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Three states are holding out after Supreme Court's same-sex marriage ruling

NEW YORK (AP) — Now that same-sex marriage is legal nationwide, religious conservatives are focusing on preserving their right to object. Their concerns are for the thousands of faith-based charities, colleges and hospitals that want to hire, fire, serve and set policy according to their religious beliefs, notably that gay relationships are morally wrong.

The Republican Party's 2016 presidential candidates are already campaigning on the issue. And Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is urging President Barack Obama and the nation's governors "to join me in reassuring millions of Americans that the government will not force them to participate in activities that violate their deeply held religious beliefs."

The religious liberty fight isn't about what happens inside the sanctuary. First Amendment protections for worship and clergy are clear. Potential conflicts could arise, however, over religious organizations with some business in the public arena. That category ranges from small religious associations that rent reception halls to the public, to the nation's massive network of faith-based social service agencies that receive millions of dollars in government grants. Some groups, such as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, also want protections for individual business owners who consider it immoral to provide benefits for the same-sex spouse of an employee or cater gay weddings.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy raised the issue in the majority opinion Friday granting gays the right to marry. He said First Amendment protections are in place for religious objectors, who "may continue to advocate with utmost, sincere conviction that, by divine precepts, same-sex marriage should not be condoned."

But in his dissent, Chief Justice John Roberts predicted a clash ahead between religious freedom and same-sex marriage. He specifically noted the dilemma for religious colleges that provide married student housing, and adoption agencies that won't place children with gay couples.

"There is little doubt that these and similar questions will soon be before this court," Roberts wrote.

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SAN FRANCISCO --- Supreme Court plaintiff Jim Obergefell rides in a convertible in the San Francisco …

Conservative religious groups have for years been on watch for potential clashes over religious liberty and gay rights, and have been lobbying for religious exemptions in statehouses and Congress. But conservative anxieties intensified over an exchange during April's oral arguments in the gay marriage case between Justice Samuel Alito and Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.

Alito noted the high court's 1983 decision to revoke the tax-exemption of Bob Jones University in South Carolina because it barred interracial dating. Alito asked if the government would take such action against religiously affiliated schools that oppose same-sex marriage. Verrilli said, "It is certainly going to be an issue. I don't deny that."

Earlier this month, more than 70 Catholic and evangelical educators sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urging them to take action to protect conservative religious schools in case of government action to revoke the schools' nonprofit status.

And last week in Congress, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Raul Labrador of Idaho, both Republicans, introduced the First Amendment Defense Act, which would prohibit the federal government from taking action against an institution that opposes same-sex marriage by revoking a tax-exemption or barring them from receiving grants or contracts.

Marc Stern, a religious liberty expert and general counsel to the American Jewish Committee, noted that in the three decades since the Bob Jones decision, the IRS hasn't sought to revoke the tax exemption of another school over discrimination based on race or gender.

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GOP potential presidential candidate Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is expected to announce his ca …

The Supreme Court decided the Bob Jones case based on a violation of fundamental public policy, not whether the school's policy was unconstitutional, Stern said. There is no federal law barring discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Still, Michael Moreland, a vice dean and professor at Villanova University School of Law, said the concern over losing tax-exempt status is "a real one."

"The fact the majority opinion for the court did mention the religious institutions' right to engage in advocacy with regard to their views about marriage means I don't think there's a rush to confront those problems, but they're there," Moreland said.

GOP presidential hopefuls are working to keep religious liberty in the forefront.

At the Faith and Freedom Coalition conference in Washington last week, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said, "The IRS will start going after Christian schools, Christian universities, Christian charities" and "any institutions that follow a biblical teaching of marriage."

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In this Friday June 26, 2015 file photo, a man holds a U.S. and a rainbow flag outside of the Suprem …

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said, "Hillary Clinton and The Left will now mount an all-out assault on religious freedom." Jindal last month issued an executive order aiming to protect religious objectors after a House bill on the issue failed.

In an Associated Press-GfK poll in April, more than 8 in 10 Republicans said it was more important to protect religious liberties than gay rights.

Many gay marriage advocates say the conservative outcry over religious freedom is merely a cover for bias and an attempt to deprive gays of their newly won rights. Elliot Mincberg, a Washington attorney and senior fellow at the liberal People for the American Way, said while some religious exemptions might merit consideration, "the religious right knows a fundraising opportunity when they have one."

But some gay rights supporters say a balance must be struck between religious liberty and protections against discrimination for gays, as religious conservatives' fear grows about whether their institutions can keep operating under the dramatically new circumstances. Jonathan Rauch, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said conservatives "have grounds for concern but not grounds for panic."

"I don't think the issues are imaginary," said Rauch, "and we know that because the U.S. solicitor general told us so."

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Zoll is the AP national religion writer. Peoples reported in Washington. AP news survey specialist Emily Swanson contributed to this report.

Beirut (AFP) - The Islamic State group has beheaded two women in eastern Syria accused of "witchcraft and sorcery", a monitor said Tuesday, in the jihadists' first decapitations of female civilians.

The extremist group has become infamous for gruesome executions and mass killings, but the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the two women were the first female civilians to be beheaded by IS.

"The Islamic State group executed two women by beheading them in Deir Ezzor province, and this is the first time the Observatory has documented women being killed by the group in this manner," Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Britain-based monitor said the executions took place on Monday and Sunday and involved two couples.

In both cases, the women were executed with their husbands, with each pair accused of "witchcraft and sorcery".

The Observatory said IS has previously decapitated the corpses of Kurdish female fighters during battles, and the jihadist group is reported to have stoned civilian women to death on allegations of adultery.

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Iraqi displaced women, who fled the ongoing conflict between pro-government forces and Islamic State …

The monitor said the women and their husbands were killed in the city of Mayadeen in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, which is mostly under the control of IS.

A video obtained by the Observatory, which the group has not distributed, reportedly shows a masked executioner in a tunic saying a prayer before beheading one man and his wife, who is wearing a full face veil.

Abdel Rahman said the two couples appear to have been accused after the jihadist group found them in possession of charms.

- Eight hung from crosses -

The use of amulets, charms and other folk religious practices is common in parts of Syria, particularly in the countryside, according to activists.

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A woman walks past blue painted ceramics believed to ward off the evil eye, referred to locally as t …

The charms are often written on a piece of paper sewn into fabric, and are intended to protect the recipient against bad luck or jealousy, or solve and prevent other problems.

But the practice is considered heretical and a form of "witchcraft" by IS, which imposes its harsh interpretation of Islam on the areas under its control.

The group is known for its brutality, often filming acts including beheading and throwing people from buildings.

It punishes people for "crimes" including homosexuality, adultery, smoking cigarettes and spying.

According to the Observatory, IS has executed more than 3,000 people in Syria in the year since it declared its Islamic "caliphate" in Syria and Iraq.

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A Kurdish female fighter of the Women's Protection Units (YPJ) looks on at a training camp in al …

Nearly 1,800 of them were civilians, including 74 children.

It has executed more than 100 of its own members, mostly on allegations of spying, and often as they were seeking to escape the group, according to the Observatory.

The monitor also said Tuesday that IS has hung at least eight people from makeshift crosses in recent days as punishment for allegedly failing to fast during the Muslim month of Ramadan.

The eight were all strung up alive on crucifixes with placards attached to them accusing them of breaking the Ramadan fast "with no religious justification".

Among the eight were two minors, the Observatory said, adding that while it had documented eight cases, there might be others that have not been reported.

Observatory chief Abdel Rahman said the eight were hung from the crucifixes for a day and taken down afterwards still alive.

The jihadist group emerged in Syria in 2013 and initially sought to merge with Al-Qaeda's local affiliate Al-Nusra Front. But after Al-Nusra rejected the merger, the group went its own way.

As we enter the second half of 2015, financial panic has gripped most of the globe. Stock prices are crashing in China, in Europe and in the United States. Greece is on the verge of a historic default, and now Puerto Rico and Ukraine are both threatening to default on their debts if they do not receive concessions from their creditors. Not since the financial crisis of 2008 has so much financial chaos been unleashed all at once. Could it be possible that the great financial crisis of 2015 has begun? The following are 16 facts about the tremendous financial devastation that is happening all over the world right now…

1. On Monday, the Dow fell by 350 points. That was the biggest one day decline that we have seen in two years.

2. In Europe, stocks got absolutely smashed. Germany’s DAX index dropped 3.6 percent, and France’s CAC 40 was down 3.7 percent.

3. After Greece, Italy is considered to be the most financially troubled nation in the eurozone, and on Monday Italian stocks were down more than 5 percent.

4. Greek stocks were down an astounding 18 percent on Monday.

5. As the week began, we witnessed the largest one day increase in European bond spreads that we have seen in seven years.

6. Chinese stocks have already met the official definition of being in a “bear market” – the Shanghai Composite is already down more than 20 percent from the high earlier this year.

7. Overall, this Chinese stock market crash is the worst that we have witnessed in 19 years.

8. On Monday, Standard & Poor’s slashed Greece’s credit rating once again and publicly stated that it believes that Greece now has a 50 percent chance of leaving the euro.

9. On Tuesday, Greece is scheduled to make a 1.6 billion euro loan repayment. One Greek official has already stated that this is not going to happen.

10. Greek banks have been totally shut down, and a daily cash withdrawal limit of60 euros has been established. Nobody knows when this limit will be lifted.

11. Yields on 10 year Greek government bonds have shot past 15 percent.

12. U.S. investors are far more exposed to Greece than most people realize. The New York Times explains…

But the question of what happens when the markets do open is particularly acute for the hedge fund investors — including luminaries like David Einhorn and John Paulson — who have collectively poured more than 10 billion euros, or $11 billion, into Greek government bonds, bank stocks and a slew of other investments.

Through the weekend, Nicholas L. Papapolitis, a corporate lawyer here, was working round the clock comforting and cajoling his frantic hedge fund clients.

“People are freaking out,” said Mr. Papapolitis, 32, his eyes red and his voice hoarse. “They have made some really big bets on Greece.”

13. The Governor of Puerto Rico has announced that the debts that the small island has accumulated are “not payable“.

14. Overall, the government of Puerto Rico owes approximately 72 billion dollars to the rest of the world. Without debt restructuring, it is inevitable that Puerto Rico will default. In fact, CNN says that it could happen by the end of this summer.

15. Ukraine has just announced that it may “suspend debt payments” if their creditors do not agree to take a 40 percent “haircut”.

16. This week the Bank for International Settlements has just come out with a new report that says that central banks around the world are “defenseless” to stop the next major global financial crisis.

Without a doubt, we are overdue for another major financial crisis. All over the planet, stocks are massively overvalued, and financial markets have become completely disconnected from economic reality. And when the next crash happens, many believe that it will be even worse than what we experienced back in 2008. For example, just consider the words of Jim Rogers…

“In the United States, we have had economic slowdowns every four to seven years since the beginning of the Republic. It’s now been six or seven years since our last stock market problem. We’re overdue for another problem.”

In Rogers’ view, low interest rates caused stock prices to increase significantly. He believes many assets are priced beyond their fundamentals thanks to the ultra-easy monetary policies by the Federal Reserve. Fed supporters argue such measures are good for investors, but Rogers takes a different view.

“The Fed might tell us we don’t have to worry and that a correction or crash will never happen again. That’s balderdash! When this artificial sea of liquidity ends, we’re going to pay a terrible price. When the next economic problem occurs, it will be much worse because the debt is so much higher.”

Of course Rogers is far from alone. A recent article by Paul B. Farrell expressed similar sentiments…

America’s 95 million investors are at huge risk. Remember the $10 trillion losses in the crash and recession of 2007-2009? The $8 trillion lost after the dot-com technology crash and recession of 2000-2003? This is the third big recession of the century. Yes, America will lose trillions again.

Especially with dead-ahead predictions like Mark Cook’s 4,000-point Dow correction. And Jeremy Grantham’s warning of a 50% crash around election time, with negative stock returns through the first term of the next president, beyond 2020. Starting soon.

Why is America so vulnerable when the next recession hits? Simple: The Fed’s cheap-money giveaway is killing America. When the downturn, correction, crash hits, it will compare to the 2008 crash. The Economist warns: “the world will be in a rotten position to do much about it. Rarely have so many large economies been so ill-equipped to manage a recession,” whatever the trigger.

Things have been relatively quiet in the financial world for so long that many have been sucked into a false sense of security.

But the underlying imbalances were always there, and they have been getting worse over time.

I believe that we are heading into a global financial collapse that will make what happened in 2008 look like a Sunday picnic by the time it is all said and done.

Global debt levels are at all-time highs, big banks all over the planet have been behaving more recklessly than ever, and financial markets are absolutely primed for a huge crash.

Hopefully things will calm down a bit as the rest of this week unfolds, but I wouldn’t count on it.

We have entered uncharted territory, and what comes next is going to shock the world.


(The Economic Collapse)

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — An African-American church in South Carolina that was burned down by the Ku Klux Klan in 1995 caught fire again Tuesday night, though authorities said it was too soon to say what caused the latest blaze, which broke out on a night of frequent storms. No one was believed to be inside at the time.

The fire at the Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church in Greeleyville broke out at a time when federal authorities are investigating conflagrations at several other predominantly black churches — including one Friday at a church near Aiken, South Carolina — but so far the fires don't appear to be related.

Greeleyville is a town of about 400 people around 50 miles north of Charleston, where a pastor and eight members of a historic black church were fatally shot on June 17 in what authorities are investigating as a hate crime.

Agents from the State Law Enforcement Division were on their way to the church before the fire was out, Division Chief Mark Keel said. But he said they will have to wait until the hot spots are extinguished before using dogs and other investigative tools to figure out what started it. He said investigators will be on the scene first thing Wednesday morning.

"We do know they apparently had some strong storms," Keel said. "Talked to a guy who said they had a lot of lightning down there tonight. I don't know whether that had anything to do with it at all."

The image of orange flames coming from the same church the KKK burned down 20 years ago brought up painful memories, said Williamsburg County Councilman Eddie Woods Jr., who got out of bed to drive to the church after hearing about the fire.

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Smoke rises from Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal church late Tuesday, June 30, 2015, in Greel …

"That was a tough thing to see," Woods said. "It is hurting those people again. But we're going to rebuild. If this was someone, they need to know that hate won't stop us again," Woods said.

All of the fires currently under investigation broke out days after the fatal shootings at Charleston's historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dylann Storm Roof has been charged with nine counts of murder in the shootings, and the FBI is investigating possible links between the 21-year-old white man and a hate manifesto that showed up online along with photos of him.

Mount Zion AME Church burned down on June 20, 1995. Two Ku Klux Klan members pleaded guilty to starting that fire and a second at another predominantly black church. They were each sentenced to nearly two decades in prison.

Speaking at the church in 1996, President Bill Clinton implored people not to respond to what was a string of nearly three dozen church fires — many of them racially motivated — with the same hatred that drove the people who started the blazes. He gave the church a plaque to commemorate his visit, and noticed membership had grown four times over since the fire.

"The American people are the most religious, church-going people of any great democracy," Clinton said. "We cannot let someone come into our democratic home, the home of our faith, and start torching our houses of worship."

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Follow Jeffrey Collins on Twitter at http://https://twitter.com/JSCollinsAP .

Women and children rescued by Nigerian soldiers from Boko Haram extremists at Sambisa Forest wait for treatment at a refugee camp in Yola, Nigeria Monday, May 4, 2015.