Day: April 9, 2019

“END THIS HOLOCAUST”: HUNDREDS FLOCKING TO TEXAS CAPITOL TO TESTIFY IN SUPPORT OF BILL TO ABOLISH ABORTION IN STATE

HUNDREDS FLOCKING TO TEXAS CAPITOL TO TESTIFY IN SUPPORT OF BILL TO ABOLISH ABORTION IN STATE
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds are flocking to the Texas capitol building today to testify in support of a bill that would completely outlaw abortion in the state, and supporters are encouraging fellow residents of the Lone Star State to still arrive at the capitol this evening to be a part of the historic hearing.



According to video updates posted online by Abolish Abortion Texas, an estimated 300-400 people were in the building as of 2 p.m. this afternoon to testify before the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.



The sounds of “Amazing Grace” and “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” filled the rotunda, and at one point, those gathered got down on their knees to pray for an end to abortion. Exuberant chants of “abolish abortion” also filled the air.



The hearing for the bill had not started yet as of press time, but once it does, it will likely go into the late evening due to the large number of residents who wish to testify in support of the measure. Residents will be allowed one minute each to speak, again due to the size of the crowd.







“[T]hat’s still five to six hours [of testimony],” Wesley Thomas of Abolish Abortion Texas explained. “So, if you can still get here, if you haven’t come but you were on the fence, please come down here. … Let’s keep going. Let still give them seven to eight hours of testimony.”



“We expect this to still be going on 8 o’clock, 9 o’clock, 10 o’clock at night,” added Bradley Pierce. “So, if you have to get home from work, get dressed, get over here, there still should be plenty of time to do that. So, please get over here as soon as you can and be a part of this historic day.”



According to instructions provided earlier in the day by committee Chairman Jeff Leach, signs are not allowed within the hearing rooms, but t-shirts with messages on them are permitted. Those interested in testifying must also register upon their arrival.



As previously reported, House Bill 896, also known as the “Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act,” declares that life begins at conception, and grants the unborn the same rights that are entitled to born children.



“A living human child, from the moment of fertilization upon the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum, is entitled to the same rights, powers, and privileges as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human child,” the bill, introduced by Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, reads in part.



It asserts state sovereignty in that the legislation requires the attorney general to “monitor this state’s enforcement of Chapter 19, Penal Code [surrounding criminal homicide], in relation to abortion” and to “direct state agencies to enforce those laws regardless of any contrary or conflicting federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, or court decisions.”




According to VoteSmart, Tinderholt identifies as a Roman Catholic and attends Saint Vincent De Paul Catholic Church in Arlington.



Recently, the bill was assigned to the most favorable committee possible, chaired by Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who co-sponsored an identical bill to abolish abortion in 2017. Rep. James White, R-Hillister, who also serves on the Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence committee, is already a co-sponsor of the current measure.



In order to be advanced to the full House for a vote, the Act needs the full support of its Republican members as the committee is comprised of five Republicans and four Democrats. In addition to Leach and White, Republican Reps. Matt Krause, Morgan Meyer and Reggie Smith sit on the committee. It is not known where these three stand on the legislation.



The bill has generated much support from Texans and beyond as more than 70,000 petitions were submitted to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in February calling for him to make the issue an “emergency item.” While he did not mention abortion at all during his State of the State address on Feb. 5, supporters still expressed a hope that the measure would move forward in the legislature anyway.



The matter also is of special significance this legislative season as Jeremiah Thomas, a 16-year-old boy who died in August following a fight with osteoblastic osteosarcoma, urged Abbott a month prior to his death to abolish abortion in the state of Texas.



“For my wish, I wanted to talk to you and discuss a bill of abolition,” he explained, while speaking to the governor by phone from his hospital room at McLane Children’s Hospital. “[W]e want you to treat abortion like an act of murder that should be punished by law.”



“I know that it must be difficult standing against a whole federal beast that forces abortion on us, but I think that we … could end abortion here and now,” Thomas said.



Abbott told Thomas that the Texas Republican party platform expresses a desire to abolish abortion, and that state lawmakers already planned on putting forward a bill that would make abortion illegal in the state.



“Your wish is on the Republican party platform and it’s what we’re going to be pursuing this next legislative session — that’s to outlaw abortion altogether in the state of Texas,” he told Thomas, the recording of which was posted to social media. “And so, your wish has been granted.”



Thomas’ parents and siblings are expected to be among those testifying this evening.



Abolish Abortion Texas told Christian News Network that it is not known whether or not the committee will immediately vote on the bill following public testimony, but that supporters of the measure are urging legislators to do so. A vote could also come at a later time, even the following day.



Editor’s Note: Those who are unable to attend the hearing, but would like to watch the live feed, may do so here or here.



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‘End This Holocaust’: Hundreds Testify Into the Night Before State Committee to Outlaw Abortion in Texas



BY HEATHER CLARK






republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:



More than 300 people testified on Monday evening in favor of a bill that would outlaw abortion in Texas in a legislative hearing that lasted for over eight hours, continuing into the night to 3 a.m. Pastors, women who have had abortions, fathers who regretted taking their girlfriend for an abortion, men and women who could have been aborted themselves, and children who wanted to speak out behalf of the babies all addressed the House committee.



Some of the testimonies were personal and tearful in sharing their own stories, and others simply exhorted the five Republicans and four Democrats to do what is right in the eyes of God and advance House Bill 896 to the full House.



“Since when has killing any human being been legal?” “Our Constitution never said that murder is a right or a privilege.” “Why does size matter? A human being is a human being.” These were among the many points made during the hearing at the state capitol before the House Committee on Judiciary & Civil Jurisprudence.



PASSIONATE TESTIMONY







“I don’t have any aunts or uncles. I did, but … they were both aborted,” one woman tearfully testified. “I don’t know why my grandmother gave my dad life, [but] I’m here today because of that. If he was aborted, I wouldn’t be here. I just think of those cousins I could have had, and those aunts and uncles — they’re not here.”



“When I was 15 years old, I went into an abortion clinic in Houston, Texas, and I paid someone to murder my child,” a pastor’s wife shared. “No one forced me. I made the choice on my own and stood guilty before God with my child’s blood on my hands. The only thing that convinced me to do it was our laws that allow us to murder our children. Please stop this. I’m begging you.”



Another pastor’s wife testified that she became pregnant while on birth control, and the birth control killed her baby. She said she did not know she was pregnant until she went into severe cramping and the tiny baby fell out of her.



“What I saw next will forever be seared on my heart. What I was holding in my hands had little arms, a little body and little legs,” she recalled with deep emotion. “Unbenounced to me, I had been pregnant. The realization turned to shock, and the shock turned to grief.”



“I stand before you today as a 31-year-old woman without a womb. I am childless because I believed what doctors told me, and as a result, my ability to have biological children has been taken from me,” the pastor’s wife mourned.



“Please pass this bill so that young women are no longer fooled by doctors into making the worst of decisions that they can never change. Ignore Roe. It does nothing but harm.”



One woman testified who had an abortion and had been left barren as a result. She adopted a baby girl who had been conceived in rape, and that child has now grown up and given her four grandchildren.



“We’re aborting generations, and we’re aborting them based on having told young women lies,” she grieved.



Another woman who had been raped lamented having an abortion, stating that she was wrong to think “that ripping apart my child would end my suffering.”



“She did not deserve the death penalty I and my government paid [her] for this crime,” she stated.



One man is who now active in pro-life ministry expressed regret for consenting to his girlfriend’s abortion as a teenager, noting that losing the child “ruined her life.”



“If I had told her that I would stand by her, she would not have done it. But I was a selfish, cowardly man at that time in my life,” he testified. “I turned my back on her and I turned my back on my own child. I’m thankful to God for His great mercy and His grace.”



A woman similarly shared that abortion caused her to spiral into a depression, quoting from Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”



“I found myself in the deepest, darkest hole that seemed inescapable,” she recounted. “I took drugs and it caused a seizure. I woke up in the emergency room with the doctor telling me ‘You could have died.’ I couldn’t help but wish I didn’t wake up.”



“I have lived my life for 17 years in silence from the shame and the guilt I have carried,” she stated candidly. “[But] I am no longer a slave to my past, and that is why I am silent no more.”



Another woman testified that she had found herself pregnant as a youth as she had been “looking for love to ease [her] broken heart” after losing her parents at age 7 and 15. During her first two years of college, she also had two abortions, and spent the decades ahead feeling guilt and shame.



“We’re all fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s own image. God is the only giver of life, and He never gave us the right to take a life. … Murder is sin,” she proclaimed. “So, I desire to spend the rest of my lifetime to make it right for others that they don’t go down this road. It’s a sad one. But because of the redemption of Jesus Christ, I know that I’m healed and set free.”



JUSTICE FOR THE UNBORN



Rep. Victoria Neave, D-Dallas, had argued early in the hearing that the bill would result in women being convicted of murder for seeking out an abortion, and they would thereby face the death penalty. She characterized the bill as killing women, and found it to be counteractive to the goal of ending murder.



Chairman Jeff Leach, R-Plano, told those gathered, “I hate abortion. I agree with everything that’s been said. To me, it is absolutely, unequivocally murder.” He quoted from the Book of Jeremiah, which states that God knew Jeremiah in his mother’s womb.



However, he also indicated that he was similarly wrestling with the idea of whether women who are pressured to obtain an abortion should face punishment.



“What about women who are trafficked and coerced into abortions?” he asked.



Rep. James White, R-Woodville and co-sponsor of the bill, stated that he had thought about the matter and pondered the responsibility of the men who push women to have their unborn child killed.



“Everybody has to stand before the Lord in judgment, but I am really grappling with these dudes that are driving these women, and husbands in some instances, compelling them and leaving them abandoned,” he said.



“So, there’s a lot of finger pointing to go around. There’s a lot of soul searching and navel-gazing,” White stated. “We need to look at this men, and all us of as men need to start stepping up and standing up, and being men too.”



Leach opined that White “hit the nail on the head,” asking, “I wondered, in this bill, should we make those men an accessory? Are they as culpable in the crime as the others? And if we’re going to go after them, we need to look there too.”



One commenter told the committee in support of leaving the bill as is, “Without consequences, there is no responsibility.” Another said that it can’t be true that all mothers who seek out an abortion are merely “victims and can’t be responsible for their crimes.”A third asked, “Without penalties, how is there protection?”



Others noted that whatever charge is applicable, or if the woman should be charged at all, would be at the discretion of the prosecutor, and juries would also have the ability to find a defendant innocent.



“It is for the courts and juries to weight the facts of each case to determine the party responsible for the murder of the baby,” one man stated. “A trafficked woman who is literally coerced into an abortion has zero culpability compared to the pimp or the abortionist. But, if this bill is passed, pimps would no longer have legal, nice looking facilities to hide their atrocities.”



“These exceptions where a mother can do something a father can’t do [they need to be removed],” a police officer urged. “A father, if he doesn’t want to accept responsibility of his child and slips pills into a drink, and takes the life of his child, that’s capital murder. A mother, [if] she slips a pill [and] doesn’t want to accept responsibility — down her throat, takes the life of an individual, it’s fine, pat on the back.”



“In law enforcement, how can we say this is just?” he asked. “Our hands our tied where we’re forced to be unjust in our dealings.”

Photo Credit: Rep. Matt Krause/Facebook

Some outlined that while conducting ministry to abortion-minded mothers, they endure profanities and vulgarities, and that they believe the women know full well what they are doing.



One woman who converses with abortion-minded mothers online to urge them not to have their baby killed noted that the women are often resolute and callous. She provided screenshots as examples, noting that one woman said she didn’t want to be pregnant because they don’t want to be “fat,” and another joked about grinding the baby up in a blender.



One woman stated that years ago, mothers did coat-hanger abortions because they knew would not be charged for committing the act.



“In 1973, before Roe v. Wade, abortion was illegal, except that a mother could not be prosecuted. This caused the coat-hanger abortions, because it was illegal for the doctors but not the mother, and they thought they should get away with this,” she said. “HB 896 is rightly not retroactive.”



OPPOSING TESTIMONY FROM NARAL AND THE ACLU



Only five people testified against the bill, including a legislative intern from NARAL and a representative from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Leach asked the intern from NARAL, Jasmine Wang, if she believes in any limitations to abortion.



“No,” she replied forthrightly.



“So, at 39 weeks, you believe a woman should be able to terminate the life of her child?” Leach asked.



“If that is what is best, yes,” Wang responded.



“At 39 weeks, you believe she should be able to terminate the life of that child?” Leach pressed.



“Absolutely,” Wang answered. “I’m not in any position to speak for a woman and her personal decision. That is not my place; that is not anyone’s place in this room.”



“Who’s speaking for that 39-week old baby?” Leach asked.



“The mother,” Wang answered. “She will make the decision for her body, and what is best for her body and her life.”



“What about that baby?” Leach grilled. “I’m asking you about that baby, who’s living and breathing, her heart is beating. She feels pain, she recoils. … I am very, very disturbed at [your] testimony.”



He also scolded her and others in noting that he had witnessed them snickering as others were testifying, including those who have had abortions and are suffering in the aftermath.



“I cannot as the chairman of this committee put up with snickering or laughing or giggling when we’re dealing with literally life or death issues, and I don’t appreciate it,” Leach declared.



A representative from the ACLU also spoke against the bill, asserting that it is unconstitutional, and that it punishes women who need an abortion to save their life. As previously reported, a number of doctors and nurses have spoken out against the assertion that abortion is ever necessary to save a mother’s life, as the physician will simply perform a Cesarean section and take the baby early.



INTERPOSITION ON BEHALF OF THOSE WHO CANNOT SPEAK



Over all, the hundreds of those gathered, sensing that a number of those on the committee agreed that abortion is murder, urged the men and women to do what is right in the eyes of God. Many quoted Scripture or reminded men of their duty before God as the lesser magistrate.



“I think you know that abortion is murder. I think you do want to end it. Failure to pass this bill out of committee is a death sentence” for children, one man exhorted.



“Who needs your help more than those who can’t speak for themselves, who are being ripped apart limb from limb by vacuums and forceps?” another asked.



“You have a chance to end this Holocaust. Let it be the beginning to the end of abortion in America,” a young teenage girl urged.



“History will record your names as those who either murdered babies or saved them,” another warned. “Remember your oath. Punish wickedness, protect the innocent, and not the opposite.”



“You are God’s deacon. You are the blood avenger,” a pastor exhorted, referring to Romans 13. “I am here to beg you to stop weidling that sword in vain.”



According to Chairman Leach, 502 people signed up to be witnesses, and 330 people were heard last evening into the overnight hours.



A vote was not taken following testimony, but could be forthcoming at any time.



As previously reported, House Bill 896, also known as the “Abolition of Abortion in Texas Act,” declares that life begins at conception, and grants the unborn the same rights that are entitled to born children.



“A living human child, from the moment of fertilization upon the fusion of a human spermatozoon with a human ovum, is entitled to the same rights, powers, and privileges as are secured or granted by the laws of this state to any other human child,” the bill, introduced by Rep. Tony Tinderholt, R-Arlington, reads in part.



It asserts state sovereignty in that the legislation requires the attorney general to “monitor this state’s enforcement of Chapter 19, Penal Code [surrounding criminal homicide], in relation to abortion” and to “direct state agencies to enforce those laws regardless of any contrary or conflicting federal statutes, regulations, executive orders, or court decisions.”

TRUMP DESIGNATES THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

TRUMP DESIGNATES THE ISLAMIC REVOLUTIONARY GUARD CORPS AS A FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION

Why our president did it – and why he is right

BY JOSEPH KLEIN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

President Trump has decided to designate the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) to counter Iran’s global campaign of terrorism. “This unprecedented step, led by the Department of State, recognizes the reality that Iran is not only a State Sponsor of Terrorism, but that the IRGC actively participates in, finances, and promotes terrorism as a tool of statecraft,” President Donald Trump said in a statement Monday morning. “This designation will be the first time that the United States has ever named a part of another government as a FTO.”  The designation takes effect on April 15th.



The Iranian regime lives and breathes Islamic extremism, which it seeks to export through its global jihad terrorist network. The IRGC sits at the center of that terrorist network. It provides funding, equipment, training, and logistical support to terrorist proxy groups, including most notably Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria. The IRGC has American blood on its hands, going as far back as bombings in Beirut at the Marine barracks in 1983 and at the U.S. Embassy annex in 1984. The IRGC also caused casualties to U.S soldiers in Iraq by providing roadside bombs to its proxies. As Special Representative for Iran and Senior Adviser to the Secretary of State Brian Hook explained on Monday, “The IRGC has been threatening American troops almost since its inception. And whenever we impose sanctions on Iran, it’s usually followed by a range of threats. What endangers American troops in the Middle East is an IRGC that operates with impunity and never has its ambitions checked in the Middle East. We’re taking an entirely new approach to this of significant sort of sustained maximum economic pressure to deny the IRGC and the Iranian regime of the revenue that it needs to conduct its foreign policy.”



The IRGC has sustained itself financially over the years through its deep penetration into virtually all major facets of Iran’s economy, including its black markets. Countries, companies and individuals that do business with the IRGC and the many enterprises it controls are supporting what Mohsen Sazegara, a founding member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and now a U.S.-based dissident described, according to the Council on Foreign Relations, as “something like the Communist Party, the KGB, a business complex, and the Mafia." Add to that sinister profile a well-funded global terrorist enterprise.



President Trump’s decision to designate the IRGC as a whole as an FTO builds on previous steps taken against the IRGC. In 2007, the IRGC’s “elite” paramilitary Quds Force was subjected to terrorism-related Treasury sanctions for providing material support to the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. The Quds Force has been the leading arm of the IRGC used to export the Iranian regime’s brand of Islamic extremism and to support terrorist groups to that end.



However, while the Quds Force is the tip of the IRGC’s spear, it is far from being the entire spear. The IRGC has five branches (Ground Forces, Air Force, Navy, Basij militia, and Quds Force special operations) in addition to a counterintelligence directorate and representatives of the regime’s Supreme Leader. The IRGC oversees the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile program. In October 2017, the U.S. Treasury labeled the IRGC itself as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist for its activities “in support of the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) … for providing support to a number of terrorist groups, including Hizballah and Hamas, as well as to the Taliban.”



President Trump has now upped the ante further by designating the IRGC altogether as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in its own right, based on the finding that the IRGC meets the legal criteria of engaging "in terrorist activity or terrorism” which “threatens the security of United States nationals or the national security of the United States.”  The IRGC has moved from being treated as a supporting actor in providing backing for terrorism that its proxies undertake to an organization branded as directly engaging in terrorism itself. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put it in his remarks to the press on Monday, “The IRGC will take its rightful place on the same list as terror groups its supports: Lebanese Hizballah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Kata’ib Hizballah, among others, all of which are already designated as foreign terrorist organizations.”



The IRGC’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization triggers the provisions of a law making it a federal criminal offense punishable by up to 20 years in prison for any person in the United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide material support or resources to a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization. Material support or resources include any property or service, money, financial services, lodging, training, expert advice or assistance, safehouses, false documentation or identification, communications equipment, facilities, weapons, lethal substances, explosives, personnel or transportation.



The prohibition against providing material support or resources to the IRGC as a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization would appear to preclude any individual or company subject to U.S. jurisdiction from doing business with any individuals or entities affiliated with any part of the IRGC and/or the vast pieces of the Iranian economy it controls. Secretary of State Pompeo offered some direct advice that Iran’s friends in Europe should heed: “If you’re the general counsel for a European financial institution today, there is more risk. I think this will require more diligence be done by every business that is considering doing things that are even now second and third orders removed from what you might think of as a traditional connection to the Iranian economy.”



Some military and intelligence officials were reluctant to recommend taking this additional step. They feared it could come back to bite our own servicemen and our allies fighting ISIS who, under some limited circumstances, may find themselves on the same side as the IRGC against the common ISIS enemy, as they have in the past. The question is whether providing some sort of support to IRGC forces in such circumstances could trigger potential criminal penalties for technically providing material support or resources to the IRGC. Concerns have also been raised how U.S. and its allies’ diplomats might be affected if they are perceived as giving some sort of advice or assistance to IRGC personnel, even in the context of negotiating for the release of hostages held by the IRGC. The State Department’s answer is that the law will be applied carefully on a case by case basis. Moreover, argue the opponents of the FTO designation, the designation will cause the Iranian regime to retaliate against U.S. personnel and assets in the region. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council has already responded with a threat, designating the United States Central Command, whose area of responsibility includes operations in the Middle East, as a terrorist organization.



Such objections miss the big picture. The Iranian regime is always making threats and shouting “death to America.” The Obama administration cowered in the face of such threats. The result was the disastrous nuclear deal that rewarded the Iranian regime economically while failing to stop its ballistic missile tests and failing to obtain ironclad inspections of all regime facilities, including its military and IRGC facilities, capable of developing nuclear materials, triggering devices and nuclear weapon miniaturization technology. The Trump administration reversed course, exited the nuclear deal, and re-imposed tough economic sanctions. As a result, the Iranian economy is in free-fall. The U.S. sanctions have cut off Iran’s access to billions of dollars in oil revenue and are driving its exports lower than ever before, according to the State Department. Three of the remaining eight importers granted waivers by the United States to buy oil from Iran have now cut their shipments to zero. Iran’s total trade has declined by nearly 25 percent within the last year. Its rial currency has lost two-thirds of its value.



President Trump’s latest move adds even more economic pressure on the Iranian regime and its principal arm for the spread of terror in the name of jihad.  It has further isolated this arm, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, placing it in the same rogues’ gallery of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations as ISIS and al Qaeda. The designation strips away any pretense that the IRGC serves any legitimate governmental function whatsoever or that it will not hesitate to use its control of vast sectors of the Iranian economy to feed the terrorist monster it has created and nurtured.



President Trump is forcing other countries to make a choice. Either join the United States in combating the increasing danger that the Iranian regime poses to peace and security through maximum economic pressure or the United States will be willing to go it alone as the leader of the free world. Anyone who gets in the way will do so at their own peril.

MARYLAND: MUSLIM WITH “HATRED” FOR NON-MUSLIMS STOLE U-HAUL TRUCK TO MURDER PEDESTRIANS IN VEHICULAR JIHAD ATTACK

MARYLAND: MUSLIM WITH “HATRED” FOR NON-MUSLIMS STOLE U-HAUL TRUCK TO MURDER PEDESTRIANS 
IN VEHICULAR JIHAD ATTACK
BY ROBERT SPENCER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
The Islamic State issued this call in September 2014: So O muwahhid, do not let this battle pass you by wherever you may be. You must strike the soldiers, patrons, and troops of the tawaghit. Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents. Destroy their beds. Embitter their lives for them and busy them with themselves. If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be….If you are not able to find an IED or a bullet, then single out the disbelieving American, Frenchman, or any of their allies. Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him….
“Germantown Man Inspired By ISIS Allegedly Stole U-Haul To Use As Weapon At National Harbor,” WJZ, April 8, 2019:
GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ) — A Germantown man who was reportedly inspired by ISIS, allegedly stole a van to use as a weapon against pedestrians at National Harbor.
Rondell Henry, 28, of Germantown, Md., is charged by criminal complaint with interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle….
Police said in their report they and family had been concerned for Henry’s physical and emotional welfare.
The government filed a motion Monday arguing for Henry to be detained pending trial as a flight risk and a danger to the community. They allege that Henry, who claimed to be inspired by the ISIS terrorist organization, stole a U-Haul van with the intention of using it as a weapon against pedestrians on sidewalks at National Harbor….
When police responded to the garage, they found the BMW near where the U-Haul had been stolen. The BMW was registered to Rondell Henry.
According to the detention memo, for two years, Henry has harbored “hatred” for those who don’t practice the Muslim faith. Allegedly inspired by videos he watched of foreign terrorists, Henry decided to conduct a vehicular attack, similar to the 2016 truck attack in Nice, France, for which ISIS claimed responsibility.
After he stole the van, Henry drove around, arriving at Dulles International Airport in Virginia at around 5 a.m. on March 27.
The government claims Henry left the U-Haul and entered the terminal to try to find his way through security, allegedly to harm “disbelievers” in a way designed for “maximum publicity,”
After he tried to breach Dulles’ security perimeter for more than two hours, Henry allegedly returned to the U-Haul.
Henry then allegedly drove the U-Haul from Virginia to the National Harbor in Maryland, arriving at around 10 a.m. He then allegedly parked the U-Haul and walked around a popular part of National Harbor….

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SEE ALSO:

“Maryland Man” Caught Waging Vehicular Jihad 

Maryland: Muslim who plotted vehicular jihad massacre led prayer services at Islamic Society of Germantown

BY ROBERT SPENCER
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

“Osman Alaalla, 61, came to pray Monday evening at a 5 p.m. service at the Islamic Society of Germantown. He said Henry typically led that service….’He’s very peaceful,’ he said.”



Yes, clearly.



What is taught at the Islamic Society of Germantown? Did Rondell Henry get his idea to align himself with the Islamic State and take up their call for vehicular jihad massacres at the Islamic Society of Germantown? Did he learn there that he should hate non-Muslims and do violence to them? Is anyone going to investigate this mosque in light of Henry’s jihad plotting, or will any concerns about this mosque be waved away with the claim that he was “radicalized on the Internet”? Would investigating this mosque be “Islamophobic”?







“Man accused of ISIS-inspired plot to ram truck into pedestrians near DC,” Associated Press, April 8, 2019:





WASHINGTON — A Maryland man inspired by the Islamic State group plotted to ram a stolen U-Haul truck into as many pedestrians as possible at a popular convention and tourist destination just outside the nation’s capital, federal prosecutors said Monday….



“I was just going to keep driving and driving and driving. I wasn’t going to stop,” the document quotes Henry as telling law enforcement authorities who questioned him. He said he wanted to create “panic and chaos” similar to a deadly truck attack that killed scores of people in Nice, France in 2016, prosecutors say….



The government’s six-page detention motion describes Henry as harboring hatred for “disbelievers” and looking to emulate Islamic State militants he saw on beheading videos and fighting overseas.



On his phone, which prosecutors say he discarded on a highway in an apparent attempt to conceal evidence, authorities found images of the ISIS flag, armed ISIS fighters and the man who carried out the massacre in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub three years ago.



The document alleges that Henry, a computer engineer, walked off his job in the middle of the day on March 26 and stole a U-Haul van from the parking garage of a mall in Virginia after determining that his four-door sedan “would not cause the catastrophic damage that he desired.”



He first considered an attack at Dulles International Airport, trying unsuccessfully over two hours to breach the security perimeter by slipping in through a checkpoint or accessing a restricted area, prosecutors said.



From there, he headed to National Harbor – a waterfront complex of restaurants, retail and hotels in Maryland.



“But so early in the morning on a weekday,” prosecutors wrote, “the defendant did not find the sizable crowd upon which he desired to inflict his radical conduct.”…



Acquaintances of Henry expressed surprise at the allegations.



Osman Alaalla, 61, came to pray Monday evening at a 5 p.m. service at the Islamic Society of Germantown. He said Henry typically led that service. Alaalla described Henry as a quiet, nice man but said he didn’t know anything about his personal life. He said he would come to pray and leave.



“He’s very peaceful,” he said.

FALSE REVIVAL KICK-STARTED BY FRANCIS CHAN, RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE, BENNY HINN, BILL JOHNSON & TODD WHITE

FALSE REVIVAL KICK-STARTED BY FRANCIS CHAN, RODNEY HOWARD BROWNE, BENNY HINN, 
BILL JOHNSON & TODD WHITE 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

How do you start a true revival with key controversial NAR leaders—ask Francis Chan; he was there. Former pastor Francis Chan, who recently spoke at The Send conference in Florida with numerous NAR leaders such as Benny Hinn, Bill Johnson, Todd White, and Rodney Howard Browne, said in his own defense for sharing such a platform:



There are millions of souls that sit under weak or unorthodox teachings. . . . there are millions who will never hear strong biblical teaching unless teachers are willing to go. (source)



We find Chan’s rationale in these statements erroneous, troubling, and even dangerous.



Willing to Compromise



Chan isn’t the first person to say that his message is so important that he will share a platform with anyone in order to get his message out to the masses. To that frame of mind, we disagree completely. It’s one thing to preach the Gospel to lost souls; but to share a platform with those who are bringing dangerous false teachings into the church is to give credibility to those with the false teachings. From what we have witnessed, many Christian leaders are willing to compromise truth and integrity by giving credence to false teachers so their own messages can be broadcast more fully.



Revival or False Revival



There is a word that is being heralded by many Christian leaders today, and that word is—Revival! Whether its Lou Engle’s The Call, Bethel Church’s offspring Jesus Culture, Benny Hinn’s “prophecy” about revival in America, Rick Warren’s revival of unity, Rodney Howard’s “holy laughter” revival (as addressed in Warren B. Smith’s report False Revival Coming?: Holy Laughter or Strong Delusion?), or any number of revival calls taking place today within a growing apostate Christianity, the common denominator with most of these so-called revivalists is they are helping to bring in a false revival that is not based on God’s Word but is largely based on numinous experiences, man’s ambition, and Satan’s deception.



Threatening the Critics



Recently, as Lighthouse Trails reported, Francis Chan came out with a sermon where he said that God will destroy (kill) those who criticize or challenge Christian leaders. Our report stated:



Without giving specific names, Chan spoke of those who present any negative criticism of leaders (naming Rick Warren, Mark Driscoll, and John Piper as examples of leaders who should not be criticized). Chan took it a step further and described incidents in the Bible where God took people’s lives as in the case of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:10) to predict that God will take the lives of those who have negative things to say about the teachings of today’s spiritual leaders.



Perhaps Chan felt the need to say this to clear the way for his own journey into the arms of false teachers. Did he hope to silence critics who would specifically challenge him? It appears so.



A Most Serious Dangerous Implication



Lest some reading this still do not understand what the big deal is, consider this: At The Send conference, Rodney Howard Browne (i.e., “Mr. Holy Laughter”) came on stage and instructed the 40,000+ mostly young people at The Send to place one of their hands on their bellywhile raising the other in the air. He then called out for “holy” fire and anointing to descend upon all of them.



The Bible warns us in 2 Corinthians 11:4 that there is “another spirit” that is not the Holy Spirit. When you put all the excuses aside, the real question for Francis Chan is—are you comfortable with the fact that many of the people that came to Send 19 because of you suddenly found themselves in the forced position of being experientially led by someone like Rodney Howard Browne on how to activate the Holy Spirit and speak in tongues? What spirit was Browne imparting on these 40,000 people? Is it possible it was the same spirit and the same “anointing” that was present at the Toronto Blessing (which was essentially birthed by Browne with his “transferable anointing”). Mr. Chan, is  this your idea of what will bring true revival?



From our perspective, those who attended The Send because of Chan’s appearance were put in serious harm’s way. And we find it audacious that Chan now tries to excuse himself for being there (see the Christianity Today article). We see this as nothing less than a breach of trust that can have significant spiritual repercussions on countless people. Instead of warning Christians about spiritually deceptive teachings and spirits that falsely come in the name of the Lord, Chan has brought them right to the trough to drink these dangerous waters.



The Dark Road to Spiritual Deception







The dark but seemingly bright road into spiritual deception has many dangers and pitfalls. We think of Bunyan’s man Christian from Pilgrim’s Progress who came up against this as he fought Pride, Arrogancy, Self-Deceit, and Worldy Glory. While the hysteria of false revival is mounting up, many Christian leaders are working hard to justify their actions and their lack of spiritual discernment and responsibility and seem to be caving in to the snares that Bunyan’s Christian valiantly overcame. 



For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears. (2 Timothy 4:3)



We find it interesting that Francis Chan is insinuating in his statement, 
“there are millions who will never hear strong biblical teaching unless teachers are willing to go” that his teachings are superior to the teachings of his co-platform teachers. We doubt that these co-teachers would agree with Chan that their own teachings are not “strong biblical teachings” but Chan’s are. It’s highly unlikely that Benny Hinn, Bill Johnson, Todd White, or Rodney Howard Browne would concede to saying that their teachings aren’t as biblical as Francis Chan’s. While Chan’s statement was an insult to the men who brought him into their fold, if Chan keeps on the path he is going, the difference between he and their teachings may eventually fade, and he may become just like them.



(Christian Leaving the City of Destruction. Drawing is from alamy.com; used with permission)

ROMA DOWNEY’S FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION TO NEW AGER MARIANNE WILLIAMSON RAISES MANY QUESTIONS

ROMA DOWNEY’S FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTION 
TO NEW AGER MARIANNE WILLIAMSON 
RAISES MANY QUESTIONS
SEE: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2019/newsletter20190408.htm; republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:
Screenshot from a May 25, 2014 article in People Magazine, taken from Pinterest (used in accordance with the US Fair Use Act)

Evangelical leaders such as Rick Warren, Greg Laurie, and David Jeremiah have shown public support for Roma Downey and her books, movies, and other media work for a number of years now. Lighthouse Trails has attempted to alert these leaders and the church at large that while Downey may be a sincere person, she is a New Age sympathizer and has consistently supported those sympathies.
This week, a Lighthouse Trails reader sent us a link to a March 27, 2019 article from the Center for Public Integrity that disclosed that Roma Downey contributed $2600 to Marianne Williamson’s 2014 run in California for Congress. Proof of this contribution can be seen on a government website (Federal Election Commission) that shows a tax record for Marianne Williamson for the year 2013 (when the contribution by Downey was made – see page 135 of the report). Marianne Williamson is one of today’s foremost New Age leaders and is running for president in 2020. It was because of Williamson that the New Age “Bible,” A Course in Miracles (see video), became popular in mainstream America after Williamson’s book Return to Love (promoting A Course in Miracles) was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. A Course in Miracles has the quintessential New Age message that God dwells in every human being and that each person has a Christ consciousness. It is this same New Age “God” who believes that “the era of the single savior is over”(1) and that Hitler actually did the Jews a favor by killing them. Listen to the following quotes by the New Age “God”:

The real issue is whether Hitler’s actions were “wrong.” Yet I have said over and over again that there is no “right” or “wrong” in the universe. A thing is not intrinsically right or wrong. A thing simply is.2
Now your thought that Hitler was a monster is based on the fact that he ordered the killing of millions of people, correct? . . . Yet what if I told you that what you call “death” is the greatest thing that could happen to anyone—what then?3
So the first thing you have to understand—as I’ve already explained to you—is that Hitler didn’t hurt anyone. In a sense, he didn’t inflict suffering, he ended it.4
The mistakes Hitler made did no harm or damage to those whose deaths he caused. Those souls were released from their earthly bondage, like butterflies emerging from a cocoon.5

These quotes were said by the New Age “God” in Neale Donald Walsch’s highly popular book series Conversations With God (as cited in Warren B. Smith’s booklet Oprah Winfrey’s New Age “Christianity.” Such sentiments as are revealed in these quotes express the underlying truth about the New Age “God.” 
Roma Downey is free to believe whatever she wants to believe. That is one of the great benefits of living in a free and democratic country. Our concern (one that is growing by the day) is with Christian leaders (men and women who name the name of Jesus Christ, who are highly influential and looked up to by millions – such as Greg Laurie and David Jeremiah) who are exhibiting very little or no discernment, such as in the situation with Roma Downey. And many are being misled because of this.
Some may say that we should not be bringing up her contribution of $2600 to Marianne Williamson during her run for Congress because that was six years ago. But as we have documented for some time (including in Greg Reid’s recent booklet Butterfly Illusions), Downey has never recanted or renounced her New Age affinities and continues promoting them. Not that long ago, she even said that  Oprah Winfrey was “on fire with the holy spirit.” To say something like that about a major New Age leader shows there is something amiss. The thing is, when someone comes out of the New Age (e.g., Warren Smith, Johanna Michaelsen, Caryl Matrisciana), a natural outcome of that is to want to warn about the things he or she was once promoting. But Roma Downey has not done that. 
Have any of these leaders (i.e., Greg Laurie, David Jeremiah, Rick Warren) ever sat down with Roma Downey and told her that the New Age “God” is not the God of the Bible and is actually in dire opposition of the message of the Cross? And have these men ever made a public admission that they were wrong to give credence (either directly or indirectly) to a woman whose beliefs are so contrary to biblical Christianity? In one recent article we published, we documented with two video clips where Downey was promoting the idea that God is in everyone. You can see those clips by clicking here.
Recently, we have been addressing Francis Chan, another popular evangelical leader, after he said that God would destroy (kill) those who challenge and criticize Christian leaders. Whether he realizes it or not, he is trying strongly to intimidate believers into not being discerning and not contending for the faith. Part of contending for the faith is to expose error, or as Harry Ironside so aptly put it:

Truth mixed with error is equivalent to all error, except that it is more innocent looking and, therefore, more dangerous. God hates such a mixture! Any error, or any truth-and-error mixture, calls for definite exposure and repudiation. To condone such is to be unfaithful to God and His Word and treacherous to imperiled souls for whom Christ died.6

This story today about Roma Downey and her supporting Marianne Williamson is a perfect example of why names need to be named. Serious deception must be identified—not to villainize or hurt those promoting it but to warn those who are blindly walking into a dangerous trap. It is wrong for leaders who call themselves Christian to misrepresent the Lord whom they claim to serve, and it’s long overdue for some of them to start speaking up when the Gospel is being compromised.


Greg Laurie (and his wife) with Roma Downey and Mark Burnett (2015) as shown on Greg Laurie’s Facebook page


Roma Downey with Mark Burnett and Mr. and Mrs. David Jeremiah (2015) as shown on David Jeremiah’s Facebook page.

Proclaim 19 Speakers List (photo used in accordance with the US Fair Use Act for the purpose of critique, review, and education) – This is a photo of the Proclaim 19 speaker line up after Roma Downey’s name was removed.


LOS ANGELES, CA. August 11, 2016: Della Reese & Mark Burnett & Roma Downey & Rick Warren at Hollywood Walk of Fame Star ceremony for actress Roma Downey. (photo from shutterstock, used with permission for editorial purposes only)

Endnotes
1.Neale Donald Walsch, The New Revelations: A Conversation with God (New York, NY: Atria Books, 2002), p. 157
2.Walsch, Conversations with God, an uncommon dialogue, Book 2 (Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads Publishing Company, Inc., 1997 p. 36.
3.Ibid.
4.Ibid., p. 56.
5.Ibid., p. 42.
6. Harry Ironside, Three Vital Questions on Navigating: Discernment, https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/blog/?p=27928


VACCINES: NVIC NEWSLETTER

ACIP: 2018-2019 Flu Vaccine 
44 Percent Effective 

By Theresa Wrangham
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research 
purposes:
SEE: www.nvic.org

The February 2019 meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) saw new committee members introduced and changes to public comment enacted. 


New Code of Conduct for ACIP Public Comment Sessions

ACIP changed their public comment rules for public meetings, due to the recent increase in individuals with concerns about vaccine safety and vaccine policies traveling to ACIP meetings to make a public comment. These changes include an increase to 75 minutes for public comment sessions noted on the agenda, and instituting a blind lottery when there are more individuals signed up to give comment than there is time. Written public comments will also now be published on the Regulations.gov website.  


Influenza Vaccine Only 44 Percent Effective

CDC reported to ACIP that influenza infection activity during the U.S. 2018-2019 influenza season has been average with the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus continuing to cause most lab confirmed cases. Across many U.S. states, currently there is a very high rate of influenza-like-illness (ILI). However, typically about 80 percent of ILI during the flu season is due to respiratory infections caused by other types of viruses and bacteria. 

CDC interim estimates on the overall effectiveness of this season’s influenza vaccine is approximately 44 percent for all age groups.This means that, for the estimated 20 percent of Americans likely to become infected by type A or B influenza, the vaccine is only 44 percent effective.
NVIC In The News
Following is a selection of media articles published between Feb. 26 and Apr. 3, 2019 that include NVIC’s perspective or information.


Measles Outbreaks Lead States to Reconsider Vaccine Exemptions.
“Proponents of vaccine exemptions argue that parents should be able to make their own decisions regarding their children’s health. “We believe that stripping vaccine laws of personal belief exemptions is a violation of human rights, including freedom of thought, conscience and religious belief,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center.” The Hill Feb. 26, 2019. 

Exemption Debate.“A hundred cases of measles in a population of 320 million people does not constitute a public health emergency,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center. “[These cases] should not be used to justify eliminating the legal right to exercise informed consent to vaccination,” she told Axios. World Magazine Feb. 28, 2019.


States Move to Restrict Parents’ Refusal to Vaccinate Their Kids. “Nobody should sit in judgment of another person’s religious and spiritual beliefs,” says Barbara Loe Fisher, a spokesperson for the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that lobbies against mandatory vaccination and thinks parents should have a choice. “No person should be allowed to force someone to violate their conscience when they’re making a decision about the use of a pharmacological product that carries a risk of harm.” NPR Feb. 28, 2019.


As More Parents Join the Anti-Vax Movement, States Are Scrambling to Make It Harder to Opt Out of Vaccinating Your Child. “Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, one of the oldest and most well-established anti-vax groups, told INSIDER her organization is supporting more bills in the current legislative session than ever before – 61 out of 140 vaccine-related bills across 31 states. “There is no question there are more families than ever involved now,” she said. “This is a parental rights and human rights and civil liberties issue.” INSIDER Feb. 28, 2019.

State Lawmakers Pushing for Laxer Vaccine Rules Despite Measles Outbreaks. “Across the country, lawmakers have introduced more than 130 vaccine-related bills in over 30 states, at a pace that could set a new record, according to the National Vaccine Information Center, a vaccine-skeptical group that closely tracks vaccine legislation. The center said legislators filed 160 bills in 41 states during 2015, setting a record later broken by 2017’s 184 bills in 42 states… Barbara Loe Fisher, who founded the National Vaccine Information Center, contends the animosity about vaccines is “part of a larger culture war that’s going on in this country. It’s about the right to autonomy, the natural right to self determination. We have freedom of thought, freedom of religious belief.” Politico Mar. 3, 2019.

Even With Measles Outbreaks Across the U.S., At Least 20 States Have Proposed Anti-Vaccination Bills. “Barbara Loe Fisher is the co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, one of the leading organizations advocating for vaccination exemptions. The group tracks vaccine-related bills. And this year, there are more such bills that the center can get behind than there have been since it began closely monitoring state legislation in 2010, Fisher said. “There are a lot of legislators who are thoughtfully looking at this issue,” she said.

“The National Vaccine Information Center has lent its support to bills in Iowa and Hawaii that seek to add a conscientious belief exemption, according to its website. It’s also urging people in Arizona to support bills in the state House and Senate that would make it easier to get exemptions from vaccines and require doctors to provide information about the potential risks of vaccines…Fisher, of the National Vaccine Information Center, says her organization will keep pushing for vaccination exemption laws. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take to reform these vaccine policies and laws,” she said. “But I know that people are becoming involved, and they want to be part of vaccine policy.” CNN Mar. 6, 2019.
 
With Vaccine Misinformation, Libraries Walk A Fine Line.
“If Amazon is going to be leaned on by the government to censor certain kinds of information,” said Barbara Loe Fisher, co-founder and president of the National Vaccine Information Center, which advocates against mandatory vaccination, “then it could well extend at some point to cleansing the libraries of information that does not align with government policy or medical policy.” Undark Magazine Mar. 22, 2019. 


Pan’s Bill Would Further Restrict Vaccine Exemptions for Schoolkids. “Sen. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) introduced SB 276 at a Sacramento news conference Tuesday. Pan, a pediatrician, says the bill would combat doctors fraudulently writing medical exemptions for children so they can attend schools. SB 276 opponent Barbara Loe Fisher the president and co-founder of the National Vaccine Information Center, opposes Pan’s legislation. “Under narrow federal vaccine guidelines, almost no health condition qualifies for a medical exemption. Since there is no longer a personal belief exemption allowed for children to attend school in California, the bill will pave the way for state health officials seeking a 100 percent vaccination rate to achieve that goal, but at what price?” Fisher told GV Wire via email. 
“She also expressed concern about government overreach. “Forcing physicians to violate their professional judgment and their conscience is a form of state-sponsored tyranny that should not be part of public health law in any state,” Fisher said.” GV Wire Mar. 26, 2019. 

Forcing Vaccination on Every Child Undermines Civil Liberties. In this essay, NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher addressed the question, “Where should society draw the line between requiring vaccinations for children and allowing parental freedom of choice?” She said, “Science is not perfect, doctors are not infallible, and medical interventions come with risks, which is why parents have the power to exercise informed consent to medical risk taking on behalf of their minor children” and added, “When parents question the risks and failures of a commercial pharmaceutical product being mandated for every child, the answer is not more force but better science and respect for the informed consent ethic.” A counterpoint view was provided by Dan Salmon, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University. Leaps Magazine Mar. 28, 2019. 

Some Lawmakers Support Vaccine Bill Amid Rockland’s Ongoing Measles Outbreak [in New York]. “The National Vaccine Information Center is a Virginia-based non-profit that supports the right for individuals to make informed, voluntary health choices for themselves and their children. NVIC President Barbara Loe Fisher says the Rockland state of emergency is government overreach. “Is this the kind of public health emergency that warrants this kind of action? We’re not talking Ebola. People are not dying in the streets,” says Loe Fisher says. “This is a very serious precedent that’s being set.”   
“This is a human rights issues. It has to do with, whether or not in America we are going to have the right to autonomy, the right to exercise our conscience, our religious beliefs and our informed consent rights when it comes to using, in this case, a pharmaceutical product that is liability-free, as of 2011, and be able to make these decisions,” says Loe Fisher. “And NVIC will continue to defend civil liberties and the informed consent rights of Americans.” WAMC Radio (NPR) Mar. 28, 2019. 


There are nearly 400 reported cases of measles in the US. What are states doing about it? “Still, organizations like the National Vaccine Information Center can give the impression that parents are risking their kids’ lives by getting them vaccinated.President Barbara Loe Fisher said the NVIC, which she co-founded in 1982 under the name Dissatisfied Parents Together, merely advocates informed consent and does not make recommendations related to immunizations.Asked about the government’s duty to protect its citizens through public health policy, Fisher said: “Are you saying that a public health law that requires a certain minority of individuals to risk their lives, sacrifice their lives, for the rest is a moral law when they’re not given the choice of whether or not they’re going to participate in that sacrifice? That’s not a moral public-health law.”
“Fisher points out more than $4 billion has been paid out by the compensation program, but according to CDC figures, 3.4 billion doses of covered vaccines were distributed in the U.S. from 2006 to 2017, and 4,250 compensated claims were adjudicated. That comes out to 1.25 paid claims for every million doses.
“Nevertheless, Fisher says the anti-vax movement will continue to grow, and she sees it as part of a fight for civil liberties. “Today everybody knows somebody who was healthy, got vaccinated and was never healthy again,” she said, “and that’s the reason this issue is not going to go away no matter what kind of laws and no matter what kind of censorship is applied.”
“Nate Smith, director of the Arkansas Department of Health, is among the NVIC’s many critics, calling it “an anti-vaccination group” and saying part of what makes organizations like it dangerous is they can appear to provide legitimate information. “Sometimes they present things in ways that are very reasonable, but then other times they make statements that are patently false,” Smith said. “So it’s very difficult for someone who doesn’t have a background in vaccination science or in public health to discern.” USA Today Apr. 3, 2019.
Vaccine Freedom Wall: Parent Reports Insurance Companies Bribing Pediatricians to Deny Care to Unvaccinated Kids

Post a report if you were bullied, threatened or punished by a doctor, government official or employer for making a vaccine choice on the Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall.

Following is a recent report posted on the Vaccine Freedom Wall in March 2019: 
 
“My children were seeing a pediatrician in Canton, MI. We had been traveling 25+ miles away because we had already been refused care at several pediatrician offices in the area, even though we have an approved state waiver for vaccinations. We had been seeing this pediatrician for over a year and the pediatrician accepted that we do not vaccinate. One day, we were at the pediatrician for a sick visit for one of my children and were told that [my children] could no longer be patients if we were not going to vaccinate. Per the pediatrician, the insurance companies were not going to pay her for the other patients if she did not have everyone in her practice vaccinated. How is that even legal? That is bribery.”

NVIC’s website provides visitors with many ways to access, report and share information about vaccination, including information about personal experiences with vaccine risks and failures. On NVIC.org, you can:

  •   File a vaccine reaction report describing a vaccine reaction, injury or death with NVIC’s 36-year old  Vaccine Reaction Registry.
  •   Post a vaccine reaction report describing a vaccine reaction, injury or death and include a photo or video on the online Memorial for Vaccine Victims.
  •   Post a vaccine failure report if a vaccine failed to protect you or your child from disease on the Vaccine Failure Wall.
Listen to NVIC Podcasts on
Vaccine Science, Policy & Law

You can take NVIC’s information with you and listen to commentaries on vaccine science, policy, law and informed consent at home, when exercising, commuting in your car or anywhere you have a cell phone or other electronic device that plays podcasts. The length of podcasts range from a few minutes to 75 minutes and the text of podcasts with references can be read on NVIC.org. Download NVIC commentaries on podcast here. 

GODLESS AMERICA? FAITH COULD KILL LIBERALISM, BUT LIBERALISM IS KILLING FAITH

GODLESS AMERICA? FAITH COULD KILL LIBERALISM, BUT LIBERALISM IS KILLING FAITH 
BY SELWYN DUKE
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

“The only foundation for ... a republic is to be laid in Religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty,” warned Founding Father Benjamin Rush. We’re losing that foundation, however, with yet another survey showing that irreligiosity has been burgeoning in America — especially in recent years. Yet with church attendance being one of the best predictors of voting patterns, what does this portend for our nation’s political and cultural future? And how can the atheistic descent be halted if few understand its actual causes?



The latest data was provided by the General Social Survey, which “has tracked a broad swath of American trends since 1972,” informs the Daily Mail. Summarizing the study’s recent findings, the paper writes:



• The number of people who have no religion has risen 266 per cent — one third of the population — in three decades



• People with no religion accounted for 23.1% of the U.S. population in 2018



• By comparison, Catholics make up 23% and Evangelicals account for 22.5%



• The three are now statistically tied as the largest religious groups in America



• Meanwhile, mainline Protestant Christianity has seen a 62.5% decline in believers since 1982, to now account for just 10.8% of the U.S. population







Other research has, unsurprisingly, shown similar results. For example, a 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that America’s “pagans” now actually outnumber her Presbyterians.



Ryan Burge, an Eastern Illinois University political science professor who analyzed the recent data, told the Mail that one reason for the higher “nones” (people without religion) figure could be that — with irreligiosity in vogue and the stigma attached to it now gone — people are less afraid to openly embrace it.



This may be a factor, of course. Yet the basic question is: Why would irreligiosity’s stigma have diminished drastically unless religiosity has diminished proportionately? Stigmas are corollaries of values. For when certain things are valued, their opposites are devalued; and when those certain things are valued less, their opposites are devalued less.



In reality, studies and personal experience both make evident that religion has waned worrisomely in the West. While there are a number of reasons for this, the main one is little known. As I explained last year, the



rejection of Christianity is wholly logical ... given our descent into moral relativism. I often cite a Barna Group study showing that, in 2002 already, only six percent of teenagers believed in Truth (absolute by definition) and that they were most likely to make “moral” decisions based on feelings.



How is this relevant? Moral relativism holds that what we call “morality” is determined by the man; what this actually means, however, is that morality (properly defined) doesn’t really exist — only man’s preference does.



This strikes at Christianity’s very heart because it renders the sacrifice on the cross incomprehensible. After all, if there’s no Truth and all is preference, there is no sin. If there’s no sin, there was no reason for Jesus to die for us. This means there is no need for salvation and, hence, no need for Christianity.



So given the relativism the young have been marinated in, their behavior is entirely rational. Why, if I believed all was preference, just a flavor of the day, why would I constrain my impulses with the Christian moral standard or any other? I should rather be a hedonist.



This is the matter’s crux. People sacrifice for principles, not preferences.



Burge also mentions that many Americans are rejecting traditional Christianity because of its teaching prohibiting homosexual behavior. He’s correct, and this brings us to the effect (planned?) of our Great Sexual Heresy in general and the homosexuality agenda in particular.



Think about what the sexual devolutionaries do, which is to portray rejection of homosexual behavior as bigotry. Insofar as people believe the church’s teaching is analogous to rejection based solely on skin color — if “homophobia”=“racism” — authentic Christianity=the KKK. Of course, I don’t believe this, but it is how people imbued with homosexuality doctrine will view it.



This explains why this tactic is ideal not just for homosexuality activists but all anti-Christian agitators. The more you can cast the church as a fire-and-brimstone purveyor of our newly minted bigotry, the more you push it into the hate-group category in modernists’ minds (note that overseas “hate speech” laws often prohibit criticism of homosexuality). And since the church cannot bend on definitive teaching, it can do nothing to extricate itself from this category. It’s brilliantly devious — some would say devilish.



Another faith-killing force, a devilishly seductive one, is the desire for eternal absolution. The disobedient child inside man doesn’t like being told “No!” He doesn’t like all the thou-shalt-nots. Christianity does one thing religion is supposed to do: It upholds a non-negotiable standard of behavior, reflecting the Truth, informing that sin really is real and that we really are wrong when indulging it.



Thus, the more people are married to sin, the more they’ll have to justify — and the more, then, that they’ll have an emotional vested interest in attacking what condemns that sin: Christianity.



Given this, a sure way to get people to divorce the church is to wed them to sin, is to seduce them into it. Interestingly, this is precisely what our society does.



Far from developing in children what Greek philosopher Plato called an “erotic” (meaning not sexual, but passionate) attachment to virtue, we stoke their passions with vice, via sexual messages in entertainment, the media, and elsewhere; inappropriate sex education in schools; sexual-liberation “philosophy”; co-ed dorms and lewd sexuality classes in college; and the sexual devolutionary agenda in general. In fact, if you wanted a paradigm for destroying faith, the modern West would be it.



The good news, from the Everything You Know Isn’t So file, is that faith is only declining in the West; in fact, religiosity is projected to increase worldwide during the next few decades. As an example, these 2016 statistics show that Catholicism’s adherents are increasing at a rate slightly greater than that of population growth.



The bad news is that with church attendance being one of the best predictors of voting patterns, with regular service-goers breaking widely for the GOP and atheists being largely Democrat, our declining religiosity explains leftism’s rise — and why American Christianity’s death would portend a dark political future.



After all, to paraphrase Belgian poet Émile Cammaerts, “When people cease believing in God, it’s not that they start to believe in nothing. It’s that they’ll believe in anything” — even, and especially in our time and place, socialism.

FAITH GOLDY KICKED OFF FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM AMID PURGE OF CONSERVATIVES

FAITH GOLDY KICKED OFF FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM AMID PURGE OF CONSERVATIVES

‘Our enemies are weak & terrified,’ Goldy writes

BY KELEN MCBREEN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Canadian activist Faith Goldy was banned from Facebook and Instagram Monday in the latest example of censorship directed toward conservatives.



In a Twitter post, Goldy said she was booted from the two platforms, writing, “Somehow Canada’s state media had enough advance warning to get a piece out before even I found out!”



“Our enemies are weak & terrified. They forget most revolutions were waged before social media!” she added.








In an interview with Big League Politics, the former Toronto, Canada mayoral candidate responded to the censorship, saying, “They consider me to be a ‘Dangerous Individual.’”



A Facebook spokesperson touching on the matter stated, “Individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are have no place on Facebook.”



The move comes after Facebook pledged to ban “white nationalism” and white separatism from the platform nearly two weeks ago.



The social media platform’s representatives are also set to testify on Capitol Hill Tuesday about how to address “white nationalism” and extremism on the site following the New Zealand terror attack that streamed live on Facebook.



Last week, Huffington Post bragged about sending a Faith Goldy video to a Facebook spokesperson in an attempt to get her banned, but the spokesperson said it did not violate the site’s rules.



Goldy was also banned from using the popular Airbnb app last week after the company said she violated their terms of service despite failing to explain how.



In a response video posted to Twitter, Goldy suggested she’d fight harder than ever before and plugged her website faithgoldy.com as a place to find her content amid massive censorship.








Faith Goldy joins a long list of conservatives who have been targeted by social media giants, including Alex Jones who has been kicked off every major platform.

AMATEUR HOUR IN THE DEMOCRAT PRIMARIES

AMATEUR HOUR IN THE DEMOCRAT PRIMARIES
BY DON BOYS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Nancy Pelosi is stuck with this bunch. Serves her right.



 donboys.cstnews.com/amateur-hour-in-the-democrat-primaries



The Original Amateur Hour was an American radio and television program in the 1940s that had similarities to the Democrat Primary. It was a popular show as its copycat television shows such as American Idol have been in recent years. Most of the Amateur Hour’s  nascent contestants went down in flames deservingly so, but a few of the winners went on to have success such as Gladys Knight and Pat Boone.



It’s amateur hour on the 2020 election cycle with many of the Democrat candidates having disqualified themselves by their personal lives (lack of character) or insane, inane, and inept political positions they have espoused.



Former Texas Congressman Robert O’Rourke, known as “Beto” did diddlysquat in Congress and lost his recent senatorial race to Senator Ted Cruz.  O’Rourke was arrested for burglary and leaving the scene of an accident in the 1990s.  He is known for writing erotic verses about cows, and eating dirt after his loss to Ted Cruz.  (I would have eaten crow or humble pie, but not dirt.)   Beto fed his wife feces telling her it was avocado.  That says much about him and his wife.



Evidently, Beto thinks of himself as a wit and he may be half right.  He supports abolishing the Electoral College, packing the Supreme Court, and will consider reparations.  He has apologized for many zany and dumb statements, even for being born.



Joe Biden, considered the frontrunner, is almost sure he will run in 2020 but Joe has decades of heavy baggage from plagiarism to historical incompetence to aggressive dealings with girls and women.  Joe is known as “Handsy” and “Creepy Uncle Joe.”  The Gawker website published photos of what it called, “groping  moments.”  The leftist media usually does not call him to account but instead Joe is said to be “adorable” and a “classic Irish politician.”



Joe is also careless with his unscripted remarks telling an Indian-American man, “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.  I’m not joking.”  Joe has apologized for some of his dumb statements and for being a male but not for being born, as Beto did.



Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is a front runner, although at his age, he will be limited how fast and how far he will “run.” However, everyone knows he will continue running to the left.  Bernie told his supporters via email, “Our campaign is about transforming our country,” but that’s what scares me.  He would abolish ICE.  He wants a free America transformed into a socialist state such as Laos, Venezuela, or Cuba.  Bernie does not admit that a socialist is a Communist without a gun.



Senator Cory Corker is a first term unmarried senator from New Jersey adamantly trying to convince his critics that he is not “gay.”  He proves it by dating a high-profile beauty.  Booker supports Medicare For All, the Green New Deal, abortion, LGBTQ rights, gun control, and would pack the Supreme Court. 



Senator Kamala Harris was Attorney General of California and has the reputation of sleeping her way to the top of the heap.  She was openly the mistress of Willie Brown, former mayor of San Francisco.  Kamala lied about  smoking weed in college while listening to the “music” of Snoop Dogg and Tupac.  It was untrue because Harris graduated college many years before their albums were released.  She would pack the Supreme Court and consider reparations.



Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts (born and reared in Oklahoma) entered the presidential race and released her tax records, challenging President Trump to do likewise. She supports “universal childcare, relief for student loan debt, universal health care by way of ‘Medicare for All,’ free public college, and a wealth tax….”  Warren has plans to abolish the Electoral College, abolish ICE, pack the Supreme Court, and she supports reparations. The senator lied about being an American Indian to gain a position at Harvard.  I wonder if Warren will denounce tenure as she did her Indian heritage. Warren no longer claims Native American heritage although she is often called Pocahontas by a very famous person.



Most of the Democrat candidates support reparations which is paying Blacks who may or may not have a slave history for the period of American slavery.  Would recent black immigrants receive payments, and would recent Asian and European immigrants be forced to pay their share?  What about payments to black millionaires?  The candidates are as silent as a graveyard.



The Green New Deal, brain child of Congressperson Alexandria Cortez, has been backed by all the candidates exceptJohn Delaney of Maryland.  Cortez is a lightweight completely over her head when discussing any subject, with the exception of bartending, her previous job.  I literally cringe whenever Cortez speaks about anything.  The Green New Deal would include guaranteed jobs, a push for “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” and a super ambiguous promise of “access to nature.”



Candidates like Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, and others maintain strong pro-choice voting records, but they don’t speak of abortion; it’s always reproductive rights, pro-choice, etc.  Not one of the 2020 candidates attended the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), this year.  AIPAC is a major lobbying group that advocates for Israel and hosted major leaders such as Vice President Pence and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.



The Democrat candidates, while not supporting Israel, do support the “Palestinians,” whose television station called last week for Muslims to “Scatter the enemies’ body parts, make the skulls fly in the sky.”  Hamas was launching missiles into Israel’s cities at the time of the telecast.



While the GOP in 2016 had some losers in their ranks, the Democrats are a gaggle of losers.  I considered listing the primary candidates in order of their chances to win on their merits. But since the candidates have so few merits, it is impossible to list all of them in last place.

FARRAKHAN CLAIMS TO BE JESUS, PROMISES TO “BRING ABOUT THE END OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE JEWS”

FARRAKHAN CLAIMS TO BE JESUS, PROMISES TO “BRING ABOUT THE END OF THE CIVILIZATION OF THE JEWS” 
BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

Anti-Semitic, pro-jihad Louis Farrakhan, in a stunning statement, declared himself to be Jesus and said he would fulfill Jesus’ mission, which he claimed was to “bring about the end of the civilization of the Jews.”



Back in November, Farrakhan lead a “Death to America” chant during a “solidarity trip to Iran.”



According to Iran’s semi-official state news agency Mehr, Farrakhan said at a meeting with the Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei that America is conspiring against Iran. Farrakhan was quoted as saying: “I understand how the enemies have plotted against the Iranian people and I would like to stay alongside you to stop their plots.”



Farrakhan has many associations with the Democrats. They started some time ago. In 2002, at a Nation of Islam convention, Farrakhan defended Palestinian suicide bombers, “and Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters attended.”



Yet truth-tellers who merely criticize abuses that are perpetrated in the name of Islamic doctrine are increasingly persecuted throughout the West, while Islamic haters and inciters to extreme violence such as Farrakhan are given immunity.



“Farrakhan: Jesus was 2,000 years too early to destroy the Jews,” by Gary Willig, Israel National News, April 4, 2019:





Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan claimed to be Jesus and that he would fulfill Jesus’ mission of destroying the Jewish civilization in a newly revealed video.



Speaking at a ‘Savior’s Day event in February, Farrakhan said that “God does not love this world. God never sent Jesus to die for this world. Jesus died because he was 2,000 years too soon to bring about the end of the civilization of the Jews. He never was on a cross, there was no Calvary for that Jesus.”



“The real story is what I tried to tell you from the beginning. It didn’t happen back there. It’s happening right while you’re alive looking at it,” Farrakhan continued. “I represent the Messiah. I represent the Jesus and I am that Jesus. If I am not, take my life.”



The Nation of Islam leader further claimed that he made deaf hear and dumb speak. “When I made the call in 1995 to Black people, with the Million Man March, that was like Jesus calling Lazarus and Lazarus came forth.”



“Some of you do today reject because the white man told you I’m an evil man, I’m a hater, I’m an anti-Semite. I hate Jewish people, I hate gay people. Here I am in front of you. I represent the Jesus that saves. I don’t represent somebody that came to judge you and me for our errors and mistakes…Everywhere I went I found myself rejected. My black people, they accepted me. But now white people are frightening the hell out of black people. College presidents are punished for allowing me or anyone that represents me to come on the college campus because they fear what’s in my mouth from my teacher the Honorable Elijah Muhammad…..

HARRISBURG, PA: RESOLUTION BLASTS REP’S “POLARIZING” PRAYER DECLARING JESUS AS NATION’S “ONLY HOPE” & “EVERY KNEE WILL BOW”

HARRISBURG, PA: RESOLUTION BLASTS REP’S “POLARIZING” PRAYER DECLARING JESUS AS NATION’S “ONLY HOPE” & “EVERY KNEE WILL BOW” 
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational and research purposes:

HARRISBURG, Pa. — A lawmaker in Pennsylvania has introduced a resolution that would collectively chastise a member of the Commonwealth’s House of Representatives for recently declaring Jesus as the nation’s “only hope,” and that at His name “every knee will bow” — among other numerous references — during a prayer that was delivered shortly before a Muslim legislator was sworn into office.



“A prayer that cites a particular religious belief as ‘our only hope,’ that ‘we’ve lost sight of you, we’ve forgotten you, God, in our country, and we’re asking you to forgive us,’ and that ‘every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess’ is unnecessarily divisive and polarizing,” the resolution, presented by Rep. Kevin Boyle, D-Philadelphia, reads.



Boyle, a Roman Catholic, says that he walked out of the chambers during the opening prayer delivered by Rep. Stephanie Borowicz, R-Clinton, on March 25 because he found it to be political and “over-the-top.” A lawmaker or other entity delivers an invocation at start of business in the House each day, and that day happened to be Borowicz’s turn.



“Jesus, I thank you for this privilege, Lord, of letting me pray,” Borowicz began. “That I, Jesus, am your ambassador here today, standing here representing You, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the great I Am, the One who is coming back again, the One who came, died and rose again on the third day.”







She thanked God that the nation’s founders, such as George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, sought after God in their leadership capacities.



“God, forgive us. Jesus, we’ve lost sight of You,” Borowicz then lamented. “We’ve forgotten You, God, in our country, and we’re asking You to forgive us, Jesus. Your promise in Your word says that if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek [My] face, and turn from their wicked ways, that You will heal our land. Jesus, You are our only hope.”



The pastor’s wife also prayed for Pennsylvania’s political leadership, as well as President Trump. Borowicz’s husband, Jason Borowicz, serves as an associate pastor at Crossroads Community Church in Jersey Shore.



“We ask that we not be overcome by evil, but that we overcome evil with good in this land once again,” she continued, referring to Romans 12:21. “I claim all these things in the powerful, mighty name of Jesus—the One who, at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, Jesus, that You are Lord. In Jesus name, amen.”



Borowicz soon drew criticism in light of the fact that her prayer, being so boldly Christian, preceded the swearing in of State Rep. Movita Johnson-Harrell, D- Philadelphia, a longtime Muslim. Johnson-Harrell had a number of friends and family members, who are also Muslim, present to observe her taking the oath of office.



“[The prayer] blatantly represented the Islamophobia, xenophobia, and bigotry that exists among some leaders,” she told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It was planned and meant to be insulting to me and my guests, and was done in the name of Jesus, which is blasphemy.”



Gov. Tom Wolf, who identifies as a Methodist, said that he was “horrified” by Borowicz’s prayer.



“I grew up in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn on the basis of freedom of conscience. I have a strong spiritual sense. This is not a reflection of the religion I grew up in,” he stated, according to USA Today.



DEFENSE OFFERED: CHRISTIANS WILL PRAY CHRISTIAN PRAYERS

Pennsylvania Founder William Penn, Quaker, street preacher and author of books such as “No Cross, No Crown”

However, Borowicz said that she prays no differently any other time, including when she is praying with family and friends. She is also the founder of Make a Stand USA, an organization that seeks to “to hold prayer rallies in each state, bringing the country back to God.”



“I had no idea that that would cause controversy. It wasn’t directed at anyone,” she told the American Pastors Network.



The organization defended Borowicz in noting that Penn founded the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on the Word of God, and that even the preamble to the Pennsylvania Constitution refers to “Almighty God.” As previously reported, Penn was a street preacher, and was once put on trial for causing a “tumultuous assembly” with his preaching.




“In fact, Penn dreamed to establish in Pennsylvania what was referred to as ‘The Holy Experiment,’ in which a colony would be founded that guaranteed religious freedom. But that freedom was based upon the truth of the Holy God of the Bible and His Son, Jesus Christ, as it states in John 8:32: ‘And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free,’” explained Executive Director Gary Dull.



“The preamble of the Pennsylvania Constitution states: ‘We, the people of Pennsylvania, grateful to Almighty God for the blessings of civil and religious liberty, and humbly invoking His guidance, do ordain and establish this Constitution …’” he continued.



“Beyond that, it does not take long for a person to notice when visiting the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg how many Bible verses are posted throughout that beautiful edifice.”



Dull further explained that Christians often cite Scripture when praying, and doing so will naturally be offensive to unbelievers.



“In fact, Isaiah 30:9 says that spiritually rebellious people ‘will not hear the law of the Lord.’ So, we should not be surprised when some people object to the Word of God when it is read, spoken or used in our prayers,” he said.



“When a person prays a ‘Christian prayer’ to the Christian God of the Bible, it only stands to reason that Christian and biblical terms will be used in that prayer,” Dull added. “That may and will offend some people, but that does not mean that such a freedom should be taken away.”



He stated that if a Muslim were praying, it would be understood that the Muslim would likewise speak in Islamic terms.



THE ISLAMIC PRAYERS THAT FOLLOWED

Chowdury

According to the Pennsylvania Capital Star, House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Allegheny, whose office is charge of organizing the daily invocation speakers, also invited Muslim cleric Muhammad Chowdury to pray that day.



He took the podium following Borowicz and before Johnson-Harrell was sworn into office.



Turzai’s office posted a video of Chowdury to YouTube, who spoke in Arabic, and also delivered the Surah Al-Fatiha from the Quran in song.




Additionally, as previously reported, Muslim lawmaker Jason Dawkins, D-Philadelphia, took the podium the following day and advised those gathered that he was going to provide a translation of the Surah Al-Fatiha — “yesterday’s prayer that was offered for our newest colleague” — and “a breakdown of what it means.”



“In the name of god, the lord of mercy, the giver of mercy: Praise belongs to [Allah], god of all works,” Dawkins read. “The world of mercy, the giver of mercy, master of the day of judgment, it is you we worship, it is you we ask for help. Guide us to a straight path, the path of who those you have blessed, those who incurred no anger and [have] not gone astray.”



According to an online explanation of the Al-Fatiha by Kamil Mufti, “The Quran begins with the proper, unique, and personal name of God, Allah. “I begin with the name of Allah” means a Muslim begins his recitation seeking the help of Allah. Allah is the God of mankind who alone deserves worship. No one else can take the name Allah.”



“The verse tells us that a Muslim is not allowed to direct any act of worship, like prayer and asking for supernatural, help to anyone other than Allah.”



While Dawkins did not use the name “Allah,” but rather the general “God,” he concluded his time at the podium with the Islamic “Ameen.”



“As an American Muslim of this chamber, I’ve always carried myself as an example of what it looks like to be a Muslim,” Dawkins also told those gathered prior to providing the translation. “And I wanted folks to see that from the actual actions of me and not the words that I say out of my mouth.”



His remarks were met with applause at the conclusion of his presentation.




MOTION TO PRESENT PRAYERS ‘RESPECTFUL OF ALL’ RELIGIONS



In the meantime, some representatives continued to speak out against Borowicz’s prayer, and Boyle crafted a resolution to both chastise the representative and urge lawmakers going forward to present prayers that are “crafted with the respect of all religious beliefs in mind.”



“Representative Borowicz invoked Jesus, the Lord or God about a dozen times in her one-minute-forty-second prayer,” he said in a statement.” I cannot begin to imagine how uncomfortable that had to make Representative Johnson-Harrell and the 50 guests she had surrounded herself with that day from various religious backgrounds and beliefs.”



“This is not your home where you can say whatever you want,” Boyle asserted. “It is the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, where we show a common decency to one another.”



His resolution characterizes Borowicz’s prayer as “[a] fire and brimstone prayer” that “epitomizes religious intolerance.”



“Whereas, prayers offered before the House of Representatives in the daily order of business should reflect mutual respect and religious tolerance of our colleagues and constituents, and not intimidate, demean or degrade, therefore, be it resolved that members of the House of Representatives who have the opportunity to offer a prayer in the course of a legislative session are urged to follow the request of Speaker Turzai to ‘craft a prayer that is respectful of all religious beliefs,'” the proposal reads.




The measure was referred to the House Rules committee on Tuesday.



In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in Heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in Heaven.”



He also warned in Mark 8:38, “Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”