Terrorists distribute materials in Bethlehem teaching jihad, kidnappings, 'infidel' beheading
Please read this article from Worldnetdaily which describes Al-Qaida distributing training materials and videos to Palesitinians in Bethlehem. According to local sources, the al-Qaida materials were mass produced and were provided to young Muslim men in Bethlehem.
Local Christian leaders speaking to WND said they cannot confirm any al-Qaida groups present in Bethlehem, but stated they are concerned by what they said was growing radicalization and militancy among Palestinian groups who reportedly have been targeting Christians in the city.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Monday, May 14, 2007
Proponent of intelligent design denied tenure by ISU
The Ames Tribune
By: William Dillon
05/12/2007
Guillermo Gonzalez, an assistant professor of astronomy and physics who argues for the theory of intelligent design, was denied tenure this semester by Iowa State University.
"I was surprised to hear that my tenure was denied at any level, but I was disappointed that the president at the end denied me," Gonzalez said during a telephone interview with The Tribune Friday.
Gonzalez filed an appeal with ISU President Greg Geoffroy on Tuesday, May 8. Geoffroy has 20 days to respond.
While his work is heralded as "path-breaking" by supporters of intelligent design as a way of offering a new theory supporting design in the universe, Gonzalez has come under criticism by the mainstream science community for incorporating the theory of intelligent design into his work.
Opponents maintain that proving intelligent causes or agents is not science but rather the study of theology and philosophy. Some also have accused Gonzalez, an openly non-denominational Protestant, of thrusting religion into science.
In the summer of 2005, three faculty members at ISU drafted a statement against the use of intelligent design in science. One of those authors, Hector Avalos, told The Tribune at the time he was concerned the growing prominence of Gonzalez's work was beginning to market ISU as an "intelligent design school."
The statement collected signatures of support from more than 120 ISU faculty members before similar statements surfaced at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.
According to ISU's policy on promotion and tenure, evaluation is based "primarily on evidence of scholarship in the faculty member's teaching, research/creative activities, and/or extension/professional practice."
In addition to that criteria, Gonzalez's department of astronomy and physics sets a benchmark for tenure candidates to author at least 15 peer-reviewed journal articles of quality. Gonzalez said he submitted 68, of which 25 have been written since he arrived at ISU in 2001.
"I believe that I fully met the requirements for tenure at ISU," he said.
Gonzalez said he would rather not comment on why he believes he was denied tenure.
On Friday, Geoffroy declined comment on why Gonzalez was denied tenure.
"Since an appeal is on my desk that I will have to pass judgment on, it is not appropriate for me to offer any comment," he wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune.
In addition to his research and teaching at ISU, Gonzalez is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a conservative Seattle think tank leading the intelligent design movement.
John G. West, associate director of the Center for Science and Culture at the institute, said he sees this as a clear case of "ideological discrimination" by ISU against Gonzalez. He said he thinks the statement against intelligent design drafted at ISU played a large part in the eventual denial of Gonzalez's tenure.
"What happens to the lone faculty member who doesn't agree and happens to be untenured," he asked. "That is practically, with a wink and a nod, a call to deny him tenure."
Faculty members typically leave a university if they are denied tenure.
ISU considered 66 faculty cases for promotion and tenure during the past academic year. Only three, including Gonzalez, were denied tenure.
By: William Dillon
05/12/2007
Guillermo Gonzalez, an assistant professor of astronomy and physics who argues for the theory of intelligent design, was denied tenure this semester by Iowa State University.
"I was surprised to hear that my tenure was denied at any level, but I was disappointed that the president at the end denied me," Gonzalez said during a telephone interview with The Tribune Friday.
Gonzalez filed an appeal with ISU President Greg Geoffroy on Tuesday, May 8. Geoffroy has 20 days to respond.
While his work is heralded as "path-breaking" by supporters of intelligent design as a way of offering a new theory supporting design in the universe, Gonzalez has come under criticism by the mainstream science community for incorporating the theory of intelligent design into his work.
Opponents maintain that proving intelligent causes or agents is not science but rather the study of theology and philosophy. Some also have accused Gonzalez, an openly non-denominational Protestant, of thrusting religion into science.
In the summer of 2005, three faculty members at ISU drafted a statement against the use of intelligent design in science. One of those authors, Hector Avalos, told The Tribune at the time he was concerned the growing prominence of Gonzalez's work was beginning to market ISU as an "intelligent design school."
The statement collected signatures of support from more than 120 ISU faculty members before similar statements surfaced at the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa.
According to ISU's policy on promotion and tenure, evaluation is based "primarily on evidence of scholarship in the faculty member's teaching, research/creative activities, and/or extension/professional practice."
In addition to that criteria, Gonzalez's department of astronomy and physics sets a benchmark for tenure candidates to author at least 15 peer-reviewed journal articles of quality. Gonzalez said he submitted 68, of which 25 have been written since he arrived at ISU in 2001.
"I believe that I fully met the requirements for tenure at ISU," he said.
Gonzalez said he would rather not comment on why he believes he was denied tenure.
On Friday, Geoffroy declined comment on why Gonzalez was denied tenure.
"Since an appeal is on my desk that I will have to pass judgment on, it is not appropriate for me to offer any comment," he wrote in an e-mail to The Tribune.
In addition to his research and teaching at ISU, Gonzalez is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute, a conservative Seattle think tank leading the intelligent design movement.
John G. West, associate director of the Center for Science and Culture at the institute, said he sees this as a clear case of "ideological discrimination" by ISU against Gonzalez. He said he thinks the statement against intelligent design drafted at ISU played a large part in the eventual denial of Gonzalez's tenure.
"What happens to the lone faculty member who doesn't agree and happens to be untenured," he asked. "That is practically, with a wink and a nod, a call to deny him tenure."
Faculty members typically leave a university if they are denied tenure.
ISU considered 66 faculty cases for promotion and tenure during the past academic year. Only three, including Gonzalez, were denied tenure.
'Christians will be first to leave city'
Jerusalem Post
May 14, 2007
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
As the number of Christian residents in the Holy Land continues to drop, an adviser to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski called on the government on Sunday to ease restrictions on family reunification for Christian Arabs living in the capital.
"The first ones who will disappear from the city are the Christians," Motti Levy, the mayor's adviser for Christian and Arab affairs, told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview.
"Our task as a municipality is to ease matters for the dwindling Christian population, and not to make things harder for them," he said.
About 10,000 Christians live in Jerusalem.
Levy noted that the ongoing exodus comes as the increasingly-educated and professional Christian residents emigrate to the West for better job opportunities and a higher quality of life.
"They are victims of their own success," he said.
In unusually frank language, the former Foreign Ministry official conceded that the economic situation in the capital was "not good" and equated the exit of middle-class Christians to that of Israelis leaving the city for better jobs in central Israel, or a better quality of life in the suburbs.
"So long as our situation in Jerusalem deteriorates, the Christians are the first who are willing to leave," Levy said. "Jesus is not going to make them stay in Jerusalem."
He noted that restrictions on family reunification for Palestinians made it difficult for Christians who found a spouse in the West Bank to live with them in the capital.
Levy said there was room for Israel to show flexibility on the issue because of the low number of Christian Arabs in the city.
Jerusalem has 720,000 residents, 66 percent of whom are Jews and 34% are Arabs.
Around 420,000 Jerusalemites - 57% of whom are Arabs and 43% of whom are Jews - live in areas that were added to the city after the Six Day War, according to city statistics released Sunday by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
Meanwhile, the two-decade-old trend of Israelis leaving Jerusalem continued last year.
Some 17,200 Israelis left the capital last year, compared to 10,900 people - including 2,500 new immigrants - who moved to the city.
More than half of those who left moved to Jerusalem's suburbs, the survey found.
Over the last five years, the suburbs of Beit Shemesh, Betar Ilit, Ma'ale Adumim, Modi'in Ilit, Mevaseret Zion and Givat Ze'ev attracted the largest number of former Jerusalemites.
A recent study by Hebrew University demographer Prof. Sergio Della Pergola predicts that if the situation - and Jerusalem's borders - remains unchanged, only 60% of Jerusalem's residents will be Jews by 2020, with the remaining 40% Arab. Another survey forecast that the number of Jewish and Arabs in the city will reach parity in a quarter century.
May 14, 2007
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
As the number of Christian residents in the Holy Land continues to drop, an adviser to Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski called on the government on Sunday to ease restrictions on family reunification for Christian Arabs living in the capital.
"The first ones who will disappear from the city are the Christians," Motti Levy, the mayor's adviser for Christian and Arab affairs, told The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview.
"Our task as a municipality is to ease matters for the dwindling Christian population, and not to make things harder for them," he said.
About 10,000 Christians live in Jerusalem.
Levy noted that the ongoing exodus comes as the increasingly-educated and professional Christian residents emigrate to the West for better job opportunities and a higher quality of life.
"They are victims of their own success," he said.
In unusually frank language, the former Foreign Ministry official conceded that the economic situation in the capital was "not good" and equated the exit of middle-class Christians to that of Israelis leaving the city for better jobs in central Israel, or a better quality of life in the suburbs.
"So long as our situation in Jerusalem deteriorates, the Christians are the first who are willing to leave," Levy said. "Jesus is not going to make them stay in Jerusalem."
He noted that restrictions on family reunification for Palestinians made it difficult for Christians who found a spouse in the West Bank to live with them in the capital.
Levy said there was room for Israel to show flexibility on the issue because of the low number of Christian Arabs in the city.
Jerusalem has 720,000 residents, 66 percent of whom are Jews and 34% are Arabs.
Around 420,000 Jerusalemites - 57% of whom are Arabs and 43% of whom are Jews - live in areas that were added to the city after the Six Day War, according to city statistics released Sunday by the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.
Meanwhile, the two-decade-old trend of Israelis leaving Jerusalem continued last year.
Some 17,200 Israelis left the capital last year, compared to 10,900 people - including 2,500 new immigrants - who moved to the city.
More than half of those who left moved to Jerusalem's suburbs, the survey found.
Over the last five years, the suburbs of Beit Shemesh, Betar Ilit, Ma'ale Adumim, Modi'in Ilit, Mevaseret Zion and Givat Ze'ev attracted the largest number of former Jerusalemites.
A recent study by Hebrew University demographer Prof. Sergio Della Pergola predicts that if the situation - and Jerusalem's borders - remains unchanged, only 60% of Jerusalem's residents will be Jews by 2020, with the remaining 40% Arab. Another survey forecast that the number of Jewish and Arabs in the city will reach parity in a quarter century.
Friday, May 11, 2007
'Vote for Romney is vote for Satan'
Christian leader follows up Sharpton attack on Mormons
Worldnetdaily.com
May 10, 2007
While some evangelical Christians are defending the presidential candidacy of Mormon Mitt Romney from an attack by Al Sharpton, another prominent pastor is going further in his condemnation – saying a vote for the former Massachusetts governor is a vote for Satan.
That's the word from Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV program as well as LivePrayer.com.
"If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!" he writes in his daily devotional to be sent out to 2.4 million e-mail subscribers tomorrow.
Sharpton, the Democratic Party activist and former presidential candidate, has been widely condemned for singling out Romney's faith as an issue in the campaign.
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," he said.
Keller also comes out swinging against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a cult.
"This message today is not about Mitt Romney," he writes. "Romney is an unashamed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago. The teachings of the Mormon cult are doctrinally and theologically in complete opposition to the Absolute Truth of God's Word. There is no common ground. If Mormonism is true, then the Christian faith is a complete lie. There has never been any question from the moment Smith's cult began that it was a work of Satan and those who follow their false teachings will die and spend eternity in hell."
"I guess what I can tell you is it shows that bigotry can still rear its ugly head in society," Alex Burgos, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, told WND. "It's sad that anyone would target a fellow American on the issue of faith."
"We really have no comment," Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Mormon church, told WND.
Keller is also critical of other evangelicals who have reached out to Romney.
"I have watched in horror over the past weeks as one evangelical Christian leader after another has either endorsed, supported, or just as bad, refused to denounce Romney's run for the White House and those Christian leaders who support him," Keller writes. "Last weekend Pat Robertson, founder of CBN and Regent University, had Romney deliver the keynote address to the graduates of Regent. Regent is one of the great Christian colleges in this nation, and Robertson allowed this cult member to deliver the commencement address. Is he out of his mind? Do you think there would ever be a true Gospel preacher giving the commencement address at Brigham Young?"
But the focus of his appeal to followers is to discredit Mormonism as a legitimate faith in line with the tenets of Christianity.
"I have been warning you for years now about this cult born out of the pits of hell and responsible for sending millions of souls to eternal damnation," Keller says. "For the nearly 200 years this cult has been in existence they have strived for mainstream acceptance. They are the most devious of all the cults since they have always tried to portray themselves as 'just another Christian group' when in fact, they are no more Christian than a Muslim is! Their deception starts with their name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sounds like a Christian church doesn't it? Some Mormons have recently changed their name to simply Community of Christ to disguise even better who they are in an attempt to lure people in."
Keller goes on to say that when LDS members talk of God and Jesus they are not talking about the God and Jesus of Christianity. He claims Romney's high-profile candidacy for the presidency is an important effort by the church to gain credibility and respectability.
"There are reportedly 12 million Mormons worldwide, half of those in the United States," he says. "The worldwide holdings of the Mormon cult are in the tens of billions of dollars. Mitt Romney is the first member of this cult who has had the legitimate opportunity to help them achieve their goal of mainstream acceptance while holding the most powerful office in the world. Romney will have the full resources of this cult behind him in his bid for the White House."
He says if Romney wins the White House, millions of people will be attracted to Mormonism.
"Those who follow the false teachings of this cult, believe in the false jesus of the Mormon cult and reject faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, will die and spend eternity in hell," he charges. "Romney getting elected president will ultimately lead millions of souls to the eternal flames of hell!"
Keller also criticizes Romney for political flip-flops on issues like abortion, citing a recent report that his wife donated money to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the world.
"Please take some time today and pray for Mitt Romney and all those who have been deceived by the lies of the Mormon cult," Keller adds. "The fact is that unless they renounce those lies and turn to faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, they will die and spend eternity in hell. Pray also for these Christian leaders who have for whatever reason, foolishly aligned themselves with Romney. Pray the Holy Spirit will convict them and that they will renounce Romney and find a candidate to support who will hold to Biblical values. There is no excuse, no justification for supporting and voting for a man who will be used by satan to lead the souls of millions into the eternal flames of hell!"
Keller was a businessman convicted of insider trading in 1989, a crime for which he served more than two years in federal prison. After getting out, he received a degree in biblical studies from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and has been in full-time ministry ever since.
Worldnetdaily.com
May 10, 2007
While some evangelical Christians are defending the presidential candidacy of Mormon Mitt Romney from an attack by Al Sharpton, another prominent pastor is going further in his condemnation – saying a vote for the former Massachusetts governor is a vote for Satan.
That's the word from Bill Keller, host of the Florida-based Live Prayer TV program as well as LivePrayer.com.
"If you vote for Mitt Romney, you are voting for Satan!" he writes in his daily devotional to be sent out to 2.4 million e-mail subscribers tomorrow.
Sharpton, the Democratic Party activist and former presidential candidate, has been widely condemned for singling out Romney's faith as an issue in the campaign.
"As for the one Mormon running for office, those who really believe in God will defeat him anyways, so don't worry about that; that's a temporary situation," he said.
Keller also comes out swinging against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a cult.
"This message today is not about Mitt Romney," he writes. "Romney is an unashamed and proud member of the Mormon cult founded by a murdering polygamist pedophile named Joseph Smith nearly 200 years ago. The teachings of the Mormon cult are doctrinally and theologically in complete opposition to the Absolute Truth of God's Word. There is no common ground. If Mormonism is true, then the Christian faith is a complete lie. There has never been any question from the moment Smith's cult began that it was a work of Satan and those who follow their false teachings will die and spend eternity in hell."
"I guess what I can tell you is it shows that bigotry can still rear its ugly head in society," Alex Burgos, a spokesman for the Romney campaign, told WND. "It's sad that anyone would target a fellow American on the issue of faith."
"We really have no comment," Kim Farah, a spokeswoman for the Mormon church, told WND.
Keller is also critical of other evangelicals who have reached out to Romney.
"I have watched in horror over the past weeks as one evangelical Christian leader after another has either endorsed, supported, or just as bad, refused to denounce Romney's run for the White House and those Christian leaders who support him," Keller writes. "Last weekend Pat Robertson, founder of CBN and Regent University, had Romney deliver the keynote address to the graduates of Regent. Regent is one of the great Christian colleges in this nation, and Robertson allowed this cult member to deliver the commencement address. Is he out of his mind? Do you think there would ever be a true Gospel preacher giving the commencement address at Brigham Young?"
But the focus of his appeal to followers is to discredit Mormonism as a legitimate faith in line with the tenets of Christianity.
"I have been warning you for years now about this cult born out of the pits of hell and responsible for sending millions of souls to eternal damnation," Keller says. "For the nearly 200 years this cult has been in existence they have strived for mainstream acceptance. They are the most devious of all the cults since they have always tried to portray themselves as 'just another Christian group' when in fact, they are no more Christian than a Muslim is! Their deception starts with their name, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Sounds like a Christian church doesn't it? Some Mormons have recently changed their name to simply Community of Christ to disguise even better who they are in an attempt to lure people in."
Keller goes on to say that when LDS members talk of God and Jesus they are not talking about the God and Jesus of Christianity. He claims Romney's high-profile candidacy for the presidency is an important effort by the church to gain credibility and respectability.
"There are reportedly 12 million Mormons worldwide, half of those in the United States," he says. "The worldwide holdings of the Mormon cult are in the tens of billions of dollars. Mitt Romney is the first member of this cult who has had the legitimate opportunity to help them achieve their goal of mainstream acceptance while holding the most powerful office in the world. Romney will have the full resources of this cult behind him in his bid for the White House."
He says if Romney wins the White House, millions of people will be attracted to Mormonism.
"Those who follow the false teachings of this cult, believe in the false jesus of the Mormon cult and reject faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, will die and spend eternity in hell," he charges. "Romney getting elected president will ultimately lead millions of souls to the eternal flames of hell!"
Keller also criticizes Romney for political flip-flops on issues like abortion, citing a recent report that his wife donated money to Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the world.
"Please take some time today and pray for Mitt Romney and all those who have been deceived by the lies of the Mormon cult," Keller adds. "The fact is that unless they renounce those lies and turn to faith in the one true Jesus of the Bible, they will die and spend eternity in hell. Pray also for these Christian leaders who have for whatever reason, foolishly aligned themselves with Romney. Pray the Holy Spirit will convict them and that they will renounce Romney and find a candidate to support who will hold to Biblical values. There is no excuse, no justification for supporting and voting for a man who will be used by satan to lead the souls of millions into the eternal flames of hell!"
Keller was a businessman convicted of insider trading in 1989, a crime for which he served more than two years in federal prison. After getting out, he received a degree in biblical studies from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and has been in full-time ministry ever since.
Evangelicals meet to focus on orphans
By: Erin Emery
Denver Post
Colorado Springs - Evangelical Christians want to ignite a movement in the nation's churches to help the world's 143 million orphans, a crisis that evangelicals are calling the "greatest social opportunity" in generations.
Some of the nation's most prominent evangelicals, including Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, met at Focus on the Family for a conference to rekindle a long-standing Christian tradition of caring for orphans.
At the conference, which runs through Friday, 350 people - representatives of adoptive and foster-care agencies, churches and ministries - will discuss how to build alliances between state foster-care agencies, to minister to HIV/AIDS orphans and to teach churches to do child placement as a ministry.
In the United States, 500,000 children are in foster care and 115,000 children are available for adoption, Warren said. People in the United States adopt about 23,000 children annually from foreign countries.
Warren, whose Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has seen congregants adopt hundreds of children, said it is simply not good enough to talk about faith - live it. He posted several Bible passages on an overhead projector, including James 1:27: "Look after orphans and widows in their distress."
Denver Post
Colorado Springs - Evangelical Christians want to ignite a movement in the nation's churches to help the world's 143 million orphans, a crisis that evangelicals are calling the "greatest social opportunity" in generations.
Some of the nation's most prominent evangelicals, including Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life, met at Focus on the Family for a conference to rekindle a long-standing Christian tradition of caring for orphans.
At the conference, which runs through Friday, 350 people - representatives of adoptive and foster-care agencies, churches and ministries - will discuss how to build alliances between state foster-care agencies, to minister to HIV/AIDS orphans and to teach churches to do child placement as a ministry.
In the United States, 500,000 children are in foster care and 115,000 children are available for adoption, Warren said. People in the United States adopt about 23,000 children annually from foreign countries.
Warren, whose Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., has seen congregants adopt hundreds of children, said it is simply not good enough to talk about faith - live it. He posted several Bible passages on an overhead projector, including James 1:27: "Look after orphans and widows in their distress."
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Pope's Words on Abortion Nudge, But Don't Shake U.S. Political Races
By: Greg Simmons
Fox News
WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI's agreement that Roman Catholic politicians in Mexico City who voted to legalize abortion should be denied the rite of Communion could have an effect on the 2008 presidential race in the United States.
The pontiff's comments put five of seven Catholic candidates at odds with their church.
Reporters aboard the pope's flight to Mexico City on Wednesday asked if he supported the decision by bishops there to excommunicate politicians who had voted to legalize abortion in the first trimester.
The pope responded that excommunication for those promoting abortion is "nothing new, it's normal, it wasn't arbitrary. It is what is foreseen by the Church's doctrine."
His comments later were clarified by the papal press office to say that neither the pope nor the Mexican bishops had declared the politicians excommunicated.
The press office director explained that the Church teaches that the promotion of abortion is not compatible with receiving the rite of Communion, one of seven Catholic "sacraments," or major holy rites.
U.S. Catholic officials say that position is nothing new, and U.S. politicians generally are free to participate in the sacrament regardless of their abortion beliefs, although individual church leaders can decide not to allow the practice.
It is longstanding tradition that any Catholic who supports, believes in, or approves of abortions should not present themselves for Communion without first going to confession, another of the Catholic sacraments, said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where a standing Catholic president would practice his or her faith.
"There's nothing new here," Gibbs said. "We'll see if there's anything new as we go forward."
"This is basically restating policy," said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, communications director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization that represents the 195 U.S. archdioceses.
Abortion politics is an issue that is playing heavily lately in the presidential race, and it is an issue high on many Catholics' agenda.
Rudy Giuliani is the only Republican candidate who has established himself as an abortion-rights candidate. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the other Catholic GOP contenders, are firm anti-abortion advocates.
All four Catholic Democratic contenders — Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — support abortion rights.
Click here for more...
Fox News
WASHINGTON — Pope Benedict XVI's agreement that Roman Catholic politicians in Mexico City who voted to legalize abortion should be denied the rite of Communion could have an effect on the 2008 presidential race in the United States.
The pontiff's comments put five of seven Catholic candidates at odds with their church.
Reporters aboard the pope's flight to Mexico City on Wednesday asked if he supported the decision by bishops there to excommunicate politicians who had voted to legalize abortion in the first trimester.
The pope responded that excommunication for those promoting abortion is "nothing new, it's normal, it wasn't arbitrary. It is what is foreseen by the Church's doctrine."
His comments later were clarified by the papal press office to say that neither the pope nor the Mexican bishops had declared the politicians excommunicated.
The press office director explained that the Church teaches that the promotion of abortion is not compatible with receiving the rite of Communion, one of seven Catholic "sacraments," or major holy rites.
U.S. Catholic officials say that position is nothing new, and U.S. politicians generally are free to participate in the sacrament regardless of their abortion beliefs, although individual church leaders can decide not to allow the practice.
It is longstanding tradition that any Catholic who supports, believes in, or approves of abortions should not present themselves for Communion without first going to confession, another of the Catholic sacraments, said Susan Gibbs, spokeswoman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., where a standing Catholic president would practice his or her faith.
"There's nothing new here," Gibbs said. "We'll see if there's anything new as we go forward."
"This is basically restating policy," said Sister Mary Ann Walsh, communications director for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the organization that represents the 195 U.S. archdioceses.
Abortion politics is an issue that is playing heavily lately in the presidential race, and it is an issue high on many Catholics' agenda.
Rudy Giuliani is the only Republican candidate who has established himself as an abortion-rights candidate. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback and former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, the other Catholic GOP contenders, are firm anti-abortion advocates.
All four Catholic Democratic contenders — Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson — support abortion rights.
Click here for more...
Illegal aliens among terrorist plotters arrested in NJ
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow.com
May 10, 2007
An immigration-reform organization says the recent arrest of three illegal aliens involved in an alleged terrorist plot against American soldiers refutes the argument of people who contend that those who enter the U.S. illegally do so only in search a better life. He says the arrest of the three along with others accused of conspiring to massacre U.S. soldiers illustrates the folly of failing to secure the nation's borders.
Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested in all -- the three who were in the country illegally, two whose green cards allowed them to be in the U.S. permanently, and one a U.S. citizen. Federal authorities have charged the six men, all in their 20s, with planning to use grenade launchers and other weapons to kill as many soldiers as possible at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The plot was foiled, however, thanks to an informant who tipped off the FBI.
But Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says there is no telling how many more would-be terrorists are in the United States who have taken advantage of the country's porous borders. "They understand what our vulnerabilities are," he asserts, "and the same open borders that allow busboys and gardeners and other workers to come across the border with impunity are going to be taken advantage of by people who intend to do us severe harm."
Mehlman says authorities were fortunate to catch the illegal aliens involved in the alleged terrorist plot this time. "We got lucky. We caught three of them," he notes, "but if there are three of them here, you can count on the fact that there are many, many more. And next time, we might not be as lucky. Next time, unfortunately, there may be many dead people as a result."
If this incident does not get the government's attention and force the authorities "to focus on their primary responsibility to protect the interests, to protect the security of this country, then I don't know what will," Mehlman says. In any event, he contends, it is clear that not all illegal aliens come to America just to find work and a better life, as their advocates claim.
Court records say that several of the Muslim men who were arrested said they were ready to kill and die "in the name of Allah," but news reports state there is no direct evidence connecting them to any international terror groups such as al Qaeda.
OneNewsNow.com
May 10, 2007
An immigration-reform organization says the recent arrest of three illegal aliens involved in an alleged terrorist plot against American soldiers refutes the argument of people who contend that those who enter the U.S. illegally do so only in search a better life. He says the arrest of the three along with others accused of conspiring to massacre U.S. soldiers illustrates the folly of failing to secure the nation's borders.
Six foreign-born Muslims were arrested in all -- the three who were in the country illegally, two whose green cards allowed them to be in the U.S. permanently, and one a U.S. citizen. Federal authorities have charged the six men, all in their 20s, with planning to use grenade launchers and other weapons to kill as many soldiers as possible at Fort Dix, New Jersey. The plot was foiled, however, thanks to an informant who tipped off the FBI.
But Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) says there is no telling how many more would-be terrorists are in the United States who have taken advantage of the country's porous borders. "They understand what our vulnerabilities are," he asserts, "and the same open borders that allow busboys and gardeners and other workers to come across the border with impunity are going to be taken advantage of by people who intend to do us severe harm."
Mehlman says authorities were fortunate to catch the illegal aliens involved in the alleged terrorist plot this time. "We got lucky. We caught three of them," he notes, "but if there are three of them here, you can count on the fact that there are many, many more. And next time, we might not be as lucky. Next time, unfortunately, there may be many dead people as a result."
If this incident does not get the government's attention and force the authorities "to focus on their primary responsibility to protect the interests, to protect the security of this country, then I don't know what will," Mehlman says. In any event, he contends, it is clear that not all illegal aliens come to America just to find work and a better life, as their advocates claim.
Court records say that several of the Muslim men who were arrested said they were ready to kill and die "in the name of Allah," but news reports state there is no direct evidence connecting them to any international terror groups such as al Qaeda.
Christian missionaries beaten in public for 'converting' Hindus
Reuters
May 9, 2007
Mumbai: Hindu hardliners attacked two Christian missionaries in public yesterday, the latest violence against priests accused by right-wing groups of trying to convert Hindus to Christianity.
Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur town.
News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and handed them over to police.
"The point is whether it was forced conversion or not is subject to a police investigation and is not to be judged by a mob," said Dolphy D'Souza, a local Christian leader.
Several states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have passed anti-conversion laws and groups linked to the party have repeatedly held that Christian priests bribe poor Hindus to join their flock.
May 9, 2007
Mumbai: Hindu hardliners attacked two Christian missionaries in public yesterday, the latest violence against priests accused by right-wing groups of trying to convert Hindus to Christianity.
Television channels showed Hindu activists kicking and punching the two young priests while dragging them through Maharashtra's Kolhapur town.
News footage showed an activist knee one priest in the groin, making him double up in pain. Another kicked the missionary in the head. The crowd accused the priests of forcibly converting poor Hindus, and handed them over to police.
"The point is whether it was forced conversion or not is subject to a police investigation and is not to be judged by a mob," said Dolphy D'Souza, a local Christian leader.
Several states ruled by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party have passed anti-conversion laws and groups linked to the party have repeatedly held that Christian priests bribe poor Hindus to join their flock.
John McCain Team Responds to Brody File on Evolution and Intelligent Design
The Brody File
May 9, 2007
This just in to The Brody File: John McCain's campaign has provided me with the Senator's take. It comes from what McCain wrote in his 2005 book "Character is Destiny". It's on page 265. So in essence, this is their response to the question on whether he believes in the literal 6 day creation story or the millions of years theory.
"Darwin helped explain nature’s laws. He did not speculate, in his published theories at least, on the origin of life. He did not exclude God, for Whom the immensity of time is but a moment, from our presence. The only undeniable challenge the theory of evolution poses to Christian beliefs is its obvious contradiction of the idea that God created the world as it is in less than a week. But our faith is certainly not so weak that it can be shaken to learn that a biblical metaphor is not literal history. Nature doesn’t threaten our faith. On the contrary, when we contemplate its beauty and mysteries we cannot quiet in our heart an insistent impulse of belief that for all its variations and inevitable change, before its creation, in a time before time, God let it be so, and, thus, its many splendors and purposes abide in His purpose.”
I'll refrain from comment for now because I'm curious as to what you think.Does this help explain his views? Do you want more? Do you care? Do you think I'm wasting my time? Go ahead, I can take it. I'm a big boy.
Now, on Intelligent Design, I asked the McCain camp this question:
Understanding that teaching Intelligent Design is a local issue, does Senator McCain believe teaching Intelligent Design in science class alongside Evolution is a good idea?
Here's the campaign's response:
"Senator McCain believes evolution is supported by science, but that we shouldn’t be afraid to expose students to other theories."
Sounds like he's OK with Creationism being taught as well. Now as for whether he believes it should be taught as a science class or a religion clas, that distinction hasn't been made.
May 9, 2007
This just in to The Brody File: John McCain's campaign has provided me with the Senator's take. It comes from what McCain wrote in his 2005 book "Character is Destiny". It's on page 265. So in essence, this is their response to the question on whether he believes in the literal 6 day creation story or the millions of years theory.
"Darwin helped explain nature’s laws. He did not speculate, in his published theories at least, on the origin of life. He did not exclude God, for Whom the immensity of time is but a moment, from our presence. The only undeniable challenge the theory of evolution poses to Christian beliefs is its obvious contradiction of the idea that God created the world as it is in less than a week. But our faith is certainly not so weak that it can be shaken to learn that a biblical metaphor is not literal history. Nature doesn’t threaten our faith. On the contrary, when we contemplate its beauty and mysteries we cannot quiet in our heart an insistent impulse of belief that for all its variations and inevitable change, before its creation, in a time before time, God let it be so, and, thus, its many splendors and purposes abide in His purpose.”
I'll refrain from comment for now because I'm curious as to what you think.Does this help explain his views? Do you want more? Do you care? Do you think I'm wasting my time? Go ahead, I can take it. I'm a big boy.
Now, on Intelligent Design, I asked the McCain camp this question:
Understanding that teaching Intelligent Design is a local issue, does Senator McCain believe teaching Intelligent Design in science class alongside Evolution is a good idea?
Here's the campaign's response:
"Senator McCain believes evolution is supported by science, but that we shouldn’t be afraid to expose students to other theories."
Sounds like he's OK with Creationism being taught as well. Now as for whether he believes it should be taught as a science class or a religion clas, that distinction hasn't been made.
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
ACLU Sues N.C. To Allow Quran For Oaths
Lawsuit Argues Other Religious Texts Should Be Allowed Besides Bibles For Taking Oaths In Court
Associated Press
May 9, 2007
(AP) If North Carolina is going to let people use a religious text when taking an oath in court, the Bible should not be the only book allowed, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union argued in court Tuesday.
A lawsuit filed by the ACLU of North Carolina challenges a state policy that allows only the Bible to be used in such court procedures.
“If the state is going to get into the religious oath business, the state has to be fair,” said Seth Cohen, the ACLU's lead counsel on the case.
But an attorney from the state Attorney General's Office urged Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway to dismiss the case.
“The main complaint of the ACLU and the plaintiff is a political one, not a legal one,” attorney Valerie Bateman said.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2005 on behalf of Syidah Mateen, a Muslim woman who said she was denied the use of the Quran in court. The lawsuit argues that state law is unconstitutional because it favors Christianity over other religions.
The ACLU is seeking a court order clarifying that the law is broad enough to allow the use of multiple religious texts, or else rule the statute unconstitutional. The group expects Ridgeway will issue a ruling as early as next week.
State law allows witnesses preparing to testify in court to take their oath in three ways: by laying a hand over “the Holy Scriptures,” by saying “so help me God” without the use of a religious book, or by an affirmation using no religious symbols.
The state law gives Christians three options “and everybody else two options,” Cohen said.
The ACLU and the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations had called for a statewide policy permitting use of the Quran and other religious texts in courtrooms. But the director of the state court system refused, saying the state legislature or the courts needed to settle the issue.
Bateman said changing the law would require the court to make determinations on what writings could be used.
“That's just too much entanglement for the court to be involved in,” she said, adding that it might be more appropriate for legislators to resolve the issue.
A bill filed in this session of the state legislature by a Democratic state senator would allow sacred texts besides the Bible to be used to administer courtroom oaths. But so far the bill has only been referred to a committee and its prospects for passage remain uncertain.
A trial court judge dismissed the ACLU's lawsuit in December 2005, ruling it was moot because there was no actual controversy at the time that warranted litigation.
In January, the ruling was reversed by a unanimous three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals and the lawsuit was allowed to go to trial. The panel noted Mateen's claim that her request to place her hand on the Quran as a witness in a domestic violence case in Guilford County was denied in 2003.
Several Jewish members of the state chapter of the ACLU have filed affidavits indicating they would prefer to swear upon the Old Testament, one of the religious texts of their faith, according to court documents.
The ACLU has said an 1856 state Supreme Court decision sets a clear precedent for oaths with religious texts. The court decision noted that North Carolina's oath-taking statutes were written for Christians but do not limit others from taking oaths in the way they deem most sacred.
Associated Press
May 9, 2007
(AP) If North Carolina is going to let people use a religious text when taking an oath in court, the Bible should not be the only book allowed, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union argued in court Tuesday.
A lawsuit filed by the ACLU of North Carolina challenges a state policy that allows only the Bible to be used in such court procedures.
“If the state is going to get into the religious oath business, the state has to be fair,” said Seth Cohen, the ACLU's lead counsel on the case.
But an attorney from the state Attorney General's Office urged Wake County Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway to dismiss the case.
“The main complaint of the ACLU and the plaintiff is a political one, not a legal one,” attorney Valerie Bateman said.
The lawsuit was filed in July 2005 on behalf of Syidah Mateen, a Muslim woman who said she was denied the use of the Quran in court. The lawsuit argues that state law is unconstitutional because it favors Christianity over other religions.
The ACLU is seeking a court order clarifying that the law is broad enough to allow the use of multiple religious texts, or else rule the statute unconstitutional. The group expects Ridgeway will issue a ruling as early as next week.
State law allows witnesses preparing to testify in court to take their oath in three ways: by laying a hand over “the Holy Scriptures,” by saying “so help me God” without the use of a religious book, or by an affirmation using no religious symbols.
The state law gives Christians three options “and everybody else two options,” Cohen said.
The ACLU and the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations had called for a statewide policy permitting use of the Quran and other religious texts in courtrooms. But the director of the state court system refused, saying the state legislature or the courts needed to settle the issue.
Bateman said changing the law would require the court to make determinations on what writings could be used.
“That's just too much entanglement for the court to be involved in,” she said, adding that it might be more appropriate for legislators to resolve the issue.
A bill filed in this session of the state legislature by a Democratic state senator would allow sacred texts besides the Bible to be used to administer courtroom oaths. But so far the bill has only been referred to a committee and its prospects for passage remain uncertain.
A trial court judge dismissed the ACLU's lawsuit in December 2005, ruling it was moot because there was no actual controversy at the time that warranted litigation.
In January, the ruling was reversed by a unanimous three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals and the lawsuit was allowed to go to trial. The panel noted Mateen's claim that her request to place her hand on the Quran as a witness in a domestic violence case in Guilford County was denied in 2003.
Several Jewish members of the state chapter of the ACLU have filed affidavits indicating they would prefer to swear upon the Old Testament, one of the religious texts of their faith, according to court documents.
The ACLU has said an 1856 state Supreme Court decision sets a clear precedent for oaths with religious texts. The court decision noted that North Carolina's oath-taking statutes were written for Christians but do not limit others from taking oaths in the way they deem most sacred.
NOW claims against pro-lifers dismissed
Lawyer says rejection of organized crime allegations is far-reaching
Worldnetdaily.com
May 9, 2007
A precedent-setting lawsuit brought by the National National Organization for Women and a number of the nation's leading abortion providers against pro-life protesters, alleging they engaged in a criminal conspiracy to halt the abortion industry, has been dismissed by federal judge.
"I've waited 21 years for this news!" said Joseph M. Scheidler, national director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and one of the lead defendants.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge David Coar issued his final judgment in NOW v. Scheidler, through which NOW and others alleged pro-life organizers violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
WND reported in 2006 that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled for the third time in favor of pro-life activists who were sued by NOW over their aggressive demonstrations at abortion clinics.
Click here to read entire article.
Worldnetdaily.com
May 9, 2007
A precedent-setting lawsuit brought by the National National Organization for Women and a number of the nation's leading abortion providers against pro-life protesters, alleging they engaged in a criminal conspiracy to halt the abortion industry, has been dismissed by federal judge.
"I've waited 21 years for this news!" said Joseph M. Scheidler, national director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League and one of the lead defendants.
Yesterday, U.S. District Judge David Coar issued his final judgment in NOW v. Scheidler, through which NOW and others alleged pro-life organizers violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
WND reported in 2006 that the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled for the third time in favor of pro-life activists who were sued by NOW over their aggressive demonstrations at abortion clinics.
Click here to read entire article.
President Threatens Veto on Pro-Abortion Legislation
Jay Sekulow's Trial Notebook
ACLJ
May 8, 2007
Yesterday I was in our offices in Washington, DC working with our Government Affairs staff concerning the implementation of a strategy to defend life. As I mentioned in last week’s posting, Congress has introduced a Freedom of Choice Act. This Act greatly expands the pro-abortion agenda in our United States Congress: not only would this bill overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in the partial-birth abortion case, but it would also strike down any legislation passed by Congress or the States that “den[ies] or interfere[s] with” abortion procedures. This would be the most dramatic action Congress could take, and it would significantly hurt the pro-life cause.
Hundreds of thousands of people have contacted us over the last few weeks, and we have made our position known to the White House as well as to other leaders in the House and Senate. I am happy to report that the President has issued a letter which is very direct in its stand for life. The President stated on May 3rd to Speaker Pelosi that “Our Nation was founded on the belief that every human being has rights, dignity and matchless value. Every child should be welcomed into life and protected in law.” The President went on to note that advances in science should not be used as a basis upon which to abandon our “obligation to protect helpless and innocent life from destruction, whether it is in the womb or elsewhere.”
The President closed his letter by stating, “I believe it is the most basic duty of Government to guard the innocent. With that in mind, I will veto any legislation that weakens current Federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.” If you would like to view the President’s letter, please click here.
The President has issued a stern warning to Congress that he will do everything in his power to protect the life of innocent children, and we applaud the President in this effort. Our Government Affairs staff has been working diligently on this issue over the last several weeks. The President’s threat of a veto is important in light of the Freedom of Choice Act. Of course, once the veto is issued, we must do everything in our power to sustain that veto. We will keep everyone posted as this matter continues to work its way through Congress.
ACLJ
May 8, 2007
Yesterday I was in our offices in Washington, DC working with our Government Affairs staff concerning the implementation of a strategy to defend life. As I mentioned in last week’s posting, Congress has introduced a Freedom of Choice Act. This Act greatly expands the pro-abortion agenda in our United States Congress: not only would this bill overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in the partial-birth abortion case, but it would also strike down any legislation passed by Congress or the States that “den[ies] or interfere[s] with” abortion procedures. This would be the most dramatic action Congress could take, and it would significantly hurt the pro-life cause.
Hundreds of thousands of people have contacted us over the last few weeks, and we have made our position known to the White House as well as to other leaders in the House and Senate. I am happy to report that the President has issued a letter which is very direct in its stand for life. The President stated on May 3rd to Speaker Pelosi that “Our Nation was founded on the belief that every human being has rights, dignity and matchless value. Every child should be welcomed into life and protected in law.” The President went on to note that advances in science should not be used as a basis upon which to abandon our “obligation to protect helpless and innocent life from destruction, whether it is in the womb or elsewhere.”
The President closed his letter by stating, “I believe it is the most basic duty of Government to guard the innocent. With that in mind, I will veto any legislation that weakens current Federal policies and laws on abortion, or that encourages the destruction of human life at any stage.” If you would like to view the President’s letter, please click here.
The President has issued a stern warning to Congress that he will do everything in his power to protect the life of innocent children, and we applaud the President in this effort. Our Government Affairs staff has been working diligently on this issue over the last several weeks. The President’s threat of a veto is important in light of the Freedom of Choice Act. Of course, once the veto is issued, we must do everything in our power to sustain that veto. We will keep everyone posted as this matter continues to work its way through Congress.
Iran orders all TV drama to feature prayer
Breitbart.com
May 7, 2007
The conservative head of Iran's state-run television has said all homegrown drama programmes should feature scenes showing characters praying or they will be denied airtime, the ILNA news agency reported on Monday.
"In the current year, television productions that do not have prayer scenes will not be allowed to air," said Ezatollah Zarghami, who is appointed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The new directive appears to apply to drama series and television films but it is not clear whether it also includes programmes such as game shows and sitcoms.
Citing a scene in a popular Iranian series where a murder suspect is shown praying, Zarghami said: "Prayer scenes should not be confined to positive and leading characters, the elderly and the clean-living types."
He said children's programmes should also seek to teach the young about praying, which mature Muslims are required to perform five times a day as one of the five pillars of Islam.
All television and radio broadcast in Iran is state-controlled and the six national TV channels air a wide range of homegrown programmes as well as foreign documentaries, series and films.
Though conservative in its overall policy, Iranian television has experienced some relaxation since Zarghami took over two years ago, showing recent Hollywood films and controversial talk shows putting politicians and celebrities in the hot seat.
Religion also plays a conspicuous role. Programming is interrupted for the broadcast of the daily prayers, newsreaders invoke God before each bulletin and there are frequent readings from the Koran.
Officials have sought to make domestic television programmes more appealing in the past years to compete with satellite television channels which are banned in Iran but watched by many Iranians.
May 7, 2007
The conservative head of Iran's state-run television has said all homegrown drama programmes should feature scenes showing characters praying or they will be denied airtime, the ILNA news agency reported on Monday.
"In the current year, television productions that do not have prayer scenes will not be allowed to air," said Ezatollah Zarghami, who is appointed by the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The new directive appears to apply to drama series and television films but it is not clear whether it also includes programmes such as game shows and sitcoms.
Citing a scene in a popular Iranian series where a murder suspect is shown praying, Zarghami said: "Prayer scenes should not be confined to positive and leading characters, the elderly and the clean-living types."
He said children's programmes should also seek to teach the young about praying, which mature Muslims are required to perform five times a day as one of the five pillars of Islam.
All television and radio broadcast in Iran is state-controlled and the six national TV channels air a wide range of homegrown programmes as well as foreign documentaries, series and films.
Though conservative in its overall policy, Iranian television has experienced some relaxation since Zarghami took over two years ago, showing recent Hollywood films and controversial talk shows putting politicians and celebrities in the hot seat.
Religion also plays a conspicuous role. Programming is interrupted for the broadcast of the daily prayers, newsreaders invoke God before each bulletin and there are frequent readings from the Koran.
Officials have sought to make domestic television programmes more appealing in the past years to compete with satellite television channels which are banned in Iran but watched by many Iranians.
Tuesday, May 8, 2007
School District Ordered to Pay Damages for Censoring Child Evangelism Fellowship
Liberty Council - News Release
May 8, 2007
Greenville, SC - The Anderson School District has been ordered by a federal appeals court to pay $99,776.74 in attorney's fees and costs for censoring Child Evangelism Fellowship. The court ruled in a unanimous 3-0 opinion, in Child Evangelism Fellowship v. Anderson School District Five, that the South Carolina school district violated CEF's constitutional rights by charging the group a fee while allowing other groups to use district facilities at no cost. Liberty Counsel represents CEF of South Carolina, which sponsors after-school "Good News Clubs" in elementary schools.
CEF was charged a fee to use school facilities, although the district waived fees whenever deemed "in the best interest of the district." Fees were waived for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, Students Against Destructive Decisions, the local Democratic Party, and a host of other groups, but no waiver was extended to the Good News Clubs. After filing suit, the district changed its policy and sought to "grandfather" free use to the previously authorized groups.
The appeals court ruled the district policy unconstitutional, stating that "government may not bar religious perspectives on otherwise permitted subjects ... [and] communities of faith may not be arbitrarily excluded from the protections of the Free Speech Clause ... Government need not fear an Establishment Clause violation from allowing religious groups to speak under the same reasonable, viewpoint-neutral terms as other private parties ... In sum, speech is not to be selectively permitted or proscribed according to official preference." This case represents a significant legal precedent, because it requires speech-restrictive policies to contain clear standards to prevent government officials from engaging in viewpoint discrimination, much like the case law that has developed to govern prior restraints on speech.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, who argued the case on appeal after breaking his hand in an automobile accident a few hours before, stated: "This decision marks the end of a three-year battle to preserve Child Evangelism Fellowship's constitutional rights. The court of appeals hit the bull's-eye. School officials should take notice. Equal access is the law, and equal access means equal treatment in every respect. Good News Clubs teach respect, morality and character development. Instead of hassling Good News Clubs, schools should embrace the clubs. These clubs make a positive difference in the lives of children."
May 8, 2007
Greenville, SC - The Anderson School District has been ordered by a federal appeals court to pay $99,776.74 in attorney's fees and costs for censoring Child Evangelism Fellowship. The court ruled in a unanimous 3-0 opinion, in Child Evangelism Fellowship v. Anderson School District Five, that the South Carolina school district violated CEF's constitutional rights by charging the group a fee while allowing other groups to use district facilities at no cost. Liberty Counsel represents CEF of South Carolina, which sponsors after-school "Good News Clubs" in elementary schools.
CEF was charged a fee to use school facilities, although the district waived fees whenever deemed "in the best interest of the district." Fees were waived for the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, YMCA, Students Against Destructive Decisions, the local Democratic Party, and a host of other groups, but no waiver was extended to the Good News Clubs. After filing suit, the district changed its policy and sought to "grandfather" free use to the previously authorized groups.
The appeals court ruled the district policy unconstitutional, stating that "government may not bar religious perspectives on otherwise permitted subjects ... [and] communities of faith may not be arbitrarily excluded from the protections of the Free Speech Clause ... Government need not fear an Establishment Clause violation from allowing religious groups to speak under the same reasonable, viewpoint-neutral terms as other private parties ... In sum, speech is not to be selectively permitted or proscribed according to official preference." This case represents a significant legal precedent, because it requires speech-restrictive policies to contain clear standards to prevent government officials from engaging in viewpoint discrimination, much like the case law that has developed to govern prior restraints on speech.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, who argued the case on appeal after breaking his hand in an automobile accident a few hours before, stated: "This decision marks the end of a three-year battle to preserve Child Evangelism Fellowship's constitutional rights. The court of appeals hit the bull's-eye. School officials should take notice. Equal access is the law, and equal access means equal treatment in every respect. Good News Clubs teach respect, morality and character development. Instead of hassling Good News Clubs, schools should embrace the clubs. These clubs make a positive difference in the lives of children."
Israeli Archaeologist May Have Found Tomb of King Herod
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Associated Press
JERUSALEM — An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found the tomb of King Herod the Great, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer said the tomb was found at Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert where Herod the Great built a palace compound. Netzer has been working at the site since the 1970s.
Netzer said the tomb was discovered when a team of researchers found pieces of a limestone sarcophagus believed to belong to the ancient king.
Although there were no bones in the container, he said the sarcophagus' location and ornate appearance indicated it is Herod's.
"It's a sarcophagus we don't just see anywhere," Netzer said at a news conference. "It is something very special."
Netzer led the team, though he said he was not on the site when the sarcophagus was found.
Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 40 B.C. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish Second Temple is the one that can be seen today.
He also undertook massive construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other locations.
[Herod the Great is also blamed in the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew for having ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, the execution of all male Jewish infants in Bethlehem, after having been told that the new King of the Jews had been born there.]
It has long been assumed that Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations failed to turn up the site until now. The first century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.
Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman forces in A.D. 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Hebrew University had hoped to keep the find a secret until Netzer's news conference on Tuesday. But the university announced the find in a brief statement late Monday after the Haaretz daily newspaper found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.
Associated Press
JERUSALEM — An Israeli archaeologist on Tuesday said he has found the tomb of King Herod the Great, the legendary builder of ancient Jerusalem and the Holy Land.
Hebrew University archaeologist Ehud Netzer said the tomb was found at Herodium, a flattened hilltop in the Judean Desert where Herod the Great built a palace compound. Netzer has been working at the site since the 1970s.
Netzer said the tomb was discovered when a team of researchers found pieces of a limestone sarcophagus believed to belong to the ancient king.
Although there were no bones in the container, he said the sarcophagus' location and ornate appearance indicated it is Herod's.
"It's a sarcophagus we don't just see anywhere," Netzer said at a news conference. "It is something very special."
Netzer led the team, though he said he was not on the site when the sarcophagus was found.
Herod became the ruler of the Holy Land under the Romans around 40 B.C. The wall he built around the Old City of Jerusalem during the time of the Jewish Second Temple is the one that can be seen today.
He also undertook massive construction projects in Caesaria, Jericho, the hilltop fortress of Massada and other locations.
[Herod the Great is also blamed in the New Testament's Gospel of Matthew for having ordered the Massacre of the Innocents, the execution of all male Jewish infants in Bethlehem, after having been told that the new King of the Jews had been born there.]
It has long been assumed that Herod was buried at Herodium, but decades of excavations failed to turn up the site until now. The first century historian Josephus Flavius described the tomb and Herod's funeral procession.
Herodium was one of the last strong points held by Jewish rebels fighting against the Romans, and it was conquered and destroyed by Roman forces in A.D. 71, a year after they destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
Hebrew University had hoped to keep the find a secret until Netzer's news conference on Tuesday. But the university announced the find in a brief statement late Monday after the Haaretz daily newspaper found out about the discovery and published an article on its Web site.
Crackdown on Christians could go nationwide
Fears raised that Islamic law will expand under new president
Worldnetdaily.com
May 5, 2007
Christians in Nigeria, who make up about half the population, are expressing fears Islamic law already being enforced in northern states will expand nationwide with the inauguration this month of a new "devout Muslim" president, according to a report from the Voice of the Martyrs.
Musa Yar' Adua was governor of Katsina state in northern Nigeria, where he and nearly a dozen other governors over recent years have imposed Islamic religious law as the law of the government, officials said.
As a result, Christians have lost basic rights such as having a location to meet and meeting there, officials have confirmed.
"We have not been allowed to worship freely, as churches have been denied places of worship. In the Government Reservation Area, for example, it is not possible to get land for places of worship by Christians," Rev. Canon Williams said in a Voice of the Martyrs report.
As WND has reported, Muslim rioters in Nigeria in 2006 were incensed over cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark, and more than 130 Christians in the Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Onitsha were slaughtered.
The reports documented six children burned to ashes in front of their father, VOM said.
WND also has reported nearly 1,000 homes of Christians and many churches have been destroyed in those regions, and documentation of Islamic law is everywhere.
"If you go around villages, you will see people missing one hand or one foot," explained Rev. Obiora Ike. "Do you think that's the result of an illness? That is the result of sharia law."
More than 10,000 Christians have been martyred in the region since the Islamic law was imposed in the region in 1999, and Voice of the Martyrs has helped surviving family members through its Families of Martyrs Fund with Care Packs, Village Outreach packs and words of encouragement to believers who stand for their faith "amidst volatile, uncertain conditions.
"The election of Yar' Adua will aggravate the problems of Christians in northern Nigeria. Our fear is that under a Muslim president, religious liberty will be eroded," another pastor said in the VOM report.
Under Yar' Adua's supervision in Katsina, the government set up a system to deliberately deny permission for any Christian churches to acquire land or build. "Government agencies [also] arbitrarily closed some churches," according to the report.
In just recent weeks and months, persecution of Christians has increased there. Alhassan Adamu, the secretary of the board of an evangelical Christian school, said persecution now is commonplace.
"There is persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity, destruction of churches, discrimination against Christians and denial of admission of Christian students in public schools, to name a few," he said.
Yar' Adua is a former chemistry teacher whose political pedigree dates to the 1960s when his father was minister in the post-independence administration. His late brother also was an army general under President Olusegun Obasanjo during the 1970s.
Political analysts in Nigeria confirm that he is not known for his tolerance of opposition, and his critics there describe him as totalitarian.
He has told reporters that the government must "earn" its "moral authority."
Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
Worldnetdaily.com
May 5, 2007
Christians in Nigeria, who make up about half the population, are expressing fears Islamic law already being enforced in northern states will expand nationwide with the inauguration this month of a new "devout Muslim" president, according to a report from the Voice of the Martyrs.
Musa Yar' Adua was governor of Katsina state in northern Nigeria, where he and nearly a dozen other governors over recent years have imposed Islamic religious law as the law of the government, officials said.
As a result, Christians have lost basic rights such as having a location to meet and meeting there, officials have confirmed.
"We have not been allowed to worship freely, as churches have been denied places of worship. In the Government Reservation Area, for example, it is not possible to get land for places of worship by Christians," Rev. Canon Williams said in a Voice of the Martyrs report.
As WND has reported, Muslim rioters in Nigeria in 2006 were incensed over cartoons of Muhammad published in Denmark, and more than 130 Christians in the Nigerian cities of Maiduguri and Onitsha were slaughtered.
The reports documented six children burned to ashes in front of their father, VOM said.
WND also has reported nearly 1,000 homes of Christians and many churches have been destroyed in those regions, and documentation of Islamic law is everywhere.
"If you go around villages, you will see people missing one hand or one foot," explained Rev. Obiora Ike. "Do you think that's the result of an illness? That is the result of sharia law."
More than 10,000 Christians have been martyred in the region since the Islamic law was imposed in the region in 1999, and Voice of the Martyrs has helped surviving family members through its Families of Martyrs Fund with Care Packs, Village Outreach packs and words of encouragement to believers who stand for their faith "amidst volatile, uncertain conditions.
"The election of Yar' Adua will aggravate the problems of Christians in northern Nigeria. Our fear is that under a Muslim president, religious liberty will be eroded," another pastor said in the VOM report.
Under Yar' Adua's supervision in Katsina, the government set up a system to deliberately deny permission for any Christian churches to acquire land or build. "Government agencies [also] arbitrarily closed some churches," according to the report.
In just recent weeks and months, persecution of Christians has increased there. Alhassan Adamu, the secretary of the board of an evangelical Christian school, said persecution now is commonplace.
"There is persecution of converts from Islam to Christianity, destruction of churches, discrimination against Christians and denial of admission of Christian students in public schools, to name a few," he said.
Yar' Adua is a former chemistry teacher whose political pedigree dates to the 1960s when his father was minister in the post-independence administration. His late brother also was an army general under President Olusegun Obasanjo during the 1970s.
Political analysts in Nigeria confirm that he is not known for his tolerance of opposition, and his critics there describe him as totalitarian.
He has told reporters that the government must "earn" its "moral authority."
Voice of the Martyrs is a non-profit, interdenominational ministry working worldwide to help Christians who are persecuted for their faith, and to educate the world about that persecution. Its headquarters are in Bartlesville, Okla., and it has 30 affiliated international offices.
It was launched by the late Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, who started smuggling Russian Gospels into Russia in 1947, just months before Richard was abducted and imprisoned in Romania where he was tortured for his refusal to recant Christianity.
He eventually was released in 1964 and the next year he testified about the persecution of Christians before the U.S. Senate's Internal Security Subcommittee, stripping to the waist to show the deep torture wound scars on his body.
The group that later was renamed The Voice of the Martyrs was organized in 1967, when his book, "Tortured for Christ," was released.
New Coalition of Christians Seeks Changes at Borders
The New York Times
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: May 8, 2007
WASHINGTON, May 7 — A new coalition of more than 100 largely evangelical Christian leaders and organizations asked Congress on Monday to pass bills to strengthen border controls but also give illegal immigrants ways to gain legal residency.
The announcement spotlights evangelical leaders’ increasingly visible efforts to push for what they say is a more humane policy in keeping with biblical injunctions to show compassion for their neighbors, the weak and the alien.
The new group, Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, includes members like the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which represents Latino evangelicals.
It includes individuals like Dr. Joel C. Hunter, pastor of Northland, a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., and Sammy Mah, president of World Relief, an aid group affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals.
The concerns of the coalition mirror those of many evangelical leaders who have often staked out conservative positions on other social issues or who have avoided politics entirely.
In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.
The Rev. Joel Osteen, whose television ministry reaches millions but who steers clear of politics, has also spoken out for compassionate changes.
Immigration “for us is a religious issue, a biblical issue,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of a liberal evangelical group, Call to Renewal, and a member of the coalition. “We call it welcoming the stranger.”
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform does not back particular measures, said Katie Barge, a spokeswoman for Faith in Public Life, the organizers of a news conference about the group.
Rather, the coalition calls for bills that would push for border enforcement while improving guest worker programs and offering chances for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status, an approach similar to bills that Congress is considering.
Click here for entire article.
By NEELA BANERJEE
Published: May 8, 2007
WASHINGTON, May 7 — A new coalition of more than 100 largely evangelical Christian leaders and organizations asked Congress on Monday to pass bills to strengthen border controls but also give illegal immigrants ways to gain legal residency.
The announcement spotlights evangelical leaders’ increasingly visible efforts to push for what they say is a more humane policy in keeping with biblical injunctions to show compassion for their neighbors, the weak and the alien.
The new group, Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, includes members like the Mennonite Church U.S.A. and the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, which represents Latino evangelicals.
It includes individuals like Dr. Joel C. Hunter, pastor of Northland, a megachurch in Longwood, Fla., and Sammy Mah, president of World Relief, an aid group affiliated with the National Association of Evangelicals.
The concerns of the coalition mirror those of many evangelical leaders who have often staked out conservative positions on other social issues or who have avoided politics entirely.
In late March, Dr. Richard Land, the conservative president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, stood with Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, in supporting routes to legalization for illegal immigrants.
The Rev. Joel Osteen, whose television ministry reaches millions but who steers clear of politics, has also spoken out for compassionate changes.
Immigration “for us is a religious issue, a biblical issue,” said the Rev. Jim Wallis, president of a liberal evangelical group, Call to Renewal, and a member of the coalition. “We call it welcoming the stranger.”
Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform does not back particular measures, said Katie Barge, a spokeswoman for Faith in Public Life, the organizers of a news conference about the group.
Rather, the coalition calls for bills that would push for border enforcement while improving guest worker programs and offering chances for illegal immigrants to obtain legal status, an approach similar to bills that Congress is considering.
Click here for entire article.
Romney in 2005: Opposed Teaching Intelligent Design in Public Schools
The Brody File
May 7, 2007
The Brody File is at it again. Another little scoop. According to an interview Mitt Romney did with The Boston Globe in December of 2005, the former Governor of Massachusetts said he was against the teaching of intelligence design in public schools. There are quite a few Evangelicals who believe the exact opposite; that intelligent design should indeed be taught in public schools alongside Evolution.
The quote comes from an article by Frank Phillips who was writing about how Romney felt the Boston media was distorting his views. During the article, Romney defends himself, saying he is not moving to the right just for future political purposes. And he gives intelligent design as proof positive. Here's part of the article:
"Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that reports he has shifted to the political right to attract Republican primary voters are Boston media distortions, and emphasized that his positions are considered moderate on the national scene. In a wide-ranging interview with the Globe a week after announcing he will not seek reelection, Romney insisted he has remained consistent throughout his tenure in the corner office, adhering to positions he staked out in his 2002 gubernatorial campaign. The governor also pledged that any presidential ambitions he harbors will not dictate his agenda on Beacon Hill. "As I bring forward issues, it is clear that this is not something I am using for my reelection campaign," Romney said. "The Legislature can look at them with a nonpolitical light." Romney contended that political considerations are not the major factor behind his positions. For example, he said yesterday, he opposes the teaching of intelligent design in science classes in public schools, a stance at odds with some conservative voters. He said he arrived at that position without consulting his national political adviser, Michael Murphy."
Read the rest of the article here. The last thing Romney needs is another reason for Evangelicals not to vote for him. His Mormonism is an issue for some. His past flip flops give some pause. Now, past statements against teaching intelligent design in public school. That may play well in a General Election but to put it in football terms, Mitt Romney needs to get out of the first rounds of the playoffs before he competes in the SuperBowl. The first round of the playoffs are the GOP Primaries. Evangelicals will play a key role, especially in the South. Romney wants to be the candidate for Evangelicals. John McCain and Giuliani less so because they've been painted as either a maverick or moderate. So that's why issues like this can hurt Romney more.
So does Romney still believe that intelligent design should not be taught in public schools? I plan to ask his campaign. Check back here. Remember, this is not so much a debate about Intelligent Design. This is about whether an issue like this would give Evvangelicals a little more pause about Romney? President Bush thinks Intelligent Design should be taught. Comments?
May 7, 2007
The Brody File is at it again. Another little scoop. According to an interview Mitt Romney did with The Boston Globe in December of 2005, the former Governor of Massachusetts said he was against the teaching of intelligence design in public schools. There are quite a few Evangelicals who believe the exact opposite; that intelligent design should indeed be taught in public schools alongside Evolution.
The quote comes from an article by Frank Phillips who was writing about how Romney felt the Boston media was distorting his views. During the article, Romney defends himself, saying he is not moving to the right just for future political purposes. And he gives intelligent design as proof positive. Here's part of the article:
"Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that reports he has shifted to the political right to attract Republican primary voters are Boston media distortions, and emphasized that his positions are considered moderate on the national scene. In a wide-ranging interview with the Globe a week after announcing he will not seek reelection, Romney insisted he has remained consistent throughout his tenure in the corner office, adhering to positions he staked out in his 2002 gubernatorial campaign. The governor also pledged that any presidential ambitions he harbors will not dictate his agenda on Beacon Hill. "As I bring forward issues, it is clear that this is not something I am using for my reelection campaign," Romney said. "The Legislature can look at them with a nonpolitical light." Romney contended that political considerations are not the major factor behind his positions. For example, he said yesterday, he opposes the teaching of intelligent design in science classes in public schools, a stance at odds with some conservative voters. He said he arrived at that position without consulting his national political adviser, Michael Murphy."
Read the rest of the article here. The last thing Romney needs is another reason for Evangelicals not to vote for him. His Mormonism is an issue for some. His past flip flops give some pause. Now, past statements against teaching intelligent design in public school. That may play well in a General Election but to put it in football terms, Mitt Romney needs to get out of the first rounds of the playoffs before he competes in the SuperBowl. The first round of the playoffs are the GOP Primaries. Evangelicals will play a key role, especially in the South. Romney wants to be the candidate for Evangelicals. John McCain and Giuliani less so because they've been painted as either a maverick or moderate. So that's why issues like this can hurt Romney more.
So does Romney still believe that intelligent design should not be taught in public schools? I plan to ask his campaign. Check back here. Remember, this is not so much a debate about Intelligent Design. This is about whether an issue like this would give Evvangelicals a little more pause about Romney? President Bush thinks Intelligent Design should be taught. Comments?
Monday, May 7, 2007
Huckabee: Creation, evolution beliefs don't matter in presidency
Read this interesting AP article on Republican Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee as he talks about his views on evolution and intelligent design.
He says that he believes in intelligent design, but wants to leave the details up to the scientists.....
He says that he believes in intelligent design, but wants to leave the details up to the scientists.....
Orthodox Anglicans Take 'First Step' Away from Episcopal Church
By: Lillian Kwon
Christian Post Reporter
WOODBRIDGE, Va. – The installation of a local minister who recently broke with the Episcopal Church and will now oversee other breakaway congregations was a unique and historic event and one that the Nigerian Anglican leader called "just the first step."
"The journey ahead is long, the road ... rough, rugged," said Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of the Church of Nigeria, who defied top church leaders on Saturday and installed the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) – a conservative splinter group and an offshoot of the Church of Nigeria.
It was a day of mixed emotions. Minns, rector of the prominent Truro Church in Fairfax, said part of him was sad since the Episcopal Church was his home for several decades.
"[These] are difficult days and confusing days for those of us who consider ourselves Anglican Christians," Minns told thousands of Anglicans during his installation ceremony at the Cecil D. Hylton Memorial Chapel. "The fabric of our beloved communion has been torn at its deepest level.
"Our name is now synonymous with division and discontent."
In December, Minns helped lead 11 Virginia churches in overwhelming votes to split with the Episcopal Church – the American wing of Anglicanism. Leaders of the breakaway bunch said their decision to leave was because of the church body's departure from Christian orthodoxy. The 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop had widened rifts and was the "flash point that showed how far the repudiation of Christian orthodoxy had gone," according to The Falls Church rector the Rev. John Yates and parishioner Os Guinness.
The breakaway congregations went under the leadership of Akinola, who leads the largest province in the Anglican Communion and who had refused to partake in the Holy Eucharist with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori during the global Primates (Anglican leaders) meeting in February.
Congregations are fractured, said Minns on Saturday. "It is a disaster."
Although sad, Minns also called it a celebratory time to stand with some 34 congregations and take a "huge" step of faith in his new home – CANA.
"It isn't the end of the story. See, God wanted to transform it into a celebration."
He called CANA "God's gift" to people who want to serve and grow as Anglicans but cannot do so in "good conscience" within the Episcopal Church.
Touching on several theological debates within the Episcopal Church, Minns told the growing group of orthodox Anglicans, "We want to proclaim that Jesus is Lord of Lords and not simply one option of many. We want to teach the Bible as trustworthy and true and not cross our fingers when we read it. We want to get on with the work of evangelism and church planting without apologizing for who we are. We want to see lives transformed and not simply excused. We want to see families made whole and not merely redesigned. We want to be a church where everyone is welcomed but no one leaves unchanged," he said in his sermon, stirring wide applause and nods.
"We want to remain faithful members of the Anglican Communion during these turbulent times," he added. "We treasure that ... worldwide family."
Despite calls by Jefferts Schori and the head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, urging Akinola not to visit the United States and install Minns, Akinola affirmed at the service, "We're doing this on behalf of the Anglican Communion."
Some Episcopal leaders have said Akinola's action would worsen an already fragile situation within the Anglican Communion, especially in the months before the Sept. 30 deadline outlined by the Primates in February, requesting the Episcopal Church to make an unequivocal pledge not to authorize same-sex blessings and confirm another openly gay bishop "unless some new consensus on these matters emerges across the Communion."
But "brokenness" in the Anglican Communion remains, said Akinola in a response letter to Jefferts Schori, and CANA was established to provide "a safe place" for faithful Anglicans.
"We are here to make sure that God's people have a home ... a spiritual home," Akinola said on Saturday.
Partaking in CANA's historic event, Simon Frank, a member of Mount Zion Anglican Church in Chicago, Ill., said, "I don't think the Episcopal Church believes in what the Anglican Communion stands for." Frank, a Nigerian, has been Anglican all his life and said CANA is a "nice turn for us to establish what we're intending to do."
If the divisions in the American church, however, are removed and the Episcopal Church is "back in line" with the Anglican Communion, the Church of Nigeria will be there to restore communion, Akinola told CANA parishioners in a renewed pledge which he had first made with the former Episcopal presiding bishop, Frank T. Griswold.
But the Most Rev. Leonard Riches, presiding bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, doesn't think the Episcopal Church is going to "reverse course." He said the Church of Nigeria and the American church have "competing agendas" with the former defending traditional faith.
The Reformed Episcopal Church is part of what Minns called a "common cause partnership." CANA isn't alone in this, the CANA missionary bishop acknowledged. Other dissident Anglican groups in the United States include the Anglican Province of America and the Anglican Mission in America among others. According to Minns, all the groups are working hard to work together and not be fragmented.
"There's been way too much talk" and "way too many meetings," said Minns. "We have Gospel work to do today."
It is not clear how things will turn out, he added. But for now, the work of the Gospel is urgent and the goal of CANA is to live out their faith in an "authentic" way.
Christian Post Reporter
WOODBRIDGE, Va. – The installation of a local minister who recently broke with the Episcopal Church and will now oversee other breakaway congregations was a unique and historic event and one that the Nigerian Anglican leader called "just the first step."
"The journey ahead is long, the road ... rough, rugged," said Archbishop Peter J. Akinola of the Church of Nigeria, who defied top church leaders on Saturday and installed the Rt. Rev. Martyn Minns as missionary bishop of the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA) – a conservative splinter group and an offshoot of the Church of Nigeria.
It was a day of mixed emotions. Minns, rector of the prominent Truro Church in Fairfax, said part of him was sad since the Episcopal Church was his home for several decades.
"[These] are difficult days and confusing days for those of us who consider ourselves Anglican Christians," Minns told thousands of Anglicans during his installation ceremony at the Cecil D. Hylton Memorial Chapel. "The fabric of our beloved communion has been torn at its deepest level.
"Our name is now synonymous with division and discontent."
In December, Minns helped lead 11 Virginia churches in overwhelming votes to split with the Episcopal Church – the American wing of Anglicanism. Leaders of the breakaway bunch said their decision to leave was because of the church body's departure from Christian orthodoxy. The 2003 consecration of an openly gay bishop had widened rifts and was the "flash point that showed how far the repudiation of Christian orthodoxy had gone," according to The Falls Church rector the Rev. John Yates and parishioner Os Guinness.
The breakaway congregations went under the leadership of Akinola, who leads the largest province in the Anglican Communion and who had refused to partake in the Holy Eucharist with Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori during the global Primates (Anglican leaders) meeting in February.
Congregations are fractured, said Minns on Saturday. "It is a disaster."
Although sad, Minns also called it a celebratory time to stand with some 34 congregations and take a "huge" step of faith in his new home – CANA.
"It isn't the end of the story. See, God wanted to transform it into a celebration."
He called CANA "God's gift" to people who want to serve and grow as Anglicans but cannot do so in "good conscience" within the Episcopal Church.
Touching on several theological debates within the Episcopal Church, Minns told the growing group of orthodox Anglicans, "We want to proclaim that Jesus is Lord of Lords and not simply one option of many. We want to teach the Bible as trustworthy and true and not cross our fingers when we read it. We want to get on with the work of evangelism and church planting without apologizing for who we are. We want to see lives transformed and not simply excused. We want to see families made whole and not merely redesigned. We want to be a church where everyone is welcomed but no one leaves unchanged," he said in his sermon, stirring wide applause and nods.
"We want to remain faithful members of the Anglican Communion during these turbulent times," he added. "We treasure that ... worldwide family."
Despite calls by Jefferts Schori and the head of the Anglican Communion, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, urging Akinola not to visit the United States and install Minns, Akinola affirmed at the service, "We're doing this on behalf of the Anglican Communion."
Some Episcopal leaders have said Akinola's action would worsen an already fragile situation within the Anglican Communion, especially in the months before the Sept. 30 deadline outlined by the Primates in February, requesting the Episcopal Church to make an unequivocal pledge not to authorize same-sex blessings and confirm another openly gay bishop "unless some new consensus on these matters emerges across the Communion."
But "brokenness" in the Anglican Communion remains, said Akinola in a response letter to Jefferts Schori, and CANA was established to provide "a safe place" for faithful Anglicans.
"We are here to make sure that God's people have a home ... a spiritual home," Akinola said on Saturday.
Partaking in CANA's historic event, Simon Frank, a member of Mount Zion Anglican Church in Chicago, Ill., said, "I don't think the Episcopal Church believes in what the Anglican Communion stands for." Frank, a Nigerian, has been Anglican all his life and said CANA is a "nice turn for us to establish what we're intending to do."
If the divisions in the American church, however, are removed and the Episcopal Church is "back in line" with the Anglican Communion, the Church of Nigeria will be there to restore communion, Akinola told CANA parishioners in a renewed pledge which he had first made with the former Episcopal presiding bishop, Frank T. Griswold.
But the Most Rev. Leonard Riches, presiding bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, doesn't think the Episcopal Church is going to "reverse course." He said the Church of Nigeria and the American church have "competing agendas" with the former defending traditional faith.
The Reformed Episcopal Church is part of what Minns called a "common cause partnership." CANA isn't alone in this, the CANA missionary bishop acknowledged. Other dissident Anglican groups in the United States include the Anglican Province of America and the Anglican Mission in America among others. According to Minns, all the groups are working hard to work together and not be fragmented.
"There's been way too much talk" and "way too many meetings," said Minns. "We have Gospel work to do today."
It is not clear how things will turn out, he added. But for now, the work of the Gospel is urgent and the goal of CANA is to live out their faith in an "authentic" way.
Christians Fleeing Violence in Iraq
May 7, 2007
Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Despite the chaos and sectarian violence raging across Baghdad, Farouq Mansour felt relatively safe as a Christian living in a multiethnic neighborhood in the capital.
Then, two months ago, Al Qaeda gunmen kidnapped him and demanded that his family convert to Islam or pay a $30,000 ransom. Two weeks later, he paid up, was released and immediately fled to Syria, joining a mass exodus of Iraq's increasingly threatened Christian minority.
"There is no future for us in Iraq," Mansour said.
Although Islamic extremists have targeted Iraqi Christians before, bombing churches and threatening religious leaders, the latest attacks have taken on a far more personal tone. Many Christians are being expelled from their homes and forced to leave their possessions behind, police, human rights groups and residents said.
The Christian community here, about 3 percent of the country's 26 million people, has little political or military clout to defend itself, and some Islamic insurgents call Christians "crusaders" whose real loyalty lies with U.S. troops.
Many churches are now nearly empty, with many of their faithful either gone or too scared to attend. Only about 30 people attended this Sunday's mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, and only two dozen took communion in the barren St. Mary's Church in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday.
As many as 50 percent of Iraq's Christians may already have left the country, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal monitoring and advisory group in Washington D.C.
"These groups face widespread violence from Sunni insurgents and foreign jihadis, and they also suffer pervasive discrimination and marginalization at the hands of the national government, regional governments, and para-state militias," said the report.
Islamic extremists have also targeted liquor stores, hair salons and other Christian-owned businesses, saying they violate Islam, the report said.
"This is not the culture of Iraqis or the nature of Iraqis. We have lived during centuries together in a respectful attitude and friendship," said Luwis Zarco, the Catholic archbishop of Kirkuk.
In much of the Middle East, Christians are a largely tolerated minority that have achieved a measure of business and professional success, but they are sometimes viewed with suspicion by their Muslim neighbors.
In Saddam-era Iraq, the country's 800,000 Christians — many of them Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics — were generally left alone. Many, such as Saddam Hussein's foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, reached the highest levels of power.
But after U.S. forces toppled Saddam, insurgents launched a coordinated bombing campaign in the summer of 2004 against Baghdad churches, sending some Christians fleeing in fear.
A second wave of anti-Christian attacks hit last September after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be anti-Islam. Church bombings spiked and a priest in the northern city of Mosul was kidnapped and later found beheaded.
In the recent violence, residents of the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora said gunmen knocked on the doors of Christian families, demanding they either pay jizya — a special tax traditionally levied on non-Muslims — or leave. The jizya has not been imposed in Muslim nations in about 100 years.
One man, Arakan Admon, was wounded in a drive-by shooting last week when his family ignored the threats, relatives said.
In response to the threats, about 70 percent of Dora's Christians have fled, police said.
"The terrorists want to turn Dora into a base to attack other Baghdad neighborhoods," said Christian lawmaker Younadam Kana. "Criminal gangs made use of the situation and they started to kidnap Christians and demand ransom. It is a coalition between terrorists and criminals."
The southern neighborhood is a Sunni insurgent stronghold that has seen frequent U.S. shelling under a security crackdown against the sectarian violence.
In the northern city of Mosul, men began knocking on doors last month, demanding that Christian families pay a $3,000 tax that would be used to fight the U.S.-led forces, local residents said. Some paid; others fled.
Mansour, a 63-year-old retiree, said that while many other Christians left, he chose to stay in his Amariyah neighborhood in western Baghdad. He was hoping that the Baghdad security plan, which U.S.-led forces launched on Feb. 14, would improve the situation.
"But the opposite happened," he said.
Mansour was kidnapped March 11 by gunmen who identified themselves as Al Qaeda. After 15 days in captivity, his family paid the ransom and fled the country, leaving their home and electric appliance store behind, Mansour said in a telephone interview from Syria.
Associated Press
BAGHDAD — Despite the chaos and sectarian violence raging across Baghdad, Farouq Mansour felt relatively safe as a Christian living in a multiethnic neighborhood in the capital.
Then, two months ago, Al Qaeda gunmen kidnapped him and demanded that his family convert to Islam or pay a $30,000 ransom. Two weeks later, he paid up, was released and immediately fled to Syria, joining a mass exodus of Iraq's increasingly threatened Christian minority.
"There is no future for us in Iraq," Mansour said.
Although Islamic extremists have targeted Iraqi Christians before, bombing churches and threatening religious leaders, the latest attacks have taken on a far more personal tone. Many Christians are being expelled from their homes and forced to leave their possessions behind, police, human rights groups and residents said.
The Christian community here, about 3 percent of the country's 26 million people, has little political or military clout to defend itself, and some Islamic insurgents call Christians "crusaders" whose real loyalty lies with U.S. troops.
Many churches are now nearly empty, with many of their faithful either gone or too scared to attend. Only about 30 people attended this Sunday's mass at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in the relatively safe Baghdad neighborhood of Karradah, and only two dozen took communion in the barren St. Mary's Church in the northern city of Kirkuk on Sunday.
As many as 50 percent of Iraq's Christians may already have left the country, according to a report issued Wednesday by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a federal monitoring and advisory group in Washington D.C.
"These groups face widespread violence from Sunni insurgents and foreign jihadis, and they also suffer pervasive discrimination and marginalization at the hands of the national government, regional governments, and para-state militias," said the report.
Islamic extremists have also targeted liquor stores, hair salons and other Christian-owned businesses, saying they violate Islam, the report said.
"This is not the culture of Iraqis or the nature of Iraqis. We have lived during centuries together in a respectful attitude and friendship," said Luwis Zarco, the Catholic archbishop of Kirkuk.
In much of the Middle East, Christians are a largely tolerated minority that have achieved a measure of business and professional success, but they are sometimes viewed with suspicion by their Muslim neighbors.
In Saddam-era Iraq, the country's 800,000 Christians — many of them Chaldean-Assyrians and Armenians, with small numbers of Roman Catholics — were generally left alone. Many, such as Saddam Hussein's foreign minister and deputy prime minister Tariq Aziz, reached the highest levels of power.
But after U.S. forces toppled Saddam, insurgents launched a coordinated bombing campaign in the summer of 2004 against Baghdad churches, sending some Christians fleeing in fear.
A second wave of anti-Christian attacks hit last September after Pope Benedict XVI made comments perceived to be anti-Islam. Church bombings spiked and a priest in the northern city of Mosul was kidnapped and later found beheaded.
In the recent violence, residents of the Baghdad neighborhood of Dora said gunmen knocked on the doors of Christian families, demanding they either pay jizya — a special tax traditionally levied on non-Muslims — or leave. The jizya has not been imposed in Muslim nations in about 100 years.
One man, Arakan Admon, was wounded in a drive-by shooting last week when his family ignored the threats, relatives said.
In response to the threats, about 70 percent of Dora's Christians have fled, police said.
"The terrorists want to turn Dora into a base to attack other Baghdad neighborhoods," said Christian lawmaker Younadam Kana. "Criminal gangs made use of the situation and they started to kidnap Christians and demand ransom. It is a coalition between terrorists and criminals."
The southern neighborhood is a Sunni insurgent stronghold that has seen frequent U.S. shelling under a security crackdown against the sectarian violence.
In the northern city of Mosul, men began knocking on doors last month, demanding that Christian families pay a $3,000 tax that would be used to fight the U.S.-led forces, local residents said. Some paid; others fled.
Mansour, a 63-year-old retiree, said that while many other Christians left, he chose to stay in his Amariyah neighborhood in western Baghdad. He was hoping that the Baghdad security plan, which U.S.-led forces launched on Feb. 14, would improve the situation.
"But the opposite happened," he said.
Mansour was kidnapped March 11 by gunmen who identified themselves as Al Qaeda. After 15 days in captivity, his family paid the ransom and fled the country, leaving their home and electric appliance store behind, Mansour said in a telephone interview from Syria.
Friday, May 4, 2007
House votes to put 'under God' in Texas pledge
By: JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN -- The Texas House voted early Friday to inject a little religion into the Texas pledge.
House lawmakers voted 124-5 to put the words "under God" in the Texas pledge of allegiance recited by thousands of school children every day. The change mirrors the national pledge, which has included "under God" since 1954.
Under the bill, the Texas pledge would be: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and indivisible."
The bill still needs a final vote later Friday before it is sent to the Senate.
Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, argued against the measure as having the potential to infringe on the religious beliefs of some Texas students.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, rejected that argument and said adding the words was simply "common sense."
"I am simply mirroring our national pledge," Riddle said.
The House bill analysis took a decidedly religious tone:
"Since the time of the founding of the United States through modern times, the presence and influence of God has been intrinsically associated with the political and social culture of the United States ... (the bill) will acknowledge our Judeo-Christian heritage by placing the words 'under God' in the state pledge," the analysis reads.
In 2003, the Legislature required public school students to say the U.S. and Texas pledges and observe a minute of silence each day.
A student may be excused from saying the pledges if a parent or guardian makes a written request.
Associated Press Writer
AUSTIN -- The Texas House voted early Friday to inject a little religion into the Texas pledge.
House lawmakers voted 124-5 to put the words "under God" in the Texas pledge of allegiance recited by thousands of school children every day. The change mirrors the national pledge, which has included "under God" since 1954.
Under the bill, the Texas pledge would be: "Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God and indivisible."
The bill still needs a final vote later Friday before it is sent to the Senate.
Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, argued against the measure as having the potential to infringe on the religious beliefs of some Texas students.
The bill's sponsor, Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, rejected that argument and said adding the words was simply "common sense."
"I am simply mirroring our national pledge," Riddle said.
The House bill analysis took a decidedly religious tone:
"Since the time of the founding of the United States through modern times, the presence and influence of God has been intrinsically associated with the political and social culture of the United States ... (the bill) will acknowledge our Judeo-Christian heritage by placing the words 'under God' in the state pledge," the analysis reads.
In 2003, the Legislature required public school students to say the U.S. and Texas pledges and observe a minute of silence each day.
A student may be excused from saying the pledges if a parent or guardian makes a written request.
Giuliani bucks GOP field on Roe v. Wade
Read here about the following issues that were discussed during the Republican Presidential debate on Thursday evening.
• Former New York mayor says it would be OK if court let abortion ruling stand
• McCain alone in backing funding for embryonic stem-cell research
• Three candidates say they don't believe in evolution
• Romney says he changed his mind on abortion but that Reagan did, too
• Former New York mayor says it would be OK if court let abortion ruling stand
• McCain alone in backing funding for embryonic stem-cell research
• Three candidates say they don't believe in evolution
• Romney says he changed his mind on abortion but that Reagan did, too
Christian Teenager Takes Purity Ring Case to Court
A 16-year-old Christian student is taking her school to the High Court over her right to wear a Christian 'purity ring'.
Christiantoday.com
By: Gretta Curtis
A 16-year-old Christian student is taking her school to the High Court over her right to wear a Christian 'purity ring'.
Lydia Playfoot hit the headlines last year when governors at Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, banned her from wearing a small silver ring, symbolising her Christian commitment to sexual abstinence until marriage.
The Silver Ring Thing is a Christian education project aimed at helping teenage girls value themselves, make the right choices about their future, and reduce Britain's ever-increasing rise in sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies among teenagers. Her case was even raised by her MP, Andrew Selous, with the Schools Minister, Jim Knight, in the House of Commons.
Lydia criticised the treatment she had received from the school which led to her recent decision to stop wearing the ring.
She said: "My friends and I have had detentions and been taught in isolation for wearing the ring.
"I feel like I've been treated the same as someone who is caught bringing cannabis into school.
"My ring is a symbol of my religious faith. I think, as a Christian, it says we should keep ourselves pure from sexual sinfulness and wearing the ring is a good way of making a stand.
"I stopped wearing the ring because it was being made really difficult for me.
Read more here...
Christiantoday.com
By: Gretta Curtis
A 16-year-old Christian student is taking her school to the High Court over her right to wear a Christian 'purity ring'.
Lydia Playfoot hit the headlines last year when governors at Millais School in Horsham, West Sussex, banned her from wearing a small silver ring, symbolising her Christian commitment to sexual abstinence until marriage.
The Silver Ring Thing is a Christian education project aimed at helping teenage girls value themselves, make the right choices about their future, and reduce Britain's ever-increasing rise in sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancies among teenagers. Her case was even raised by her MP, Andrew Selous, with the Schools Minister, Jim Knight, in the House of Commons.
Lydia criticised the treatment she had received from the school which led to her recent decision to stop wearing the ring.
She said: "My friends and I have had detentions and been taught in isolation for wearing the ring.
"I feel like I've been treated the same as someone who is caught bringing cannabis into school.
"My ring is a symbol of my religious faith. I think, as a Christian, it says we should keep ourselves pure from sexual sinfulness and wearing the ring is a good way of making a stand.
"I stopped wearing the ring because it was being made really difficult for me.
Read more here...
A hate crime from the pulpit?
Christian leaders say bill may punish speech against homosexuality
From Wire Reports
WASHINGTON – A hate crimes bill passed Thursday by the House extending coverage to people victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is attracting opposition from an unusual coalition of Christian leaders.
Proponents say the bill – similar to one the Senate is expected to pass in the next few weeks – is a moral imperative. But some Christians are depicting it as a "thought crimes" bill attacking First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.
A coalition of evangelical, fundamentalist and black religious leaders is mounting a furious assault on the bill, airing television ads and mobilizing members to stop its progress.
They say that if the bill, approved in a 237-180 vote, were to become law, a pastor could be held liable for giving a sermon against homosexuality if a listener later attacked a gay individual.
James Dobson – founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative group opposing the measure – warned that its true intent is "to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." If you read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, "you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.' "
Read more here...
From Wire Reports
WASHINGTON – A hate crimes bill passed Thursday by the House extending coverage to people victimized because of sexual orientation, gender identity or disability is attracting opposition from an unusual coalition of Christian leaders.
Proponents say the bill – similar to one the Senate is expected to pass in the next few weeks – is a moral imperative. But some Christians are depicting it as a "thought crimes" bill attacking First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion.
A coalition of evangelical, fundamentalist and black religious leaders is mounting a furious assault on the bill, airing television ads and mobilizing members to stop its progress.
They say that if the bill, approved in a 237-180 vote, were to become law, a pastor could be held liable for giving a sermon against homosexuality if a listener later attacked a gay individual.
James Dobson – founder of Focus on the Family, a conservative group opposing the measure – warned that its true intent is "to muzzle people of faith who dare to express their moral and biblical concerns about homosexuality." If you read the Bible in a certain way, he told his broadcast listeners, "you may be guilty of committing a 'thought crime.' "
Read more here...
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Court: Religious items' removal did not violate teacher's rights
RICHMOND, Va. - A Federal Court ruled on Wednesday that York County School officials did not violate a teacher's first amendment rights when they removed Christian-themed postings from his classroom. To read the entire article, click here.
The materials included a flier publicizing the National Day of Prayer, a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge and articles about President Bush's religious faith and former Attorney General John Ashcroft's prayer meetings with his employees.
John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which often takes on religious freedom cases, said it would petition the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case. Please support the Rutherford Institute in taking this case to the supreme court. This is a very important decision that could set a presidence for future rulings. Thanks for your support!
The materials included a flier publicizing the National Day of Prayer, a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge and articles about President Bush's religious faith and former Attorney General John Ashcroft's prayer meetings with his employees.
John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, which often takes on religious freedom cases, said it would petition the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the case. Please support the Rutherford Institute in taking this case to the supreme court. This is a very important decision that could set a presidence for future rulings. Thanks for your support!
Another 75 suspended for opposing 'gay' day
Christian students with Bible messages on shirts booted
Please take the time to read this article about 75 students in a California school that have been suspended for expressing their beliefs against homosexuality. The suspensions were begun on April 18 when the homosexual lobby-supported "Day of Silence" was observed in public schools in California and across the nation. The students were wearing shirts with scripture on them that expressed the bible's opposition to homosexuality.
The student's case is being taken up by the Pacific Justice Institute. Please support this organization in representing these students in standing up and expressing their religious beliefs! Also, does anyone else find it ridiculous that California has a statewide "Day of Silence" in support of homosexuality?
Please take the time to read this article about 75 students in a California school that have been suspended for expressing their beliefs against homosexuality. The suspensions were begun on April 18 when the homosexual lobby-supported "Day of Silence" was observed in public schools in California and across the nation. The students were wearing shirts with scripture on them that expressed the bible's opposition to homosexuality.
The student's case is being taken up by the Pacific Justice Institute. Please support this organization in representing these students in standing up and expressing their religious beliefs! Also, does anyone else find it ridiculous that California has a statewide "Day of Silence" in support of homosexuality?
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Colleges: Bible verses contaminate textbooks
Lawsuit to settle dispute over religious references
Worldnetdaily.com
By: Bob Unruh
Officials at the highest levels of the University of California system are stomping on constitutional religious rights by banning Christian perspectives from educational materials high school students may use to prepare for college entrance, according to a case scheduled for trial later this year.
The case was triggered by the university system's decision that basic physics, American literature and biology textbooks by major Christian book publishers such as Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book wouldn't qualify for core requirements in the state because of the inclusion of Christian perspectives.
The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents schools serving more than 1.1 million students worldwide, brought the lawsuit against the system run by Robert Dynes, UC president, alleging violations of the freedoms of speech, religion and association, and U.S. District Judge S. James Otero has refused the university's demand for a dismissal.
The move comes in a state where WND also has reported state lawmakers are considering legislation that also would ban many Christian perspectives from public schools as well. The plans would forbid anything that "reflects adversely" on the homosexual lifestyle, so any statement regarding the Bible's condemnation of that lifestyle choice as sinful would be an offense. Even "mom" and "dad" could be banned under the proposal.
The judge said in the Christian school case that the rejection by university officials of several school texts is the issue. "If in fact such rejection is based on Defendants' discrimination of Plaintiffs' applications solely because of the religious viewpoints … such action would run afoul of the limits of Defendants' freedom to determine its admissions policies."
At issue is a new and apparently standardized policy implemented by the UC system – and copied by California State officials – that rejected textbooks that addressed such subjects as literature and biology, but also included a Christian perspective.
The university's action creates issues for students in any schools using those texts, because without state system approval of the core classes during a high school education, students have little or no chance of being accepted to attend the university system.
The lawsuit alleges that the school is discriminating against Christians and the Christian viewpoint, because while a literature text with a Christian viewpoint was disallowed, "Gender Roles in Literature," "Feminine Perspectives in Literature," "Literature from the 60's Movement" and "Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Literature" all were approved.
Burt Carney, an executive with the school association, said he's met with officials for the university system, and was told that there was no problem with the actual facts in a BJU physics textbook that was disallowed.
In fact, an ACSI report said, UC officials confirmed "that if the Scripture verses that begin each chapter were removed the textbook would likely be approved…"
"It's egregious how they are treating Christian schools in California," Carney told WND. "They are basically saying that any textbooks that include overt Christian content or themes, they're going to reject it automatically."
"Here's the very university that talks about academic freedom," he said. "It's very discriminating. They don't rule against Muslim or Hindu or Jewish [themes} or so forth, only those with a definite Christian theme."
Click the following link to read entire article: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55480
Worldnetdaily.com
By: Bob Unruh
Officials at the highest levels of the University of California system are stomping on constitutional religious rights by banning Christian perspectives from educational materials high school students may use to prepare for college entrance, according to a case scheduled for trial later this year.
The case was triggered by the university system's decision that basic physics, American literature and biology textbooks by major Christian book publishers such as Bob Jones University Press and A Beka Book wouldn't qualify for core requirements in the state because of the inclusion of Christian perspectives.
The Association of Christian Schools International, which represents schools serving more than 1.1 million students worldwide, brought the lawsuit against the system run by Robert Dynes, UC president, alleging violations of the freedoms of speech, religion and association, and U.S. District Judge S. James Otero has refused the university's demand for a dismissal.
The move comes in a state where WND also has reported state lawmakers are considering legislation that also would ban many Christian perspectives from public schools as well. The plans would forbid anything that "reflects adversely" on the homosexual lifestyle, so any statement regarding the Bible's condemnation of that lifestyle choice as sinful would be an offense. Even "mom" and "dad" could be banned under the proposal.
The judge said in the Christian school case that the rejection by university officials of several school texts is the issue. "If in fact such rejection is based on Defendants' discrimination of Plaintiffs' applications solely because of the religious viewpoints … such action would run afoul of the limits of Defendants' freedom to determine its admissions policies."
At issue is a new and apparently standardized policy implemented by the UC system – and copied by California State officials – that rejected textbooks that addressed such subjects as literature and biology, but also included a Christian perspective.
The university's action creates issues for students in any schools using those texts, because without state system approval of the core classes during a high school education, students have little or no chance of being accepted to attend the university system.
The lawsuit alleges that the school is discriminating against Christians and the Christian viewpoint, because while a literature text with a Christian viewpoint was disallowed, "Gender Roles in Literature," "Feminine Perspectives in Literature," "Literature from the 60's Movement" and "Gender, Sexuality, and Identity in Literature" all were approved.
Burt Carney, an executive with the school association, said he's met with officials for the university system, and was told that there was no problem with the actual facts in a BJU physics textbook that was disallowed.
In fact, an ACSI report said, UC officials confirmed "that if the Scripture verses that begin each chapter were removed the textbook would likely be approved…"
"It's egregious how they are treating Christian schools in California," Carney told WND. "They are basically saying that any textbooks that include overt Christian content or themes, they're going to reject it automatically."
"Here's the very university that talks about academic freedom," he said. "It's very discriminating. They don't rule against Muslim or Hindu or Jewish [themes} or so forth, only those with a definite Christian theme."
Click the following link to read entire article: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55480
Matters of Faith Find a New Prominence on Campus
The New York Times
By: Alan Finder
May 2, 2007
Peter J. Gomes has been at Harvard University for 37 years, and says he remembers when religious people on campus felt under siege. To be seen as religious often meant being dismissed as not very bright, he said.
No longer. At Harvard these days, said Professor Gomes, the university preacher, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.”
Across the country, on secular campuses as varied as Colgate University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, chaplains, professors and administrators say students are drawn to religion and spirituality with more fervor than at any time they can remember.
More students are enrolling in religion courses, even majoring in religion; more are living in dormitories or houses where matters of faith and spirituality are a part of daily conversation; and discussion groups are being created for students to grapple with questions like what happens after death, dozens of university officials said in interviews.
A survey on the spiritual lives of college students, the first of its kind, showed in 2004 that more than two-thirds of 112,000 freshmen surveyed said they prayed, and that almost 80 percent believed in God. Nearly half of the freshmen said they were seeking opportunities to grow spiritually, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Go to the following website to read entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/education/02spirituality.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
By: Alan Finder
May 2, 2007
Peter J. Gomes has been at Harvard University for 37 years, and says he remembers when religious people on campus felt under siege. To be seen as religious often meant being dismissed as not very bright, he said.
No longer. At Harvard these days, said Professor Gomes, the university preacher, “There is probably more active religious life now than there has been in 100 years.”
Across the country, on secular campuses as varied as Colgate University, the University of Wisconsin and the University of California, Berkeley, chaplains, professors and administrators say students are drawn to religion and spirituality with more fervor than at any time they can remember.
More students are enrolling in religion courses, even majoring in religion; more are living in dormitories or houses where matters of faith and spirituality are a part of daily conversation; and discussion groups are being created for students to grapple with questions like what happens after death, dozens of university officials said in interviews.
A survey on the spiritual lives of college students, the first of its kind, showed in 2004 that more than two-thirds of 112,000 freshmen surveyed said they prayed, and that almost 80 percent believed in God. Nearly half of the freshmen said they were seeking opportunities to grow spiritually, according to the survey by the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Go to the following website to read entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/02/education/02spirituality.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
School District Reverses Suspensions Against Students Who Were Praying
Liberty Council - News Release
Vancouver, WA - Twelve Heritage High School students, who were suspended in March for praying together in the large commons area of their cafeteria, have been vindicated. Liberty Counsel represented several of the students in an appeal of the suspensions to the Evergreen School District. As a result, the suspensions will be purged from their files and there will be no negative impact on their academic records.
The District has also agreed to recognize the students' right to pray in the cafeteria when other students are gathered there before school. The cafeteria commons area is a large area that will easily accommodate groups as large as 20 students without blocking access for other students. In addition, the students will be provided a room to start a club.
The students will begin praying today, May 1, which is significant for some of the Russian immigrant students who were suspended, as this is "May Day," the day the former Communist Soviet Union celebrated Communism.
A few weeks before their suspension, the students tried to start a prayer club to meet before school, but they met with resistance from Vice Principal Alex Otoupal. Since the students understood that the school would not permit a club, they decided to gather together as individuals in the cafeteria before school to pray, but they were sent outside in the cold by the vice principal after one Satanist student complained to school officials. After the students insisted on praying in the cafeteria, they were suspended.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "Students have the constitutional right to gather together to pray before school, just as they can gather to discuss sports, music or movies. In these days of discord and violence, schools should know better than to ban students from praying. What a terrible message would have been sent to these students, some of whom immigrated from the Communist Soviet Union. Now they have learned that one person can make a difference in America when standing up for religious freedom."
Vancouver, WA - Twelve Heritage High School students, who were suspended in March for praying together in the large commons area of their cafeteria, have been vindicated. Liberty Counsel represented several of the students in an appeal of the suspensions to the Evergreen School District. As a result, the suspensions will be purged from their files and there will be no negative impact on their academic records.
The District has also agreed to recognize the students' right to pray in the cafeteria when other students are gathered there before school. The cafeteria commons area is a large area that will easily accommodate groups as large as 20 students without blocking access for other students. In addition, the students will be provided a room to start a club.
The students will begin praying today, May 1, which is significant for some of the Russian immigrant students who were suspended, as this is "May Day," the day the former Communist Soviet Union celebrated Communism.
A few weeks before their suspension, the students tried to start a prayer club to meet before school, but they met with resistance from Vice Principal Alex Otoupal. Since the students understood that the school would not permit a club, they decided to gather together as individuals in the cafeteria before school to pray, but they were sent outside in the cold by the vice principal after one Satanist student complained to school officials. After the students insisted on praying in the cafeteria, they were suspended.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: "Students have the constitutional right to gather together to pray before school, just as they can gather to discuss sports, music or movies. In these days of discord and violence, schools should know better than to ban students from praying. What a terrible message would have been sent to these students, some of whom immigrated from the Communist Soviet Union. Now they have learned that one person can make a difference in America when standing up for religious freedom."
The Freedom of Choice Act
ACLJ - Jay Sekulow's Trial Notebook
While the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 in Gonzales v. Carhart, abortion supporters in Congress have acted quickly to counteract the decision. Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Jerrold Nadler have introduced a bill, called the Freedom of Choice Act, that would dramatically expand federal protection of abortion rights beyond what is required by Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The bill would invalidate many federal, state and local abortion laws, including the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The Freedom of Choice Act would create an absolute right to abortion that would override any federal, state or local law that simply "interfered with" that right, no matter how compelling the justification for the law. For instance, the Freedom of Choice Act would likely invalidate the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act even though the statute is constitutional. The findings section of the Freedom of Choice Act states that Congress’s decision in the partial-birth abortion case "permits the government to interfere with the woman’s right to choose to terminate pregnancy . . . ." Since the Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate any federal, state or local law that interferes "with a woman’s right to choose . . . to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability," federal and state partial-birth abortion bans would likely be invalidated.
This attempt to not only reverse the Supreme Court decision but to expand the right to abortion must be dealt with aggressively. Our Government Affairs staff is already working on congressional efforts to defeat this bill. I have assembled a legal team that is already reviewing possible legal challenges if this bill were to actually be passed. While I am not surprised by this move, I am very concerned. We must work aggressively to protect the most vulnerable among us. We have prepared a special video presentation on the Freedom of Choice Act. Click here if you’d like to view it. http://www.aclj.org/freedomofchoice/default.html
While the Supreme Court of the United States upheld the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 in Gonzales v. Carhart, abortion supporters in Congress have acted quickly to counteract the decision. Senator Barbara Boxer and Representative Jerrold Nadler have introduced a bill, called the Freedom of Choice Act, that would dramatically expand federal protection of abortion rights beyond what is required by Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The bill would invalidate many federal, state and local abortion laws, including the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The Freedom of Choice Act would create an absolute right to abortion that would override any federal, state or local law that simply "interfered with" that right, no matter how compelling the justification for the law. For instance, the Freedom of Choice Act would likely invalidate the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act even though the statute is constitutional. The findings section of the Freedom of Choice Act states that Congress’s decision in the partial-birth abortion case "permits the government to interfere with the woman’s right to choose to terminate pregnancy . . . ." Since the Freedom of Choice Act would invalidate any federal, state or local law that interferes "with a woman’s right to choose . . . to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability," federal and state partial-birth abortion bans would likely be invalidated.
This attempt to not only reverse the Supreme Court decision but to expand the right to abortion must be dealt with aggressively. Our Government Affairs staff is already working on congressional efforts to defeat this bill. I have assembled a legal team that is already reviewing possible legal challenges if this bill were to actually be passed. While I am not surprised by this move, I am very concerned. We must work aggressively to protect the most vulnerable among us. We have prepared a special video presentation on the Freedom of Choice Act. Click here if you’d like to view it. http://www.aclj.org/freedomofchoice/default.html
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
National Day of Prayer - May 3, 2007
National Day of Prayer Task Force
The 56th Annual National Day of Prayer will take place Thursday, May 3, 2007. The theme for this year is "America, Unite in Prayer" and is based on the verse from II Chronicles 7:14 which states: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." NIV
Chuck Swindoll, pastor at Stonebriar Community Church is the 2007 Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer this year. The following is the the 2007 Prayer for Our Nation written by Dr. Charles R. Swindoll:
Almighty God, we pause to reflect on Your character as we seek wisdom for such a time as this.
In these unsafe days,
You remain all-powerful and able to protect;
In these uncertain times,
You remain all-knowing, leading us aright;
In the unprecedented events we're facing,
You remain absolutely sovereign.
Our times are in Your hands.
Therefore, our dependence on You, is total, not partial
. . . our need for Your forgiveness is constant
. . . our gratitude for Your grace is profound
. . . our love for You is deep.
We ask that You guard and guide our President
and all who serve the people of these United States.
May uncompromising integrity mark their lives.
We also ask that You unite us as truly "one nation,
under God." May genuine humility return to our ranks.
And may that blend of integrity and humility
heal our land.
In our Lord's name we pray,
Amen.
Stonebriar Community Church will hold a prayer rally Thursday evening at 7:00PM for all of those who can attend.
The 56th Annual National Day of Prayer will take place Thursday, May 3, 2007. The theme for this year is "America, Unite in Prayer" and is based on the verse from II Chronicles 7:14 which states: "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." NIV
Chuck Swindoll, pastor at Stonebriar Community Church is the 2007 Honorary Chairman of the National Day of Prayer this year. The following is the the 2007 Prayer for Our Nation written by Dr. Charles R. Swindoll:
Almighty God, we pause to reflect on Your character as we seek wisdom for such a time as this.
In these unsafe days,
You remain all-powerful and able to protect;
In these uncertain times,
You remain all-knowing, leading us aright;
In the unprecedented events we're facing,
You remain absolutely sovereign.
Our times are in Your hands.
Therefore, our dependence on You, is total, not partial
. . . our need for Your forgiveness is constant
. . . our gratitude for Your grace is profound
. . . our love for You is deep.
We ask that You guard and guide our President
and all who serve the people of these United States.
May uncompromising integrity mark their lives.
We also ask that You unite us as truly "one nation,
under God." May genuine humility return to our ranks.
And may that blend of integrity and humility
heal our land.
In our Lord's name we pray,
Amen.
Stonebriar Community Church will hold a prayer rally Thursday evening at 7:00PM for all of those who can attend.
San Diego School District Removes "God" from the Classroom: Thomas More Law Center Files Suit on Behalf of Teacher
Thomas More Law Center
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Poway Unified School District, located in San Diego, California. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Brad Johnson, a respected teacher who has been teaching in the school district for 30 years. The lawsuit claims that school officials violated Johnson’s constitutional rights by ordering him to remove several educational banners from his classroom walls because, according to these officials, the banners promote a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint.
The banners, which Johnson had displayed in his classroom without complaint for nearly 25 years, contained the following phrases: “In God We Trust,” the official motto of the United States; “One Nation Under God,” the 1954 amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance; “God Bless America,” a patriotic song considered to be the unofficial national anthem of the United States; “God Shed His Grace On Thee,” a line from “America the Beautiful,” a popular patriotic song; and “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator,” an excerpt from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. School officials objected to the banners because they included the words “God” and “Creator.”
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Law Center, commented, “Cleansing our Nation’s classrooms of our religious heritage and history and imposing viewpoint restrictions on speech to silence such expressions advance no legitimate educational purpose. In fact, such actions undermine the primary purpose of public education: to prepare students for citizenship in our Republic.”
The lawsuit alleges that the school district violated Johnson’s constitutional rights by imposing a viewpoint-based restriction on his speech. It further alleges that this restriction “serves no valid educational purpose, is not reasonably related to any legitimate pedagogical concern, and conveys a government-sponsored message of disapproval of and hostility toward religion” in violation of the United States and California Constitutions.
Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case, commented, “It is without question that religious people founded this Nation. As a result, references to God are common in our songs, mottoes, and slogans. And it is the responsibility of our Nation’s public schools to educate students to be informed citizens. Consequently, it is the responsibility of all public school teachers, including Mr. Johnson, to educate students regarding our Nation’s history and its founding. Mr. Johnson’s educational banners serve that purpose.”
The lawsuit seeks to have the speech restriction overturned so that Johnson can continue to display his banners, as he had been for 25 years.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.
ANN ARBOR, MI – The Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, announced today that it has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the Poway Unified School District, located in San Diego, California. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of Brad Johnson, a respected teacher who has been teaching in the school district for 30 years. The lawsuit claims that school officials violated Johnson’s constitutional rights by ordering him to remove several educational banners from his classroom walls because, according to these officials, the banners promote a “Judeo-Christian” viewpoint.
The banners, which Johnson had displayed in his classroom without complaint for nearly 25 years, contained the following phrases: “In God We Trust,” the official motto of the United States; “One Nation Under God,” the 1954 amendment to the Pledge of Allegiance; “God Bless America,” a patriotic song considered to be the unofficial national anthem of the United States; “God Shed His Grace On Thee,” a line from “America the Beautiful,” a popular patriotic song; and “All Men Are Created Equal, They Are Endowed By Their Creator,” an excerpt from the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. School officials objected to the banners because they included the words “God” and “Creator.”
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel for the Law Center, commented, “Cleansing our Nation’s classrooms of our religious heritage and history and imposing viewpoint restrictions on speech to silence such expressions advance no legitimate educational purpose. In fact, such actions undermine the primary purpose of public education: to prepare students for citizenship in our Republic.”
The lawsuit alleges that the school district violated Johnson’s constitutional rights by imposing a viewpoint-based restriction on his speech. It further alleges that this restriction “serves no valid educational purpose, is not reasonably related to any legitimate pedagogical concern, and conveys a government-sponsored message of disapproval of and hostility toward religion” in violation of the United States and California Constitutions.
Robert Muise, the Law Center attorney handling the case, commented, “It is without question that religious people founded this Nation. As a result, references to God are common in our songs, mottoes, and slogans. And it is the responsibility of our Nation’s public schools to educate students to be informed citizens. Consequently, it is the responsibility of all public school teachers, including Mr. Johnson, to educate students regarding our Nation’s history and its founding. Mr. Johnson’s educational banners serve that purpose.”
The lawsuit seeks to have the speech restriction overturned so that Johnson can continue to display his banners, as he had been for 25 years.
The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes the religious freedom of Christians, time-honored family values, and the sanctity of human life through education, litigation, and related activities. It does not charge for its services. The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations and foundations, and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization. You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.
Teachers insist: Being 'gay' good
'Educators' promoting homosexuality no matter what children learn at home
Worldnetdaily.com
A nationally distributed training video produced by a "gay" advocacy group – which claims it's been shown on more than 100 public television stations – advises teachers to promote homosexuality as normal and healthy to children as young as kindergarten age, regardless of what values the child has been taught at home.
"We are asking kids to believe this [homosexuality] is right. Not as a matter of moral principle, but as a matter of, we're educating them and this is part of what we consider to be a healthy education," one unidentified teacher said during the videotaped meeting of educators preparing to teach – or as their critics charge, "brainwash" – their students.
That particular response was to a question from another teacher who wondered how to approach homosexual advocacy when a student comes from a background of biblical teaching, that is, that homosexuality is a sin.
"I don't know what to do about this but, as a school are we saying that kids have to support this? I guess that's what it sounds like to me that we're saying. If a child comes from a background that says homosexuality is not correct, are we telling that child that they're supposed to, this is what you are supposed to do?" asked the teacher.
The answer was a resounding yes.
The comments are just some of what is horrifying parents who now are seeing video clips of the "It's Elementary" video prepared for use in schools.
Brian Camenker, who heads the Mass Resistance organization, has publicized the videos, and told WND said people are flooding his office with calls, asking what they can do.
"They're physically sickened by watching that. People with kids are wondering is this what's going to happen to them in schools in America," Camenker told WND. "The reaction we've gotten has been overwhelming.
"It's one thing in the abstract to read about what's happening in the schools, it's another thing to actually see it," he said.
The videos are available for viewing on the Mass Resistance website.
Click the following link to read entire article: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55429
Worldnetdaily.com
A nationally distributed training video produced by a "gay" advocacy group – which claims it's been shown on more than 100 public television stations – advises teachers to promote homosexuality as normal and healthy to children as young as kindergarten age, regardless of what values the child has been taught at home.
"We are asking kids to believe this [homosexuality] is right. Not as a matter of moral principle, but as a matter of, we're educating them and this is part of what we consider to be a healthy education," one unidentified teacher said during the videotaped meeting of educators preparing to teach – or as their critics charge, "brainwash" – their students.
That particular response was to a question from another teacher who wondered how to approach homosexual advocacy when a student comes from a background of biblical teaching, that is, that homosexuality is a sin.
"I don't know what to do about this but, as a school are we saying that kids have to support this? I guess that's what it sounds like to me that we're saying. If a child comes from a background that says homosexuality is not correct, are we telling that child that they're supposed to, this is what you are supposed to do?" asked the teacher.
The answer was a resounding yes.
The comments are just some of what is horrifying parents who now are seeing video clips of the "It's Elementary" video prepared for use in schools.
Brian Camenker, who heads the Mass Resistance organization, has publicized the videos, and told WND said people are flooding his office with calls, asking what they can do.
"They're physically sickened by watching that. People with kids are wondering is this what's going to happen to them in schools in America," Camenker told WND. "The reaction we've gotten has been overwhelming.
"It's one thing in the abstract to read about what's happening in the schools, it's another thing to actually see it," he said.
The videos are available for viewing on the Mass Resistance website.
Click the following link to read entire article: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=55429
Did an Anti-ID Wikipedia Editor Shut Down a Darwin-Dissenter?
Discovery Institute - Evolution News & Views
By: Casey Luskin
It's hardly news to observe that Wikipedia is biased against intelligent design (ID). Michael Egnor recently exposed how Wikipedians removed statements discussing how biological machines can be reverse-engineered, like human machines (an observation which has strong pro-ID implications). Errors persist from the very beginning of Wikipedia's entry on ID, with very first paragraph stating, "ID's primary proponents, all of whom are associated with the Discovery Institute, believe the designer to be the Abrahamic God." I'm pretty sure that notable ID-friendly scientists like Mike Gene would ardently dispute that statement on many levels. The critics' viewpoint dominates the ID page, with over 50% of the references presently containing citations to critics (like the ACLU-scripted Kitzmiller v. Dover ruling, the testimony of anti-ID witnesses, TalkOrigins, NCSE's website, PandasThumb, The Skeptical Inquirer, Barbara Forrest's writings, and so on). Moreover, when pro-ID viewpoints are given, they are nearly always rebutted by the writings of critics (unless they deal with religion). So what’s the purpose of the “encyclopedia” page? Is it intended to inform people about what intelligent design actually says or simply to publicize to the world what some critics want it to be, and what they think is wrong with it? It appears the primary aim is the latter. But Wikipedia's bias is sometimes made more explicit.
I recently received an email from someone who was concerned about how an anti-ID Wikipedia editor banned a Wikipedia user "for stating that evolution is a THEORY." (Note: As I stated recently, I don't endorse that argument, and I’ve only made one edit on Wikipedia in my entire life, and I had nothing to do with this exchange.) After the user was then blocked, the user stated, "You can block me all you want, but I've done nothing wrong, and you can't change that." A notorious anti-ID Wikipedia editor denied the user's request to be reinstated by citing a "Fundamental lack of understanding of the meaning of 'theory' as used in science" on the part of the user. Incredibly, the editor that banned this Darwin-dissenter justified the act by complaining user engaged in "repeated POV [point of view] edits." Promoting a “Point of view”? Their hypocrisy is incredible! The editor is clearly banning people because they disagree with his "point of view." It seems clear that only certain "points of view" are acceptable on Wikipedia when it comes to intelligent design.
Past editors have been exposed as not being the blameless, objective scholars they claim to be: Remember when the story broke on how "one of [Wikipedia's] most trusted and prolific editors, who claimed to be a professor of religion, was exposed as a 24-year-old from Kentucky"? (See "Editor scandal rocks Wikipedia.") Without commenting on the semantics debate over the proper use of the word “theory,” I'll let readers decide for themselves if a Darwin-dissenter's viewpoint was unfairly quashed by Wikipedia editors. The exchange can be viewed at the following link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:216.67.29.113&redirect=no
By: Casey Luskin
It's hardly news to observe that Wikipedia is biased against intelligent design (ID). Michael Egnor recently exposed how Wikipedians removed statements discussing how biological machines can be reverse-engineered, like human machines (an observation which has strong pro-ID implications). Errors persist from the very beginning of Wikipedia's entry on ID, with very first paragraph stating, "ID's primary proponents, all of whom are associated with the Discovery Institute, believe the designer to be the Abrahamic God." I'm pretty sure that notable ID-friendly scientists like Mike Gene would ardently dispute that statement on many levels. The critics' viewpoint dominates the ID page, with over 50% of the references presently containing citations to critics (like the ACLU-scripted Kitzmiller v. Dover ruling, the testimony of anti-ID witnesses, TalkOrigins, NCSE's website, PandasThumb, The Skeptical Inquirer, Barbara Forrest's writings, and so on). Moreover, when pro-ID viewpoints are given, they are nearly always rebutted by the writings of critics (unless they deal with religion). So what’s the purpose of the “encyclopedia” page? Is it intended to inform people about what intelligent design actually says or simply to publicize to the world what some critics want it to be, and what they think is wrong with it? It appears the primary aim is the latter. But Wikipedia's bias is sometimes made more explicit.
I recently received an email from someone who was concerned about how an anti-ID Wikipedia editor banned a Wikipedia user "for stating that evolution is a THEORY." (Note: As I stated recently, I don't endorse that argument, and I’ve only made one edit on Wikipedia in my entire life, and I had nothing to do with this exchange.) After the user was then blocked, the user stated, "You can block me all you want, but I've done nothing wrong, and you can't change that." A notorious anti-ID Wikipedia editor denied the user's request to be reinstated by citing a "Fundamental lack of understanding of the meaning of 'theory' as used in science" on the part of the user. Incredibly, the editor that banned this Darwin-dissenter justified the act by complaining user engaged in "repeated POV [point of view] edits." Promoting a “Point of view”? Their hypocrisy is incredible! The editor is clearly banning people because they disagree with his "point of view." It seems clear that only certain "points of view" are acceptable on Wikipedia when it comes to intelligent design.
Past editors have been exposed as not being the blameless, objective scholars they claim to be: Remember when the story broke on how "one of [Wikipedia's] most trusted and prolific editors, who claimed to be a professor of religion, was exposed as a 24-year-old from Kentucky"? (See "Editor scandal rocks Wikipedia.") Without commenting on the semantics debate over the proper use of the word “theory,” I'll let readers decide for themselves if a Darwin-dissenter's viewpoint was unfairly quashed by Wikipedia editors. The exchange can be viewed at the following link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:216.67.29.113&redirect=no
Settlement allows Christian college to use job listing service
The Associated Press
PITTSBURGH -- A Christian college in western Pennsylvania and a faith-based coalition can use a state-sponsored job site specifically to hire Christians, according to the settlement of a religious discrimination suit.
Attorneys for Geneva College in Beaver Falls and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition based in Springfield, Va., filed the federal suit over Pennsylvania's online CareerLink job listing site last December. The state and federal governments were named as defendants.
The plaintiffs argued they were wrongly denied use of the employment service, which includes an Internet-based service called CareerLink. The service has a nondiscrimination policy barring job postings that require applicants to have particular religious backgrounds.
"The right of a religious organization to align itself with individuals of shared belief is as central to that organization's mission as other viewpoints are to nonreligious organizations," said Timothy J. Tracy, an attorney for the Christian Legal Society, who filed the suit along with the Alliance Defense Fund.
"Religious job requirements can't be singled out for exclusion from a public job listing simply because they are religious," Tracey said.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Labor and Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. Court documents settling the suit on Thursday showed all parties agreed to it.
The settlement said Geneva could use the CareerLink site because the college does not receive federal Workforce Investment Act funding.
PITTSBURGH -- A Christian college in western Pennsylvania and a faith-based coalition can use a state-sponsored job site specifically to hire Christians, according to the settlement of a religious discrimination suit.
Attorneys for Geneva College in Beaver Falls and the Association of Faith-Based Organizations, a coalition based in Springfield, Va., filed the federal suit over Pennsylvania's online CareerLink job listing site last December. The state and federal governments were named as defendants.
The plaintiffs argued they were wrongly denied use of the employment service, which includes an Internet-based service called CareerLink. The service has a nondiscrimination policy barring job postings that require applicants to have particular religious backgrounds.
"The right of a religious organization to align itself with individuals of shared belief is as central to that organization's mission as other viewpoints are to nonreligious organizations," said Timothy J. Tracy, an attorney for the Christian Legal Society, who filed the suit along with the Alliance Defense Fund.
"Religious job requirements can't be singled out for exclusion from a public job listing simply because they are religious," Tracey said.
Attorneys for the U.S. Department of Labor and Pennsylvania's Department of Labor and Industry could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday. Court documents settling the suit on Thursday showed all parties agreed to it.
The settlement said Geneva could use the CareerLink site because the college does not receive federal Workforce Investment Act funding.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)