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HONOLULU, April 6, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – On Thursday, the governor of Hawaii signed legislation making it the sixth state to allow doctor-assisted suicide. To the delight of assisted suicide activists, Democratic Gov. David Ige signed HB 2739 into law, saying it’s “time for terminally ill, mentally competent Hawaii residents who are suffering to make their own end-of-life choices with dignity, grace and peace.” Effective January 1, 2019, Hawaii will be the sixth state to fully allow the practice. California, Colorado, Oregon, Vermont, Washington state, and the District of Columbia legalized assisted suicide legislatively or via voter initiatives. In Montana, the...

Essential facts and commentary on happenings in the last few hours. An important time for us as Americans and for the Middle East and the world.

The Racialist Lens Disrupts True Christian Unity: A Response to Thabiti Anyabwile Thabiti Anyabwile is a council member of The Gospel Coalition (TGC) and the pastor of Anacostia River Church in Washington, D.C. ..... But then he added this short paragraph, which garnered a great deal of attention: "My white neighbors and Christian brethren can start by at least saying their parents and grandparents and this country are complicit in murdering a man who only preached love and justice."

For the first time in at least 100 years, the US Cabinet has a bible study group. What do they learn? What does Donald Trump make of it? And why aren't women allowed to teach? Every Wednesday, some of the world's most powerful people meet in a conference room in Washington DC to learn about God. The location can't be revealed - the Secret Service won't allow it - but the members can. Vice-President Mike Pence. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos. Energy Secretary Rick Perry. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The list goes on. In total, 10...

ROME (Reuters) - A Hong Kong cardinal who has spearheaded opposition to the Vatican’s rapprochement with China has asked conservative Roman Catholics who are in open defiance of Pope Francis to back his cause. The plea on Saturday night by Cardinal Joseph Zen to a Rome conference on the limits of papal authority appeared to be the start of a new alliance that could help both sides bring their message of dissent across. China and the Vatican have been working out a framework accord on the appointment of bishops, which eventually could lead to diplomatic relations between the Holy See...

A major leg of the Ezekiel 38-39 Gog-Magog coalition is coming into view. The Turkey leg is now, undeniably in the estimation of many students of prophecy, on the end-times table of Bible prophecy. We are given the nations that will make up that attacking force by the prophet Ezekiel. Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:And I will turn thee back, and put...

The “Donald Trump/Mike Pence Prayer Vigil” and “Pray for our American Heroes" Prayer Thread have Combined to Form the AMERICA PRAYER VIGIL Prayer Thread! Join with Fellow FREEPERS to Pray for our PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP/VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE and AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. 'And this is the Confidence that we have in Him, that, if we Ask Anything According to His Will, He Heareth us.' 1 John 5:14 Religion Forum Threads Labeled [Prayer] are Closed to Debate of Any Kind.

In his Easter Sunday homily, the Catholic archbishop of Sydney, Australia, Anthony Fisher, decried "powerful interests" that attack Christians and try to "exclude them from public life," and added that they want to cast believers as "Public Enemy No. 1." Speaking in St. Mary's Cathedral before thousands of worshippers, Archbishop Fisher first talked about how the atheist government of the Soviet Union had tried to eradicate religion, using myriad repressive measures, but ultimately failed. “In recent years, long queues of ex-Communists have sought baptism in Russia," said the archbishop. But as recent testimony before the Ruddock Inquiry into Protection of...

There are reports in the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida that the Saudis have offered to fund the American presence in Syria. U.S.-backed and U.S.-affiliated forces now control 30% of Syria land area. Some is controlled by ISIS and other groups. Only 40% is now controlled by Syria itself. Iran is gearing up for what it expects to be a joint U.S.-Israeli attack. This is also according to the Kuwaiti newspaper Al Jarida.Saudi Arabia is under bombardment by the Houthi rebels in Yemen, a proxy of Iran. Some choice comments about the Gazans and their goals and their Nazi flag, but...

WASHINGTON — Pro-lifers have never been happy with the way abortion funding was handled by “Obamacare.” But they have reason to be happier, after Republicans were able to prevent any additional funds for the health care law from going to pay for abortions in the omnibus spending bill that was signed into law late last month. In legislative terms, the debate was over whether the Hyde Amendment — the term for the law that bars federal funding of abortions — would apply to potentially billions in funding meant to “stabilize” Obamacare. “We were successful,” said Greg Schleppenbach, the associate director...

Federal judge rules in favor of the Catholic Benefits Association, which represents more than 1,000 Catholic employers A federal judge ruled in favor of the Catholic Benefits Association last week, issuing a permanent injunction and declaratory relief against the Department of Health and Human Services’ contraception mandate.This means that organizations belonging to the CBA do not have to provide coverage of drugs, the use of which they believe to be immoral, as dictated by the mandate. The CBA represents more than 1,000 Catholic employers, all of whom seek to provide health insurance for their employees without violating their religious beliefs....

Arrest warrants have been issued for four Iraqis on atheism charges, according to Dhi Qar province's Garraf district judiciary. The announcement garnered quite a reaction on media and social networks, as some say these hunts infringe on the rights of the Iraqi people, whose constitution guarantees them freedom of belief and expression. Other observers say the campaign has political aspects. Dhidan al-Ekili, the chief Garraf judge, told local Iraqi newspapers March 11 that security forces had been able to arrest one of the four indicted, as the search for the remaining three continued. Ekili said they are being pursued for...

A few Sundays ago I was encouraged to take a flyer after mass detailing the Catholic position on DACA and immigration. I'll spare you the details, but it is basically amnesty. But is that really the Catholic position on immigration? Is it true that in order to be a good Catholic one must delete the borders of a nation and welcome in any person at any time for any reason without reserve? Nonsense.I know I'm not the only one in the laity who rolls her eyes at the messaging coming from the American bishops on this issue. Sarah Hoyt...

An authority on China says that it’s “naive” to assume the country’s communist regime is telling the truth when it says it has stopped harvesting organs from prisoners. Steven Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute and author of Bully of Asia: Why China’s Dream is the New Threat to World Order, told LifeSiteNews that China’s human rights record is “one of the worst in the world.” Responding to the news that Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, chancellor of the Pontifical Academy for Sciences, defended China’s reforms of its organ transplant system, Mosher expressed concern. “I don’t understand why any Vatican...

Sister Ban Madleen wanted to visit her sick sister in BritainAn Iraqi nun who wants to visit her sick sister in the UK has been denied a visa by the Home Office. Sister Ban Madleen was driven out of Qaraqosh, the biggest Christian town in the Nineveh plains, by ISIS, who took over her Dominican convent. She settled as a refugee in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdestan, where she set up kindergartens. The refugees are returning to their home towns now that ISIS have been driven out. Sister Ban is not the first religious to have problems visiting Britain,...

BEIJING, China - Restricting the Vatican’s control over the appointment of bishops in China does not infringe on believers’ religious freedom, a Chinese official said Tuesday, amid historic negotiations between Beijing and the Holy See aimed at healing divisions. Chen Zongrong, an official overseeing religious affairs, said Beijing would not allow “foreign forces” to govern the country’s faith groups. “The Chinese constitution clearly states that China’s religious groups and religious affairs cannot be controlled by foreign forces, and (the foreign forces) should not interfere in Chinese religious affairs in any way.” “I disagree with the view that preventing Rome from...

If you’re in China and in need of a “baby-food bible,” or a “bible” on autoimmune disease, no problem. If you’re in need of God’s word … tough luck. China escalated its war on Christians by removing access to bibles in online stores, CNN reports today, as China’s leaders try claiming that they respect religious belief — as long as it comes under state control: The Bible appears to have been removed from online marketplaces in China, as Beijing clamps down on how its citizens practice religion.China has always controlled sales of the Bible, only allowing it to be...

Often in history, the "White American Bible Belt" paid homage to racism while calling it "Jesus Christ," according to prominent evangelical Russell Moore. Delivering a speech at the MLK 50 Conference in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday, Moore drew a parallel between America's struggle for racial equality and the ancient Israelites being told to choose between serving God or serving Baal. "Time and time again, when told they could not serve both, the people of God tragically often chose to worship Baal but to rename him God," said Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "And...

European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans recently chaired a roundtable with ten Muslim imams from six EU Member States (Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands). Afterwards Timmermans announced that “the Commission is strongly committed to promoting diversity in Europe. Islam is part of our history, Islam is part of our present and Islam will be part of our future.” Such assertions are as true as the assumptions they are based on—and whether such assumptions are grounded in historical facts or fictions. In prefacing his claims about Islam’s historic role in Europe by saying “the Commission is strongly committed...

Let’s say you have a grandfather of whom you are particularly fond, and out of the blue, a stranger says: “Hey, that’s my grandpa!” Then, lest you think this stranger is somehow trying to ingratiate himself with you, he adds: “Everything you thought you knew about grandpa is wrong!” Would that endear this stranger to you? That is the question everyone who believes in the notion of “three Abrahamic Faiths” needs to answer. Proponents of this view believe that -- since Abraham is an important figure in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (especially the first and last of those three) --...