists everywhere. 14:30 Liberty will continue to accomplish its work of 14:32 providing timely information, spirit-filled 14:35 inspiration, and heaven sent encouragement to 14:37 all who long to live and work in a world bound 14:42 together by the God ordained 14:43 bonds of religious freedom. 14:56 Welcome back to the Liberty Insider. 14:59 Before the break with guest Melissa Reid, 15:02 Associate Editor of Liberty Magazine, 15:04 and to repeat I am Lincoln Steed, Editor 15:06 of Liberty Magazine. We work together 15:10 during the week but this is not the usual occurrence. 15:12 And we've treat. Yes, yes, 15:14 for our guest to be on this program. 15:18 We were talking about I hope what is 15:21 not rare on this program but deserved 15:24 in this case. We're speaking well of what 15:26 the Pope of Rome said, on two recent 15:29 occasions in formal speeches in January 1 15:31 and January 10, on religious freedom, 15:35 right, and we have too very well done. 15:38 Obviously the record of history for his 15:40 particular church is, let's just say 15:43 improvement over the years, Yes, yes. 15:46 And I should specify that there has been an 15:48 argument within the Roman Catholic 15:49 Church about how they relate 15:51 to religious liberty. Yes, and it's 15:53 interesting as I am sure many of our 15:55 viewers are also reader of Liberty Magazine. 15:57 They've noted I think there's been a couple 16:00 of different occasions where you've mentioned 16:01 in your editorials, I am sure you've 16:03 mentioned on this show as well, 16:05 sort of the inconsistency of and again I go back 16:09 to the January 10 speech where the 16:12 Pope is addressing the diplomatic community and 16:14 that's because the Holy See. 16:17 He claims he is a head of state, right, 16:19 technically I like that word. 16:20 Right, he is a head of state, the Holy See, 16:22 Vatican has diplomatic relations 16:23 with the 178 different nations, and so it's 16:27 interesting, the inconsistency 16:29 there to be promoting religious freedom, 16:32 but yet this head of church also being a 16:35 head of state, and so, now what I've said, 16:37 definitely have concerns in that area. 16:39 But what I've said in Liberty magazine and 16:41 I don't intent any malice whatsoever 16:44 toward the Roman Catholic Church or 16:47 the Pope. But structurally since 16:50 they have the structure that ever 16:51 came about the story but structurally it's 16:55 unworkable in the United States with the 16:57 separation of church and state. Right, right. 17:00 That's been a very good model, 17:02 unfortunately some Protestants even in 17:06 the United States are speaking badly but 17:08 arguably it's been a very good model to 17:10 maintain freedom for all Catholic, Roman 17:12 Catholic, Christian, Muslim, whatever 17:14 doesn't matter. Right, right, and while we 17:16 certainly don't want discrimination for 17:17 religious, for religion and the world at large, 17:22 we certainly don't want favoritism for 17:23 religion at large and seems to me 17:28 there are sort of situation of being the 17:30 head of state as well and having an 17:32 opportunity to address, you know diplomat in 17:34 this matter where other heads of religion puts 17:37 it on different level, does show a bit of 17:38 favoritism in my opinion. And of course that is 17:41 the way to the problems of the 17:43 middle ages where church and state are 17:46 seen as one entity, that is the present way 17:49 of troubles when we look at the Middle 17:51 East where they don't accept any division 17:54 between church and state and some 17:56 governments themselves, or some population 17:59 and mullahs and imams and so on are 18:01 pushing to incorporate the most extreme 18:04 elements of their religious practice into 18:06 the law of the land. Right. I think myself, not 18:11 talking about Roman Colossus well, 18:12 but I think that's not even good for the 18:14 average Muslim when an extreme form of 18:16 their religion is administered that way, 18:18 but its horrendous say for the Coptic 18:21 Christians in Egypt or the Syrian Christians 18:24 in Iraq and Syria. Right, right. 18:29 That's not very, I mean it's not, not very 18:31 good, they not only marginalize they can 18:33 be legally penalized and imprisoned for 18:35 that sort of an amalgamation of 18:38 church and state. So it's inherently very 18:40 bad not unworkable, but it works in the 18:43 way to the detrimental of religious freedom. 18:44 Right. So in that regard, we tuk tuk over Rome. 18:50 Yes. And it's the merest technicalities 18:54 of the states that's only few tens of 18:57 acres, right, might be 300 acres. 18:59 But it's basically St. Peters, on the papal 19:01 court is at the back. Right. 19:04 And you know Mussolini reinstated 19:07 that by the Lateran Treaty giving little bit 19:10 of land to Rome and set it up as a separate state. 19:14 Right. Whether or not it's really truly as 19:17 separate as the fiction, I think any visitor to 19:20 Rome has to decide for themselves. 19:22 I remember myself visiting the US 19:25 ambassador to the Holy See residence 19:28 and it was in Rome, it wasn't in the Holy See. 19:31 Right, right, right, another topic that 19:35 we've, is very closely related that we've just 19:37 also recently covered or we were working, 19:40 its gonna be in the March, April issue of 19:41 Liberty magazine. He is talking about 19:44 the Red Mass and again how those that 19:47 line is so blurred for those of you of our 19:51 viewers that are familiar with the Red 19:52 Mass, it's the, I believe it's the first 19:56 Monday in October when the Supreme 19:58 Court goes back in the session and Catholic 20:01 churches still the one best known is in 20:04 Washington DC. The one we featured 20:05 into this, I mean in Washington but they 20:08 are all over and I think it's design for 20:10 politicians, isn't it? Yeah, this called the 20:12 Red Mass and it's designed for politicians to come 20:16 again the day before the courts open for the 20:19 new session, and it's very interesting in the 20:23 article I was just looking at it last evening. 20:27 A lot of times, we've heard oh, this is not a 20:29 big deal; this is not something to be 20:31 concerned about because it's just 20:32 innocuous religious service. 20:34 And I was surprised at attendees 20:38 with Justice Ginsburg. She rejected to it, said 20:40 she would never go again. She would never go 20:42 again, she was preached too about, 20:44 you know abortion or issues that these that 20:46 are on the doctrine they taught, 20:48 you know, about. And more importantly 20:50 since we've both read the articles you went 20:52 with her good friends, the Scalia. 20:56 Yes, and they were embarrassed for her. 20:58 They were embarrassed for her, 20:59 so this wasn't just a Jewish 21:03 Supreme Court justice. Right, and there was 21:05 another situation it was a Rehnquist that 21:08 was talking about he was a Roman 21:09 Catholic, and was attended and again 21:12 you know felt it was very inappropriate 21:14 how they were you know preach to 21:18 influence on particular topics and again for 21:21 us, you know, as supporters of this wall 21:24 of separation of church and state, 21:26 I think it's very concerning, 21:27 you know, I think sometimes we are 21:30 criticized for saying it's not big deal, 21:32 its just the formality but it seems like and 21:34 when you see these references, it feels 21:38 like it's inappropriate. It's inappropriate, 21:40 it's clearly not illegal although it's part of 21:44 the spectrum the US is presently 21:46 experiencing not just with Roman 21:48 Catholics, in fact not particularly but even 21:50 there are churches during the different 21:52 elections have taken more and more to 21:54 publicly promoting candidate from the 21:57 pulpit and political viewpoints. 22:00 That none of that is good and in theory all 22:03 of that should not take place because of the 22:05 separation of church and state, and they 22:07 could loose their tax exempt status which 22:10 is a recognition that they are non-profit 22:11 church organization. So you know we 22:15 would want to say that the Red Mass is 22:16 the most egregious case but it is one of 22:18 the more, more public displays of this, right, 22:22 and it has again the burden of history. 22:27 Rome came up with the very good 22:28 document go down one level document 22:31 written by the present Pope when he was in 22:33 charge of the congregation for the 22:36 doctrine of the faith called memory and 22:39 reconciliation. Yes. And on the face of it 22:43 an apology for some of the excesses of the 22:45 past including the inquisition which he 22:49 was, that offers really was the continuation 22:53 of the inquisition. So you know they 22:56 have recognized their past but we shouldn't 22:59 allow them or anyone to drift back into the 23:03 ways of the past and the ways of the past 23:05 were exactly that where you have the 23:07 prayer lot standing along side the king, 23:12 or the local governor and he would give his 23:14 spiritual exaltation and then the government 23:16 would go out and execute it. Right. 23:19 And what are they accepting when they 23:22 invite the Supreme Court justices and 23:25 another top people there and then wag 23:27 their finger to them and tell them that they 23:28 must shape up such a matter in particularly, 23:32 the change dynamic when a very high 23:34 percentage of that Supreme Court are 23:36 children of the church, yes, because 23:37 they are allowed to be, nothing constitutionally 23:39 wrong but the dynamic become loaded. 23:41 Yes, yes. And we just have to be very 23:44 careful in guarding not just religious 23:47 liberty in its legal sense, but in its social 23:50 and structural sense. We are not in enmeshing 23:54 ourselves in the habits in the forms 23:57 of another era. Right, it's interesting another 24:00 article I was reading and again this is part 24:02 of a series that Liberty is doing right now. 24:05 Professor David Trimm that we've, 24:06 I think you had him here before as the 24:08 casting. Yes, he has been on this program 24:09 about 3, 4 times actually. Yes, yes and, and he 24:11 has written a number of series for us. 24:13 Fantastic historian, but and an Australian, 24:15 I will throw in that okay, another Australian. 24:17 He is, in this particular series or in 24:20 this particular article where he is talking 24:21 about Augustine particularly and it was 24:24 interesting what you just said as far as 24:26 the church who was talking about the 24:29 reformation and then also doing this 24:34 persecution the series that stresses on 24:37 Christian persecution, or the Christian 24:38 persecutory influence. And what we're trying 24:40 to show there is that Christian persecuted 24:42 Christians for a long time. Yes, but it was 24:44 interesting because they, he had a very, 24:48 he felt very much that he was doing God's will. 24:52 Persecution was God's will, but it was. 24:54 It means the road to hell is paved with 24:56 good intentions. Yes, of course but it was 24:57 interesting because the church do not 24:59 have at the particular time in history did 25:01 not have the power to do this, and so it 25:04 would work with the citizen as per the, 25:06 you know recantation of what was said or 25:08 some sort of thing, and then once it was 25:10 just, once it was determined that they 25:13 needed to be killed for their things. 25:14 Then they immediately handed them over the 25:16 state and the state did the bidding, and so 25:18 what's interesting how they worked hand in 25:19 hand like that. Of course, and that's part 25:21 of the explanation is to why those 25:24 apologies for the inquisition and they 25:26 were some as recently as a decade or two 25:29 ago in the Catholic Church when they 25:32 were trying to distance from those 25:36 days, and those people were pointing out. 25:38 There were not too many people were 25:40 actually killed by the inquisition more than 25:42 they thought perhaps but not as many as 25:45 really were enmeshed in midst in the 25:46 dynamic because the state usually was the 25:48 one that dealt with the situation. 25:50 Right, we really only need to look to the 25:52 crucifixion of Christ in the same sort of 25:54 example where the Jews were asking for 25:57 His crucifixion and then the Roman were 25:59 the, in fact, the ones you know to prefer 26:01 the court and carried out the execution. 26:03 And then things become more logical 26:04 and theological. Yes. You know, it's better 26:06 that one man that should die then the 26:08 nation should perish. The state can think 26:10 about that but the religious powers 26:13 I think they need to think on moral absolutes. 26:15 Right, right. There is no question. 26:16 Well, certainly it has been a interesting 26:17 conversation as far as religious freedom, 26:19 and we certainly do applaud the Pope for 26:21 bringing it to the forefront of the minds 26:25 of both the diplomatic community and also 26:26 the world at large in peace speech there in 26:30 January 1 and highlighting the 26:33 situations in Africa and Asia, and 26:36 Western Europe, and United States. 26:38 All of these situations happening as far as 26:40 Christians being persecuted, 26:42 and we certainly do applaud recognition 26:45 of those events and asking for ceasing 26:49 those particular situations. 26:52 It is always good to hear a public official 26:54 particularly the leader of a church speaking 26:57 out so favorably for religious freedom. 27:01 Recent speeches by the Pope of Rome, 27:03 Pope Benedict as he began the year 2011 27:09 in favor of religious liberty are gratifying. 27:12 We do know though that there is some 27:14 continuing debate within Rome itself 27:18 over the nature of religious freedom and 27:21 other basic modern understanding. 27:24 Vatican II was a time of change and within 27:28 the church there are some who do not 27:31 agree with this new approach and would 27:33 cling to the earlier statements of the 27:36 Pope who once said that religious freedom 27:38 is the pernicious concept. I think we will gladly 27:44 give the benefit of the doubt to this present 27:46 statements and hold any church and in 27:50 particular this church and statements accountable. 27:53 But not for the past but for the integrity of 27:56 those statements because with religious 27:58 freedom understood clearly stated in enact 28:01 to deep on all of our faith imperatives are secure. 28:06 For Liberty Insider this is Lincoln Steed. |
Revised 2014-12-17