Freedom

Our nation, the United States of America, is known around the world as “the land of the free and the home of the brave” whose citizens love liberty, cherish freedom, and are willing to pay the price for these precious possessions. So, people from all over the world desire to come here. The freedom we cherish is not a mere dream; it is a constitutional guarantee. In the Bill of Rights, adopted as the first 10 amendments to the constitution on Dec. 15, 1791, freedom is defined in clear and concise language.

Depending on whose press release you believe, Tennessee's new science law either promotes “academic freedom” or “allows creationism to be taught in public schools.” Enacted on April 10, the legislation instructs school officials not to prohibit teachers from informing students about the “scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses” of “scientific controversies” such as biological evolution. Science education groups are outraged, arguing that the law has nothing to do with academic freedom - and everything to do with finding new ways to undermine the teaching of evolution with trumped-up “controversies” and unscientific “weaknesses” disguised as science.

We are entering the home stretch of the 2012 General Assembly with the attendant rush of bills as legislators feel the urgency of the dwindling days. The Senate had a very full week with legislation and committee meetings, and we received the budget proposal from the House as well as the state's road plan. Visits from groups ranging from the AARP to 4-H also came to the Capitol to see their legislators and press for their causes.  Let's look at the legislation. Senate Bill 158, the Religious Freedom Act, is a constitutional amendment that would protect religious freedom from an overbearing government.

In an effort to expand further into eastern Kentucky, Freedom Metals, 425 Gawthrop Drive, a scrap metal recycling business that opened in Winchester two years ago, acquired Bates Iron and Metal in West Liberty. Spencer Blue, vice president of Freedom Metals, which is based in Louisville, said before opening its Winchester facility, the business had no representation in eastern Kentucky. “We found it to be a good area to purchase scrap, and being in Winchester, ... we built relationships with customers and further east of us in eastern Kentucky, West Liberty and other places ... we saw an opportunity to purchase a small yard in West Liberty,” he said.

Kentucky has made Freedom Hall its home away from home every year since 1958. Even before Kentucky and Louisville resumed its instate rivalry in 1984, the Wildcats have made a yearly visit to Freedom Hall. Before the Cardinals vacated the venue last season, the Wildcats played in the building twice every other year. Kentucky has established its own tradition at Freedom Hall. Adolph Rupp has coached there. So has Joe B. Hall and other coaches who succeeded Hall. Once the proud home of the hometown Louisville Cardinals, Freedom Hall sits mostly vacant during the college basketball season.

Jarka Wells believes she has achieved the American dream. After arriving in America in 1969 as a 7-year-old with two suitcases, speaking no English, Wells has become a successful businesswoman in both Winchester and Richmond. “I feel, deep down in my heart, I am living the American dream. I came from absolutely nothing. Thanks to the community, we're doing good,” Wells said. The former Jarka Benes is the daughter of Jerry and Elfrieda Benes, Czech immigrants who became American citizens after the Communist party forced them to seek asylum.

What do you say to a journalist who asks your advice on how to avoid his own murder? Some background before you respond: The question was real, and came during an international discussion about a free press and the First Amendment. It came from a soft-spoken, middle-aged man, a participant in a U.S. State Department-sponsored gathering in Washington, D.C., of some 160 journalists from 105 nations. “I have heard you speaking today about freedom of the press and the power of writing the truth,” the Pakistani journalist said.

A church-state dispute about employment discrimination argued before the U.S. Supreme Court this week doesn't have the headline appeal of culture-war battles over “prayer in school” or crèches in courthouse lobbies. But pay close attention: The outcome in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School vs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission may have far more impact on religious freedom than any ruling handed down by the high court in more than a decade. What's at stake is the meaning and scope of the ministerial exception to job-discrimination laws, a legal doctrine widely accepted by lower courts - but never explicitly recognized by the Supreme Court - that protects the freedom of religious communities to hire and fire their leaders.

In the heart-wrenching days after the terrorist attacks on 9/11, President George W. Bush acted boldly to prevent a backlash against Muslims and Islam in America and abroad. Speaking to a shaken nation before a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, the president described the terrorists as “traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.” The enemy, he declared, is not Islam, but “a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.” At first, Bush's efforts appeared to be working.