A Christian response to the godless 10 non-commandments

 

I.  Be open minded and willing to Revisit your beliefs with new evidence. But test the evidence thoroughly.

II. Strive to understand what is most likely to be true, not to believe what you wish to be true. 

III. The scientific method is the most reliable way of understanding the natural world. But, unfortunately the scientific method has been abandoned, giving way to the commercial method.

IV. Every person has the duty, responsibility, to control their own body.

V. God is not necessary to be a good person or to live a full and meaningful life. He is also necessary to have a good life in Eternity.

VI. Be mindful of the consequences of all your actions and recognize that you must take responsibility for them. And you will take responsibility for them if you refuse the Grace of Jesus Christ.

VII. Treat others as you would want them to treat you, and can reasonably expect them to want to be treated.  The Golden Rule - Jesus, Sermon on the Mount!

VIII. We have the responsibility to consider others including future generations. Love your neighbour as yourself - Jesus. Consider the future of babies in the womb and the trust that God has shown you. Consider also the Eternal future of others and yourself.

IX. There is no one right way to live. But there are a million wrong ways, and being godless, or believing in a false god, is top of the list.

X. Leave the world a better place than you found it. Impossible without God!

GWM

War on Christianity > Finland tries again to close Bibles with respect to homosexuality

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It has been obvious for several decades now that the LGBTQ lobby would challenge the Bible in courts around the world in an effort to prevent people from sharing God's view of homosexuality and other abominations. Abomination is what God calls it in both the Old Testament and the New. 

So far, no one has been able to shut the Bible up. But in Finland, they are trying again.

Christian MP back in court to face 'hate speech' charges

for quoting the Bible

By Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post Contributor

Päivi Räsänen holds a bible as she arrives with her husband, Niilo Rasanen, to attend a court session at the Helsinki District Court in Helsinki, Finland, on January 24, 2022. | Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtukuva/AFP via Getty Images

Finnish Member of Parliament Päivi Räsänen, acquitted more than a year ago after being prosecuted for voicing her traditional Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality, is back in court, facing charges of "hate speech."

Räsänen, a parliamentarian with over 25 years of service, and Bishop Juhana Pohjola arrived at the Helsinki Court of Appeal this week to face the prosecution's appeal of their acquittal, said the human rights group ADF International, which is supporting the case.

"Everyone should be able to share their beliefs without fearing censorship by state authorities. With God's help, I will remain steadfast," Räsänen told her supporters.

The prosecution kicked off the proceedings with arguments against the defendants, focusing on a booklet written by Räsänen nearly two decades ago and stating that the content was "insulting" and violated "sexual rights."

The prosecutor argued that the use of the word "sin" in Räsänen's booklet was "degrading" and that her interpretation of Bible verses was "criminal."

"The point isn't whether it is true or not but that it is insulting," 

the prosecutor stated, according to ADF International.  

"We can limit freedom of expression in the outward expression of religion," the prosecution added. "You can cite the Bible, but it is Räsänen's interpretation and opinion about the Bible verses that are criminal."

Last year, the Helsinki District Court cleared both Räsänen and Bishop Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland of similar charges. The prosecution appealed this decision, arguing that the court had "misinterpreted" Räsänen's tweet and reached an incorrect conclusion.

Paul Coleman, Executive Director of ADF International, was present in court to support the defendants.

"Criminalizing speech through so-called 'hate-speech' laws shuts down important public debates and endangers democracy," he said.

Räsänen is facing multiple charges related to the content of the 2004 booklet, her participation in a radio debate in 2019 and a tweet containing Bible verses directed at her church leadership.

War crimes and crimes against humanity????

Bishop Pohjola is also facing trial for publishing Räsänen's pamphlet, Male and Female He Created Them: Homosexual relationships challenge the Christian concept of humanity, nearly 20 years ago. The charges against both defendants fall under the "war crimes and crimes against humanity" section in Finnish law, adding another layer of gravity to the case.

The case originated when Räsänen questioned her church's sponsorship of the LGBT event Pride 2019 in a tweet. Following this, she was subjected to 13 hours of police interrogations over several months.

During these interrogations, Räsänen was repeatedly asked to explain her understanding of the Bible. The extent and nature of these interrogations raised concerns about the state's role in matters of personal belief and religious expression.

In March 2022, a three-judge panel on the Helsinki District Court determined in a unanimous ruling that the government should not be interpreting "biblical concepts" and that the speech in question was not "hate speech." The court ordered the prosecution to pay the legal costs for the trial. Räsänen could have faced two years in prison and a fine if convicted.

Räsänen has been a member of the Finnish parliament since 1995. She was reelected in April 2023. She has also served as the chair of the Christian Democrats from 2004 to 2015 and was the Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015. As Minister of the Interior, Räsänen was responsible for church affairs in Finland.

"Cases like Päivi's create a culture of fear and censorship and are becoming increasingly common worldwide," Coleman said.

Räsänen insists that she has no ill will toward the LGBT community and claims those accusing her of hate speech are the ones dabbling in hatred.

"We all are sinners and we need Jesus. But now, I think there is a heavy hatred against Christian values in our society," Räsänen earlier told The Christian Post. "If you speak about gender issues — that there are two genders or that marriage belongs to one woman and one man — it arouses hatred against you in our society."

War on Christianity > Christian Pastor jailed for 8 years in China; 3 Christians killed, church destroyed in Nigeria; Illinois Masters Student restricted for being Christian

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Chinese court jails Christian pastor for 8 years:

‘Fraud for preaching the Gospel’

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Sunday, February 27, 2022

Catholic worshipers attend a morning mass on Easter Sunday at a Catholic church in a village near Beijing on April 4, 2021. | JADE GAO/AFP via Getty Images

A court in China’s Hubei province has sentenced a female Christian pastor to eight years in prison on charges of “fraud for preaching the Gospel” after her house church refused to join the state-controlled body that regulates Protestant churches, according to reports.

The Ezhou Echeng District People’s Court sentenced Pastor Hao Zhiwei of Egangqiao Church in Ezhou city to eight years in prison earlier this month, UCA News reported.

The 51-year-old pastor had been charged with fraud for preaching the Gospel and receiving donations from church members without approval from the state-run Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches and the Christian Council, her lawyer, Si Weijiang, was quoted as saying.

The lawyer added that Hao, who was arrested in July 2019, is the first pastor of a house church in the country who has been implicated in a fraud case, and added that she will appeal her sentencing, watchdog group Church in Chains said.

Hao’s church building had been demolished in August 2019 and was facing ongoing persecution, the group said, adding that after the pastor’s arrest, the authorities arrested several more house church pastors on the same charge, including Elder Zhang Chunlei of Guiyang Renai Reformed Church and Elders Hao Ming and Wu Jiannan of Deyang Early Rain Qingcaodi Church.

The Chinese Communist Party uses the new Regulation on Religious Affairs, which took effect in 2018, to persecute house churches in various ways, Elder Li Yingqiang of Chengdu Early Rain Covenant Church wrote in an article last November.

Those ways include "Sinicization," or seeking to align Christianity to China’s culture, religious and political ideology; “removing crosses, sealing up and demolishing church buildings; and banning church offerings.”

“Other charges include: ‘illegal business operations,’ ‘inciting subversion of state power,’ ‘picking quarrels and provoking trouble,’ and so on. These charges are thorns on loyal preacher’s head and God’s crown for His loyal servants,” Li added.

Pastor Hao’s youngest son, Moses, who goes to a middle school, suffers from severe depression, the U.S.-based persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said.

“Her husband passed away a few years ago, and her oldest son started college in 2020, so he can no longer take care of his younger brother. Moses dropped out this semester and began locking himself in a room. He refuses to interact with people and only has one meal per day,” ICC said.

Pastor Hao’s health is deteriorating in prison and she has lost a significant amount of weight, the group added. “After being detained for more than two years, she has developed acute pancreatitis four times and was sent to the emergency room. She nearly lost her life.”

Hao has “strong faith that she can be released without charge.”

With Beijing hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics, many have expressed outrage about China’s treatment of religious minority communities. While China is being accused of genocide for its detainment of Uyghur and other ethnic Muslims in western China, human rights activists have voiced concern for years about the Chinese government’s yearslong crackdown on unregistered churches and house church movements.

Open Doors USA, a watchdog organization that monitors persecution in over 60 countries, warns that the monitoring of unregistered house churches in China increased over the last year as more house churches have experienced “harassment and obstruction once their activities have been discovered.”

Open Doors warns that many unregistered churches have been “forced to split up into small groups and gather in different locations, keeping a low-profile so as not to be detected by the sub-district officer or neighborhood committee.”

Ezhou city, Hebei

Islamic terrorists kill 3 Christians, destroy church in Nigeria

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Tuesday, March 01, 2022

Chris Hondros/Getty Images

Suspected terrorists from the Islamic State West Africa Province have killed three Christians and destroyed a church in an attack in a village in northeast Nigeria’s Chibok area, according to reports.

The attack took place in the predominantly Christian village of Kautikari in Borno state on Friday evening in which three Christians were killed and the building of the Church of the Brethren in Nigeria was destroyed, Morning Star News reported Sunday, citing area residents.

Nigerian newspaper the Daily Post identified the deceased as Bulama Wadir, a traditional ruler’s son, and two internally displaced persons.

The Kautikari community, which lives on the fringes of Sambisa forest, a base of ISWAP terrorists, was also attacked in mid-January, when 24 Christian women and children were captured and taken into captivity, with 20 of them still held captive. The four others managed to escape in late January.

A worship auditorium of the local Church of the Brethren in Nigeria was also damaged in the January attack.

Kautikari village is near Chibok, where over 200 girls were kidnapped from a school in 2014.

Chibok leaders were quoted as saying that their communities have been attacked more than 72 times since the 2014 kidnappings. After eight years in which 57 girls escaped on their own and others were released, 110 of the girls remain in captivity, according to the Chibok Area Development Association.

In an earlier interview with The Christian Post, Emeka Umeagbalai of the Anambra-based International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law said kidnappings of Christians happen for various reasons.

Boko Haram, ISWAP and radicalized members of the Fulani herding communities are motivated by money, while others are inspired by Islamic radicalism.

That doesn't make any sense!

Security analysts say kidnapping for ransom has become a lucrative industry in Nigeria as weapons are becoming available to militants in Nigeria thanks to war-torn Libya.

In Nigeria’s northeast, Boko Haram and ISWAP have killed thousands and displaced millions.

The U.S.-based persecution watchdog group International Christian Concern warns that the Nigerian government “continues to deny any religious motivation behind the attacks and has recently convinced the U.S. Department of State to do the same.”

The Nigerian President, Buhari, is a Muslim. I believe he not only doesn't want Islam blamed for the horror show in northern Nigeria, but I seriously doubt that he wants it to stop.

Many have raised concerns about what they perceive as the government’s inaction in holding terrorists accountable for the rising number of murders and kidnappings.

However, last November, the Biden administration removed Nigeria from the U.S. State Department’s list of “countries of particular concern,” a designation reserved for the countries that tolerate or engage in some of the world's worst violations of religious freedom. Nigeria was added to the CPC list in December 2020 during the final months of the Trump administration. ICC identified the African country as one of its 2021 “Persecutors of the Year.”

This deal was brokered by Anthony Blinken as a reward for supporting Biden's LGBTQ language at the UN. This is one of the most morally corrupt actions I can recall by a western government.

“Nigeria is one of the deadliest places on Earth for Christians, as 50,000 to 70,000 have been killed since 2000,” the ICC Persecutor of the Year report states.

According to Open Doors USA’s 2022 World Watch List report, at least 4,650 Christians were killed between Oct. 1, 2020, and Sept. 30, 2021, up from 3,530 the previous reporting year, and more than 2,500 Christians were kidnapped, up from 990 the previous reporting year.

University Orders Christian Student Not to Talk to Students

Who Disagree with Her

Michael Foust |

ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Wednesday, March 2, 2022

An Edwardsville, Illinois, university violated a Christian student’s constitutional rights by ordering her not to have contact with three students who disagreed with her faith-centric viewpoint, according to a legal organization.

Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter late last month to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville after it ordered Maggie DeJong, a student in the master’s in art therapy counseling program, from having “any contact” or “indirect communication” with three students. The students, according to ADF, complained to the university that her viewpoint would not be “welcome or appropriate.”

The university offered no basis for the orders, which “limit her speech and physical presence on and off campus” through the end of the semester, the letter says. Further, the letter says the university acknowledged DeJong’s conduct did not violate university policy. According to the letter, the university said the non-contact orders were to “prevent interactions that could be perceived by either party as unwelcome, retaliatory, intimidating, or harassing,” according to the letter.

“Universities, especially classrooms where topics are supposed to be vigorously debated, should be marketplaces of ideas, not an assembly line for one type of thinking,” said Tyson Langhofer, senior counsel and director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom. “Maggie has always respectfully expressed her viewpoint in class, which every student is entitled to do under the First Amendment. The university must immediately rescind the no-contact orders and revise its policies to adequately safeguard students’ constitutional rights.”

Langhofer told The Daily Citizen that DeJong’s Christian beliefs are the source of the dispute. At one point, Maggie informed a fellow student that “her personal beliefs are grounded in objective truth by the gospel of Jesus Christ,” according to The Daily Citizen.

The no-contact orders have prevented DeJong from “fully” participating in her educational activities, the letter says. Because of the orders, she cannot fully participate in classes with the three students. She also cannot participate in group chats in which any of the three students are present.

The orders violate DeJong’s free speech protections as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, the letter says. The letter says legal action is possible if the university does not withdraw the orders.

War on Christianity > 5% of Reformed Church Splits off; Afghanistan worst place for Christians; Pastor murdered in Pakistan

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Congregations leave Reformed Church in America to form 

new denomination amid LGBT debate

By Michael Gryboski,

Christian Post Reporter 

Thursday, January 13, 2022

The Reformed Church in America General Synod discusses a plan to restructure the denomination in response

to an ongoing debate over homosexuality and scripture interpretation in October of 2021. | Maria Orr

After months of preparation, a theologically conservative denomination has broken away from the Reformed Church in America, with 43 congregations joining the new body on New Year’s Day.

Known as the Alliance of Reformed Churches, the new denomination was created as the RCA continues to deal with a debate over its official stance on LGBT issues.

Dan Ackerman, director of Organizational Leadership at ARC, wrote in a blog post last June that there were “three primary convictions” that led to the formation of the new denomination.

“The Bible as understood within Reformed theology — its understanding of God, sin and the world — provides a thoughtful faith that can engage people facing today’s uncertainties,” wrote Ackerman at the time.

“The mission of Jesus in the world, entrusted to the local church, can be better served by a more agile form of ministry and governance than what we’ve inherited from the 1500’s.”

“The nature of the organization is to hold a high value on congregational mission and vision so that the organization provides added value to its congregations while, in turn, receiving its funding from those same congregations as partners,” Ackerman continued. 

Jeff Walton of the theologically conservative think tank Institute on Religion & Democracy noted in a blog post published Wednesday that the number of churches leaving the RCA for the ARC represents about 5% of the denomination.

“Now the realignment that began in the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), and Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is reaching the Dutch Reformed – but without the lawsuits and acrimony that characterized some of those prior splits,” wrote Walton.

“Delegates to the RCA General Synod in October approved recommendations that allow transferring churches to retain assets and church buildings.”

In recent years, there has been much debate in the RCA over whether the denomination should become accepting of homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

In July, an earlier task force known as Vision 2020 recommended a “restructuring” of the RCA, believing that the debate over sexual ethics was part of a broader trend of division.

“There have been numerous points, especially in the last 70 years, where the RCA has been at an impasse. Points of disagreement and tension have included differences of views on things like ecumenical partnerships, social justice/political involvement, merging with another denomination, communism, internal restructuring,” stated the Vision 2020 report.

“This means we currently face something we have previously weathered, but it also means that we are likely to be here again if we do not find a way to handle conflict differently.”

At its general synod last October, the denomination voted to create a task force that would consider proposals to resolve the debate within the approximately 186,000-member RCA. 

Churches that celebrate LGBTQs and same-sex marriage are churches where the Holy Spirit is not enlightening the leadership with the word of God. 5% of mainline churches with a real relationship with Jesus Christ is about right.

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'Seismic Shift': Afghanistan Is the New Number 1

Most Dangerous Place for Christians

Michael Foust | ChristianHeadlines.com

| Thursday, January 20, 2022

Afghanistan, Afghanistan may become 'epicenter of Jihadist terrorism' after withdrawal

Afghanistan has supplanted North Korea as the world's most dangerous country for Christians, according to an annual watchdog report that says conditions have gone from bad to worse following the Taliban's 2021 takeover.

The Open Doors 2022 World Watch List places Afghanistan as No. 1 among the top 50 countries where it is most dangerous to be a Christian, followed by North Korea, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen. Among other notables: Iran is No. 9, Iraq No. 14 and China No. 17.

Most of the countries on the list are located in South Asia and North Africa.

It is the first time Afghanistan has been number one. David Curry, president and CEO of Open Doors, told Christian Headlines that it's the most "seismic shift" in the report's history. The situation in North Korea, he said, has not improved. Rather, conditions in Afghanistan have gotten worse.

"With [the Taliban] controlling the entire region," Curry said, "Christians have left the country – and those that have stayed are either in hiding or on the run."

The report lists the number of Christians in the country as in the "thousands."

"It is impossible to live openly as a Christian in Afghanistan," the report says, warning that believers face likely death if they are found.

The Taliban's promises of a more free society, Curry said, haven't proven to be true.

"The Taliban is trying to roll this out as Taliban 2.0," Curry told Christian Headlines. "But even as of today, there's nearly 4 million children that are out of school – 60 percent of them are girls. That promise was broken.

"... From the first day they seized control, they got a list of prominent Christians [and] they began going door to door trying to find them. So, we know what they're doing on the ground. And then none of it has to do with anything that would be recognized as a democratic system or a fair system."

The world, Curry said, must take "decisive action" to "prevent a religious genocide against Christians." That includes, he said, accepting refugees.

"These are people who, if sent back, will likely be killed," Curry said. "... That's the first and most pressing human rights issue."

The World Watch List, Curry added, is filled with countries whose governments collapsed and are ruled by extremists. Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Eritrea, he said, are examples.

"This is a tipping point into other chaotic issues that people of all faiths are going to be forced to deal with [such as] terrorism and the drug trade," Curry said. "The drug trade in Afghanistan is going to go through the roof with their opium trade because it will be the only economically sustainable crop for many people. So you're going to go through a number of issues because [the U.S.] decided to handle this transition in such an insecure way."

Pakistani pastor shot dead in ambush attack after Sunday service;

mourners chant 'Long live Jesus Christ'

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Monday, January 31, 2022

BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images

In what police called a “terrorist act,” two unidentified men followed a pastor returning home in his car after a Sunday worship service and shot him to death in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar, which in 2013 was the scene of one of the deadliest attacks on Christians in the country.

The pastor, identified as 75-year-old William Siraj of Shaheed-e-All Saints Church from the Church of Pakistan denomination comprising Methodist and Anglican churches, was shot twice in the abdomen as he and his colleague, identified as Pastor Patrick Naeem, were driving home from church on Sunday.

The shooting occurred near Ring Road in the city’s Gulbahar area, leaving Pastor Siraj dead and Pastor Naeem injured, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported, adding that Naeem had been discharged from the hospital where he was treated for minor injuries.

Pastor Siraj’s body had been handed over to his family.

News channels showed emergency services removing the pastor from the car as people chanted “Long live Jesus Christ” while carrying his body on a bed through the streets to a house, according to Reuters.

“We demand justice and protection of Christians from the Government of Pakistan,” tweeted Bishop Azad Marshall from the Church of Pakistan.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby also responded to the news of the attack. “… We pray for the light of Christ’s justice, hope and peace for our sisters and brothers in the Church of Pakistan,” he wrote on Twitter.

Capital City Police Officer Abbas Ahsan called it a “terror attack” and said, “We are determined to protect minorities.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province’s Chief Minister Mahmood Khan offered his condolences to the Christian community and the family of the deceased.

On Saturday, Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed warned of possible terrorist strikes across the country over the next two months as security agencies had learned about sleeper cells of militant outfits in that region, The Times of India reported.

No one had claimed responsibility for the shooting as of Monday.

The country’s northwestern areas bordering Afghanistan have seen a rise in militant attacks on security forces in recent days, many of them claimed by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is close to the Afghan Taliban, Reuters said.

In 2013, at least 81 Christians were killed after two suicide bombers blew themselves up at a church belonging to the Church of Pakistan denomination in Peshawar as hundreds of worshipers were leaving Sunday mass.

About 400 worshipers were exchanging greetings after the service at the 130-year-old All Saints Church when the two bombers, each carrying about 13 pounds of explosives, launched the attack. The walls were pockmarked with ball bearings that had been packed into the bombs to cause maximum carnage in the busy church.

There are about 70,000 Christians in Peshawar. The community accounts for about 2% of the 180 million people in Pakistan.

Muslim minorities, including Shias and Ahmaddiyas, also often face attacks by Sunni terror groups in Pakistan.

Don't You Just Love Irony? > China's Communist Government Orders Christians to Pray for Fallen Soldiers

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China orders Christians to pray for dead communist soldiers

or face consequences

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, 

Christian Post Reporter 

Monday, September 06, 2021

Catholics attend a Christmas eve mass at a Catholic church near the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province,

December 24, 2012. | Reuters/Jason Lee/File Photo

Though Chinese Christians are banned from honoring their own martyrs, they are now required to pray for communist soldiers who died in the war with imperial Japan to “demonstrate the good image of peace-loving Christianity in China.”

According to religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter, the Chinese Communist Party recently issued a new directive requiring state-sponsored churches to pray for soldiers of the Red Army who died during the resistance war against Japanese occupation forces.

The directive was reportedly sent to all churches that are part of the government-controlled Protestant Three-Self Church.

In part, the directive orders churches to “organize peace prayer worship activities to commemorate the 76th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War around Sept. 3, according to the actual situation.”

It adds: “Local churches and congregations may, according to the actual local situation, carry out relevant peace prayer activities in a small and decentralized form, in line with the local requirements for prevention and control of the new COVID epidemic, to further promote the fine tradition of patriotism and love of religion and to demonstrate the good image of peace-loving Christianity in China.”

Churches are further "required to submit evidence of the relevant activities (text, video and photo materials) to the Media Ministry Department of the China Christian Council by September 10” or face consequences, according to Bitter Winter. 

In August, members of the Theological Seminary in Fujian were also invited to attend a celebration to pay tribute to martyrs of what China dubs “People’s War of Resistance Against the Japanese Aggression.”

Prayers were held seeking the intercession of “Jesus, the King of Peace” for the “peaceful reunification” of China, Bitter Winter reported.

Though the CCP requires churches to pray for deceased communist soldiers, Bitter Winter notes that Christians in China are forbidden to pray for their martyrs, and those killed by the CCP cannot be commemorated.

Religious persecution is worsening across China, as President Xi Jinping’s "sinicization campaign," introduced in 2015, seeks to bring religions under the officially atheist party’s absolute control and into line with Chinese culture.

In May, the CCP ordered churches affiliated with the government to plan celebrations to mark 100 years of its existence.

In addition to asking religious persons to learn the history of the party, go on a “pilgrimage” to visit revolutionary sites, or hold exhibitions at religious venues, churches were required to host events featuring centennial celebrations.

The Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association in Jiangbei district of Chongqing city subsequently held a “Grateful and Praise for the CCP Blessing Mass” at one of its worship gatherings.

“The Church should organically unify ‘Love Party, Love Country, and Love Socialism’ and faith; boldly speak about politics, while speaking about faith in accordance with law,” Ding Yang, the priest who officiated the mass, was quoted as saying.

Open Doors USA, which monitors persecution in over 60 countries, estimates that there are about 97 million Christians in China, a large percentage of whom worship in what China considers to be “illegal” and unregistered underground home churches.

However, house church leaders are under intense pressure to join the government-controlled church. Those who refuse face intense persecution, as the government has installed more than 170 million facial recognition cameras, many in or near churches, to identify those who attend worship services.

Christians are often charged with participating in cults or with other crimes against the CCP, such as “bad business practices” or “intent to undermine the state.” 

The government has also imposed a ban on the online sale of Bibles.

Authorities also pressure Christian parents by refusing their children an education, threatening to send their children to government re-education camps or forcibly remove adopted children from their parents.

The U.S. State Department has labeled China as a “country of particular concern” for “continuing to engage in particularly severe violations of religious freedom.”

War on Christianity > After 8 Years Christian Family Free; Buddhists Bash Bangladeshi Church; Harvard Elects Atheist Head Chaplain

..

Pakistani Christian couple released from death row

granted asylum in Europe

By Anugrah Kumar, 

Christian Post Contributor| 

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, with their children | ADF International

Two months after being acquitted by a high court and surviving death threats, a Pakistani Catholic mother and her partially paralyzed husband, who were on death row for seven years on false blasphemy charges, have arrived in Europe.

Shagufta Masih and her husband, Shafqat Emmanuel, faced death threats after reports of their acquittal by the Lahore High Court broke in early June. In 2014, a session court had sentenced the couple to death by hanging.

“We are so relieved to finally be free. The last eight years have been incredibly hard, but we are so happy to be reunited with our children,” said Shafqat Emmanuel on behalf of the family, according to ADF International, a human rights group that supported the Christian couple.

“Although we will miss our country, we are happy to finally be somewhere safe,” added Emmanuel, who was the watchman of a school in the Gojra area of Toba Tek Singh district in Pakistan’s Punjab Province.

The Catholic couple was arrested in July 2013 under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws after a local imam accused them of committing blasphemy by sending him an offensive text message.

Maulvi Mohammed Hussain, a leader at a local mosque, claimed that Emmanuel used his wife's cellphone to send an anti-Islamic text message. He later claimed other messages followed. Hussain said he was praying when he received the offensive text message from an unknown number.

The Muslim cleric reportedly showed the text message to two other imams before approaching his counsel for legal proceedings. He and his lawyer later claimed they both received subsequent blasphemous messages.

Masih’s brother, Joseph, previously told the BBC that his brother-in-law had been tortured and forced to make a false confession.

The text messages were also alleged to have been written in English. Aside from being illiterate, Shafqat and Shagufta are not familiar with the English language — written or spoken.

And yet they were found guilty and originally sentenced to death. Tells you a lot about the justice system in Pakistan.

ADF International’s Director of Advocacy for Asia, Tehmina Arora, said in a statement that their case “is not an isolated incident but testifies to the plight that many Christians and other religious minorities experience in Pakistan today.”

The couple’s lawyer, Saif Ul Malook, said, “These cases are very difficult to litigate, due to the concern for security. There is a very real threat to the life of the clients and the lawyers.” 

Christians are often targeted by both Pakistan’s blasphemy laws meant to protect Islamic sensitivities and by hardliners who carry out violence and have killed scores of believers in the past several years.

The blasphemy law, embedded in Sections 295 and 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code, is frequently misused for personal revenge. It carries no provision to punish a false accuser or a false witness of blasphemy.

Islamist extremists also use the law to target religious minorities — Christians, Shias, Ahmadiyyas and Hindus.

“While the right to religious freedom is protected by the Pakistani constitution, many face severe persecution and denial of their fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly,” Arora said. 

“Hopefully, the blasphemy laws in Pakistan will soon be abolished, so others won’t suffer the same fate as Shagufta and I,” Emmanuel said.

The couple's country of asylum has not been disclosed due to security concerns.

Bangladeshi Church Faces Ongoing Oppression From Buddhists

Source(s): AsiaNews, Christian Post

Date: 12 August 2021

Church before and after destruction. - Photo: AsiaNews

For several weeks, a small church in Suandrapara, a village of southeastern Bangladesh, has been facing threats from militant Buddhists who were attempting to coerce the Christians to return to Buddhism, even though many of the churchgoers had converted several years before. As a result of the oppression, most of the 50 members of the Bangladesh Tribal Baptist Church have been forced to stay away from their homes for fear of attack.

Along with the threats, the church building has been physically damaged on two occasions. The Buddhist militants first ordered the church members to demolish their place of worship. When the Christians refused, the assailants destroyed parts of the building, including the front gate and cross, on July 15th. The oppressors demanded that there be no further church activities, giving the believers seven days to return to their former religion. When that deadline passed, the church was again attacked on July 22nd, resulting in additional damages – this time to a wall, door and the tin roof. The Christians were threatened that there would be further consequences if they reported the incident to the police or members of the media.

The pastor, Rev. Tubel Chakma Poran Adetion, states that the members of his church have not gone to the police, since they are considered a minority people group within the village. "We want to live in peace with [the Buddhists] and discuss things with them," he explained. However, if a collaborative discussion cannot bring about a peaceful resolution, the believers are prepared to take the matter to court.

Both Christians and Buddhists are a small minority in Bangladesh, with the vast majority of the population being Muslim. To learn about the challenges facing Christians in Bangladesh, go to our country report.

Pray that God will bestow wisdom upon the members of the Bangladesh Tribal Baptist Church, giving these persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ the right words to say to their neighbours who so strongly oppose the Gospel. May the Holy Spirit provide the inner peace needed so these Christians will remain committed to Jesus, no matter the cost. Pray that God’s Spirit will also touch the hearts of the instigators, bringing about radical transformation in their lives and ultimately harmony to this village community as a whole.

Like all Ivy-League universities, (I think), Harvard was founded as a Christian college.

Harvard University Elects Atheist as New Chief Chaplain

Amanda Casanova |
ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor |
Friday, August 27, 2021

Greg Epstein, 44, was recently unanimously elected to the top spot at the college and is set to begin work this week, Yahoo News reports.

Epstein is the author of the book “Good Without God.”

“There is a rising group of people who no longer identify with any religious tradition but still experience a real need for conversation and support around what it means to be a good human and live an ethical life,” Epstein said.

Epstein was raised Jewish and in 2005 received ordination as a humanist rabbi from the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism.

He then worked as the humanist chaplain for Harvard and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In his new role, Epstein will work with students and help coordinate religious events and counsel students.

“Greg was the first choice of a committee that was made up of a Lutheran, a Christian Scientist, an evangelical Christian, and a Bahá’í,” said Lutheran chaplain Rev. Kathleen Reed, chairwoman of the nominating committee. “We’re presenting to the university a vision of how the world could work when diverse traditions focus on how to be good humans and neighbors.”

No Muslims, no Catholics, no Jews (Epstein doesn't count)! But a firm belief that the world would work better without God!

Margit Hammerstrom, the Christian Science chaplain at Harvard, said in an interview that Epstein is respected and popular among the other chaplains at the college.

“Maybe in a more conservative university climate there might be a question like ‘What the heck are they doing at Harvard, having a humanist be the president of the chaplains?’” she said. “But in this environment, it works. Greg is known for wanting to keep lines of communication open between different faiths.”

According to a poll from the Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper, more than 40 percent of the students identified as either atheist or agnostic in 2020. In 2017, that number was 32 percent.

With atheistic chaplains, it would be a surprise if the numbers were any different.

War on Christianity > Antifa Attacks Church Meeting in Portland Park; Two Wins for the Christian Side

..

The Great Tribulation, which is rapidly approaching, will see the world turn violently against Christians as it did against Jews leading up to the Holocaust. Lead by the far-left, this is already happening, and, as we have observed over the past few decades, what is far-left ideology becomes mainstream in a remarkably short period of time.

VIDEOS show Antifa attacking Portland ‘prayer event’ as

left-wingers claim violent ambush broke up ‘far-right rally’

8 Aug, 2021 07:48

©  Twitter / @stillgray

A black-clad Antifa mob hurled projectiles and destroyed equipment at what appeared to be a peaceful event in Portland, Oregon, prompting a right v left fracas on social media about the ambushed gathering’s true purpose.

A “prayer event” held at a park in downtown Portland on Saturday was attacked by a group of left-wing activists who threw objects at attendees and assaulted them with pepper spray, the conservative Post Millennial reported. 

Organizers announced the event last month, saying it would feature controversial Canadian preacher Artur Pawlowski. The Calgary pastor has made headlines for his vocal opposition and resistance to lockdown measures that have shuttered churches in the Canadian city. 

Footage taken at the event shows black-clad Antifa members throwing projectiles at the event’s attendees, as some of the masked activists shouted “No hate speech.”

Right! Throwing rocks is much better than reading the Bible or praying to God!

“They threw a bomb already. We’ve got kids here,” the narrator of the video says. 

The activists eventually march up to the stage. One Antifa member takes the microphone, announcing: “All cops are bastards. In the name of Jesus, Amen.” The group of left-wingers then kick and destroy the sound equipment. One black-clad individual can be seen carrying a speaker to the nearby Willamette River, apparently so that they could toss it into the water. 

A woman who attended the event later said on camera that the activists had thrown a “flash bomb into a group of kids,” some as young as four months old. 

“We were about to have a worship event and Antifa just rolled in like an angry mob and started throwing flash bombs at everybody, macing everybody,” she said. 

The incident reportedly did not result in any arrests. 

While the violence elicited disgust and outrage among conservative pundits, many came to Antifa’s defense, insisting that the event was nefarious. 

A Portland minister responded to reports about the attack by insisting that the gathering was a “far-right political rally organized by a failed MAGA congressional candidate from CA.”

One Twitter user said that she rode her bike to the part and saw “gun-toting Proud Boys running security for this prayer service.”

Right! Watch the video and show me where there is one Proud Boy, armed or otherwise. There weren't even any police. Far-lefties feel no obligation to tell the truth.

Footage appears to show members of the right-wing group sporting paintball guns near the event’s location, but it doesn’t appear that they were present when Antifa attacked the gathering. Another video, purportedly taken on the same day, shows the group skirmishing with Antifa in downtown Portland. A police officer can be seen observing the mini-battle, but doesn’t intervene. 

Antifa has been linked to months of unrest in the city following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police in May 2020. 

And a win for the Good-Guys...

Christian Doctors Beat Biden in Court: Won't Be Forced

to Perform Abortions, Transgender Surgery

Michael Foust | 

ChristianHeadlines.com Contributor | 

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

On Monday, a federal judge handed religious liberty advocates a major win by ruling that the Biden administration cannot force Christian doctors and religious hospitals to perform abortions or gender transition procedures under Obamacare.

The case involves a portion (Section 1557) of the Affordable Care Act that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. The Obama administration interpreted Section 1557 as also prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, although the Trump administration reversed that policy and said it interpreted it as referencing "male or female and as determined by biology."

In May of this year, the Biden administration reverted to the Obama policy, with the Department of Health and Human Services saying it would interpret Obamacare as banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The various interpretations impact what doctors and hospitals are required to do under federal law.

A coalition of religious and Christian doctors and hospitals filed suit in 2016 and have won several rounds in court, although the latest federal court ruling, handed down Monday, is the first one that addressed the Biden administration's new interpretation.

Federal Judge Reed O'Connor, in a 23-page decision, ruled the Biden administration's rules "substantially burdens Christian Plaintiffs' religious exercise in clear violation of" the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a 1993 law.

"Enforcement of the 2021 Interpretation" by the Biden administration "forces Christian Plaintiffs to face civil penalties or to perform gender-transition procedures and abortions contrary to their religious beliefs," O'Connor wrote. He was nominated by President George W. Bush.

Do you really want a doctor who is dead-set against transgenderism to be operating on your sexual organs?

O'Connor's decision "permanently" prohibits HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and his successors from "interpreting or enforcing Section 1557" in a manner that would require the plaintiffs to "perform or provide insurance coverage for gender-transition procedures or abortions.

Luke Goodrich, vice president and senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, called the decision a "victory for compassion, conscience, and common sense."

"No doctor should be forced to perform controversial, medically unsupported procedures that are contrary to their conscience and could be deeply harmful to their patients," Goodrich said in a statement. "These religious doctors and hospitals provide top-notch medical care to all patients for everything from cancer to the common cold. Everyone benefits when doctors are able to follow their professional medical judgment and their Hippocratic Oath to 'Do No Harm.'"

==========================================================================================

And another win...

Manitoba medical student expelled over 'pro-gun and pro-life'

Facebook posts wins court ruling

Rafael Zaki said he was expelled for his conscientious and religious beliefs.

The judge said the university appeared biased in its decision

Author:Tyler Dawson

Publishing date: Aug 11, 2021 

The University of Manitoba lost its case against medical student Rafael Zaki.

PHOTO BY BRIAN DONOGH/WINNIPEG SUN/POSTMEDIA NETWORK

A Manitoba medical student who was expelled after failing to satisfactorily apologize for his controversial views on guns and abortion has been granted a new adjudication of his expulsion.

Rafael Zaki, a Coptic Orthodox student at the University of Manitoba who was supposed to graduate in 2022, posted three items on his Facebook page in February 2019. He was expelled in August 2019.

One year later, after losing two appeals within the university system, Zaki asked Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench to review the decision made by the University Discipline Committee. Zaki said he was expelled “for holding conscientious and religious beliefs that abortion is harmful.”

The university, meanwhile, said that it must ensure professional behaviour and attitudes in order for its students to become doctors, and that Zaki was expelled for failing to reach that standard “even after numerous attempts … to assist (him) in remediating his conduct.”

"Remediating his conduct!" That's what they call 'brainwashing' in China.

Ken Champagne, the provincial judge in the case, found that there was a perception of bias and the university discipline system had failed to consider Zaki’s Charter rights to freedom of expression.

“The decision is quashed,” Champagne wrote, calling it “incorrect and unreasonable.”

Carol Crosson, Zaki’s lawyer, said the family had emigrated from Egypt because of concerns over freedom of religion.

“They came here to find freedom, and then their son went through this at the university,” Crosson said. “I’m very happy for the family that the trek to freedom has been positive in the final result.”

The War on Christianity > Philadelphia Loses a Skirmish at Supreme Court; Liberals Slapped Down; Virginia's LGBT Law

..

Supreme Court rules Christian foster agency can't be forced

to place kids with same-sex couples

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 

Thursday, June 17, 2021

A general view of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, U.S., November 15, 2016. | REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the city of Philadelphia can't exclude a Catholic charity from its foster program because the organization won't place children with same-sex couples in accordance with religious beliefs. 

In a unanimous decision released Thursday morning in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, the high court ruled city officials were wrong to quit working with Catholic Social Services of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia for refusing on religious grounds to place children with same-sex couples.

The decision reversed a judgment of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and remanded it for further proceedings.

Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the court's opinion, concluding that “the City has burdened the religious exercise of CSS through policies that do not meet the requirement of being neutral and generally applicable.”

“Government fails to act neutrally when it proceeds in a manner intolerant of religious beliefs or restricts practices because of their religious nature,” wrote Roberts.

“The refusal of Philadelphia to contract with CSS for the provision of foster care services unless it agrees to certify same-sex couples as foster parents cannot survive strict scrutiny, and violates the First Amendment.”

Roberts also pointed out that Philadelphia can grant an exemption from the city's anti-discrimination policies to CSS, noting that city contracts include many exemptions.

“Once properly narrowed, the City’s asserted interests are insufficient. Maximizing the number of foster families and minimizing liability are important goals, but the City fails to show that granting CSS an exception will put those goals at risk,” continued Roberts.

“The creation of a system of exceptions under the contract undermines the City’s contention that its nondiscrimination policies can brook no departures.”

The opinion refutes the notion that fostering children is tantamount to a public accommodation.

"Certification as a foster parent, by contrast, is not readily accessible to the public," the opinion reads. "It involves a customized and selective assessment that bears little resemblance to staying in a hotel, eating at a restaurant, or riding a bus."

"As the City itself explains to prospective foster parents, '[e]ach agency has slightly different requirements, specialties, and training programs,'" Roberts wrote. "All of this confirms that the one-size-fits-all public accommodations model is a poor match for the foster care system." 

In addition to the court opinion, there were also multiple concurring opinions.

Although Alito concurred in the judgment, he expressed concern that the Supreme Court decision will not have a lasting impact on the dispute between Philadelphia and CSS.

“The City has been adamant about pressuring CSS to give in, and if the City wants to get around today’s decision, it can simply eliminate the never-used exemption power,” wrote Alito in a concurring opinion joined by conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. 

“Not only is the Court’s decision unlikely to resolve the present dispute, it provides no guidance regarding similar controversies in other jurisdictions.”

In 2018, Philadelphia stopped placing children in the homes of foster parents affiliated with CSS and Bethany Christian Services of Greater Delaware Valley due to the groups’ refusal to place children with same-sex couples for religious reasons.

Although Bethany eventually changed its policy, foster parents and others who worked with CSS filed a lawsuit against city officials, arguing that it violates the U.S. Constitution.

Plaintiff Sharronell Fulton fostered as many as 40 kids during her 25 years of working with CSS. Fellow plaintiff Toni Simms-Busch is a former social worker who adopted her foster children through CSS.

Both were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty. Becket argued that CSS was the “most successful” foster care agency in the city and that the city ended its partnership with the organization at a time that city officials admitted an urgent need for foster families with thousands of kids in the system.

“I am overjoyed that the Supreme Court recognized the import work of Catholic Social Services and has allowed me to continue fostering children most in need of a loving home,” Fulton said in a statement. “My faith is what drives me to care for foster children here in Philadelphia and I thank God the Supreme Court believes that’s a good thing, worthy of protection.”

Simms-Busch stressed that the justices "understand that foster parents like me share in the common, noble task of providing children with loving homes."

“Our foster-care ministry in Philadelphia is vital to solving the foster care crisis and Catholic Social Services is a cornerstone of that ministry," Simms-Busch stated. "The Supreme Court’s decision ensures the most vulnerable children in the City of Brotherly Love have every opportunity to find loving homes.”

The Supreme Court decision follows the ruling of a three-judge panel of the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in favor of the city in April 2019. The panel concluded that the First Amendment “does not prohibit government regulation of religiously motivated conduct so long as that regulation is not a veiled attempt to suppress disfavored religious beliefs.”

Judge slaps down Trudeau government for denying summer jobs grants

to Christian university

Redeemer University met all the conditions for funding but were rejected anyway after a 'cursory search of the Internet' by a Service Canada bureaucrat, ruled a judge

Author of the article:Tristin Hopper

Publishing date:Jul 04, 2021  

Redeemer University College pictured in 2011. PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON/NATIONAL POST

In an unusually harsh judicial slapdown of the Trudeau government, a federal judge has ruled that an Ontario university was barred access to the Canada Summer Jobs Program for little reason other than the fact that it was a Christian institution.

Justice Richard Mosley ruled that the federal government had breached “procedural fairness” in its treatment of Redeemer University, a private Christian liberal arts university in Hamilton, Ont. – and had denied the school funding based solely on its religious opposition to same-sex marriage. In a rare move, Mosley also ordered the federal government to pay Redeemer’s full legal costs, which amounted to $102,000.

“I have never seen that in any court, let alone the federal court,” Redeemer University’s lawyer, Albertos Polizogopoulos, told the National Post on Friday, calling the judge’s decision an obvious “punitive” measure.

Redeemer University College v. Canada by Tristin Hopper on Scribd

In 2019, Redeemer University applied for $104,187 from the Canada Summer Jobs Program in order to subsidize 11 temporary positions at the school. At the time, Redeemer had been participating in the Canada Summer Jobs Program since 2006 without incident.

Within two months, the application was rejected on the grounds that Redeemer could not demonstrate “that measures have been implemented to provide a workplace free of harassment and discrimination.”

At the time of the application, Redeemer University required its students to avoid “sexual intimacies which occur outside of a heterosexual marriage” – a policy that also informed the selection of faculty and staff.

An excerpt from Redeemer University’s 2012/2013 Academic Calendar, a version of which was cited in Service Canada’s rejection of the school’s application for Canada Summer Jobs funding.

Nevertheless, those strictures didn’t extend to the school’s 11 Canada Summer Jobs Program positions, which ranged from summer camp attendants to workers at an onsite water treatment plant. In its application Redeemer had even expressly pledged to target “LGBTQ2 youth” for hiring.

Soon after its application, Service Canada asked Redeemer to provide “missing information” as to how the school intended to maintain a non-discriminatory work environment.

In reply, Redeemer forwarded its 35-page Anti-Discrimination Policy which cited the school’s adherence to the Ontario Human Rights Code and cited Redeemer’s campus policy of the right to be “free from the threat of harassment and discrimination.”

Service Canada then rejected the school’s application, citing Redeemer’s “sexual intimacies” policy, as well as academic handbooks published by the school which listed “homosexual practice” as one of the school’s “unacceptable practices” for students and faculty.

Redeemer University College pictured in 2011. PHOTO BY PETER J. THOMPSON/NATIONAL POST

Tuesday’s Federal Court decision effectively concluded that Redeemer University hadn’t been rejected out of any red flags in its application, but because of a “cursory search of the Internet” to which Redeemer hadn’t been given the chance to respond.

“If the concern of (Service Canada) was that Redeemer discriminated based on sexual orientation, there was no contemporaneous evidence of that in the file,” wrote the Federal Court decision.

Justice Mosley added “there is no evidence … that (Service Canada) made any overt attempt to consider Redeemer’s rights to freedom of religion, freedom of expression or freedom of association in considering its application.”

Or, as Redeemer University lawyer Albertos Polizogopoulos summed up the government’s stance, “we don’t like your position on sexual morality and that’s why you’re denied.” In Polizogopoulos’ submissions to the court, he alleged that Redeemer had been subjected to a “background check” beyond the usual scope of the Canada Summer Jobs Program application proceed.

There is no place for sexual morality in Canada's federal Liberal party!

Federal cabinet minister Patty Hajdu. She was Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour when

new guidelines were placed on the Canada Summer Jobs Program requiring organizations to support abortion rights.

She later became Minister of Health during the COVID-19 crisis. PHOTO BY REUTERS/BLAIR GABLE

In a statement to the National Post, Redeemer University said it pursued its court action against the federal government because the school felt it “was being rejected only because Redeemer held legal views on traditional marriage.”

Interim president David Zietsma referenced a section of the Civil Marriage Act – the 2005 law which legalized same-sex marriage in Canada – which states that “no person or organization shall be deprived of any benefit” if they held official beliefs viewing marriage “as the union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others.”

Said Zietsma, “we were concerned about the precedent this kind of discrimination would set for religious institutions.” The lawsuit intentionally did not seek payment of the $104,187 grant, but was pursued instead because of the “principles involved.”

In 2018, the Canada Summer Jobs Program was subject to a wave of lawsuits after employment minister Patty Hajdu made funding conditional on organizations’ pledging their support for abortion.

The federal government ultimately backed off the abortion pledge, and by the time Redeemer University made its 2019 application, Service Canada was instead mandating a much more general policy of a “safe, inclusive, and healthy work environment free of harassment and discrimination.”

Redeemer University applied again for the Canada Summer Jobs Program in both 2020 and 2021. Polizogopoulos said that Service Canada delayed the school’s 2020 application until the program was out of money, but then approved its 2021 application without incident. As a result, this summer Redeemer University hired its first Canada Summer Jobs Program workers since 2017.

Said Polizogopoulos, “I don’t know what changed other than we held the government’s feet to the fire.”

Glad somebody is, the national media most certainly is not!

Judge rejects churches’ challenge to Virginia’s 

LGBT antidiscrimination law        

By Michael Gryboski, 

Christian Post Reporter| 

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Participants carrying a rainbow flag attend the annual gay pride.

| Reuters/Annika Af Klercker/TT News Agency

A judge has ruled against a group of churches, schools and a pro-life pregnancy center challenging a Virginia law that adds sexual orientation and gender identity to state antidiscrimination law.

Judge James E. Plowman Jr. issued a ruling from the bench last week in favor of the Virginia Values Act, which was passed by the Democrat-controlled state government in 2020.

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring released a statement last Friday expressing support for the ruling, which will be entered as an order within the next few weeks.  

“Our landmark civil rights protections will remain in place, and Virginia will remain a place that is open and welcoming to all, no matter what you look like, where you come from, how you worship, or who you love,” stated Herring.

Except for anyone who actually believes in the God of the Bible.

“I was proud to support passage of the Virginia Values Act and am so proud of our work to successfully defend the law twice against legal attack.”

God hates pride!

In late September of last year, Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on behalf of two churches, three private schools, and a pregnancy care center against the Virginia Values Act.

In the suit, Calvary Road Baptist Church of Fairfax County and its school, Community Fellowship Church of Staunton and its school, Community Christian Academy of Charlottesville, and Care Net of Loudon County claimed that the new law forced them to compromise various hiring and employment practices based on their sincere religious beliefs.

“[The Act] puts the Ministries in an impossible position: they must either abandon the religious convictions they were founded upon, or be ready to face investigations, an onerous administrative process, fines up to $100,000 for each violation, unlimited compensatory and punitive damages and attorney-fee awards, and court orders forcing them to engage in actions that would violate their consciences,” stated the suit, in part.

“Even merely posting their religious beliefs on their own websites could subject the Ministries to prosecution and exorbitant fines. These penalties could easily exceed a million dollars, ruin the Ministries financially, and make continuing their Christian missions impossible.”

In March, U.S. District Court Judge Claude M. Hilton rejected a separate challenge to the Virginia Values Act, another lawsuit filed by the ADF, this time on behalf of Robert Updegrove of Bob Updegrove Photography.

In his decision, Hilton argued that the Updegrove lacked the standing to sue since the Act “has never been enforced against” him “or any other person.”

“In the almost nine months since the statute became effective, no complaint has been filed under the statute,” wrote Hilton in late March. 

It won't be long now!

“No case or controversy exists when a person expresses a desire to change his previously compliant conduct to violate a new statute that no person, government or otherwise, has ever sought to enforce.”

So, you have to wait until the circumstances are such that your ministry will be destroyed before you can sue. Good system.

English church vandalised just days after reopening, with windows

smashed & premises covered with bleach, fire extinguisher powder

31 Jul, 2021 11:14

St Mary Magdalene's parish church, Caldecote, Hertfordshire. © Wikipedia

A church in Caldecote, Hertfordshire was heavily vandalised in an attack which saw its windows and decorations smashed – a mere ten days after it reopened following nine months of repairs.

The 14th and 15th century Church of St. Mary Magdalene, which is Grade II-listed and maintained by the Friends of Friendless Churches charity, had its windows smashed, its decorations destroyed, and its furniture, floors and altar covered in fire extinguishing powder and bleach on Thursday afternoon.

The Friends of Friendless Churches published photos of the destruction on social media, noting that though “it may not look like much,” the fire extinguishing powder “is everywhere” and “in every crevice.”

“It's thick. Hours of cleaning and barely any difference made,” the charity declared. “The vandals were very obviously disturbed. It could have been so much worse, but this is so disheartening. Why? Why do something like this?”

In its own statement, the Church of St. Mary Magdalene condemned the “mindless act of vandalism,” and claimed that the police “are treating the crime very seriously.”

Due to the police investigation and clean-up efforts, the church announced that it would “remain closed until further notice” until it can be “safely re-opened.”

Several cases of vandalism against churches have been recorded in the UK during the coronavirus pandemic. In April, historic stained glass windows at a church in Lincolnshire were damaged after vandals appeared to use them for “target practice,” while, in October last year, a man was filmed trying to pull a large crucifix off a church roof in London.

This summer, Canada has also experienced a surge in arson attacks against churches, with at least 57 churches set on fire or otherwise vandalised. The attacks started after the discovery in May of unmarked graves near an old Catholic school for indigenous Canadians.