Free Republic

WASHINGTON – The Obama administration is announcing a wide-ranging effort to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality. In a memorandum issued Tuesday, President Barack Obama directed U.S. agencies working abroad, including the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, to use foreign aid to assist gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations. And he ordered U.S. agencies to improve protections for gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers. “Our deep commitment to advancing the human rights of all people is strengthened...

WAKEFIELD, UK, April 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - 64 year-old Colin Atkinson from West Yorkshire, is a Christian and also an electrician who works for a non-profit group Wakefield District Housing (WDH), and in fifteen years in his position he never thought for a moment that the two would clash. But now he is facing the sack for the offence of keeping a palm leaf, folded into the shape of a cross, on the rear view mirror of the company van he drives. The palm cross, a common souvenir from the Palm Sunday services that were held throughout the Christian...

Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to do exactly that. To present valid, objective, and sound reason to the true position of the Atonement and efficacy of the Cross in the Latter-day Saint believer’s life. Fully answering the false charge that Latter-day Saints find the Cross repugnant and deny the power of the atonement of Christ. As we have seen here, the development of the criticism presented in Hulse’s paper on the Mormon teaching of Christ’s atonement is not a true representation of the actual doctrine itself. Despite what Hulse claims. The reality is that we have seen exactly...

DEARBORN, Mich. — First, the Catholic-run Thomas More Law Center won acquittals for four evangelical Protestant missionaries jailed for disturbing the peace at an Arab festival in Dearborn, Mich., last year. Now, the center has sued the city of Dearborn, its mayor, chief of police and 17 police officers, along with the American Arab Chamber of Commerce on the missionaries’ behalf. “We’re all Catholics at the center,” said Thomas More’s chief trial counsel, Robert Muise. “But most of our clients are Protestants, because they tend to be more aggressive in asserting their First Amendment rights.” That’s for sure. At times,...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xVw6PsSinI People around the world now have a new way to learn about Joseph Smith, the founder and first president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A film called Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration is now available online, marking the first time the Church has shared a full-length film on the Internet.

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The rise of political Islam in the Middle East poses a threat to Christians in the Arab world and must be faced down together, a senior Roman Catholic official told a synod of Catholic bishops on Monday. At the two week meeting to debate how to protect minority communities in the region and encourage harmony with Muslims, the Catholic Coptic Patriarch of Alexandria, Antonios Naguib, also said that attacks against Christians were on the rise due to growing fundamentalism in the region. "Since 1970, we have witnessed the rise of political Islam in the region, consisting...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Florida man fights to stop pre-game prayers at Pee Wee football league Vernon, Fla., Sep 30, 2010 / 08:17 pm (CNA).- A Florida man has asked a city council to end a Pee Wee football game’s pregame prayer tradition, claiming that the four-year-old custom violates his and his son’s First Amendment rights because the games are played on public land.On Monday Louie Fromm, an assistant coach for the Holmes County Pee Wee Football Association, formally asked the Vernon, Florida City Council to end the practice, Fox News reports.League officials say they are a private organization that takes no...

HomePlace A Classified AdSubmit EditorialSubmit AnnouncementToday’s EditionAbout UsCirculationContact Us Local Christian Book Store’s Name Called “Offensive” Christian Book and Gift Shop owner Don Toy (right) told host David Croyle that his store was rejected by an advertising agency because the name “Christian” is offensive. The owner of Kittanning’s only Christian book store said he was denied advertising on a restaurant menu because the name “Christian” is offensive.Reverend Don Toy, owner of the Christian Book and Gift Shop, appeared on last night’s Talk of the Town program on Family-Life TV, to describe a national movement against Christianity that has made...

The past week produced more evidence that attacks against churches are on the rise-at least three churches suffered property destruction or threatened disruption. As usual, they were conservative churches that take a stand on moral issues that were abused. In Fort Wayne, Indiana, a group called "Bash Back" broke into an Evangelical church and spray painted "666" and other messages on a church van and garage door, poured oil over books and other items, and stole valuable construction equipment. ("Bash Back" is the same group that ADF is currently suing on behalf of Mount Hope Church in Michigan, after they...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Costa Rica Bishop fined for urging faithful to vote according to Catholic teachings San José, Costa Rica, May 10, 2010 / 11:53 am (CNA).- Costa Rica’s Electoral Supreme Court has ordered Bishop Jose Francisco Ulloa to pay damages for encouraging the faithful to cast their votes in manner consistent with Catholic teachings.The bishop made his comments during a Mass on September 6, 2009, amidst the presidential campaign season and the debate over abortion and homosexual rights. Yeudy Blanco Vega of the Movement for a Secular State argued the bishop violated article 28 of the Costa Rican constitution which...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Comedy Central 'delights in bashing Christians,' charges Bill Donohue New York City, N.Y., May 7, 2010 / 06:10 am (CNA).- In response to reports that Comedy Central is considering running a cartoon series on Jesus Christ, Bill Donohue charged that the controversial network delights “in bashing Christians,” and recalled Comedy Central's recent efforts to ensure the removal content offensive to Muslims. The proposed half hour episodes of the show “JC” depict Christ as a “regular guy” who moves to New York to get away from “his father's enormous shadow,” Fox News reported. The dad is portrayed as a...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Four dead after terrorist attack near Mosul targets buses of Christian students Archbishop Nona and Bishop Shlemon Warduni. Mosul, Iraq, May 4, 2010 / 04:17 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Sunday terrorist attack against a column of buses taking young Christian students to Mosul killed four and injured 171, at least 17 seriously. Christians were “shocked” by the attack, warning that delayed election results have worsened security.The Chaldean Archbishop of Mosul Emil Shimoun Nona confirmed the news to SIR on Monday.He said the attack began with an explosion, followed by the detonation of a car bomb parked on the...

Friday April 30, 2010 Archbishop Warns of “Civil Unrest” in Wake of UK Court Ruling against Christian Counselor By Peter J. SmithLONDON, April 30, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The clash between Christians and the state has intensified, with a UK court now having upheld the dismissal of a Christian psychologist who refused to give advice on sexual intimacy to homosexual couples - a decision the former Canterbury Archbishop Lord Carey has denounced as a prelude to “civil unrest” between Christians and the secular government.Gary McFarlane, 48, a Bristol solicitor, father of two, and evangelical Christian, had worked part-time as a...

After months of lobbying by conservative activists, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has quietly reversed a policy banning Virginia State Police troopers from referring to Jesus Christ in public prayers. McDonnell this afternoon sent Col. W. Steven Flaherty, the State Police superintendent, to tell the nine troopers who serve as chaplains about the change in policy. "The Governor does not believe the state should tell chaplains of any faith how to pray,'' McDonnell spokesman Tucker Marin said. "Religious officials of all faiths should be allowed to pray according to the dictates of their own conscience, and in accordance with their faith...

Sign up for the editor'sweekly newsletter CDU chastens new Muslim minister for mooting school crucifix ban Published: 26 Apr 10 17:20 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.de/politics/20100426-26797.html Just one day before taking her post, Lower Saxony’s new Social Minister Aygül Özkan has apologised to her fellow Christian Democrats for starting a heated political debate by suggesting that crucifixes don’t belong in German public schools. East German message in a bottle sender meets boy finder - Society (26 Apr 10)Integration official rejects call for school crucifix ban - National (26 Apr 10)NRW coalition shaky as parties turn on each other ahead of poll - Politics...

The designated social minister in Lower Saxony – Germany’s first woman Muslim state minister – has called for crucifixes to be removed from state schools, saying they have as little place there as headscarves. “Christian symbols do not belong in state schools. School should be a neutral place,” said Aygül Özkan, who is a member of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and will be made Lower Saxony's social minister next week. She also stressed her support for the ban on headscarves in such schools – as well as accepting that church schools would be an exception from a crucifix...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Religious freedom safeguards preserved by defeat of UK Equality Bill Archbishop Peter Smith of Cardiff London, England, Jan 27, 2010 / 03:21 am (CNA).- Religious freedom provisions safeguarding the rights of British churches and other religious employers to require that employees live according to their sexual ethics have been passed in the House of Lords despite repeated opposition from the Labour government. Before the amendment, critics of the proposed Equality Bill said it treated the rights of religious believers as secondary and could have forced churches to hire youth ministers who do not support Christian ethics. The Government claimed...

A US court has granted asylum to an evangelical Christian family who fled Germany because they were not allowed to homeschool their children. An immigration judge in Nashville, Tennessee ruled that parents Uwe and Hannelore Romeike, and their five children, are free to stay in the US, where they have been since 2008, news agency AP reported late on Tuesday. The parents, who came from the state of Baden-Württemberg, allege they were persecuted for their faith and defiance of Germany's compulsory school attendance since those who do not comply face fines and jail time. According to Uwe Romeike, his family...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Prop. 8 trial witnesses make ‘troubling’ attack on religion and Catholic teaching Stanford University professor Gary Segura. San Francisco, Calif., Jan 22, 2010 / 07:17 am (CNA).- Court witnesses arguing against California’s Proposition 8 have described religious beliefs of those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman as biased and a “chief obstacle” to homosexuals’ “political progress.” The comments were part of a “troubling” attack on religion, Proposition 8 defenders say.Proposition 8, the successful 2008 California ballot issue that restored to state law the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a...

Brother viciously beaten in Dong Chiem, a parish under siege J.B. An Dang In a statement to be read in all churches until next Sunday, the archdiocese of Hanoi speaks of hundreds of police agents and soldiers forcibly blocking anyone who tries to reach the Dong Chiem parish church. Those who dare approach are threatened and can be arrested. Hanoi (AsiaNews) – Vietnamese authorities appear to have opted for a violent crackdown. In Dong Chiem parish, a man religious was viciously beaten (pictured), many people have been threatened, some arrested, whilst the local church is under siege, no one allowed...