Free To Be Faithful from KFUO Radio

This month on Free to be Faithful, Stephanie Taub, Counsel with First Liberty Institute, joins host Kip Allen to discuss five victories for religious freedom since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States. Learn more about the work of First Liberty Institute at firstliberty.org, on Twitter @1stLiberty, and on Facebook.

Today’s guest the Rev. Dr. Gregory Seltz, Executive Director of the Lutheran Center for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., joins moderator Kip Allen to talk about how the Lutehran Church – Missouri Synod is fighting the trending attacks on religious liberty in our society and culture. Learn more about the LCRL at lcms.org/lutheran-center-for-religious-liberty.

Guest Washington, D.C.-based Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family and moderator Kip Allen look at developments in Religious Freedom in the United States in the past year.

People of faith and our institutions have come under increasing attack in recent years from secular sources. The United States Military is one of the targets. Military people of faith have been punished for following the dictates of their consciences. Many examples of these punishments can be found. One organization taking up the cause of religious freedom in the military is First Liberty Institute. Guest Michael Berry, Deputy General Counsel for First Liberty Institute, talks about these issues, including the case of Air Force Colonel Leland Bohannon.

People of faith and our institutions have come under increasing attack in recent years from secular sources. Secular forces are often resorting now to litigation when they fail to achieve their legislative goals. These challenges have come largely from pro-abortion, atheist, and homosexual pressure groups. Many of these cases have been working their way up the judicial ladder, and some have come to the United States Supreme Court, and will be heard in the current session will began on the first Monday of this month. Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel and vice president of U.S. Advocacy and Administration for Alliance Defending Freedom, talks about these cases on today’s Free to be Faithful.

Christians express their faith in many ways - including acts of mercy in times of tragedy, like the recent Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and other disasters. Today’s guests, Rev. Ross Johnson, director of LCMS Disaster Response, and Rev. Michael Meyer, manager of LCMS Disaster Response, talk about why Christians do these acts of mercy for all people, why it’s a deeply ingrained part of Christian theology, and how we can continue to help those in need. Learn more about LCMS Disaster Response at lcms.org/disaster.

Words have power. They can educate, inform, or entertain. They can be used to shape how we think of our world around us. But, like any power, words can be misused. They can be potent weapons in cultural warfare, shaping how people think and believe. Since the 1950s a publication called the Associated Press Stylebook has been used by nearly all media outlets in the country as a way to standardize word meaning, grammar, and style. The Stylebook is updated every year as new words and terms enter our vocabulary. But, in recent years some of these changes seem to have a political agenda. Guests Roger Drinnon, Director of Editorial and Media Services for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, and Peter Slayton, Social Media Manager for the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, tackle this topic on today’s Free to be Faithful.

The country is now six months into a new administration in Washington, D.C. Does this bode well or ill for people of faith? Guest Washington, D.C.-based Tim Goeglein of Focus on the Family talks about the situation and what portends for Lutherans and other people of Faith. Issues discussed include in this episode include Vice President Pence speaking to Focus on the Family, the fate of Obamacare and why it’s bad for people of faith, important issues before the Supreme Court, the impact of transgenderism on the military, and the overall tone in D.C.

What do Alliance Defending Freedom, The American College of Pediatricians, and the Family Research Council all have in common? According to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), they’re all hate groups. Jim Campbell, senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom, discusses how these groups have been labeled hate groups by the SPLC and how the charge of "hate" is increasingly being used as a tool to delegitimize points of view and opinions that differ from the progressive narrative.

The military is charged with defending American liberty as defined in the freedoms outlined in the U.S. Constitution. The free exercise of religion is one of the most important of those basic rights. How is this freedom treated within the military? Are U.S. service members, who risk their lives each day defending the Constitution, allowed the same freedom they are defending for the rest of America? Guest Roger Drinnon, LCMS Director of Editorial Services and Media Relations, joins moderator Kip Allen to discuss this topic.