Neil W. McCabe, the national political editor of The Star News Network, reports from Washington’s Union Station, where Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott sent migrants who crossed the border into his state.
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In just the span of about a week, legislation concerning ending the lives of unborn babies in two states starkly reveals that while many state lawmakers are standing up to protect human life, some appear to be underscoring the extremity with which they are prepared to go to dismiss it.
The states continue to take their respective stands in advance of the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, now awaiting a decision at the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is considered to present the most significant challenge to the Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973.
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More than 20 members of Congress have signed a letter to both the mayor of Washington, DC, and the Metropolitan Police Chief, demanding “a thorough investigation,” including “autopsies,” into the deaths of five late-term infants allegedly aborted in Cesare Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic.
Led by Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the lawmakers wrote to Mayor Muriel Bowser and Police Chief Robert J. Contee III Tuesday that, when the police “recovered the remains of five preborn children apparently from the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C.,” the Metropolitan Police “made the assumption that each child died as the result of a legal abortion.”
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Pro-life leader Christina Bennett told the crowd rallying at Connecticut’s first-ever March for Life event Wednesday that, in 1981, she was minutes away from being aborted in Hartford, Connecticut, when a janitor urged her mother to reconsider her decision, and her mother ended up choosing life.
Bennett received resounding cheers when she said of Hartford, “The place that could have been my graveyard is now my battleground.”
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Several thousand Connecticut residents flooded the steps of the state Capitol building in Hartford Wednesday for the first-ever Connecticut March for Life pro-life rally and peaceful demonstration that celebrated life from the moment of conception to natural death.
“It’s just incredibly significant to have Connecticut’s first March for Life,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the national March for Life Defense and Education Fund, told The Connecticut Star.
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CatholicVote launched a six-figure digital ad campaign Wednesday, in both Arizona and Nevada, that urges Hispanic voters to hold accountable so-called “Catholic” Democrat Senators Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) over their recent votes in the U.S. Senate to advance a radical abortion bill that would have overridden state pro-life laws.
Arizona’s Kelly and Nevada’s Cortez Masto both voted with all Democrat U.S. senators, save for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), in favor of what Democrats dubbed the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation that would have embedded abortion on demand, at any time during pregnancy, into federal law, making invalid most individual state pro-life laws.
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The Supreme Court of Texas recommended Friday a lawsuit challenging the state’s “heartbeat” abortion ban should be dismissed since it is enforced by “private civil action,” and not state officials.
Justice Jeffrey S. Boyd concluded in the decision regarding the case of Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson, that state officials, such as medical licensing boards, cannot enforce the law that bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected
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A former Title X family planning instructor who was trained by Planned Parenthood and then taught at sex ed conferences for teens told The Star News Network parents who are outraged to hear about sexualized curricula in schools should plan an organized grassroots effort that involves sound research and documentation.
In an extensive interview with The Star News Network, Monica Cline stressed parents with concerns about sexualized books available to their children in school should join with other like-minded parents and approach the situation with logic and sufficient research to make sound arguments to school boards.
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Self-described “Catholic” President Joe Biden balked at a question from a reporter from the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) on Ash Wednesday about why, as a Catholic, he supports abortion rights.
EWTN Washington, DC, correspondent Owen Jensen asked Biden, who had apparently received ashes on the first day of Lent, why he again expressed his support for abortion during his State of the Union address Tuesday evening.
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Democrat Maryam Khan became the first Muslim woman elected to the Connecticut State House Tuesday after winning a special election to the 5th House District of Windsor and Hartford.
Khan won nearly 75 percent of the votes of 851 voters, with 8.7 percent turnout in the district. She defeated Charles W. Jackson (R) and Lawrence O. Jaggon, a petitioning candidate.
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National pro-life leaders say President Joe Biden’s choice of Ketanji Brown Jackson to fulfill his promise to nominate a black woman to the U.S. Supreme Court also fits his administration’s aggressive pro-abortion stance since Jackson has shown her support for “radical” and “extreme” abortion measures.
“Joe Biden is fulfilling his promise to only appoint justices who support the Roe v. Wade regime of abortion on demand up to birth – a policy so extreme only a handful of countries in the world hold it, including North Korea and China,” said Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement.
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Two litigation firms have filed petitions against organizations that have admitted to paying for abortions in Texas after detection of a fetal heartbeat, a violation of the Texas Heartbeat Act.
Attorneys from both America First Legal and the Thomas More Society filed petitions for discovery against the Lilith Fund for Reproductive Equity and the Texas Equal Access Fund, both of which have admitted in court that their organizations paid for at least one abortion of an unborn baby in Texas who had a detectable heartbeat.
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With support from its Republican governor, Vermont is on a course to become the first state in the nation to guarantee a right to abortion and contraception in its constitution.
The Vermont House voted 107-41 for Proposition 5, a proposed amendment that would guarantee sexual and reproductive freedoms to Vermonters once it is placed on the ballot and voters give their support in November.
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A federal appeals court has allowed a Tennessee law that prohibits abortions sought due to sex, race, or prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, to go into effect until the U.S. Supreme Court rules in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit allowed the Tennessee law to be enforced while litigation against it continues. The court also postponed hearing the case until after the Supreme Court issues a decision in Dobbs, a case involving a Mississippi law that prohibits abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
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Today we remember the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who in October 1492 landed in the Bahamas and became the first Western European to discover what the Europeans would call the New World.
When Columbus and his crew of approximately 200 sailors left Spain in three crowded ships – the Niña, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria – they set their sails toward an unknown horizon. They expected to discover a trade route to India. (Most Europeans at the time knew the earth was round – but they were unaware of the North and South American continents.) Instead of finding a route to Southeast Asia, Columbus and his crew landed on a continent of new opportunities. Columbus’s accidental discovery opened a permanent passage across the Atlantic and redrew the known map of the world.
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After an alleged coach-led pre-game prayer by the Graham High School “G-Men” Boys Soccer Team at the state championship game, an out-of-state atheist organization threatened to file a lawsuit against the school system. The local news reported that the prayer was led by the coaches of the team, but one of the coaches denies this accusation.
The Tazewell County School System “has been cautioned” by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), a Wisconsin-based anti-religion group. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph reports that “coaching staff for the Graham High School soccer team led students in prayer before a game on June 10, the FFRF alleges, saying it was reported by a concerned area resident.”
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Saint John Paul II’s profound commitment to faith, freedom, and human dignity made him one of the most influential men of the 20th century.
Born Karol Jósef Wojtyla on May 18, 1920, in Wadowice, Poland, he studied for the priesthood in secret as a young man in Nazi-occupied Poland and was ordained in 1946.
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Stephen K. Bannon talks to Gab CEO Andrew Torba on War Room: Pandemic radio show about the enslavement agenda of Silicon Valley, transhumanism, and de-coupling with companies that don’t share Judeo Christian values.
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A Christian wedding photographer and two churches, three Christian schools, and a pro-life ministry sued Virginia for its LGBTQ discrimination law. The plaintiffs argue that the law is a violation of religious freedom in the First Amendment.
The Christian plaintiffs say the state law forces their hand. If they don’t forsake God’s commandments, they could endure hundreds of thousands or more in fines and litigation fees. And, they could face a court order to adhere to the law. These individuals are also prohibited from expressing any religious beliefs that may be perceived as discriminatory.
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Leaders of the United Methodist Church announced a plan Friday for the church to split over divisions on gay marriage.
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A Cincinnati church celebrated LGBT Pride month by hosting one of their own, caretaker Dan Davidson, dressed in drag. Davidson, called Sparkle Leigh in costume, greeted church attendees and read to the children during the service. His story of choice? Pride: the Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow Flag. Milk was the first openly homosexual politician elected in California and has often been referred to as a pedophile. The pastor of Mount Auburn Presbyterian Church, Reverend Stacey Midge, couldn’t offer comment to The Ohio Star without permission of her church board, but she was willing to share that the church has received both positive and negative feedback. Midge was able to speak more freely on the church Facebook page about their choice to host the performer. “We are particularly outspoken about our welcome to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities/expressions because 1) we do not believe variations in sexual orientation or gender identity/expression to be sinful, and 2) people of non-heterosexual orientation or whose gender identity or expression does not fit into a rigid binary are historically and currently marginalized, especially by the Church.” “The idea of reading a child’s book about Harvey Milk is the…
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Cities in eight states from Maine to Massachusetts topped a list of the “Most Post-Christian Cities in America,” a new study released this month found. The Northeast region stands in stark contrast to the sole Tennessee city of Knoxville who barely cracked the top 100 – coming in at #99. The study, conducted by Barna research, is part of an ongoing survey of Americans based on a random sample of 21,378 adults conducted over a ten-year period. To be identified as post-Christian, an individual had to meet nine or more of the following factors: – Do not believe in God – Identify as atheist or agnostic – Disagree that faith is important in their lives – Have not prayed to God (in the last week) – Have never made a commitment to Jesus – Disagree the Bible is accurate – Have not donated money to a church (in the last year) – Have not attended a Christian church (in the last 6 months) – Agree that Jesus committed sins – Do not feel a responsibility to “share their faith” – Have not read the Bible (in the last week) – Have not volunteered at church (in the last week)…
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Dozens of supporters stood outside Secret Identity Comics in Delaware, Ohio Wednesday to welcome the controversial “Drag 101″ class, which was canceled by the Delaware County Library. Originally scheduled for Wednesday, June 5 at the Delaware County Library’s Orange Branch, the class was moved to Secret Identity Comics and funded by an anonymous donor. It took place on the same day and time as originally planned. Kyle Gale, who performs on-stage as “Selena T. West,” appeared in full costume as he was greeted by dozens of supporters. There were no signs of protesters, despite the fact that the library canceled the event on the grounds that it had received “threats.” There was a significant law enforcement presence nearby, and several Delaware City Police cars were seen at Frank B. Willis Intermediate School, less than a block from the event. Additional officers rode by the crowd multiple times on bicycles. Delaware City Police Sergeant Adam Willauer told The Ohio Star there was no trouble or protesters present. “No one has filed any reports about threats,” he said. “We were there because whenever a large crowd is expected, we want to be present for safety.” Speaking on camera with WCMH reporters, Gayle responded to…
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by Darrell Scott Hundreds of Christians were slaughtered by Islamic terrorists in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday – or, as several leading Democrats put it, some people did something to “tourists and Easter worshipers.” In a different time, this characterization by Democrats would read as an obvious political hyperbole designed to spin the truth. In today’s America, however, it hardly does enough to encapsulate the left’s hatred of Christianity. As the death toll from the devastating terrorist attack continued to climb and Sri Lankan authorities worked to identify the perpetrators, Democrats were apparently struggling with a very different question – what to call the victims of this terrible massacre. “Christians” apparently wouldn’t do, presumably for the same reasons that the words “radical Islamic terrorism” have been excised from the liberal vocabulary. In short, they needed a euphemism that would enable them to express concern for the victims without drawing attention to the fact that hundreds of Christians had just been slaughtered by radical Islamic terrorists. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Julian Castro came to the rescue with a simple answer: “Easter worshipers.” “The attacks on tourists and Easter worshipers in Sri Lanka are an attack on humanity,” Obama wrote.…
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This weekend marks a Holy Week for many citizens across Tennessee and the world, as we celebrate Passover and Easter. In America, religious beliefs are critical to many of our founding principles. There is no denying the significant impact that faith has had on our nation, from the Puritans to our present day. America was “settled by men and women of deep religious convictions who in the seventeenth century crossed the Atlantic Ocean to practice their faith freely.” George Washington declared in his Farewell Address, that of “all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports.” So, it is no surprise that as a nation, many of our citizens still embrace faith and trust in God. We pass along our faith rituals, habits, customs and traditions to our own children in our homes and places of worship. Passover begins at sundown on Friday, April 19, and ends Saturday evening, April 27. The first Passover Seder is on the evening of April 19, and the second Passover Seder takes place on the evening of April 20. Jewish people everywhere will sit with their families and friends for the celebration of Passover—a celebration of freedom.…
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Billy Ray Cyrus, Charlie Daniels, Gavin DeGraw, Home Free, The Katinas, Wes King, Nicole C. Mullins, Michael Tait, Matthew Ward and Zach Williams join the star-studded tribute concert ’35 Years Of Friends: Celebrating The Music Of Michael W. Smith’ at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
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On Friday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am-the duo welcomed in studio guest Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty to talk about his past, Duck Dynasty, the Gospel, and his new book. Towards the conclusion of the show, Robertson recited some scriptures from the Bible and encouraged Nashville to make Jesus number one in their lives. Gill: Today we’re talking with in studio Phil Robertson. He’s authored a new book, The Theft of America’s Soul and talking about blowing the lid off the lies that are destroying our country. He’s detailed ten lies that are blowing things up. Now I mentioned just before the break that Phil had an athletic background before he got into more duck hunting and fishing. Terry Bradshaw and you were teammates. He stayed in the football ranks you went the other way. And your knees hurt a little less than his. Robertson: Well, I was first string, Bradshaw was second string. So before my last year I sat down in the locker room with him, I sat down with him and I said, “Bradshaw, I…
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Three states in the midwest that Hillary Clinton was counting on to carry her to victory in 2016 narrowly ended up in the Donald Trump column — Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. If those three states had been won by Clinton, their 46 Electoral votes would have given her the presidency with slightly more than the necessary 270 needed to win. The total vote margin for Donald Trump in all three of those states was only 107,000! He carried Michigan by 11,837. Wisconsin by 27,257. Pennsylvania by 68,236. The big question as 2020 looms is whether he can retain or expand those margins regardless of whom the Democrats pick as their standard-bearer. Democrats won Senate races in all three states in 2018 and knocked off Republican Governor Scott Walker in Wisconsin as well, giving them hope that they can swing them back to blue in 2020. Christian voters were a key component in Trump’s victory in those and other battleground states, like Ohio, Florida and Iowa. George Barna detailed the impact of the Christian vote in 2016 in his book The Day Christians Changed America. Groups like Lift the Vote, a non-profit focused on energizing and mobilizing Evangelical voters in key…
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by Joshua Gill The bishop of the Steubenville diocese declared that his diocese will release a list of predatory priests, becoming the second Ohio diocese to do so. Dino Orsatti, spokesman for the diocese, made the announcement Tuesday that Bishop Jeffrey Monforton called for the list of alleged sexually predatory priests to be released as a show of greater transparency in the wake of revelations like Pennsylvania’s grand jury report on sexual abuse in six of the state’s dioceses. The list will name between 12 and 20 priests who, according to church documentation dating back as far as 1944, were alleged to have committed sexual abuses against parishioners. “He would welcome any investigation like the one in Pennsylvania,” Orsatti said of Monforton, according to The Associated Press. The Steubenville announcement followed a similar one from the diocese of Youngstown, which announced earlier in September that the church there would also release a list of accused predatory priests, echoing Pennsylvania bishops who chose to release lists of such priests from their respective dioceses during legal battles over the release of the grand jury report. Monsignor John Zuraw said the diocese of Youngstown hopes that the release of their list will not only foster transparency,…
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A Christian movement that started as a gathering on the National Mall in 2017 will soon be kicking off a nationwide three-day prayer and worship vigil set to occur simultaneously in every state capital. The event, called “Tent America 2018” and sponsored by Awaken the Dawn, started last year when David Bradshaw met with the founder of Washington D.C.’s popular “David’s Tent.” The two decided to organize a three-day event featuring 50 worship tents on the National Mall to “preach the gospel and send out the youth of America.” The event attracted close to 50,000 people and an additional 4 million viewers on Facebook, encouraging Bradshaw to continue the event in 2018, but this time all across the country. “On Sept. 27-29, again, coinciding with the Feast of Tabernacles, we will be hosting ‘tent city’ gatherings of worship, prayer, and gospel proclamation—simultaneously at all 50 state capitals and on college and university campuses,” an event description states. “Imagine. Three days. Millions of people. Day and night. Public, outdoor worship flooding our nation with the presence of Jesus. It will be historic,” it adds. In a video for the upcoming gatherings, Bradshaw called the success of his 2017 event one of…
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by Fred Lucas Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Friday that the Trump administration is committed to religious liberty, both at home and abroad. Speaking at the conservative Values Voter Summit in Washington, Pompeo said that more than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries that place significant limitations on religious freedom. He singled out Iran and China. “We are assuring human dignity by advancing one of our most cherished, indispensable liberties, enshrined in the First Amendment. It is our religious liberty,” said Pompeo, a former member of the House from Kansas and CIA director before becoming the nation’s chief diplomat in April. “Religious freedom is a universal, God-given right, to which all people are entitled,” Pompeo said. “Religious freedom is also a building block for free societies. Our Founders knew this.” Pompeo talked about the success of getting American detainees released from captivity in North Korea in May. “Far and away, the greatest highlight to date of my job as secretary of state has been bringing three Americans home from captivity in North Korea,” Pompeo said. He said the State Department now is focused heavily on securing the release and repatriation of Andrew Brunson, an American pastor who has been…
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by Joshua Gill The Vatican reached a breakthrough in negotiations with China by acquiescing to Beijing’s demands to recognize eight bishops appointed by the country’s communist government. Chinese and Vatican officials announced Saturday that they had signed a “provisional agreement” to the effect that the Vatican would recognize eight bishops appointed by China’s communist government without papal approval and that all of China’s bishops would now be considered in full communion with the church. The Vatican issued a statement concerning the agreement, saying it was meant to foster conditions of greater collaboration between Beijing and the Vatican, but Chinese Catholics are divided over the agreement and some have harshly criticized it as a capitulation to China. “Pope Francis hopes that, with these decisions, a new process may begin that will allow the wounds of the past to be overcome, leading to the full communion of all Chinese Catholics,” the Vatican statement reads, according to The Associated Press. Negotiations between the church and China previously included the prospect of China’s recognition of nearly 40 bishops of the country’s underground Catholic Church, which refuses to bend the knee to the Communist Party run Patriotic Association, which governs state-regulated Catholic churches. The Vatican and Beijing…
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by Anders Hagstrom Chinese pastors claim officials are closing churches, burning bibles and crosses, and forcing pastors and congregations to sign papers claiming they’ve renounced their faith, The Associated Press reported Monday. Chinese pastors and the U.S.-based group China Aid report that Chinese Communist Party officials forcibly shut several churches in central Henan province and Beijing in recent weeks, according to The AP. The escalation is part of the officially atheist Communist Party’s efforts to “sinicize” Christianity, or make it more culturally Chinese. “The international community should be alarmed and outraged for this blatant violation of freedom of religion and belief,” Bob Fu of China Aid told The AP. Fu also cited video footage showing what seemed to be bibles aflame with forms allowing believers to renounce their faith nearby, The AP reported. Fu said the forms marked the first time since freedom of religion was written into the Chinese Constitution in 1982 and since Mao’s Cultural Revolution of 1976 that Christians had been compelled to renounce their faith. One Chinese pastor who asked not to be identified told The AP that officials entered his church at 5 a.m. and began removing items and burning bibles, crosses and furniture. China has…
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by Richard A. Viguerie and Mark Fitzgibbons The sex abuse scandal and its cover-up within the Catholic Church require solutions that the institutional Church will be incapable of achieving on its own. But the more serious problem is that since Vatican II the Church has been AWOL on Biblically based Christian moral issues affecting the core family and its relationship to God. From marriage, divorce, same-sex relations, sex outside marriage, and the love respect between men and women according to God’s laws, the Church has abandoned its role of moral teacher and spiritual guide telling people where the ‘guardrails’ are. The Church’s abandonment of focus on the central and natural institution of the family has been accentuated by Pope Francis’ attention to socialist, earthly issues. His progressive politics-over-family approach is a symptom of the larger problems within the Church and its hierarchy. No institution that is sick can cure itself, and the Catholic Church is grievously ill. Like any patient, the institutional Church must be a willing participant in the cure. But it will be up to the Catholic laity to administer the necessary fixes. We join others who have already made the call for Pope Francis to resign, and…
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More than 20,000 Muslims are expected to gather at U.S. Bank Stadium Tuesday morning in celebration of the Islamic holiday known as Eid al-Ahda commemorating the sacrifice of Abraham. As such, the holiday, known as the “Feast of Sacrifice,” often involves the ritual sacrifice of an animal, though organizers of Tuesday’s event set to be held in the new Minnesota Vikings stadium have assured the public that no animals will be slaughtered inside the stadium. The two-day event was first announced to the public August 7 on Somali TV of Minnesota when a group of local imams gathered outside the stadium, calling the celebration an opportunity to display the “unity and the power of our community.” In attendance at the press conference was Dr. Waleed Idris al-Maneese, who leads the Islamic University of Minnesota and serves as the imam of a Bloomington mosque. His mosque has produced at least five Islamic extremists who have gone on to fight with either ISIS or al-Shabaab, according to WND. Leo Hohmann, an author and journalist who has spent much of his career covering radical Islam, had former imam Dr. Mark Christian translate Maneese’s comments made during the press conference. According to Christian, Maneese…
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TBN announced it will partner with three-time Grammy Award-winning recording artist Michael W. Smith to present a free concert and worship event at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Thursday, August 30th at 7 p.m. “Surrounded: A Night to Pray, Worship and Be Awakened” is free to the public and will begin with a time of prayer for the city of Nashville, surrounding communities, and the nation, led by area pastors. Following a time of prayer, Smith and his band will lead a Worship service from the floor of the Bridgestone Arena – surrounded by those that attend. It is Smith’s hope that this event crosses all denominational, ethnic, racial and generational lines for a real night of unity in middle Tennessee. “The growth and energy happening in our city is not just material, but profoundly spiritual,” said Smith. “It’s time for a night of prayer and worship for Middle Tennessee. My hope is that individuals, families and even whole congregations will attend ‘Surrounded’ for a night we’ll never forget.” The event will be taped, with plans from TBN to air “Surrounded” as a network special later in the fall. Watch the video: All seating will be general admission; doors open at 6…
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Grammy winner and world-renowned worship leader Chris Tomlin surprised fans with the release of early music today: the launch of a new radio single and EP, Nobody Loves Me Like You. USA Today reported Friday the previously unannounced four-song digital-only EP is part of a bigger release plan as Chris’ highly anticipated full studio album set for October 26, Holy Roar, and the companion book Holy Roar: 7 Words That Will Change the Way You Worship available October 23. “I am so energized by this new music, I couldn’t wait to share a few songs ahead of the Holy Roar album,” Tomlin said in a statement. “Holy Roar is the freedom, the experience, the wonder of worship. It is seeing the church come together, hands lifted to God, pouring out our praise with an eternal song in our hearts. It’s every voice together, changing the way we worship.” The Nobody Loves Me Like You EP includes four songs from the soon-to-be-released Holy Roar album and is available now at all digital retailers here. The official radio impact date for “Nobody Loves Me Like You” single is September 14. HOLY ROAR includes tracks produced by Ed Cash and Bryan Fowler and…
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by Joshua Gill Religious affiliation actually prolong one’s life through positive social effects according to a recent study of obituaries in Iowa and across the nation. Laura E. Wallace of Ohio State University, one of the study’s authors, found that among the social factors that affect one’s physical health and longevity, religion plays a large and observably positive role. Her findings showed that people who had active religious affiliations in life lived an average of 10 years longer than their non-religious counterparts in Des Moines, and an average of five years longer nationally. “Being healthy doesn’t just mean going to the gym and eating well. Our social worlds have such a large influence on our health as well. Religion is clearly one of these factors that makes a big difference,” Wallace said, according to PsyPost. “Religion has a strong relationship with longevity. Our research suggests that, in part, this is due to the opportunities that religion provides to make social connections and give back to the community,” she added. Researchers for the study, which was initially published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, analyzed 505 obituaries from the Des Moines Register and a further 1,096 obituaries from across the country. The parameters of…
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by Cuatro Jones When discussing the history of the West and exploring the ideas and philosophies that led up to the creation of the Magna Carta and the U.S constitution, eventually the religion of Christianity must be brought forward in the discussion. Why? Well, despite the many sins of Christians (and there are many), Christianity is the first major religion that, at its founding, stripped the state of its theocratic powers over the spiritual lives of the people. In the Biblical narrative, we see Jesus of Nazareth establish this foundational philosophy when answering a challenge from the Pharisees of Judea regarding to whom they should pay their monetary offerings: God (Yahweh) or Caesar? This question was designed to serve as a trap for Jesus, as the Jews were monotheistic and theocratic, and Roman law essentially made the Emperor a god. It is at this pivotal, though often overlooked moment, that Jesus sets the standard for the modern West regarding the role of government and religion in public life, “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s, and render unto God what is God’s.” This is critical because for the first time, we see a clear and categorical line of division between the palace and the temple, set by a central religious figure. This fundamentally…
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by Chris White The Washington Post asked locals at a southern Baptist church in Alabama why they voted for President Donald Trump despite that the former reality TV star’s conduct. Their answer was short and to the point. Members of the First Baptist church of Luverne, Alabama say former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president was a no-go for them, according to a report Saturday from WaPo. “She hates me,” Terry Drew, a member of the church, said of Clinton, who lost Alabama by almost 700,000 votes. “She has contempt for people like me, and Clay, and people who love God and believe in the Second Amendment. I think if she had her way it would be a dangerous country for the likes of me,” he said, referring to people like the church’s pastor, Clay Crum. Trump has demonstrated a willingness to hang tough with Christians, Drew said. Drew weighed Trump’s character with what he thought is Clinton’s willingness to destroy his way of life. The choice was clear, he told WaPo reporters, who attended one of Crum’s sermons to get a lay of the land. Trump’s “going to stick to me,” while Clinton will look the other…
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On Friday’s Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville, conservative commentator and Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill was in disbelief as he reflected upon the Democratic Party’s convention in 2012 where delegates voted emotionally against a Godly provision in their platform. “We were talking a moment ago about the Democrats booing God at their convention,” marveled Gill. “Now the reason this came up is that there had been a provision about God in their platform that they removed it, and then because there was so much backlash and pressure they decided to try and add the reference to God back into their platform.” He continued: And it came up for a vote and the Democrats voted against it but the chair after hearing the loud explosion of boos against God, said, ‘Oh in the opinion of the chair it passes,’ and they added God back to their platform against the votes in attendance at the Democratic convention. This is Sheppard Smith of Fox News reporting on it at the time. SPEAKER FROM THE DNC CONVENTION FLOOR: Is there any further discussion, hearing none, the matter requires a two thirds vote in the affirmative, all those delegates…
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by George Rasley That the Democratic Party has become the party of the anti-religious Far Left was confirmed way back in 2012 when delegates to the Democratic National Convention jeered the mention of God and struck all reference to him in their platform. However, until recently, as smart politicians most national figures in the Democratic Party carefully avoided the anti-Christian, anti-Semitic bigotry displayed by their Left wing grassroots activists. That all changed in 2017 during the confirmation of now-Judge Amy Coney Barrett when California’s Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein went after Barrett’s Catholic faith during her confirmation hearing. Feinstein charged that Barrett has “a long history of believing [her] religious beliefs should prevail,” and added “when you read your speeches, the conclusion one draws is that the dogma lives loudly within you.” Liberals have since tried to explain away Feinstein’s odd phrasing, which had the quality of a nativist, anti-Papist tract from a century ago observed James S. Robbins in a recent op-ed for USAToday. These days, says Robbins, liberals have taken to portraying people in public life who exhibit almost any kind of faith orientation as dangerous extremists. In a discussion of the high court, CNN contributor Dean Obeidallah maintained…
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by Robert Osburn Celebrated this past July 4, America’s founding story of freedom is truly remarkable: unity, courage, integrity, and national integration (incorporating people from around the world). In most other places, the freedom story is bloody, exclusive, and, ultimately, tyrannical. Take Nicaragua, for one example: In 1979, the Sandinistas overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza. Nearly four decades later, hundreds are dying because the very people who led the Sandinista revolution (Daniel Ortega and friends, now in power) are behaving exactly like Somoza. It’s déjà vu all over again for our Central American neighbors. In an age when democracy is clearly retreating, will America eventually succumb to autocracy while waving sayonara to democracy? It’s a question that National Review’s JonahGoldberg once very handily dismissed. He now admits that American totalitarianism is a real possibility. Utilizing a scenario-building skill that I learned during my doctoral studies, let me offer what I consider a very plausible scenario that takes America down the rathole of tyranny: Sometime between 2028 and 2034, America’s president will use executive or emergency powers to solve the nation’s Social Security trust fund crisis. As Americans celebrate that presidential act of courage, we will begin the long road to tyranny because we cannot rule ourselves. Does this remind anyone of the books of Judges and I Samuel when, because everyone did what was right…
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by Monica Burke After a Lexington, Virginia, restaurant, the Red Hen, refused service to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Friday, commentators on the left immediately seized upon a false analogy. They likened that incident to the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, the case of the Christian baker in Colorado who refused to craft a custom cake for a same-sex wedding. That attempt at an analogy reveals that the left still does not understand the Supreme Court’s ruling in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Jack Phillips, the baker, serves all customers, but cannot serve all events. He declined to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple not because of their identity, because he could not communicate a message that violated his religious beliefs. He even offered the couple any other item in his store. Meanwhile, the Red Hen denied service to Sanders precisely because of who she is. They did not refuse to create a custom order that would have endorsed views they disagreed with. They denied her service, period. The false analogy also reveals the hypocrisy of the left’s position. They accuse people like Phillips, who serves everyone regardless of who they are, of discrimination,…
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Reuters After siding with a baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sent back to lower courts a similar dispute over a florist who declined to create flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding based on her Christian beliefs. The justices threw out a 2017 ruling by Washington state’s Supreme Court that Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene’s Flowers in the city of Richland, about 200 miles (320 km) southeast of Seattle, had violated the state’s anti-discrimination law and a consumer protection measure. The court ordered the top Washington state court to revisit the case in light of its ruling on June 4 in favor of Colorado baker Jack Phillips, who similarly cited his Christian beliefs in refusing to make a wedding cake for a gay couple. Stutzman in 2013 refused to provide the arrangements to Robert Ingersoll and Curt Freed, who were getting married after the state legalized same-sex marriage the prior year. She was hit with a $1,000 fine and directed to make floral arrangements for same-sex weddings if she does so for opposite-sex weddings. In the baker case, the court ruled that a Colorado state commission had…
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by Arya Hodjat The U.S. Justice Department will intensify its efforts to bring up lawsuits against municipalities that discriminate against religious establishments, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced Wednesday. The initiative, called the “Place to Worship Initiative,” is centered on bringing cases against towns and cities that use zoning laws to prevent houses of worship — churches and mosques, for example — from building. “In recent years, the cultural climate has become less hospitable to people of faith and to religious belief,” Sessions said. “Many Americans have felt that their freedom to practice their faith has been under attack.” The announcement came during an event for the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center — an Orthodox Jewish advocacy group — in Washington, D.C. Sessions also announced the Justice Department would be filing a lawsuit against a New Jersey town for denying the building of an Orthodox Jewish synagogue. “Religious Americans have heard themselves called deplorables,” Sessions said. “They’ve heard themselves called bitter clingers.” Sessions referred to comments made by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama during their presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2008, respectively. Clinton made no reference to religion in her 2016 speech. Heather Weaver, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU, told…
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The Tennessee Pastors Network issued a pro-life pledge on Thursday for candidates for all levels of offices in Tennessee designed to show their commitment to defund Planned Parenthood “Pastor Dale Walker, President of the Tennessee Pastors Network, is calling on Tennessee candidates for Governor, Congress, State House and State Senate to put their “pro-life” words into action. The Tennessee Pastors Network Pro-Life Pledge can be printed out by candidates from the Tennessee Pastors Network website and returned with their signatures and those of two witnesses. Tennessee Pastors Network will list those who have signed the Pro-Life Pledge on the website,” the Tennessee Pastors Network (TPN) said in a statement. “We’re in the midst of all this election season heading into the August 2 primaries on the Democrat and Republican sides. A lot of candidates, particularly on the Republican side, are talking about how pro life they are,” Tennessee Star Political Editor Steve Gill said on Thursday’s edition of the Gill Report, broadcast live on WETR 92.3 FM in Knoxville. “Some of these folks who are talking about being so pro-life are the same ones that have voted to fund Planned Parenthood.It’s important to look at what they do, not what they…
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by Daniel Lattier If someone asks you to name the all-time bestselling book, you’d most likely answer “The Bible.” And you’d be right. According to Guinness World Records: “Although it is impossible to obtain exact figures, there is little doubt that the Bible is the world’s best-selling and most widely distributed book. A survey by the Bible Society concluded that around 2.5 billion copies were printed between 1815 and 1975, but more recent estimates put the number at more than 5 billion.” But you might not have heard of the second-most sold and translated work of Christianity after the Bible… It’s The Imitation of Christ, written by the medieval monk Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471). The Imitation of Christ is a 15th-century devotional work that calls its readers to a radical living of the Christian faith. In the four books that comprise it, it counsels readers to reject the “vanities of the world”, to cultivate silence and turn inward, and to “take up the cross” by embracing suffering and humility in their lives. The fact that between 1500 and 1650 over 650 editions of it were produced, in a wide variety of languages, is a testimony to a less-secularized time in the history of…
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One of the most wondrous things about Easter — the Christian faith’s most sacred holiday — is the sheer miracle of it all. Jesus strode the earth among mere mortals, who either looked to Him hungrily for life’s meaning or eyed Him with suspicion and fear.
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Saint John Paul once said that, in the providence of God, there are “no such thing as coincidences.” Presumably, then, it was providential that on the Friday before this most Holy Week in the Christian calendar, a French police officer and devout Catholic gave his life — like Christ — to save a young mother during an Islamic attack in southwest France.
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