Christianity – Page 2 – The Faithful Watchman

‘Preaching the Gospel May One Day Become Hate Speech,’ Legal Expert Warns

Michael Foust – May 5, 2022

Noting that certain tenets of the Christian faith are growing more unpopular each year, two prominent attorneys on Thursday called on believers to pray for the Supreme Court and the rest of the judicial system, saying it’s essential that judges follow the Constitution and not the whims of the culture.

David Nammo, CEO of the Christian Legal Society, and Gregory S. Baylor, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, made the comments on the National Day of Prayer, emphasizing that Justices need prayer just as politicians do. They spoke during a virtual event sponsored by MyFaithVotes.org.

“I think one of the specific ways we can pray for judges is that they don’t get kind of sucked into the deep polarization and tribalism that’s plaguing our culture right now,” Baylor said. “We don’t want judges to become part of that – to think of themselves in one tribe or the other.”

Baylor urged Christians to pray that judges “do the job that God has called them to do.”

“Even at the recent Supreme Court confirmation hearings … there was a consensus that judges ought not to be legislators [and] ought not to be the primary resolvers of the big disputes and debates in our country,” Baylor said.

It’s especially critical to pray for judges as the culture becomes more hostile to the gospel, Nammo said.

“I think it’s important that [pastors] understand that preaching the gospel may one day become hate speech in this country,” Nammo said, noting that in many countries, “that’s already the case.”

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Troops accuse Pentagon of ‘religious purge’

RT – April 29, 2022

The US government is still mandating all members of the military to get a Covid-19 vaccine and discharging those who refuse – even on religious grounds – in what amounts to a deliberate purge of troops with beliefs the current Pentagon considers wrong, a sergeant and two officers told the podcast hosted by Republican congressman Matt Gaetz on Thursday.

Gaetz (R-Florida), who hosts a podcast called ‘Firebrand,’ said he wants to propose an amendment that would ban mandates for experimental vaccines and restore rank and pay to those forced to leave the military, but admitted that some of his Republican colleagues might not support it, not to mention the majority Democrats.

“If you are a believer and you are listening to this podcast, you need to understand that God-fearing service members are being intentionally purged from the services,” said one of his guests, Air Force Captain Jordan Karr.

“It’s a purposeful purge,” argued Army Major Samuel Sigoloff. “Anyone who would disobey an unlawful order is being purged out of the military,” he added, alleging there is a “shadow policy” in place to protect the leadership doing this.

Karr, Sigoloff and Air Force Master Sergeant Nickolas Krupper made their case against the mandate by bringing up religious freedom, natural immunity, and the discrepancy between the jabs used under emergency authorization and the one officially approved, which technically isn’t available in the US.

Though they are legally distinct, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidance says that Pfizer’s emergency-use vaccine and the officially approved Comirnaty “can be used interchangeably… without presenting any safety or effectiveness concerns.”

All three service members face “involuntary separation” over their refusal to get the jab, but have sued the Defense Department on religious exemption grounds. They technically remain on active duty until the lawsuits are resolved. Sergeant Krupper pointed out he is two years away from retirement and would lose his pension and family medical benefits if the USAF kicks him out.

https://www.rt.com

American Bible Society survey finds ‘unprecedented drop’ in Bible reading

Ryan Foley – April 7, 2022

There has been an “unprecedented drop” in the number of Bible users in the United States since last year, according to a report released by the American Bible Society.

The 2022 State of the Bible report, released Wednesday, based its findings on responses collected from a survey of 2,598 U.S. adults conducted in January. The 12th annual report asked Americans a variety of questions about their Bible use and their thoughts on its role in society.

A preface to the report also highlights changes in the percentage of Bible users in the U.S. over time. The American Bible Society defines Bible users as “those who use the Bible at least 3-4 times each year on their own, outside of a church setting.”

After reaching a high of 53% in 2014, the share of Bible users among the U.S. adult population consistently remained between 48% and 51%. Just last year, 50% of Americans were Bible users. However, in 2022, Bible users in the U.S. accounted for just 39% of the adult population, the lowest in more than a decade.

The State of the Bible report described the 11% decrease as an “unprecedented drop in the percentage of Bible users in the United States.” When applied to the U.S. population as a whole, the figure suggests that the number of Bible users in the U.S. dropped from 128 million in 2021 to 103 million in 2022.

https://www.christianpost.com

Christian doctor ousted for refusing trans-identified pronouns to have case heard at UK tribunal

Anugrah Kumar – March 28, 2022

A Christian doctor who lost his job for refusing to use trans pronouns will appear before a tribunal in the United Kingdom this week to challenge a ruling that held that biblical beliefs on gender are “incompatible with human dignity” and not “worthy of respect in a democratic society.”

Dr. David Mackereth, a physician who in July 2018 was forced out of his job in the Department of Work and Pensions, will challenge the ruling at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

He is represented by the Christian Legal Centre.

“My case affects everyone, not just me and Bible-believing Christians, but anyone who is concerned by compelled speech and transgender ideology being enforced on the NHS and other public services,” Mackereth said in a statement.

“The judgment from two years ago said to Christians, ‘you have to believe in transgender ideology.’ That is totalitarianism. It made out Christianity to be nothing, the Bible to be nothing. That cannot be allowed to stand.”

The case comes about a week after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson told members of Parliament that “when it comes to distinguishing between a man and a woman, the basic facts of biology remain overwhelmingly important.”

In the two-day hearing, lawyers are expected to cite Maya Forstater’s tribunal victory last June, maintaining that an earlier decision against her “erred in law.” Forstater served as a senior researcher at a think tank in London and was fired in 2019 for tweeting that “men cannot change into women.” She criticized the decision to house a trans-identified biological male in a woman’s prison.

https://www.christianpost.com

Greece: Muslim Migrants Desecrate and ‘Turn into Toilets’ 2,339 Churches

Raymond Ibrahim – March 14, 2022

According to a new report published by Greece’s Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs, there were 2,339 incidents of church desecrations in the country between 2015 and 2020, when tiny Greece, seen as Europe’s eastern gateway, was flooded with migrants from the Islamic world. As the Greek City Times writes in regards to the report, “There appears to be a correlation between the increase in illegal migration and the incidents of attacks on Greek Orthodox religious churches and religious spaces during the five year period which occurred during the peak of the migration crisis.”

Of the most recent year in the recording period, 2020, there were 385 incidents against Christian churches and buildings, including “vandalism, burglary, theft, sacrilege, necromancy, robbery, placement of explosive devices and other desecrations.”

Over the years, a few of these desecrations made it to English language media.

In April 2021, Muslim migrants entered into and utterly desecrated a small church. Proud of their handiwork, they also videotaped portions of the incident and uploaded it on TikTok (available here). It shows a topless migrant dancing to rap music as he walks towards and inside the church. The next clip shows the aftermath: devastation inside the church, with smashed icons and the altar overthrown.

In 2020, Muslim migrants ransacked and transformed another church into their personal toilet. This public restroom was once the St. Catherine Church in Moria, a small town on the island of Lesvos, which was flooded with migrants who arrived via Turkey. “The smell inside is unbearable,” said a local. “[T]he metropolitan of Mytilene is aware of the situation in the area, nevertheless, he does not wish to deal with it for his own reasons.”

While there are many such examples from between 2015-2020—in 2016, the Church of All Saints in Kallithea near Athens was set aflame by “Arabic speakers”—historically conscious Greeks see a continuum in the Islamic targeting of their churches. As one report on the desecration of Greek churches explains,

We should remember that Greece spent 400 years under Turkish Islamic rule and that the fight for freedom was bloody. With that in mind it is even more dramatic seeing these images of fighting age migrants desecrating Greek holy places and having no respect for the country they are allegedly seeking refuge in.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Report: Early 2022 Marked by ‘Epidemic’ of Anti-Christian Arson and Vandalism

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. – February 22, 2022

ROME — Christian churches in Europe have been “targets of repetitive vandalism, desecration and even arson” in the first two months of 2022, a human rights watchdog group reports Tuesday.

Every year sees numerous incidents of vandalism against nativity scenes, notes the Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination Against Christians in Europe (OIDAC), but the beginning of 2022 has also seen “many incidents of threats, arson and severe vandalism” against Christian sites.

It is “terrible to see so many churches being attacked with vandalism and arson in such a short period of time,” declares OIDAC executive director Madeleine Enzlberger. “The amount of vandalism that took place in France at the beginning of the year even prompted the Ministry of Interior to release a new four million Euro budget to secure religious sites” following “an epidemic of attacks against churches at the beginning of 2022.”

“As the minister in charge of cults, my job is to protect them,” said French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. “In this way, we increase the means that make it possible to equip places of worship, in particular with video protection.”

Elsewhere, arsonists set fire to the Paul Gerhardt Church in Berlin on January 20, and the flames destroyed the altar, an image of Christ, and the organ, OIDAC observed, and 30 Firefighters were required to extinguish the fire.

On February 13, the Jackson Church of Scotland in Airdrie, a North Lanarkshire town near Glasgow, was also set ablaze in an attack that police are treating as arson. The vandals started the fire around 3:00 am and the fire brigade was called around 4:00 am, OIDAC reports, and the fire caused extensive damage to the church vestibule.

Physical violence against Christian sites is not the only form of anti-Christian activity taking place, OIDAC states.

https://www.breitbart.com

Freedom of Religion on Trial in Finland

William Kilpatrick – February 25, 2022

Päivi Räsänen is a member of the Finnish Parliament, a former minister of the interior, a public speaker and the mother of five grown children.

She faces a heavy fine and two years in prison for quoting the Bible. In response to the Evangelical Lutheran Church’s affiliation with the Helsinki LGBT Pride event, she posted the Bible passage from Romans 1: 24-27 which condemns homosexual behavior.

Finnish prosecutors stated that the use of the word “sin” could be harmful, and alleged that Ms. Räsänen’s comments were made to cause intolerance, contempt, and hatred toward homosexuals.

But couldn’t the prosecutor’s remarks cause intolerance, contempt and hatred toward Ms. Räsänen? If criticizing another person’s beliefs or behavior is a hate crime, then isn’t she the victim of a hate crime?

The court prosecutors worried that the word “sin” could be harmful. One supposes they mean harmful to one’s self-esteem. And, indeed, the list of sins in Romans 1: 24-32 is meant to make you feel bad about yourself. From a Biblical perspective, acknowledgment of sin, followed by repentance, leads on to salvation. In other words, feeling bad about your behavior is, in some cases, a good thing. It’s not only homosexual behavior that is condemned in Romans I. The extended passage condemns all manner of sins including idolatry, deceitfulness, envy, gossip, slander, and disobedience to parents.

From one point of view this is highly offensive and insulting to those disposed to deceitfulness and slander. From another point of view, it can be looked upon as highly therapeutic—a moment of self-recognition that leads on to change.

Prosecutors should have no difficulty understanding the concept. After all, they apply painful therapeutics as a matter of course. They hope that a heavy fine or a dose of prison will force the criminal to recognize his crimes and put himself on the road to rehabilitation.

Increasingly, however, prosecutors are prosecuting “thought crimes” rather than real crimes, and courts are using hurt feelings as a criterion for making decisions. Take the case of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, an Austrian woman who was found guilty of “inciting hatred” by an Austrian Court because of her assertion that the prophet Muhammad was a pedophile. In 2018, the ruling was upheld by the European Court of Human Rights which held that her right to freedom of expression was outweighed by “the right of others to have their religious feelings protected.” In short, feelings trumped facts, and the alleged pain caused to Muslims by the “slander” of their prophet became the deciding factor.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

(WATCH) Scottsdale, Arizona set to host “World Record” largest satanic conference ever conducted this weekend

Ricky Scaparo – February 10, 2022

In 2016, The Satanic Temple wanted to deliver an invocation before a Scottsdale city council meeting. Every other religious organization that had applied was permitted the opportunity to share a brief statement that was inspired by their faith.

However, Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane celebrated that he successfully blocked The Satanic Temple from delivering their requested invocation. The Satanic Temple sued the city for religious discrimination but lost in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for failing to show that the discrimination was a matter of official policy, as opposed to being a public position of key city officials involved in the decision making.

The Satanic Temple disputes the integrity of this ruling, but did not appeal to The Supreme Court. Because The Satanic Temple could not utter a brief statement at the City Hall Kiva, they are hosting SatanCon. The three-day convention devoted to Satanists will take place in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The Satanic Temple believes this event will be the world’s largest Satanic conference and has reached out to the Guinness Book of World Records for confirmation. “Regardless of whether Guinness opts to include this among the records they document, Scottsdale, AZ will have the honor of being bestowed with this legacy.

As the city is recognized for its contribution to the Satanic community and becomes a spiritual hub for those who venerate a literary interpretation of Satan, residents will have Mayor Jim Lane to thank. “Regardless of whether Guinness opts to include this among the records they document, Scottsdale, AZ will have the honor of being bestowed with this legacy.

As the city is recognized for its contribution to the Satanic community and becomes a spiritual hub for those who venerate a literary interpretation of Satan, residents will have Mayor Jim Lane to thank. As hundreds of Satanists descend on Scottdale, residents will be able to learn more about our faith than they would have if the city had just accepted our petition to deliver an invocation,” noted The SatanCon organizer Harry Hoofcloppen.

“From this day on, when people hear of Scottsdale, they will immediately think of Satan.” The record-breaking event runs from the 11th to the 13th of February in celebration of the Satanic holiday of Lupercalia and features a variety of presentations on TST’s ongoing projects, from their efforts at protecting abortion rights in Texas to a new Satanic streaming service.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Bible verses now a crime: Politician on trial for sharing Scripture

Laurel Duggan – January 24, 2022

Finnish politician Päivi Räsänen went on trial Monday for tweeting a Bible verse in 2019 and challenging the Finnish Lutheran Church’s involvement in gay pride events.

Räsänen faces charges of “ethnic agitation” under the War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity section of the country’s criminal code, the Daily Wire reported. Finland’s hate speech laws criminalize the expression of opinions that “threaten, defame, or insult” others, with offenders facing up to two years in jail.

Charges against the politician are rooted in voicing opinions about marriage and sexuality in a 2004 pamphlet and a 2019 radio show in addition to tweeting a photo of an open Bible with the caption, “#kirkko [the church] has stated that he is the official partner of #seta #Pride2019 . How does the doctrinal foundation of the Church, #raamattu [the Bible] fit in with shame and sin being raised as a matter of pride?”

A medical doctor, mother of five and grandmother of six, Räsänen has been a Member of Parliament since 1995 and was Minister of the Interior from 2011 to 2015, during which time she handled church affairs for Finland, according to ADF International. Police investigations into her began in 2019, and Räsänen has undergone multiple police interviews.“

I will not be intimidated into hiding my faith,” Räsänen said, according to ADF. “The more Christians keep silent on controversial themes, the narrower the space for freedom of speech gets.“

https://www.wnd.com

‘Pope Francis’ – A Wolf in Shepherd’s Clothing?

William Kilpatrick – January 25, 2022

“A non-Catholic Pope”? It sounds like a contradiction in terms. But those are the words used to describe Pope Francis by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. In fact, he rarely uses the term “Pope Francis.” He refers to him instead as “Bergoglio” and to his pontificate as the “Bergoglian papacy.”

Vigano has a following in some Catholic circles but it’s likely that the vast majority of Catholics have never heard of him. Yet the questions he raises about Pope Francis are of great consequence, not just for Catholics but for non-Catholics as well.

Since there are about 1.3 billion Catholics in the world, whoever leads them can have a significant effect on a large segment of the global population. It’s widely thought, for instance, that Pope John Paul II did more to put an end to communism in Eastern Europe than any other individual with the exception of Ronald Reagan. For evidence of the close collaboration between the two men, read historian Paul Kengor’s revealing book, A Pope and a President.

Now we have a new pope and a new president and neither of them seem terribly concerned about the revival of communist power throughout the world. In fact, both men have surrounded themselves with left-leaning advisors and appointees.

In addition, both Francis and Biden have effectively rolled back the agendas of their immediate predecessors. This is obvious in the case of Biden because the reversal has been swift and abrupt. The reversal that Francis has engineered is less noticeable since it has been more gradual, but the resulting change in the Catholic Church has been every bit as radical as the one now taking place in American government and society.

Archbishop Vigano links the two together. He talks of a coup in America and other Western nations led by secular leftist ideologues, and a coup in the Catholic Church led by Bergoglio and the progressive Catholics who surround him.

https://www.frontpagemag.com