Among the public policy issues to be addressed at the rally are LGBTQ equality and climate change, says Eric Scheiner of CNSNews:
“All the atoms in our bodies will be blown into space in the disintegration of the solar system, to live on forever as mass or energy. That’s what we should be teaching our children, not fairy tales about angels and seeing grandma in heaven,” the quote from Carolyn Porco says on the Reason Rally website.
According to The Atlantic, “Middle-class women treat the ‘child angels’ as though they’re real, taking them to get blowouts at salons and even giving them their own seats at restaurants.”
In Bangkok plastic-baby boom is under way. Thai adults have lately been towing around lifelike dolls known as luk thep (commonly translated as “child angels”), which are believed to be inhabited by spirits that bring good fortune. There are few places the dolls don’t go: They are carried through street markets, they receive blowouts at salons, they take up seats on airplanes, they are even served restaurant meals.
According to David Kreutzer of The Daily Signal:
Last summer, the editor of Science wrote a commentary on climate change where she said, “The time for debate has ended.”
After appealing to policies based on economic knowledge she doesn’t have, she finished with speculation as to which ring of Dante’s Inferno would God designate for climate skeptics.
All in all, it was an awesomely unscientific tour de farce and totally depressing in that it came from one of the world’s two most prestigious science journals.
Of course the time for debate hasn’t ended—especially for the meaningful debate concerning how much impact carbon dioxide has on global warming.
Christian News Network reports:
Amid discussion about transgender accommodations, and following reports of men in the U.K. who live as dogs in their private lives as a means of escapism, another story has emerged—this time about a man in London who took a “holiday from being human” to live as a goat.
Thomas Thwaites, 35, details his research project to live as a goat in the Swiss Alps in his book “GoatMan: How I Took a Holiday from Being Human,” which was released on May 17.
“The dazzling success of The Toaster Project, including TV appearances and an international book tour, leaves Thomas Thwaites in a slump. His friends increasingly behave like adults, while Thwaites still lives at home, ‘stuck in a big, dark hole,’” a description of the book reads. “Luckily, a research grant offers the perfect out: a chance to take a holiday from the complications of being human—by transforming himself into a goat.”
Stephanie Bodoni of Bloomberg has the story:
U.S. Internet giants Facebook Inc., Twitter Inc., Google and Microsoft Corp. pledged to tackle online hate speech in less than 24 hours as part of a joint commitment with the European Union to combat the use of social media by terrorists.
Beyond national laws that criminalize hate speech, there is a need to ensure such activity by Internet users is “expeditiously reviewed by online intermediaries and social media platforms, upon receipt of a valid notification, in an appropriate time-frame,” the companies and the European Commission said in a joint statement on Tuesday.
The code of conduct arrives as Europe comes to terms with the bloody attacks in Paris and Brussels by Islamic State, which has used the Web and social media to spread its message of hate against its enemies. The companies said it remains a “challenge” to strike the right balance between freedom of expression and hate speech in the self-generated content on online platforms.
“Christian” Post reports that Jan Crouch has died. No one would know by reading this piece that Jan and her late husband Paul heavily promoted the false Word of Faith/Prosperity gospel on TBN, which is the largest “Christian” owned cable station. Both Jan and Paul Crouch were false teachers.
Trinity Broadcasting Network co-founder Jan Crouch, who had been in the hospital after suffering a massive stroke last week, has died at the age of 78, the family announced early Tuesday.
“Laurie and I have just watched the transition of our precious Mother from this world to the next; watched her step into the presence of Jesus and into her heavenly reward,” Jan Crouch’s son Mat and other family members announced early Tuesday. “Jan Crouch, known around the world as Momma Jan, has gone home.”
Christian News Network reports:
Bruce Jenner’s reality TV show “I Am Cait” has been dropped across the entire African Continent, reports the BBC.
“I Am Cait” depicts Jenner’s transition into a woman, and this subject matter did not sit well with some viewers.
Multichoice decided they would drop “I Am Cait” after the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) made an official request. According to the Nigerian publication The Whistler, Nigerian parents complained that they did not think that Jenner’s show was good for their children to watch.
According to Portland Tribune, environmental extremists have succeeded in stifling the voices of anyone who does not share their view on so-called climate change:
In a move spearheaded by environmentalists, the Portland Public Schools board unanimously approved a resolution aimed at eliminating doubt of climate change and its causes in schools.
“It is unacceptable that we have textbooks in our schools that spread doubt about the human causes and urgency of the crisis,” said Lincoln High School student Gaby Lemieux in board testimony. “Climate education is not a niche or a specialization, it is the minimum requirement for my generation to be successful in our changing world.”
Christian News Network reports:
In the midst of discussion about transgender restroom issues, an Oregon woman is speaking out to tell her story after a man who identifies as a woman was permitted to share sleeping and restroom space with women at an all-women’s shelter.
Malka Davis, a formerly homeless woman, recently penned an op-ed for the Oregonian, in which she explained why she believes it was wrong for the shelter to allow the man to live at the facility among dozens of females.
The incident occurred in 2014 as Davis was seeking to put her life back together. She recounted that a few weeks into her stay that some of the other women seemed to be in distress, and came to find out that it was because a man who “self-identified” as a woman was in their midst. One woman even left altogether.
The Daily Signal reports:
On Wednesday night, 43 Republican members of Congress joined the Democrats to vote for President Barack Obama’s transgender agenda.
Whereas last week Congress voted to reject this proposal—known as the Maloney amendment—last night they voted to ratify Obama’s 2014 executive order barring federal contractors from what it describes as “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity” in their private employment policies.
Christian News Network reports:
Hipster Hillsong NYC leader Carl Lentz has drawn concerns over the past week after he posted a photograph on social media announcing his upcoming appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s “Super Soul Sunday” television broadcast.
“I really enjoyed my time with @oprah filming for her Super Soul Sunday show,” he wrote on May 18. “She is truly a special woman and a culture changer. To come from absolute poverty in Mississippi and reach the point where she became the first African American multi-billionaire takes a passion and drive that is exceptional and tireless.”
He continued to praise the talk show host, and said that others should emulate Oprah’s practice of thanking Jesus with each new day.
According to Charisma News, Jan Crouch, co-founder of the haven of heretics known as Trinity Broadcasting Network, has had a stroke. Jennifer Leclaire reports:
TBN co-founder Jan Crouch has been hospitalized after a massive stroke. The TBN family is asking for miracle healing prayers for the 78-year-old Christian media pioneer.
Crouch and her husband, the late Paul Crouch, founded the Trinity Broadcasting Network in 1973. She produced multiple television programs including Praise The Lord, The Glory of America and Say Yes. Paul Crouch passed away in 2013.
Crouch appeared to be in good health. Earlier this month, she was seen on the back of a motorcycle with pastor Phil Aguilar at a Kenneth Copeland motorcycle rally.
Saving the elephant has become the latest fad in Hollywood. According to a piece in the New York Times:
The Actress Elizabeth Hurley traveled to Nairobi from London a few weeks ago to witness the Kenyan government burn 105 tons of poached ivory, saying “she felt sick to watch the great preys.”
Moreover,
Susan Sarandon raised thousands for an elephant benefit in London last year. “The crisis facing elephants is particularly tragic,” she said recently.
That elephants are being killed by poachers is indeed a tragedy. But an even greater tragedy is that the lives of over 57 million womb babies have been legally snuffed out at the hands of an abortionist since Roe vs. Wade in 1973. Yet Hollywood’s elite has shown no interest in saving innocent human beings.
Berean Research reveals the hard truth about what can happen during an abortion procedure: some babies do live:
Abortion does one thing: End the life of a human being. A baby that was alive for weeks and months, suddenly and violently murdered. For abortionists, it’s a clump of tissue that to them was already dead. But sometimes their own eyes are yanked open by the brutal reality of what they are doing.
Newly released 911 calls
highlight the devastating reality of abortion: Babies are being slaughtered, and the killers are neutralizing the language to make this evil practice more palatable.
An abortion clinic worker in February had just sucked a little 21-week-old baby out of his mother, and was shocked to find the baby gasping for breath. That’s not how she reported it. She used different words. Clinical, neutral words. The television station reporting it did likewise:
According to ABC News:
Federal health officials today said they believe thousands of people may have contracted the Zika virus before returning to the U.S. and they remain concerned that the virus might commence ongoing transmission in the U.S.
Speaking at a panel at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Dr. Anne Schuchat, the principal deputy director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the Zika virus remains “pretty concerning” for experts as they learn how it affects pregnant women.
“The reality is one bite, and if you’re pregnant, your baby might be harmed,” Schuchat said at the panel today. “That’s a phenomenal problem.”
Fox News reports:
Police in riot gear and mounted patrol units faced off against a violent crowd of protesters outside a Donald Trump campaign event in Albuquerque Tuesday night.
Hours after Trump and some 4,000 of his supporters left the Albuquerque Convention Center, approximately 100 demonstrators remained in downtown. Smoke grenades were used in an effort to disperse the crowd, while protesters threw rocks, plastic bottles, burning T-shirts and other items at officers.
The Daily Signal reports:
The censorship of free speech on a college campus has caused a legal fight to brew in California
A lawsuit filed Thursday against numerous staff at California State University-Los Angeles claims that the university discriminated against free speech by trying to silence Ben Shapiro, 32, a prominent conservative voice who has spoken on college campuses around the country.
“Free speech on college campuses, particularly publicly-sponsored campuses, it’s not merely a necessity, it’s a right,” Shapiro, editor-in-chief of the Daily Wire, said at a press conference Thursday in Los Angeles. “That right is being quashed all across the country by administrators who are significantly more intent on indoctrinating students and eliminating dissent than giving students the opportunity to hear different ideas and reach their own conclusions about those ideas. It’s time for that to stop.”
CNSNews reports:
The Obama administration has admitted 499 Syrian refugees so far this month, with no Christians among them.
Of the 499 admitted in May, 495 are Sunni Muslims and the remaining four are described simply as “Moslem” in State Department Refugee Processing Center data.
Since FY2016 began on October 1, a total of 2,235 Syrian refugees have been resettled in the United States. Of them, 10 (0.44 percent) are Christians: three Catholics, two Orthodox, one Greek Orthodox and four refugees identified simply as “Christian.”
According to Emily McFarlan Miller of Religion News Service, neither side got what they wanted out of the General Conference:
Amid protest, song and fears of a denominational breakup, United Methodists at their quadrennial General Conference decided yet again not to decide anything regarding LGBT rights.
But in a groundbreaking move, the delegates from the U.S. and abroad voted 428-405 on Wednesday (May 18) to allow the church’s Council of Bishops to appoint a commission to discuss whether to accept same-sex marriage or ordain LGBT clergy.
The bishops said they want the commission to “develop a complete examination and possible revision of every paragraph in our Book of Discipline regarding human sexuality.”
According to Breitbart:
As retailer Target sees its stock plummeting and sales dropping in the midst of a boycott over its recently announced pro-transgender bathroom policy, the company’s CEO is insisting the weather is the cause of falling sales, not the company’s bathroom policy. In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Target CEO Brian Cornell pegged the downturn in the company’s fortunes to the cold weather as opposed to anything the company itself is doing or not doing.
“It’s been a very wet and cold start to the year and it’s reflected in our sales,” Cornell told the paper. “We haven’t seen anything from a structural standpoint that gives us pause.”
A Christian leader from Africa finds it baffling that cultural Christianity can take the place of the Bible. The United Methodist Reporter has the story:
Jerry Kulah has nothing but gratitude for American Methodists.
In 1833, they sent their first missionary to his country, Liberia, which was founded for freed American slaves. Melville B. Cox died four months after he arrived in Africa, but the missionary’s legacy lives on in the United Methodist Church’s fastest-growing region, and in his words to his own church back in North Carolina: “Let a thousand fall before Africa be given up.”
“However,” said Kulah, who is dean of the Gbarnga School of Theology in the capital, Monrovia, “the church has taken on strangely a new direction. People from the country that brought the Gospel to us are now preaching a different Gospel.”
According to Christian News Network:
House Republicans engaged in a heated debate on Thursday in voting down a discrimination amendment to the 2016 National Defense Authorization Act while allowing a similar bill providing protections for religious entities to remain intact.
The Act, which is renewed afresh each year, outlines the allotted spending for the U.S. military for the coming year. Lawmakers commonly propose amendments to attach to the bill, most of which apply to defense issues or other related matters.
This year, among the amendments presented, Rep. Steve Russell, R-OK, submitted a proposal to apply the religious exemption in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to federal contractors.
Christian News Network reports:
On the same day that the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education threatened to revoke funding for public schools that do not allow students to use the restroom and locker room that correlates with their “gender identity,” the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) also released guidelines requiring federally-funded hospitals that may require hospital systems to perform sex change operations or similarly lose funding.
The rules pertain to language in the Affordable Care Act (ACA), otherwise known as Obamacare, and affects all hospitals that accept Medicare or Medicaid, as well as those directly funded by HHS.
Baylor is a top Texas Christian university. Fox News reports that a former Baylor student claims she was assaulted by a football player on two occasions:
My phone rang less than five minutes after I tweeted about Wednesday’s “Outside the Lines” report on more allegations of violence against Baylor football players. It was the first of nine calls and texts I received over the course of the day from college coaches talking about this latest investigation into Baylor’s handling of sexual violence cases involving its program.
“They’re gonna have to fire him, aren’t they?” a veteran college coach asked.
“Him” is head coach Art Briles, the man who took a perennial Big 12 doormat and made it into a powerhouse. Briles even got a fancy new stadium built. The 60-year-old is 32-7 the past three seasons at a place that hadn’t had a single winning season in the 13 years before he took over in 2008.
