Welcome to the Liberty Insider.
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This is your program to
bring you up-to-date news,
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information, analysis
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and everything
that you need to know
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on religious liberty in
the US and around the world.
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My name is Lincoln
Steed, the host of this program
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and my guest is Melissa Reid.
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We work closely for many years
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and your title
for this conversation
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is executive director
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of the North American
Religious Liberty Association.
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Yes.
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And we live in
an era of acronyms
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and so it's NARLA.
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Yes. Sounds sort
of sporting to me.
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It's like a lot of the skiers
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and others talk about something
bring pretty gnarly, right.
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Yes.
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But, I think this is a challenge
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with a lot of upside to it,
isn't it working with NARLA?
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Absolutely.
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You know, as you
mentioned we worked for Liberty
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for years and years and
years and continuing to do so
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but I've also sort
of taken on this role
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and I think that
they fit so well together
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because we're sort of
going for the same mission,
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the same in goal
and that's, you know,
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sharing this
message of religious freedom
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and advocating for a
separation of church and state.
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But with working with NARLA,
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the North American
Religious Liberty Association
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we are able to sort
of work with individuals,
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you know, on more
relationship basis
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rather than as the publication.
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And so one of
the things that we do
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is try to share
liberty with others as far as--
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Yeah.
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Well, the way I see it,
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Liberty Magazine is the product,
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it's the vehicle
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and if it's
given to a legislator,
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it can make a
difference its effect is,
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it's like ripples.
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Not just the one person,
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maybe different assistants
in the office read it,
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visitors to the
office, I've seen Liberty
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sitting in public
offices a number of times
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and I know
anybody that comes there
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for an appointment
sits down will read that.
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So the magazine
has the certain power
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but, you know, this people,
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people that pay
the money for Liberty,
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some of the same
people themselves
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need to do something,
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need to be involved,
become foot soldiers.
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They want to be, absolutely.
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And so, this is
the attempt with NARLA
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to create a people organization
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to back up what the
publication is trying to do.
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So naturally these
things will work in concept.
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Yeah, I like that concept
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of sort of a
foot soldier aspect.
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And the thing is when, you know,
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you and I have
noticed whenever we are
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scheduling appointments
with the legislature
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when there's about
particular piece of legislation
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that we want to talk
to the lawmakers about,
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we need to have
their constituents,
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they are voters with us
involved in that process
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and again that's
where NARLA comes into play
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because they care about
unfortunately re-election,
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you know, that's
really the priority for them
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and so we need to
have this constituents
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involved in that process.
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And again, you know, we are
only a small group of people
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working in Washington
DC and again, you know,
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we've talked about
before how lot of things happen
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on the state level
or the local level.
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NARLA members or supporters--
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So they can make
a huge difference.
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They can make a huge difference.
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They can be, you know, working
with their state legislature
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and again, you
know, those are the laws
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that might be
affecting their lives in ways
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that, you know, sort of grand
federal legislation may not.
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So I feel like it's a really
great partner organization.
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Now, NARLA has a long history
but a lot of that history
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was sort of like
Jesus before He appeared
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opening His
ministry, the hidden years.
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Yes.
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I'm sure--
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The quiet years. Yeah.
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I'm sure Jesus
had a wonderful life
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and we would have
all loved to have known
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how His mother brought Him up
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and how He went to
school with His own.
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But NARLA has always
been there in potential
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because there's
always been a lot of people
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that are associated with liberty
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that are activists and so on.
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And the
organization existed in theory
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but they weren't mobilized.
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And so with you
recently taking this on
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and then before that to
be fair to predecessors,
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you know, James
Standish had it for few years
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and started it from the dead.
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So, as an active organization,
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it hasn't really had
a long active history.
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Right.
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So it's a, at a start up stage,
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but I think the
sky is the limit.
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I think that there
is so much potential.
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I want to mention the
name of Dr. Adrian Westney
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who was really somebody that--
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I was going to and
thank you. Yes. Yes.
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And I know that, you
know, many years past
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unfortunately he is passed
away since then but I know
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that he's been a guest
on the show many years ago
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and he really was--
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I wanted to mention him
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because he was kind
of a citizen advocate
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for this particular ministry.
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It was really something.
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It was personal to his
heart as far as we invigorating.
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As you said, it was
sort of an adornment stage
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for a long time but I felt like,
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yeah, exactly we
have this real potential
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of, you know, ways that
we can motivate and encourage
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and inspire, you know,
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individuals who have
a little bit of interest
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and we were just thinking that
maybe not a lot of knowledge
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or even just--
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They need direction.
They need encouragement.
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They need resources. Exactly.
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So many times I
know we are asked,
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you know, we will go to a church
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or some other
environment and speak
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and afterwards
people want to get involved.
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They want to have a way
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of participating
in this work as well.
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And so, we really see
this as a vehicle for that.
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I'm gonna take you back
because you jumped the gun,
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that's your right, but
I was gonna talk about it.
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Okay.
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But now I have wonderful
memories of Adrian Westney
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and I know I told
you over the years,
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he was one of the old
time believers, you know.
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Absolutely.
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You know, he is a
literal saint I think,
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and I used to be on
his radio program often
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and he was very formal
even though I knew him well.
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It was always
now enter the stage,
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what do you know about this.
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And I like that.
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You know, enter the
stage, enter the stage.
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But in many, many meetings
planning Liberty Magazine
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and other
activities, he would be there
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and he would invariable say,
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now, how do we
start NARLA up again?
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What can we do?
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And other people now
that are very supportive
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weren't
particularly in those early days
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but he stuck with it.
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And it's largely because
of him that it exist now.
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I agree.
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I've got to
give him full credit.
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Absolutely.
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And you mentioned
James Standish as well
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who really I think, you
know, sort of their partnership.
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I think he had the vision
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and James was willing to sort of
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go along with it and saw a way,
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you know, that he
could involve in a work
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that he was doing
when he worked as a--
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He was the legislative
liaison for the church.
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Legislative liaison for
the church, right. Absolutely.
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So, you know, I'm
excited for the opportunity.
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You know, right now we
really are looking towards
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not only
individuals in the community
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but we are
really wanting to start,
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have a presence
on college campuses.
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Well, yeah, you are taking
away my precocious comment.
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I was gonna say describe
the typical NARLA movement.
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Yes, well, you know--
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Not so much even what they
are, who do we want them to be.
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Yes. What's their profile?
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I think that's an
excellent question
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and I love the way that
it was answered last year.
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So every year in Washington DC
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we have what we call the
Religious Liberty Summit.
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And it's a way, again,
you know, we have a day
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where we actually go down
on Capitol Hill and we advocate
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for a particular
piece of legislation
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that, you know,
protects a certain component
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of religious freedom
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or maybe even
strengthen than existing law
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or something like that.
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We also have
seminars and updates
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from the magazine
and things like that.
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Well, this last year
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when we had our
religious liberty submit,
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we had an individual
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who was this is
their second time
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to attend was an
85-year-old gentleman.
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Let me tell you that he
led the way in every situation.
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I remember it. I
remember I was there.
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You know, he was the first one
at the meeting every morning.
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He was the first one
walking in all the situations.
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Then we also had an
18-year-old young lady
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who was interested
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and we had
everything in between.
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I love the fact that
religious freedom is so,
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is appealing to
such a diverse audience.
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You know, we had older, younger,
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middle aged all
different ethnicities,
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different sort of
education levels, everything.
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You know, it's
just people recognizing
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that their
individual rights are valuable.
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There is no, there
is no limiting factor
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to being involved with NARLA.
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As far as the organization I
think it's abundantly obvious
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that the future lies
in cultivating interest in
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with young people.
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And particularly
on college campuses.
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Right.
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And there's a
lot to be done there
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and lot of potential.
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Absolutely, well, you know,
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when I think back
about my college years,
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that was the time when I
was really sort of developing
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my social conscience, you
know, and I had the energy
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and the excitement and the time.
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That's not usually what is
called on a college campus.
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I have no
knowledge of your college.
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But you know, a lot of
people don't think carefully
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as they go into college
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but it's usually or
the cliche of the college
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is that's where kids get in,
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young people get
into demonstrations
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and social activism.
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And from now in an
older person's perspective,
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but sometimes it's
not very well directed.
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But I've always
believed since I was very young
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and now I see it in others,
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young people are
inherently idealistic.
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Yes. Yes.
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On the college campus
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they develop
their social conscience
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but not always coherently.
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And I think NARLA
going in there can give them
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a very well defined and
admirable from a biblical
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and the
constitutional point of view
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program for them to
follow, something to do
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that will make a real
difference in the country.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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I think it's a
real opportunity for us.
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You know
working with a professor
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or, you know, some
administrator on campus
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who can be sort of the
sponsor for an organization
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and again can be sort of
the local hands on guide.
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And then a student advocate
who is really passionate,
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really interested
and can, you know,
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has relationships
with other students
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and can sort of drive them
in and encourage them as well.
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And so we really have made
it a, you know, being deliberate
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and making it a priority
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that we want to
identify both those individuals.
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You know, the
professor, the teacher
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and also the
young student advocate
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because we found that,
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you know, if we
find the student advocate
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well, they are
gonna graduate very soon.
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And so we need--
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Yeah, you need a
constant on the campus.
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Yeah, we need a
constant on the campus
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and we've really, you
know, the God has been good
00:11:08.56\00:11:10.33
in leading us
to the right people
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to sort of start
these local chapters
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and we've seen some
really great results so far
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and really seen,
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you know, people get
excited about religious freedom.
00:11:18.87\00:11:21.64
And so it's something
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that we are
enjoying participating in
00:11:24.05\00:11:26.75
and just later this,
00:11:26.78\00:11:29.28
I think it's gonna
be in this next month.
00:11:29.32\00:11:30.82
We're actually going to be
visiting a campus in Lincoln,
00:11:30.85\00:11:34.66
Nebraska and trying to
start something going on there.
00:11:34.69\00:11:38.49
And, you know, for those
of you that are listening
00:11:38.53\00:11:41.66
and are involved
in an academic setting
00:11:41.70\00:11:43.77
like that, a college setting,
you know, we would love.
00:11:43.80\00:11:46.20
Right now, you know,
00:11:46.23\00:11:47.80
we are just sort of
planting different seeds
00:11:47.84\00:11:50.74
and we have a couple that
have been going for a few years
00:11:50.77\00:11:52.87
but if you are someone that's
involved in a college campus
00:11:52.91\00:11:56.95
we would love to,
you know, contact us.
00:11:56.98\00:11:59.48
There's no limit, is
there? There is no limit.
00:11:59.51\00:12:02.02
In fact, every
college, every institution
00:12:02.05\00:12:04.82
of higher
learning around the country
00:12:04.85\00:12:06.49
I think should have a
chapter of NARLA in particular
00:12:06.52\00:12:10.79
but absolutely that,
there should be activism
00:12:10.83\00:12:13.93
for religious liberty.
00:12:13.96\00:12:15.30
This is too central an
issue for our country to ignore.
00:12:15.33\00:12:17.47
Absolutely.
00:12:17.50\00:12:18.83
And, you know, it's something
that we see talked about
00:12:18.87\00:12:21.64
very frequently, you know,
00:12:21.67\00:12:23.30
in our sort of day to day
lives which is nothing that,
00:12:23.34\00:12:26.84
you know, we couldn't
say just a few years ago.
00:12:26.88\00:12:29.44
Religious liberty was
not on the forefront at all.
00:12:29.48\00:12:31.41
Well, everyone
is talking about it.
00:12:31.45\00:12:32.78
Everyone is against it
00:12:32.81\00:12:34.15
but people need to
really do something
00:12:34.18\00:12:35.92
to guarantee that it continues.
00:12:35.95\00:12:38.05
We'll be back after a break
to continue this discussion.
00:12:38.09\00:12:40.82
So stay with us.
00:12:40.86\00:12:42.19