“The question is, should California’s taxpayers bear the financial burden of bad immigration policies by progressives in the state of California and now at the national level?”
(Valerie Richardson & Tom Howell Jr – The Washington Times) New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday that the city will provide illegal immigrants with a way to obtain affordable health care as part of a broader program to cover city residents traditionally shut out of insurance options. Continue reading
“Churches frequently just cover things up. That is wrong. It’s sad how it makes Christianity look bad and Baptists look bad, but it’s not right to cover this up.”
(Heather Clark – Christian News Network) The leader of a professed church in Texas affiliated with Steven Anderson’s Faithful Word Baptist Church in Arizona, who spoke positively of the deaths of 49 people in the 2016 Pulse homosexual nightclub massacre, has resigned after admitting to being involved with prostitutes, gambling and drugs. Continue reading
Prior to his resignation, Defense Secretary James Mattis said he is “prepared to defend” the ban, concluding that troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria carry “impacts of healthcare costs, readiness, and unit cohesion,” and as such present “considerable risk to military effectiveness and lethality.”
(Paul Bois – Daily Wire) The Trump administration’s ban on transgenders serving in the U.S. military got a major boost on Friday when a federal appeals court ruled that the ban should not have been blocked by a lower court. Continue reading
“If you reject the idea that God’s law has anything to do with human civil government, then you have no standard whatsoever by which human civil government can establish justice in the earth. When Jesus said, ‘Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,’ He didn’t say that Caesar can make up any law he wants—that Caesar could say, ‘Let’s go murder babies,’ and that’s fine with God. No, no, no.”
(Heather Clark – Christian News Network) During a recent interview with The Washington Post, Jerry Falwell Jr, the president of Liberty University, which hails itself as the world’s largest Christian university, said that he doesn’t believe that public policy should be based on the Bible, and agreed that the government should be “free of religious association.” Continue reading
The Pope has thus far ignored Trump’s recent comments. He is in the Vatican, behind its walls, currently dealing with the massive Roman Catholic sex abuse scandals throughout the world.
(JD Hall – Pulpit & Pen) The President of the United States is feuding with the Bishop of Rome, and Trump just had a ‘drop the mic’ moment with the pontiff.
On one side of this dispute is Donald J. Trump, who took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America. On the other side is Pope Francis, a Argentinian Jesuit who was thoroughly indoctrinated by South American liberation theologians. Trump wants to protect America, and the Pope wants to unite the world globally under the banner of Rome. Continue reading
Cardinal Donald Wuerl resigned after being accused of mishandling allegations of abuse against priests. Photo credit Flickr
“In the 16 years between the Boston scandal and the Pennsylvania investigation, only about 30 dioceses around the country had released lists of priests they deemed credibly accused of abuse. Most of those dioceses came clean because they were forced to do so by lawsuits or bankruptcy filings. Some dioceses declined to name any deceased priests, since they could not defend themselves, and some would not identify any clergy members at all.”
(Claudia Lauer – AP) Over the past four months, Roman Catholic dioceses across the U.S. have released the names of more than 1,000 priests and others accused of sexually abusing children in an unprecedented public reckoning spurred at least in part by a shocking grand jury investigation in Pennsylvania, an Associated Press review has found. Continue reading
“The 41.9 million figure comes from abortion statistics published by the World Health Organization. In 2018, 23 percent of all pregnancies ended in abortion, Breitbart reports, adding that for every 33 live births, 10 children were aborted.”
(Carly Hoilman – Faithwire) Nearly 42 million human beings were aborted last year, according to Worldometers. Statistics from the independent data collecting site show abortion to be the leading cause of death in 2018, dwarfing other prominent killers like cancer, AIDS, car accidents and suicide, Life News reported. Continue reading
“The ability to change that mark, to change that F to an X as a way of eschewing the binary systems of male and female, and man and woman, is an essential step towards the breaking down of binary ideological systems, created in order to justify and uphold social, political and economic oppression.”
(Heather Clark – Christian News) A law that was passed last year that allows New York City residents to obtain amended birth certificates, including with an “X” for their gender, has officially gone into effect. Continue reading
“DiNardo stunned the bishops when he opened the assembly Nov. 12 by announcing that “at the insistence of the Holy See” the bishops would not be voting on the measures after all. He said the Vatican wanted them to delay a vote until after Pope Francis hosts a global summit in February on preventing sex abuse by priests.”
(Nicole Winfield – AP) The Vatican blocked U.S. bishops from taking measures to address the clergy sex abuse scandal because U.S. church leaders didn’t discuss the legally problematic proposals with the Holy See enough beforehand, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. Continue reading
Facebook, which has to moderate billions of posts per day, defines hate speech as a “direct attack on people based on what we call protected characteristics — race, ethnicity, national origin, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, caste, sex, gender, gender identity, and serious disease or disability. We also provide some protections for immigration status.
(Christopher Carbone – Fox News) Evangelical leader Franklin Graham accepted Facebook’s apology and suggested the social network come up with a standard based on “God’s word” after the tech company mistakenly banned him for 24 hours last week over a 2016 post about HB2, North Carolina’s controversial “bathroom bill.” Continue reading
One week after the century-old Boy Scouts of America announced its name was becoming “gender fluid,” its single biggest participant announced that it was cutting ties to the Scouts.
(Jay Greenberg – Neon Nettle) Earlier this month, it was revealed that the Boy Scouts of America, the 108-year-old organization synonymous with traditional American values, is on the verge of bankruptcy.
A report by the Wall Street Journal revealed that a Chicago law firm, Sidley Austin, has been appointed to handle Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Continue reading
While the actor has apologized in each circumstance, the article paints Pratt as a man with no filter and who seemingly does not “even think before he speaks.”
(Kayla Koslosky – Christian Headlines) In the magazine’s “12 Days of Chris-Mas” series, the TV Guide ranked Christian actor Chris Pratt as the “fifth best Chris,” while also noting that his offscreen life is often “problematic.”
In an article titled, “How to Love Chris Pratt Without Hating Yourself,” the TV guide writer Kaitlin Thomas points out all of the reasons she deems the Guardians of the Galaxy actor “problematic” and “divisive” Continue reading
“Two LaFayette Parish residents who want to host a drag queen event at the library—Matthew Humphrey and Aimee Robinson—have now entered the legal picture, filing suit with the aid of the ACLU of Louisiana in an effort to force officials to allow the events.”
(Heather Clark – Christian News) The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has filed suit against the LaFayette Public Library in Louisiana after officials decided to ban Drag Queen Story Time events as the library had been sued by two other groups for originally planning to host an event on the premises. Continue reading
“This is going to be the New Deal, the Great Society, the moon shot, the civil-rights movement of our generation,” Ocasio-Cortez said at a panel event in early December alongside Sanders, a likely 2020 presidential contender.
(Michael Bastasch – The Daily Caller) Democrats are increasingly lining up to support a “Green New Deal,” which, while vague on details, could end up being the largest expansion of government in decades. Continue reading
From politicians losing their positions over sexual-misconduct allegations to concerns of voter fraud in multiple midterm elections, 2018 was not without its share of political controversies.
Photo credit Wikimedia Commons
“The USA is withdrawing its forces from Syria with the claim that IS was the only reason for them being in the country, the disregard for Iranian entrenchment in Syria is dangerous to Israel,” opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni of the Zionist Union tweeted.
(Deborah Danan – Breitbart) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is said to have tried in vain to persuade President Donald Trump to walk back his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria, a move that was met with significant “disappointment” in Jerusalem, Israeli media reported.
Israeli political figures have said that the move represents a possible blow to regional security, leaving the Jewish state to single-handedly combat the threat posed by the Iranian presence in the embattled country. Continue reading
Urging people with information about misconduct to come forward, he added: “The church asks that people not be silent, but bring it objectively to light, since the greater scandal in this matter is that of cloaking the truth.”
(Alex Williams – Premiere) The Catholic Church shall “never again” cover up sexual abuse perpetrated by its clergy, Pope Francis promised during a Christmas address to Vatican officials on Friday.
Dr. Michelle Cretella, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, told The Christian Post that the study “confirms what no one disputes: Namely, that youth who identify as LGBQT have higher rates of mental illness leading to a greater risk of life-threatening behaviors.”
(Leah MarieAnn Klett – Christian Post) LGBT youth are at a higher risk of suicide and life-threatening behavior than their heterosexual peers, a new study has found, with transgender teens being the most at risk. Continue reading
Rush Limbaugh: “If the measure passes ‘Trump gets nothing and the Democrats get everything, including control of the House in a few short weeks. This is textbook. It’s a textbook example of what the drive-by media calls compromise.'”
(Beth Baumann – Townhall) Conservative pundits are upset with President Donald Trump and the White House caving on border wall funding. Trump previously threatened a government shutdown if he wasn’t given $5 billion to build the wall, although Congress had allocated $1.6 billion. Continue reading
Military historian, columnist and author Victor Davis Hanson joined Fox News host Tucker Carlson after Michael Flynn’s court hearing on Tuesday. During the discussion, Hanson called the outrageous stories coming from Trump haters a “soft coup.” Here’s what he said:
“This Mueller investigation that we have is not in isolation. We had, remember, from the day Trump was elected we were told the election machines were flawed, we were going to sue. And then there was a group, remember we were told about the Electoral College, and we were told we had to overturn the electors. And then we went to the 25th Amendment that Trump was unbalanced. And that didn’t work. And then we went to the emoluments clause, he profited even though his businesses had lost a billion dollars. And then we’ve gone to Mueller. And so there’s a slow motion if you will, I don’t want to be too psychodramatic like MSNBC gets. But there is sort of a slow motion coup to overturn the elections.”
The National Sentinal has the story and the must watch video: Continue reading
The new year ushers in resolutions and a time to start fresh. But the beginning of a new year means the close of another, offering us the chance to look back and reflect on the good, the bad … and the downright absurd.
(Chelsen Vicari – Juicy Ecumenism) In 2018, we here at the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) published hundreds of articles on everything from the most encouraging news stories affecting Christianity to some of the most concerning. That’s our job, our mission.
Curious, I dug back through the IRD archives to find out what stories specific to the Evangelical Action program resonated most with our readers. Here are our top 10 most-read Evangelical news stories of the year: Continue reading
Autistic 11 year-old “drag queen” Desmond Napoles – Instagram screenshot via dangerous.com
“Desmond Napoles, who goes by the drag stage name “Desmond Is Amazing,” is barely 11 years old, yet homosexual and mainstream media have thrust him into the spotlight as the face of the growing prepubescent gay/transgender movement.”
(Doug Mainwaring – LifeSiteNews) – Perhaps sensing the horrific optics of the event, LGBT news sites have assiduously avoided reporting that their favorite 11-year-old drag kid “Desmond Is Amazing” danced on stage in a New York gay bar while adult male patrons tossed money his way as if he were a male stripper.
The pre-adolescent boy, dressed in drag to imitate singer Gwen Stefani, pranced around the stage at Brooklyn’s 3 Dollar Bill, an LGBT bar described as “queer owned & operated,” and “Brooklyn’s Premiere Queer Bar & Performance Venue.” Continue reading
ACLJ view the mindfulness-based stress reduction techniques used in some schools as a danger to children. The organization condemned audio recordings it claims say, “ We’re all connected through nature. And we’re all connected through the universe.”
(Katherine Hignett – Newsweek) Conservative Christian watchdog group The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) has launched a petition to stop “forced Buddhist meditation” in schools. Continue reading
“Obamacare was struck down by a Texas federal judge in a ruling that casts uncertainty on insurance coverage for millions of U.S. residents.”
(Matt Vespa – Townhall) We have breaking news coming from Texas. A federal judge has struck down the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare). A group of Republican state attorneys general argued in their lawsuit that the repeal of the tax penalty gutted the argument for ACA legality. Bloomberg has more, with the publication adding that the DOJ tried to argue that the individual mandate, including provisions to keep the premium rates the same among healthy individuals and those with pre-existing conditions, should be struck down, but keep the rest of the law intact. That included Medicaid expansion, the employer mandates, the exchanges, and premium subsides for hospitals. Continue reading