Iraq Crisis "Worst Persecution Since Holocaust"
Human rights group Amnesty International has condemned Islamic State (IS) terrorists of committing war crimes.
According to investigator Donatella Rovera, the human rights organization has procured evidence that Islamic State is committing an “ethnic cleansing,” or ridding north Iraq of Christians and other religious minorities.
"The massacres and abductions being carried out by the Islamic State provide harrowing new evidence that a wave of ethnic cleansing against minorities is sweeping across northern Iraq," Rovera said.
Amnesty International recently released a 26-page report detailing the acts of persecution that IS has committed throughout recent weeks. According to the group, 830,000 Christians, Shiite Muslims, Yazidis and Mandeans have been forced out of their homes. “Hundreds if not thousands” of Yazidi women and children have been kidnapped, and many Iraqis that practice religions other than Islam have been killed.
Canon Andrew White, the “Vicar of Baghdad” has refused to leave the area despite the desperation situation. He said that what is happening in Iraq is “the worst reality of religious persecution since the Holocaust.” -Christian Headlines
Mormons, Catholics, Baptists Urge High Court To Act On Gay Marriage
The religious groups urged the Supreme Court on the basis of 'tradition' and 'religious freedom' to uphold a state's right to disallow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
The Mormon church and four religious organizations are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and settle once and for all the question of whether states can outlaw gay marriage.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a statement Friday, said it joined a friend-of-the-court brief asking the high court to hear Utah's marriage case.
Also taking part in the filing were The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Each teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"The time has come to end the divisive national debate as to whether the Constitution mandates same-sex marriage," the brief states.
Multiple organizations and governmental entities on both sides of the debate have filed similar briefs asking the court to take up the issue.
The religious groups urged the Supreme Court on the basis of tradition and religious freedom to uphold a state's right to disallow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
"Legal uncertainty is especially burdensome for religious organizations and religious believers increasingly confronted with thorny questions," the brief says. "Is their right to refrain from participating in, recognizing or facilitating marriages between persons of the same sex, contrary to their religious convictions, adequately shielded by the First Amendment and other legal protections? Or is further legislation needed to guard religious liberties in these and other sensitive areas?"
Last month, attorneys for three Utah gay and lesbian couples formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take Utah's appeal of a favorable gay marriage ruling.
The plaintiffs said they asked for the review even though they won at the federal appellate court level because they want the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether state same-sex marriage bans violate the Constitution.
The high court is under no obligation to take Utah's case or the others. –The Gayly
Human rights group Amnesty International has condemned Islamic State (IS) terrorists of committing war crimes.
According to investigator Donatella Rovera, the human rights organization has procured evidence that Islamic State is committing an “ethnic cleansing,” or ridding north Iraq of Christians and other religious minorities.
"The massacres and abductions being carried out by the Islamic State provide harrowing new evidence that a wave of ethnic cleansing against minorities is sweeping across northern Iraq," Rovera said.
Amnesty International recently released a 26-page report detailing the acts of persecution that IS has committed throughout recent weeks. According to the group, 830,000 Christians, Shiite Muslims, Yazidis and Mandeans have been forced out of their homes. “Hundreds if not thousands” of Yazidi women and children have been kidnapped, and many Iraqis that practice religions other than Islam have been killed.
Canon Andrew White, the “Vicar of Baghdad” has refused to leave the area despite the desperation situation. He said that what is happening in Iraq is “the worst reality of religious persecution since the Holocaust.” -Christian Headlines
Mormons, Catholics, Baptists Urge High Court To Act On Gay Marriage
The religious groups urged the Supreme Court on the basis of 'tradition' and 'religious freedom' to uphold a state's right to disallow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
The Mormon church and four religious organizations are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and settle once and for all the question of whether states can outlaw gay marriage.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in a statement Friday, said it joined a friend-of-the-court brief asking the high court to hear Utah's marriage case.
Also taking part in the filing were The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Association of Evangelicals, the Ethics & Religious Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Each teaches that marriage is between a man and a woman.
"The time has come to end the divisive national debate as to whether the Constitution mandates same-sex marriage," the brief states.
Multiple organizations and governmental entities on both sides of the debate have filed similar briefs asking the court to take up the issue.
The religious groups urged the Supreme Court on the basis of tradition and religious freedom to uphold a state's right to disallow gay and lesbian couples to wed.
"Legal uncertainty is especially burdensome for religious organizations and religious believers increasingly confronted with thorny questions," the brief says. "Is their right to refrain from participating in, recognizing or facilitating marriages between persons of the same sex, contrary to their religious convictions, adequately shielded by the First Amendment and other legal protections? Or is further legislation needed to guard religious liberties in these and other sensitive areas?"
Last month, attorneys for three Utah gay and lesbian couples formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take Utah's appeal of a favorable gay marriage ruling.
The plaintiffs said they asked for the review even though they won at the federal appellate court level because they want the Supreme Court to weigh in on whether state same-sex marriage bans violate the Constitution.
The high court is under no obligation to take Utah's case or the others. –The Gayly
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