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 cohesion. 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"...

Apparently, the only time the mainstream media are interested in scrutinizing a presidential hopeful's religious beliefs and behavior is when that candidate is a Republican.

For example, no matter how Rick Perry’s new campaign ad is perceived by conservative voters in Iowa, the reaction from liberals and the media has been predictable.

Perry's vow to end “Obama’s war on religion” and to fight against “liberal attacks on our religious heritage” brought him ridicule across the web, from the New York Times to Entertainment Weekly.

And, this type of contempt for a Republican's religious values is nothing new.

Perry’s conservative Christianity has been a target for the media since before he declared for the nomination.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. ambassador to Malta, an important Roman Catholic supporter of President Obama, said Sunday he would resign after a State Department report criticized him for spending too much time writing and speaking about his religious beliefs.

In letters to Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Douglas Kmiec said he would step down Aug. 15. He told The Associated Press that no one pressured him to leave.
Kmiec was a well-known conservative law professor and commentator before being taking the job in 2009. But a report this month by the State Department's inspector general rebuked Kmiec for concentrating too much on issues such as abortion and his faith, while neglecting his ambassadorial duties

"I doubt very much whether one could ever spend too much time on this subject," Kmiec wrote Obama in his resignation letter...

A young Christian businessman is featured in a television documentary about entrepreneurs who use capitalism to help the poor.

The New Recruits, which premiers tonight on PBS, is about "a battalion of jet-setting business students armed with a radical play to end global poverty," states the program's website. The documentary by New York's Ironbound Films follows several businessmen -- among them, Joel Montgomery, a Christian from Alabama as he attempts to help rural Pakistani farmers counter an imminent water crisis using drip-irrigation systems as an alternative to flooding their fields.

Montgomery works with the Acumen Fund Fellowship, which invests in businesses selling products and services to the poor. He says social entrepreneurship has many advantages over charity...

The National Football League held its professional draft Thursday night and two very prominent Christian college players are now on their way to the big leagues.

University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is heading to play for the Denver Broncos. Tebow has been very vocal about his faith, and he is known for writing scripture verses beneath his eyes.

The No. 1 pick for the draft was Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, who was chosen by the St. Louis Rams. He has also been very public about his faith in Jesus Christ...

Thirty religious leaders have sent a letter to the Obama administration asking the president why he has not appointed an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom after almost 15 months in office.

The letter, dated Match 30, requests that a person with advanced foreign-policy experience and expertise be named along with the announcement of a government strategy for promoting religious freedom, which is increasingly under attack around the world. It also asks that this official have expertise in religion.

"President Obama has said some fine words about religious freedom, but getting an ambassador in place is not a priority," said Thomas Farr, one of the signers and the former director of the State Department's Office of Religious Freedom as well as a senior fellow at the Berkley Center at Georgetown University....

The Texas Board of Education is holding public hearings and will vote this week on the content of textbooks, which will impact many other states that follow Texas' lead.

One of the major problems is a push by a small group that wants to censor religious information regarding historical figures from textbooks. Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs at Free Market Foundation, tells OneNewsNow the group has been very aggressive.

"We just think it's ridiculous," he says. "If you're going to talk about history and social studies, we should be doing it accurately; we should do it in a factual way," Saenz contends.

A Christian financial expert is urging believers not to hoard money in these tough economic times.

Crown Financial Ministries CEO Chuck Bentley says Christians need to use the current financial crisis in the U.S. as an opportunity to "get their personal house in order" by reducing debt and increasing savings and generosity...

As Britain increasingly turns away from religion, a new report claims that
children of all faiths are being bullied because of their beliefs.

In a
survey of more than 800 11- to 16-year-olds conducted throughout Britain earlier
this year, 23 percent of respondents said they had been bullied because of their
religion...

It was a coup for Democrats: An emerging young evangelical voice, a registered Republican no less, accepted their invitation to deliver a prayer at next week's Democratic National Convention.

But Cameron Strang, the 32-year-old editor of edgy and hip Relevant Magazine, had second thoughts and pulled out of delivering the benediction on the convention's first night, Monday. Citing fears that his bridge-building gesture would be wrongly construed as an endorsement, Strang said he instead hopes to take a lower-profile role, participating in a convention caucus meeting on religion later in the week...