Tag Archives: Civil Rights

Religious Freedom Is The New Civil Rights Issue

Pastor Rick Warren and Rev. Samuel Rodriguez said that religious freedom in America is the new civil rights issue.

Rev. Rodriguez, the president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said Christians need to fight for their religious freedom or be silenced.

“While ending racial inequality emerged as the civil rights issue of the 20th century … religious liberty will be the civil rights issue of the next decade,” Rodriguez said.  “Today’s complacency is tomorrow’s captivity.”

The two spoke as part of a panel discussion at the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting titled “Hobby Lobby and the Future of Religious Liberty.”

A big theme of the meeting was the push by many groups to say that people of faith must proclaim that every religious faith is equally valid and all worship the same God.  That misconception is driving the definition of “tolerance” to mean something other than what tolerance truly means according to the panelists.

“The “definition of tolerance has changed from I treat you with respect and dignity even when we disagree to all ideas are equally valid,” Warren said.

The panel said ultimately even if those who want to strip Christians of their rights to worship and be a part of society, the world can do nothing to stop Jesus.

“If the United States crumbles away, the Gospel is not lost,” Russell Moore said.

Maya Angelou Says Faith In God Made Her “Courageous”

Presidential Medal of Freedom honoree Maya Angelou, who died Wednesday at the age of 86, said that it was her faith that made her so bold in standing for what was right.

“When I found that I knew not only that there was God but that I was a child of God, when I understood that, when I comprehended that, more than that, when I internalized that, ingested that, I became courageous,” Angelou told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in 2013.

“When I was asked to do something good, I often say yes, I’ll try, yes, I’ll do my best,” she continued, “And part of that is believing, if God loves me, if God made everything from leaves to seals and oak trees, then what is it I can’t do?”

Angelou often stated that before she began to write anything, she would spend time in prayer.  Part of her “writing ritual” was to have a Bible with her when she was writing.

A civil rights leader who spent much time working with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou said that her faith in God is what allowed her to see that all people were created equal under God because God created everyone.

“I will see human beings and I believe — whether they believe it or not — I believe they were made by God and I’m not in a position to put them down because they look different from me,” Angelou said.