Christian News Network reports:
The nation’s oldest Roman Catholic university announced this week that it has appointed its first “director for Hindu life,” who they are noting to be the first Hindu priest chaplain in the nation.
Georgetown University’s newspaper The Hoya explained on Tuesday that Interim Vice President for Mission and Ministry Howard Gray, S.J. sent out a campus-wide email advising that Brahmachari Vrajvihari Sharan had been selected for the appointment.
United Methodist News reports:
A new evangelical United Methodist group is taking shape just as the denomination’s longtime homosexuality debate appears to be reaching a turning point.
Some United Methodists are anxious about the group. Even before its first gathering set for Oct. 7 in Chicago, the new Wesleyan Covenant Association faced suspicions that it is trying to force a church divide and form a new denomination.
However, that is not the association’s intent, organizers maintain.
“This group was not formed to be the start of a new denomination,” the Rev. Jeff Greenway told United Methodist News Service.
“It was formed to provide a new, broader voice and encouragement to persons who are dedicated to the very best of scriptural Christianity in our Wesleyan, evangelical, orthodox tradition within The United Methodist Church.”
According to The Telegraph it would seem that the steady decline of Christianity in Britain may have leveled off.
It is more than 130 years since Nietzsche declared that “God is dead”, and forecasts of the demise of organised religion in the UK and elsewhere have been a regular fixture ever since.
But new figures from Britain’s longest-running and most important barometer of general public opinion suggest that reports of the imminent death of Christianity at least may have been greatly exaggerated.
According to Christian News Network, the most damaging parts of the bill have been eliminated — for now. However, the language may return in the next legislative session.
A California lawmaker has altered a controversial bill that once permitted homosexual and transgender students to sue their Christian college or university if they believe that they were discriminated against because of their personal lives. As previously reported, S.B. 1146 was introduced in February by Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, to close what Lara called a “loophole” in current federal and state law, including the religious exemption allowed under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. Lara self-identifies as a “gay Catholic man.”
According to a Reuters piece posted on Yahoo News:
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates have warned the public that “criminal groups propagating radical ideologies” could spread violent ideas and rebellious behaviour among young people through video gaming.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued the warning in a statement carried by the state news agency WAM late on Saturday. It urged parents to prevent teenagers from establishing relations with strangers through chat channels in games.
Criminal groups “are trying to recruit young people and adolescents through some electronic games”, WAM quoted Mohammed al-Zarooni, the TRA’s director for policy and programmes, as saying.
According to CNSNews:
Thirteen percent of adults in the United States say they currently smoke marijuana, nearly double the 7 percent who admitting to smoking pot just three years ago, a new Gallup Poll found.
As part of its July 13-17 Consumption Habits poll, Gallup asked poll participants, “Keeping in mind that all of your answers in this survey are confidential, do you, yourself, smoke marijuana?”
While 13 percent said yes, they are current users, 43 percent admitted to trying it, up from 38 percent in 2013. The percentage of Americans who say they have tried the drug has slowly increased from 4 percent in 1969.
Christian News Network reports:
A Bible camp in Canada is under fire for its stance on homosexuality, and one group is looking for another location to host its leadership event after the camp cancelled a “gay pride” speaker on its grounds.
Lake Ness Bible Camp, located in Prince George, is operated by the evangelical organization One Hope Canada, whose motto is “A passion for the gospel. A burden for Canada.” Hundreds of children and teens attend the camp each year to learn more about the Bible and to engage in recreational activities such as canoeing, paintball and ziplining.
According to Christian News Network:
A federal judge appointed to the bench by Barack Obama is refusing to lift his injunction against Mississippi’s Freedom of Conscience Act, requiring clerks within the state to issue “gay marriage” licenses despite their religious convictions.
“Issuing a marriage license to a gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist with an abortion,” Judge Carlton Reeves wrote on Friday. “To the extent the preliminary injunction will help alleviate the damage wrought on this State by an HB 1523-caused economic boycott, moreover, that too supports denying a stay of the injunction.”
Washington Examiner reports:
The liberal New York Times editorial board said Hillary Clinton essentially lied last week when she claimed she had been forthcoming with the public about sending classified information over her private email server.
In an editorial printed Friday, the Times said that Clinton is breeding distrust with voters, who polls show are already skeptical of her level of honesty, even as her opponent Donald Trump has seen his overall standing in national and state-level polls rapidly decline.
Breitbart reports:
As Rio de Janeiro rings in its tenure as host city to the Summer Olympics with street violence, deadly pollution, jihadist threats, incomplete facilities, and a plague, many around the world are wondering: who thought the embattled Brazilian city would be a good host for anything of this magnitude?
The Summer Olympics is the second major global sporting event Brazil clinched hosting duties for under the rule of the socialist Workers’ Party (PT) – and its founder, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva – two years after its surprisingly uneventful run as hosts of the FIFA World Cup. Brazil winning World Cup hosting duties made sense; it was the only candidate. The Olympic bid, however, was a competitive one, with highly developed cities like Madrid and Chicago making the case that they were safer, better-prepared venues for such an event.
According to Cully Stimson of The Daily Signal, some of the risks of smoking marijuana include “higher risks of motor vehicle accidents, heart attacks, and impaired immune systems and short-term memories. Evidently, the pot pushers don’t want you to know this truth.” Pot pushers also don’t want the public to know that the drug is already available in pill or liquid form that are safer to use because THC levels can be monitored.
States have passed so-called “medical marijuana” laws under the theory that pot has medicinal benefits that can’t be produced by other, legal means.
But what if there was a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug that gave you all the benefits of the active ingredients in marijuana, such as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) or cannabidiol?
What if that drug had been rigorously tested through clinical trials to make sure that it worked as promised, was properly dosed, and had no unanticipated side effects?
And what if you could get that lawful drug from your doctor in pill or liquid form?
According to The Guardian:
A senior Church of England clergyman has been found guilty of sex offences committed against two young men in the 1970s and 80s amid claims of a church cover-up.
A jury at Durham crown court found George Granville Gibson, 80, the former archdeacon of Auckland, guilty of two counts of indecent assault against two men, then aged 18 and 26. He was found not guilty of buggery and four other charges of indecent assault. Two charges of indecent assault were dropped.
Religion News Service reports:
World Vision, one of the world’s largest Christian humanitarian aid organizations, said it has “no reason … at this time” to believe that its operations manager in Gaza funneled tens of millions of dollars in donations to Hamas’ military wing, as Israeli security officials claimed.
The organization said in a statement Thursday (Aug. 4) it was “shocked” to learn that the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic security service, had charged Mohammad El Halabi with providing support to Hamas.
According to Religion News Service:
The polls are coming in and evangelicals are backing Donald Trump. Despite major evangelical leaders rejecting Trump, evangelicals appear to be Trump’s strongest supporters. This support, however, is inflated by 15 to 20 points because of how polls survey evangelicals.
Fox News reports:
USA Gymnastics officials failed to report allegations or ignored multiple warnings that some athletes were being sexually abused by their coaches, according to testimony stemming from a 2013 lawsuit and an extensive investigation by The Indianapolis Star.
Records reviewed by the newspaper showed USA Gymnastics had received complaints against more than 50 coaches. In at least four cases which The Star was able to independently verify, USA Gymnastics did not initiate reports to authorities.
After the warnings, those coaches allegedly abused at least 14 more people. Each of those coaches was eventually arrested.
Christian News Network reports:
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted a Virginia school district’s request for an emergency injunction to temporarily halt a lower court ruling that would have required officials to allow a female student who identifies as male to use the boys’ restroom.
The court voted 5-3 to grant the injunction while the matter is being considered for an appeal, with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan siding with the student.
As previously reported, Gavin Grimm, now 17, told reporters in December 2014 that she began using the boys’ restroom after obtaining permission from the school principal when she expressed disapproval over being forced to use the nurse restroom.
According to the Wall Street Journal, critics are charging that the payment amounted to a 1.7 billion ransom to the ayatollahs for U.S. hostages.
The Obama administration secretly organized an airlift of $400 million worth of cash to Iran that coincided with the January release of four Americans detained in Tehran, according to U.S. and European officials and congressional staff briefed on the operation afterward.
Christian News Network reports:
Vice President Joe Biden announced this week that he had officiated a same-sex “wedding” between two White House staffers at his home in Washington.
He Tweeted a photo of the occasion on Monday, writing, “Proud to marry Brian and Joe at my house. Couldn’t be happier, two longtime White House staffers, two great guys.”
Brian Mosteller works as director of Oval Office operations for Barack Obama, and Joe Mahsie serves as a travel coordinator for Michelle Obama.
Biden obtained a temporary certificate to officiate the ceremony as per the men’s request. Biden’s wife, Jill, also Tweeted the photo after the ceremony, writing, “Love is love.”
Melanie Wood of The Daily Signal reports:
How far does the NBA want transgender “rights” to go?
The NBA stepped into the culture war with its recent decision to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, North Carolina, citing “the climate created by HB2,” the bill that requires government single-sex bathrooms be available only to people on basis of the sex on their birth certificate.
When it decided to move the game out of Charlotte, the NBA released a statement:
Our week-long schedule of All-Star events and activities is intended to be a global celebration of basketball, our league, and the values for which we stand, and to bring together all members of the NBA community—current and former players, league and team officials, business partners, and fans. While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2.
DW News labels those who oppose the radical LGBT agenda “ultra-Orthodox extremists.” According to DW: Israeli military has decided to “re-evaluate” its professional relationship with a West Bank rabbi who called homosexuals “perverts.” The rabbi leads a yeshiva, or religious seminary, that prepares men for army service.
The large turnout was a show of solidarity with the victim’s of last year’s stabbing attack that left Shira Banki dead. The 16-year-old was one of eight people ultra-orthodox extremist Yishai Schlissel tried to kill.
A record number of Gay Pride marchers paraded through downtown Jerusalem Thursday, a year after an ultra-Orthodox Jew went on a stabbing rampage at the parade that left a 16-year-old girl dead and seven others wounded.
Some 25,000 attended this year’s parade – a five-fold increase over last year’s turnout, and far more than organizers hoped for.
Outside the Catholic church, a group of Ahmadiyya Muslims unfurled a banner: “Love for all. Hate for none” reports CNSNews:
In a gesture of solidarity following the gruesome killing of a French priest, Muslims on Sunday attended Catholic Mass in churches and cathedrals across France and Italy.
A few dozen Muslims gathered at the towering Gothic cathedral in Rouen, near Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray where the 85-year-old Rev. Jacques Hamel had his throat slit by two teenage Muslim fanatics on Tuesday.
Christian News Network reports:
During her speech on Thursday accepting the Democratic nomination for president of the United States, Hillary Clinton again vowed to defend homosexuality and abortion if elected.
“We will defend all our rights—civil rights, human rights and voting rights—women’s rights and workers’ rights—LGBT rights and the rights of people with disabilities!” she declared to those gathered and those watching around the world.
The Times reports:
A drug has stopped brain deterioration in Alzheimer’s patients for the first time, scientists announced yesterday.
Mental decline was halted for 18 months in some patients, in results hailed as the strongest sign yet that an effective treatment for the disease is near. Researchers said that the drug — taken as a tablet twice a day — could soon become the first medicine given to Alzheimer’s patients to keep the disease at bay for as long as possible.
According to NewsMax:
Mike Pence said Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, will be overturned after Donald Trump is elected president in November, Mlive.com reported.
Answering a question from an audience member during a town hall in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Indiana governor said a Republican win in the fall will lead to changes in the nation’s highest court.
