Tired of Sitting on the Sideline? Join Us for a Special Meeting.

Religious Freedom, , ,

Religious liberty in America is under attack. We’ve seen this everywhere from the federal government’s controversial mandates under Obamacare all the way down to the “nondiscrimination” ordinance recently passed by the Fayetteville City Council. It seems like almost every day there is some new example of the government making it more difficult for churches and people of faith to live out their religious convictions.

What if I told you there was something you and your church could do about this?

Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., and Vision America Action are bringing a team to Arkansas to help you do just that. All next week, their team will travel across the state, hosting free meetings to help you and your church take a stand for the principles we hold dear.

Topics at the meetings will include helping Christians register to vote and engage in the public arena; understanding a biblical view of the issues facing our culture; and outlining how churches can be involved in this struggle.

Each meeting will include a free meal and an excellent lineup of speakers prepared to share critical information with you and your friends. If you are a pastor or church leader, it is especially important for you to join us. For additional information and to RSVP for free, go to www.Pastors4AR.org.

One of the best ways to stop the assault on religious liberty is for Christians to start exercising their other liberties. There are many ways we can join together to make our state a better place to live and raise a family. Please come to one of meetings below and learn how you and your church can do just that.

Meeting Details

(Free meals provided for all participants) (more…)

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Fayetteville Group Gathering Signatures to Vote on Ordinance

Current Events, , , , , ,

repealflyerA group of concerned citizens are hard at work gathering signatures to bring controversial Fayetteville Chapter 119 (the so-called “nondiscrimination” ordinance) up for a vote of the people.

The group now has a website with information about the effort: www.repeal119.com. There is also a flyer highlighting some of the consequences of Fayetteville’s new ordinance and articulating why it should be repealed.

If the petition drive is successful, voters in Fayetteville will have the opportunity to keep or repeal Chapter 119 at the ballot box later this year.

We have written repeatedly about the unintended consequences of this ordinance, including:

If you would like to know more about the effort to repeal Chapter 119, call (479) 239-5900 or email info@repeal119.com.

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Atheist Group Goes After Arkansas Pizza Parlor

Religious Freedom, , ,

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is drumming up controversy in Arkansas again–this time over pizza.

You may recall in 2013 FFRF threatened legal action against Conway public schools because school administrators allowed youth pastors to visit students on campus the same way it allowed other visitors to meet with students. The schools (and youth pastors) won that debate; now the group is back, and this time they are going after a private pizzeria in Searcy.

According to KTHV in Little Rock, Bailey’s Pizza of Searcy received a letter from the atheist group after the group learned Bailey’s offered a 10% discount to anyone who brought a church bulletin into the restaurant on Sundays.

Freedom From Religion Foundation claims this discount discriminates against people who do not go to church, and that it violates the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. We feel that argument simply does not hold water. Giving someone a discount because they have a church bulletin with them does not discriminate against atheists any more than giving a senior citizen a discount discriminates against young people. It’s simply another way businesses can attract customers. No one is being denied service because of their faith or lack thereof.

Freedom From Religion Foundation’s argument against Bailey’s Pizza is so bizarre it’s almost laughable. How “religiously neutral” does a business have to be? If Bailey’s prepares all its pizzas in a kitchen with pork products (like pepperoni, for example), that’s liable to prevent people with religious objections to pork from eating there. Is that “discrimination”? No, it simply means “places of public accommodation” (to borrow from the Civil Rights Act) can’t always please every member of the public.

When President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, I’m not sure the goal was to stop pizzerias from giving nominal discounts to anyone who walks in with a church bulletin. Giving a discount to someone is not religious discrimination, but trying to tell a business owner his private restaurant must be a religion-free zone arguably is.

Photo Credit: “Flickr – cyclonebill – Kartoffelpizza med rosmarinpesto” by cyclonebill – Kartoffelpizza med rosmarinpesto. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

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