The Christian Post reports :
A Massachusetts appeals court heard from lawyers challenging the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between a man and a woman, on Wednesday.
A lawyer for gay married couples argued before the three-judge panel of the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, saying that any law that prohibits them from receiving the same federal benefits that heterosexual couples get should be struck down as unconstitutional.
The Christian Post reports:
Two prominent theologians took opposite sides and debated the theological system of Calvinism, which is experiencing a resurgence in church culture, on “The Exchange” webshow this past week.
Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research, moderated the discussion between Roger Olson and Michael Horton, who both have recent books released on the topic of Calvinism, but taking opposing views on the system. Stetzer wrote in a Nov. 15, 2010 blog post that he thinks “there is a resurgence of Calvinism (particularly within evangelicalism),” and that it is among a younger population.
CNSNews reports:
All student health care plans covering female college students in the United States must include coverage for free voluntary sterilization surgery, the Department of Health and Human Services announced late Friday afternoon.
Women of college age who do not attend school will also get free sterilization coverage whether they are insured through an employer, their parents, or some form of government-subsidized plan.
What’s a good recipe for box office and DVD sales success? It seems in 2011, pro-America sentiment mixed with conservative values and faith-centered themes equaled a hit.
This according to an annual study conducted by the Christian-focused entertainment advocacy group Movieguide, which found that in 2011, American audiences preferred movies with strong conservative content and values over movies with liberal or left-leaning values by an almost six-to-one margin.
The 760-page report claims that films with a conservative or pro-American edge, such as “Captain America,” “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol,” “Soul Surfer,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” and “Battle: Los Angeles” raked in significantly more box office green than more liberal films like “Red State,” “Super 8,” “J. Edgar,” “Glee” and “Ides of March.”
In the island of Singapore that promotes the idea of religious harmony, religious intolerance and hostility towards the Christian faith has increased. Recently, a by-stander was offended by posters put up by the National Univeristy of Singapore (NUS) Campus Crusade for Christ which is aimed at promoting short term missions to various countries of the world including Thailand and Turkey. The offence came about because the posters insist that people of other religions need Christ. As a result of this complaint and the subsequent publicity, the university (NUS) has ordered Campus Crusade to cease all its activities.
In light of this act of religious intolerance against Christianity, you are invited to contact the Singapore embassy and the university and voice your opposition to this deplorable action.
You can contact the Singapore embassy at singemb_was@sgmfa.gov.sg, and you can contact NUS at askiro@nus.edu.sg.
The Associated Press reports this deeply disturbing story:
A small but growing number of teens and even younger children who think they were born the wrong sex are getting support from parents and from doctors who give them sex-changing treatments, according to reports in the medical journal Pediatrics.
It’s an issue that raises ethical questions, and some experts urge caution in treating children with puberty-blocking drugs and hormones.
The Media Research Center reports on the Valentine’s Day episode of the TV series ‘Glee’, in which a lesbian student asked a group of Christians to sing for her girlfriend as part of a ‘singing telegram’ performance. This episode of Glee continued the series’ mockery of Christian belief and promotion of homosexuality.
The Orange County Register reports:
We told you last week that the granddaughter of Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Paul and Jan Crouch has accused the world’s largest Christian broadcaster of unlawfully distributing charitable assets worth more than $50 million to the company’s directors.
The charges were leveled in a federal lawsuit filed by Crouch granddaughter Brittany Koper against her former lawyers, who also do legal work for Trinity. One of those lawyers said her charges were “outright fiction and wholly without merit.”
On Thursday, Feb. 9 – the same day that our story ran online – Paul Crouch and his son, Matt, were having a live chat on TBN’s Behind the Scenes. Paul was reminiscing about how TBN began back in 1973 — God spoke to him as he was driving on MacArthur Boulevard — and the conversation took a turn that Koper’s attorney finds somewhat menacing.
OneNewsNow reports on a former Navy chaplain who says that the Obama administration is clearly trying to censor military chaplains who dare to speak out against the pro-abortion and pro-homosexual agenda. The chaplain was previously forced out of the service for praying publicly in Jesus’ name while in uniform.
The Christian Post reports:
A poll instigated by atheist Richard Dawkins’ foundation has claimed that almost three quarters of British Christians believe religion should have no role in crafting public policy, while almost two-thirds believe same-sex couples should receive every right that heterosexual couples are given.
The Ipsos MORI poll was conducted on behalf of The Richard Dawkins Foundation For Reason and Science after the 2011 census was collected. The results were published Tuesday.
The Baptist Press reports:
Southern Baptists must decide whether they are satisfied with a “presumable encroachment of Calvinism” in their leadership and their seminary graduates, Baptist paper editor Gerald Harris wrote Feb. 9, drawing responses from several SBC entities.
In a column titled “The Calvinists are here,” Harris, editor of The Christian Index, newsjournal of the Georgia Baptist Convention, set forth statements about Calvinism and quoted Southern Baptists on both sides of the issue.
Nicole Winfield, The Associated Press – Sat, 11 Feb 2012
VATICAN CITY – Money laundering at the Vatican bank. Corruption in the awarding of Vatican contracts. Even a purported plot to kill Pope Benedict XVI.
The Vatican is being besieged by near-daily leaks of confidential documents and tabloid-style reports of alleged financial mismanagement, political infighting and gossip about who might be the next pope — all coming out at an exceedingly delicate time for the Holy See and Benedict himself.
Apprising Ministries brings you audio here in this post where the CRN contributor reveals what happened when he and fellow CRN contributor Ern Benziger tried to attend the ER2 today at a satellite campus of Harvest Bible Church.
Apprising Ministries brings you more in this piece concerning the threat of arrest, which I heard myself because I was on the phone with Chris at the time.
News Max reports:
Apprising Ministries reports.