Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
This is the program that brings
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you up-to-date news
and views and discussion
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on religious liberty
events and developments
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in the United States
and around the world.
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My name is Lincoln Steed,
editor of Liberty Magazine.
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And my guest on this
program is Melissa Reid,
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associate editor on
Liberty, which means
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that we work
together fairly closely. Yes.
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And also you are
director of the North American
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Religious Liberty Association
which is a membership based
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religious liberty emphasis
using Seventh-day Adventist
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mostly, but I think
anybody could join. Yes.
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Now since I've
mentioned Seventh-day Adventist
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for a purpose, there's something
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that I want to discuss
with you on this program.
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Our annual promotion which
is targeted more particularly
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to our church
members, mostly because
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they're immediately
there, right? Yes, yes.
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But we want anybody
to know what we're doing
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and to help us
do it. Right, right.
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Well, what we do,
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we have an annual
promotional campaign
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encouraging church members both
to donate to Liberty magazine,
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all of our funds come from
donations from individuals,
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from the local church members.
So it's really important
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as far as the
continuation of our ministry.
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Thank the Lord,
we've been in existence
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for over a hundred
years now-- We are 106 annual.
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Yeah, yeah. So, you know, we are
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so grateful for the
faithful giving of our donors,
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but we encourage
not only donations,
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but we encourage individuals
to sponsor subscription
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Celebrity
magazine and this is done
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through that annual
campaign. We send information
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to the local
church, we put together
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promotional
packet of a DVD that,
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you know, sort of tells
a bit about our ministry,
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shares different aspects of it--
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Promotional video that you're
talk a bit more. Right, right.
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And we have
someone compose a sermon
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that they can share with
their local pastor, you know,
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many churches in North
American division which is,
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you know,--- Canada
and the United States.
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Canada and the United States.
And a need of little noble.
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Yes, you know, our
multi church districts,
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you know, there are pastors
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who have three or
four churches and so--
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How many churches do
we have in North America,
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do you know the
number? I don't know
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the answer to that, dear.
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The last figure I had it
was a bit over 5,000. Okay.
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So there's a lot of company.
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Now I must tell our
viewers, most of whom I'm sure
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are not Seventh-day
Adventists, but all of whom
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I presume are supporters of
religious liberty. Absolutely.
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You can promote this for
us and you'd be very happy
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to mail anybody that
wrote in. Absolutely.
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A packet for
their church to bring
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this emphasis
before them. Absolutely.
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Because I'm at pains as I speak
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on Liberty magazine
and often on this program
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to point out that our
religious liberty emphasis,
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obviously, is because
Adventists believe in it
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and we've had a history of
even some little persecution
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even in The United
States, but we're promoting
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a generalized religious liberty
for all people of faith. Right.
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It's not an Adventist
in particular. Absolutely.
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And we are-- I
think most effective
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in our work on capital here,
we see when we work in coalition
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with other faith
groups. Absolutely.
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Even, you know, we
have that strength.
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And so absolutely, you
know, people can give us--
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can visit the website
which is libertymagazine.org.
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Send the request in
if they'd like to promote
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our magazine there
in their local church.
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What was that website again?
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Yes, so the website
is-- Maybe we didn't know.
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It's www.libertymagazine.org.
And so, yeah, absolutely.
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So I mentioned that we have
someone write, compose a sermon.
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We also have that
person tape the sermon
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and so again, you
know, if you want to promote,
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you know, on Sabbath morning,
absolutely, you can do that.
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Sunday morning?
Or Sunday morning
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or if you want to do
it-- Friday afternoon.
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Yeah, if you want to do
it, you know, you have a
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a midweek prayer service, a
prayer meeting on Wednesdays,
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you know, this is a
great time to show that sermon
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and then have your pastor
reemphasize it then on Sabbath.
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But it's really important,
we encourage individuals
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to sponsor those subscriptions,
to give us names of individuals
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there in their local
community. We have what we call
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a national priority list
that you and I put together.
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And we're able to send
subscriptions to federal judges
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and all the
senators and--you know,
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members of congress
and things like that.
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But we're not able to
identify those thought leaders
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in the local community and so
that's really-- Not as easily.
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Not as easily and so
that's where we really
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rely on the local
church member to say,
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"Well, here's our city
council people and here's
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our local library that I
know would be great to--"
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I'm trying to think
how to rephrase it again
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even for our
non-Adventist friends,
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even
non-Christian friends because--
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and as I say
this, I may alienate
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or trouble some
people, but Liberty magazine
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from its very beginning
was set for the separation
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of church and state. Right.
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Some very well intentioned
Christians particularly in
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the United States are
troubled by separation
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of church and state. They
think that means that their
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religious viewpoint is set
aside in the country. Right.
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But separation of church
and state doesn't mean that,
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it means that the
government should not be in
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the business of promoting any
particular religious viewpoint.
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Because we know
from the middle ages
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that ended up very
badly, it ended in persecution.
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But a government that--
keeps to its civil's fear
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and then enables by law
as the United States does
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the full practice of
anyone's religious faith
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is being shown as
what's that French writer
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Alexis de
Tocqueville. He said that,
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when he came
through in the early 1800s,
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he says, uniformly,
he said, he asked people
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and he says they all described
the strength of religion
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in America to the
separation of church and state.
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But we're a little past
that now and some people
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who see gay marriage
and immorality in the movies
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and so on, they think,
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"Oh, it's time to get religion
back in the government."
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Right. But, you know, that cure
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would be worse than the
problem. Right, and I think--
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We defend
separation of religious--
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of church and
state. Right, right.
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I think that's
also kind of intuitive
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to sort of God's model
of freedom of conscience.
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You know, He obviously
has a plan for our life.
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And it's the best plan, we
know that that's the best plan.
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But it's not something
mandated, He doesn't--you know,
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we have the free will
to choose whether or not
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to live that life. If
you're going to mandate
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a particular way, you
know, of living through
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the government, it's
not a genuine conversion--
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Sorry to interrupt, but
there's a problem with that,
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but people make the assumption
the mandating would be
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on the true faith. Yes.
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Then it would be
still misbegotten.
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But what if the government
were mandating that we be
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and they'll be careful
what religion I follow,
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I'll make up a religion,
mandating that, you know,
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people worship on
Tuesday and acknowledge
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the Neptune is the
God over all. Right.
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That will trouble
every other faith.
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You don't want that. Exactly.
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And so we argue
for the right of every
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belief system, most of
which I think are purer,
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but they have to be
allowed to practice,
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they all believe that
they're true and as well as
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that the right to
believe none of them,
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to be a total
skeptic. Right, right.
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Well, I think that
too, when there was the big
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trend of public disgrace
of the Ten Commandments,
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one of the things they talked
about was which version of
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the Ten Commandments
you're gonna display.
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So I think that sort
of goes along with that.
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But, absolutely, this is
not-- religious freedom is not
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unique to the
Seventh-day Adventist church,
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we have a very
rich tradition in it.
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But one of the things
that I always encourage
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local churches is to
sponsor subscriptions
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to other local faith
leaders in their community---
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I don't think there's
enough of that going on.
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Yeah, I think it's a
banner that we should all feel
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very proud to be
involved. And when we have
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our Religious Liberty Sabbath,
which we can talk about,
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we have a specific day in
the Seventh-day Adventist church
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is designated as
Religious Liberty Sabbath.
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We should invite, you
know, local faith leaders,
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local--maybe even
government leaders to come
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and participate in that
event and maybe it's something
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that they have
never thought, you know,
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that they should pay attention
to or something like that,
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so, absolutely, it's
not something that we should
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shelter, you know, to ourselves.
We've talked about this before,
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but not so publicly and I
think it should be mentioned.
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This is the perfect opportunity
to do what some of our own
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Seventh-day Adventists
have been suspicious about,
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we don't believe in ecumenism
in the sense of getting together
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and putting all the beliefs
in the pot and stirring them up
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and whatever comes
out of that we can all
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sort of have a generic
faith. But we should be joining
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with people who acknowledge
religious freedom preeminently
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and perhaps even in some
cases with other Christians, not
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to sort out doctrinal things
but to have this common point
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of religious freedom and
we're doing them a favor. Yes.
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During our
promotion. Just tell them here's
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the magazine that's
arguing for that. Right.
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So we could have gatherings
of different religious groups
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together and, of
course, in Washington context,
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we do just that. Exactly.
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But on the membership
level, it's not much of it.
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Yeah, and I know that
even just from the letters to
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the editor that you
share with me that I've seen,
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we--you know, it's
individuals from many,
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from a wide
representation of faith groups
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that appreciate the articles.
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And so I really am
thankful for those individuals
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who had the foresight
to share it with whether
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it's a faith leader or
just a friend or a family member
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who's of a different
faith or maybe no faith at all,
00:10:01.75\00:10:04.15
who has really, you
know, thought about this issue
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and learned its importance
and learned to protect it
00:10:07.22\00:10:10.98
because of the
magazine. And so that's what
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we want to encourage
people to continue to do.
00:10:12.60\00:10:14.69
Wonderful. And you're
doing a good job on that.
00:10:14.72\00:10:16.84
But I need to take the
chance to remind people
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not just liberty
exists but to explain its size
00:10:19.63\00:10:25.51
even which, in this
case, is very important.
00:10:25.54\00:10:28.60
You know, it's not that
we're the biggest and the best,
00:10:28.63\00:10:30.73
but since we're trying
to be effective in promoting
00:10:30.76\00:10:33.97
this principle, I think
it's very pertinent to recognize
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that we're printing nearly
200,000 of these magazines
00:10:36.69\00:10:40.31
every issue and
that almost as a block,
00:10:40.34\00:10:44.59
these go out to
these thought leaders,
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senators, congressmen,
judges, lawyers, mayors.
00:10:46.54\00:10:52.11
We need to revise the figures,
but last time I checked,
00:10:52.14\00:10:54.70
there's only about
10,000-15,000 that go
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to individual Adventists. Right.
00:10:56.80\00:10:58.95
The rest of them are
almost totally targeted to these
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influential
policy makers. Right.
00:11:02.90\00:11:05.59
And this--I don't
really know of any other
00:11:05.62\00:11:08.10
religious liberty journal that's
quite doing that on that level.
00:11:08.13\00:11:11.29
There are a few others
from the Baptists in particular
00:11:11.32\00:11:13.66
but I think theirs is a
more general distribution
00:11:13.69\00:11:16.13
and not as targeted. Yeah,
00:11:16.16\00:11:17.79
I feel like we're doing
a great job with reaching
00:11:17.82\00:11:21.58
those thought
leaders and we certainly know
00:11:21.61\00:11:23.08
from the reactions that we
get from those individuals.
00:11:23.11\00:11:26.05
I feel like we can do
more on the local level
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as I just mentioned,
those thought leaders there.
00:11:27.98\00:11:31.15
But I feel like, you
know, I know that you emphasize
00:11:31.18\00:11:34.72
this in your presentations
and I feel like it's so true.
00:11:34.75\00:11:38.06
We need to encourage
individuals, you know,
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whether it's local Seventh-day
Adventist church members,
00:11:42.29\00:11:44.20
whether it's our
viewers that are watching today,
00:11:44.23\00:11:46.65
these are important things
that you personally should be
00:11:46.68\00:11:48.99
educated about, not
just I've sent, you know,
00:11:49.02\00:11:52.06
I've sponsored to six
dollars subscription to this
00:11:52.09\00:11:55.47
individual-- My duty is
done. And now my duty is done.
00:11:55.50\00:11:57.37
It's important for us,
just like it's important
00:11:57.40\00:11:59.44
to have our own
relationship with God,
00:11:59.47\00:12:01.19
for us to do our own
study of the scriptures.
00:12:01.22\00:12:04.47
I think it's
important for us to be
00:12:04.50\00:12:06.03
well-versed on
these issues as well.
00:12:06.06\00:12:07.66
Well, it's important for them
to know this material because
00:12:07.69\00:12:10.97
yes, there's coming, I
think fairly soon, a time
00:12:11.00\00:12:14.64
when there'll be severe
stresses on practice of faith
00:12:14.67\00:12:17.36
even in countries as
free as the United States.
00:12:17.39\00:12:20.48
But there's no stress if
you don't know the issue. Yes.
00:12:20.51\00:12:23.62
If you have a false model of it,
00:12:23.65\00:12:26.48
you could be sort of
carried along and think
00:12:26.51\00:12:28.81
as they do in some very
repressive countries, you know,
00:12:28.84\00:12:31.71
land of the free and
brave and so on and you may
00:12:31.74\00:12:34.08
actually be in a
totally compromised position.
00:12:34.11\00:12:35.79
Yeah, I think--
00:12:35.82\00:12:37.19
We've run out of
time for this first half,
00:12:37.22\00:12:38.96
but we'll be back, lots to
talk about on Liberty Magazine
00:12:38.99\00:12:41.59
and how you can become involved.
00:12:41.62\00:12:42.99
So stay with us,
we'll be right back.
00:12:43.02\00:12:45.49