The North American Religious Liberty Association (NARLA) is a regional chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA). The IRLA was founded in 1893 and now has over 50 national and regional chapters around the world.
NARLA is the rebirth of the American Religious Liberty Association (ARLA) formed in the late 19th century by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
NARLA's focus is on matters pertaining to freedom of conscience. This includes supporting a broad interpretation of the First Amendment's guarantee of free exercise of religion and laws protecting religious freedom, supporting laws to advance religious liberty, and supporting the principle that religion must not be co-opted by the state through regulation or through financial entanglements.
Additionally, NARLA is associated with Liberty Magazine, a publication with a circulation of roughly 200,000, and with the radio broadcasts Freedom's Ring which is syndicated across the U.S., and Talking About Freedom, which is broadcast in the Washington, D.C., region.
Melissa Reid is the Executive Director of NARLA.
In addition to its lobbying efforts, NARLA and Liberty Magazine host an annual non-partisan dinner in Washington DC. Past speakers from include Senator Rick Santorum (2004), Senator Hillary Clinton (2005), and Senator John McCain (2006).
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and its emphasis on the imminent Second Coming (advent) of Jesus Christ. The denomination grew out of the Millerite movement in the United States during the mid-19th century and it was formally established in 1863. Among its co-founders was Ellen G. White, whose extensive writings are still held in high regard by the church. Much of the theology of the Seventh-day Adventist Church corresponds to common evangelical Christian teachings, such as the Trinity and the infallibility of Scripture. Distinctive post-tribulation teachings include the unconscious state of the dead and the doctrine of an investigative judgment. The church places an emphasis on diet and health, including adhering to Kosher food laws, advocating vegetarianism, and its holistic view of human nature—i.e. that the body, soul, and spirit form one inseparable entity. The Church holds the belief that "God created the universe, and in a recent six-day creation made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day". Marriage is defined as a lifelong union between a man and a woman. The second coming of Christ, and resurrection of the dead, are among official beliefs.
Religion in Trinidad and Tobago, which is a multi-religious country, is classifiable as follows:
The International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA) is a non-sectarian and non-political organization promoting religious freedom. It was originally organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church leaders in 1893 to campaign for religious freedom for all when the danger of restrictions from blue laws became apparent. Its headquarters are in Silver Spring, Maryland in the United States.
The Creation Seventh Day (and) Adventist Church began as a small group that broke off from the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1988, and organized its own church in 1991. It has been involved in court cases with the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists over trademarks and internet domain names.
Founded in 1936, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC) is a national faith-based organization which focuses on upholding the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty. With a staff of attorneys, scholars, ministers and mobilizers, the Washington D.C. based non-profit has a long history of advocating in the U.S. Supreme Court and working with Congress on issues relating to religious freedom and church-state separation.
Harold Marshall Sylvester Richards Sr., commonly known as H. M. S. Richards, was a well-known Seventh-day Adventist evangelist and author.
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS), part of the J. Reuben Clark Law School (JRCLS) at Brigham Young University (BYU), was formally founded on January 1, 2000, to promote freedom of religion worldwide and to study the relations between governments and religious organizations. The ICLRS strives to be a global academic leader in the field of international religious freedom. The ICLRS was built upon the work of law professor Cole Durham, who was named its founding director. Brett Scharffs has been the ICLRS director since May 2016.
Alonzo Trévier Jones was a Seventh-day Adventist known for his impact on the theology of the church, along with friend and associate Ellet J. Waggoner. He was a key participant in the 1888 Minneapolis General Conference Session regarded as a landmark event in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Religion in Colombia is dominated by various branches of Christianity and is an expression of the different cultural heritages in the Colombian culture including the Spanish colonization, the Native Amerindian and the Afro-Colombian, among others.
This article describes the relationship between the Seventh-day Adventist Church and other Christian denominations and movements, and other religions. Adventists resist the movement which advocates their full ecumenical integration into other churches, because they believe that such a transition would force them to renounce their foundational beliefs and endanger the distinctiveness of their religious message. According to one church document,
George Edward Vandeman was a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist who founded the It Is Written television ministry.
The population of the Federated States of Micronesia is predominantly Christian, although the representation of various denominations varies greatly from state to state. The government generally upholds the freedom of religion, but the small Muslim community in the country faces significant discrimination from both general society and the government.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Tonga, with Methodists having the most adherents.
Edward Earl Cleveland commonly known as E. E. Cleveland was an author, civil rights advocate and evangelist of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
In Seventh-day Adventism, homosexual behaviour is considered a violation of God's commands, and as such, openly homosexual behaviour is subject to church discipline. However, "Gay and lesbian members who choose to be, and remain, [sexually] abstinent should be given the opportunity to participate in all church activities including leadership positions in the Church. Those who struggle with temptation to sin should be treated the same way as other members who struggle with sexual sin. We strongly affirm that homosexual persons have a place in the Seventh-day Adventist Church." The Church's opposition to same-gender sexual practices and relationships is on the grounds that "sexual intimacy belongs only within the marital relationship of a man and a woman." The Church believes the Bible consistently affirms the pattern of heterosexual monogamy, and all sexual relations outside the scope of heterosexual marriage are contrary to God's original plan. Although there are individual churches that welcome openly LGBT people, such as the Hollywood Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Crosswalk Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference remains opposed to this.
Freedom of religion in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing residents the freedom to assemble and worship as each sees fit without coercion, limitation or interference. The Seventh Day Adventist Church's minority status increased its sensitivity to religious freedom early in its history. Shortly after its birth in 1860, the American Civil War and later "Sunday legislation" in the 1880s and 1890s raised concerns about religious liberty. That sensitivity accompanied the church's expansion into Canada.
The Cuba Adventist Theological Seminary is a Seventh-day Adventist theology school located in Havana, Cuba. It prepares men and women to serve the church and community in a climate of growing religious liberty.
Mikhail Petrovich Kulakov was a Russian adventist pastor, social and religious activist, and Protestant Bible scholar and translator. He was co-founder of the Russian Branch of the International Association for Religious Freedom (1992), founder of the Institute for Bible Translation in Zaoksky, an honorary board member of the Russian Bible Society, and the head of the Church of Seventh-day Adventists in the Soviet Union (1990—1992). Kulakov's work on translating the Bible into modern Russian language has been lauded by biblical scholars, philologists, theologians and various representatives of Orthodox and Protestant churches in Russia.
James D. Standish is an Australian-American lawyer, newspaper editor, diplomat and writer who has served as an official representative of the Church of Seventh-day Adventists to the United Nations and the US Government. Standish holds both Australian and US citizenships.
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