Just the facts.

Schools must teach Great Britain is a Christian country, secretary says

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According to Christian Examiner:

Great Britain’s education secretary says schools must teach that Britain is a “Christian country,” according to The Telegraph. Education Secretary Nicky Morgan published the new guidelines to “non-faith schools” on Sunday.

The new guidelines also clarify how schools interact with non-religious views after a landmark court decision from the nation’s highest court said the secretary had unlawfully excluded atheism from the school curriculum. The Telegraph reports that Morgan was concerned that atheist groups were using the courts as part of a “creeping ratchet effect” that would one day lead to primary schools being forced to teach children about atheism.

“I am clear that both faith and non-faith schools are completely entitled to prioritize the teaching of religion and faith over non-religious worldviews if they wish,” Morgan said.

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Doctor Loses Appeal of Expulsion from Boston Hospital for Statements About Health Dangers of Homosexuality

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Christian News Network reports:

A Massachusetts urologist has lost his appeal of his expulsion from a Boston hospital for making statements on an internal online portal expressing concern about the health dangers of same-sex sexual activity.

As previously reported, Dr. Paul Church serves as a urology professor at Harvard University and has also had admitting privileges at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where he has seen patients for nearly the past 30 years. He has additionally participated in medical missions outreaches in Mexico and Africa.

For over the past decade, Church has expressed concern to his colleagues about the hospital’s promotion of homosexual events. He has commented both via email and on the hospital’s internal portal that it is improper to promote lifestyles that are contrary to the goals of the healthcare community, and has been met with allegations that his comments constitute “discrimination and harassment” and are “offensive to BIDMC staff.”

“The evidence is irrefutable that behaviors common within the homosexual community are unhealthy and high risk for a host of serious medical consequences, including STD’s, HIV and AIDS, anal cancer, hepatitis, parasitic intestinal infections, and psychiatric disorders,” Church wrote on the portal on one occasion.

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Catholic Newspaper Names Plaintiffs in Supreme Court “Gay Marriage” Case “Persons of the Year”

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Christian News Network reports:

A prominent Roman Catholic newspaper has named two of the plaintiffs in the U.S. Supreme Court’s “gay marriage” case that was ruled upon in 2015 as being among their “persons of the year.”

“For their historic roles as plaintiffs in Obergefell v. Hodges and for their faithful public witness as gay Catholics, we name Greg Bourke and Michael DeLe­on NCR’s persons of the year for 2015,” writes the National Catholic Reporter, based out of Kansas City, Missouri, in an editorial published on Monday.

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ISIS alive and well in the hometown of Jesus? Israeli intelligence says “yes”

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Christian Examiner reports:

Israel’s domestic intelligence agency has announced a series of arrests of Arab-Israeli men from Nazareth – the home town of Jesus – after they reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) and plotted attacks in Israel, according to multiple reports from news sources inside and outside of the Jewish state.

All of the men were young Arabs, but citizens of Israel, a spokesman for the intelligence agency Shin Bet said in a statement Dec. 8. The men were reportedly training with military style firearms, meeting in secret and preparing for jihad against “infidels.”

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Oregon bakers pay fine after state seizes their bank accounts

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According to World Magazine:

On Monday, Aaron and Melissa Klein paid the state of Oregon $136,927.07—the fine levied against them for declining to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2013. The payment also included interest accrued since the couple lost their appeal in July.

The Kleins, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, had asked the state to postpone collecting the fine while they continued the appeal process. But just weeks before Christmas, the state labor commissioner who brought the case against them seized their bank accounts.

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Evolutionists Startled by “Exceptionally Preserved” Embryos in Ancient Fossils

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Christian News Network reports:

A team of French and Canadian scientists have identified preserved embryos within the eggs of a tiny shrimp-like creature believed to have lived over 500 million years ago, raising questions about both the development of the creatures’ brooding abilities and the likelihood of such delicate materials surviving for thousands of millennia.

Waptia fieldensis is a tiny, shrimp-like arthropod whose fossilized remains were first found 100 years ago in Cambrian layers of fossils in Canada. Now extinct, Waptia was a frail creature that carried the eggs of its young within its own body.

Canadian researchers studying Waptia specimens recently made a startling discovery: despite the fossils’ purported ages, collections of tiny eggs somehow survived within their fossilized bodies. The scientists marveled at the remarkable condition of the creatures, describing them as “exceptionally preserved.”

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New York City to Fine Employers Who Refer to “Transgendered” Workers by Birth Gender

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Christian News Network reports:

The New York City Commission on Human Rights has announced new guidelines under the city’s Human Rights Law that may impose fines on employers who use masculine pronouns for male workers who wish to identify as women and vice versa.

The Commission released its interpretive guide to the law on Monday, which includes a prohibition on “[i]ntentionally failing to use an individual’s preferred name, pronoun or title,” such as “repeatedly calling a transgender woman ‘him’ or ‘Mr.’ when she has made it clear that she prefers female pronouns and a female title.”

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U.S. to Allow Homosexual Men to Donate Blood if Abstinent for at Least One Year

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According to Christian News Network:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued its final guidance on allowing homosexual men to donate blood, stating that men should be allowed to do so if they have been abstinent for at least one year.

As previously reported, the FDA first announced its intent to loosen its restrictions on blood donations from homosexual men last year, stating that it would “take the necessary steps to recommend a change to the blood donor deferral period for men who have sex with men from indefinite deferral to one year since the last sexual contact.”

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Christians in China feel full force of authorities’ repression

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The Washington Post reports:

Pastor Su Tianfu slides into the back seat and tells the driver to hit it.

He looks over his shoulder: “Is there anybody following us?”

It is days before Christmas, but instead of working on his sermon, Su is giving his tail the slip.

The slight and soft-spoken Protestant preacher is no stranger to surveillance. Su has worked for years in China’s unregistered “house churches,” and he said he has been interrogated more times than he can count.

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Christianity And LGBT Rights: More Christians Than Ever Say Gays Should Be Accepted By Society

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International Business Times reports:

More American Christians are accepting LGBT people, even if their churches strongly oppose gay and lesbian relationships, according to a Pew Research Center report of U.S. religious beliefs and practices released Friday. While more non-Christians accept gay relationships than Christians, the number of Christians who say LGBT relationships should be accepted and not discouraged has grown by 10 percentage points since 2007, the study found.

Overall, 54 percent of Christians say gay people should be accepted, compared with 76 percent of non-Christians and 83 percent of religiously unaffiliated people. Across the general U.S. population, 62 percent accept gay relationships, up from 50 percent in 2007. Most churches teach gay relationships are an act of sin or “intrinsically disordered,” the Pew study said.

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Billy Graham’s Muslims Are “Saved” Remarks Revived After Son Franklin Opposes “Same God” Professor

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According to Christian News Network:

Billy and Franklin GrahamRemarks from Billy Graham asserting that Muslims and those of other religions who “turn to the only light they have” without consciously trusting Christ are saved—despite clear warning in Scripture—have come back to light after his son Franklin Graham, the president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA), expressed disagreement with a Wheaton professor who contends that Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

As previously reported, associate professor Larycia Hawkins posted to Facebook two photos of herself wearing a hijab earlier this month, and stated in a lengthy explanation that she plans to wear it everywhere she goes during the Advent—including at the professedly Christian college and to church.

“I stand in human solidarity with my Muslim neighbor because we are formed of the same primordial clay, descendants of the same cradle of humankind—a cave in Sterkfontein, South Africa that I had the privilege to descend into to plumb the depths of our common humanity in 2014,” Hawkins wrote.

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Vatican Announces “Mother Teresa” to Be Sainted After Being Credited With “Miracles” After Death

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Christian News Network reports:

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu, also known as “Mother Teresa,” will be sainted next year as she is being credited with the purported healing of two people through what Roman Catholics believe is her intercession after her death, the Vatican announced on Friday.

Jorge Bergoglio, also known as “Pope Francis,” approved a decree on Thursday that Bojaxhiu was responsible for a second miracle 11 years after she died.

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Wheaton Students Demand Reinstatement of Hijab-Wearing Professor Who Declared “We All Worship Same God”

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Christian News Network reports:

A number of students from a prominent Christian-identified university are demanding that school officials reinstate an associate political science director who posted photos of herself wearing an Islamic hijab, stating that she was doing so to show solidarity with Muslims.

As previously reported, Larycia Hawkins posted to Facebook two photos of herself wearing a hijab last Thursday, and stated in a lengthy explanation that she plans to wear it everywhere she goes during the Advent—including at the Christian college and to church.

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Rick Warren and Cardinal Sean O’Malley Conclude World Meeting of Families

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From Berean Research:

Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren once again unites with the apostate Roman Catholic Church, this time to talk about “The Joy of the Gospel of Life,” which is ironic because he’s fully aware that the RCC’s gospel does not bring joy. Why? Because it is a false gospel, a gospel that saves no one. In fact, Protestants hold that the RCC’s man centered gospel is in opposition to biblical Christianity. Pastor Warren knows perfectly well what the Bible says about those who teach a false gospel — let him be accursed!:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8, 9)

So – why would a shepherd lead his sheep into a den of wolves?

Recorder Standard has the story:

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Muslim prayer room at Catholic high school in Michigan sparks debate

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According to Fox News:

Some parents outside Detroit were questioning a Catholic high school’s decision to allow a special room for Muslim students to pray, Fox 2 reported Wednesday.

Brother Rice High School, an all-boys school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, reportedly granted a request from Muslim students to use the religious reflection room throughout the day. Roughly a dozen of the school’s 800-plus students are Muslim, according to WXYZ.

One unnamed parent told the news station the room was “unconscionable,” arguing that her son’s paid Catholic education would be “undermined.” Fox 2 reported receiving similar criticism.

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House budget bill funds Planned Parenthood, reduces UNFPA funds

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LifeSiteNews reports:

The House’s new Speaker has unveiled a $1.67 trillion budget that fully funds Planned Parenthood for the next nine-and-a-half months.

The budget comes five months after a series of videos showed Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of unborn baby parts, as well as appearing to discuss illegal partial-birth abortions and illegal modifications to abortion.

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Mark Driscoll Listed as Director of Newly Incorporated The Trinity Church in Phoenix

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Mark DriscollWarren Throckmorton of Patheos informs us that shamed former pastor Mark Driscoll is in the process of starting a new church in Phoenix, AZ. In July Driscoll confirmed his move to Phoenix but said there are “no concrete plans for ongoing local church ministry as of yet.” Five months later he is listed as a director of The Trinity Church. According to Throckmorton:

The next big thing appears to be just around the corner.

Mark Driscoll is listed as a director of recently registered The Trinity Church in Phoenix, along with Randall Taylor and Jimmy Evans. The address is the same UPS store listed as the Mark Driscoll Ministries address (the church has a different box number):

Mark Driscoll Ministries 21001 North Tatum Blvd Ste 1630-527 Phoenix, AZ 85050

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Washington Times slams president for “scandal of enormous proportions”

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According to Christian Examiner:

President Obama’s indifference to Christian persecution in the Middle East is part of a “scandal of enormous proportions,” the editorial staff of the Washington Times has written in a scathing rebuke of the administration.

“Expressions of concern by the leaders of the West are few. The fact is that Christians face more persecution, in more countries, than any other religious group,” the editorial said before launching into an attack on the president’s human rights record with respect to Christian refugees from Syria.

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Wheaton College Suspends Hijab-Wearing Professor Who Declared “We All Worship Same God”

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Christian News Network reports:

A prominent Christian-identified university in Illinois has suspended an associate political science director after she posted photos of herself wearing an Islamic hijab this past week, stating that she was doing so to show solidarity with Muslims.

“Wheaton College faculty and staff make a commitment to accept and model our institution’s faith foundations with integrity, compassion, and theological clarity,” the college said in a statement on Tuesday. “As they participate in various causes, it is essential that faculty and staff engage in and speak about public issues in ways that faithfully represent the college’s evangelical Statement of Faith.”

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McDonald’s, Target top sponsors of 2015 anti-family programming

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According to Christian Examiner:

Wendy’s, Coca Cola and Walmart were among the most responsible advertisers in 2015 by supporting positive programming, while Microsoft, McDonald’s and Target were among the least responsible advertisers, according to the Parents Television Council’s annual “best and worst” advertisers list.

The companies on the “best” list demonstrated a “willingness to support positive TV programming,” while the “worst” companies “supported TV shows that routinely feature sex, violence, and profanity” and “have not responded to calls to reevaluate their sponsorship behavior,” PTC said.

The “worst” list contains some surprising names, especially for families who don’t track commercials. McDonald’s, for example, is generally thought of as a family-friendly restaurant thanks to its Happy Meals and indoor play areas. But it made the “worst” list after a one-year hiatus. It also was on the 2012 and 2013 “worst” lists.

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Montana Judge Denies Polygamist’s Request for “Marriage Equality” in Striking Down Bigamy Law

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According to Christian News Network:

A judge in Montana has halted the lawsuit of a polygamist who sought “marriage equality” after was denied a license to tie the knot with a second woman.

As previously reported, Nathan Collier, 46, went to the Yellowstone County Courthouse in July with his partner Christine to seek a second marriage license.

As the U.S. Supreme Court had just opined days earlier that homosexuals should be able to “marry,” he stated that if the court really believes in equality, then he should have the right to marry as he wishes as well. Collier cited language from dissenting Chief Justice John Roberts, who stated that the “gay marriage” ruling “would apply with equal force to the claim of a fundamental right to plural marriage.”

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Ole Miss renames Christmas a “Hotty Toddy Holiday”

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Christian Examiner reports:

In an effort to be more inclusive, Ole Miss is excluding the word “Christmas” from its annual Christmas event.

“We really wanted to change the atmosphere from last year and that would explain the name change,” Kayp Maye, co-director of special events for the university’s Student Activities Association, said in an interview with News Watch 99.

For the previous six years, the celebration has been called “A Grand Ole Christmas,” but now it will be called “Hotty Toddy Holiday,” perhaps a reference to an Ole Miss football cheer or to the beverage hot toddy.

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Wheaton College Professor Comes Out Wearing Hijab, Quotes “Pope Francis”: “We All Worship Same God”

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According to Christian News Network:

A professor at a prominent Christian university in Illinois posted photos of herself wearing an Islamic hijab this past week, stating that she was doing so to show solidarity with Muslims.

Larycia Hawkins is an associate political science director at Wheaton College, one of the most renown Christian schools in the world. On Thursday, she posted two photos of herself wearing a hijab, and stated in a lengthy explanation that she plans to wear it everywhere she goes during the Advent—including at the Christian college and to church.

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“I’m a warrior for the babies” Planned Parenthood suspect declares in court

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The Washington Post reports:

“I’m guilty,” Robert L. Dear announced at his first in-person court appearance since he allegedly fired on a busy Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs three weeks ago, killing two civilians and a police officer in the assault and subsequent shootout with police.

Dear, 57, now faces charges on 179 counts of murder, attempted murder and other crimes.

But on Wednesday, startling those in the small Colorado courtroom, a handcuffed Dear declared, “There is no trial.”

“I’m a warrior for the babies,” he said.

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John 3:16 no longer one of the most popular verses for sharing

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According to Christian Examiner

YouVersion, a digital Bible app that works on every device, just shared its 2015 statistics, including its most shared verses by country—and John 3:16 isn’t one of them.

YouVersion is celebrating its 200 million downloads, 1,200 Bible versions, and 900 languages, a staggering increase from the 12 versions and 2 languages it offered when it was launched in 2006 by LifeChurch.tv, based in Oklahoma.

What God is doing through YouVersion is incredible—changing mobile devices into Bibles that people carry with them everywhere they go,” Bobby Gruenewald, pastor and innovation leader at LifeChurch, told Christianity Today.

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