Rick Warren applauds Bush's HIV/AIDS plan

http://religion.beloblog.com/archives/2007/05/rick_warren_applauds_bushs_hiv.html

I agree with Warren's opinion on Bush's initiative being a very good thing, especially since he is proposing double what the current aid is for the same amount of time, but from what I have learned in previous classes the statement that "No other president or world leader has ever done as much for global health as he" is simply not true. I am not even saying that United States foreign policy should necessarily put global health aid as one of its top priorities, but don't give Bush more credit than he deserves! Usually Presidents- Bush included- act out of self interest, not merely for being humanitarian. I think that Bush, as do many people, uses his religion as a scapegoat for his actions; however in this circumstance, if he wants to double his aid for AIDS, I am all for it regardless of what the reasons are since it's such a deadly epidemic right now.

Public health and religion: Aids, America, abstinence...

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article622736.ece
This article highly irritated me. A huge problem with Christianity is that so many "Christians" have taken it upon themselves to act righteous, impose their beliefs upon others, and judge those who are not on par with their beliefs- if you truly are a Christian, you should be able to look outside of your Christian bubble where everything is just and moral and perfect and realise that not everyone in the world can abide by those standards due to life circumstances. Even if they could, it is not other peoples' business to impose their beliefs onto others. Bush's aid overall is a very good thing- AIDS is horrifying and is killing people by the masses in Africa, but by making one third of all prevention money go to "abstinence only" programs it cuts into funding in much more detrimental areas. Bush's plan cuts out the use of prevention and instead focuses on abstinence and faithfulness to one partner- that's very nice sounding, but what is he thinking?!!! Is he really that ignorant? You cannot take your perfect Christian values into an AIDS-ridden, poverty-stricken continent and expect everyone to just stop having sex and become Christians. Telling the young prostitutes who depend on sex for their livelihoods to stop having it and then condoning them for doing so is not going to solve anything. Of course abstinence is a good thing to teach, but taking the focus away from prevention and wearing condoms is absurd during a crisis such as this. Bush needs to keep his religious beliefs out of his aid policies and look at the reality of the situation. It disgusts me that he is not doing that.

H.R. 1431: Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2007

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-1431
I just thought this was interesting in the sense that this bill has been introduced but never passed twelve other times in Congress, and right now it has only been introduced (on March 9, 2007). There is a note that says introduced bills go first to committees before they go into debate, but the majority of introduced bills never make it out of the committee. After reading the other articles on this issue, and knowing how tedious of a process it is for bills to actually go into effect in the United States, I do not think that this bill will even make it to the next stage- being scheduled for debate- and if it does, it will not actually go into effect for some time. There is too much controversy on the topic of it and too many opinions on whether or not it is actually a good thing since people could use their religion as an excuse for many actions in the workplace. We will just have to wait and see if this time it makes past the committee...

The Workplace Religious Freedom Act

http://www.thejesusmyth.com/the-workplace-religious-freedom-act.htm

The situations that this article describe are definetely frightening and not okay. I agree with him entirely- this is not the America that I want to be living in either if people can use their religion as an excuse to not aid people in need. The workers of our country should have their religion respected, of course, but the bottom line of the situation is that people do have the freedom to believe what they want to in our country- but it should not be at the expense of the people who have different beliefs. As long as your religion is not infringing on the health and safety of others, then practice it as you wish, but when you are a police officer who is against abortion so does not protect an abortion clinic when it is in danger, you are not doing your job; if no one is forcing you to change your beliefs- and no one can do that in America- then you not use your religion as an excuse to not do your job.

ACLU Letter on the Harmful Effect of S. 893, the Workplace Religious Freedom Act

http://www.aclu.org/religion/frb/16224leg20040602.html

This letter that the ACLU wrote to a Senator makes very good points. When saying that "Unless amended, the bill would threaten important rights of religious minorities, racial minorities, women, gay men and lesbians, and persons seeking reproductive health care and mental health services" there really is nothing to argue against that. Cited in this article are issues such as a police officer requesting to refuse to protect an abortion clinic and an employee assistance counselor's request to refuse to counsel unmarried or gay or lesbian employees on relationship issues; these are the sort of things that should not be allowed and that would be under this provision. The ACLU makes the argument that Congress has the capability of changing previous religious freedom in the workplace without harming critical personal and civil rights, and that this is what should happen. When we put religion above the basic human rights that the United States gaurantees to all we have a problem.

The Adoration of Bush?

First of all, the opening of this is really disturbing. It is scary to think that camps like these actually exist- it's like a brainwashing camp. First of all, teaching children to worship Bush like that is a form of brainwashing, seeing as they don't even know anything about him except for the fact that he is Christian, and secondly the fact that they are teaching them to place Christianity above all else is not a good way to live, especially somewhere like in the United States where supposedly tolerance and freedom are two of the most highly valued principles. The radio host said everything perfectly- Rove and Bush owe these religious conservatives their elections, and they definetely have become an army of religious voters that have taken a hold on American politics... and definetely need to be stopped. They have taken a hold on politics and have become too influential, and in a country where separation of church and state is supposedly practiced as well as freedom of religion, it is ridiculous to have such a strong political element be evangelical Christian.

Disciples of Christ: Iraq War Inconsistent With Jesus' Teachings

http://nccinterfaith.blogspot.com/2007/07/christian-church-disciples-of-christ.html
This church says that it would like to "go on record as conscientiously opposing the war in Iraq as an action inconsistent with the teachings and example of Jesus Christ, and a violation of the traditional standards of just war" and that "leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, the Episcopal Church, and mainline Protestant churches in the United States have expressed opposition to the Iraq War and our global church and ecumenical partners have issued statements on the war declaring it to be immoral and contrary to the principles of "Just War." Basically, war goes aginst the principles of Christian pacificity in general, but if there has to be the War in Iraq goes against the qualifications of a just war to begin with- it was preventative and not a last resort. I am not religious, and I was not entirely against the war but only in the sense that I believe Suddam did need to be ousted- however, we went in for selfish purposes and at the wrong time and went against our only form of international law by doing so as well. That being said, I do agree as a whole what the Church is saying and can definetely understand why many churches would condemn it. In fact, I am surprised that more Christian churches are against Bush and his war than there are simply for the religious reasons cited in this article.