www.TheBible Browser.com (Workplace Freedoms)

House Panel Hears Adventists, Others On Sabbath Protection

Church representative, James D. Standish, Esq. Seventh-day

Adventist Liaison to the United States Congress,

will vouch for the rights of Sabbath keepers during a congressional hearing February 12, 2008.

Video Click> http://www.adventistreview.org/article.php?id=1674

His testimony will support people of faith who face workplace discrimination. [ANN file photo]

Seventh-day Adventist Church representative for Legislative Affairs, James D. Standish, Esq., will join other witnesses in testifying before a U.S. Congressional hearing February 12, 2008, urging legislators to sponsor the lately reintroduced Workplace Religious Freedom Act.

"Americans don't accept bigotry in our media, in our schools, or in our government, and we certainly shouldn't accept bigotry against people of faith in our workplaces," Standish wrote in a letter that concerned U.S. citizens can send to their congressional representatives.

The Act, originally brought before Congress 10 years ago, now garners broad, bipartisan support in both houses of the U.S. Congress, Standish said. If enacted, it would protect and expand rights first introduced 40 years ago when Congress passed workplace freedom legislation under the umbrella of the U.S. Civil Rights Act.

According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claims of religious discrimination climbed 83 percent between 1992 and 2006 while other claims of discrimination -- including race, gender and age -- either held steady or decreased.

Standish and other faith leaders fault narrow interpretation of existing workplace freedom legislation for the rise. "As Congress has worked to give rights to many groups in the workplace, it has left Sabbath keepers and other people of faith far behind."

Workers, Standish added, should not be required to choose between fulfilling job requirements and fully practicing their respective faiths. "This is a common sense, reasonable bill that simply requires employers to show they have a good reason to refuse time off on Sabbath before they fire [a person of faith]," he said.

U.S. citizens can click here to ask their Senators and House representatives to support workplace freedom. Source: http://news.adventist.org/data/2008/1202419823/index.html.en

Workplace Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1431)

Take this to your neighbors & your co-workers. This bill helps people of all faiths! United States

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

Your letters continue to pour in. So far 39,094 letters have been sent to their two

United States Senators, and their representative in the House of Representatives, in support

of the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (H.R. 1431). I will be facing the Congressional Subcommittee

(Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 3:00 PM) on Health, Employment, Labor & Pensions to testify on behalf of people

of faith who experience discrimination in the workplace because of their religious beliefs. U.S. citizens - And if you haven't

sent your letter yet, please don't sit on the sidelines silently. Click> http://www.religiousliberty.info/blog/?p=66

If you would like to read a written version of the testimony submitted to Congress, please visit the following link. For those of you with detailed questions about the Workplace Religious Freedom Act and the objections of opponents, you will find these specifically addressed in the written testimony: Click> http://www.religiousliberty.info/article.php?id=4

James Standish, Esq. Seventh-day Adventist Liaison to the United States Congress

Click> http://religiousliberty.info/

U.S. citizens, Click on the link and continue the ongoing plan to make your unique voice heard.

It only takes a minute and it makes all the difference.

Click> http://capwiz.com/narla/issues/alert/?alertid=9490921&type=CO

For Seventh-day Adventists, we're told to work on the Sabbath or lose our jobs...

Click> Sign up for free religious liberty newsflashes and legislative e.lerts.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

Adventists Defending Freedom Everywhere...

Source & More... http://ChurchState.org/article.php?id=25

oday Adventists are alive and well in the marketplace of ideas—as individuals, as members of specific issue groups (e.g., the Adventist Peace Fellowship), and, of course, as a wider faith community. The church’s efforts are directed by its Department of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL). There is a PARL team at the General Conference, in the North American Division (NAD), and at each union in the NAD. Many conferences have a designated spokesperson, and most local churches have a religious liberty leader.

The General Conference team is led by John Graz, a diplomat by nature and by experience. Graz’s father was an atheist, but as a young man growing up on the border between France and Switzerland, Graz was found by God. Today he travels the world from Siberia to South Africa, meeting government leaders to promote religious liberty and to intervene on specific cases.

Jonathan Gallagher is the Adventist Church’s permanent representative to the United Nations. An Englishman of Irish decent and Scottish education, Gallagher easily slips between French and English as he works the halls of the UN in New York and Geneva.

Attorney James Standish represents the Adventist Church to the United States government. As the son of missionaries, Standish grew up in predominantly Muslim and Buddhist nations. He earned his law degree at Georgetown University and today lives with his family on Capitol Hill.

The North American Division team (Seventh-Day Adventist Church) is led by Hal Thomsen, who, in his early days, worked as a “capitol pastor,” representing the Adventist Church at a state capitol. Lincoln Steed and Melissa Reid form the editorial team that puts out Liberty magazine, the oldest and the finest publication in the world dedicated exclusively to religious liberty.