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Showing posts from March, 2021

LGBT Students Ask Court to Overturn the Government's 'Religious Exemption' for Christian Schools

 By Michael Foust - Posted at Christian Headlines: A coalition of 33 current and former LGBT students from Christian and religious colleges filed a federal lawsuit on Monday that could dramatically impact how faith-based schools operate by declaring a government religious exemption received by such schools unconstitutional. Under current federal rules , religious institutions are exempt from Title IX, a 1972 law that prohibits discrimination based on sex in education programs and activities. Although the Trump administration argued that Title IX does not apply to sexual orientation and gender identity, the Biden administration has claimed it does. The lawsuit , filed by the Religious Exemption Accountability Project, asks the federal court to declare the Title IX religious exemption clause unconstitutional. It also asks the court to require the federal government to “enforce the protections of Title IX at all taxpayer-funded educational institutions, including at those institutions t

Obedience to Civil Authorities

 By Brant  Bosserman - Posted at Gentle Reformation: It seems that there is rather widespread confusion about whether Paul, Peter, and the Scriptures in general require unconditional obedience to civil leaders. A surface reading of the relevant texts would appear to require submission without qualification—“…there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God” (Rom. 13:1-2); “Submit yourself for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors” (1 Pet. 2:13-14); “My son, fear the Lord and the king” (Prov. 24:21). Yet, every historic expression of Christianity has recognized that there are situations in which believers may lawfully disobey civil powers—e.g. for the emancipation of slaves; the advancement of civil rights; the protection of the Jews from genocide; etc. etc. How is this possible? The straightforward answer is that

Tax-Funded Abortion for 'Every Person' in America Is Goal of New Democratic Bill

 By Michael Foust - Posted at Christian Headlines: Published March 26, 2021 A coalition of leading Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would repeal existing law and require taxpayer-funding of abortion, making it a federal policy to “ensure access to abortion services” for every American. The bill was sponsored in the Senate by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA) and Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), and in the House by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA). Murray is chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. The bill, known as the Equal Access to Abortion Coverage in Healthcare (EACH) Act , would repeal Section 1303 of the Affordable Care Act, which restricted government funding of abortion. It also would end the Hyde Amendment, a historically bipartisan provision dating to the 1970s that prohibits federal funds from being used for abortions. Until President Biden took office, it had been supported by every Republican and Democratic president, including P

Christian's Five-Year Prison Sentence for Facebook Post Upheld in Algeria

 By Morning Star News Algeria Correspondent - Posted at Christian Headlines: TIZI-OUZOU, Algeria, March 23, 2021 ( Morning Star News ) – A judge in Oran, Algeria on Monday (March 22) upheld a five-year prison sentence for a Christian convicted of reposting a cartoon of Islam’s prophet on his Facebook account three years ago, sources said. Farid Khemisti, attorney for Hamid (surname withheld for security reasons), said the 43-year-old father of four young children appeared to have received the heavy sentence because he was a Christian. The Oran City Court of Justice also upheld his fine of 100,000 dinars (US$750). “I really hoped for a reduction in the sentence – I expected at the worst, six months in prison,” Khemisti told Morning Star News. “That is the maximum that a fair judgment would have given, but I don’t think my client’s being a Christian made it any easier.” Read more here.

LCMS [Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod] President’s statement on the Equality Act

 Posted at The Reporter: A Word on the Equality Act To the Pastors, Called Workers and Members of the 6,000 Congregations of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod The words of the apostle Peter apply to us now: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith — more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him

Want a Job? Get a Shot!

 By Ron Paul - Posted at the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity : Mask tyranny reached a new low recently when a family was kicked off a Spirit Airlines flight because their four-year-old autistic son was not wearing a mask. The family was removed from the plane even though the boy’s doctor had decided the boy should be exempted from mask mandates because the boy panics and engages in behavior that could pose a danger to himself when wearing a mask. Besides, four-year-olds do not present much risk of spreading or contracting coronavirus. Even if masks did prevent infections among adults, there would be no reason to force children to wear masks. Mask mandates have as much to do with healthcare as Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screenings have to do with stopping terrorism. Masks and TSA screenings are “security theater” done to reassure those frightened by government and media propaganda regarding coronavirus and terrorism that the government is protecting them.

Canadian father jailed after publicly objecting to minor daughter taking testosterone

 By Brandon Showalter - Posted at The Christian Post: A father who has long objected to his minor daughter taking testosterone as part of an experimental gender transition has been jailed in British Columbia for contempt of court. Robert Hoogland was arrested Tuesday after a warrant was issued by a judge earlier this month for telling the public his name and showing his face, according to sources close to the situation. He will reportedly remain in police custody pending a decision on his release to be made at 9:30 a.m. Friday in the Vancouver Supreme Court. Sources told The Christian Post this week that at the Friday hearing, Hoogland’s attorney will ask that the arrest warrant be voided and that he be released on the basis that the detention is unlawful. Hoogland has been outspoken in his opposition to what is now known as “gender-affirming” medical care in hopes of preventing his daughter from undergoing irreversible harm. Hoogland’s ex-wife, who is supported by the Canadian medical

Pastor James Coates to be released from jail as Crown withdraws charges

Posted at the Justice Centre: EDMONTON: The Justice Centre today announced that Crown Prosecutors have agreed to withdraw all but one of the Public Health Act offences that Pastor James Coates has been charged with. The Justice Centre expects Pastor Coates will be released from jail in the coming days, without any conditions, pending his May 3-5 trial in Provincial Court. The Justice Centre will defend Pastor Coates on one remaining charge of violating an Order of the Chief Medical Officer of Health by challenging the lawfulness of the public health order that he is charged with violating. The Pastor of Grace Life Church near Edmonton has been incarcerated in the Edmonton Remand Centre for a month, since February 16. It is expected that Pastor Coates could be released from jail as early as Friday, March 19. Grace Life is a church of nearly 400 congregants who have exercised their Charter rights and freedoms normally since July of 2020, including their freedoms of assembly, associatio

The Cancellation Of Dr. Seuss Should Disturb You, Because You’re Next

Geisel at work on a drawing of the Grinch for How the Grinch Stole Christmas! in 1957  Source - Wikipedia  By John Daniel Davidson - Posted at The Federalist: Dr. Seuss has been cancelled. Some of his work has been deemed racist, and we can’t have that. On Tuesday, the entity that oversees the estate of Theodor Seuss Geisel announced it would no longer publish six of Geisel’s books because they “portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” Among the works now deemed unfit for children are Geisel’s first book under the pen name Dr. Seuss, “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” published in 1937, and the much-beloved, “If I Ran the Zoo,” published in 1950. The former depicts a “Chinaman” character and the latter shows two men from “the African island of Yerka” in native garb. There’s not much point in quibbling over whether these and other such illustrations in the condemned Dr. Seuss books are in fact racist or bigoted, or whether Geisel held racist or xenophobic vie

'Woke Culture' in the Church Is 'Deadly' for the Gospel, Pastor Michael Youseff Warns

Image Source:  About Us (ltw.org)  By Milton Quintanilla - Posted at Christian Headlines: One Egyptian-American pastor is speaking out against “woke culture” arguing that the ideology has permeated many evangelical churches in America today. Dr. Michael Youssef, 72, is the pastor of the 3,000-member Church of The Apostles in Atlanta, Georgia and is also the founder of Leading the Way television ministry. In a recent interview with The Christian Post , Youssef noted how pastors are rapidly embracing “woke culture” in their churches because it’s “popular and appeals to the flesh.” “Bowing to woke culture allows you to avoid rejection by culture and society,” he explained. “It’s a very, very popular message that is now being preached from many evangelical pulpits; traditionally Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching churches. We have gone so far that it just grieves me to the point that I literally sometimes just weep tears.” Critical Race Theory (CRT), Youseff says, is one evidence of “woke

Critical Race Theory Is A Classic Communist Divide-And-Conquer Tactic

 By Stella Morabito - Posted at The Federalist: Published September 29, 2020 Rather than serve help heal the nation, critical race theory has proven to be poisonous to liberty, true community, and our common humanity. Of all the ways identity politics is used as a tool to sow hatred among people where there should be the potential for friendship, “critical race theory” is one of the gravest offenders. Every person of goodwill should know that judging people based on their physical characteristics is cruel and wrong. This is not the nature of critical race theory, however. Rather, the insidious ideology is being used to promote estrangement rather than friendship, and hostility rather than goodwill. Indeed, the tactics used by proponents of critical race theory share many parallels with old tactics used by the Bolsheviks. Read more here.

Critical Race Theory and Parental Control

 Posted at STOP FED ED: Imagine your child comes home from school one day, sullen and quiet. You ask what is wrong, but he will not say anything. Or your child says he must watch a video for school as homework, but the teacher says it is not for parents. Or your child suddenly announces at dinner that the only reason you live in a nice house, drive nice cars and have delicious food on your table is because you have white privilege, not because you worked hard to earn your success. Not very long ago, you might have thought these examples extreme and impossible. “Not at my kid’s school,” you’d say. But more and more parents across the country are reporting incidents like these and others. This is no longer a hypothetical. It is really happening, and it is highly likely to be happening in your neighborhood school. If you doubt this assertion, you need to find out for yourself. Check out your school’s curriculum online. Look for classes like Global Learners Initiative, Global Soci

Digital Duplicity: The Social Media Purge Exposes Net Neutrality's True Goal

Christian Heritage News Editors Note:  On January 6, 2021 I was "blocked" by Facebook for 30 days without an explanation of how I violated their community standards nor was I given an option for a review. Those who do not see the danger of social media censorship are blind and foolish. People like me are being marginalized and "cast out" of our social circles at the whim of these platforms. - Angela Somers Wittman  By Bret Swanson - Posted at Real Clear Markets: Published 1.15.2021 For nearly two decades, Silicon Valley made net neutrality its highest policy priority. Under the banner of a “free and open” internet, Google, Facebook, and Twitter sought regulations to ensure the uninterrupted flow of information by treating every bit equally. Or so they said. Beginning last Friday night, these firms and others executed an unprecedented digital purge of the social media and video accounts of their political rivals. After several years of accelerating suspensions and su

Joe Biden Promises Unity; The Equality Act Swings A Culture War Sword

 By Margot Cleveland - Posted at The Federalist: "The Equality Act also escalates the nearly 50-year-old cultural war over abortion launched in 1973 by the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. Although the legislation avoids the word 'abortion' and employs the more genteel euphemism of 'reproductive services,' the Equality Act threatens to federalize the demands of the abortion lobby that abortion be performed at even religious health-care facilities." Joe Biden ran on the promise of uniting America. Yet last week his fellow Democrats in the House of Representatives passed the so-called Equality Act—a bill that if enacted into law promises to irrevocably divide this country. While sold as civil rights legislation necessary to protect LGBTQ people from unjust discrimination, the statutory language of the Equality Act would instead enshrine into law the left’s ideological extremism on three of the most divisive issues of the day: sex, abortion, and religious

Freeze Speech

"We have abandoned the time-tested principles of human and divine wisdom in exchange for a godless Neomarxist future, based on a wishful egalitarian fantasy, a “workers’ paradise,” imagined and promoted by the paragon of atheistic virtue, Karl Marx—who never took a bath, mistreated his wife, slept with his children’s nurse, and witnessed the suicide of two of his daughters."  By Dr. Peter Jones - Posted at TruthXchange: I wrote this text on February 25, 2021, a day when stunning events occurred in the USA that are massive “legal” attacks on the opening line of the Bible: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them” (Gen 1:27). The Equality Act that passed in the House on that day, including the provision to remove any defense for religious principles, requires that virtually every restroom, locker room, and dressing room in America be open to transgender individuals. At this level of bathroom intimacy, our children

GOD, MAN, AND THE HIERARCHY

 By Rev. Bennie Castle - Posted at Calvinist Ruminant: The evils of today all stem from the same root. Equality, Equity, Equivalent, Equal. All of these words stem from the Latin aequus meaning “level or even.” Translation, flat. It is the great flattening of the modern world that has produced the evils of today. Under this revolutionary theory, the hierarchy of nature is denied through a misuse of reason. Denying the hierarchy of nature is, in turn, a denial of the God of Nature who created the world hierarchically. “For Adam was formed first, then Eve” (1 Timothy 2:13). At the first, when God made Man, He made him in order, in sequence, in a hierarchy. Adam was made first and was hence the head of the woman (1 Corinthians 11:3). This hierarchy is expressed in other relations as well. Parents are always above children in age and ought to be so in wisdom. Teachers are above students in knowledge and ought to be so in virtue. Kings are above the people in virtue and ought to

Country club deconstruction

 By Samuel D. James - Posted at Letter & Liturgy: Deconstructing the Christian faith in which you were raised due to suffering or intellectual/existential crisis is a move that deserves a careful and nuanced response. Deconstructing your faith because you’ve grown up and discovered cooler people than the folks in your youth group deserves something different. I know there are plenty of people in the first category. But to be honest, I’m starting to suspect that the deconstruction content industry is funded and operated mostly by people in the second category. There are too many common schticks, stories, and even experiences among the ex-Christian books and podcasts. Some similarities among people who were raised in conservative religious circles is completely expected. But when just about every de-converting personality says “There were never good answers to my questions,” any reasonable person might begin wondering if there’s some note-sharing going on. Christians want to understa

Let My People Gather: What We Can Learn from an Ancient Church-State Debate

 By David Schrock - Posted at Via Emmaus: 1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, “Thus says the Lord, the Risen King, ‘Let my people gather, that they may hear my Word, sing my praise, and remember my sacrifice.’ ” 2 But Pharaoh said, “Who is this Lord, that I should obey his voice and let you gather? I do not know this king, and moreover, I will not let your people gather.” 3 Then they said, “The God who raised the dead has told us, ‘You are to gather every Lord’s Day to proclaim the resurrection and to worship me, lest I bring pestilence or sword on you.’” 4 But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you risk the lives of your people and your neighbors? Get back to your homes and love your neighbors.” 5 And Pharaoh said, “Behold, the cases of COVID are now many, and you want to risk the spread of more diseases!” 6 The same day Pharaoh commanded his health officials and tax officers, 7“You shall no longer let these people open their businesses, as in t

Put Parents in the Driver’s Seat

 Posted at Stop Fed Ed - United States Parents Involved in Education:  The silver-lining of the CORONA virus pandemic is the opportunity for parents to get into the driver’s seat of their children’s education. USPIE encourages parents to seize every opportunity to direct the education of their children. Parents have a chance to transform the American education system into an efficient and effective model where parents are in charge and children actually enjoy learning. For example, homeschool parents direct their children’s education and choose what to study, when to study, and what approach to use. Homeschooling families learn which subjects can be group lessons allowing younger children to absorb intellectual topics at their pace, and older children mentor younger children. Homeschool parents are also able to adjust their schedules with great flexibility and viability for learning throughout the day on any given day. Since the COVID lockdowns, homeschooling has become more popular.