/// Back to MAIN Page    Archives for APRIL 2010    // Update for Friday, April 30th, 2010 White House Less Concerned About Religious Freedom, Report Says Every year the issue of religious freedom is becoming less important to the White House and State Department, a bipartisan U.S. government panel complained in its annual report on Thursday. Though the U.S. government should be increasingly mindful of religious freedom in its foreign policy and national security decisions, the opposite has occurred, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom stated its its report.  MORE Ex-Muslim Defends Franklin Graham's Islam Remarks The granddaughter of a mullah weighed in on the Franklin Graham controversy this week, contending that there is a difference between criticizing Islam and Muslims. Graham and others like him who criticize Islam are not saying they hate Muslims, said Sabatina James, a well-known Paskistani convert to Christianity who lives in Europe, in an interview with The Christian Post on Wednesday.      MORE Veterans Memorial Given Supreme Clearance More than 75 years ago, the Veterans of Foreign Wars erected a cross in the Mojave Desert to honor fallen soldiers, and a recent court ruling declares the cross will stay where it is.   In a 5-4 court decision yesterday, the Supreme Court voted in favor of the cross, ordering a lower court to correct its ruling to tear it down.    MORE Judge Asks Feds to Show Militia Did More Than Talk A federal judge challenged prosecutors Wednesday to show that nine members of a Michigan militia accused of plotting war against the government had done more than just talk and should remain locked up.    MORE Virginia Reinstates Prayer Policy for Police Chaplains Virginia State Police chaplains can invoke Jesus during prayers again.  State Police Superintendent Stephen Flaherty reinstated a policy allowing chaplains to use the name Jesus on Wednesday.      MORE 'Cul-de-sac' Churches All Too Common A new study shows mixed results when it comes to church openings, closings, and plants. LifeWay Research found that only three percent of Protestant churches served as the main sponsor of a church plant during the past year, and only 14 percent gave financial support in partnership with other churches to help begin new congregations.   MORE Update for Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 World Markets Rocked as Europe Debt Crisis Spreads The government debt crisis that has shaken Europe's shared currency widened and intensified Tuesday as Portugal saw its credit rating cut -- and Greece's was reduced to junk status. Stocks slid worldwide on the news of the double blow that increased the likelihood of a continent-wide debt meltdown and more market turmoil.     MORE Health Care Law Not Working As Advertised for Some Families Some families may have to wait until 2011 to get their young-adult children covered, particularly if the parents work for a large employer, benefits experts and government officials say.      MORE Most Americans Believe Jesus Speaks to Them A majority of Americans believe Jesus speaks to them in some form or another, finds a new survey. Fifty-two percent of Americans said Jesus speaks to them by influencing or connecting directly with their mind, emotions or feelings, according to a survey conducted by The Barna Group. Slightly more than two in five people said Jesus communicates with them through the Bible passage they read or that is read to them.   MORE Is the U.S. Military Cowering Before Muslims? LThe nation's largest public policy women's organization is appalled at the way the Pentagon appears more committed to appeasing Muslims, than allowing a high-profile Christian leader to share the gospel of Jesus Christ to members of the military. Last week the Pentagon created an uproar when the Army announced that it would rescind an invitation to Franklin Graham to speak at the Pentagon's National Prayer Day event on May 6. The radical Muslim group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations applauded the decision, calling the well-known evangelist "controversial." CAIR had pushed the Pentagon to disinvite Graham because he had told the truth about the violent teachings of Islam.   MORE Oklahoma Senate Overrides Governor Veto of Pro-Life Legislation Two bills putting restrictions on abortion in Oklahoma became law Tuesday morning after the Oklahoma Senate overrode Governor Brad Henry's veto. The governor had vetoed both bills, HB2780 and HB2656, on Friday. The House easily overrode the vetoes on Monday, before the Senate followed suit the next day.    MORE Noah's Ark Said To Be Found In Turkey THE remains of Noah's Ark have been discovered 13,000ft up a Turkish mountain, it has been claimed. A group of Chinese and Turkish evangelical explorers say they have found wooden remains on Mount Ararat in eastern Turkey. They claim carbon dating proves the relics are 4,800 years old — around the same time the ark was said to be afloat.  Yeung Wing-Cheung, from the Noah's Ark Ministries International research team, said: "It's not 100 per cent that it is Noah's Ark, but we think it is 99.9 per cent that this is it."      MORE Haitian Judge Clears 9 U.S. Christians of All Charges Kidnapping and criminal association charges against 10 U.S. Christians who tried to transport Haitian children out of the country to an orphanage have been dropped. However, the leader of the group of volunteers, Laura Silsby, still faces a charge of arranging irregular travel and will stand trial in Haiti, Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said...  MORE Poll: Support for Repeal of Health-Care Reform Law Increases After One Month A new national poll shows support for repealing the ObamaCare law has not abated in the month since its passage -- and has actually ticked upward.   MORE American Thinker: Liberty and the 'Death of God' ....Marx was the first major Western thinker to advocate a thoroughgoing philosophical materialism that denied any place for God, spirit, or mind.  As Marx understood, and intended, pure materialism of this sort does not lead to the Death of God; it is the Death of God. Everything was now permitted, because there was no transcendent moral standard against which one's actions could be judged. History was just the collision of differing points of view, the clash of wills -- like so many faceless and nameless atoms. MORE American Thinker: Was Jesus a Marxist? ...It's bad enough that the radicals want our children, our newspapers, our money, and our health care. But hijacking God?  The Left tried first to separate people from God. They banished Him from schools and government; they ridiculed and mocked believers. Their efforts having failed miserably (about 80% of all Americans still identity as Christian), so they turn to plan B: Contaminate the Word of God.    MORE American Thinker: The Jews of Silence The New York Times, in a front page article, described how President Obama appears to be reconsidering, if not turning away from, the historic strategic alliance between the U.S. and Israel.   MORE America's Founders on Prayer and the National Day of Prayer Since 1952, Congress has required the President to issue a proclamation designating “a National Day of Prayer, on which the people of the United States may turn to God in prayer and meditation at churches, in groups, and as individuals” (emphasis added). On April 15, 2010, Federal District Court Judge Barbara B. Crabb declared this requirement to be an unconstitutional “establishment of religion.”     MORE U.S. Postal Service Facing ‘Major Financial Crisis,’ Report Says Failure to achieve a “major restructuring” of the U.S. Postal Service “will increase the risk that taxpayers and the U.S. Treasury will have to provide financial relief,” says a recent report from the Government Accountability Office. “USPS is facing a major financial crisis,” projecting a record loss of over $7 billion in fiscal year 2010, says the April 22 GAO report. Moreover, without cost-cutting and revenue- raising measures, “USPS expects financial losses will escalate over the next decade.” In July 2009, the GAO said immediate attention was needed to improve its financial viability. Now, a year later, the Postal Service is close to exhausting its $15-billion borrowing limit.   MORE Church Planter Fired Over 'Beer and Bible' Very few things take church planter Charles Hill by surprise.  But when a group that agreed to support his new ministry work in the middle of a predominantly Mormon community suddenly pulled its financial backing and gave him the boot, he was totally caught off guard. Hill had just begun to host Bible studies and reach out to the unchu- rched and those who were seeking something outside of the dominant religious preference in Utah...He was alleg- edly let go because he drank half a beer in public during the new "Beer and Bible" meeting he started...   MORE Woman Impregnated by Rape at Age 12 Encourages Others to Choose Life "Don't worry, you're not going to have the baby...your womb is very young....you are very weak...it's going to be a high risk pregnancy...your life is in danger....you should consider it..." At the age of 12 years, after having been raped by a gang in her neighborhood, Lianna Rebolledo was told she was pregnant -- and the doctors wanted her to have an abortion. But Rebolledo, who is now 33 years old and works at a radio station in Los Angeles... MORE Singer Jennifer Knapp Questions Bible Translation on Homosexuality Jennifer Knapp, the Christian music artist who announced this month that she is gay, recently questioned the authenticity of Bible translations on the issue of homosexuality.  During her appearance on CNN’s Larry King Live on Friday, Knapp pointed out that believers rely on a text that is not in the original language. She said scholars have questioned the interpretation of the original Greek words that have been translated to homosexuality. MORE Update for Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 Palestinian Leader Calls On Obama to Impose Mideast Peace Deal Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called on President Barack Obama on Saturday to impose a Mideast peace deal, reflecting growing frustration with what Palestinians see as Washington's failure to wrangle concessions out of Israel's hardline government. In an unusually blunt appeal, Abbas said that if Obama believes Palestinian statehood is a vital U.S. interest, then the American leader must take forceful steps to bring it about.    MORE Franklin Graham's Pentagon Snub Reflects Obama's Influence Pentagon advisor Bob Maginnis doesn't think evangelist Franklin Graham would've been disinvited to speak at a prayer event in Washington, DC, if George W. Bush were still in the White House.     MORE Most Americans Say Judges Are Anti-Religious Sixty-four percent of Americans believe that rulings by judges in recent years have been more anti-religious than the Founding Fathers intended, a new poll shows. Only 21 percent of adults think the judges' rulings regarding religion in public life have correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution, according to Rasmussen Reports. MORE Bad Habits Can Age You By Twelve Years, Study Suggests  Four common bad habits combined - smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet - can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests. The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle. Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent.    MORE Larry King Goes On Attack of Christians Who Oppose Homosexual Lifestyle Whatever your view on homosexuality might be as it pertains to Christianity, there's probably one place one wouldn't go to seek clarity on the issue - a Jewish TV host that's in his seventh marriage. However, CNN, the so-called most trusted name in news, had "Larry King Live" host Larry King tackle this issue on his April 23 program in a special broadcast entitled "Can You Be Christian and Gay?" King's special featured recently-out Christian singer Jennifer Knapp, embattled former evangelical preacher Ted Haggard and Horizon Christian Fellowship Senior Pastor Bob Botsford.    MORE Bible Prophecy Today: End-Times Stage-Setting in View It becomes increasingly difficult each week to determine which Bible prophecy indicator to examine because so many signals of possible prophetic import beckon - no matter which way on the geopolitical, socioeconomic, geophysical, or religious world horizon one looks. So, because of length limitations, I've chosen only two items of likely prophetic significance for this update. Had we no such limits, the number of news items of possible prophetic relevance would be overwhelming, the stage-setting for Bible prophecy fulfillment is so prolific.   MORE Christian Post: Obama Visits Billy Graham for First Time President Obama visited Billy Graham for the first time on Sunday when he briefly met the elderly evangelist at his North Carolina home.  Obama, who was on vacation in nearby Asheville, made the short trip to Montreat where the 91-year-old “pastor to presidents” awaited him in his log cabin home. During their half-hour meeting, the two chatted about a variety of topics over coffee, including their wives, golf and Chicago....  MORE Son Says Fred Phelps' Church Won't Last The estranged son of a controversial Kansas pastor predicts that his father's anti-"gay" church will eventually die out. Nate Phelps spoke Saturday in Topeka, where his father, Fred Phelps, runs Westboro Baptist church. He described the fear and abuse he endured before leaving the family and church on his 18th birthday, and warned that extreme religious beliefs can jeopardize children's safety.   MORE Poll: GOP More Trusted to Bring Economy Out of Recession In just four months, the Democrats have seen a nine-point advantage on economic issues evaporate, according to a new Associated Press-GfK Poll. Both analysts and politicians across party lines agree the Democrats have lost their grip on the issue chiefly due to unemployment rates that have stuck near 10 percent since last summer, an ongoing foreclosure crisis and the recession that began in December 2007.     MORE Liberty U Taps Glenn Beck to Address Class of 2010 Liberty University has tapped radio host Glenn Beck to address its graduating class next month despite knowing that such a decision will be contested and criticized given the well-known conservative’s Mormon faith. Liberty Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr., announced Beck as one of two commencement speakers on Friday, calling the radio host “one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded.”  MORE Thousands Being Sterilized In China China is sterilizing -- sometimes by force -- 10,000 men and women suspected of violating the country's one-child policy....It is definitely not the first time the communist nation has taken major action against people to force compliance with the population-control laws -- so says Colin Mason of the Population Research Institute.   MORE Muslims Are a 'Protected Class' In UK An author and leading critic of Islam believes two recent incidents in Britain illustrate that Muslims are quickly becoming a protected class in that country. The London Times online recently reported that a British court threw out charges of violent disorder filed against a Muslim man for throwing a shoe during a protest. The court accepted the argument of the man's lawyer that shoe-throwing was "simply a ritual form of protest."   MORE Update for Monday, April 26th, 2010 Obama Visits Billy Graham In NC, Share a Prayer President Barack Obama made a pilgrimage Sunday to Billy Graham's mountainside home, concluding his North Carolina vacation with his first meeting with the ailing evangelist who has counseled commanders in chief since Dwight Eisenhower. The 48-year-old president made the short drive to Montreat from Asheville, where he spent the weekend, to see the 91-year-old Graham and son Franklin, also an evangelist.  MORE Survivors Share Stories of Salvation From Killer Storm One prayed to God under a communion table as his church was blown to pieces around him. Another was on the phone with a meteorologist when the tornado threw him against a cinderblock wall that held just long enough to save his life. A coroner nearly became a victim himself when the twister flipped his truck four times; later he went out in his hospital gown to help identify bodies.   MORE Denver Post: Colorado Evangelicals Singing Praises of New Bronco QB Pick Tim Tebow Many in Colorado's evangelical Christian community believe the Denver Broncos' first-round draft pick of quarterback Tim Tebow will give them a lot more to cheer about than just football. Like Tebow, they feel blessed by coach Josh McDaniels' choice. Tebow, an all-American, Heisman Trophy- and championship- winning Florida Gator, is also the home-schooled son of Christian missionaries. He wore Bible-verse citations on his game-day eye black and starred in a Super Bowl ad for Colorado Springs-based ministry Focus on the Family. "Tim Tebow is a lightning rod. This transcends football," said Bill McCartney, the former University of Colorado football coach and founder of the Promise Keepers Christian men's ministry.   MORE AP: Atheists, Religious Groups Lobby on Day of Prayer To pray or not to pray? That's the issue government leaders across the country are facing after a federal judge ruled that the National Day of Prayer set for May 6 was unconstitutional. The ruling can't take effect until all appeals are exhausted, but that's not stopping atheists and prayer advocates from firing off letters, e-mails and even planning to put up billboards to convince state and local leaders across the country to see things their way.  MORE James Dobson's Successor Gives Mega-Ministry New Focus Jim Daly is certain there is "a right way and a wrong way" to live one's life, and it's all about Jesus Christ and a literal reading of the Bible. But the new leader of the evangelical ministry Focus on the Family isn't going to get in your face if you disagree.   MORE Compromise at Liberty: Glenn Beck To Give Commencement Address In today's confusing times, we need clear Biblical messages. By allowing Glenn Beck, a Mormon, to speak at Liberty University's Commencement, Liberty's message becomes off-focus. According to the Liberty University's website, Glenn Beck will address Liberty University's Class of 2010 Commencement on Saturday, May 15. He will be joined by popular Baptist preacher Dr. Paige Patterson.    MORE Buddhist Extremists in Bangladesh Beat, Take Christians Captive Buddhist members of an armed rebel group and their sympathizers are holding three tribal Christians captive in a pagoda in southeastern Bangladesh after severely beating them in an attempt to force them to return to Buddhism, Christian sources said.   MORE Out of Ur: What Evangelicals and Atheists Have in Common ...It appears some New Atheists are incorporating the very traits they’ve often condemned about evangelicals—intolerance, dogmatism, and now even the church’s penchant for schism. It seems anything can be turned into a religion, even anti-religion. But we should take no delight in pointing out the speck in the atheists’ eye while a log remains firmly lodged in our own. MORE World Mag: When Conservative Denominations Decline If your denomination is 25-years-old or older, it is has likely peaked and plateaued in terms of numbers and influence—unless you are from a Pentecostal or Charismatic tradition. The pace of social change is faster in our era than ever before and denominations cannot keep up. As denominations grow they become slow, more bureaucratic, less creative, and less innovative. MORE Toledo Blade: Online Missionaries Spread Gospel In Cyberspace For 2,000 years, Christian missionaries have traveled to foreign lands to spread the Gospel. Today, there are thousands of missionaries preaching around the world without leaving home. Sometimes even while wearing pajamas...The latest estimates report that 1.8 billion people are on the Internet, and every day, she said, they make "2 million searches for spiritual needs." MORE Sharper Iron: Are Tongues for Today? ...The case for the cessationism of revelatory gifts has been, I believe, objectively convincing for years. Unfortunately, not all arguments that are objectively convincing prove subjectively persuasive, particularly when the only ground of persuasion acceptable to some subjects is experiental in nature.  MORE Global Restrictions on Religion Report Is Revealing to Christian Ministries Brian Grim, senior researcher at Pew Forum, recently briefed a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee summarizing the recent 72-page PF report entitled Global Restrictions on Religion...Are American missionaries capable of operating in environments where government pressure is five times greater than in America? What about social antagonism that is 7 times greater? Has American culture made an atmosphere that weakens missionary competency? MORE Com. Central's South Park Mocks Christianity, Censors Anti-Muslim Content It is bigotry and discrimination at its worst to protect one faith tradition, Islam, and allow others to be mocked and ridiculed. South Park has a long history of mocking Christianity and its values which Comedy Central has repeatedly aired. By bowing to the pressure of radical Islamic extremists, Comedy Central shows their utter contempt for free speech, their cowardice and their distain for religious tolerance and equality.  MORE Pastor, Wife Killed in Northern Nigeria Suspected Islamic extremists last week abducted and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria. The Rev. Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina were buried on Saturday (April 17) after unidentified assailants reportedly whisked them from their church headquarters home on Tuesday (April 13) and killed them. Their burnt bodies were found hours later.  MORE Could Gay Protections Trump Religious Freedom? Gay rights advocates often claim that gay Americans are denied employment, fired from their jobs, or otherwise discriminated against just because they are gay.  In response, advocacy groups have been pushing for a federal law to protect lesbian, gay, bi-sexual or transgendered individuals from employment discrimination.  But some wonder if such a law could endanger the religious freedom Americans have enjoyed since this country was founded.  MORE Debt Crisis in Greece Top Issue at Finance Meeting  The deepening Greek debt crisis remains uppermost in the minds of financial leaders as they wrap up a weekend conference pledging to address the risks facing the global economic recovery. One danger arises from governments with budgets deeply in the red, such as Greece. Another, perhaps more worrisome, is still-rising unemployment in many advanced countries. Finance ministers and central bankers agreed that recovery from the deepest....  MORE IMF Puts Focus on World Debt Burden Unemployment and the growing burden of sovereign debt in the developed world are the two largest threats to the global economic recovery, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said Saturday.  "All the ministers and governors are clearly aware that the recovery is here...but we really have to take into consideration the different downsides that may materialize," Mr. Strauss-Kahn said at a...  MORE Update for Weekend, April 24th-25th, 2010 Outrage Builds Over Graham's Rejection at Pentagon Pro-family leaders and a U.S. Senator have joined a growing list of conservatives expressing outrage over the Pentagon's decision this week to tell evangelist Franklin Graham that he is barred from taking part in a National Day of Prayer event at the military headquarters.   MORE Could Rise In Autism Be Connected to Aborted Fetal DNA in Vaccines?  – A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has confirmed 1988 as a “change point” in the rise of Autism Disorder rates in the U.S. - a date that pro-life leaders say correlates with the introduction of fetal cells for use in vaccines.  While the EPA study does not speculate into the cause of the jump in autism rates, and makes no mention of aborted fetal cells, the researchers point out that it “is important to determine whether a preventable exposure to an environmental factor may be associated with the increase.” According to the pro-life group Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute (SCPI), which specializes in vaccine research, that “environmental factor” may well be the use of aborted fetal cells in vaccines.  MORE Christian Theologian on Earth Day: ‘Climate Change Is the Totalitarian’s Dream Come True’ For E. Calvin Beisner and his colleagues at the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation (CASC), every day is Earth Day because Christians are called by God to be good stewards of the planet and its inhabitants. Beisner believes that it is not carbon emissions but global warming activism and international climate treaties that are a threat to the nation’s future and the world’s poorest populations.  MORE Democrat Schumer Blasts Obama on Israel Policy  Sen. Charles Schumer says President Barack Obama's policies on Israel are counter-productive and should stop. According to Politico's Ben Smith, Schumer's pointed criticism came during an appearance on a radio talk show. Schumer specifically referenced the Obama administration's reprimand of Israel last month over construction in Jerusalem.   MORE Franklin Graham Dropped from Pentagon Prayer Event The Army rescinded its invitation to Franklin Graham to speak at the Pentagon for the National Day of Prayer over concerns about his remarks about Islam. Army spokesman Col. Tom Collins said Thursday that Graham’s comments about Islam were “not appropriate.”   MORE Survey: Protestant Pastors View Islam with Suspicion Protestant pastors in the U.S. have a negative view of Islam and more than half agree with Franklin Graham’s statement that Islam is an “evil” religion, according to a just-released study by LifeWay Research. More than 4 in 10 agree that Islam is dangerous and promotes violence.  MORE Obama’s Own HHS Says Health Care Bill Will Cost More Than Projected Economic experts at the Health and Human Services Department concluded in a report issued Thursday that the new health care law will raise projected spending by about 1 percent over 10 years -- or possibly more than 1 percent. MORE 'Idol Gives Back' -- To Pro-Abortion Groups Once again, "American Idol" is aligning itself with pro-abortion groups: among the groups benefiting this year's "Idol Gives Back" fund-raising campaign are Save the Children and the United Nations Foundation, both of which have ties to top abortion organizations, reports Life Decisions International (LDI). Save the Children has a working relationship with what it calls "prominent international organizations." Several of these groups are actively pro-abortion, including Better World Fund, Center for Reproductive Rights, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Population Action International, and the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.   MORE Top Law Firms Says Government Funded Abortion is a Human Right A top abortion-rights law firm recently released its conclusion that the last decade of international legal trends indicate that abortion is not only an international human right, but that government funding is part of that right. They claim that the “vicious” health care debate in the United States over abortion funding shows that the U.S. is flouting international law.  MORE Doug Kutilek: Beware Every Kind of Greed  It is now some dozen years, perhaps more, since I heard a professor from Dallas Theological Seminary, a Dr. Green as I recall, preach at a missions conference in Wichita. His text was the famous parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13-21), who planned to tear down his barns to build bigger ones for his surplus crops. He supposed that with his material needs abundantly provided for, he was on easy street and would enjoy a long and relaxing retirement... MORE Christian Oil Exploration Company Expands Reach in Israel A Christian-owned company exploring for oil in Israel plans to expand its drilling operations through a partnership that includes the purchase a 2,000-horsepower drilling rig. In a deal announced this week, Zion Oil & Gas will form a subsidiary tentatively called Zion Drilling Inc. through a partnership with Aladdin Middle East Ltd. (AME).  MORE Chuck Colson: Lessons from a Coal Mine Last Friday, West Virginia observed a “Day of Honor and Mourning” in remembrance of the 29 men killed at an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine. In his proclamation, Governor Joe Manchin asked miners and mine operators to “commit to one day focused completely on making their workplace as safe as possible in honor of the [killed] miners.” For our part, we should commit to not taking the people who make our way of life possible for granted.  MORE School Prayer at Issue in Florida The Florida legislature is working on a measure that some are calling a "school prayer bill." Lawmakers in Florida are considering a measure that supporters say would help protect the First Amendment rights of students and teachers. The bill is in response to a 2008 lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union against Santa Rosa schools -- one that led to a consent order that many believe violates the prayer rights of teachers.  MORE Montana Group Excluded, 'Too Religious' Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed suit against Montana over an employee charitable gift fund. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a Christian-based organization. ADF attorney Jonathan Scruggs tells OneNewsNow that state employees can have money withheld from their paychecks and given to any on a list of qualifying organizations such as NARAL and the ACLU. MORE Church Seeks to Overturn SC Judge's Erskine Ruling A Protestant denomination has asked an appeals court to overturn a judge's order retaining the existing board of trustees of Erskine College. The Greenville News reports that the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church has asked the South Carolina Court of Appeals to overturn an order by Circuit Judge Eugene Griffith in a fight over who appoints trustees. MORE Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Against Baptist University Kentucky's Supreme Court has ruled that a Baptist university cannot keep $11 million awarded by state lawmakers to open a pharmacy school. A homosexual-rights group filed suit in 2006 challenging state funding for the University of the Cumberlands after it expelled a homosexual student for posting comments about his orientation and dating on the Internet. MORE Pentecostal Leaders Talk Faith Healing, Reject Hyper-Faith Movement Executive leaders at the Assemblies of God recently affirmed the role churches and pastors have in faith healing. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Pentecostal denomination, said every church service should include a time when people are given the opportunity to be prayed for, whether it's for physical or spiritual healing.    MORE Update for Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 Jerome Corsi: The Next Bubble To Burst?  $600 Trillion! As interest rates begin to rise worldwide, losses in derivatives may end up bankrupting a wide range of institutions, including municipalities, state governments, major insurance companies, top investment houses, commercial banks and universities. Defaults now beginning to occur in a number of European cities prefigure what may end up being the largest financial bubble ever to burst – a bubble that today amounts to more than $600 trillion. MORE Army Considers Rescinding Invitation to Evangelist Franklin Graham The Army says it's considering whether to rescind an invitation to evangelist Franklin Graham to appear at the Pentagon on the National Day of Prayer after a religious liberty group complained about his description of Islam as "evil." Col. Tom Collins says leaders met Wednesday and that withdrawing the invitation "is on the table."   MORE 'Mark of the Beast' Idea Back On the Table In Congress Objections are being raised over a proposed immigration reform measure that involves a provision calling for a national ID card. Senators Charles Schumer (D-New York) and Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) have proposed the biometric national ID card, but a coalition of groups has written a letter voicing opposition to it. John Whitehead, president of the Rutherford Institute, tells OneNewsNow that everyone seeking employment will be required to present the biometric ID, and employers will have to use scanners to verify citizenship. MORE Koran Inspired Murders In Chicago Being Whitewashed By Authorities, Media Prosecutors in Cook County said Friday that James Larry, a Chicago Muslim, has confessed to brutally murdering his wife, his seven-month old son Jihad, and two of his nieces. According to the Chicago Tribune, Larry was a prison convert to Islam who had been arguing with his wife over her refusal to become a Muslim and wear Islamic clothing. His sister revealed that he had been clutching a copy of the Koran and telling relatives that “something in the book told him to kill someone.” Were James Larry a Christian, his murders would be front-page headlines, and talking heads on all the networks would be discussing in hushed tones the dangers of Christian...  MORE Obama's Gay Memo 'Perpetuating a Political Agenda' It's a mixed bag that has all the earmarks of an effort to undermine the federal Defense of Marriage Act -- that's how some are describing an executive memo signed last week by President Obama.     MORE Lawmakers Defend Day of Prayer After Court Ruling About two dozen members of Congress on Wednesday condemned a federal judge's ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, saying prayer has long been part of the country's history.   MORE Update for Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 Atheist Group: ‘National Day of Reason' Instead of 'National Day of Prayer' The White House says President Obama will proclaim May 6 as the National Day of Prayer, but the American Humanist Association is urging him instead to recognize the atheist movement's "response" --the National Day of Reason. MORE Congress Backs Israel - Even If Obama Doesn't The leader of a Messianic Jewish ministry is very encouraged that three-fourths of both the House and Senate have sent a resounding message of pro-Israel support to the Obama administration. According to the Unity Coalition for Israel, strong letters of support for the Jewish state were sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The House letter was signed by 333 members, and 76 lawmakers added a signature to the Senate letter.   MORE Ken Timmerman: Jewish Leaders Disturbed by Obama's Israel Policy The president of the World Jewish Congress has written a letter to President Barack Obama urging him to end friction with Israel and to take action against Iran's nuclear ambitions. He joins a cadre of Jewish  leaders including Elie Wiesel who are raising their voices over Obama's Israel policy. The letter, written by WJC President Ronald S. Lauder on April 15, urges Obama “to confront the real challenges that we face together . . . ensuring Iran does not get nuclear weapons.”.  MORE Group Wants Franklin Graham Pentagon Event Canceled A watchdog group objected Tuesday to an evangelist's invitation to speak at the Pentagon next month, saying his past description of Islam as "evil" offended Muslims who work for the Department of Defense and the appearance should be canceled.  MORE Chinese Authorities Orchestrate Brutal Sterilization Round-Up of Thousands Chinese authorities in southern China are waging a brutal 20-day campaign to round up 10,000 men and women and have them sterilized for violating the state’s birth control quotas, reports the UK Times Online.  MORE Volcano Halts Some Missionary Work in Europe The huge volcanic ash cloud over Europe has not only left thousands of travelers stranded worldwide, but it has also frustrated the travel plans of some mission workers.   MORE Tebow: I Lost Endorsement Opportunities over Pro-Life Ad Tim Tebow recently told a sold-out crowd at Lipscomb University that "multiple companies told him before the Super Bowl that they could not let him represent their products if he went ahead with his pro-life commercial at the Super Bowl," according to the Palm Beach Post.   MORE Battle Over School's Non-Discrimination Policy Reaches High Court The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Monday in a case pitting a public law school’s non-discrimination policy against a Christian student group’s belief-based requisites. In just a little over an hour, the court heard from both sides of the debate and mulled over a number of hypothetical situations ranging from racist skinheads in an NAACP club to the takeover of a Muslim group by anti-Muslim students.  MORE Haiti Judge: Charges Against All 10 Volunteers Stand Despite news on the contrary, the Haitian judge overseeing the case of the ten American volunteers who tried to take children out of the country said Monday that all charges remain standing.    MORE Pastor: What Would Jesus Say to Tiger Woods and Jesse James? What would Jesus say to Tiger Woods and Jesse James?" posed the pastor of a Texas megachurch. Addressing the recent celebrity scandals and adulterous affairs that have been adorning tabloids and magazines for the past several months, Pastor Kerry Shook of Woodlands Church challenged the congregation not to cast any more stones than have already been thrown.  MORE Is Obama's Stem Cell Executive Order Lawful? A lawsuit against a presidential edict to use federal funds for embryonic stem-cell research has gone to an appeals court. On March 9, 2009, President Obama issued an executive order, rescinding an order from former President George W. Bush that prohibited federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research. Steven H. Aden of the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) argued in court that the Obama administration is violating federal law. MORE Two Lesbians Listed as “Parents” in UK Birth Certificate First Two lesbians have become the first in the U.K. to be allowed to enter their names as “parents” on the birth certificate of a child they obtained through in vitro fertilization, under the provisions of the Labour government’s Human Fertilization and Embryology Act 2008.  MORE Update for Tuesday, April 20th, 2010 Campus Faith Group Takes Fight to Supreme Court The Supreme Court on Monday will take up a case that pits anti-discrimination efforts against freedom of speech, setting the stage for a ruling with the potential to affect everything from how government contracts are issued to who can join high school after-school groups. The case, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, revolves around a student group at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law that requires its officers and voting members to be Christian and adhere to core religious principles, including those against homosexuality and sex outside of marriage. MORE Poll: 80% of Americans Don't Trust Washington America's "Great Compromiser" Henry Clay called government "the great trust," but most Americans today have little faith in Washington's ability to deal with the nation's problems. Public confidence in government is at one of the lowest points in a half century, according to a survey from the Pew Research Center. Nearly 8 in 10 Americans say they don't trust the federal government and have little faith it can solve America's ills, the survey found. MORE The Weakening of America from Within On 10 April 2010, actor Jon Voight made an appearance on tFox News where he read a message to the American people. His message was direct and succinct, and he stated that in his first year in office, Obama has significantly weakened America. Mr. Voight correctly states that via Obama’s training and implementation of the Alinski method, “a socialistic, Marxist teaching… he rapes this nation, taking down our defenses, making new language for the Islamic extremists.” Those who may dismiss Voight or the venue of  his message may prefer to instead read yesterday’s article in the New York Times, where it was confirmed that Barack Hussein Obama’s promise of a “new relationship” to the Muslim world has indeed been implemented. MORE Employment Non-Discrimination Act: Its Effect on Your Kids, Schools Pro-family advocate Andrea Lafferty is warning about the potential ramifications of ENDA, pro-homosexual legislation that has been revived in Congress. Congress is moving ahead on plans to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009 (H.R. 3017). The bill presents a lot of problems, according to Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition, who says it requires that every state, local, and federal government and businesses with 15 or more employees comply with the law.  MORE Balancing the One-Sided 'Gay' Message A group that supports the ex-"gay" community is encouraging students, parents, and educators to distribute a flyer in schools alongside homosexual-themed clubs to provide a balanced perspective on sexual orientation. MORE Tim Tebow: Stand for Something Be willing to stand alone and to stand for something, former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow told college students over the weekend. Just days before the National Football League 2010 draft, Tebow was in Nashville inspiring students at Lipscomb University and confirming his plans to use his pro career as a platform for modeling his Christian faith.  MORE Nigerian Pastor's Murder Prompts Increased Security A northern, Muslim-majority state in Nigeria ramped up security on Sunday in response to the murder of a local pastor and his wife earlier in the week. Some 200 police officers were deployed around the capital of Bauchi state, which has a history of sectarian violence, as investigation is underway, said Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Baurau to Agence France Presse. MORE J.N. Wilford: New Hope for Ancient Babylon? The most immediate threat to preserving the ruins of Babylon, the site of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, is water soaking the ground and undermining what is left in present-day Iraq of a great city from the time of King Nebuchadnezzar II. It is also one of the oldest threats. The king himself faced water problems 2,600 years ago. Neglect, reckless reconstruction and wartime looting have also taken their toll in recent times, but archaeologists and experts in the preservation of cultural relics say nothing substantial should be done to correct that until the water problem is brought under control. A current study, known as the Future of Babylon project, documents the damage from water mainly associated with the Euphrates River and irrigation systems nearby.   MORE Albuquerque - The World's Next Abortion Capital? Local pro-life groups are getting prepared to deal with a late-term abortion facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Operation Rescue president Troy Newman recently visited "The Duke City" to plan strategy with local pro-lifers, and he explains why that city has taken on fresh importance.  MORE The Syrian Missile Crisis: Threat of War Very Real The threat of a regional war involving Syria, Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel is more ominous today that it has been at any time since the end of the brief summer war of 2006. The hair-trigger this time involves the reported Syrian delivery of WMD-capable SS-1C "Scud-B" ballistic missiles or, according to anonymous Israeli sources the SS-1E "Scud D," to the Shi'a terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.   MORE Texas School District Brings Back the Paddle In an age where the notion of corporal punishment has become increasingly taboo, some parents ask, "Should I spank my kids?" One school district says "yes."  MORE Update for Monday, April 19th, 2010 GOP, Obama Ready For a Fight Over High Court Pick Expect a fight. Enlist supporters but keep them in line. Protect secrecy. Reach out to opponents even though you can't woo them. Inside the White House, those are some of the lessons learned from the selection and confirmation of President Barack Obama's first Supreme Court nominee last year. With a vacancy coming this summer on the nine-member court, those lessons amount to a road map for how Obama will choose the next justice...  MORE Newsmax Health: Ten Tips To Fight Springtime Pollen Spring of 2010 is shaping up to be one of the worst allergy seasons in years. "We're seeing people come in who are complaining of feeling run-down and tired," Dr. Stanley Fineman of the Atlanta Allergy and Asthma Clinic said. "They're sneezing. Their eyes are itching. Some people are coughing. They are really affected by the pollen." MORE Stage Tricks Of TV Faith Healers Revealed You've seen them on TV before. TV Faith healers such as Benny Hinn and others perform what appear to look like awesome miracles of God before an audience of thousands of faithful in auditoriums. But, like any stage magic show, many of these stunts are simply clever illusions or show business type tricks.     MORE High Court to Hear Christian Student Club's Case The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Monday in a case pitting a public law school’s non-discrimination policy against a Christian student group’s faith-based requisite. The high court justices had agreed in December to intervene in the case of Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, which was first filed in 2004 after Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco denied official recognition to the local chapter of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) over its refusal to abide by the school’s non-discrimination policy.   MORE Ark. School District: All Fliers OK... Except ‘Church-Related’ Ones Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against the Pulaski County Special School District on behalf of a student and her mother, who were both prohibited from participating in Sherwood Elementary School’s literature distribution program because their fliers were “church-related.” MORE Planned Parenthood Caught Giving Misleading Medical Information A new undercover video reveals medically inaccurate abortion counseling at a tax-funded Milwaukee Planned Parenthood clinic. The video, released by the youth-led pro-life group Live Action, records Planned Parenthood staff distorting basic facts of fetal development and pressuring a woman to have an abortion.  MORE Albert Mohler Commentary: Can Animals Be Gay? Efforts to claim a genetic basis for homosexuality are rooted in the assumption that our genes tell us what God’s intention for us is. In a fallen world, that is a faulty assumption. Only the Word of God can tell us what God’s intention is.    MORE Christians OK with Gay Hospital Visitation Rights Some Christian leaders have expressed support for President Obama’s order to extend hospital visitation and health care decision rights of same-sex couples. The leaders agree with the president that patients, whatever their sexual orientation, need their love ones by their sides and have a right to choose who they want to make medical decisions on their behalf. MORE Miami Herald: Church Activists Are Attacking Social Issues Members of 21 Broward churches are rallying against crime, pushing for affordable housing and showing solidarity before taking issues to county officials in April.  MORE London Times: China Tries To Sterilize 10,000 Parents Over One-Child Rule Doctors in southern China are working around the clock to fulfil a government goal to sterilise — by force if necessary — almost 10,000 men and women who have violated birth control policies.    MORE Eternal Viewpoint: The Sum of American Conservatism Wisdom flows from the fear of the Lord. This is a very basic truth taught in the wisdom books of the Bible. A wise man understands how life really works and orders his life to produce the best outcomes, based on the fear of the Lord. In the twenty-eighth chapter of Job, a wise and righteous man sums up where wisdom comes from.   MORE Update for Weekend, April 17th-18th, 2010 Obama Urged to Appeal National Prayer Day Ruling Just weeks away from the annual National Day of Prayer, a federal judge ruled on Thursday that the day is unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb struck down a federal statute creating the "National Day of Prayer," concluding that it connotes endorsement and encouragement of a particular religious exercise.   MORE Prayer Ruling Flawed, Says Christian Legal Fund At least one Christian legal firm says yesterday's ruling on the National Day of Prayer is flawed and likely will be overturned. In her ruling, Crabb wrote that government involvement in prayer is constitutional only as long as it does not call for religious action, which the prayer day does. MORE Federal Judge Strikes Down Nat'l Day of Prayer A federal judge on Thursday struck down the federal statute that established the National Day of Prayer, ruling that it violates the constitutional ban on government-backed religion. "[I]ts sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function," a Wisconsin judge wrote in the ruling, referring to the 1952 law that created the National Day of Prayer. "In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience," wrote the judge, Barbara B. Crabb.  MORE Legal Experts Blast Judge’s Decision: ‘If National Day of Prayer Is Unconstitutional, the Constitution Is Unconstitutional’ Conservative legal experts say a federal district judge in Wisconsin had no legal basis for declaring the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional – and predict the decision cannot stand.    MORE Haiti Drops Kidnapping Charges Against 9 U.S. Christians Haiti has dropped all charges against nine of ten American Christians who were arrested in January. Idaho Sen. Jim Risch was informed of the dropped charges Thursday afternoon by the State Department, according to Kyle Hines, a spokesman for Risch.  MORE Mars Hill Blog: Seven Ways to Be a Missionary in College At many universities, the nations come to you. The University of Washington has over 100 different countries represented, which means you can be a cross-cultural missionary by knocking on the dorm or apartment door across the hall...The college years are an amazing time to be on mission, reaching your friends with the life-changing good news of Jesus. How? Here are some ideas...  MORE Gay Visitation Order Shows How Obama Brings Big Change with Small Actions President Obama's decision Thursday night to grant same-sex couples hospital visitation rights is the latest and most visible example of a strategy to make concrete steps toward equality for gays and lesbians without sparking a broad cultural debate or a fight with Congress.      MORE New Effort Launched to Protect Rights of Churches A Christian legal group has launched a new effort aimed at protecting churches from excessive and unconstitutional government intrusion. Launched Wednesday, Alliance Defense Fund’s Church Project provides legal information to pastors and ministry leaders on how to defend their religious freedom as well as... MORE NYT/CBS Poll: 52% Say Obama Moving America Towards Socialism A New York Times/CBS News poll found that a majority of Americans, 52 percent, think the policies of President Barack Obama are moving the United States toward socialism Published April 14, the poll surveyed the political, racial, and social opinions of both the general pubic and self-described members of the tea party movement. It found that while tea party participants are generally more conservative than the broader population, they are also better...   MORE Humanists Unveil 'In Good We Trust' Billboard A national humanist group has unveiled a new billboard that replaces the word “God” in the national motto so that the new phrase reads “In Good We Trust.” The new billboard, which features an image of a U.S. quarter with the revised motto, went up last week in Moscow, Idaho. It is the latest in a series of billboards...    MORE Christian Health Care 'Co-ops' Rely On Faith, Not Subject to Obamacare ...It’s the same argument used by other recognized religious groups, including the Amish, whose members long have been able to be exempted from paying taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Based on that exemption, such groups may also opt out of the mandatory insurance requirement under the new law. MORE 'Hurt' Drives Many Out of Church A new survey shows that many adults identify themselves as Christians, but no longer attend church because they've been wronged by fellow believers. According to the survey conducted by the Barna Group, 28 percent of the adult population (roughly 65 million people) has not attended any church activities in the past six months. Also, the survey discovered a large majority of the country's un-churched population consider themselves... MORE Abortion, Suicide Often Go Hand-in-Hand Mental health risks are becoming increasingly associated with women who have had an abortion. According to Dr. David Reardon, director of the Elliot Institute, a number of studies indicate an elevated risk of suicide following an abortion. "About [one]-fourth of women who report having negative reactions to abortion will also report that they attempted suicide at least once, and suicidal thoughts are even more common," Reardon reports. MORE Scientists, Creationists Agree: 'Sediba' is No 'Missing Link' Two fossils that were discovered in South Africa nearly two years ago are causing a stir today after two articles published recently in the journal Science introduced them as members of a new species that “might help reveal the ancestor” of the genus Homo.  MORE American Thinker: The Great Political War Obama Never Expected Man proposes and God disposes. A big part of the trouble for Barack Obama and all those crackerjack leftwing strategists and the brigades of Alinsky thugketeers is that they've never gotten the hang of the second part of that old axiom. For the left, God disposes of nothing, because God is, well, nothing more than an opiate. The rest of us who believe in God know otherwise.   MORE American Thinker: Liberal Narcissism and Anti-Christian Phobia ...For the most part, psychologists today deny or ignore anti-Christian prejudice in the American conversation. This is because psychologists are overwhelming politically liberal and spiritually humanist. In social science, bias in is bias out.    MORE Update for Thursday, April 15th, 2010 Nebraska Gov. Signs Landmark Abortion Bills Nebraska’s governor signed two landmark bills Tuesday that put unprecedented restrictions on abortions performed in the state.   MORE Am. Thinker: Would a Palestinian State Solve America's Middle East Problems? Given the current view espoused in much of the media that the Palestinian-Israeli squabble is the root of all or much of America's poor image in the Arab world, we might want to examine whether creating a Palestinian state -- in whichever form of borders -- would indeed solve the problems that the United States finds itself confronting in the Middle East, and whether a Palestinian state would improve America's popularity in the region. MORE Commencements Tilting Decidedly Left As colleges and universities across the country get ready for spring graduation ceremonies, one conservative organization is releasing data it says shows a "clear liberal bias" in schools' selection of commencement speakers. CampusReform.org is composing a growing list of 2010 commencement speakers. MORE U.S. Officials: Iran Could Have Nuke in One Year The Obama administration seems to want to have it both ways, raising the fears of an imminent, nuclear-armed Iran while saying a real threat isn’t on the horizon. On Wednesday, after officials testified the Islamic Republic could have a nuclear bomb in a year, a general backtracked and said it would take longer to make it “usable.”  MORE Study: Networks Snub, Malign Tea Party Movement The big three television networks virtually ignored the massive, grass-roots "tea party" surge in 2009, and so far this year have maligned the movement as teeming with racists and violent fringe figures, according to a report by the Media Research Center.  MORE American Thinker: The Scientific Socialism of Today A certain kind of mind believes that human beings exist as objects to be experimented upon as society is perfected by the privileged class -- a utopia engineered by elites. There's a reason why Engels called it Scientific Socialism.   MORE Vatican Goes Into Damage Control Mode Over Abuse The Vatican has gone into full-fledged damage control mode in the priest sex abuse scandal ahead of the Pope's first foreign trip since it erupted. Officials are promising surprising new initiatives. The Pope's personal secretary is speaking out. And bishops around the world are being told to report abuse cases to the police.  MORE Update for Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 It's Starting....USA Facing a Serious Doctor Shortage The new federal health-care law has raised the stakes for hospitals and schools already scrambling to train more doctors. Experts warn there won't be enough doctors to treat the millions of people newly insured under the law. At current graduation and training rates, the nation could face a shortage of as many as 150,000 doctors in the next 15 years, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges.   MORE Huckabee Likens Gay Marriage to Incest, Polygamy Mike Huckabee, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, says the effort to allow gays and lesbians to marry is comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy and drug use. Huckabee also told college journalists last week that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt. "Children are not puppies," he said.  MORE Foes of Tea Parties Will Infiltrate Rallies Opponents of the fiscally conservative Tea Party movement say they plan to infiltrate and dismantle the political group by trying to make its members appear to be racist, homophobic, and moronic. Jason Levin, creator of CrashTheTeaParty.org, says the group has 65 leaders in major cities across the country who are trying to recruit members to infiltrate Tea Party events for April 15 -- tax filing day. He says they want to exaggerate the group's least appealing qualities, further distance the Tea Party from mainstream America, and damage the public's opinion of them. The Tea Party movement generally unites on the fiscally conservative principles of small government, lower taxes, and less spending. Beyond that, the ideology of the people involved tends to vary dramatically. Pope's No. 2: Pedophilia Linked to Homosexuality The Vatican's second-highest authority says the sex scandals haunting the Roman Catholic Church are linked to homosexuality and not celibacy among priests. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's secretary of state, made the comments during a news conference Monday in Chile, where one of the church's highest-profile pedophile cases involves a priest having sex with young girls.  MORE As Unity Unravels, a Battle for Haitian Souls is Stirring In their search for answers about the catastrophic quake, pious survivors of the quake have begun to look askance at fellow Christian denominations and nonbelievers...three months after the earthquake, the relationship among faiths has evolved from one of rare unity to a fight for the Haitian soul. All hope to increase followers even as they assign blame for the quake.  MORE Survey: 3 in 5 Unchurched Americans are Christian About three out every five unchurched persons in America are self-described Christians, according to a new survey unveiled Monday. Notably, however, a majority of these self-identified unchurched Christians hold a biblical view of God, reports The Barna Group, which conducted the survey. MORE Pro-life Students Stand Up to Campus Officials The University of Calgary is again threatening pro-life students in a fashion those students feel is discriminatory. University officials are apparently preparing to take action against a pro-life student group demonstrating on campus. Last year, members of the group faced criminal trespass charges...MORE Evangelical Professor at Center of Evolution Flap Sets Record Straight The evangelical professor who resigned from his position last week following the commotion over a pro-evolution video set the record straight over the weekend with an open letter to his colleagues.   MORE Joyce Meyer Joins Critics of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill Charismatic preacher Joyce Meyer has added herself to the list of prominent U.S. ministry leaders who have spoken out against Uganda’s highly contentious Anti-Homosexuality Bill.   MORE Pastors, Theologians to Reaffirm 'Unadjusted' Gospel of Christ Conservative pastors and theologians will convene in Louisville, Ky., starting Tuesday for a biennial conference to reaffirm the central doctrine of the Christian faith.  MORE Update for Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 US and Israel: An Unsettled Alliance The world clustered around Barack Obama yesterday – with one very notable exception. Leaders of some 40 countries, from Argentina and Armenia to China and India, gathered in Washington to attend the nuclear security summit convoked by the US president. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, stayed away. MORE Florida Doctor Aborts, Kills Wrong Twin A Florida obstetrician-gynecologist performing an operation to abort a supposedly "deformed" fetus with Down syndrome in a twin pregnancy instead killed the healthy one with a lethal injection of a chemical, according to The Miami Herald. The Herald said Dr. Matthew J. Kachinas mixed up the twins. MORE Christianity Today: The Post-Protestant Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, described in media reports as the last remaining Protestant on the Supreme Court, announced Friday that he would retire. In 2006, the court began to have a Catholic majority. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito tend to fall on the conservative side of the court compared to fellow Catholic Justices Sonya Sotomayor and Anthony Kennedy. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer are Jewish.    MORE Unshrouding the Science of the Shroud The exact history of Turin shroud, which has gone on display for the first time in 10 years, is hotly disputed. So what do we know about its authenticity? It's perhaps the most controversial religious artefact in the world. The Shroud of Turin cloth that supposedly wrapped Jesus's body after the crucifixion and became imprinted with his image, has intrigued millions of believers and sceptics alike. MORE Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Repeal Falls Short Gay rights activists say they have failed to qualify a measure that would repeal California's same-sex marriage ban for the November ballot. Restore Equality 2010 chairman Sean Bohac says the volunteer-run group fell short of gathering the nearly 695,000 signatures needed to put the initiative before voters. Monday was the deadline for submitting the signatures to the Secretary of State's Office.   MORE Westboro Baptist Church Is Too Extreme Even for Klu Klux Klan  In an astonishing display of common sense the Klu Klux Klan has releasd a statement repudiating the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church, denying any connection or sympathy with the hate group.  MORE West Virginia Governor Calls for Moment of Silence for Miners The governor of West Virginia is asking people across the nation to join in a moment of silence Monday afternoon to honor the 29 men who were killed last Monday in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1972.  MORE Popular Atheists Want Pope Arrested During U.K. Visit  Atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins wants Pope Benedict XVI to be arrested during his state visit to Britain in September. Dawkins and atheist author Christopher Hitchens have approached human rights lawyers about whether the pontiff can be arrested over his alleged cover-up of child abuse by Catholic priests. MORE End of the Line for Pro-Life Democrats A conservative writer says the retirement of Congressman Bart Stupak is the official "obituary" for the phrase "pro-life Democrat." Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Michigan) announced Friday he would not be seeking another term in Congress. The nine-term lawmaker angered both the right and the left with his stance on the Democrats' healthcare bill, which he eventually voted for despite its inclusion of taxpayer-funded abortion.  MORE Christian Movie Moves Into Box Office Top 10 Faith-based movie “Letters to God” rounded out the box office top ten in its debut weekend with a gross of $1.25 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. MORE Religious Left Funds New Film Campaign Against Israel The head of a Protestant renewal organization is blasting the so-called "evangelical left" for producing a film that is nothing more than anti-Israel propaganda. With God on Our Side, released Thursday, rebuts pro-Israel Christians by trying to persuade them to champion the Palestinian cause. The filmmakers hope to increase U.S. pressure on Israel to accommodate Palestinian demands, facilitated by reduced U.S. evangelical support for Israel.  MORE Pepsi Continues to Support Homosexuals PepsiCo is being challenged again to reveal details of financial contributions to non-profit groups. PFOX (Parents and Friends of Gays and Ex-Gays) has been trying to obtain the information for some time. "Particularly disturbing is...since we now know that Pepsi has given over a million dollars to the Human Rights Campaign and to another hate group called PFLAG, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays -- an organization that tells parents that their children are born homosexual," reports Greg Quinlan, PFOX spokesman. MORE Author Says Obama's Goal Is Socialism 'At All Costs' A scholar and bestselling author says it will be very difficult to reverse the socialist policies of Barack Obama, even if Republicans take over control of Congress next year. Dr. Jerome Corsi is author of the 2008 New York Times bestseller The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality, which was recently released in paperback. He says since taking office, Obama has taken the American government in an ideologically left direction, as he warned about in the book.   MORE UK: Leaders Head for Showdown With Judges over Bias Against Christians Senior figures in the Church of England are forcing an unprecedented showdown with the judiciary over an allegation that some of the country's most senior judges are prejudiced against Christianity.  Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, and other church leaders will urge senior judges to stand down from future Court of Appeal hearings because of "disturbing" and "dangerous" rulings issued in recent cases.   MORE Update for Monday, April 12th, 2010 Poll: 66 Percent Say America Is Overtaxed When thinking about all the services provided by federal, state and local governments, 75 percent of voters nationwide say the average American should pay no more than 20 percent of their income in taxes. However, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that most voters (55 percent) believe the average American actually pays 30 percent or more of their income in taxes.   MORE Churchgoers Honor 29 Dead Miners A pair of tall black boots and a lunch pail sat near the altar Sunday at the New Life Assembly church — a memorial to the 29 men killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970 and a thank-you to those who make their living inside the mountains. This day, the first Sunday since last Monday's explosion killed 28 workers and a contractor at Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, was for many a time to honor the profession. Tears of mourning fell, and arms swayed in worship among the 50 people gathered at the church.  MORE Sessions: We'll Fight Bad Court Choice GOP senators who will help shape the review of President Barack Obama's next nominee to the Supreme Court said Sunday he must pick someone with "mainstream" judicial views to avoid a potential filibuster.  MORE Rep. Pence Vows GOP Will Repeal Obamacare Indiana Rep. Mike Pence has vowed that House Republicans will repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul law "lock, stock and barrel." In a fiery speech before the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Pence noted that Obama recently dared the GOP to try to repeal the law. Pence says his response to Obama is, "count on it."   MORE Chuck Missler: Who Is Ban Ki-Moon? ...While Ban appears to deal with the world powers in an even-handed manner, he has frustrated the Israeli government. In tours of Israel, he has insisted that Hamas halt its missile fire on Israel, but has also repeatedly echoed the international community’s insistence that Israel immediately cease all ongoing housing construction within East Jerusalem and re-open travel between Palestine and the outside world.  MORE Millions Pray for Polish Crash Victims Millions of mourners in the predominantly Catholic nation of Poland packed into churches Sunday to pray for victims of Saturday’s high-profile plane crash, which took the lives of Poland President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. MORE Nebraska Lawmakers Advance Fetal Pain Bill The Nebraska legislature moved one step closer Friday to passing a bill that would ban the abortion of fetuses 20 weeks or older based on the belief that the unborn baby can feel pain.   MORE Prayers for Sudan Urged as Historic Voting Kicks Off Sudanese across Africa's largest country filed into polling stations Sunday to cast their votes for Sudan’s first competitive elections in nearly a quarter century.  MORE Update for Monday, April 12th, 2010 Poll: 66 Percent Say America Is Overtaxed When thinking about all the services provided by federal, state and local governments, 75 percent of voters nationwide say the average American should pay no more than 20 percent of their income in taxes. However, the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that most voters (55 percent) believe the average American actually pays 30 percent or more of their income in taxes.   MORE Churchgoers Honor 29 Dead Miners A pair of tall black boots and a lunch pail sat near the altar Sunday at the New Life Assembly church — a memorial to the 29 men killed in the worst U.S. mining disaster since 1970 and a thank-you to those who make their living inside the mountains. This day, the first Sunday since last Monday's explosion killed 28 workers and a contractor at Massey Energy Co.'s Upper Big Branch mine in Montcoal, was for many a time to honor the profession. MORE Sessions: We'll Fight Bad Court Choice GOP senators who will help shape the review of President Barack Obama's next nominee to the Supreme Court said Sunday he must pick someone with "mainstream" judicial views to avoid a potential filibuster.  MORE Rep. Pence Vows GOP Will Repeal Obamacare Indiana Rep. Mike Pence has vowed that House Republicans will repeal President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul law "lock, stock and barrel." In a fiery speech before the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Pence noted that Obama recently dared the GOP to try to repeal the law. Pence says his response to Obama is, "count on it."   MORE Chuck Missler: Who Is Ban Ki-Moon? ...While Ban appears to deal with the world powers in an even-handed manner, he has frustrated the Israeli government. In tours of Israel, he has insisted that Hamas halt its missile fire on Israel, but has also repeatedly echoed the international community’s insistence that Israel immediately cease all ongoing housing construction within East Jerusalem and re-open travel between Palestine and the outside world.  MORE Millions Pray for Polish Crash Victims Millions of mourners in the predominantly Catholic nation of Poland packed into churches Sunday to pray for victims of Saturday’s high-profile plane crash, which took the lives of Poland President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others. MORE Nebraska Lawmakers Advance Fetal Pain Bill The Nebraska legislature moved one step closer Friday to passing a bill that would ban the abortion of fetuses 20 weeks or older based on the belief that the unborn baby can feel pain.   MORE Prayers for Sudan Urged as Historic Voting Kicks Off Sudanese across Africa's largest country filed into polling stations Sunday to cast their votes for Sudan’s first competitive elections in nearly a quarter century.  MORE Update for Weekend, April 10th-11th, 2010 High Court Justice John Paul Stevens to Retire This Summer Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens sent a letter to the White House on Friday, notifying the president of his retirement from the Supreme Court. Stevens, who reported in March that he would decide in about a month whether he would go on for another year, will retire one day after the Supreme Court rises for the summer recess this year after having served for 34 years.   MORE Half of America 'Effectively On Welfare' A leading free-market economist says it's not a stable situation for a republican democracy when half of the citizens aren't contributing to the cost of the government they're benefiting from. The Washington- based Tax Policy Center estimates that about 47 percent of Americans will pay no federal income taxes at all for 2009.  Either their incomes were too low, or they qualified for enough credits, deductions, and exemptions to eliminate their liability..."When you're in a situation where half the people are not paying taxes into the government, there's very little check on the size of the government because...   MORE Obama 'Will Move Quickly' to Tap Stevens Successor President Obama said Friday that he will move quickly to name a nominee for Supreme Court justice following John Paul Steven’s retirement announcement earlier that day.  “As Justice Stevens expressed to me in the letter announcing his retirement, it is in the best interests of the Supreme Court to have a successor appointed and confirmed before the next term begins. And so I will move quickly to name a nominee, as I did with Justice Sotomayor,” Obama said. MORE Planned Parenthood Guide Tells HIV-Infected Youth to Enjoy Sex The International Planned Parenthood Federation opposes laws that make it a crime for people not to tell sexual partners they have HIV. In a guide for young people, IPPF says those who have the virus have a right to 'fun, happy and sexually fulfilling lives.'  MORE Obama Is Pro-Palestine In Jerusalem Debacle A retired Army officer and national defense strategist finds it clear that President Barack Obama is showing a pro-Palestinian bent when it comes to the ongoing dispute over the proposed construction of Jewish settlements in Jerusalem. MORE Wal-Mart Expands Christian Games Marketing Test Religious game studio Left Behind Games and superstore chain Wal-Mart are expanding their marketing test outside of Texas. The Christian developer announced that the original test conducted in 100 Wal-Marts last year was a success. MORE N.M. School District Draws Fire for Fetus Doll, Bible Verse Ban School district officials in Roswell, N.M., said religious discrimination was not a factor in their decision to stop Christian high school students from distributing baby dolls resembling fetuses on campus.  MORE Salvation Army Gets Boost from Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. The apparel company behind popular clothing brands Calvin Klein, Van Heusen, and IZOD is lending a hand to the Salvation Army’s national clothing drive. People who donate clean and gently used clothing, furniture, and household goods to Salvation Army stores from April 1 through May 31 will receive a $10 gift certificate at any Van Heusen, IZOD or Bass retail location. MORE Update for Friday, April 9th, 2010 Netanyahu Cancels Trip To Obama's Nuclear Summit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has canceled a planned trip to Washington next week to take part in President Barack Obama's 47-country nuclear security summit conference   MORE Iran Vows To Strike U.S. If Attacked  Iran would respond to any military attack from the United States by hitting U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East, its military commander said on Thursday.  MORE Eternal Viewpoint: American Government and the Fear of God The most encouraging development today on the American political scene is the new effort of influential conservatives to call the country back to its basics. The founding principles of the nation are being reviewed and expounded over the airwaves and in best-selling books. Our founding documents are being republished and re-read, and citizens are being urged to study and understand them.  MORE Larry Rogier: My Take On Piper and Warren  Much has been said about John Piper’s invitation of Rick Warren to his pastor’s conference.  Should I add to it? Sure, why not …  First, why the surprise? If you thought Piper was a raving fundamentalist separatist who would never do something like this, you need to get out more. He isn’t. He never was. He’s never going to be. Now, to be sure it is strange that Piper invites a man with Warren’s soteriology and methodology, both of which...  MORE Pastor Who Was in Haiti Jail Speaks Out, Asks for Help  A Southern Baptist pastor from Idaho who was held in a Haiti jail for nearly three weeks has issued a plea for prayer for Laura Silsby -- the lone member of that original group of 10 still in prison -- as well as a request that concerned citizens contact their senators and the White House and ask that they work for her release.  MORE America Declining...U.S. Birthrate Falls Below Replacement The U.S. birthrate fell from 2007 to 2008 and is now below replacement rate. One population expert, noting that children are the “only future a country has,” warns that a scarcity of children condemns a country to stagnation, bankruptcy and eventually death.   MORE Survey Explores Churches with Lean Staff Costs One in seven U.S. churches spend 35 percent or less of their total budget on staff costs, a new survey shows. Researchers sought to find whether it's possible to do ministry with "lean staffing."   MORE Court Urged to Uphold 'Under God' in N.H. Schools A federal appeals court is being urged to uphold the constitutionality of the phrase “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance recited in New Hampshire schools. More than 40 members of Congress and 80,000 Americans are calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit to uphold a lower court’s decision that ruled the pledge should not be removed from the schools because it is an expression of patriotism, not religion.  MORE Gay Jesus Play Headed To Fort Worth, TX Stage After drawing much scrutinty when it was set to play at Tarleton State University, where it was eventually canceled, the play has found a new home at a theater in Fort Worth.  MORE Update for Thursday, April 8th, 2010 Obama Seeks New Tone In Outreach to Muslim World Less talk about "Islamic radicalism" and a lot more about doing business. In the year since President Barack Obama pledged new beginning in the relationship with Muslims, the White House is changing the U.S. focus.  MORE Joel Osteen Among Clergy Who Attended Obama Prayer Breakfast President Obama brought big names to the table at the Easter breakfast he held at the White House this morning. Among those on the guest list: Houston's own Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church and Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Windsor Village United Methodist Church.    MORE North Korea Sentences U.S. Christian to 8 Years A U.S. citizen who is said to be a devout Christian was sentenced to eight years of hard labor by North Korea, the North’s official news agency reported Wednesday.  Aijalon Mahli Gomes, 30, was convicted of illegally entering North Korea and “hostile acts” against the country, said the Korean Central News Agency. In addition to the prison sentence, Gomes was also fined 70 million North Korean won, the equivalent of about $700,000.  MORE LONDON TIMES ONLINE King James Bible Turns 400 Years Old Next Year ...Next year our country will celebrate 400 years of the King James Bible....James saw his task as giving his newly acquired kingdom a beautiful gift that would also serve as a unifying force...many of those families who left these shores to begin life in the New World took James’s book with them.  The result was beyond what the King could ever have imagined. As James’s Bible spread around the world, Britain established a linguistic empire that has outlasted any imperial power. Indeed, the subjects of this English-language commonwealth are bound together by the strongest of bonds...  MORE Houston Clergy at Arms Over Lesbian Mayor's Orders An interdenominational coalition of clergy in Houston is pressing its mayor to rescind the executive orders she issued recently that added sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes in Houston. Nearly two weeks ago, openly gay mayor Annise Parker signed an order “[t]o provide a fair and equitable work environment for all employees” and another to prohibit discrimination and/or retaliation on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity “at every level of the municipal government.” MORE Judge Upholds Ban Against Nurse Wearing Crucifix Necklace A Christian nurse says she is “disappointed” after a tribunal ruled that she could not wear her crucifix necklace to work. Shirley Chaplin had gone to court claiming religious discrimination by her employers, the Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust, after they banned her from wearing the necklace during shifts.    MORE Washington Times: United States Offers Europe an Interfaith Model ....These Muslim and Jewish leaders had met for the first time only a few days earlier as part of an unusual effort by the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU) to foster ties between two religions with a history of conflict and suspicion on modern times.     MORE Sharper Iron: The Pastor and His Salary Package  In the mid-1960s as a young accountant, I began helping my pastor prepare his state and federal tax returns. I was surprised at his meager salary, lack of fringe benefits, and inability to provide financially for his future. His family lived in a church-owned parsonage totally controlled by the church; they couldn’t even paint a wall without committee approval. It was a large farmhouse that was difficult to maintain and expensive to heat. I remember visiting that parsonage and finding his wife in tears over the frustration of living under those conditions. And I remember thinking, This is not right.   MORE Mere Comments: Cremation and a New Kind of Christianity  ....Increasing rates of cremation in the West, MacCulloch writes, are surprising because cremation “is the abandonment of a key aspect of Christian practice since its early days.” MacCulloch demonstrates that a primary feature of the early Christian church was as “burial club.” He shows how “universally archaeologists are able to detect the spread of Christian culture through the ancient and early medieval world by the excavation of corpse burials oriented east-west.”   MORE Washington Times: Bridging Religions Is'Challenge of the 21st Century' Rabbi Marc Schneier's Upper East Side office at the Foundation For Ethnic Understanding is relatively stark; a bookshelf here, an abstract painting there, and little hint of the outsized role he's played in bringing opposites together. MORE Update for Wednesday, April 7th, 2010 Obama Calls His New Nuclear Strategy 'a Significant Step' President Barack Obama on Tuesday vowed to constrain the use of the nation's Cold War-era nuclear arsenal, in a bold but politically risky move aimed at discouraging the technology from spreading. Obama's plan, a sharp departure from his predecessor's policy, is a bid to downplay the threat posed by nations like Russia and China while emphasizing the threat posed by terrorists or states believed to encourage terrorism.  MORE Vatican Blasts Anti-Catholic 'Hate' Campaign  The Vatican heatedly defended Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, claiming accusations that he helped cover up the actions of pedophile priests are part of an anti-Catholic "hate" campaign targeting the pope for his opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.   MORE IRS Launches New Global Program to Target ‘High Wealth Individuals' The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new global program to target what it calls “high wealth individuals,” IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman said Monday. “Through our new global high wealth operating unit we are taking a unified look at the entire web of business and economic entities controlled by high wealth individuals so we can better assess the risk such arrangements pose to tax compliance,” Shulman said at the...   MORE Obama Hosts Easter Prayer Breakfast with Christian Leaders President Obama hosted an Easter prayer breakfast Tuesday morning that was attended by prominent Christian leaders from across the nation. The president, keeping to his religious theme of inclusivity, noted that the Easter prayer breakfast with Christian clergy is part of a broader effort to welcome people of all faiths to the White House. In the past few months, he pointed out, he has hosted an Iftar at the White House with Muslim Americans to break the daily fast during Ramadan and a Seder to mark the first Passover. In his brief remarks Tuesday, Obama shared what Easter means to him. The president said he is continually learning that everyone, including himself... MORE Faith Leaders Impatient For Freedom Ambassador  Thirty religious leaders have sent a letter to Obama, asking the president why he has not appointed an ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom after almost 15 months in office.     MORE Ohio Christian Convert Fights to Stay in U.S. A teenage girl who converted to Christianity and ran away from home is being blocked by her Muslim parents from fighting the possibility of deportation. The teen's lawyer has asked a judge in Columbus, Ohio, to sign an order stating that reunification with her parents is not possible by her 18th birthday in August. The order would allow Rifqa Bary, who is in foster care, to apply for special immigration status without her parents' consent. MORE Grad Student Takes Stand for Faith, Denied Degree A Michigan woman denied a Master's degree in counseling will have her day in court.Julea Ward had reached the end of the Master's program at Eastern Michigan University, which calls for students to take actual counseling cases. She was confronted with the task of counseling a homosexual concerning a same-gender relationship. Ward asked to opt out of the case, based on her religious beliefs, then found herself before a panel of educators. MORE Hmmm...Gospel Tracts Not Counterfeit After All A federal judge has sided with a Christian ministry in a dispute over gospel tracts that look like million-dollar bills. Several years ago, Secret Service agents entered the offices of the Great News Network in Texas and confiscated more than 8,000 million-dollar-bill gospel tracts. Agents claimed the tracts violated counterfeiting law, but last week, federal Judge Jorge Solis ordered the return of the gospel tracts, ruling they were not counterfeit. MORE Tenn. School Board Considers Ban Against 'Biased' Biology Textbook The Knox County Board of Education in Tennessee is considering an appeal for the removal of a biology book that one parent says is biased against creationism. Asking About Life, Kurt Zimmermann contends, shows "a clear bias by the authors towards Christianity." MORE Politicians Avoid '9-11 Mosque' Fundraiser Thanks to the efforts of a coalition of concerned citizens, a number of prominent Virginia politicians didn't attend a weekend fundraiser for a controversial mosque that has been tied to terrorism. MORE In England, Rich Are Hit with 50% Tax Rate People earning more than £150,000 a year will see a reduction in their take-home pay from today as the new 50p rate of income tax comes into force at the start of the financial year. In addition to the new tax bracket, announced by Alistair Darling in the Budget last April, high earners will also be subject to a new 42.5 per cent tax on dividends while those people making more than £100,000 a year will have their personal allowance reduced. MORE Update for Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 NY Times: Obama Won't Use Nukes, Even In Self-Defense! President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons, even in self-defense. But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation. MORE Million Dollar Bill Gospel Tracts are Legal, Judge Rules A federal district judge ruled this week in favor of a Christian man and ordered agents of the Department of Homeland Security to return all of the "Million Dollar Bill" Gospel tracts that they had confiscated from him. The agents violated the 4th Amendment by conducting a warrantless search and seizure, a judge ruled.   MORE In Califorina Town, Home Bible Study Is OK, But Home Church Is Not The California town of Rancho Cucamonga has decided to allow a home church to meet after all. The city sparked national outrage when it tried to shut down a home Bible study. Pacific Justice Institute (PJI) president Brad Dacus tells OneNewsNow his organization sent a strongly worded demand letter, threatening to sue if the Bible study was forced to end. "The city then decided to go ahead and allow the Bible study," he reports.  MORE Albert Mohler: Render Unto Caesar? On Paying Taxes After Obamacare A significant number of Christians are now wondering about the moral implications of the Obama health care overhaul. While any number of moral questions will demand attention, the question of abortion stands at the center of concern. And with the question of abortion comes the question of taxes. Without the legislative remedy of the Hyde Amendment or similar protections, it is almost certain that the new health care legislation will lead to tax-supported abortions. At the very least, the legislation will lead to either direct or indirect taxpayer supported subsidies for some abortions. MORE Abortion Industry Adopts Disturbing Trend A dangerous, potentially illegal method of abortion has become popular in the Midwest. Operation Rescue has discovered that abortion clinics in some of Iowa's small towns are providing chemical abortions, or RU-486, using what is known as the "telemed abortion." Spokesperson Cheryl Sullinger explains there are a number of problems with this method.  MORE Study: Breast-feeding would save lives, money  The lives of nearly 900 babies would be saved each year, along with billions of dollars, if 90 percent of U.S. women breast-fed their babies for the first six months of life, a cost analysis says. Those startling results, published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, are only...  MORE New Jersey Gay Activists Seek New Marriage Definition Homosexual activists are trying to reopen a New Jersey Supreme Court case that instructed the legislature to create the marriage equivalent for homosexuals. The New Jersey legislation created civil unions for homosexuals in a 2006 decision, but "the plaintiffs in that original case are now seeking basically to reopen the case and to argue... MORE Top Vatican Official Rebuts New York Times' Attack on Pope Cardinal William Levada, the head of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, strongly refuted charges first reported in the New York Times that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – now Pope Benedict XVI – declined to punish a priest accused of abusing as many as 200 deaf boys from the 1950's to 1970's.  MORE How A Church's Wedding Policy Will Tell You The Direction Of The Church  A news report from Washington, D.C. tells the story of vestigial Christianity unhinged from biblical authority. Religion News Service [RNS] reports that many pastors in the nation’s capital are struggling with just how they can go about the wedding of same-sex couples now that gay marriage is legal in the District of Columbia. “As gay rights spread through civil society, an increasing number of clergy are…caught by conflicting loyalties, forced to choose between church law and civil law in pastoring to their gay and lesbian congregants,” the news service reports.  MORE New RFID Tag Could Mean the End of Bar Codes Lines at the grocery store might become as obsolete as milkmen, if a new tag that seeks to replace bar codes becomes commonplace. Researchers from Sunchon National University in Suncheon, South Korea, and Rice University in Houston have built a radio frequency identification tag that can be printed directly onto cereal boxes and potato chip bags.   MORE Christian Counselors Could Lose Jobs For Failing To Provide Pro-Gay Counsel Attorneys with a Christian legal firm plan to appeal a recent ruling against a Christian counselor who was laid off after she referred a lesbian to another counselor. "A counselor who is a Christian shouldn’t lose her job for upholding the highest professional standards," said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Brian Raum on Friday. U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes last week rejected the lawsuit filed by Marcia Walden of Atlanta, Ga., and ruled that she cannot establish a case of religious discrimination.  MORE Sharper Iron: Tertullian Misses the Gospel  Tertullian was the first Latin theologian and one of the most creative minds of the second and early third centuries. In particular, his writings contributed greatly to later articulations of the Trinity. This essay focuses on the negative, but not because I think Tertullian was worthless or because I think all good Protestants should bash the Fathers to prove their orthodoxy. On the contrary, we Protestants could probably use quite a bit more familiarity with, and appreciation for, the first five centuries of Christianity. MORE Abortion's Cancer Link Reaffirmed Another study shows a link between abortion and breast cancer. A study of research conducted over several decades shows a direct connection between abortion and breast cancer, especially with a first pregnancy. Even so, many organizations refuse to recognize it.  MORE   Update for Monday, April 5th, 2010 Easter Service at DC Church Draws Obama Family President Barack Obama and his family marked the Easter holiday by attending a music-filled service at a historically black Methodist church in southeast Washington. A boisterous crowd of more than 1,000 people welcomed the Obamas on Sunday at the Allen Chapel AME Church. Joining him at the service were his wife, Michelle, daughters Sasha and Malia, and his mother-in-law, Marian Robinson. MORE Poll: 78% of Americans Believe Christ Resurrected Sunday was the day Christians believe Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead, and 78 percent of Americans share that belief. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 10 percent don't believe Christ rose from the dead, and another 11 percent are not sure. Eighty-five percent (85 percent) also think that the person known to history as Jesus Christ actually walked the earth 2,000 years ago. Six percent (6 percent) disagree. Eight percent (8 percent) aren't sure.  MORE Missing Link Between Humans and Apes Said To Be Found A "missing link" between humans and their apelike ancestors has been discovered.  The new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the two-million-year-old skeleton of a child is unveiled this week. Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into... MORE Obama’s Approval Rating Drops to Record Low This healthcare thing apparently isn’t working out too well politically for President Barack Obama. His approval rating fell to a record low of 44 percent in the latest CBS News Poll. That compares to 49 percent in late March, just before the healthcare reform bill became law. His approval rating was 50 percent in January and 68 percent last April. Obama does even worse on healthcare.   MORE Obama Sends Out Inclusive Easter Greeting President Obama sent an Easter greeting Saturday that focused heavily on what people of all faiths have in common. The president made it clear that his family will be celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter Sunday, but made an effort to extend a Passover greeting to Jewish families and to address Hindus, Muslims and people of no faiths in his holiday message. MORE Bible Prophecy Today: Jerusalem - The Throne of Yahweh Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, chairman of the House Republican Conference said: "I never thought I'd live to see the day that an American administration would denounce the Jewish state of Israel for rebuilding Jerusalem." MORE British Christian Couple Forced to Sell Hotel After Run-In With Gays A UK Christian couple has been forced to put their hotel up for auction, even after having been cleared of all accusations in a religious discrimination case. Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang said that business at their nine-bedroom Bounty House hotel has collapsed and they are losing about £8,000 per month. MORE Pope Hailed As 'Unfailing' Leader at Easter Mass A senior cardinal defended Pope Benedict XVI from "petty gossip" on Sunday as the pontiff maintained his silence on mounting sex abuse cover-up accusations during his Easter message. The ringing tribute by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, at the start of Mass attended by tens of thousands of faithful in St. Peter's Square, marked an unusual departure from the Vatican's Easter rituals. Sodano's defense of the pope's... MORE U.S. Congressmen: Clinton’s G8 Abortion Push is “Outrageous,” U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has received a flurry of criticism from politicians on both sides of the border for pushing abortion as a necessary component of the Canadian government's G8 maternal and child health initiative.  While Canadian Conservative politicians and even the prime minister resented Clinton’s interference into Canadian politics, several Congressmen from her own nation have decried her intervention as...   MORE Anglican Head Apologizes for Catholic Church Remarks The head of the worldwide Anglican Communion has offered an apology after saying that the Catholic Church in Ireland had lost all credibility as a result of the child abuse scandal. Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams made the critical comments in an interview with Andrew Marr to be broadcast on BBC Radio...  MORE Pastor Vows to Avoid Pro-Faith Message in School Speech A Christian minister whose invitation to speak at the inauguration of the University of Rhode Island's new president has stirred controversy is assuring protesters that he won't be abusing the platform he's been given. Responding to objections from those concerned about the blurring of the lines between church and state, Pastor Greg Boyd of Woodland Hills Church in St. Paul, Minn., stated Friday that the message he will deliver “will be predicated on our shared humanity, not my particular theology."   MORE Caroline Glick: Exploiting the Crisis with Washington There is an element of irony in the current crisis of relations between the Obama administration and Israel. On the one hand, although US President Barack Obama and his advisors deny there is anything wrong with US-Israel relations today, it is easy to understand why no one believes them.  MORE Update for Weekend, April 3rd-4th, 2010 Cardinals Defend Pope On Church Sex Abuse Scandal The head of Germany's Roman Catholic bishops issued a statement on Good Friday denouncing past failures and mistakes in the church's handling of abuse cases. Clerics have neglected helping abuse victims by a "wrongly intended desire to protect the church's reputation," Archbishop Robert Zollitsch of Freiburg said on the day that Christians commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.   MORE Abortion Doc's Killer Lashes Out at Court During Sentencing A man who murdered one of the few U.S. doctors who performed late-term abortions lashed out at the court during his sentencing hearing Thursday and took the opportunity to describe abortion procedures in detail, which he was previously forbidden from doing during the trial.   MORE Independent Voters Turn from Hopeful to Angry President Obama and congressional Democrats face an uphill climb to reclaim the support of independent voters who vaulted them to the White House and huge majorities in Congress in 2008. At the end of the bitter, intensely partisan battle to pass Mr. Obama's health care overhaul plan, independent voters, once captivated by...  MORE Hearings Scheduled For Militia Members Several members of a Christian militia that prosecutors claim plotted to kill police officers were scheduled to be in court Wednesday to determine whether they will be allowed to go free on bond. Bond hearings are scheduled for the alleged ringleader, David Brian Stone, and other members of the Hutaree militia, a small group that was...  MORE U.S. Preacher Fined In Scotland for Calling Homosexuality a Sin The Christian Institute has voiced concern after a street preacher was handed a fine of more than $1,500 for saying homosexuality was a sin. U.S. evangelist Shawn Holes, 47, was preaching in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 18 when he was arrested and detained overnight in a police cell. Police later charged him with breaching the peace and told him to pay the fine on the grounds that his remarks were “homophobic” and had been “aggravated...  MORE Teen Gets Legal Abortion Thru School, Parents in the Dark A school-based health clinic in Washington state assisted a 15-year-old girl in getting an abortion. The girl was referred by the school center for the abortion without her parents' knowledge. Dan Kennedy, CEO of Human Life of Washington, says nothing can be done because of state law that is part of a strategy meant to prevent unplanned pregnancies and keep kids in school.   MORE Scientists Hail 'Genesis Machine' Milestone, Seek 'God Particle' It’s being touted as “a Genesis machine” – the Large Hadron Collider, which on Tuesday forced two proton beams to cross in an effort to bring scientists one "huge step" closer to seeing how the creation of the universe might have looked like. “It’s a great day to be a particle physicist,” commented Rolf Heuer, director of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), which used the LHC’s powerful superconducting magnets to collide the two proton beams.  MORE Bible Prophecy Today: Are Earthquakes Increasing? Recent events in Haiti and Chili have caused many Christians to ask, “Are earthquakes increasing in the way that Jesus said they would in the period leading up to the Tribulation? His words are among the most forthright and unequivocal ever spoken.    MORE Billy Graham's Daughter Says He'd Like to Preach Again The Rev. Billy Graham's daughter says the 91-year-old evangelist would like to preach one more time, and his family is "praying that he'll have that opportunity."  Anne Graham Lotz spoke with reporters Monday in Missouri, where she was the keynote speaker at a prayer gathering in the state Capitol Rotunda.  . MORE The Generational View on Pentacostalism, Charismatics A new study by The Barna Group finds that views on charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity differ greatly among the generations. The study, conducted in early February, looked at how four different generations of American adults identified charismatic and Pentecostal believers.  MORE Abortion Billboards Strike a Nerve "Black children are an endangered species" is the theme of a billboard campaign in Georgia meant to reduce abortions among African-American women. There are now 80 billboards in predominately African-American neighborhoods of metro Atlanta.  MORE Jailed Iranian Pastor Temporarily Freed, In 'Good Spirits' Iranian authorities temporarily freed a pastor after keeping him in prison for 54 days. Pastor Wilson Issavi of Assyrian Evangelical Church in Kermanshah, a remote city in Western Iran, was freed on bail Sunday evening, reported the Farsi Christian News Network. The pastor, who is described by FCNN as being in “good spirits,” thanked the Lord for his freedom. MORE Update for Thursday, April 1st , 2010 Chris Anderson: Piper Invites Rick Warren to Speak at His Bible Conference This has been rumored for a while, but SharperIron confirmed with Desiring God yesterday that Rick Warren has indeed been invited to participate as a speaker at their 2010 conference. There will surely be a loud response to this from various perspectives in the days ahead. Phil Johnson’s brief tweet gives a taste of how it’s being received by some conservative evangelicals. Buckle up. There is a “red sky” this morning, sailors. The blogosphere is about to erupt with all things Piper and Warren, I imagine.  MORE USA Today: Millennials Do Faith and Politics Their Own Way ....Born after 1980, Millennials constitute the first generation to come of age in the new millennium. According to Pew, this cohort of teens and twenty-somethings is "confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change." But what of religion? What can this Millennial generation tell us about where American religion is going? The core finding of Pew's "Religion Among the Millennials" report is that young Americans are "less religiously affiliated" than their elders. In fact, one in four of Americans ages 18 to 29 do not affiliate with any particular religious group.    MORE Christian Sues Lowe's for Religious Discrimination For Forcing Sunday Work A Lowe’s Home Center in east Tennessee is being sued for discrimination because it forced an employee who is Baptist to work on Sundays, although he said he held sincere religious beliefs against working on the Sabbath. The lawsuit, filed Monday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, said employee Mark Buehler submitted two written requests for a religious accommodation not to be scheduled for work on Sunday at the Morristown, Tenn., store.   MORE N.Y. Times Columnist: Death Panels Will Save 'a Lot of Money' Left-leaning New York Times economic columnist Paul Krugman says the so-called "death panels" established by President Obama's trillion-dollar nationalized health-care plan will end up saving "a lot of money" for the government. The comments from Krugman came during a discussion of "Obamacare" on the ABC News Sunday program "This Week."   MORE Bachmann: Do We Want the USA to ‘Collapse From Our Own Welfare State?’ Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told CNSNews.com that "expensive entitlement programs" are "bringing our country down," and Americans will have to choose between surviving as a country or collapsing "from our own welfare state." MORE So. Calif. City Won't Shut Down Home Bible Group Officials of a city in the greater Los Angeles area confirmed Tuesday that they have rescinded the order for a home Bible study group to either obtain a permit or shut down. After talking to the pastor of Shiloh Tabernacle Church, the city official of Rancho Cucamonga determined that the Friday meetings are only Bible studies and that the group is not operating as a church in a home.  MORE Groups Blast Obama's Appointment of Gay Activist Conservative and Christian groups are increasingly voicing opposition to President Obama's recent recess appointment of a homosexual activist to his administration. Chai Feldblum, a lesbian Georgetown University Law Center professor, was appointed over the weekend as commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.    MORE Biblical Plagues Really Happened, Say Scientists  Researchers believe they have found evidence of real natural disasters on which the ten plagues of Egypt, which led to Moses freeing the Israelites from slavery in the Book of Exodus in the Bible, were based.  But rather than explaining them as the wrathful act of a vengeful God, the scientists claim the plagues can be attributed to a chain of natural phenomena triggered by changes in the climate and environmental disasters that happened hundreds of miles away.   MORE                                                     /

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