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Two ordained Christian pastors in Idaho have filed a federal lawsuit and a motion for temporarily restraining Coeur d'Alene city officials from forcing them to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies or face prosecution for violating "non-discrimination" laws. Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed the lawsuit and the motion on behalf of Donald Knapp and his wife, Evelyn, who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel and have been required by city officials to perform gay ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The city says its non-discrimination ordinance requires them to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies because the courts have...

Two Christian ministers who own an Idaho wedding chapel were told they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to a $1,000 fine, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court. Alliance Defending Freedom is representing Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel in Coeur d’Alene.

People say America is one of the most religious countries in the world. But is it religious in the way that you think it is? You’re bound to learn something new in this list:

…and the distinction between gay rights and religious persecution just vanished. It begins with equality and ends with everyone losing their freedom.But I love all these new freedoms we’re getting. We now have the freedom to do what various pressure groups want or go to jail. I hope we don’t get too many more new freedoms or we’ll run out of jail cells. Officials in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, are threatening an elderly couple who run a wedding chapel with jail time unless they perform wedding ceremonies for gay couples.Donald Knapp and his wife, Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching...

A number of black Christian pastors and church leaders slammed the United States Supreme Court justices for turning down a case that would once and for all settle the dispute and divisiveness created by the issue of same-sex marriage. The National Coalition of Black Pastors and Christian Leaders characterized the court's decision -- "not to hear the case" and send it back to the lower courts -- as cowardice on the part of the nine members of the nation's highest court. On Monday, Oct. 6, 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court simply stated that it would not review cases which overturned...

In a brief filed with the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday, Texas attorney general and GOP gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott argued that lifting the state’s ban on same-sex marriage would not encourage opposite-sex couples to procreate within wedlock, and therefore the ban should stay in place. Abbott reiterated the “responsible procreation” argument he has already made in defense of a same-sex marriage ban, saying that the motivation for denying marriage rights is economic, according to the Houston Chronicle. “The State is not required to show that recognizing same-sex marriage will undermine heterosexual marriage,” the brief reads. “It is...

With the 35-year marriage between Christians and the Republican Party already on the rocks, a U.S. Supreme Court with a majority of Republican appointees just put the religious liberty of every believer in the GOP base in unprecedented peril. The GOP was already struggling to maintain the loyalty of its conservative base, and one of its last, best talking points was the importance of judicial appointments. Now that talking point has also been blown to smithereens. The John Roberts court gave us Obamacare, the narrowest wording possible when siding in favor of Hobby Lobby, got rid of the Defense of...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Court decisions this week paving the way for same-sex marriage to become legal in dozens of states, including Mormon strongholds like Utah, Idaho and Nevada, have emboldened a growing group of Latter-day Saints who are pushing the conservative church to become more accepting of gay members. The church's stance toward gays has softened considerably since it was one of the leading forces behind California's ban on gay marriage in 2008, but high-ranking leaders have reiterated time and again the faith's opposition to same-sex unions....

A Supreme Court order legalizing same-sex marriage in five states reverberated further on Thursday, with the attorney general of West Virginia conceding that its ban on same-sex marriage was no longer defensible but South Carolina officials vowing to keep fighting to restrict marriage to a man and a woman. Since the Supreme Court decision on Monday and a ruling from a federal circuit court on Tuesday, new developments have appeared almost hourly as gay-rights advocates press for action in nine other states: Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia and Wyoming.

Some folks question why the U.S. Navy would need such exotic weapons as the Phalanx and SeaRAM systems, or even electromagnetic rail guns. These Russian-made, radar-guided anti-ship missiles are two such reasons. The P-270 Moskit and P-800 Oniks have caused so much consternation that the Navy has begun developing a helicopter-based electronic warfare system—the Advanced Offboard Electronic Warfare (AOEW)—to defend against the threat. Both are ramjet-propelled cruise missiles, both carry 550 to 710 pounds of high explosive in their warheads, and neither is one you want to see streaking towards your ship.

Now Open - WWAY News Poll on the question: Do you think state leaders should continue to fight gay marriage in NC?

<p>COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied appeals from five states seeking to preserve gay-marriage bans. The move doesn’t mean same-sex marriages will begin immediately in South Carolina, but experts say such unions probably aren’t too far off.</p> <p>WHAT WILL THE ATTORNEY GENERAL DO?</p>

RICHMOND — The Supreme Court on Monday effectively allowed same-sex marriage to go forward in Virginia, deciding not to take up a Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the commonwealth’s ban on same-sex marriages. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a mandate to remove the last barrier to same-sex marriage in Virginia. The first same-sex marriages were performed in Charlottesville and Richmond shortly after 1 p.m. At the same time, the commonwealth recognized marriages already performed in states as legal. ---snip--- Virginia state Del. Bob Marshall (R-Prince William), co-author of the state’s marriage ban, decried the move...

MADISON – Last Thursday, the Chicago-based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Wisconsin’s 2006 voter-approved ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. When looking back at the 2006 campaign, organized labor and other notable liberals donated their money to Fair Wisconsin which opposed the measure. Wisconsin Election Watch obtained campaign finance records from the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board for this story. However, the only version of Fair Wisconsin’s campaign finance reports were available was in paper format. Organized labor donated significant amounts of money to Fair Wisconsin in 2006 in their effort to oppose the referendum. The Wisconsin Educational Association...

In all the bad days that opponents of same-sex marriage have had lately, few compare with the one they had this past week in a courtroom in Chicago. Lawyers defending the bans in Wisconsin and Indiana were buried in an avalanche of skepticism and incredulity. The judges demanded to know what worthy goals the prohibitions serve, and the attorneys had terrible trouble coming up with any. Perhaps the low point for their side came when one was asked why Wisconsin makes it so hard for same-sex couples to adopt and ventured to say, "I think tradition is one of the...

<p>According to USA Today, on Wednesday the U.S. Supreme Court blocked gay marriages from happening in the commonwealth, putting on hold the recent decision by the federal appeal’s court last month. That ruling ruled that the state’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional.</p>

Couples marry, hundreds gather at Equality Fest in York The inaugural event, held at the city's Cherry lane, was a celebration of equality for all, its organizers said By Ted Czech tczech@ydr.com @TedCzechYDR on Twitter Updated: 08/03/2014 05:50:22 PM EDT Carey and Michele Jenkins clasped hands, gazed in each other's teary eyes, and whispered things to each other, as they became legally married at York's first-ever Equality Fest on Sunday. The Jenkinses, along with five more lesbian couples, were married by York Mayor Kim Bracey before several hundred who attended the event. After Bracey married the couples, the crowd erupted...

A Finnish citizen who wanted the state to recognize her new gender after surgery and remain legally married to woman at the same time lost her case at the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday (16 July). Heil Hamalainen underwent male-to-female gender reassignment surgery in 2009, years after she married her partner. But Finnish law does not recognize same-sex marriages. State authorities said that for Hamalainen to have her new gender recognized, she would need to turn the marriage into a civil partnership or get a divorce—something the couple refused. …

Children Raised in the Intact Biological Family Fare Better by the Vast Majority of Objective Measures Notre Dame University has denied official recognition of a student group promoting policymaking that places primary emphasis on advocacy explicitly for the interests of children in considerations about so-called “Gay Marriage”. The quest for recognition by Students for Child-Oriented Policy (SCOP), was rejected in an April 30 letter from the university’s Student Activities Office. In evaluating a proposal, approval is based on several things.…There was not a need for another similar-type club. The Club Coordination Council SCOP’s Notre Dame Marriage Petition cites Pope Francis...

Children of same-sex parents have above average health and well-being, research by the University of Melbourne shows. The research was based on data from the Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families, which involved input from 315 same-sex parents and a total of 500 children. Of these participating families, 80 percent had female parents while 18 percent had male partners. "It appears that same-sex parent families get along well and this has a positive impact on health," said Dr Simon Crouch from the Jack Brockhoff Child Health and Wellbeing Program, Centre for Health Equity at the University of Melbourne....