(Kate Shellnutt – Christianity Today) Andy Savage, the pastor who disclosed his decades-old assault on a teen in his former youth group to an applauding congregation, stepped down from his position at a Memphis megachurch on Tuesday.
Savage’s January 7 remarks on his repentance regarding the 1998 incident launched months of discussion among Christians, coverage in national news media, and an investigation by Highpoint Church, where he served as teaching pastor. … Disclaimer
(Nicole Winfield – RNS) The head of the Vatican’s communications department has resigned over a scandal about a letter from the retired pope that the communications chief mischaracterized in public and then had digitally manipulated in a photograph sent to the media.
The Vatican said Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dario Vigano on Wednesday (March 21) and named his deputy, Monsignor Lucio Adrian Ruiz, to run the Secretariat for Communications. … Disclaimer
(Nicholas Tompson & Fred Vogelstein – Wired) Two weeks ago, Facebook learned that The New York Times, Guardian, and Observer were working on blockbuster stories based on interviews with a man named Christopher Wylie. The core of the tale was familiar but the details were new, and now the scandal was attached to a charismatic face with a top of pink hair. Four years ago, a slug of Facebook data on 50 million Americans was sucked down by a UK academic named Aleksandr Kogan, and wrongly sold to Cambridge Analytica. Wylie, who worked at the firm and has never talked publicly before, showed the newspapers a trove of emails and invoices to prove his allegations. Worse, Cambridge appears to have lied to Facebook about entirely deleting the data.
(Clarion Ledger) Mississippi moved quickly toward a legal confrontation over the nation’s most restrictive abortion law Monday.
Within six hours, the governor signed a bill banning most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation, the state’s lone abortion clinic sued, and a federal judge set a Tuesday morning hearing to consider blocking the restrictions.
Abortion opponents sought the confrontation, hoping federal courts will ultimately prohibit abortions before a fetus is viable. Current federal law blocks such restrictions by states.
(The Western Journal) Facebook has apologized for its search auto-fill function suggesting sexual acts, including with minors.
The Hill reported that Facebook users began posting images on social media of the search suggestions popping up when they typed “videos of” last week.
There were multiple references to sexual acts involving minors.
(See graph on the site)
(Terrence P. Jeffrey – CNSNews) – The Internal Revenue Service in 2011 through 2016 documented more than 1.3 million cases of identity theft perpetrated by illegal aliens whom the IRS had given Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), which are only given to people who are ineligible to work in the United States or receive Social Security Numbers, according to information published by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).
However, in response to inquiries from CNSNews.com, the IRS could not say if it had referred even one of these cases for criminal prosecution.
(LifeNews) Pro-life advocates are calling out the bias of a federal judge who struck down an Ohio non-discrimination law that bans abortions on unborn babies with Down syndrome.
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black issued a preliminary injunction against the law Wednesday, arguing federal law is “crystal clear” that states may not prohibit abortions before viability.
While the ruling drew widespread attention, few mainstream news outlets mentioned that Black has very strong ties to Planned Parenthood, one of the groups challenging the law. [crn_lik url=”http://www.lifenews.com/2018/03/17/judge-who-blocked-ohio-ban-on-abortions-of-babies-with-down-syndrome-was-a-planned-parenthood-president/”]
(Christian News Network) A federal judge appointed to the bench by then-President Barack Obama has granted a preliminary injunction against an Ohio law that banned mothers from killing their unborn child just because he or she has Down syndrome.
“The State cannot dictate what factors a woman is permitted to consider in making her choice,” wrote U.S. District Judge Timothy Black on Wednesday. “The State’s attempt to carve out exceptions to a categorical right where none exist fails as a matter of law.”
(YourNewsWire) One of the highest-ranking officials in the Catholic Church says sexually abused children can experience “a spiritual encounter with God through the priest” while being molested.
Australia’s most powerful clergy, Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart, says the Catholic practice of confession is satisfactory for dealing with pedophilia in the church as it helps priests absolve “their own guilt” after sexually abusing children. Continue reading
(Western Journal) Christian evangelist Franklin Graham wished he could have asked world-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking one question before his death on Wednesday at 76 regarding the existence of God.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Graham shared an article from USA Today titled, “Heaven ‘is a fairy story’: This is what Stephen Hawking says happens when people die.”
(DailyWire) Waitrose, a high-end grocery store chain in the United Kingdom, is going “gender neutral” for Mother’s Day (known there as “Mothering Sunday”), offering a series of cards that are “gender neutral,” just in case your mum happens to be your dad, or she prefers to be known by a series of unconventional pronouns.
The purpose of the shift, Waitrose says, is to make the holiday more “transgender friendly,” reports The Times UK. Since gender is just a fluid concept, why use an archaic word like, “mother” to represent a specific relationship a child has with its primary caregiver (or, in the case of families who don’t abide by traditional gender norms, its secondary caregiver)?
(World) On the eve of International Women’s Day, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a man who identifies as a woman, ignoring appeals to religious liberty and declaring that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to those undergoing gender “transitioning.”
Wednesday’s decision marks the third time a federal appeals court has expanded the Title VII definition of “sex” beyond biological manhood and womanhood. Within the last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th and 2nd circuits both ruled that “sex” includes sexual orientation. Those decisions, until the U.S. Supreme Court intervenes, stand as law, and employers in 10 states are required to recognize sexual identities as protected classes
(LifeNews) Save the 8th has said that its campaign is “energised and motivated ” by the huge attendance at today’s Rally for Life in Dublin, which saw up to 100,000 people take to the streets to reject the Government’s plan for a UK-style abortion regime in Ireland.
Niamh Uí Bhriain of Save the 8th said that the crowds who thronged Dublin city centre showed that the government’s abortion proposal had woken a sleeping giant and that the campaign now expected a surge in volunteers to work towards a No vote in the abortion referendum in May.
(The Western Journal) The House Intelligence Committee has found no evidence of the Trump campaign colluding with Russia.
“We have found no evidence of collusion, coordination, or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians,” reads an overview of a committee report, which was released Monday.
CNN reported that the Intelligence Committee’s investigation has lasted for over a year and included 73 witnesses and the review of approximately 300,000 pages of documents.
(Reid Wilson – The Hill) The number of Americans turning up in emergency rooms suffering from opioid overdoses has risen sharply in recent years, according to new federal data, as the size and scope of a devastating public health crisis evolves in ways officials say is difficult to combat.
Data released this week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show emergency room visits for suspected opioid overdoses increased by 30 percent between July 2016 and September 2017. Continue reading
(Christian News) In a recent interview with the website Vulture, actor and singer Ricky Martin said that he wants to “normalize” same-sex and open relationships, remarking that he believes that it is “good for the world.”
Martin was talking about his role in the sensual and sin-saturated FX television series “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” as he plays Antonio D’Amico, the homosexual partner of Gianni Versace. “I want to normalize relationships like this. It’s good for the world; it’s good for me as a gay man with kids,” he told the outlet. “It’s important that we shed some light on power couples like this, even though he was quiet and behind the scenes and he was just there supporting his man for 15 years.”
(Breitbart) The report, which was requested by 120 members of Congress led by Reps. Diane Black (R-TN), Pete Olson (R-TX) and Chris Smith (R-NJ), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), shows that, between 2013 and 2015, taxpayers sent $1.5 billion to abortion providers Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), and Marie Stopes International (MSI). GAO found that these three organizations spent $410 million in federal funding between 2013 and 2015, and received $1.2 billion combined federal and state funds under federal health programs that require shared funding.
(Pulpit & Pen News) We released the text messages from Ravi Zacharias that indisputably proved he carried on an affair via electronic communication, received illicit images of his paramour, begged her not to tell her husband, and ultimately insinuated he would kill himself if she confessed and repented openly. You can find that post, On the Adulterous Affair of Ravi Zacharias and the Cover-Up, here. Other press outlets were content to only report the spun words from Zacharias’ ministry.
Continue reading
(Western Journal) An state bill restricting legal access to abortion is earning Mississippi lawmakers praise from pro-life activists and scorn from those who believe its language is too extreme.
As The Daily Wire reported, members of the state House voted by a margin of 75 to 34 in favor of the Gestational Age Act, which prohibits abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy, except “in a medical emergency or in the case of a severe abnormality.”
The legislation, which Republican Gov. Phil Bryant pledged to sign into law, has been described by supporters as the most pro-life bill in the nation.
(Fox News) ABC News’ “The View” star Joy Behar has reportedly apologized for recent comments that mocked Vice President Pence’s Christian faith.
Disney CEO Bob Iger said during the Q&A portion of a shareholder meeting on Thursday that Behar apologized directly to Pence on the phone.
A source close to Pence confirmed to Fox News that Behar did apologize. The shareholder who asked the question was Justin Danhof, who is the general counsel for the National Center for Public Policy Research. Danhof told Iger that some of Disney’s recent decisions are “strange when trust in media is at an all-time low” and referred to Disney’s ESPN as a “24/7 anti-Trump tirade channel” before bringing up the Behar controversy.
Oprah Winfrey as Mrs. Which, a dimension-travelling regal entity.
In a piece titled A Wrinkle In Time Sells the Cult of Oprah, Armond White of National Review states that the film pushes for “social justice, self-worship, and girls-are-smarter-than-boys bromides.”
The film also pushes Oprah’s New Age religiosity.
In a piece over at Pulpit & Pen we’re informed of this troubling news: “Religious entrepreneurs intent on entertaining people into Heaven have already capitalized on the film to turn it into a Bible study to reach America’s pop-culture-saturated youth.”
Starring Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kalling and Reese Witherspoon, the film centers around the character Meg Murry (Storm Reid), who is a typical schoolgirl struggling with self-esteem issues who’s desperate to fit in. Continue reading
(NewsBusters) While Stephen Colbert and CBS picture God as favoring Oprah Winfrey over Donald Trump for president, the liberal media don’t find it outrageous when liberal Democrats claim God will judge your record to see if you were a “good progressive.” Imagine a Mike Pence saying God would ask if you were a “solid conservative,” and you can see the double standard. The first one to object might by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, the brother of the governor.
On Wednesday, current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used his view of Heaven to explain why he is a better choice for that office than fellow Democrat Bill de Blasio, the mayor of New York City.
(The Western Journal) Conservative writer Devin Sena tweeted a picture Saturday of a healthy unborn baby with the caption: “This is a human.” He added the hashtag “TriggerALiberalIn4Words.”
Twitter chose to suppress the factually accurate tweet as “sensitive material” and warned certain users before they saw it. [See the tweet and photo on the site]
(Christian News Network) Roman Catholic leader Jorge Bergoglio, also known as “Pope Francis,” has decreed that a new feast day be added to the liturgical calendar to honor Mary, called “Mother of the Church.” The announcement has been deemed unbiblical as the Catholic Church continues to place inordinate emphasis on Mary.
The Vatican announced the decree on Saturday, noting that the new Roman Catholic holiday will be observed every year on the Monday after Pentecost. This year, the occasion will fall on May 21. Continue reading
(Western Journal) “Co,” “kit,” and “sie” are just a few of the personal pronouns advertised by Bryn Mawr College.
The Pennsylvania college’s “inclusion center” published a guide titled “Asking For and Using Pronouns: Making Spaces More Gender-Inclusive.”
The guide explains why pronouns are important, how to correct mistakes made in addressing people by their pronouns, and examples of personal pronouns, reported Campus Reform.