Michael Berry, Esq., is Senior Counsel and Director of Military Affairs for Liberty Institute. He joined Liberty Institute in 2013 after serving for seven years as an attorney with the U.S. Marine Corps. From 2009 until 2013, Mr. Berry served as an Appellate Defense Attorney in which he argued numerous cases before various federal appeals courts and traveled across the country to teach appellate advocacy to junior attorneys. He was also invited to serve as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the United States Naval Academy.

Jonathan M. Saenz, Esq., is the President of Texas Values, a nonprofit group dedicated to preserving and advancing a culture of family values in the state of Texas.

Prior to leading Texas Values, Jonathan headed the Liberty Institute offices at the Texas Capitol in Austin where he served as Director of Legislative Affairs and Attorney for Liberty Institute. He frequently presents research, analysis, and testimony before the Texas Legislature, State Board of Education, and other government entities on various issues affecting faith, family, and freedom.

Jonathan believes in religious liberty, sanctity of human life, family values, and constitutional rights and has been involved in numerous court cases, including cases before the Texas Supreme Court and the United State Supreme Court. Mr. Saenz helped lead the State Board Education battle to prevent censorship in the Science classroom and protect strong Social Studies & History teaching. He was instrumental in the passage of Texas laws to protect religious liberty, Bible Curriculum in Public Schools, “Under God” in the Texas pledge, the Sonogram Bill, and many others. He has help lead efforts to defend against attacks on parental rights, marriage, the elected State Board of Education, and abstinence sex education in the state of Texas.

The United States Commission on Civil Rights has issued a statement slamming what it described as “so-called ‘religious liberty’” laws in North Carolina, Mississippi, Kansas, and Tennessee that supposedly “target members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (‘LGBT’) community for discrimination.”

A nine-page dissent released by two members of the eight-member commission defended both the commonsense nature of the religious freedom legislation attacked by the majority and the motives of those advocating for such laws.

After asking the rest of the commission “to please take a deep breath,” the dissenting members point out that “[u]nfortunately it is not entirely clear that the statement’s signatories have actually read the relevant legislation. We have.”

The dissent then provides point-by-point refutation of the commission’s assertions.

The country’s largest LGBT rights group on Thursday went to battle against a religious-based amendment tacked onto the annual defense policy bill that advocates say would strip away gay rights in federal contracting.

The Human Rights Campaign called it the first legislation to pass a congressional committee that would roll back expanded rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people at the federal level since the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples must be allowed to marry.

“We see this as social conservatives in the House trying to push what they view as a religious liberty exemption and use it as a sword rather than a shield,” David Stacy, the HRC’s director of government affairs, said in an interview.

A reader sends this e-mail. I quote it with permission, provided that I deleted geographical details, which I have done:

I am leaving public education this year for a classical school in [deleted]. I already have lesbian students in my current school who are physically affectionate. The problem is: I often do not always know the difference between erotic affection and sisterly affection. Even if I did, I do not know if I want to go there as a public school principal. I am not about to try to sort out the two and discipline the ones I think are erotic. I am conservative and there are many conservative families in my school–but I firmly believe this could turn into a big mess if I tried to discipline lesbians for “inappropriate display of affection.”

Just one day before the United Method Church geared up for its General Conference beginning on Tuesday, more than 100 pastors, deacons, elders and ministry staff publicly came out as members of the LGBTQ community.

It was a move intended to bring increased attention to an issue that the denomination is slated to contend with in the coming days as its members convene in Portland, Oregon, for a central meeting that is held once every four years.

“While we have sought to remain faithful to our call and covenant, you have not always remained faithful to us,” reads the letter, which was organized by a group called Reconciling Ministries Network and is addressed to the United Methodist Church. “While you have welcomed us as pastors, youth leaders, district superintendents, bishops, professors, missionaries and other forms of religious service, you have required that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities.”

For many Christians – Donald Trump is like a bucket of store-bought chicken at a Wednesday night church supper. It may be a culinary heresy – but folks will still eat it.

That’s the best case scenario for the Trump campaign as they try to woo wary Evangelical Christians. Many are still not convinced that the man who has had more wives than there are letters to the Corinthians shares their view from the pew.

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It’s not just the #NeverTrump crowd that is causing the campaign to worry. It’s the unknown number of Evangelicals who may stay home on Election Day.

Hillary Clinton doesn’t believe unborn children should have any Constitutional rights — so it should come as no surprise to pro-life voters that she laughed, stood by and said nothing as someone introducing her at a campaign rally removed “Under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance.

As the Washington Free Beacon reports:

During the introduction for Hillary Clinton at a rally in Blackwood, New Jersey, Susan Shin Angulo, a member of the Camden County Board of Freeholders, messed up the Pledge of Allegiance, a part of which she used in her speech.

“Only Hillary can bring us together, as one nation,” she started.

She then sputtered before skipping the “under God” portion of the pledge.

“In-dis-visible, with liberty and justice for all!” she finished.

Meanwhile, Clinton just stood there, smiling and nodding.

Watch a clip of what happened: