Bobby    Paragon

State of Belief - June 6th -2015


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America’s Changing Religious Landscape, the Helms Amendment & SCOTUS

This week on State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio show

and podcast, host Rev. Welton Gaddy will discuss recent important
events confronting America’s religious communities. He’ll speak with a
Princeton University History Professor whose new book, One Nation Under
God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America, details the
forging of an alliance between the Christian Right and corporate
America. Later, we’ll talk to Rev. Harry Knox about his latest work to
mobilize religious leaders to reform the Helms Amendment. And finally,
Welton will share his own thoughts on the Supreme Court’s recent latest
ruling on religious freedom and why it’s different (and better) than Hobby Lobby.


Where America’s Religiosity Began, and How it’s Changing Now

A recent poll from Pew confirms the growing number of Americans that now
consider themselves to be religiously-unaffiliated. While many register
surprise with America’s declining religiosity, few understand where
that religiosity really began. Joining Welton this week will be Dr. Kevin Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America.
Welton and Kevin, a Professor of History at Princeton University and
member of the Executive Committee of the Center for the Study of
Religion, will discuss the “consecration” of President Eisenhower, the
big business motivations behind rebranding America as a “Christian
Nation,” and how their campaign’s success continues to affect our
culture and politics to this day.


The Helms Amendment and Religious Ideology in U.S. Foreign Policy

Next, Rev. Harry Knox, President and CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
will join Welton in the studio to talk about the widely misused Helms
Amendment. Created in the wake of the Roe v. Wade decision, this law
blocks U.S. funds from supporting pregnancy termination as a form of
family planning. Because it’s been applied way beyond its original
scope, as Rev. Knox and the religious leaders he’s mobilizing point out,
this stops the U.S. from helping ISIS’s and Boko Haram’s victims of
rape and abuse. Tune in to hear what these religious and secular leaders
are doing to change this policy.


EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch: How Religious Freedom Complementing Civil Rights in a Way Hobby Lobby II Did Not

On Monday, the Supreme Court released their decision in the religious freedom case, EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch. Many had feared a repeat of last year’s disastrous decision in Hobby Lobby,
but the ruling – which defended the right of a Muslim woman to wear a
hijab on the job – was remarkably positive. Welton ends our show this
week by sharing his thoughts on what the Court got right about religious
freedom this year, and what they missed last time around.

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