Tag: Christianity

Alito Warns: Religious Liberty ‘Is in Danger of Becoming a Second-Class Right’

Michael Foust – November 13, 2020

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Thursday delivered an unusually blunt warning about the future of religious liberty and free speech in the United States, saying both were in danger if the justices don’t step in and protect them.

Alito’s comments came during a speech in a virtual gathering of the Federalist Society, a group of conservatives and libertarians dedicated to reforming the legal system.

Alito, who was nominated by President George W. Bush, has been known as a staunch supporter of religious liberty and free speech, although his comments left little doubt how he will lean in future cases involving those two issues.

“It pains me to say this, but in certain quarters, religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right,” said Alito, who is Catholic. The pandemic, he bemoaned, “has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty,” even though Alito said he was not “diminishing the severity of the virus’ threat to public health.”

Alito used frank language discussing several high-profile cases, including one involving the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic order of nuns who run homes for the elderly poor. The Obama administration tried forcing the Little Sisters to carry health insurance covering contraceptives and abortifacients.

“The Little Sisters are women who have dedicated their lives to caring for the elderly, regardless of religion. They run homes that have won high praise,” Alito said. “… Despite this inspiring work, the Little Sisters have been under unrelenting attack for the better part of a decade. … If they did not knuckle under and violate a tenet of their faith, they faced crippling fines – fines that would likely have forced them to shut down their homes.

“The current administration tried to prevent that by adopting a new rule, but the states of Pennsylvania and New Jersey – supported by 17 other states – challenged that new rule. Last spring, the Little Sisters won their most recent battle in the Supreme Court – I should add by a vote of 7 to 2. But the case was sent back to the court of appeals, and the Little Sisters legal fight goes on and on.”

Alito mentioned other cases, too, including the high-profile one involving Jack Phillips, a cake artist and Christian who was told by the state of Colorado he must design a cake for a same-sex wedding or risk violating the law.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

Christians Banned from Holding Prayer Vigils, Peaceful Protests Near UK Abortion Clinic

Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D. – October 9, 2020

The Manchester City Council has passed an order banning prayer vigils and peaceful protests around the Marie Stopes abortion clinic, the Christian Institute reports Friday.

The Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) has set up a buffer zone around the clinic in Fallowfield, within which people are forbidden to pray, distribute pro-life literature, or speak to anyone about abortion, measures pro-lifers have called “draconian” and an infringement on “freedom of speech.”

The one concession made by the council is a small designated space within the buffer zone where no more than three people may silently demonstrate with small placards.

Within the Restricted Area no person shall “protest, namely engage in any act of approval/disapproval or attempted act of approval/disapproval, with respect to issues related to abortion services by any means,” the PSPO reads. “This includes but is not limited to graphic, verbal or written means, prayer or counseling.”

People are also prohibited from displaying or distributing “any text or images relating directly or indirectly to the termination of pregnancy,” the order adds.

Within the small Designated Zone no person may “display any individual poster, text or image, singularly or collectively greater that one sheet of A3 paper,” it establishes.

The International Director at 40 Days for Life, Robert Colquhoun, said that up to now the pro-life vigils have always been “peaceful, prayerful, and legal.” His group will comply with the law, he said, but will continue praying outside the buffer zone.

Marie Stopes International, one of the world’s largest abortion providers, has been campaigning for buffer zones around all abortion clinics in Great Britain, insisting that “the UK is a pro-choice nation.”

“We are a firmly pro-choice nation, but sadly, a small minority of people believe otherwise and would like to see the country take a backwards step on abortion,” Marie Stopes UK Managing Director Richard Bentley wrote last year.

“These anti-abortion groups who gather outside clinics have a detrimental impact on women, our team members and residents, and whether their behavior is subtle or overt, it is a form of discrimination against women and targeted street harassment,” he said.

https://www.breitbart.com

Plot Thickens Over Origins of Pope’s Civil Union Endorsement

Newsmax – October 22, 2020

Question swirled Thursday about the origins of Pope Francis’ bombshell comments endorsing same-sex civil unions, with all evidence suggesting he made them in a 2019 interview that was never broadcast in its entirety.

The Vatican refused to comment on whether it cut the remarks from its own broadcast or pressured the Mexican broadcaster that conducted the interview to follow suit. And it didn’t respond to questions about why it allowed the comments to be aired now in the documentary “Francesco,” which premiered Wednesday.

In the movie, which was shown at the Rome Film Festival, Francis said gay people have the right to be in a family since they are “children of God.”

“You can’t kick someone out of a family, nor make their life miserable for this,” the pope said. “What we have to have is a civil union law; that way they are legally covered.”

Those comments caused a firestorm, thrilling progressives and alarming conservatives, given official Vatican teaching prohibits any such endorsement of homosexual unions.

While serving as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis endorsed civil unions for gay couples as an alternative to same-sex marriages. However, he had never come out publicly in favor of legal protections for civil unions as pope, and no pontiff before him had, either.

One of Francis’ top communications advisers, the Rev. Antonio Spadaro, insisted the pope’s comments were old news, saying they were made during a May 2019 interview with Mexican broadcaster Televisa.

https://www.newsmax.com

Catholic and Jewish leaders sue New York over 10-person limit on services and mask mandate

Nicholas Rowan, Staff Writer – October 09, 2020

Catholic and Jewish leaders Thursday afternoon sued New York after the implementation of increased coronavirus restrictions on worship services.

Both groups argued that the new restrictions, which took effect Tuesday in “red zone” parts of New York City, imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and enforced by Mayor Bill de Blasio, are unnecessarily harsh and violate the First Amendment’s free exercise clause. Jewish leaders, led by the Orthodox group Agudath Israel of America, added that the restrictions single out Jews for special treatment because they impede the celebration of a series of holidays beginning Friday.

The group argued that it’s possible to hold safe, socially distanced services, in contrast to the protests against the restrictions that many Orthodox Jews have taken part in over the past week. Rabbi Chaim Zwiebel, executive vice president of Agudath Israel, added that the new 10-person limit on gatherings would make it impossible to celebrate the holidays Hoshana Rabbah, Shemini Atzeret, and Simchat Torah properly this weekend.

“Social distancing, masking, and all health precautions must, of course, be observed,” he said in a statement. “However, we think that it is possible to stay safe and at the same time have more than ten people in a Shul building that is meant to hold hundreds.”

Catholic leaders, led by Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, in their suit said that the new restrictions and the 10-person cap “arbitrarily reduce capacity,” even after the diocese followed the state’s previous coronavirus restrictions.

“This religious community will be denied its most fundamental right, the free exercise of religion, for no legitimate reason whatsoever,” said Randy Mastro, the diocese’s attorney.

https://www.conservativereview.com

Erdogan Tells Turkish Leaders: ‘Jerusalem is Our City’

Emily Jones – October 2, 2020

JERUSALEM, Israel – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Jerusalem belongs to his country during an address to Turkish lawmakers in Ankara on Thursday, The Times of Israel reported.

“In this city that we had to leave in tears during the First World War, it is still possible to come across traces of the Ottoman resistance. So, Jerusalem is our city, a city from us,” he said. “Our first qibla [Islamic direction of prayer] al-Aqsa and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem are the symbolic mosques of our faith. In addition, this city is home to the holy places of Christianity and Judaism.”

The Ottoman Empire ruled Jerusalem from 1516-1917 until Great Britain took over after World War I. Erdogan is increasingly pushing the constitutionally secular country towards conservative Islam and considers Jerusalem an extension of Turkey.

Shortly after converting Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia church into a mosque in July, Erdogan set his sights on the holy city.

He said in a Facebook post that the “revival of the Hagia Sophia is a sign towards the return of freedom to the al-Aqsa mosque” in Jerusalem.

https://www1.cbn.com

Chinese authorities abduct and torture priest to force state conversion

Ricky Scaparo – September 29, 2020

(ETH) – China is so hell-bent on destroying Christianity that the Communist authorities in China have now reportedly abducted and tortured a 46-year-old priest in the southeastern province of Fujian for refusing to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, according to a report from the Christian Post.

Bitter Winter, which is a magazine publication that reports on religious liberty and human rights in China state that Father Liu Maochun from the Diocese of Mindong was ruthlessly tortured.  The details of the report indicated that Officers banged a “gong beside his ear and shone a bright light into his eyes for several consecutive days—a torture method known as ‘exhausting an eagle’ when people are deprived of sleep for a long time,”

Then Liu Maochun, who assists the diocese’s auxiliary bishop Guo Xijin, was then taken away by Chinese police on Sept. 1st while he was visiting patients in a hospital. He was then taken to a detention house in the county-level city of Fu’an. “The government claimed that Fr. Liu Maochun has disobeyed its rule and was ‘ideologically radical,’” the source was quoted as saying.

The Bishop also refused to join the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, This comes as the government had earlier pressured one of the deacons in the diocese, threatening to demolish his house and sack his children if he further supported Guo’s refusal to join the Patriotic Church, according to the shocking report. The report also stated that Fr. Maochun may have shared information with foreign media about another priest, Fr. Huang, who too was tortured for not joining the Patriotic Church. China continues cracking down on underground churches and Christian activists and has been for years.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Idaho Police Arrest 3 at Outdoor Church Worship Event in Defiance of Mask Mandate

Ezra Dulis – September 20, 2020

Police in Moscow, Idaho, arrested three people Wednesday for violating social distancing rules as their church sang hymns and Bible psalms outdoors — an event held, in part, to protest the city mayor’s mask mandate, which runs to January 2021.

Officers arrested Gabriel Rench, Rachel Bohnet, and Sean Bohnet, according to Moscow Report, a local independent news outlet. A video uploaded to social media shows Bohnet, a local music teacher, and his wife telling officers they refused to comply with an inaudible order. Moscow Report says the apparent infraction is that they refused to show identification.

Update: The Moscow Police Department’s daily activity log lists the reasons for the arrests as “public health emergency order” violations.

Footage of the couple’s arrest shows the church body singing the hymn “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” as officers place them in handcuffs.

Rench is a co-host of Cross Politic, a Christian political talk show, and a candidate for county commissioner. “You guys should not be doing this,” he told officers as they walked him to a squad car. “And doing this kind of crap for the mayor, this is embarrassing. You guys are stronger than this.”

Released that same day, Rench appeared on his talk show to discuss the arrest, playing extended footage of his conversation with officers. One of his companions is heard telling the officers “We backed you guys” at recent Black Lives Matter protests advocating to defund the police. “They didn’t send you [to enforce social distancing] with BLM to go do that when they said defund you guys. We backed you guys.”

“I got booked in jail; I was in jail for about two hours,” he said. “And as they were de-booking me, or whatever they call it, I’m walking out and I go by their office, which is right next to where I’m getting booked out. And there’s three deputies in the officer, and two of them aren’t wearing masks and sitting right next to each other. And I said, ‘hey, should they get arrested?’”

https://www.breitbart.com

Kroger Fires Christian Employees Who Refused to Wear LGBT Rainbow, U.S. Suit Says

Michael Foust – September 16, 2020

An Arkansas Kroger store violated federal anti-discrimination law when it reportedly fired two employees who refused to wear LGBT-themed aprons due to their religious beliefs, according to a lawsuit filed Monday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

According to the Miami Herald, a dress code by the Conway, Ark., grocery store required employees to wear a rainbow-colored heart emblem on the bib of the apron. The women “believed the emblem endorsed LGBTQ values and that wearing it would violate their religious beliefs,” the EEOC said in a news release summarizing the suit.

Kroger disciplined the two women and eventually fired them, an action that violates Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bans employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The EEOC charges Kroger with religious discrimination.

Both women are Christian.

The two women “offered to wear the apron with the emblem covered and the other offered to wear a different apron without the emblem, but the company made no attempt to accommodate their requests,” the EEOC said.

“Companies have an obligation under Title VII to consider requests for religious accommodations, and it is illegal to terminate employees for requesting an accommodation for their religious beliefs,” said Delner-Franklin Thomas, district director of the EEOC’s Memphis District Office. “The EEOC protects the rights of the LGBTQ community, but it also protects the rights of religious people.”

The EEOC tried but failed to reach a pre-litigation settlement, the news release said. The lawsuit seeks “monetary relief in the form of back pay and compensatory damages, as well as an injunction against future discrimination,” the EEOC said.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

LGBTQ+ Group Threatens to Burn Down Church after Pastor Says Homosexuality Is a Sin

Milton Quintanilla – September 9, 2020

UK Pastor John Williamson of Newquay Baptist Church is facing violent threats from members of the LGBTQ+ community for insisting that homosexuality is a sin.

According to Christian Concern, a UK based watchdog organization, Williamson simply wrote, ”wonderful news!” in response to a news article that stated that the Cornwall Pride Parade was canceled. The festivities were originally scheduled to take place on August 29.

When an online user asked Williamson why he celebrated the cancellation, the pastor replied, “because I don’t think sin should be celebrated.”

Williamson proceeded to use Scripture to defend his stance on homosexuality. He cited the books of John, James, and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.

The pastor then shared the article on his personal Facebook page, noting that his church had previously prayed for the cancellation of the parade.

“We also prayed that the Lord would save the organizers. One prayer answered, now we wait for the second prayer to be answered,” he added.

But the parade organizers caught wind of Williamson’s page, took a screenshot of his post, tagged his church and posted it together with anti-LGBTQ+ comments by online users.

The names of the users were blocked out by Cornell Pride, in order to make it seem like Pastor Williamson was the one behind the negative comments.

Williamson’s wife received online threats as her husband’s head was superimposed upon an image of homosexual pornography, which was also shared online.

The pastor was then reported by Cornwall Pride’s followers to police for hate speech as well as committing a hate crime.

https://www.christianheadlines.com

At Least 500 Ethiopian Christians Reported Slaughtered in Relentless Attacks Since June

– September 4, 2020

An Ethiopian Christian leader called for an international inquiry into the slaying of hundreds of Christians, including pregnant women, children and whole families, in ongoing Oromo Muslim extremist attacks in the parts of the Oromia regional state, extending south, south-east and east of Addis Ababa, since the end of June. According to reports, more than 500 were killed.

The coordinated killings, targeting Christians from a wide range of ethnicities including Oromo Christians, began soon after the alleged assassination of a popular Oromo singer, Hachallu Hundessa, who was shot dead on 29 June, while driving in the outskirts of the capital.

The attackers are from the Oromo ethnic group, which has traditionally been Muslim, and are members of Qeerroo (meaning, “bachelors”), an Oromo male youth movement.

In door-to-door attacks on Christian households the Qeerroo extremists arrived in cars and, armed with guns, machetes, swords and spears, sought out and slaughtered Christians. Children were forced to witness their parents being brutally murdered with machetes.

https://christiannews.net