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“Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 Would you lay down your life for your friends? Would they do so for you? If the answer to either of these questions is no, perhaps a better understanding of real friendship would make such meaningful relationships possible. Sadly, many Americans have been deformed by a Hollywood idea of friendship as portrayed in movies. In addition, the Internet and social media also depict friendship as a casual acquaintance with others. The expression Facebook friend denotes a superficial friendship activated by a...

Prince Charles: (00:01) Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us just how devastating a global cross border threat can be. Climate change and biodiversity loss are no different. In fact, they pose an even greater existential threat to the extent that we have to put ourselves on what might be called a war like footing. Having myself had the opportunity of consulting many of you over these past 18 months, I know you all carry a heavy burden on your shoulders and you do not need me to tell you that the eyes and hopes of...

A newly leaked internal memo from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) shows just how authorities under the Biden administration want to revise the First Amendment and make changes to religious liberty protections under its rights. The leaked memo showed the government’s plans to “sign delegation of authority on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and religion clause of the First Amendment” to the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Lankford showed displeasure on these new developments, claiming that it would endanger Americans’ religious liberty protections and disregard the First Amendment. “I am an outspoken...

A YouTube video of Xinjiang detention facilities has rekindled concern over China's crackdown on ethnic minorities. Researchers say the videos offer new evidence, but many fear for the vlogger's safety.A 20-minute video featuring more than a dozen detention facilities in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region has offered fresh evidence and renewed the discussion around China's large-scale crackdown on ethnic minorities in the region. The video was filmed by a Chinese man named Guanguan, who went to Xinjiang after reading a series of articles from US news outlet BuzzFeed News, indicating the locations of several detention centers in the region. His...

One of the foremost constitutional theorists of the founding generation, John Adams, observed, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”1 He wasn’t the only Founding Father to hold this view. Indeed, James Madison wrote that our Constitution requires “sufficient virtue among men for self-government,” otherwise, “nothing less than the chains of despotism can restrain them from destroying and devouring one another.”2 Many of our Founders were men of faith or were influenced strongly by the Judeo-Christian tradition.3 They accepted the premise of mankind’s imperfect nature. They...

One of the most shocking revelations about Scientology abuses, and one of the best documented, was Tom Tobin’s masterful reporting in 2010 about the church’s decades-long policy of forcing women in the Sea Org to undergo unwanted abortions. We consider it one of the two or three best articles ever written on the subject of Scientology, and it featured some women we hold in high esteem for coming forward and telling their stories of undergoing forced abortions: Laura DeCrescenzo, Claire Headley, and Sunny Pereira. In the Sea Org, recruits sign billion-year contracts and then work nearly around the clock, 365...

Over the last year, a growing number of progressives and liberals have pointed to police killings of unarmed black men, rising carbon emissions and extreme weather events, and the killing of trans people as proof that the United States has failed to take action on racism, climate change, and transphobia. Others have pointed to the war on drugs, the criminalization of homelessness, and mass incarceration as evidence that little has changed in the U.S. over the last 30 years. And yet, on each of those issues, the U.S. has made significant progress. Police killings of African Americans in our 58...

I looked at some place to put some of my thoughts on one already started, but not to take over someone's post, I will do a vanity. I am old.. not telling my age, but I remember so much you younger folks are missing and would be good for you to experience. Sorry... it's not possible! So add your thoughts to mine.

The Biden administration has proposed narrowing the religious exemptions to federal discrimination law given to entities that contract with the federal government, which currently allows them to uphold religious convictions in certain hiring decisions. The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, a U.S. Department of Labor division, has proposed rescinding a federal contractor rule adopted under President Donald Trump in 2020.In the proposed rule change, published in the Federal Register Tuesday, the OFCCP argued that the Trump administration rule was too broad compared to previous administrations and ran afoul of discrimination measures governing federal contractors.The Trump-era rule came in response...

Concern for climate change erupted at a recent meeting of the Parliament of the World’s Religions, a 128-year-old group that furthers interfaith dialog. This shows that fear of climate change has now spread throughout the world’s religions from Christianity to Islam, Hinduism, and Jainism. Both adults and children everywhere think that if we don’t do something right now, we will have a climate disaster. Since religious leaders often have great influence, the conference urged them to global efforts to fight climate change. Whoa! Let’s hit the pause button. When you and I rush to “do something,” we usually choose bad...

Dustin Honken was convicted of murdering five people, including two children, and was sentenced to death in a federal court in 2004. Sixteen years later, he was executed. He also received the last rites of the Catholic Church -- in the execution chamber -- from Father Mark O'Keefe, a Catholic priest who accompanied him there. "On the day of the execution, Father O'Keefe was screened thoroughly by security and accompanied by an agent escort at all times -- except for the brief period during which he accepted Mr. Honken's final confession," said a brief filed by the American Civil Liberties...

A federal lawsuit is being filed on behalf of dozens of U.S. Navy SEALs seeking religious exemptions from the Defense Department's (DOD) vaccination mandate, claiming the military is infringing upon service members' First Amendment freedoms and intimidating them into getting vaccinated against COVID-19. First Liberty Institute is filing a lawsuit Tuesday representing approximately 35 active-duty SEALs and three reservists, claiming the military is violating their constitutional rights. According to the filing, exclusively obtained by Fox News, the SEALs represented are all members of various denominations within the Christian faith and are objecting to the vaccine mandate based on "their sincerely...

"Love is love." "Science is science." Homes and offices in Washington, D.C. must display every politically correct lawn sign there is. Could it be these signs give a sense of belonging, the kind that used to be provided by organized religion? And what does "Love is love" and "Science is science" really mean? This was the gist of remarks made by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez at a recent conference in Madrid. He was asked to speak about some of the movements that seem to be playing a role that religion might otherwise do -- "social justice," "wokeness," "identity politics,"...

"Karl Marx, the father of scientific socialism, once wrote that he knew he was born to God but was chosen for hell, author and radio host Dr. David Jeremiah said of many of the 'aha! moments' he experienced in his year-long study of socialism, during which he read everything he could find on the ideology, including what motivated Marx in his ideological writings. "'People don’t realize that Marx’s socialist theories are all based on a fundamental belief in the existence of God, but a hatred and opposition to everything God has taught', Dr. Jeremiah said. “'You know, socialists don’t believe...

I broke a tooth recently, which caused me to look at ways to improve the strength of my teeth. One of the things I decided to do (besides being careful about ingesting processed sugar) was to drink milk again–for the calcium, phosphorous, Vitamin A and D. And for additional protein too as I’ve been lifting heavy weights. And yet, deep down, I knew that there are other ways to get the nutrients I need without having to drink milk. Yet, I kept at it. This morning, like too many mornings I’d care to admit to, I woke up with a...

The Biden administration has refused a Washington, DC district court judge's request to halt disciplinary actions against federal employees who are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

A Washington, D.C., district court judge issued a minute order Thursday asking the Biden administration to agree that both civilian and active-duty military plaintiffs will not be terminated while they await a ruling after they sued the administration over religious exemptions to COVID-19 vaccines. "None of the civilian employee plaintiffs will be subject to discipline while his or her request for a religious exception is pending," read a minute order from District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly obtained by Fox News. The Biden administration, which had until noon on Friday to respond, said in a filing that it would not agree to...

A Washington, D.C., district court judge temporarily blocked the Biden administration from firing unvaccinated federal employees who sued the government over religious exemptions."None of the civilian employee plaintiffs will be subject to discipline while his or her request for a religious exception is pending," District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered, Fox News reports.Active duty military personnel whose religious exemptions have been denied also cannot be disciplined while the outcome of their appeals are pending. Twenty plaintiffs sued President Biden and members of his administration in their official capacity over the president's Sept. 9 executive order mandating vaccines for federal employees, according...

Several religious denominations have seen memberships fall in recent years, including among young adults and teens. A new survey suggests that many young people perceive a disconnect between themselves and the houses of worship that need believers to sustain their congregations. Half of young people ages 13 to 25 surveyed said they don’t think that religious institutions care as much as they do about issues that matter deeply to them, according to a report released Monday by the Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit. Those issues include racial justice, gender equity, immigration rights, income inequality and gun control. Springtide tracks...

My friend got married this year, a year of many challenges. It’s been a special journey for her, so I got her a special gift: a mezuzah. In the Jewish world, that’s not an uncommon gift as the couple is establishing a new home together, and on every doorpost of every traditional Jewish home one places a mezuzah. It’s also appropriate, as it is customary to wish a newly married couple to build a bayit ne’eman b’yisrael, a faithful/enduring home in Israel. The home is the physical foundation of a family’s faith, reverence for God, and the Torah. Normally, this...