Daily Archives: May 26, 2012

Faith Leaders Outline Religious Freedom Threats

Posted: May 26, 2012 at 7:17 am

Leaders from a variety of faith backgrounds, politicians and educators met Thursday in Washington, D.C., for the National Religious Freedom Conference: Rising Threats to Religious Freedom, an event that organizers say is part of a battle against the trampling of religious liberties in the public sphere.

"This debate is not just about contraceptives, but about coercion. It's not about Catholics it's about conscience," Richard Land, president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention said during one of the panel discussions. He went on to say, "it's about principle, not pelvic politics."

Former Utah Gov. Michael Levitt, also a former Health and Human Services secretary, said of the conference, "This is the uniting of the faith community to declare that we're going to fight back to defend religious freedom."

The conference outlined three major threats to religious freedom: The first is the government mandate that religious institutions, such as hospitals and universities, act contrary to their conscience by offering birth control coverage to their employees. The second is what religious leaders say is a threat to the autonomy of religious organizations to choose their own leaders.

The third issue, a key one, is religious principles in in everyday life, like pharmacists who object for moral reasons to carrying what believers equate to abortion-causing drugsor religious student groups being marginalized on school campuses. One example of the latter is the fight at Vanderbilt University over its non-discrimination policy, requiring student religious groups be open to anyone, even those who don't hold to their beliefs.

Conference participants see a prejudice that affects all religions.

"We need to find a way to bridge not only the faith divide but also the political divide to try to find a way where everybody can enjoy religious liberty," Nathan Diament, director of public policy for the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, said. "It doesn't have to be a zero sum game. Some people's rights do not have to come at the expense of other peoples rights. We can find a way to make it a win-win situation for everybody."

The conference comes in the wake of a federal lawsuit filed by more than 40 Catholic institutions over the health care law that mandates the church offer institutional employees contraceptive coverage and other benefits that go against Catholic teaching. Churches already are exempt from the mandate.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the church is pushing forward, looking at all options.

"We are not going to give up dialogue with them. Who knows, maybe the lawsuits will make some progress, but so far we haven't seen any mitigation. Mitigation that the administration offered us back in February didn't help us much, because we are self-insured and it didn't touch those straight-jacketing exemptions."

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Faith Leaders Outline Religious Freedom Threats

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Liberty-Madera strikes quickly to win D-V softball title

Posted: at 7:17 am

MADERA -- Nothing was going to stop the Liberty-Madera Ranchos High softball team from a fourth consecutive Central Section Division V title.

After thunder cracked ominously in the distance during the national anthem, the Hawks' bats did some thundering of their own in a six-run first inning en route to a 10-0 win Friday over Selma (19-7).

Freshman Renee Ortega delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing double to right-center that put second-seeded Liberty (23-6-1) up 3-0 after four batters.

That relaxed the team and set the tone for the game.

"We've got some girls that had played in games like these, but we've got some that never played in one before so they were flat nervous," Liberty co-head coach Bob Barber said.

Ortega said patience played a role.

"I was waiting to see the right pitch to hit hard on the ground or a hard line drive," she said, "and I got it."

Randi Wallace and Caity McShane added run-scoring singles and the rout was on.

Junior ace Hannah Shevenell threw a two-hitter with 11 strikeouts.

Shevenell struck out the side in the first and fifth innings, and she did not give up a hit until Emery Green hit a bloop single down the left-field line in the fourth.

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Liberty-Madera strikes quickly to win D-V softball title

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Liberty rallies for three runs in the seventh inning to win Maryland 2A softball title

Posted: at 7:17 am

Nobody called Sammy Bost out after she stole third and overslid the base, so the Liberty center fielder just kept running.

Suddenly, Bost found herself sliding across home plate without a throw, scoring the winning run that capped a shocking ending to the Maryland 2A championship softball game, and left McDonough feeling it was robbed of a chance at a state title.

I saw [a tag at third base], McDonough Coach Julie Snavely said. I told my girls [the umpire] missed the call, but youve got to move on. Its unfortunate that play ended the ballgame.

Bost stole two bases on the final play of the game, and the Lions scored three runs with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh inning to beat McDonough, 3-2, Friday night at Robert E. Taylor Stadium at the University of Maryland.

The win gives Liberty the first state title in school history; McDonough was denied what would have been its sixth state crown and second in four years.

I overslid the base and I was like Oh my god, Im not letting my team down right now, Bost said. I just got up and ... I was like Okay, Ill go home then.

The wild ending overshadowed a terrific performance by McDonough senior Jazzmyn Hayden, who took a two-hit shutout into the seventh inning and produced the Rams only runs with an RBI double in the first inning and a solo home run in the third.

The Lions opened the bottom of the seventh with two bunt singles and a walk before second baseman Rebecca Oneto hit a two-run single that tied the score and left runners on first and second with nobody out.

Catcher Natalie Gill missed a bunt attempt as Bost and Oneto attempted a double steal, and after the throw to third came in late, Bost slid past the base and appeared to be tagged out by McDonough third baseman Molly Simpson.

I didnt feel a tag, Bost said. I wasnt going to go back into a tag so I figured Id either get in a rundown or go to score.

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Liberty rallies for three runs in the seventh inning to win Maryland 2A softball title

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Lady Gaga Calls Music Writing An Illness

Posted: at 7:16 am

By JECELYN V. MACAHINDOG

LADY GAGA: I cant stop writing music. Its an illness. (Photo from gagaimages.org)

MANILA, Philippines After performing for a sold-out two-night concert series in the Philippines amid protest and controversy there is no stopping Lady Gaga in spreading her music around the world.

The Mother Monster (as what she calls herself) is on her Born This Way Ball Tour stops in Thailand and Singapore and still isnt sure about her Jakarta, Indonesia gig after being denied a permit by police for safety reasons.

Prior, the BTWB Tour was given an X-rating in South Korea.

Despite embracing negativity, Lady Gaga couldnt help but be proud because her album Born This Way marked its first year on May 23.

The American singer-songwriter (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in real life) updated her more than 24 million followers on her official Twitter account (@ladygaga): Today marks the 1 year anniversary of our album Born This Way Im very emotional+proud. More than the feat however, RIP Lady Gaga became a trending topic on the social networking site. Apparently, RIP means Really Inspiring Person, in conjunction with the singers album anniversary.

I cANT stop writing music. Its AN ILLNESS, Gaga added, hinting of an upcoming album set for release soon.

The Grammy Award-winning artist also scored with her first voice-over acting debut. Lady Gaga graced a recent episode of The Simpsons via Lisa Goes Gaga episode.

On May 20, she tweeted: IM SOOO EXCITED FOR THE SIMPSONS. Lisa Goes Gaga episode. They did such an amazing job. I hope you like my voice-over acting debut! 🙂 <3

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Lady Gaga Calls Music Writing An Illness

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