Just the facts.

Court Rules Cross Memorial Is Constitutional Despite Objection from Humanists

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Christian News Network reports:

A federal court has ruled that a memorial cross that sits on public land is constitutional, despite objections from a prominent humanist organization.

The Bladensburg World War I Veterans Memorial, also known as the “peace cross,” was erected in 1925 by the American Legion to honor the lives of 49 men from Prince George County who died during the war.

The cross stands 40 feet tall in Memorial Park, and also features a plaque that reads, “The right is more precious than the peace; we shall fight for the things we have always carried nearest our hearts; to such a task we dedicate ourselves.” The site is mainly used by the American Legion for Memorial Day and Veterans Day celebrations.

View article →

San Bernardino Shooting Day Two: The Jahidis Next Door

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Breitbart reports:

Day Two: Authorities are still investigating details of a mass shooting Wednesday morning in San Bernardino, California at the Inland Regional Center, a facility for developmentally disabled adults. 14 people were killed and at least 17 injured in a conference room at the center, where county employees had been enjoying a holiday party. There appear to be two suspects, both Muslim, a husband-and-wife team named Syed Rezwan Farook, 28, and Tashfeen Malik, 27. Large portions of the city remain locked down.

6:45 a.m.: A high school in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles neighborhood where many Hollywood celebrities live, has received a threat, according to the Palisadian-Post:

BREAKING: Parents this evening received notification that Palisades Charter High School is on “high alert” due to an anonymous tip. According to Pali High Principal Pamela Magee, it was Palisades Charter Elementary School that received a threatening call today. “Pali High was notified of the alert and sent out a similar message about being on high alert due to the incident in [San Bernardino],” Magee told the ‪#‎palipost‬. Pali Elementary could not be reached for comment.

One parent commented on Facebook: “Having received that call from Palisades Elementary School tonight I can say that while the call itself was disturbing the complete lack of update or follow up made it more so. The call didn’t say do or don’t send kids to school, so I think we have all been left wondering.”

View article →

Colorado Lawmaker to Planned Parenthood: “Stop the Violence Inside Your Walls”

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

Christian News Network reports:

A Republican lawmaker in Colorado pointed to Planned Parenthood’s violence against the unborn in a comment on social media this week, stating that the nation must “start pointing out who is the real culprit.”

Rep. JoAnn Windholz of Denver made the comments on Monday on Facebook.

“The freedoms we enjoy in the United States include those that were made up to fit the audience and unsubstantiated numerical support, specifically the right to an abortion,” she wrote. “When a violent act happens at a Planned Parenthood facility (most recent in Colorado Springs) the left goes on ‘auto-pilot’ blaming everyone in sight when they should be looking in a mirror.”

View article →

Backlash brewing against same-sex marriage gay leaders fear

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

Christian Examiner reports:

Supreme Court 5-4Supporters of same-sex marriage are warning about a backlash against this summer’s landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, and a prominent Christian sociologist says they have reason to be concerned.

The anxiousness on the part of LGBT leaders follows the defeat of a transgender equal rights ordinance in Houston as well as the widespread support among Christian conservatives for Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who refused to grant marriage licenses to same-sex couples if her name was on them.

Additionally, the Alabama Supreme Court in September ruled that the state doesn’t have to recognize the adoption of children by a lesbian woman in a custody dispute across state lines. She lives in Georgia, while the biological mom and the children live in Alabama. The controversy began when the two women ended their relationship.

View article →

Donald Trump cancels event with black pastors, stands by his 9/11 Muslim remarks

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

Religion News Service reports:

Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump has canceled a public event set for Monday where he had planned to announce endorsements from blackpastors, after a group of African-American academics and clergy members urged them to reconsider, citing Trump’s “racially inaccurate … rhetoric.”

Trump sent out word to media outlets last week that he would hold an early afternoon news conference Monday to announce the endorsement of his campaign by “100 African American Evangelical pastors and religious leaders…after a private meeting.”

View article →

The Sports Media Mocks Tebow Over Break-Up with Former Miss USA Due to his Abstinence Pledge

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

According to News Busters:

Tim Tebow’s relationship with former Miss USA model Olivia Culpa is over. Because, according to reports, Culpo is upset that the couple isn’t having sex, since Tebow has decided to remain abstinent until marriage.

So long story short, a report that should have come as no surprise since Tebow has already had one relationship end because of his moral stand and maybe, just maybe, God-forbid engender some sense of begrudging respect from the media elite for at least having the courage of his convictions, has instead triggered a few juvenile headlines and one-liners from a legion of sports reporters who would never be allowed in the same room as a Miss USA, current or former. Unless they bought a ticket.

View article →

South Korean Pastor’s “Drop Box” Inspires Georgia Women to Create “Hope Box” to Save Babies

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

Christian News Network reports:

Two women in Georgia have launched a life-saving ministry that they call “The Hope Box” after being inspired by the documentary “The Drop Box,” which featured a South Korean pastor who rescues abandoned orphans through a drop-off at his home.

“Being that we are the number one state in America for sex-trafficking, there’s a rise in women becoming pregnant through this and not knowing what to do with their babies,” Tiffany Turolla, co-founder of The Hope Box told WXIA-TV.

View article →

Officer Killed During Shooting at Colorado Planned Parenthood Was Pro-Life Pastor

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Christian News Network reports:

The police officer who was killed during a shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood Friday was a pro-life co-pastor at an evangelical church, reports state. Garrett Swasey, 44 and a married father of two, has served for seven years at Hope Chapel in Colorado Springs. He spent six of those years on the police force of the University of Colorado.

View article →

French Muslim body calls for imams to require “licence to preach”

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

France 24 reports:

France’s leading Muslim body called Tuesday for imams to require a permit to preach in a bid to root out extremists, and for a new religious body to fight back against jihadist propaganda.

Anouar Kbibech, president of the French Council for the Muslim Religion (CFCM), said the country’s imams should be given a certificate — “like a driving licence” — that ensured they promoted a “tolerant and open Islam”.

The CFCM said it would hand out the permits by testing theological knowledge and adherence to French principles, and make them sign an “imams’ charter” in which they agreed to “respect the laws of the Republic”.

View article →

Silicon Valley professionals are taking LSD at work to increase productivity

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

The Telegraph reports:

Could taking LSD at work make your more productive?

It seems unlikely, but that’s apparently what some Silicon Valley professionals have been doing – and reporting great results.

According to Rolling Stone, a growing number of people are experimenting with “microdoses” of psychedelics to help them work.

A microdose of LSD is around 10-15 micrograms, approximately a tenth of a “normal” dose.

View article →

Smoking high-strength cannabis may damage nerve fibres in brain

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

According to The Guardian:

High-strength cannabis may damage nerve fibres that handle the flow of messages across the two halves of the brain, scientists claim. Brain scans of people who regularly smoked strong skunk-like cannabis revealed subtle differences in the white matter that connects the left and right hemispheres and carries signals from one side of the brain to the other.

View article →

Hillsong’s Brian Houston failed to report abuse and had conflict of interest – royal commission

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

According to The Guardian Brian Houston, who was national president of the Assemblies of God in Australia at the time, neglected to inform authorities that his father was a child sexual abuser, even though he knew about it:

Brian HoustonBrian Houston, the founder of the Hillsong Church, failed to alert the police about allegations his father had sexually assaulted children, and had a conflict of interest when he assumed responsibility for dealing with the accusations, a royal commission has found.

In October 2014 the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse examined the responses of the Assemblies of God in Australia (now Australian Christian Churches) to allegations against three men, including Frank Houston, a preacher who helped build the Pentecostal movement in Australia and who died in 2004.

Frank Houston had abused up to nine boys in Australia and New Zealand, and in its final report on the case released on Monday, the commission found multiple failings within the church executive – at the time led by Frank Houston’s son Brian – in responding.

View article →

After same-sex wedding, Baptists sever ties with Greenville church

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

GreenvilleOnline reports:

The revelation that First Baptist Greenville would marry same-sex couples sparked renouncements and rejoice over the summer — left wing, right wing, casual non-believers, an issue wrapped in tradition and the ripe moment of a cause.

The dust had just begun to settle here in the cradle of conservative Baptist theology, but now another longtime Baptist church on the outskirts of downtown Greenville has aroused interest — and fueled new rounds of praise and condemnation.

Today, Augusta Heights Baptist Church finds itself in a similar position after its pastor officiated a same-sex marriage outside the church.

The blessing of the bond of two gay men has brought with it ultimatums from the Baptist organizations it has long affiliated with.

View article →

Dad demands abortion after surrogate learns she’s having triplets

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙

According to Fox News:

A man who paid a surrogate to have his baby became overwhelmed when he learned she was having triplets — and demanded the woman abort one of the fetuses while threatening her with financial ruin, she claims.

“They are human beings. I bonded with these kids. This is just not right,” mom-to-be Melissa Cook told The Post on Tuesday.

View article →

“Too Much God Talk”: Rob Bell’s “Progressive” Successor Steps Down from Leading Mars Hill

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Christian News Network reports:

Kent Dobson, who took over the leadership role at Mars Hill in 2012 after controversial author and speaker Rob Bell left the congregation he founded, has now also decided to step down, stating that “being a pastor is not who I am.”

“My place here has not felt right. Like I was wearing someone else’s suit that didn’t quite fit and I tried to get it tailored and maybe I had shoulder pads from the 90’s or something, I don’t know,” he told the congregation on Sunday. “It just felt like it didn’t quite fit me so well.”

Dobson said that he feels restless and uncomfortable around “too much God talk.”

View article →

“Severe blow”: Al Qaeda suicide bomber takes out leadership of key ISIS brigade

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Fox News has good news to report:

A recent suicide bombing in southern Syria shows the rivalry between Al Qaeda and ISIS is more than just a contest to see who can kill the most infidels — the groups are using classic terror techniques on each other.

The Nov. 15 bombing came at a top-level meeting of the Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade, a key ISIS militia known for its bloody and vicious hold over parts of the Golan Heights. Six of the group’s top men were killed, including Muhammad “Abu Ali” al-Baridi, the shadowy head of the group who went by the nickname “The Uncle.”

Al Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, quickly took credit, gloating on Twitter about the “heroic” attack.

View article →

Black student at Occidental charges conservatives not protesting are “marginalized” and bullied

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Christian Examiner reports:

A black conservative collegian said he has been ostracised by former friends and marginalized for not supporting activist groups on campus who have said racial bias exists at Occidential College and have demanded the resignation of the school’s president.

“They’re doing what they claim white people do to us, which is marginalize us and cast us as the bad guy,” Alton Luke II told the Los Angeles Times Friday. “You can’t have a different opinion here or you’re persecuted. But I’m standing against their tyrannical and unjustified actions.”

View article →

“Get ’Em Young”: Evolutionists Praise New Book Teaching Children About Their “Grandmother Fish”

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

According to Christian News Network:

An evolution-promoting author has released an illustrated children’s book, titled “Grandmother Fish,” that uses whimsical text and drawings to convince preschoolers that they are the products of evolution and the descendants of animals.

“Grandmother Fish: a child’s first book of Evolution” is a 40-page children’s book written by Jonathan Tweet. The book begins by introducing its readers to a fish from whom all humans supposedly descended.

View article →

Teenager Arrested in Murder of Indiana Pastor’s Wife Amanda Blackburn

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News

Christian News Network reports:

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department’s Gang and Violent Crime Unit, along with U.S. marshals, arrested a teenager on Monday in the death of Indiana pastor’s wife Amanda Blackburn.

The suspect has been identified as 18-year-old Larry Taylor of Indianapolis, who neighbors state they saw in the area the morning that Blackburn was killed. Detectives believe that Taylor, who sought to burglarize the home, observed Pastor Davey Blackburn leaving the residence to go to the gym. He then entered the front door, which had been left onlocked as Amanda Blackburn waited for her husband to return home.

View article →

Tenured California professor says study labeling “homophobia” a disease is “garbage”

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

According to Christian Examiner:

An Italian research group of social psychologists recently published a paper in The Journal of Sexual Medicine claiming “homophobia” is a disease and homophobic attitudes are strong indicators of mental disorders.

“Garbage,” says Robert Oscar Lopez, a professor at California State University-Northridge.

Lopez, reportedly a member of a church affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention and frequent writer in conservative publications, explained the study was done mostly by homosexuals and their supporters in the social psychology field, an academic discipline notably lacking in social conservatives.

“It’s almost impossible for the research teams to critique their own methodologies or to improve or to see their own biases.”

View article →

SICK! ABC’s “Scandal” Sets Main Character’s Abortion to “Silent Night”

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , , ,

News Busters reports:

ABC’s Scandal just crossed a sickening line in the episode “Baby It’s Cold Outside.” The entire hour was an advertisement for Planned Parenthood, but the absolute worst scene was a montage set to the Christmas hymn “Silent Night,” a song that celebrates the birth of Christ, while main character Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) has an abortion, killing her and the president’s baby. Between the execution of a man that opens the graphic clip below, the talk of “soft tissue,” saying family destroys you, watching a doctor take his instruments between Olivia’s legs, and the hint of a smile on her lips at the end, it is a truly vile scene, stomach churning scene.

View article →

Evangelical Grand Canyon University to Grant Employee Benefits to Homosexual Staff

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ , ,

According to Christian News Network:

Arizon’s Grand Canyon University has announced that it has decided to grant employee benefits to homosexual staff while reiterating its belief that marriage can only be defined as the union of one man man and one woman.

The university says that it made the change as federal and state governments “have recently changed their long-held definition of marriage and now recognize same-sex marriage as lawful.”

View article →

Islamic Jihadists Kill Three at Mali Hotel, Freeing Those Who Could Recite from Koran

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Daily Mail reports:

Armed jihadists have killed at least three people in a deadly shooting rampage and taken 170 hostages at the Radisson Blu hotel in Bamako, Mali.

Automatic weapons fire has been heard on the seventh floor of the 190-room hotel, where it is thought as many as 10 militants have been going floor to floor and taken 140 guests and 30 members of staff hostage.

Witnesses described how the gunmen allowed around 20 hostages to leave safely after they proved they were able to recite verses of the Koran to the militants. US and French Special Forces have reportedly stormed the hotel and have began to clear the building one floor at a time.

View article →

Suspected mastermind behind Paris attacks killed

Posted by ∙ ∙ In News ∙ ,

Fox News reports:

The man suspected of ringleading last Friday’s Paris attacks that killed 129 people, who bragged that he could always stay one step ahead of Western intelligence, was killed in the police raid north of Paris Wednesday. Officials also confirmed that his cousin was killed, when she apparently blew herself up.

Abdelhamid Abaaoud, 27, also had been linked to as many as four thwarted attacks since this spring, including the plot to kill passengers on a Paris-bound high-speed train in August, a plot that three young Americans helped foil. He was identified from skin samples after the Saint-Denis raid, the French prosecutor’s office reported Thursday.

View article →