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OBAMA BIG SPENDING BILL STIMULATES ANTI-CHRISTIAN BIGOTRY 
Washington, DC – Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty charged today that President Obama’s stimulus plan is being used to restrict the free exercise of religion in public facilities where federal funding is involved:
Among the prohibited uses of “greening” funds is the “modernization, renovation or repair” of higher learning facilities where sectarian religious activities or services may be conducted. “The economic crisis is being used as a pretext to curb religious liberty at institutions of higher learning. Religious activity is already scarce at most of our colleges, the Obama people want to make sure it is extinct.
The ultimate impact will be to drive religious activities out of public education altogether. If higher education institutions worry about not getting part of this federal grab bag, they’ll simply eject religious activities from their campuses so they can easily get the money.
By rejecting religion, these educators can also avoid costly ACLU lawsuits that will inevitably be filed. This section of the bill should be called the ACLU Full Employment Act since it will be a boon for their anti-Christian litigation.
We are not asking that federal funding be used to construct a church but if a campus ministry wants to hold a Bible study or Mass in the student activity building, we should be encouraging that not punishing a college for permitting it.
But this new administration and its secularist allies in Congress don’t accept the First Amendment’s protections of religious activity even as they cite the First Amendment to defend all sorts of bizarre and offensive speech and art.
The entire package should be rejected by the Senate. It is pork, not stimulus – and most Americans understand this.
FAITH UNDER FIRE!! Nurse suspended for offering to pray
Woman offers to ask God's help to heal patient, gets suspended 
Caroline Petrie
A Christian nurse in Britain may soon be fired for offering to pray for her patients' recovery. Caroline Petrie has been suspended and faces disciplinary action because her employer claims she failed to show a "personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity" when she suggested the prayer, the London Telegraph reported. Petrie, 45, a wife and mother of two, is a community nurse who works for North Somerset Primary Care Trust. As part of her job she visits patients who are sick and elderly.Petrie said she never forced her Christian beliefs on any of her patients but simply asked if an elderly woman would appreciate the blessing. "I simply couldn't believe that I have been suspended over this," she told the Telegraph. "I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. All I am trying to do is help my patients, many of whom want me to pray for them." Petrie visited the elderly woman, a resident in Winscombe, North Somerset, in December. "It was around lunchtime and I had spent about 20 to 25 minutes with her," the nurse said. "I had applied dressings to her legs and shortly before I left I said to her: 'Would you like me to pray for you?'" The patient said, "No, thank you." Shortly afterward, Petrie's employer contacted her and asked her why she had offered the prayer. The patient, a woman in her late 70s, had complained to the trust. Another nurse approached Petrie the following day and told her the woman had been surprised by the offer. Petrie apologized and asked if she had offended the patient. The nurse replied, "No, no. She was just a bit taken back. You must be aware of your professional code of conduct. I would be careful." But that wasn't the end of it. Petrie returned home to find a message on her answering machine. She was suspended without pay on Dec. 17 and forced to attend a disciplinary meeting. Petrie expects to be notified of her employer's decision this week. The nurse told the Telegraph that she has been a Christian since she was only 10 – following her mother's tragic death from breast cancer. "My faith is very important to me," she said. This was not the first prayer incident that has prompted her employer to discipline Petrie. She offered a prayer card to an elderly male patient in October, according to the report. He joyfully accepted the gift. However, the man's caretaker objected to the gesture. Petrie's boss reprimanded her, saying, "As a nurse you are required to uphold the reputation of your profession. "Your NMC [Nursing Midwifery Council] code states that 'you must demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity' and 'you must not use your professional status to promote causes that are not related to health'." Petrie was instructed to participate in an equality and diversity course. "If there is any further similar incident it may be treated as potential misconduct and the formal disciplinary procedure could be instigated," her employer warned. Petrie said she stopped giving prayer cards to her patients, but she found it difficult not to simply offer prayers. "My concern is for the person as a whole, not just their health," she said. "I was told not to force my faith on anyone but I could respond if patients themselves brought up the subject [of religion]." In the most recent incident, the elderly woman claims she was not insulted by the gesture, but that she is concerned other patients might take offense. Petrie has contacted the Christian Legal Center, a group that seeks to promote religious freedom, for representation. "Caroline Petrie has been suspended pending an investigation into the matter," a spokesman for North Somerset Primary Care Trust told the Guardian. "She is a bank nurse and she has been told we will not be using her in this capacity until the outcome of our investigation is known. "We always take any concerns raised by our patients most seriously and conscientiously investigate any matter of this nature brought to our attention, the spokesman continued. "We are always keen to be respectful of our patients' views and sensitivity as well as those of our staff."
 According to the London Times, extremist Hindu groups are offering $250.00, alcohol, food and fuel, to kill Christians and destroy their homes in the eastern state of Orissa, India. To date, 67 Christians have been killed in Orissa and several thousand homes have been razed. Hundreds of places of worship have been destroyed. While violence has subsided over the past few days, at least 11,000 Christian refugees remain in camps in Kandhamal. “They are too scared to go home. They know that if they return to their villages they will be forced to convert to Hinduism,” Father Manoj, who is based at the Archbishop’s office in Bhubaneshwar, the state capital, said. Approximately 20% of the Bibles shipped by Bibledonate.org are shipped to India. Their plea for Bibles is a passionate reflection of their hunger for the Word of God. Please remember them in your prayers. www.bibledonate.org
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Prophet Sharing: The Good Book Is the Best Seller
The Bible, Long a Commercial Hit, Gets Repackaged for Market Niches from the Homespun to the Fashion Forward
Mobile, Ala.
Upstairs in the Mobile Museum of Art, there's a Bible on display -- a majestic hand-drawn edition a decade in the making, and not yet finished. Presented as a work of modern art, its oversized pages are filled with ornate calligraphy and rich illustration, shot through with gold and silver leaf.
![[The Bible]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AU878_CURREN_DV_20081222151928.jpg)
Taylor Umlaf for The Wall Street Journal
The Manga Bible retells biblical stories in the form of a graphic novel, with comic-book sound effects like "Biff!" and "Pow!"
Downstairs, in the museum foyer, another Bible lies open -- this one so homespun as to be homely. An earnest young couple is carting it cross-country in an RV with a bobble-head Jesus on the dash, asking tens of thousands of ordinary Americans to each hand-write one verse. Blotches of white-out mark corrections.
The two editions on display this drizzly morning are as different as can be, yet they represent an essential truth: God's word is good business.
Throughout history, the Bible has been an object of commerce as well as of reflection. That's especially true in the modern era.
It's an astonishing fact that year after year, the Bible is the best-selling book in America -- even though 90% of households already have at least one copy. The text doesn't vary, except in translation. The tremendous sales volume, an estimated 25 million copies sold each year, is largely driven by innovations in design, color, style and the ultimate niche marketing.
There's Scripture as accessory, wrapped in hot pink fake leather or glittery psychedelic swirls -- or sporting a ladybug on the cover for no particular reason other than it's cute. There's Scripture as political statement: A new Green Bible, printed in soy ink on recycled paper, highlights passages with an environmental theme.
There are gross-out Bibles for boys, which dwell on scenes of mayhem, and glossy teen-magazine-style Bibles for girls, complete with beauty tips. One of the latest entries, Bible Illuminated, offers an art-house take on the New Testament, juxtaposing the gospel with glossy photos of Angelina Jolie, Al Gore and anonymous victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Kurt Fredrickson, who directs the doctor of ministry program at Fuller Theological Seminary, found the selection boggling when he went to buy a Bible for his wife's Christmas present the other day.
He found himself drawn to a edition bound in fall colors of pumpkin and green. "I thought, oooh, that's kind of nice!" he said. Then he caught himself; his wife wanted a new Bible for study, not so it would look chic sticking out of her purse. He went with classic burgundy leather binding.
The Bible "should be able to stand on its own" without adornment, said Mr. Frederickson. "It's a pretty amazing book."
But publishers across ages have recognized that the Bible can also be a profit center.
The monastic scribes who spent their lives copying religious texts in the Middle Ages threw themselves into their work as a measure of devotion -- but also to generate income for their monasteries.
By the 13th century, interest in the Bible had inspired a new industry of commercial publishing houses, which hired armies of scribes to crank out portable handwritten copies for university students. These publishers were the first to promote a sense of the Bible as a single book, with the chapters presented in fixed order.
"It was an essential text. Students would invest in it the way people today buy a computer or a car," said Father Columba Stewart, executive director of the manuscript library at the abbey of Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minn.
The Bible was the first book to roll off Johann Gutenberg's printing press in the mid-15th century. By the late 17th century, the ancient text was being printed in several languages and translations across Europe and the American colonies.
"Whether the Bible has got any transcendental truth in it or not, it is the most popular book, the most circulated text, of all time. It has never not been a No. 1 best-seller," said Christopher de Hamel, a British scholar of biblical manuscripts.
![[The Bible]](http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/NA-AU879_CURREN_DV_20081222152338.jpg) Hill Museum & Manuscript Library at Saint John's UniversityAn excerpt of a Bible commissioned by Saint John's University is handwritten on calfskin.
The modern era of niche marketing began in the 1980s, when Bible publishers hit upon the idea of appending commentary aimed at particular audiences, such as women or teens. They highlighted the verses most likely to appeal to those groups and wrote volumes of supplemental material -- study notes, prayers, even advice-column-style questions and answers.
That format proved wildly popular; these days, you can buy Bibles tailored to alcoholics, archaeology buffs, fans of Japanese comics and any number of other interest groups. The Soul Surfer Bible, aimed at teen girls, sprinkles tips on catching a good wave, lists of surfer slang such as "tubular" (meaning, more or less, awesome) and life lessons about hope, faith and hard work into the traditional Biblical text. The Golfer's Bible draws on passages about steadfastness and contemplation to advise duffers on their swings. The Japanese Manga version retells biblical stories in comic-book form, complete with sound effects like "Biff!" and "Pow!"
In recent years, publishers have also taken to rolling out new covers for their basic Bibles each season, with colors carefully chosen to match the latest fashions.
Amid this flood of trendy Bibles, the two handwritten versions on display at the Mobile Museum of Art stand out.
The illuminated version was commissioned by Saint John's University in Minnesota. Calligrapher Donald Jackson -- who calls the project "a fearful challenge" -- etches each verse on calfskin with a hand-crafted quill and saturates his illustrations with pigments hand-ground from minerals and precious stones. The project will be completed in 2011 and reproduced for sale in seven volumes, priced at about $65 each.
The handwritten Bible Across America edition will also be sold commercially, for a price yet to be determined.
The Christian publishing house Zondervan -- which is owned by News Corp., publisher of The Wall Street Journal -- came up with the project to generate interest in the 30th anniversary of its popular NIV Bible translation. Zondervan put up $250,000 to fund a cross-country RV tour that invites anyone and everyone to copy a verse from the NIV.
Men, women and children have waited as long as two hours in some cities to copy ancient phrases they hold sacred. Some weep as they write. Others freeze, feeling pressure to make it perfect. Little ones labor over wobbly R's and backwards S's. Adults slowly copy out nettlesome Old Testament names like Jehoshaphat, letter by letter.
Harriet Horn, a security guard, grinned broadly after she wrote her lines one recent day at the Mobile museum. "My spirit has been touched this morning!" she exclaimed.
Jim Bodman, a retired FBI agent, was more subdued. "It was humbling," he said.
The Bible will eventually be bound; for now, it's being written on thin sheets of loose 11-by-17 paper. The result looks a bit like a patchwork quilt: A verse written in a slanted hand flows into several lines of flowery letters. A college student misspells Israel and writes over her mistake in darker ink. It's a democratic, populist take on a book often regarded with awe.
"There's no paraphrasing going on, but it's going to be a unique read," said Steve Sammons, an executive vice president at Zondervan.
Mr. Fredrickson, the seminary theologian, said it's easy to get cynical about the way Scripture is pushed and packaged these days.
But the more he thinks about it, the more he's come to believe that presentation does matter; a new look can draw in new readers, or inspire fresh thinking about a familiar passage. This season, for instance, he's spending time with the Bible Illuminated, which uses photojournalism to illustrate the New Testament in ways he finds extremely provocative. That's valuable, he says, because "it gets people talking."
Others aren't so sure. Dominick Matranga, a retired judge, stopped by the Bible Across America table in Mobile and wrote a verse to help out the cause. But he said he saw little point in putting the age-old words in a new format.
"I don't think it would be on the top of my list of things to do," Mr. Matranga said. "What's the reason for it?"
Write to Stephanie Simon at stephanie.simon@wsj.com
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| 'Jesus' T-shirt becomes factor in 'hate crimes' argument
Senate, Supreme Court refuse admission for those wearing the slogan Posted: June 02, 2009
8:21 pm Eastern By Bob Unruh
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Anti-'Hate Crime' T-shirt |
Christians who have been protesting a plan pending in the U.S. Senate to impose a "hate crimes" law on citizens of the United States say they already are experiencing what life under that law would include, because they are being targeted because of the message on their T-shirts: "Truth is Hate to those who Hate the Truth." The shirts, promoted on the Operation Save America website, have the slogan "Jesus is the Standard" on the front. Operation Save America spokesman Rev. Flip Benham told WND that people wearing the shirts had assembled recently in Washington to protest S. 909, now pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee after being approved by the U.S. House on a 249-175 vote. But he said police officers providing security at both the U.S. Senate building and the U.S. Supreme Court refused to allow citizens wearing the shirts to enter the buildings. The plan is the target of an organized letter-writing campaign that has already generated more than 560,000 individual letters sent by Fed Ex to all 100 U.S. senators. The effort, organized by WND columnist Janet Porter, who also heads the Faith2Action Christian ministry, permits activists to send individually addressed letters to all 100 senators over their own "signature" for only $10.95. WND has provided multiple reports on what is at stake when the Senate considers a national hate crimes proposal that is to add special penalties against individuals guilty of crimes based on ethnic, religious and racial hatred – and new classifications based on sexual orientation. The legislation has been described by critics as "The Pedophile Protection Act." WND calls to police departments for the Senate and the court requesting a comment were not returned today. But Benham said members of groups he's organized to meet in Washington to oppose the "hate crimes" plan have been threatened with arrest for even going up the Supreme Court's steps while wearing the shirts, and have been forbidden entry in other locations.
Message on the back: "Truth is Hate to those who Hate the Truth" |
"There's no way you're going to bring that (shirt) into the halls of the Senate building," he told WND. "If we had a Muslim T-shirt, or a Barack Obama T-shirt, there would be no problem, but it's who we are (as Christians)," he said. "We," he said, "are not invited to the party in Washington." One member of a recent protest tour in Washington told WND that she was surprised at the Supreme Court's reaction to the T-shirts. "Here's what happened," Nancy McFarland wrote in an e-mail to WND. " Upon aarrival we were greeted by a female guard who told us that we would have to turn our T-shirts wrong side out to enter the building to use their restrooms. "I am a grandmother and very concerned with what is happening to our country," she continued. "These things are never reported through our mainstream media, but American citizens need to know what is occurring at our federal buildings." Benham told WND the T-shirts may not be popular with security officers, but they are with visitors in Washington. During his most recent trip, buses loaded with school children arrived at the Supreme Court while his organization was there, and they asked if they could have some T-shirts and he complied. But even the children were turned away from the court building unless they turned the shirts carrying Jesus' name inside out, he said. "A lot of T-shirts say a lot of other things (and are allowed)," he said. "It's only Jesus." A report on the Operation Save America website said the T-shirts were "a bold and powerful rebuke to those attempting to make laws that would criminalize Christianity.
Christians protesting in opposition to "hate crimes" plan |
"The Word of God has become 'hate' in America because it confronts us with our sin. Yet, So many passers-by asked for T-shirts. Buses stopped as we were proclaiming King Jesus, and folks jumped off to plead for the T-shirts and then jumped back on. It was absolutely incredible to watch common folk desiring to proclaim the Gospel of Christ. Many of us gave our shirts to them," the report said. The website also features a video of some of the comments during the Washington protest: Richard Land, of the Southern Baptist Convention, said such a law – by definition – requires judges to determine what those accused of crimes were thinking. "This could create a chilling effect on religious speech, connecting innocent expression of religious belief to acts of violence against individuals afforded special protections," he wrote. "The criminalization of religious speech, such as speech against the practice of homosexuality, has already been seen in other countries with similar hate crimes legislation in place." Meanwhile, no senator – Democrat or Republican – has yet issued a formal denunciation of the bill. Barack Obama has promised homosexual murder victim Matthew Shepard's mother fast action in the U.S. Senate to approve the bill. Judy Shepard visited the White House to lobby for Senate approval after it cleared the House with opposition from many Republicans. The White House issued an official comment on the meeting: "The President thanked Ms. Shepard for her work on the hate crimes bill and reiterated his commitment to ensuring that the Senate finalize the bill and act swiftly. It's not too late to take advantage of the opportunity to overnight letters of opposition to the hate crimes bill to all 100 U.S. senators for only $10.95. Sources working with senators opposing the legislation say the campaign has shaken up the dynamics of the debate. "This bill was supposed to sail through the Senate, but it suddenly has become much more controversial as a result of all these letters," one source said. "Still, not a single Republican senator has yet stood up in open, public opposition to the bill." Last week, a Texas pastor wrote an open letter to the U.S. Senate, asking someone, anyone, to filibuster the pending "hate crimes" legislation and stop what he calls a "maddening march to the destruction of our First Amendment right to freely practice our religion." As WND has reported, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 would provide special protections to homosexual people but leave Christian ministers open to prosecution should their teachings be linked to any subsequent offense, by anyone, against a homosexual person. Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, and Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, said the only chance to defeat the legislation was for a massive outpouring of opposition from the American people. "If you guys don't raise enough stink there's no chance of stopping it," Gohmert said on a radio program with Porter. "It's entirely in the hands of your listeners and people across the country. If you guys put up a strong enough fight, that will give backbone enough to the 41 or 42 in the Senate to say we don't want to have our names on that." An analysis by Shawn D. Akers, policy analyst with Liberty Counsel said the proposal, formally known as H.R. 1913, the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act bill in the House and S. 909 in the Senate, would create new federal penalties against those whose "victims" were chosen based on an "actual or perceived ... sexual orientation, gender identity." Gohmert warned Porter during the interview that even her introduction of him, and references to the different sexual orientations, could be restricted if the plan becomes law. "You can't talk like that once this becomes law," he said. He said the foundational problem with the bill is that it is based on lies: It assumes there's an epidemic of crimes in the United States – especially actions that cross state lines – that is targeting those alternative sexual lifestyles. "When you base a law on lies, you're going to have a bad law," he said. "This 'Pedophilia Protection Act,' a 'hate crimes' bill, is based on the representation that there's a epidemic of crimes based on bias and prejudice. It turns out there are fewer crimes now than there were 10 years ago." He said he fought in committee and in the House to correct some of the failings, including his repeated requests for definitions in the bill for terms such as "sexual orientation." Majority Democrats refused, he said. He said that leaves the definition up to a standard definition in the medical field, which includes hundreds of "philias" and "isms" that would be protected. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., a "hate crimes" supporter, confirmed that worry, saying: "This bill addresses our resolve to end violence based on prejudice and to guarantee that all Americans regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability or all of these 'philias' and fetishes and 'ism's' that were put forward need not live in fear because of who they are. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this rule…" Obama, supported strongly during his campaign by homosexual advocates, appears ready to respond to their desires. "I urge members on both sides of the aisle to act on this important civil rights issue by passing this legislation to protect all of our citizens from violent acts of intolerance," he said. But Gohmert pointed out that if an exhibitionist flashes a woman, and she responds by slapping him with her purse, he has probably committed a misdemeanor while she has committed a federal felony hate crime. "That's how ludicrous this situation is," Gohmert said. Akers' analysis said the bill would result in the federalization of "virtually every sexual crime in the United States." And he said it appears to be part of an agenda that would relegate pro-family and traditional marriage advocates into the ranks of "terrorists." Critics also have expressed alarm because in committee hearings Democrats admitted that a Christian pastor could be prosecuted under the law if he spoke biblically against homosexuality, someone heard the comments and then committed a crime. "Under [the plan] the speech of a criminal defendant and the mere membership of the defendant in a given group may be used as evidence of his or her biased motive," Akers said. During arguments in the House while the plan was being adopted, lawmakers pointed out the representatives were voting for protection for "all 547 forms of sexual deviancy or 'paraphilias' listed by the American Psychiatric Association." Porter cited the amendment offering from King in committee that was very simple: "The term sexual orientation as used in this act or any amendments to this act does not include pedophilia." But majority Democrats refused to accept it. "Having reviewed cases as an appellate judge, I know that when the legislature has the chance to include a definition and refuses, then what we look at is the plain meaning of those words," explained Gohmert. "The plain meaning of sexual orientation is anything to which someone is orientated. That could include exhibitionism, it could include necrophilia (sexual arousal/activity with a corpse) ... it could include urophilia (sexual arousal associated with urine), voyeurism. You see someone spying on you changing clothes and you hit them, they've committed a misdemeanor, you've committed a federal felony under this bill. It is so wrong." Republicans in the House also attempted to amend the bill to offer hate crimes protection for U.S. military veterans who were attacked because of their service. Democrats unanimously rejected the amendment.
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Religion in The News |
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OBAMA WATCH CENTRAL
Warning issued over 'spirit of adulation' of president
Archbishop: 'In democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs'
By Bob Unruh
One of the prominent and rising archbishops in the Catholic Church is warning against a "spirit of adulation" towards President Obama, who was portrayed repeatedly during his campaign with messianic images. WND reported during the campaign on a website called Obamamessiah which still holds images portraying the president in a "transfiguration" pose, with various haloes around his head, and the cover of a book, "Barack Obama, Son of Promise, Child of Hope." But in a message at St. Basil's Church in Toronto recently, Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput warned against following blindly. "President Obama is a man of intelligence and some remarkable gifts. He has a great ability to inspire. … But whatever his strengths, there's no way to reinvent his record on abortion and related issues with rosy marketing about unity, hope and change," Chaput said. "Of course, that can change. Some things really do change when a person reaches the White House. Power ennobles some men. It diminishes others. Bad policy ideas can be improved. Good policy ideas can find a way to flourish. But as Catholics, we at least need to be honest with ourselves and each other about the political facts we start with," he said. "Unfortunately when it comes to the current administration that will be very hard for Catholics in the United States, and here's why. A spirit of adulation bordering on servility already exists among some of the same Democratic-friendly Catholic writers, scholars, editors and activists who once accused prolifers of being too cozy with Republicans. It turns out that Caesar is an equal opportunity employer," he warned. In just the issue of abortion, Obama already has started keeping campaign promises by restoring taxpayer funding for an international program supporting abortion and launching a plan to require physicians to provide various abortion advice and services – no matter how it violates their beliefs. Chaput said while people "owe civil authority our respect and appropriate obedience," he said, "Caesar is not God." "Only God is God, and the state is subordinate and accountable to God for its treatment of human persons, all of whom were created by God. Our job as believers is to figure out what things belong to Caesar, and what things belong to God – and then put those things in right order in our own lives, and in our relations with others," he said in comments posted on the website of the Denver archdiocese. He said the religious have a responsibility to be politically engaged. "Why? Because politics is the exercise of power, and the use of power always has moral content and human consequences," he said. "As Christians, we can't claim to love God and then ignore the needs of our neighbors. Loving God is like loving a spouse. A husband may tell his wife that he loves her, and of course that's very beautiful. But she'll still want to see the proof in his actions." Chaput, who has written a book on his views, "Render Unto Caesar," noted that even before Obama was elected, he considered the now-president "the most committed 'abortion-rights' presidential candidate … since the Roe v. Wade abortion decision in 1973." He said Obama's campaign "removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing." The result, he said, is that members of the church "owe no leader any submission or cooperation in the pursuit of grave evil." "In fact, we have the duty to change bad laws and resist grave evil in our public life, both by our words and our non-violent actions," he said. "Second, in democracies, we elect public servants, not messiahs. It's worth recalling that despite two ugly wars, an unpopular Republican president, a fractured Republican party, the support of most of the American news media and massively out-spending his opponent, our new president actually trailed in the election polls the week before the economic meltdown." "Americans, including many Catholics, elected a gifted man to fix an economic crisis. That's the mandate. They gave nobody a mandate to retool American culture on the issues of marriage and the family, sexuality, bioethics, religion in public life and abortion," the archbishop said. He blasted anyone who would blend Catholicism with support for abortion. "We can't talk piously about programs to reduce the abortion body count without also working vigorously to change the laws that make the killing possible. If we're Catholic, then we believe in the sanctity of developing human life. And if we don't really believe in the humanity of the unborn child from the moment life begins, then we should stop lying to ourselves and others, and even to God, by claiming we're something we're not," he said. "Every new election cycle I hear from unhappy, self-described Catholics who complain that abortion is too much of a litmus test. But isn't that exactly what it should be? One of the defining things that set early Christians apart from the pagan culture around them was their respect for human life; and specifically their rejection of abortion and infanticide," he said. The move to have an "open mind" about various issues on which the Bible speaks is seriously misplaced, too, he insisted. "We need to remember that tolerance is not a Christian virtue. Charity, justice, mercy, prudence, honesty – these are Christian virtues. And obviously, in a diverse community, tolerance is an important working principle. But it's never an end itself. In fact, tolerating grave evil within a society is itself a form of serious evil," he said. Chaput also took Obama's campaign slogan of "hope" down a peg. "Anyone who hasn't noticed the despair in the world should probably go back to sleep. The word 'hope' on a campaign poster may give us a little thrill of righteousness, but the world will still be a wreck when the drug wears off. We can only attain hope through truth," he said. "And what that means is this: From the moment Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth and the life,' the most important political statement anyone can make is 'Jesus Christ is Lord.'" One participant on the diocese website's forum responded, "I am not Catholic but am thrilled that this church is blasting the political dogma that is trying to become the standard for right and wrong. We must not be sheep and follow this pied piper (Obama) blindly. We must search our soul prayerfully for Gods answers not rely on the arm of flesh." Another said, "All I need comment is the ninny commentator on MSNBC who 'gets a feeling up his leg when Obama speaks.' Or the Black woman who said on local TV that now that Obama has been elected president, I will not have to pay for gasoline anymore and I won't have to pay my mortgage. This is sick." "You still remember Jim Jones? He was a gifted very charismatic preacher and what happen[ed] to his followers?" added another. WND recently reported when Obama was picked ahead of Jesus as a "hero" to respondents in an online Harris poll and also when Nation of Islam radical Louis Farrakhan said regarding Obama: "The Messiah is absolutely speaking." CNN, also, likened Obama's inauguration in Washington to the "hajj," the once-a-lifetime trip faithful Muslims make to their holy city of Mecca.
Gruesome killing prompts US Muslimsto defend faith, denounce domestic violence
Aasiya Hassan was the wife of upstate New York television station founder Muzzammil Hassan, who has been charged with murder in connection with her beheading. By ERIC GORSKI |AP Religion Writer
The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax.
The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. — the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing — is another crucible for American Muslims.
Here was a couple that appeared to be the picture of assimilation and tolerance, co-founders of a television network that aspired to improve the image of Muslims in a post 9-11 world.
Now, as Muzzammil "Mo" Hassan faces second-degree murder charges, those American Muslims who have spoken out are once again explaining that their faith abhors such horrible acts, and they are using the tragedy as a rallying cry against domestic violence. The killing and its aftermath raise hard questions for Muslims — about gender issues, about distinctions between cultural and religious practices, and about differing interpretations of Islamic texts regarding the treatment of women.
"Muslims don't want to talk about this for good reason," said Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, a Muslim author and activist. "There is so much negativity about Muslims, and it sort of perpetuates it. The right wing is going to run with it and misuse it. But we've got to shine a light on this issue so we can transform it."
There is evidence of movement in that direction in the 10 days since the Hassan slaying. In an open letter to American Muslim leaders, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali of Sterling, Va., vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said "violence against women is real and cannot be ignored."
He urged that imams and community leaders never second-guess a woman in danger, and said women seeking divorces because of physical abuse should not be viewed as bringing shame to their families.
Muslim women's advocates consider the statement significant after years of indifference in a community which has seen only recent progress — for example, the opening of shelters for battered Muslim women in a few major cities.
"This is a horrible tragedy, but it gives us a window," said Abdul-Ghafur, editor of the anthology "Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak." ''The next time a woman comes to her imam and says, 'He hit me,' the reply might not be, 'Be patient, sister, is there something you did, sister? Is there something you can do?' The chances are greater the imam will say, 'This is unacceptable.'"
At least nine mosques, imams and Islamic organizations also agreed to denounce domestic violence this week at the behest of a coalition of Muslims that organized on Facebook after Aasiya Hassan's death.
"What you have is a cultural problem our communities have been silent about too long," said Wajahat Ali, a journalist and playwright who helped drive the effort. "What people with an agenda are trying to do is say this is an example of a barbaric religion. This is an example of barbaric misogyny and domestic violence."
At the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Calif., Imam Tahir Anwar said he preached at Friday prayer services about keeping peace in the family and denounced physical and emotional domestic violence.
"I wouldn't say (the problem) is particular to the Muslim community, but to the immigrant community whether you're Muslim or otherwise," Anwar, whose parents are from India, said in an interview. "Women don't speak up about it. It's a taboo that all immigrant communities sort of face."
Of Islam's potential role in the Hassan slaying, Anwar said: "All religions have texts that can be misinterpreted. Good people regardless of faith would never do something like this."
While sermons like Anwar's are encouraging, other Muslim clerics in the U.S. likely preached that Aasiya Hassan could have avoided her fate by being more obedient, said Muqtedar Khan, an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware.
"The imam has to be enlightened enough to recognize this violence happens, to not hide in denial or somehow blame it on American culture," said Khan, author of "American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom."
"In order to essentially condemn violence against women, they will have to treat women with greater respect. Unfortunately, the level of enlightenment among imams in North America varies significantly."
Asra Nomani, a Muslim journalist, author and activist from Morgantown, W.Va., challenged Muslims who say the murder has no link to Islamic teachings. While Islam does not sanction domestic violence or murder, a literal reading of a controversial verse in the Quran taught in some mosques can lead to honor killings and murder, she said.
"It's sort of like the typical reaction to terrorism in the community, where people want to say, 'This had nothing to do with Islam,'" Nomani said. "Well, it doesn't have anything to do with your interpretation of Islam that teaches you can't kill innocent people. But terrorism, violence, honor killing — they are all part of ideological problems we have in the community we need to eradicate."
The passage — Chapter 4, Verse 34 — has been widely translated to sanction physical discipline against disobedient wives. There is disagreement about to what degree and whether it's punitive or symbolic.
The verse is cited "all the time" to justify domestic violence, just as people of other faiths cite scriptures to support oppression of women, said Salma Abugideri of the Peaceful Families Project, which offers training and workshops to combat domestic violence in Muslim communities.
"People will use whatever they can to justify their behavior," she said. "It just seems that people outside the Muslim faith just tend to buy that rationalization as true."
There also has been speculation — by the head of the New York chapter of the National Organization for Woman, among others — that the Hassan case involved honor killing, in which a person is slain by a relative who believes the victim has brought shame to the family.
Aasiya Hassan was killed six days after her husband was served with divorce papers and a protective order. Mo Hassan is a native of Pakistan; acquaintances said he was not overtly religious, and his lawyer has said neither religion nor culture played a role in what happened.
Marsha Freeman, director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch at the University of Minnesota, said honor killing is a cultural and not religious phenomenon. She said it's practiced in some Muslim countries but not others and is present in nations with people of other religions.
"I wouldn't go running around talking about honor killings without knowing more," Freeman said.
On Web sites and e-mail lists, many Muslims are rejecting the term.
"Calling it an honor killing, it sort of takes it out of the mainstream conversation and makes it a conversation about those people from over there from those backwards countries," said Abugideri, of the Peaceful Families Project. "In fact, in this country and in mainstream society there are many cases where domestic violence escalates to the point where a woman is killed."
Two Faced Obama Appears At Annual National Prayer Breakfast Speech
by Traditional Values Coalition Executive Director Andrea Lafferty
– President Barack Obama spoke at his first National Prayer Breakfast event as President this morning and displayed his two faces once again for all to see.
During the speech, Obama elevated Islam – the most violent religion in the world – to an equal place with Christianity and Judaism. He falsely claimed that “there is no religion whose central tenet is hate.” Clearly, he hasn’t read the Koran very carefully – even though he was raised by a Muslim father and Muslim stepfather and studied the Koran in an Indonesian school. The history of Islam has always been one of conquest by the sword. Millions have been slaughtered by Muslims who were following the teachings of the Koran to slay their enemies. This is an historical fact – one that our Islamo-President conveniently ignores while pretending to be a man of abiding faith in God. n the most disgusting display of his two-faced façade, he told the audience: “There is no God who condones taking the life of an innocent human being. This much we know.”
If Obama claims to be a Christian, then why was one of his first acts as President to overturn the Mexico City policy – which had prohibited American tax dollars from being used to kill unborn children overseas? If his God is against the taking of innocent life, why does he support abortion on demand – and plans on signing the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) that will violate parental rights and condemn millions of unborn babies to death. He has been a rabid supporter of partial-birth abortion and his wife even bragged about it in a fundraising letter to pro-abortion donors.
Today’s shameless display of hypocrisy is only the beginning of four years of two-faced policies and phony speeches of piety by a man who spent twenty years sitting in the pews of hatemonger Pastor Jeremiah Wright – who believed that the Islamic terrorist attack on our nation on September 11, 2001, was our pay back for being an evil nation.
God protect us from this two-faced man.
School backs off religious flyer ban
'The district deserves credit for doing the constitutionally correct thing'
12:00 am Eastern
By Drew Zahn
© 2009 WorldNetDaily
Maricopa Unified School District offices
A public school that once permitted community organizations to distribute literature to students but barred churches from passing out similar flyers has now relented under pressure from a determined pastor and his legal counsel. The Maricopa, Ariz., Unified School District formalized a change to a literature distribution policy that previously denied First Baptist Church of Maricopa Pastor Jim Johnson's request to hand out flyers advertising his church's Awana Journey 24 Club, a weekly Bible study program for high school students. "The district deserves credit for doing the constitutionally correct thing," said attorney Jeremy Tedesco of the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance that defends religious liberty and assisted Johnson in the case. "The decision to modify the policy is a victory for the First Amendment rights of all students and religious groups who merely asked for equal treatment." When Johnson first submitted the flyer advertising the Bible program to the school district early this year, he was forced to wait nearly five months before the district rejected his distribution request. School officials cited a policy that that allowed nonprofit organizations to distribute literature promoting events and activities "that extend the community's cultural, recreational, artistic, or educational opportunities," but prohibited "material that promotes a particular religious belief" or any "non-school promotional literature soliciting for or promoting participation in … religion." In July, Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit on Johnson's behalf in federal court. "Christians shouldn't be discriminated against for expressing their beliefs," said ADF Senior Counsel David Cortman on the organization's website. "Prohibiting religious groups from taking part in an open forum while allowing all non-religious nonprofits to participate is a clear violation of the First Amendment according to well-established federal court precedent." "Christians have the same First Amendment rights as anyone else in America," said Tedesco. "School districts cannot treat people or groups with non-religious viewpoints more favorably than those with religious viewpoints." Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the school district reversed its decision in Johnson's case, and earlier this month, formally changed its policy. ADF has since voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit. "We appreciate the school district's decision to do the right thing," said Cortman. "The district recognized that the First Amendment is clear and that federal court precedent is overwhelmingly in favor of equal treatment for religious speech." ![[American Memory]](http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/homeimages/ammemicon.gif)
 
Calvin Coolidge 30th President of the United States (1923–29), “Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverence for truth and justice, for equality and liberality and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government. There are only two main theories of government in the world. One rests on righteousness and the other on force. One appeals to reason, the other appeals to the sword. One is exemplified in a republic, the other is represented by a despotism.
The government of a country never gets ahead of the religion of a country. There is no way by which we can substitute the authority of law for the virtue of men. Of course we can help to restrain the vicious and furnish a fair degree of security and protection by legislation and police control, but the real reform which society in these days is seeking will come as a result of religious convictions, or they will not come at all. Peace, justice, charity- these cannot be legislated into being. They are the result of Divine Grace.” quote by: Calvin Coolidge
The Faithful Give According to a study by the Bama-Group regarding charitable giving:"The typical no-faith American donated just $200 in 2006, which is more than seven times less than the amount contributed by the prototypical active-faith adult ($1500). Even when church-based giving is subtracted from the equation, active-faith adults donated twice as many dollars last year as did atheists and agnostics." NOTE: Attempts to Dilute the Definition of AtheismCharles Bradlaugh, in 1876, proposed that atheism does not assert "there is no God," and by doing so he diluted the traditional definition of atheism. Since 1979, many atheists have followed Bradlaugh's thinking further and stated that atheism is merely a lack of belief in any god. The motive for such a shift in meaning appears to be to an attempt to shift the burden of proof regarding the existence of God to the theism side. In the article, Is Atheism Presumptuous?, atheist Jeffery Lowder, a founder of Internet Infidels which is one of the principle websites for atheists, agnostics and skeptics on the internet, states that "I agree (with Copan) that anyone who claims, "God does not exist," must shoulder a burden of proof just as much as anyone who claims, "God exists." In short, the attempt to redefine atheism is merely an attempt to make no assertions so no facts need be offered. The attempt to redefine atheism, however, is not in accordance with the standard definitions of atheism that encyclopedias of philosophy employ which is that atheism is a denial of the existence of God or gods. 
Godless Cuban Communists Embrace Capitalism - For Christmas A dictatorial Communist country that shunned God and Christmas for decades is now looking to cash in on the holiday season. The Godless are often willing to make money off the birth of Jesus. Cuba is promoting an online shopping site designed to let Cubans overseas buy everything from food and flowers to flat-screen TVs for delivery to relatives on the island.
Spanish-based Grupo Excelencias teamed with the communist government to create mallhabana.com, designed to let Cubans in the United States and elsewhere around the world use U.S. dollars to buy gifts for relatives here.
"It's a good business but it's also a way for Cubans (overseas) to help their family members here," Sergio Perez, the Havana director of the Spanish-language site said Tuesday.
It also appears to directly challenge U.S. legal limits on shipping money to Cuba or spending money on the island.
Dozens of the products listed are made in Cuba, like Havana Club rum or guyabera shirts. Others are imports already stocked by upscale government-run stores, such as 29-inch Panasonic TVs or crunchy peanut butter from Canada. Cuban Communists are beginning to see that the Capital9ist system is better than the Communist syste,
Source and more information:
No, Christ isn't allowed in Christmas 6th-grader's teacher says Jesus can't be mentioned in holiday poem
12:30 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
6th-grader Andrew White |
A public school teacher in Mississippi marked down an eleven-year-old's Christmas poem assignment and told the boy to rewrite it because he used the word "Jesus," which, the instructor explained, is a name not allowed in school. Liberty Counsel, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, reports that sixth-grader Andrew White of Hattiesburg, Miss., chose to write the poem on the assignment "What Christmas means to me." After White turned in his rough draft, however, his teacher circled the word "Jesus" and deducted a point from his grade. The teacher then explained that he needed to rewrite the poem without the offending word. When White's parents questioned the teacher, Liberty Counsel reports, they received a response email explaining, "[Andrew] and another child did a poem about Christ. I know we can't discuss these type [sic] of things in school so I asked the two of them to do another poem of their choice." Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, expressed dismay that despite many legal clarifications on the issue, there are still educationl officials that mistakenly believe students can't speak of their faith at school. "Some educators need education that the story of Christmas is not banned from public schools," Staver said in a statement. Staver says he was "horrified that a sixth-grader was told by his teacher, 'we can't discuss these types of things in school.' I don't understand why some people don't get it. Christmas is a state and federal holiday. Schools are closed to celebrate this holiday. Obviously, Christmas is constitutional." The principal at White's Thames Elementary School agreed with Staver. After White's parents encouraged Andrew to turn in his first, unedited poem, Principal Carrie Hornsby changed the boy's grade to a 100 and conceded that there was nothing improper in using Jesus' name. Hornsby also coordinated a mailing to all the school's parents, explaining that students' religious expression is permitted under federal guidelines. White's parents, however, told OneNewsNow that the situation has caused them to consider homeschooling their son, concerned about other challenges to the faith Andrew may be experiencing apart from their knowledge. Andrew's original poem, "A Great Christmas," reads: "The best Christmas ever is when everyone is there. It is when everyone is laughing here and there. That is the Christmas I want to share. Christmas is about Jesus’ birth. About peace on Earth. This is what Christmas is about. It is when He lay in a manger. And the three wise men come to see. That's what it means to me." 
IN THE MILITARY
Atheist: U.S. troops 'evangelizing' in combat
Soldier suing Defense Secretary Robert Gates, claims discrimination by Christians
Posted: December 16, 2008
9:54 pm Eastern
By Chelsea Schilling
© 2008 WorldNetDaily
From left to right: Sgt. Mike Aguilar, Spc. Christopher Carr, Spc. Jeremy Hall, Spc. Tony Hernandez and Spc. Dustin Chalker (photo: Atheists in Foxholes) |
An atheist soldier who is suing Secretary Robert Gates for purportedly violating his religious rights is amending his lawsuit to include allegations of evangelizing in combat. U.S. Army Spc. Dustin Chalker, a combat medic, claims videos discovered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation reveal soldiers and Christian missionaries declaring their faith and saying they would like to spread Christianity to Muslims, the Associated Press reports. The recording allegedly shows embedded missionaries distributing Bibles. "What we're putting in is shocking," Military Religious Freedom Foundation President Mikey Weinstein told AP. He added that missionary efforts endanger the U.S. military because Muslims are convinced the United States is on a crusade to convert them. Chalker's attorney, Pedro Irigonegaray, said the grievance against the Department of Defense will be filed in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Kan., within weeks. "[The video] has the clear potential to galvanize those who see us as the enemy," Irigonegaray said. "It's against the law. It is inconceivable to see this type of behavior and not assume that significant members of the United States military are aware of this behavior and approve of it." VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agLrY042-_I&eurl=http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=83787 According to the report, the video was recorded for a Trinity Broadcasting Network program called "Travel the Road" that aired on April 2006. It features missionaries Tim Scott and Will Decker in Afghanistan and also shows members of the Oklahoma National Guard. Chalker filed suit against Gates and the DOD in October, claiming he was forced to be present for Christian prayers at a Fort Riley, Kan., change of command ceremony, a formation and a barbecue. The lawsuit cites presentations by "anti-Muslim activists" and a "spiritual handbook" for soldiers endorsed by Gen. David Petraeus.
Muslim Woman Thrown in Jail for Refusing to Remove Head Scarf
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
ByDionne Walker, Associated Press Atlanta (AP) - A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta's west suburban outskirts.
Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her Tuesday.
Kelley Jackson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said state law doesn't permit or prohibit head scarfs.
"It's at the discretion of the judge and the sheriffs and is up to the security officers in the court house to enforce their decision," she said.
Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from New Haven, Conn., said the incident reminded her of stories she'd heard of the civil rights-era South.
"I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights," she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.
The group cited a report that the same judge removed a woman and her 14-year-old daughter from the courtroom last week because they were wearing Muslim head scarves.
Jail officials declined to say why she was freed and municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that "it would not be appropriate" for him to comment on the case.
Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case when she refused to remove a head and face veil.
Valentine's husband, Omar Hall, said his wife was accompanying her nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.
Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her before the judge.
___
Associated Press writer Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report. The following comments are posted by our readers and are not necessarily the opinions of either CNSNews.com or the story’s author. To be considered for publication, comments must adhere to the for posting to this Web site. Thank you.
BRAVE NEW SCHOOLS
7 students suspended for refusing anti-Christian class
Officials are 'veering into creepy Orwellian political territory here'
Posted: December 20, 2008
12:30 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily Seven Christian students in Quebec have been handed suspensions in the last few days – and could face expulsions – for refusing to participate in a new mandatory Ethics and Religious Culture course that, according to a critic, is a "superficial mishmash of trendy theoretical platitudes" with the goal of convincing children that "all religions – including pagan animism and cults – are equally 'true.'" Canada's National Post has reported on the developing confrontation between educators who have ordered students to take the course and students and their parents who object to what they see as a virtual indoctrination into a social and moral relativism. While seven students already have been targeted for punishment, hundreds more are demanding to be relieved of the obligation to attend the classes, and several parents have begun legal actions over the course. Diane Gagne's 16-year-old son, Jonathan, is one of those hit with a suspension. He has refused to take part in the two-hour-per-week course because it teaches values that run counter to his religious beliefs. "He told me, 'Mom, I am still standing, and I'm going to keep standing and fight this to the end,'" said Diane Gagne. "We're prepared to go right to expulsion." Lawyer Jean-Yves Cote is representing the family against the suspension imposed by the public high school in Granby, Quebec, as well as another family with a court challenge to the state demand. Under the course requirements, "it is the state deciding what religious content will be learned, at what age, and that is totally overriding the parents' authority and role," Jean Morse-Chevrier, of the Quebec Association of Catholic Parents, told the newspaper. In 2005, a change in the law eliminated a family's right to choose among "Catholic," "Protestant" or "moral" instruction in classrooms, a change that took effect last summer. Quebec Education Department spokeswoman Stephanie Tremblay told the newspaper school boards have gotten more than 1,400 requests from parents for their children to be exempted from the instruction, which emphasizes feminism over Christianity, and suggests Raelians are centuries ahead of other beliefs. She also confirmed school boards have rejected every request for an exemption. She explained it is not "religious instruction." "It is religious culture," she stated. "We introduce young people to religious culture like we introduce them to musical culture." Officials at Voice of the Martyrs, who work daily against persecution of Christians worldwide, noted on a blog posting the students are to be applauded for their opposition to state religious teaching. "We believe that the state has no right to mandate religious education, force students to learn the content of other religious and to deliberately seek to undermine the religious convictions of those who refuse to accept a relativistic view of truth. It is the right and responsibility of parents to train their own children according to their own religious beliefs, not those of the state," said the posting. "Religious courses, if offered, should be optional or alternatives provided. But the state must not mandate what religious content will or will not be taught to children, especially against the wishes of their parents." In the National Post, columnist Barbara Kay took school officials to task for teaching what she described as "a chilling intrusion into what all democratically inspired charters of rights designate as a parental realm of authority." She continued, "ERC was adopted by virtual fiat, its mission to instill 'normative pluralism' in students. 'Normative pluralism' is gussied-up moral relativism, the ideology asserting there is no absolute right or wrong and that there are as many 'truths' as there are whims." "The program is predicated on the worst worst possible educational model for young children: the philosopher Hegel's 'pedagogy of conflict.' As one of the founders of the ECR course put it, students 'must learn to shake up a too-solid identity' and experience 'divergence and dissonance'… "The curriculum is strewn with politically correct material that openly subverts Judeo-Christian values. In many of the manuals, ideology and religion are conflated. Social engineering is revealed as the heart of the ECR program; in the most recently published activity book, for example, Christianity is given 12 pages, feminism gets 27 pages...." She continued, "Paganism and cults are offered equal status with Christianity. Witches 'are women like any other in daily life;' 'Technologically [the Raelians] are 25,000 years in advance of us.' And considering that of the 80,000 ethnic aboriginals in Quebec only 700 self-identify with aboriginal spirituality (the vast majority of ethnic aboriginals are Christian), aboriginal spirituality (falsely equated with environmentalism) is accorded hugely disproportionate space and reverence." Cote said the issue could end up before the Supreme Court of Canada soon. He said his second case, in Drummondville, is to be heard before Superior Court in May, and will test if the course infringes guaranteed rights in Canada. Since the course is required for all students, not just public school students, 600 of the students at Montreal's Jesuit Loyola High asked for exemptions and all were rejected. Now the school has started its own court challenge. Principal Paul Donovan told the Post the mandates require relativism. "What it essentially says is that religion is just, 'You like tomato soup and I like pea soup, so don't be all offended because someone likes tomato soup. It's really just a matter of preference,'" he told the Post. "Religion could be Wiccan or Raelian or any of the new movements or atheism or agnosticism." Sylvain Lamontagne told the Globe Campus education publication the course is religious fast food. "We can't do this to children. It will only confuse them," he said. "Religion isn't a Chinese buffet. You can't just pick one and then another however you want." Kay cited the course's "gloss" of the Golden Rule: "Christianity's 'Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' Judaism's 'Love thy neighbour as thyself ' and Islam's 'None of you is really a believer if he does not wish for his brother what he wishes for himself.' All are posited in the ERC text as the same acknowledgement of the common humanity of all God's children," she wrote. "But in fact, there is a deep interpretive chasm between Christianity's 'others' and Judaism's 'neighbour' – both of which refer to all people – and Islam's 'brother,' which refers only to fellow Muslims. Here is 'divergence and dissonance' truly worthy of 'le questionnement.' But encouraging real critical thinking is precisely what the ERC course employs duplicity to avoid," she wrote. "Quebec is veering into creepy Orwellian political territory here," she said. The government requirement for teaching a potpourri of religious concepts as equal is just the latest effort on the part of the Canadian government to put new restrictions on Christians. WND previously has reported on a number of Human Rights Commission cases in the nation that have targeted Christian pastors and others for "hate" crimes for stating their biblically-based opposition to the homosexual lifestyle. Last spring, Pastor Stephen Boisson was ordered by the Alberta Human Rights Tribunal to stop expressing his biblical perspective of homosexuality and pay $5,000 for "damages for pain and suffering" as well as apologize to the activist who complained of being hurt. |
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Submitted by Dean, OCA friend: Subject: Fwd: God is Busy
God is Busy
If you don't know God, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!! A United States
Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had
completed missions in both Iraq and Afghanistan .
One of the courses had a professor who was an avowed atheist and a member of
the ACLU. One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked
to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to
knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 min.' The lecture room
fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the
professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting.'
It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his
chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the
platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and
sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat
there looking on in silence.
The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine
and asked, 'What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?' The
Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting America 's
soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an
idiot. So, He sent me.'
The Right to Choose-- But Choose What?by Rabbi Jerome Epstein 
I am not convinced by the rhetoric of my Orthodox colleagues. I still maintain that Conservative Judaism is legitimate Judaism. Equally, I understand that my words will never persuade them. They will still refuse to acknowledge that Conservative Judaism and its ideology have engaged the plurality of Jews who identify with religious life. This is most unfortunate, for if my Orthodox colleagues would join me in that understanding, perhaps we would strengthen Jewish commitment rather than diminish it. A war of words may sell newspapers, and it may provide grist for sermons. But I am convinced it will not change lives. The incendiary monologues of this past year will not impact on Jewish commitment. My deep regret is that our discussions will not make anyone a better Jew. A war of words will not strengthen one Jew's knowledge of the richness of our Torah. The heated name calling will not transform the apathetic Jew into a living Jew. I do not know a single Jew who has determined to enhance their practice of Shabbat or kashrut as a result of our skirmishes. The struggle to secure religious rights and pluralism in the State of Israel must -- and will -- continue to hold an important place on our agenda. Nevertheless, it must not limit our agenda. The Orthodox community is convinced that they are right. As Conservative Jews, we believe that our position is equally justified. Let us recognize that our disagreements will continue and move beyond them. I would like to make a modest proposal to deal with the real issues that plague the Jewish community: the paucity of Jews who care about Jewish living; and the scarcity of active synagogue Jews (of any stream) who study, pray, celebrate Shabbat and Yom Tov and who want to enrich the Jewish influence in how they live. An overwhelming number of Jews belong to no congregation and do not identify at all with Judaism as a religion. I am a Conservative rabbi because I am committed to change that. I want to inspire Jews to let Judaism inspire them. I know that there are many Orthodox Jews who are committed to this same goal. What a wonderful statement would be made if we were to develop a joint campaign for Jewish living. Let us not focus on where we differ. Let us move beyond that and begin to stress our common commitment to the enrichment of Jewish life for each Jew. For most Jews, the issue is not which synagogue they belong to. They are not associated with any synagogue. Our joint goal must be to motivate them to involve themselves in a synagogue of their choice. For most Jews, the issue is not whether they will ride to synagogue on Shabbat. Most Jews do not observe Shabbat at all. Our common commitment must be to inspire them to bring Shabbat into their lives -- even if they do not do it all at once. For most Jews, the issue is not which kashrut certification is acceptable. Because kashrut is foreign to their existence, certification is irrelevant. Our challenge is to stimulate them to begin to take the laws of kashrut seriously. For most Jews, the issue is not whose interpretation of the Torah portion will be taught. The Torah is simply ignored. Our task is to stimulate Jews to study the Torah. It is my goal to bring Jews closer to Jewish living. I am convinced that when Jews understand our tradition, they will choose the Conservative Movement's ideology. Yet, at the same time, I understand that some will choose another stream with which to identify. I am willing to accept that possibility. For the sake of Heaven, I hope that colleagues from other streams will be open to the same possibilities and will join me in our attempt to strengthen Jewish living now. Rabbi Epstein is Executive Vice-President of The United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the association of Conservative congregations in North America.
AJC Radio Message: Celebrating the Blessing of Religious Freedom
– New York – “During this joyous holiday season, we affirm our respective faiths,” says American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris in his national radio commentary. Celebrating Chanukah or Christmas, there are blessings of religious freedom and mutual respect, says Harris.
Harris’s weekly messages on the CBS radio network air during the Osgood File, and on Bloomberg radio. All AJC radio commentaries since 2001 are available at www.ajc.org/radiocommentary.
The full text of this week’s commentary follows:
This is a special week.
For Christians, there’s Christmas.
For Jews, there’s Chanukah.
For all, there are blessings.
The blessing of religious freedom.
We’re free to worship, or not, as we choose.
The blessing of mutual respect.
We’re of many faiths, but one nation.
At AJC, for more than a century, we’ve fought to defend religious freedom for all.
And we’ve helped foster mutual respect among religious faiths.
We believe that actions speak louder than words.
In New Orleans, after Hurricane Katrina, AJC helped repair a damaged synagogue and the Catholic church across the street.
When arsonists set fire to an African American church in Georgia, AJC was there to help rebuild it.
And when a Greek Orthodox church was destroyed on 9/11, AJC offered assistance.
During this joyous holiday season, we affirm our respective faiths.
Let’s also remember, though, what unites us, starting with our common humanity.
Visit ajc.org.
This is David Harris of the American Jewish Committee.
Conservatives win court case in Va. church disputeBy MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated PressDec. 19, 2008, 4:15PMMcLEAN, Va. — Nearly a dozen conservative church congregations in Virginia have won a lawsuit in which they sought to split from the U.S. Episcopal Church in a dispute over theology and homosexuality. The final rulings came Friday from a Fairfax County judge who said the departing congregations are allowed under Virginia law to keep their church buildings and other property as they leave the Episcopal Church and realign under the authority of conservative Anglican bishops from Africa. Several previous rulings had also gone in favor of the departing congregations. The diocese said it will appeal. Eleven Virginia congregations were involved in the lawsuit, including two prominent congregations that trace their histories to George Washington — Truro Church in Fairfax and The Falls Church in Falls Church. The congregations voted to realign in late 2006. Since then, the rift in the Episcopal Church has grown, and entire dioceses have voted to leave the denomination. Similar property disputes are expected there as well. The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia argued it was the true owner of the church property and that the congregations' votes to leave the Episcopal Church were invalid. The case was decided under a Civil War-era law unique to Virginia, which stated that when a division occurs within a particular denomination, a congregation can vote to decide with which branch it wishes to affiliate. In earlier rulings, Circuit Judge Randy Bellows declared that a division had indeed occurred within the Episcopal Church, and that Virginia's law was constitutional. It was widely anticipated that the departing congregations would prevail after those preliminary rulings were issued; Friday's rulings dealt largely with technical questions related to property deeds and the like. The Episcopal Diocese contends that Virginia's law is unconstitutional because it requires a judge to wade into theological issues and thus violates First Amendment protections guaranteeing freedom of religion. "Within the Episcopal Church, we may have theological disagreements, but those disagreements are ours to resolve according to the rules of our own governance," said the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Episcopal bishop of Virginia. Whether the decision in the Virginia case is indicative of what will happen nationally is doubtful. Even leaders in the departing congregations acknowledge that the judge's rulings turned on interpretation of a statute unique to Virginia. Valerie Munson, assistant director of the Terrence J. Murphy Institute for Catholic Thought, Law, and Public Policy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, said property disputes tend to be fact-specific and state laws governing them vary greatly. Still, she said lawyers will look closely at Bellows' various rulings for specific points that might be persuasive in cases across the country. Jim Oakes, vice chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, an organization formed by the departing congregations said he thinks the ruling will be "encouraging to other orthodox congregations across the country." The 2003 ordination by the Episcopal Church of an openly gay bishop set off a wide-ranging debate within the church, with conservative congregations saying that the church had abandoned traditional teachings not just on homosexuality but other key theological issues. The Episcopal Church, with about 2.1 million members in the U.S., is the American body of the Anglican Communion, with about 77 million members worldwide.
Obama Hopes to Reboot US Image Among Muslims
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
By Jennifer Loven, Associated Press
Washington (AP) - President-elect Barack Obama says he will try to "reboot America's image" among the world's Muslims and will follow tradition by using his entire name - Barack Hussein Obama - in his swearing-in ceremony.
The U.S. image globally has taken a deep hit during President George W. Bush's two terms in office, primarily because of opposition to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, harsh interrogation of prisoners, the indefinite detention of terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and mistreatment of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
Obama promised during his campaign that one of his top priorities would be to work to repair America's reputation worldwide, and that one element of that effort would be a speech delivered in a Muslim capital.
He pledged anew to give such a speech, though he declined to say whether it would happen during his first year in office.
"It's something I intend to follow through on," Obama said in an interview published Wednesday in the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. "We've got a unique opportunity to reboot America's image around the world and also in the Muslim world in particular. So we need to take advantage of that."
Obama said his message would be twofold: that his administration will be unyielding in stamping out terrorist extremism but also "unrelenting in our desire to create a relationship of mutual respect and partnership with countries."
"I think the world is ready for that message," he said in the interview, conducted Tuesday.
During the campaign, Obama repeatedly faced questions about whether he is a Muslim, particularly in whisper campaigns that noted his middle name, that his father is Kenyan, and that he lived for a time as a child in Indonesia. Obama is a practicing Christian.
Asked if he would drop his middle name during his inauguration on Jan. 20, the president-elect said he would not.
"The tradition is that they use all three names and I will follow the tradition, not trying to make a statement on way or another," he said.
Obama also talked about the spiritual support he sought during his White House bid, particularly since he and his family left Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ after inflammatory comments by its pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, became a campaign issue.
Obama said he set up a "sort of prayer circle across the country" of pastors who would pray for him every morning on a conference call. Obama said he sometimes joined the call, which involved leaders from various Christian denominations and other religious faiths.
"I'm not even sure that all of them voted for me," Obama said. "But they were willing to pray for me, and that's something that was wonderful."
On other topics:
-Obama would not put a timetable on issues important to organized labor, what he called his promise to "put an end to the kinds of barriers and roadblocks that are in the way of workers legitimately coming together in order to form a union and bargain collectively." Among other things, he has promised support for a card-check system for unions trying to organize a new workplace and for adding labor and environmental protections to the North American Free Trade Agreement. "I don't want to anticipate right now what sequences will be on these issues," Obama said.
-The man about to be the nation's first black president said he will make enforcing civil rights laws and making the criminal justice system color-blind top priorities for his administration. The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division "over the last eight years has had a lot of problems and really declining morale," he said.
-Obama said he, his wife Michelle and their two young daughters will make frequent visits during his presidency back to their home in Chicago, perhaps as often as every six weeks. "My Kennebunkport is on the South Side of Chicago," he said. "Our friends are here. Our family is here. And so we are going to try to come back here as often as possible." Comments to article:
Gee..."harsh interrogation methods" of murderous criminals? How can any Nation be so insensitive to terrorists comfort? BTW, what does BO, er BHO attribute the lack of additional attacks on this Country to?
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Costco says 'No'
to Christmas
...literally
December 2, 08
Dear OCA Friend,
Costco has 520
stores nationwide. But you will not find "Christmas" in a single store.
That's because Costco says it will not use the term "Christmas" on its website or in its stores. Instead, Costco is telling customers it purposely chooses
to use the generic "holiday" verbiage. You know, they stock holiday gifts, not Christmas gifts.
Last week, a customer wrote to Costco and asked this direct question – "Does Costco use the word 'Christmas' in your store advertising or on any signs anywhere in your stores during the Christmas season? That's a pretty simple question, yes or no."
Kory Rosacrans, staff manager for Costco replied, "I guess the answer would be No."
Rosacrans said, "Costco does not advertise on television, on radio or in print like other retailers. We only advertise by mailings and e-mail messages sent directly to our members who have paid for the privilege of shopping with us."
Costco wants you to do your "Christmas" shopping with them, while refusing to recognize that Christmas even exists.
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Send your e-mail to Costco. Let Costco know that you will exercise "your privilege" of shopping only at stores that recognize Christmas. Remind Costco that their competitors are vying for your business too, and you will shop accordingly.
Thank you for caring enough to get involved.
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Atheist Sign Joins Capitol Holiday Display This Year
12:22 pm PST December 1, 2008
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An atheistic sign is included in the state Capitol's holiday display that includes a holiday tree and a Christian nativity scene.The sign, a new addition this year, is sponsored by the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The sign reads, "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."Annie Laurie Gaylor, foundation co-president, said in a prepared statement that the sign is a reminder of the "real reason for the season, the winter solstice." The solstice, on Dec. 21 this year, is the shortest day of the year.The Capitol has had a holiday tree, provided by the Association of Washington Business, for 19 years.In 2006, it was joined by a menorah sponsored by a Seattle Jewish group. A menorah is a candelabrum that recognizes Hanukkah.That prompted a lawmaker from Spokane to stage a protest at the Capitol, demanding the holiday tree be called a "Christmas tree." It also led a local real estate agent to sue the state to allow the nativity display depicting the birth of Jesus.There have been no requests for a menorah display this year.The tree -- officially called the "Capitol Holiday Kids Tree" -- is part of a charity drive for rural fire departments.A lighting ceremony for the tree -- up to 30 feet tall -- is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday.
UPDATE:
Was it the Grinch? Atheists' holiday sign stolen
Dec 5, 2008 4:23 PM (3 hrs ago)
Hateful Atheist Sign Stolen From Washington Capital! ...Update: Found In a Ditch
The horror!
That atheist sign that was posted next to the Nativity scene in the Washington State Capital Building was stolen today.
They found it in a ditch per CNN
An atheist sign criticizing Christianity that was erected alongside a Nativity scene was taken from the Legislative Building in Olympia, Washington, on Friday and later found in a ditch.
An employee from country radio station KMPS-FM in Seattle told CNN the sign was dropped off at the station by someone who found it in a ditch."I thought it would be safe," Freedom From Religion Foundation co-founder Annie Laurie Gaylor told CNN earlier Friday. "It's always a shock when your sign is censored or stolen or mutilated. It's not something you get used to." The sign, which celebrates the winter solstice, has had some residents and Christian organizations calling atheists Scrooges because they said it was attacking the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth. "Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds," the sign from the Freedom From Religion Foundation says in part. The sign, which was at the Legislative Building at 6:30 a.m. PT, was gone by 7:30 a.m., Gaylor said. |
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