News
| 01/14/11 | Iran Arrests Dozens of Christians Considered a Threat to the Islamic State Iran has arrested about 70 Christians since Christmas in a crackdown that demonstrates the limits of religious tolerance by Islamic leaders who often boast they provide room for other faiths. The latest raids have targeted grass-roots Christian groups Iran describes as "hard-liners" who pose a threat to the Islamic state. Authorities increasingly view them with suspicions that range from trying to convert Muslims to being possible footholds for foreign influence. |
| 01/13/11 | Home schooling results from offensive reading material A social and political commentator thinks it was right for a New Hampshire couple to pull their son out of public school and instead educate him from home after his high school assigned him to read a book they deemed offensive to their Christian faith. Dennis and Aimee Taylor complained about the foul language, descriptions of drug use, and bashing of Jesus and Christianity in Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America when it was assigned to their son's personal finance class at Bedford High School in the fall. They later pulled him out of school at his request and are now educating him from home. However, they still believe the book should be booted out of the classroom. |
| 01/13/11 | Bills must meet constitutional standards A freshman member of the 112th Congress says the recent reading of the Constitution on the House floor was more than just a symbolic move by the GOP-controlled body. One of the first acts of the new Congress was a page-by-page reading of the Constitution. Members of both parties participated, including freshman Republican Alan Nunnelee of Mississippi, who feels the reading conveys that this Congress will be well-grounded in the Constitution. |
| 01/12/11 | Rising Abortion Rate Prompts Calls for More Restrictions -- and Fewer Restrictions A liberal abortion-tracking group reports that the near three-decade decline in abortions has reversed course, going up one percent from about 1.2 million abortions in the United States in 2005 to 1.21 million abortions in 2008. The group says the uptick points to the "need to enact and enforce laws that prohibit the more intrusive forms of harassment” against abortion providers. But a pro-life group said the numbers mask a human tragedy. |
| 01/12/11 | Gender-neutral parent titles scratched The State Department has backed away from a suggestion that would have changed the "mother" and "father" titles in American passports to make them more "inclusive." Had Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's amendment been approved, passports would have instead listed "mother or parent 1" and "father or parent 2" in order to accommodate homosexuals and lesbians couples who are raising children. |
| 01/11/11 | Judge Strikes Down NC Ban on Public Profanity Cursing in public may not be seemly, but it is protected by the Constitution, a North Carolina judge ruled in striking down a 98-year-old state ban on public profanity. Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour dismissed a misdemeanor charge Wednesday against Chapel Hill resident Samantha Elabanjo, who had been convicted in July of using the word "damn" during a confrontation with police officers. Baddour ruled the law against "indecent or profane language" within earshot of two or more people on any public road in North Carolina is too broad. |
| 01/11/11 | Preserving America's godly foundation A California-based Christian group is encouraging believers to advance biblical and constitutional principles, even during the election off-season. In an effort to defend faith, family, and freedom 365 days a year, one organization is providing for Christians the tools needed to preserve biblical values. Mark Matta of PreserveLiberty.com hosts a monthly tele-training conference on the third Monday evening of each month that aims to educate and prepare believers to get involved in the public square. |
| 01/10/11 | Christian Faces Death Sentence in Iran The fate of a Christian pastor in Iran is in the hands of the judicial system in Iran. 32-year-old Youcef Nadarkhani is the pastor of a church of about 400 people. He was convicted of apostasy and has been sentenced to death for allegedly renouncing his Muslim faith. |
| 01/10/11 | Mike Pence Introduces Bill to Stop Tax Dollars from Going to Nation's Top Abortion Provider--Planned Parenthood ep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) has introduced a bill in the House of Representatives that would prohibit abortion providers from receiving federal funds through Title X of the Public Health Service Act, including Planned Parenthood, which received more than $360 million in government grants and contracts in Fiscal Year 2008-2009. “The largest abortion provider in America should not also be the largest recipient of federal funding under Title X,” Pence said from the House floor when he introduced the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act today, Jan. 7. |
| 01/07/11 | Lawmakers recite Constitution on House floor And let it be said, on this second day following the convening of the 112th Congress, newly sworn members of the House shall stand and read aloud the Constitution of the United States. And so it was Thursday, as lawmakers took turns reciting each verse and article of the document. Republicans in charge of the chamber rattled it off with missionary zeal, as if in a school civics class. |
| 01/07/11 | Doritos and Pepsi Mock God-Commentary The Super Bowl is more than just a huge day for professional football fans. Part of the game’s massive audience is there for the chance to see how mega-corporations creatively spend millions of dollars for one Super Bowl commercial. But never understimate the ability of some people to go too far, where talent and imagination are rejected for sophistry and shock. |
| 01/06/11 | Supreme Court Justice Scalia: Roe v. Wade Not in Constitution Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia frequently talks about his views on abortion and the high court case that allowed for unlimited abortions throughout pregnancy for any reason. As the nation looks to mark the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade later this month and 53 million abortions it has ushered in, Scalia said in a new interview that the case is an “absurdity.” “You want a right to abortion? There’s nothing in the Constitution about that. But that doesn’t mean you cannot prohibit it,” he said in an interview with California Lawyer. |
| 01/06/11 | 9th Circuit to weigh in on 'objective study of the Bible' The ongoing fight over whether the Bible and other religious texts should be allowed in Idaho's classrooms is about to go before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Officials at Nampa Classical Academy, one of the biggest charger schools in Idaho, began struggling with state officials over the issue shortly after opening in August 2009. The quarrel continued, even after the Idaho Public Charter School Commission closed the academy last summer, citing financial trouble. The school is now challenging the dismissal of its federal lawsuit against state officials who barred religious material as teaching tools in the classroom. |
| 01/05/11 | Feds' rhetoric imperils Christian values, beliefs A California-based organization has released its annual list of anti-Christian acts in America for 2010 -- a list determined through an online poll. The list included stories like the Department of Homeland Security's report on "Rightwing Extremism," which labeled conservative Christians as potential terrorists -- or when police officers were called to a middle school in Kentucky to stop eighth-graders from praying during lunch for a student whose mother was tragically killed. |
| 01/05/11 | Administration Reverses on End-of-Life Counseling Reversing a potentially controversial decision, the Obama administration will drop references to end-of-life counseling from the ground rules for Medicare's new annual checkup, a White House official said Wednesday. The latest shift on the sensitive subject comes ahead of a vote next week in the new GOP-led House to repeal President Barack Obama's landmark health care overhaul. The decision is not likely to have much impact on patients and doctors already discussing options for care in the last stages of life. |
| 01/04/11 | A Penn. push for parental involvement rights Pennsylvania's Supreme Court is considering a crucial decision for parental involvement, specifically in cases where their underage daughters are considering abortion. Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is working with several of the state's pro-life organizations and legislators and has submitted a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that parents should have an integral role in their child's decisions, including when it comes to abortion. |
| 01/04/11 | Calif. welfare code: Homosexuality inborn A Christian social worker is taking exception to a new California law that declares homosexuals are "born gay." Beginning this New Year, California will implement AB 2199 and ultimately strike down the requirement on the State Department of Mental Health to conduct research on the "causes and cures of homosexuality." According to Veronica Esqueda, a renal social worker in Los Angeles, the measure will portray alternate lifestyles as acceptable and normal. |
| 01/03/11 | MS pastors defending civil rights of unborn On Martin Luther King Day 2011, a special kind of civil rights movement will be birthed in Mississippi. Through the sponsorship of Pro-Life Mississippi, a group of black pastors is planning a Festival for Life for "Civil Rights Day" January 17, which will take place at Wesley Biblical Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. |
| 01/03/11 | Planned Parenthood Launches ‘Social Change Initiative’ to Teach Parents How to Educate Children About Sex, Including Masturbation, Homosexuality The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is signaling its intention to dominate the national sex education agenda. Specifically, Planned Parenthood's Web site announced the group is preparing to launch a nationwide “social change initiative” to end the “stigma and shame about sex” in American culture. The project aims to teach parents and caregivers how to educate children about sex -- from birth. And it recommends telling teenagers about masturbation, oral sex and “where to go for help to prepare to be sexually active.” |
| 12/30/10 | Christians Angry That Apple Yanked App From Store Several Christian leaders are angry that Apple Inc. yanked an iPhone/iPad software application containing the text of the Manhattan Declaration, a 4,700-word document that includes basic Christian teachings and Bible verses on marriage, life, and religious liberty. |
| 12/30/10 | No room in the inn' for pro-lifers The Illinois town of Rockford has not been hospitable to a pro-life mobile sonogram unit that is trying to serve the city. Pro-lifers have parked the sonogram unit outside the Rockford abortion mill several times, but not without exchange from the abortuary workers as police have even told the pro-lifers to remove the unit from the city. Local prayer counselor Kevin Rilott tells OneNewsNow that following that flap, the unit returned to offer free sonograms across from the abortion clinic, but the opposition is taking new measures to keep pregnant patients away from viewing images of their unborn children. |
| 12/29/10 | Pure in mind, pure in actions A nationwide campaign to mobilize youth across the nation to publicly celebrate sexual abstinence until marriage continues to grow. The eighth annual "Day of Purity" -- a project of Liberty Counsel -- will take place on Valentine's Day 2011 with nearly a thousand schools and organizations supporting the movement. The city of Lynchburg, Virginia, just recently became the first city to sign in support of the effort in "promoting purity in mind and actions." Coordinator Amber Haskew says this day is very much needed. |
| 12/29/10 | ACLU on the prayer prowl again Liberty Counsel wants to help a New Jersey city council fend off threats from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU of New Jersey has won a temporary court order calling for an immediate end to city council members offering prayer at meetings in Point Pleasant Beach. A spokesperson for the ACLU-NJ says the practice violates the New Jersey constitution because it shows a preference for one religion over another. |
| 12/28/10 | FAIR' education for 'positive' outlook on homosexuals A California senator is proposing a bill that would radically promote the lesbian, "gay," bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement in schools and wouldn't allow parents to take their children out of discussions concerning the alternate lifestyles. State Senator Mark Leno (D) has introduced a measure that would require public school textbooks to be re-written to contain information about the LGBT movement. Under the FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful) Education Act, textbooks must highlight key LGBT figures who contributed to the history of the United States and include details about the homosexual movement. |
| 12/28/10 | Planned Parenthood's Federal Funding Rose to $363.2 Million in FY 2008-2009, Aborted 324,008 Unborn Children in 2008 Planned Parenthood received $363.2 million in government grants and contracts during its 2008-2009 fiscal year, according to the organization's annual report. That was up from $349.6 million in FY2007-08. According to a fact sheet on Planne Parenthood's Web site, the organization performed 324,008 abortions in calendar year 2008. That was up from 305,310 in 2007 and 289,750 in 2006. |
| 12/23/10 | Obama still wrestling with 'gay marriage' question President Barack Obama says he is still wrestling with whether homosexual couples should have the right to "marry," now that a new law will allow them to serve openly in combat. The question came just hours after he signed landmark legislation repealing the ban on homosexual serving openly in the military. The law ends the 17-year-old "don't ask, don't tell" policy that forced homosexuals to hide their sexual orientation or face dismissal. |
| 12/23/10 | Media missing something this Christmas Just as Bethlehem had no room for Jesus 2,000 years ago, one media expert says today's U.S. media has no room for God this Christmas. A report from the Culture and Media Institute says 98.7 percent of the stories on major TV networks -- such as ABC, CBS and NBC -- that highlight Christmas do not mention Christ. Covering programming from October 1, 2008 - September 30, 2010, the report shows that only 1.3 percent of stories mentioned God. |
| 12/22/10 | Churches charged for attendance? Churches in Mission, Kansas are fighting a property tax the city council is disguising as a "driveway fee." Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has filed suit against the policy, which is imposed on churches, non-profit organizations and charities. Though the tax is labeled as a "fee," it is similar to a driveway tax that has been struck down by two other states. |
| 12/22/10 | ADF defending constitutional Christmas celebration The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is trying to encourage two locales that anti-religious groups have no constitutional standing to remove Christian aspects from Christmas. The legal alliance has contacted both locations, asking them not to give in to baseless threats under the claim that expressing the Christian focus of Christmas violates the First Amendment. ADF Attorney Matt Sharp tells OneNewsNow the first case involves Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite, Nevada, which has reached an agreement with the American Civil Liberties Union to basically ban Christmas from its premises. |
| 12/22/10 | U.N. Passes Religious ‘Defamation’ Resolution Sponsored by Islamic Nations, But Support Dwindles For the sixth consecutive year, the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday passed a controversial resolution on religious “defamation” sponsored by Islamic nations, but this time, the measure passed by a mere 12 votes. Lobbying by a broad range of religious freedom and other groups has steadily eroded the vote tally for the resolution each year since 2006, but outright defeat of the measure sponsored by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) remains elusive. |