Rather Expose Them Christian News Blog
A WordPress Blog-THE CHURCH MILITANT Ephesians 5:11-"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them". This Christian News Blog maintains a one stop resource of current news and reports of its own related to church, moral, spiritual, and related political issues, plus articles, and postings from other online discernment ministries, and media which share the aims to obey the biblical commands to shed light on and refute error, heresy, apostasy, cults, and spiritual abuse. ALL CONTENT FROM HTTPS://RATHEREXPOSETHEM.BLOGSPOT.COM MOVED TO THIS NEW BLOG, MAY 2020
DR. STEVE TURLEY: I sat down for a conversation with my friend Conrad Franz (@WorldWarNow on YouTube) about some of the potential futures we are facing in America and as nationalists around the world. The issues of sovereignty, border security, political separation, the fall of the globalist world order, and more are at the forefront of western political conversations! I hope you enjoy it!
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Yes, it has come to this. By a resounding vote of 299 to 116, the UK’s House of Commons on Wednesday outlawed thinking the wrong thoughts in the wrong place. According to the Catholic Herald, MPs including the Conservative government’s Home Secretary Suella Braverman and Attorney General Victoria Prentis rejected an amendment that would have protected “private prayer and consensual conversations within any ‘censorship’ zone.” “Censorship” zones are areas around abortion centers.
The vote comes just a day after a pro-life activist, Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, was arrested for the second time in several weeks for praying silently outside one of the centers for sacrifices to Moloch. “I’m not protesting,” Vaughan-Spruce explained. “I’m not engaging in any of the activities prohibited.” But she was thinking the wrong thoughts and thus had to face what British authorities call “justice” in these dark days.
Jeremiah Igunnubole, who is legal counsel for a firm that has represented people who have been arrested for thought crimes outside of abortion centers, observed that the vote was a “watershed moment for fundamental rights and freedoms in our country.” Yes, indeed. In fact, it is a signpost of the end of freedom in Britain.
Igunnubole continued: “Parliament had an opportunity to reject the criminalization of free thought, which is an absolute right, and embrace individual liberty for all. Instead, Parliament chose to endorse censorship and criminalize peaceful activities such as silent prayer and consensual conversation.” And of course, an extremely dangerous precedent has been set: “Today it’s abortion. Tomorrow it could be another contested matter of political debate.”
According to the Herald, the new law criminalizes “any form of ‘influence’ outside of all abortion facilities, including silent prayer.” Offenders will be fined £100 ($118) the first time they are arrested for wrongthink; if court proceedings are deemed necessary, the fines could increase to £1,000 ($1,183). Amid the debate over this measure, a Conservative MP, Andrew Lewer, injected a note of sanity: “Police shouldn’t be asking ‘What are you thinking about?’” Indeed. And what if the person praying denies the offense? The World Economic Forum has been touting brain implants, and it’s easy to see how handy they’ll be for British police: the bobbies (do they still call these sinister Orwellian figures “bobbies”?) will simply be able to consult a readout of your thoughts, and if prayer shows up, you’ll have to pony up.
Lewer continued to point out what should have been obvious to everyone and prevented even a single MP from voting for this measure: “Censorship of this sort is a notoriously slippery slope. It might not be your thoughts that are criminalized today, but I think we should all be careful not to open the door to that tomorrow about some other opinions that people may hold about something else.” Now that the door has indeed been opened, Conservative MP Sir John Hayes spelled out the implications: “We now have people arrested for praying, interrogated by the police, asked what they’re praying about, what they’re thinking. This is dystopian. It’s like a mix of Huxley, Philip Dick, and all that.” Quite right, old fellow, and don’t forget that Orwell chap, eh wot?
Related: The Church of England May Go Gender-Neutral
There are, meanwhile, a few more important matters that British police could be doing instead of spending their time arresting people for thinking the wrong thoughts. Another MP, Eddie Hughes, pointed out that “Given the other crimes that were going on in Birmingham at that time,” that is, the time that Isabel Vaughan-Spruce was arrested for praying silently, “it is important to see that the police had clearly determined that the most important thing they had to do at that particular time was not to deal with knife crime or with people stealing tools out of other people’s vans to stop them earning a living but to arrest and interrogate a woman who was silently praying outside a clinic that was closed. Surely that shows a sense of complete disproportionality on the part of the police.” Yes, it does, and it’s going to get worse.
MP Ian Paisley (not to be confused with the late Northern Irish preacher) added: “Despite the level of crime across this society—I think there were over 500 knife crimes last year—are we actually going to ask the police to get engaged and be detained in questioning people about what they are thinking in certain parts of the United Kingdom? That is a complete waste of police resources and police time, and it should not be done.” It should not, but now it will be. And the Biden regime, no friend of the freedom of speech itself, is watching and (silently) taking notes.
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Acid attacks of this kind happen all too often to women in Pakistan and Afghanistan. They are a manifestation of the culture of violence that is created by the divine sanction Islam gives to beating disobedient women (cf. Qur’an 4:34). Celebrate diversity!
“Muslim Throws Acid on Young Christian Woman in Pakistan,” Morning Star News, February 6, 2023:
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A Muslim in Karachi, Pakistan on Wednesday (Feb. 1) threw acid on a 19-year-old Christian woman for refusing his pressure to enter into relationship and convert to Islam, sources said.
Sunita Masih, who lives with her sister after the death of her parents, left the house in Masoom Shah Colony, in Karachi’s Kala Pull area, to go to work that morning. After getting off a bus at Cantt station, her Muslim neighbor, Kamran Allah Bux, threw acid on her and fled, said her uncle, John Masih.
“Sunita is just 19, but now her whole life has been physically and mentally scarred by Kamran,” her uncle said. “Even if he is convicted for his crime, will Sunita be able to live a normal life again? We all know how our society treats acid attack survivors, even though they are the victims of this heinous crime.”
Sunita Masih suffered 20 percent burns in the attack.
“My eyes, face, arms, and legs started burning as soon as Kamran threw the acid on me,” she told police from her hospital bed. “The pain was so excruciating that I collapsed on the road.”
Bux had been pressuring her to enter into a relationship with him, John Masih said.
“He would try to force her to renounce her Christian faith, assuring her that he would marry her once she became a Muslim, but she refused to surrender to his illegitimate demands,” Masih said. “Sunita had informed her siblings about Kamran’s harassment, and they had repeatedly complained to his parents, urging them to stop him, but that did not work.”
The family had registered a complaint with police to stop the harassment, but they did not act on it, he said. When all efforts failed, Sunita’s brother-in-law beat Bux, which also did not deter him, John Masih said.
The family, members of a Salvation Army church, was seeking justice for Sunita Masih, whose face and other parts of her body were disfigured in the attack.
Assistant Sub-Inspector Sagheer Ahmed of the Frere Police Station said officers had registered a case against Bux for hurt by corrosive substance (Section 336-B of the Pakistan Penal Code) and had taken him into custody.
“We obtained his two-day physical remand from a court during which he confessed to the heinous crime,” Ahmed told Morning Star News. “In his statement, Kamran claimed that he had fallen in love with Sunita and had attacked her with acid in retaliation after she rejected his marriage proposal.”…
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
How strange! Why might this be? Could it have something to do with these teachings of Islam?
Jesus is not the Son of God and belief in the Trinity is “excess”: “O people of the book, do not exaggerate in your religion or say anything about Allah except the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and his word that he conveyed to Mary, and a spirit from him. So believe in Allah and his messengers, and do not say Three, Stop, it is better for you. Allah is only one God. It is far removed from his transcendent majesty that he should have a son. Everything that is in the heavens and everything that is on the earth is his. And Allah is sufficient as a defender.” — Qur’an 4:171
And: “It is not fitting for Allah that he should take to himself a son. Glory be to him when he decrees a thing, he says to it only, Be, and it is.” — Qur’an 19:35
Jesus was not crucified: “And because of their saying, We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of Allah, they did not kill him nor crucify him, but it seemed so to them, and indeed, those who disagree about this are in doubt about it, they have no knowledge of it except the pursuit of a supposition, they did not kill him for certain.” — Qur’an 4:157
Those who believe in the divinity of Christ are unbelievers: “They indeed have disbelieved who say, Indeed, Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. Say, Who then can do anything against Allah, if he had willed to destroy the Messiah son of Mary, and his mother and everyone on earth? To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them. He creates what he wills. And Allah is able to do all things.” — Qur’an 5:17 (cf. 5:72)
Christians have forgotten part of the divine revelations they received: “And with those who say: Indeed, we are Christians, we made a covenant, but they forgot a part of what they were reminded about. Therefore we have stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the day of resurrection, when Allah will inform them of their handiwork.” — Qur’an 5:14
Those who believe that Jesus is God’s Son are accursed: “And the Jews say, Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say, The Messiah is the son of Allah. That is their saying with their mouths. They imitate the statements of those who disbelieved before. May Allah curse them. How perverse they are.” — Qur’an 9:30
Christians who do not accept Muhammad and the Qur’an are the vilest of created beings: “Indeed, the unbelievers among the people of the book and the idolaters will remain in the fire of Gehenna. They are the vilest of created beings.” — Qur’an 98:6
Muslims must fight against and subjugate Christians: “Fight against those who do not believe in Allah or the last day, and do not forbid what Allah and his messenger have forbidden, and do not follow the religion of truth, even if they are among the people of the book until they pay the jizya with willing submission and feel subdued.” — Qur’an 9:29
Also, a hadith has Muhammad predicting that Jesus will return at the end of the world and break the cross, as it is an insult to Allah’s power to say that he would have allowed one of his prophets to be crucified: “Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Apostle said, ‘By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary [Jesus] will shortly descend amongst you people [Muslims] as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya [a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government]. Then there will be an abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.’” — Bukhari 3.34.425
“Iran ranked eighth hardest country to be Christian,” Article 18, January 18, 2023:
Iran has risen back to eighth place on an annual list of the countries where it is hardest to practise the Christian faith.
This marks a return to Iran’s 2021 ranking on the World Watch List, which is produced by Christian charity Open Doors International, after a year in ninth place.
For the past five years, Iran has oscillated between eighth and ninth place on the list.
This year, Iran has moved back above Afghanistan, which last year topped the list, even ahead of perennial “winner” North Korea.
The other countries in the top 10 are Somalia, Yemen, Eritrea, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan and Sudan.
Iran’s rise by one point in Open Doors’ scoring system was “mainly caused by an increase in reported violent incidents”, said the charity, “including an abduction”.
“The outlook for Iranian Christians, in particular converts from Islam to Christianity, is by no means improving,” Open Doors said….
Christian persecution continues to rage across the globe, with believers facing killings, kidnappings, chaos, and crises at the hands of governments, extremists, and even family members. Among the persecution trends unfolding today, Open Doors, an organization monitoring Christian persecution worldwide, warns that "Sub-Saharan Africa faces catastrophic collapse" as Islamist violence breaks out in the region. The organization's 2023 World Watch List, which ranks the 50 nations where persecution is the worst, warns of the "horrifying growth" of these terrors. As it has for many years in the past, the report ranked North Korea as the most sinister place for Christians. The nation's newfound "anti-reactionary thought law" reportedly cracks down on any foreign materials, putting residents in danger for simply possessing or sharing outside content. One report indicates three minors were reportedly executed for sharing South Korean TV shows, offering a lens into the diabolical nature of these regulations. "North Korea returns to No. 1, with its highest levels of persecution ever," Open Doors said in a press release. "Over the 30 years of the Open Doors World Watch List reporting, the global phenomenon of Christian persecution has grown alarmingly." Lisa Pearce, the interim CEO of Open Doors' U.S. office, reflected on the dire nature of these findings. In an interview with CBN's Faithwire, she stressed the importance of Christians knowing and understanding the full scope of global persecution, citing biblical commands for believers to offer love, support, and prayer for one another.
BY LINCOLN BROWN
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Well, this has been an interesting week, hasn’t it? Aside from the big news about the Big Guy’s boxes, the new GOP contingent in the House of Representatives shook off the post-speaker blues and got right to work. True, the legislation the House passed in terms of the IRS and the pro-life agenda is destined for doom in the Senate and would not have survived a presidential veto anyway. But you have to give the Republicans credit for fighting the good fight and for making the Democrats say all of the quiet parts out loud.
For example, this week, the House passed a measure that condemned attacks on pro-life facilities and churches. According to Just the News, the resolution “condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities, groups and churches” and “calls upon the Biden Administration to use all appropriate law enforcement authorities to uphold public safety and to protect the rights of pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.” The vote was 222-219 and was, as usual, split along party lines. But three Democrats—Vicente Gonzalez of south Texas, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington—supported it.
The article cited a report published by the Family Research Council entitled “Hostility Against Churches Is on the Rise in the United States – Analyzing Incidents from 2018-2022.” The report by Arielle Del Turco, states:
Between January 2018 and September 2022, at least 420 acts of hostility against U.S. churches occurred. The types of acts identified include vandalism, arson, gun-related incidents, bomb threats, and more. There also appeared to be an increase in frequency over the course of the reporting period.
The report notes that there were 342 incidents of vandalism, 58 incidents of arson or attempted arson, 12 incidents involving guns, 11 bomb threats, and 19 incidents that fell into the “other” category, which consisted of assaults, interruption of services, or threats. Twenty incidents involved a combination of offenses. The only states where violence was not reported were Delaware, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The number of incidents spiked as a result of the Dobbs leak, consisting mostly of pro-abortion graffiti. When the Dobbs decision was handed down, the trend continued. Other incidents were attributed to the treatment of native children in former Catholic schools in Canada, and unrest surrounding the George Floyd incident and the Black Lives Matter movement. Some were incidents of vandalism without messages, and some contained Satanic messages.
As a former liberal and abortion advocate, I understand the passion behind “reproductive rights.” Been there, done that. I get it. But at the same time, shouldn’t Congress be able to agree that vigilante violence is wrong? That chaos is bad? What differences should be worked out without destruction? That we can argue without burning down buildings? Whatever one’s opinion on a given matter may be, civilized people do not do these things. We can all get together on that, right?
I guess not.
Senator Mike Lee once told me that people on Capitol Hill have absolutely no clue what is going on outside the Beltway. So it might be that when Democrats vote against condemning violence against churches and pro-life centers, they may not truly understand the message they are sending. They may not grasp the potential consequences of their actions.
But given the double standard they apply when it comes to things like this, and the idea that violence (of which they approve ) must always equal free speech, it would appear that our Democrat leaders are happy with giving a nod to anarchy, in much the same way CNN talked about “mostly peaceful riots.” After all, Democrats in Congress have delivered more than their fair share of incendiary rhetoric while accusing Mega MAGA Republicans of plotting a violent overthrow of the government. Damage to cities, businesses, and the injuries and deaths of ordinary Americans were nothing more than collateral damage in the fight for a “noble cause,” while J6 has been hailed as the worst thing to happen to our country since Pearl Harbor. So, I have little if any doubt that those who voted against Wednesday’s bill knew exactly what they were doing. They are perfectly content with violence if it agrees with their manifesto and is done by others.
It takes a special kind of narcissism and a level of dysfunctionality approaching sociopathy for the Democrats to vote against not only this bill but the Born Alive Act. And, all Congress jokes aside, I congratulate those legislators who are willing to brave those things and face the derision of the media, academia, and a segment of society that is not far behind their party in terms of derangement.
Of course, no legislation or even court cases will put an end to abortion. For that to happen, society must find the idea morally objectionable. That requires morals, which seem to be in short supply.
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
It’s clear at this point which side the Nigerian government is on.
“Herdsmen, Other Terrorists Slaughter 46 Christians in Nigeria,” Morning Star News, December 23, 2022:
ABUJA, Nigeria (Morning Star News) – Suspected herdsmen and other terrorists killed 46 people Sunday night to Wednesday (Dec. 18-21) in attacks in predominantly Christian areas of southern Kaduna state, sources said.
Attacks by Fulani herdsmen and other terrorists on Malagum and Abun (Broni Prono) villages in Kaura County Sunday through Tuesday (Dec. 18-20) left 38 people dead in the predominantly Christian communities, said Luka Biniyat, spokesmasn for the Southern Kaduna People’s Union (SOKAPU).
“It is with heavy heart and deep sense of loss that we announce the gruesome, mass murder of not less that 38 harmless, unarmed villagers,” Biniyat said in a press statement. “The killings, which lasted long, started around 11 p.m. Sunday night. Not only were these, poor innocent citizens killed, not less than 100 houses were razed, with some victims burned alive.”…
“Apparently, the security forces deployed there did nothing under this glaring potential threat to security,” he said. “Especially as this dastardly act is coming five days after armed herdsmen herded their cattle into a farm owned by Cletus Dunia, 45, in Kpak village, a sub-unit of Kagoro, in Kaura LGA, and shot him dead at close range before mutilating his corpse.”
The herdsmen also shot and killed Levi Zakaria, 19, as he was harvesting yams on a farm on the route taken by herdsmen, who also killed 16-year-old Ezra Sunday about two kilometers away, he said.
“The same herdsmen caused the death of Gaje Habila, 31, when he fell and died of exhaustion while escaping the killer herdsmen, leaving behind a widow and a 6-month-old baby,” Biniyat said.
In southern Kaduna state’s Zangon Kataf County on Tuesday and Wednesday (Dec. 20-21), armed herdsmen invaded homes in predominantly Christian Kamuru village, Ikulu Ward, and killed four persons, he said.
“This is to say that 46 persons were killed in unprovoked attacks in southern Kaduna in the past five days,” he said.
The slaughters follow attacks that have displaced thousands of people from their ancestral homes since 2019, he said.
“Let it be put on record that in the hundreds of attacks that have put many parts of southern Kaduna into ruins and killed thousands since 2014, we have not seen anyone arrested and brought to book over these heinous crimes against humanity,” Biniyat said. “Instead, it is southern Kaduna traditional leaders, clergy and human right activists that do get arrested and put in prison over trumped-up allegations of ‘incitement.’”
Local Council official Mathias Simon confirmed that four Christians were killed in Zangon Kataf County.
“Aside from the four Christians killed, four others also were injured during the attacks by the herdsmen and terrorists,” Simon told Morning Star News in a text message, adding that area Christians have no way of stemming the attacks “but must remain steadfast in prayers and be watchful in order to keep our communities safe.”
Bawa Emmanuel, a youth leader in Kaura County, also confirmed the slaughters.
“Attacks on Kaura LGA have been consistent and multi-dimensional with the efforts of the security operatives and government not seen or felt,” Emmanuel told Morning Star News in a text message.
Numbering in the millions across Nigeria and the Sahel, predominantly Muslim Fulani comprise hundreds of clans of many different lineages who do not hold extremist views, but some Fulani do adhere to radical Islamist ideology, the United Kingdom’s All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief (APPG) noted in a recent report.
“They adopt a comparable strategy to Boko Haram and ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province] and demonstrate a clear intent to target Christians and potent symbols of Christian identity,” the APPG report states.
Christian leaders in Nigeria have said they believe herdsmen attacks on Christian communities in Nigeria’s Middle Belt are inspired by their desire to forcefully take over Christians’ lands and impose Islam as desertification has made it difficult for them to sustain their herds….
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
The celebrations of diversity in France are getting pretty raucous these days.
“Diversity is our strength? The French city of Nice now features emergency buttons in churches after Islamic terror attacks,” by Denes Albert, ReMix News, December 21, 2022:
Europe has dramatically changed over the years, with Christmas markets now featuring security barriers and governments using terrorism threats to justify a massive expansion of surveillance powers. Now, Europeans can add emergency buttons in churches to the list of changes that the threat of Islamic terrorism and other increasing security concerns have introduced to the continent.
After the terrorist attack committed by a boat migrant hit Nice, which targeted the Notre-Dame basilica on Oct. 29, 2020, the municipality reinforced security in places of worship and, during a meeting in 2021, offered churches and other places of worship the emergency devices.
The priest was hospitalized with chest and leg wounds after being attacked by a man with a knife in a church in Nice in the south of France
During an interview with BFM TV on Oct. 28, the rector of the Notre-Dame basilica admitted that he had used this button since its installation. Contacted by Nice-Matin, Father Franklin Parmentier cites the example of a young man who entered the basilica in July 2021 with “aggressive” and “very suspicious” behavior. The police were notified by means of an emergency call button installed after the 2020 attack, and officers arrested the individual.
“It has shown its usefulness and it works,” Father Parmentier says. “What is reassuring is the rapid and effective intervention of the police services.”…
However, it is not just churches that have installed the emergency call boxes. Nice features 1,400 of these emergency call boxes now, including in hospitals, schools, places of culture, cinemas, and local associations. The emergency system, which was launched in 2015, has recorded 1,700 incidents since the beginning of 2022, said Anthony Borré, first deputy mayor for security….
Borré said that those in charge of places of worship are increasingly requesting the emergency devices.
“If we had proposed this 10 years ago, it would have been refused immediately.” The tool has also been adopted by the Jewish community in schools and some synagogues.
SEE: https://www.massresistance.org//docs/gen4/22d/GOP-caves-on-marriage-act/index.html;
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes
[NOTE: A previous version of this article appeared in American Thinker.]
On Nov. 13, 2022, the occupant of the Oval Office signed into law the so-called “Respect for Marriage Act.” It repeals the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and codifies same-sex “marriage” into federal law. It allows for Justice Department prosecution and private lawsuits against anyone who uses a state’s own laws to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages or carry out “any public act” pertaining to such marriages.
Its passage by Congress (with the help of numerous “moderate” Republicans) has been bewailed by conservative groups. But let’s not fool ourselves. This didn’t happen because of some weak-kneed RINOs. It’s the result of a near-total capitulation of the conservative movement on the marriage issue over recent decades, which has trickled up to Congress.
In the critical weeks before its final passage by the Senate followed by the House, major pro-family groups spent lots of money and energy lobbying tirelessly against it. These groups were at the same time polishing their image as stalwart defenders of the family (in their ongoing appeals for funding from conservative citizens).
But with all that effort, here’s what Congress and the public did not hear from the mainstream conservatives as reasons to defeat the bill:
The wimpy political brainiacs on our side say that we need to sound moderate and reasonable. They constantly insist that telling these obvious truths will anger the leftists and therefore won’t help. They’re wrong. Boldly repeating these truths actually moves the whole political discourse to the right. Ignoring them has the opposite effect.
Let’s be honest. Conservative leaders don’t want to be called “bigots” in the mainstream media. And they don’t want to alienate the false Republicans who go along with same-sex marriage. They might want their votes on other bills – or their donations.
So instead, there was really just one message from our side. It centered on “religious freedom.” It basically said: If you insist on passing this, there must be some religious freedom protections added. People with “sincerely held religious beliefs” against same-sex marriage need safeguards.
The obvious questions are: What about people who don’t have “sincerely held religious beliefs” but just think that same-sex marriage is disgusting, unhealthy, or destabilizing for society? And who gets to determine whether one’s beliefs are sufficiently “sincere”? Our side’s argument was weak as dishwater, and the leftists basically laughed at us.
Yes, it is true that religious liberty is in grave danger with this new law. On the surface, the text of the bill seems to include many protections. But in fact, there are numerous possible loopholes.
More importantly, our side’s complete willingness to concede the overall Orwellian codification of same-sex marriage into federal law while fighting the narrow “religious liberty” battle sent a clear message that we weren’t serious.
We can’t expect conservative members of Congress to boldly use the necessary arguments if the big-money groups on our side are afraid to back them up. Make no mistake: If the tables had been turned, the Left would have thrown everything they could think of at us, and in as vicious a manner as they could muster.
Conservative grassroots activists may have strong feelings about this, but the mainstream conservative movement went south on the whole LGBT issue a long time ago.
CPAC (the huge "Conservative Political Action Conference") now has the Log Cabin Republicans as a sponsor, and tranny contingents are welcomed, but groups deemed “anti-gay” or “transphobic” are banned from having a table (as MassResistance was in 2018). Last year President Trump and GOP Chairman Ronna McDaniel hosted a gala event promoting LGBT inclusion in the Republican Party.
Two days after the “Respect for Marriage” act was signed into law, President Trump held another gala event for homosexual Republicans. “We are fighting for the gay community, and we are fighting and fighting hard,” Trump told the crowd. “Conservative” stalwart Kari Lake of Arizona was also part of the festivities that night.
Tucker Carlson regularly has openly LGBT guests on his show, but except for the transgender assault on children, never includes anyone countering that overall movement. And virtually every one of the “moms” groups fighting porn in schools makes it clear that they are not against the LGBT movement in their schools. It goes on and on.
With that kind of capitulation on our side, it would have been a shock if we had won the vote on the “marriage” bill!
This misguided approach goes back many years. After same-sex marriage was first “legalized” by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in 2004 and there was a battle to get the Legislature to pass a state constitutional amendment to reverse that, the mantra by the big conservative groups was “every child needs a mother and a father” and “marriage is between one man and one woman.” They shied away from suggesting that same-sex marriage was simply a “lie” – physiologically and morally impossible.
The amendment sunk like a rock. The LGBT movement countered that with slick emotional arguments, howling that they were all “about “love” and “equality” – and we were simply “haters.” They said that they could make very “loving” parents and that everyone should have “marriage” rights.
When the same-sex marriage lawsuits began to move through the federal courts, our side repeated the refrain, “Children do best when raised by a mother and father” (which is technically true but less relevant in this fight).
This mushy collection of arguments was used right up through the Obergefell case – and our side lost consistently. At one point during the Proposition 8 marriage lawsuit in California, the openly homosexual judge actually reprimanded our side for presenting such an inept case. It was embarrassing, but our people didn’t seem to care.
In order to achieve their deranged agenda, the Left must lie about virtually everything. Our side has the truth, which is much more powerful – if we’re not afraid to use it. In our own activism, we have experienced that first-hand many times.
Unfortunately, as someone once observed, on cutting-edge culture war issues the mainstream conservative movement is continuously willing to settle for “defeat with dignity.” It is cowardly, and dishonest, and doesn’t seem to bother them at all.
Boldly telling the truth works. Sadly, MassResistance is one of the few national groups willing to do it consistently and methodically – and we’re not stopping!
Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!
Our successes depend on people like you.
Your support will make the difference!
BY MARK TAPSCOTT
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Supreme Court justices are urged in a new amicus brief to take a case that provides them an opportunity to rein in “unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats [who] are weaponizing federal laws to violate Americans’ most fundamental rights.”
The brief was filed by attorneys representing the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and represents the Christian Employers Alliance (CEA). The case is Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.
“As we explain in our brief, federal agency officials frequently disrespect American citizens and businesses’ most cherished principles — including religious freedom and the sanctity of life — by imposing personal political agendas that Congress has not authorized,” the brief argues.
“We urge the Supreme Court to take this case, overrule Chevon v. Natural Resources Defense Council, and affirm that courts should not defer to federal agencies when they overstep their executive authority and violate Americans’ First Amendment rights,” the brief continued.
“When left to their own devices — or to the political calculations of the White House— agencies stretch and strain their authority to impose on the everyday lives of American citizens in ways Congress never prescribed. As one justice of this Court recently put it, federal agencies now regularly ‘write ever more ambitious rules on the strength of ever thinner statutory terms.’”
The brief then lays out in systematic fashion examples of how President Joe Biden’s political appointees and career federal bureaucrats take advantage of their positions and power to fashion oppressive regulations and procedures with no regard for the guarantees of the First Amendment for freedom of religious practice and expression of every individual American.
Related: The Future of the First Amendment Hinges on the 303 Creative SCOTUS Case
On abortion, the brief describes how the Biden administration has defied the high court’s Dobbs decision overruling Roe v. Wade “by issuing a raft of abortion mandates — even though the statutes that the agencies cite contain no such authorizations.”
To that end, “agencies launched huge new programs forcing states and private citizens to perform abortions and spend taxpayer money to perform and pay for abortions. In each case, agency officials used their positions to brush aside the absence of federal authority and to claim primacy over state laws to which this Court deferred in Dobbs as a matter of federalism.”
Similarly, the Biden administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has directed hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses to convert their facilities into on-demand abortion clinics.
“As part of its anti-Dobbs campaign, HHS told all hospitals receiving Medicare funds that have emergency rooms, that regardless of state laws protecting the unborn they must perform abortions under HHS’s novel interpretation of the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA),” the brief explained.
The HHS reading of the law that President Ronald Reagan signed in 1986 is outrageous because EMTALA doesn’t even mention abortion. Not once since its enactment has EMTALA ever been read to mandate abortion services. Until now, that is.
In addition, officials at HHS, acting under the direction of the Biden administration, ordered all of the nation’s pharmacies to stock over-the-counter first-trimester abortion drugs. They cited a section of the Obamacare legislation as their authority for doing so, even though that section deals only with prohibitions on sex and disability discrimination.
“Like the EMTALA abortion mandate, the agency officials did not subject that mandate to the notice-and-comment process, and they claimed that they were merely informing regulated entities of obligations that already existed under statutory law,” according to the brief. This is called rewriting the law to suit a political agenda, which is, by definition, illegal.
Then there is the Biden administration’s effort to turn Veterans Administration (VA) facilities into abortion clinics, as described by the brief:
“In response to Dobbs, the VA began performing abortions in veterans’ hospitals—on demand through all nine months of pregnancy—no matter what pro-life state laws say. Just as with HHS, the VA seized on the flimsiest of statutory reeds to support its new assertion of power. In the VA’s underlying statute, Congress explicitly banned the performance of abortions in the VA system.”
And there are new efforts by federal departments and agencies to use federal funds appropriated for other purposes to pay transportation expenses for employees who must travel to a different state to obtain an abortion:
As horrendous as these abuses of law to further abortion are, the brief also details multiple additional ways in which federal officials are weaponizing statutes and regulations in other fields and turning them into wrecking balls against constitutional liberties:
“Federal agencies … are weaponizing federal civil rights laws to impose radical gender ideology, thereby threatening religious liberty, free speech, parental rights, and the basic recognition of biological differences between men and women.
“On taking office, President Biden ordered every federal agency to enforce every sex discrimination law as though it covers sexual orientation and gender identity —with no regard for religious freedom, free speech, the rights of women and girls, and parental rights.
“Every federal agency involved in civil rights enforcement has thus been weaponizing [Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020] to impose far-reaching mandates. These agency actions have no clear authorization from their underlying statutes — which simply prohibit sex discrimination — and in many cases explicitly rely on rather than reject the biological binary between men and women.”
There is more, much more, sadly, described in this brief that exposes what appears to be the most comprehensive assault on First Amendment freedoms ever mounted by federal officials. This brief should be required reading for every American citizen.
| Top 10 Ways America Is Being Groomed to Normalize Pedophilia |
LTRP Note: For nearly the full existence of Lighthouse Trails (20+ years), we have covered the topic of child sexual abuse and child endangerment. We have published a number of books, articles, and booklets by various authors to help bring awareness to and equip parents, grandparents, and guardians. The following article shows the continued danger that children in this country are facing.
 By Linda Harvey Respectable pedophilia. Are you ready for this? I’m not and I will be screaming against it until the last breath. But it’s coming unless a massive parent brigade shows up in both schools and in another venue that must be deployed to overcome this depravity: churches. The truth of God, proclaimed by His saints and confirmed in the power, blood and resurrection of Jesus Christ, fueled by the conviction of the Holy Spirit can prevail over the tragedy of child corruption. We can do this. But first we must face how we are all being groomed, as child sexuality is being packaged and sold to America, even as the latest fashion trend (e.g., Balenciaga). We must refuse to be enablers and then take steps to end this diabolical trend. Here are the top 10 ways that child sexualization is being normalized in America. 1. Child empowerment and consent. How long before we allow children to make their own decisions about health care, counseling, and then the choice of a sexual partner? Over thirty years ago, a child’s right to “freedom of association” showed up in a revised United Nations document, “The Convention on the Rights of the Child.” That document has not been ratified by all countries, including the United States. But it remains a cherished goal of global leftists. Click here to continue reading. Related Resources on child abuse and protecting children from Lighthouse Trails Articles: Horowitz: “The Medical Field’s Immoral War on Children” Boy Scouts of America File for Bankruptcy Amid Sexual Abuse, Homosexual, and Transgender Allowances Efforts to Eliminate “Stigma” Against Pedophilia and Call it “Normal” Are Underway Sex Before 8 – Or It’s Too Late (Photo from bigstockphoto.com; used with permission; design by Lighthouse Trails) |
| Letters to the Editor: Author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer, Bringing “Renewed” Contemplative Spirituality Into the Churches |
 LTRP Note: Please see editors notes below this letter.Dear Lighthouse Trails: Today my neighbor who’s in an emergent church . . . told me his church started a sermon series called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.” Hmm . . . I’ve left enough emergent churches to know a sermon series probably has a book. So, I did a search and found this disturbing link of trailers by this guy. . . . This book (The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry), written by John Mark Comer, teaches readers to do breath prayers, mindfulness meditation, and various other contemplative-type exercises. So, I just wanted to bring this to your attention as I see out there on vimeo and YouTube that Comer’s contemplative message is circulating in the churches. This is such a burden as I left the Catholic Church many years ago. I don’t even know what else to say about this. Do you think I should calmly approach the pastor in the neighborhood? Do I just pretend to not know any of this to get along? Jane LT Editors’ Notes: The Letter to the Editor above was sent to us this past May, but we had not posted it yet. Yesterday, we received the following from another reader:
In between receiving these two letters from the two LT readers, one of our authors began doing research on John Mark Comer and Tyler Staton (Staton, “lead pastor” at Bridgetown Church in Portland, is author of a new book titled Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools). Comer and Staton have worked together on various projects and interviews (such as this one on YouTube), and Comer’s endorsement of Staton’s book is inside the front cover. Both Praying Like Monks and The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry are heavily contemplative books. The contemplative prayer movement (via Spiritual Formation) largely entered the church in 1978 when Richard Foster’s book, Celebration of Discipline was released (Foster was a self-proclaimed type protege of Catholic mystic Thomas Merton). The CP movement simmered for a couple decades but was heating up as figures like Rick Warren began promoting it (even as far back as the 1990s). But still, most Christians had not heard of it (even though their pastors were reading Celebration of Discipline unbeknownst to their congregations; and as we documented in our special report Epidemic of Apostasy, many pastors had been introduced to contemplative spirituality in their Christian universities and seminaries). Today, long after Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, and Brennan Manning (three pioneering Catholic contemplative mystics) are gone, a new generation of young “hip” pastors and leaders are rising up with a renewed energy to spread the contemplative message. Catholic mystic, Richard Rohr (who Ray Yungen said was today’s Thomas Merton) has provided the fodder and guidance for many of these new contemplatives. That’s easily proveable: One of Richard Rohr’s publishers told him that his biggest readership was young evangelical men [1] (e.g., today’s young pastors, two of which are Comer and Staton). In his book, A Time of Departing, Ray Yungen explained, dissected, and exposed the contemplative issue in a way that is easy to understand and is incredibly well documented with source material (making his proclamations and warnings irrefutable—you know what we mean if you have read the book). If there is anyone reading this post who has not yet read A Time of Departing, we beseech you to read it. If you do not have a copy and are struggling to get one, we will send anyone who asks us a free copy of the book. Write to us at editors@lighthousetrails.com and give us your name and mailing address (we will keep those confidential). You see, it’s not about the money for Lighthouse Trails. It never has been. If you haven’t read our story of how we began this ministry, you can read it here. It began because of the contemplative prayer movement, and we have been compelled all these years to continue with this warning even though many pastors and church figures have belittled, mocked, and rejected our findings. If you read our story, we think you will begin to understand the urgency and continuation of our warnings. What’s at stake here? The future of your churches and the faith of your children and grandchildren. In A Time of Departing, Yungen exhorts us:
When we consider the serious ramifications of the contemplative prayer movement and then also recognize that three of the major influences in the lives of millions of Christians—The Shack, Jesus Calling, and The Chosen—all have ties to the contemplative prayer movement, it is not difficult to conclude that millions of Christians are not wearing the “armour of God” and may, therefore, not “be able to withstand in the evil day.” Endnote:
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BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
His crime was convincing Muslims to convert to Christianity, which is forbidden in Islamic law. But here again, the world will yawn, while if the roles were reversed, which they would not be and should not be, there would be an insistent international outcry.
“Pastors Wounded in Separate Attacks in Uganda,” Morning Star News, November 29, 2022:
NAIROBI, Kenya (Morning Star News) – A group of Muslim extremists in eastern Uganda seriously wounded a pastor and his wife in an attack on a meeting at their church on Nov. 18, he said.
The knife attack on an evening service of Believers’ Church in Nansonko village, Kibuku District came in response to an evangelistic event in August where five young Muslim men, ages 19 to 27, put their faith in Christ, said the 56-year-old victim of the assault, Pastor Jude Sitaalo.
“I had been warned three times with threatening messages,” Pastor Sitaalo told Morning Star News, adding that the threats were made both face-to-face and in phone texts, with one stating, “Pastor, let our children come back to Islam, and if not we are going to kill you and destroy your church.”
He said he and his wife, Naisiga Sitaalo, were meeting with 10 other church members when he saw a mosque leader leading a group of Muslims who intruded into the service at about 7:35 p.m.
“They got hold of me and started beating me with sticks while one of them cut me with a long knife,” Pastor Sitaalo told Morning Star News. “One member of the church and my wife tried to rescue me, but they were seriously beaten up with sticks.”
Other church members fled for their lives, he said. Pastor Sitaalo sustained knife wounds on his head, hand and back, and his wife was also cut on the forehead and back, he said.
“We are suffering for pastoring converts from Islam,” the pastor said from his hospital bed….
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Yemen: Christians are experiencing a sharp rise in arrests and torture
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
This story will get no attention. The international media is too concerned with stories about Muslims in Europe suffering from insulting remarks.
“Your prayers needed for Christians in Yemen shaken by arrest and torture,” Open Doors, November 8, 2022:
Your prayers are urgently needed for our brothers and sisters in Yemen. There has been a sharp increase in arrests, with torture being used to draw information from believers. “Their faith is shaken,” Open Doors has been told.
Yemen is number five on the World Watch List, making it one of the most dangerous countries in the world to live as a Christian
Christians in Yemen are experiencing a sharp rise in arrests and torture, resulting in a traumatising impact on affected believers and their families.
The spike has come in recent months. These are not linked to one specific church network, but several different ones.
“We are specifically concerned because torture is used to force the Christians to give information about the activities of believers or names of other believers,” says an Open Doors spokesperson.
Some of the arrested Christians have been released, but they are struggling with the aftermath of the torture they suffered.
“They are shocked and are struggling with their faith…”
“We see that their arrest and the torture had, and still has, a deep impact on their families, too,” the spokesperson adds. “They are shocked and are struggling with their faith, as they were counting that God would spare them, that God would intervene. Their faith is shaken.”…
When the National Committee for Religious Freedom, headed by former U.S. Senator and Religious Freedom Ambassador Sam Brownback, needed a bank account, they went to JPMorgan Chase. After only a few weeks they learned their account had been closed. "I went in to make a deposit at a branch here in Kansas about three or four weeks after we'd opened up the account," Brownback told us, "And the teller there said 'That account's been closed.' And I go, 'What?' and they said, 'That account's been closed. Your funds will be sent to you in a couple of weeks.' And then later they came back and said, 'Well, if you'll disclose who gives more than 10% of your funds to you and your criteria for supporting candidates as a 501c4 we'll consider re-opening up the account.' Brownback says he received an apology letter but still doesn't know why the bank made the decision. Read the full story from CBN's Dale Hurd: https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2022/...
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Tarek Namouz said: “We will take control of all people by force and by the ruling of Sharia law.”
Where are all the Islamic apologists to explain to us that Sharia is entirely benign and has nothing whatsoever to do with violence or coercion?
Namouz also referred to “striking the necks.”
Where did he get that idea?
“When you meet the unbelievers, strike the necks…” (Qur’an 47:4)
“Barber shop owner ‘sent £25,000 to ISIS terrorist in Syria to buy weapons after receiving taxpayer-funded Covid grants’ as court hears he ‘wanted holocausts like Hitler,'” by Duncan Gardham and Martin Robinson, MailOnline, November 24, 2022 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A former pub landlord turned barber shop owner sent £25,000 to ISIS fighters in Syria for weapons after claiming thousands of pounds in taxpayer-funded Covid grants, a court heard today.
Tarek Namouz, 43, from West London, had received money from the government to assist his business, Boss Crew Barbers, during the Covid 19 pandemic, and lived in a third-floor flat above the shop.
The former pub landlord is accused of boasting that the terrorists he is accused of funding have ‘incinerators like Hitler’. In WhatsApp messages read to court he also allegedly said: ‘I want to burn Christianity, we have incinerators and holocausts like Hitler, a lesson from history’.
He is accused of sending money on at least seven separate dates between November 2020 and April 2021, which was intended to fund a militia in Syria.
John McGuinness KC, prosecuting, told the jury: ‘At the time you may remember the Covid pandemic was very much ongoing in 2020 and 2021 The defendant was periodically in receipt of Covid grant relief from his local authority, Hammersmith and Fulham.’
When police raided the barber’s shop in Blythe Road, Olympia they found cash and a hidden mobile phone containing messages to a contact in Syria, an ISIS bomb-making video and a video showing how to kill with a knife.
In the months leading up to his arrest, he transferred money using Trust Money Transfers on Edgware Road, sending it to Syria, where he had lived until he was aged 14.
Mr McGuinness told the jury at Kingston Crown Court: ‘He would generally give cash to the bureau which would be converted into Syrian pounds and sent overseas as cash’ where it was received by a man called Yahya Ahmed Alia.
The former pub landlord boasted the terrorists he is accused of funding have ‘incinerators like Hitler’ in a WhatsApp exchange with Mr Alia, the court heard.
He allegedly said ‘I want to burn Christianity, we have incinerators and holocausts like Hitler, a lesson from history’ in an exchange on Arabic the app uncovered on his Samsung phone.
Mr Alia replied ‘Shia, Alawites and Druz’ to which Namouz allegedly said ‘100 per cent’.
The pair also talked up plans to kill non-believers, behead opponents, carry out public executions in the streets and display bodies following an anticipated victory in a battle for control of the country’s capital Damascus, the trial was told.
In one exchange Namouz is said to have written: ‘We will take control of all people by force and by the ruling of Sharia law.
‘Whoever is not happy can get lost/he can leave.
Later in the exchange he refers to ‘striking the necks’ and ‘slaughtering with the knife.’
He then says ‘I swear to Allah we will cause chaos’ and ‘kill the non-believers’.
In the exchanges Mr Alia said ‘Whoever is not happy, a bullet in their head, I don’t want a single person alive who would oppose Sharia’.
Mr Alia also told him ‘we’re in an excellent situation now’ after purchasing Kalashnikovs and a gun to which Namouz is said to have replied ‘great, blessing.’
Officers identified seven transfers between November 2020 and April 2021, for a total of about £11,280.
‘The prosecution say the seven sums set out were not the only money sent out, there was other money sent for which the prosecution does not have any records,’ Mr McGuinness said.
During a bugged conversation in August 2021, with a friend who was visiting him in prison after his arrest, Namouz allegedly said that police knew about some of the transfers but did not know he had transferred more and referred to sending £25,000 to the same man in Syria….
Namouz does not dispute he made the transfers but initially claimed he had sent money out to help those who were ‘poor and needy’ in Syria, the jury was told…
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
“Make ready for them all that you can of force and of warhorses, so that by them you may strike terror in the enemy of Allah and your enemy…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“200 Pakistani Christians left homeless after authorities bulldoze their homes without warning,” by Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post, November 26, 2022:
Two hundred Christian families remain homeless in Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad after a government agency bulldozed their homes and the church building they used for Sunday worship.
The government’s Capital Development Authority demolished the homes in a Christian area, Nawaz Sharif Colony in Islamabad, the U.K.-based group Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS-UK), said in a statement to The Christian Post.
Christian residents had not been given any warning or time to remove their belongings before the demolition on Oct. 18, the group said in the statement this week, adding that the government agency also demolished a church, “but thankfully, there were no injuries or fatalities.”
The government has not provided any alternative place for the residents to live.
“These Christians have lost everything — their homes and all of their worldly possessions,” the group’s director, Nasir Saeed, said. “Many of them have lived in the colony for years, raising their families here and investing their life savings into building and maintaining their homes.”
Saeed added that the demolition came soon after the devastating floods in the country and an approaching winter.
More than 1,700 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of homes were damaged or destroyed in the monsoon floods, leading the government, which estimated losses to be worth $40 billion, to declare a state of emergency on Aug. 25.
“It is imperative that the Pakistani government financially compensate the Christians who have lost their homes and provide them with somewhere else to live,” Saeed said.
The home of a former councillor, Sabra Saeed Athwal, was also demolished. She called the demolition “a criminal act” and expressed fears that two other Christian colonies — Akram Gill and Rimsha — could also be demolished.
Athwal also fears that some extremist Muslims might have put pressure on the government agency to demolish the Christians’ homes, CLAAS-UK said.
“This injustice has happened as Christians in Pakistan and around the world prepare to celebrate Christmas in just a few weeks,” Saeed added.
Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan as the eighth-worst country in the world when it comes to Christian persecution. The U.S. State Department has named Pakistan on its list of “countries of particular concern” that tolerate or engage in egregious violations of religious freedom….
BY DANIEL GREENFIELD
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
“They will still be subject to years, and sometimes decades, of government discrimination, harassment, and litigation.”
Let’s get this out of the way. Whatever you think about gay rights, Obergefell v. Hodges was legally illegitimate in much the same way as Roe v. Wade. It was another case of a Supreme Court majority dictating its cultural preferences under the color of law. Unlike Roe v. Wade, there’s no significant pressure campaign to roll it back worth mentioning. Abortion opponents kept their fight going for generations. There’s zero evidence of gay marriage opponents having that kind of political stamina, organization, or movement. Simply put, there’s zero reasons for the push to abolish the Defense of Marriage Act which is what HR 8404, misleadingly named the Respect for Marriage Act, does.
The Left is claiming that after the Dobbs decision, there’s an urgent need to codify Obergefell into law lest the Supreme Court wakes up tomorrow and wipes it off the map. That’s nonsense.
So HR 8404 is not out to codify Obergefell and there’s no reason to think that everyone is going to all this trouble just to nail down something that already exists and isn’t going away.
So what is it doing?
Roger Severino warns that “Again, the practical effect if this becomes law, will have nothing to do with the benefits of same-sex couples. It’ll have everything to do with excluding people of faith from their tax-exempt statuses for houses of worship, from adoption agencies that believe that the best most conducive place for a child in placement would be with a married mother and father, and for those who contract or receive grants from the government who want to live according to the beliefs with respect to marriage. Those are the groups who are going to be targeted. And this law would actually create this bludgeon, which is a private right of action, which means individuals could sue on their own in federal court to hound these groups.”
Private cause of action is in there and there’s no reason for it to be there.
Furthermore, Severino notes, “We had a case from the ’80s with respect to tax-exempt status for a violator of a civil rights law. They were deemed not to be a charity, and they lost their tax-exempt status. And the Supreme Court said because there’s an established national policy against that type of discrimination that you lose your tax-exempt status and there’s no recourse. That same tool will be deployed against people who believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman, which is very different than other types of beliefs that are protected by statutory anti-discrimination laws.”
Mitt Romney was a vocal supporter of this shameful bill. But quite a few Senate Republicans were jumping on board. A few were dissuaded after they heard from voters in their states. But not all.
“Make no mistake,” Alliance Defending Freedom President Kristen Waggoner warned, “this bill will be used by officials and activists to punish and ruin those who do not share the government’s view on marriage.”
On Wednesday, HR 8404 received 62 “aye” votes and 37 “no” votes.
Twelve Republicans voted for advancing the legislation: Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri, Richard Burr of North Carolina, Shelley Capito of West Virginia, Susan Collins of Maine, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Rob Portman of Ohio, Mitt Romney of Utah, Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Todd Young of Indiana.
A fact sheet from the Family Research Council deconstructs promises that religious freedom will be protected.
Section 6(b) only protects those people or entities “whose principal purpose is the study, practice, or advancement of religion” and only from being forced to “solemnize or celebrat[e] […] a marriage.”
FRC notes that religious organizations not officially recognized as such, like Yeshiva University, not to mention foster care and adoption agencies, would not be protected.
“Even those who do, or should, fall within the very narrow protections of Section 6(b) could still be sued and have to prove themselves. They will still be subject to years, and sometimes decades, of government discrimination, harassment, and litigation.”
As the Heritage Foundation writes:
…the only reason to add Congress’ explicit blessing… is to cement same-sex marriage as national policy that can be used as a club by government agencies, such as the IRS, to deny traditional religious institutions tax-exempt status, licenses to assist in adoptions, and government funding and contracts.
This is what a GOP Senate betrayal means for religious freedom.
SEE THESE POSTS AT: https://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/newsletters/2022/newsletter20221114.htm
THE BRAVEST WOMAN IN IRAN
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
The idea is to humiliate and degrade them, and by raping them, to deny them a place in paradise, for in Islam it is entirely the woman’s responsibility to prevent a man from being tempted (hence the hijab, chador, niqab, burqa), and if he is tempted anyway, it’s her fault.
“Exclusive: ‘Was forced to strip, govt uses sexual violence against female protesters,’ says Iranian Christian activist,” by Annu Kaushik, Firstpost, October 17, 2022:
In 2020, Mary Mohammadi was taken to a detention center near Iran’s capital Tehran. Officials told her that her hair was visible.
In the basement of the all-female detention center, Mary was forced to strip.
“If my hair is a problem, is it not a problem to force me to take off all my clothes? Is this Islamic?,” Mary told Firstpost in an exclusive conversation.
The incident was part of the sexual violence that the regime has been using to suppress female protesters and activists, Mary said.
“During protests, security personnel touch female demonstrators inappropriately. They want to make women fearful of stepping out,” she said.
24-year-old Mary has been on the radar of Iranian officials for several reasons. Born to a Muslim family, she converted to Christianity in 2017.
Christian converts and other religious minorities like the Bahais are not recognised in Iran.
Over the last few years, Mary has faced persecution from the authorities in the form of arrests and interrogations due to her faith as well as activism.
The personnel who transferred her to the detention center in 2020 belonged to the morality police which is currently in the eye of the storm due to the death of Mahsa Amini which has triggered nationwide protests in Iran.
But it’s not just the morality police who target women for not wearing the mandatory hijab or a head scarf or wearing it improperly.
According to Mary “radical Muslims do it too.”
In 2019, Mary was on a bus in Tehran. It was a hot day and she had taken off her hijab. Suddenly a fully veiled woman approached Mary and asked her to cover her hair.
“When I refused, an argument ensued during which the woman attacked me & my face was left bloodied,” Mary said.
The activist somehow managed to take the woman to the police station. According to Mary, the officers dissuaded her from filing a complaint and even threatened her with arrest.
“They (police) were very kind to that woman. They let her go at 10 pm but kept me in custody till 3 am,” she added.
“Radical Muslims can even attack minorities in public because the regime is behind them,
“Islamic hijab is mandatory in Iran even for non-Muslims. I am a Christian but I must wear hijab,” she said.
Mary’s activism and faith also took a personal toll. Without giving any reason, her university barred her from appearing in exams.
But what was more hurtful for Mary was the treatment meted out to her by a former employer who was also a close friend.
“The gymnast training center where I worked was shut down during the COVID lockdown. I kept asking my employers when I can return and they told me and they are still closed,” Mary said.
One day, the activist turned up at the center unannounced and saw that it was fully operational.
Mary was not given her job back and believes that her employer and the university faced pressure from the authorities.
Constant threats that Mary said were from the authorities forced her to flee Iran in February 2022. The activist who is currently living in the US told Firstpost that in her home country security forces “continue to use sexual violence in the ongoing protests.”…
BY ROBERT SPENCER
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
“Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies of Allah and your enemies…” (Qur’an 8:60)
“Three Christians Murdered by ISWAP Militants in Chibok,” International Christian Concern, October 13, 2022:
10/13/2022 Nigeria (International Christian Concern) – On Tuesday, October 4, Islamic militants murdered three Christians in an attack in northeastern Nigeria. The Christians lived in Njilang village, located in Chibok County. During the attack, the militants burned multiple houses and businesses to the ground and wounded dozens more residents.
An area resident who witnessed the attack identified the militants as affiliates of the terror group Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). Chibok county has suffered from many terrorist attacks over the past several years. It is a majority-Christian area, which makes its residents highly vulnerable to violence motivated by Islamic extremism.
The resident went on to say that the ISWAP militants attacked at 2:30 AM and were armed with high-powered weapons. They surrounded the village and shot at the Christians who tried to flee. According to the resident, “The ISWAP terrorists also set fire to six houses and looted five shops belonging to Christians in the village, and afterward burned down the shops.” …
As ICC reported earlier this year, the Nigerian government continues to deny any religious motivation behind these attacks. However, evidence repeatedly shows that Islamic extremist groups Boko Haram and ISWAP are seeking to impose sharia (Islamic law) throughout the entirety of Nigeria.
BY MICHAEL TENNANT
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
JPMorgan Chase Bank recently closed the account of the National Committee for Religious Freedom (NCRF) without explanation, then offered to reinstate the account if the nonprofit would provide it with lists of its donors and endorsed political candidates, claims NCRF chairman Sam Brownback.
NCRF exists to protect religious freedom “by providing a critically needed political response to the ongoing attacks, in law and culture, on America’s First Freedom,” Brownback, former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, said in a January press release announcing the group’s formation.
Needing a place to store the NCRF’s funds, Brownback and the organization’s executive director “went into a Chase branch in the District of Columbia to open an account, no problem,” Brownback told Fox Business. “Then, several weeks later, I went to put another deposit in the account, and they said, ‘Your account has been canceled, we’ll be sending your money back to you.’”
In a September 27 letter to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Brownback wrote that the NCRF also received a letter “notifying us that Chase had decided to ‘end their relationship’ with the [NCRF] and that our account would be closed.”
According to Brownback, when the NCRF’s executive director called the bank about the matter, “the people said the decision was made at the corporate level, it’s secret, we’re not going to tell you why, and it’s irrevocable.”
“We were just stunned.”
The sudden, unexplained closure of the account was bad enough, but the story gets worse, at least in Brownback’s telling. In his letter, the NCRF chairman alleged that “someone from Chase eventually reached out to our Executive Director and informed him that Chase would be willing to reconsider doing business with the NCRF if we would provide our donor list, a list of political candidates we intended to support, and a full explanation of the criteria by which we would endorse and support those candidates.”
“Does Chase ask every customer what politicians they support and why before deciding whether or not to accept them as a customer?” he continued. “Are the same standards and scrutiny applied across the board to all non-profit organizations?”
Chase, for its part, isn’t commenting on the reason for the account’s closure. A spokesperson did, however, assure Fox Business that “we have never and would never exit a client relationship due to their political or religious affiliation.”
“We’ve just heard of way too many groups and entities, particularly religious-associated ones, that have been canceled by their providers,” he said. “And we want to start seeing some of these cases investigated.”
Indeed, Big Tech, Big Finance (including JPMorgan Chase), and Big Medicine have all been pushing for the cancellation — or even the prosecution — of dissenters from the “woke” zeitgeist. It would hardly come as a shock to learn that Chase did so in the case of the NCRF.
“I’ve done this work [on religious freedom] internationally for a long time,” Brownback told Fox Business. “Then I come back into the U.S., and I’m seeing this growing level of exclusion of people of faith, of putting them on the outside, and it really concerns me.”
“Any ground you lose on religious freedom here gets magnified around the world because everybody watches what we do,” he averred.
Brownback put Dimon on notice that his experience with Chase has led the NCRF to launch a project “to identify other organizations which have faced similar treatment on the basis of their sincerely held religious beliefs.” The group has already begun the campaign with the hashtag #ChasedAway. They also plan to petition state attorneys general to get involved, Brownback told Fox Business.
Noting that Dimon recently told the Senate Banking Committee that “freedom of religion” was one of America’s “core values,” Brownback asked him, “Do you, and the bank you lead, truly respect religious freedom as a core value that binds all Americans? The recent actions of Chase Bank would seem to suggest otherwise.”
Dimon has not yet replied to Brownback’s letter, the former ambassador said.
BY MARK TAPSCOTT
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
If that headlined question above seems a bit of a reach, especially in view of the multiple federal court victories won in the last two years on behalf of religious freedom, then let’s take a closer look.
What we find is a hyper-secularized American public square that is increasingly abusing, penalizing, punishing, and firing Christians. It then tells them, in effect, “So, sue us,” knowing the cost of such litigation all but guarantees there will be no adverse consequences. Consider these current cases:
Georgia Substitute Teacher Fired: Lindsey Barr, now a former substitute teacher in the Savannah, Ga., public schools, lost her job when she expressed concerns about a book shown to elementary students, including her own. As a Christian, Barr objected to kids being shown pictures of same-sex couples parenting children as if that’s normal.
Barr is represented by attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the Arizona-based public interest law firm that specializes in First Amendment and religious freedom litigation.
“Terminating a teacher for engaging in First Amendment protected expression creates an atmosphere of fear and is intended to send a message to Lindsey and others in the community that, if they criticize the school’s approach to cultural or political issues or express viewpoints contrary to the school’s preferred viewpoints, they will face consequences. This is unlawful, and sadly, why this lawsuit is necessary,” according to ADF Senior Counsel Tyson Langhofer, director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom.
New York Photographer Forced to Shoot Same-Sex Weddings: Emily Carpenter is a New York photographer who does not wish to be used to glorify same-sex wedding ceremonies.
A federal district court told her she has no such right, so, with the help of ADF attorneys, she is appealing that ruling. If she loses, she faces the prospect of losing her license to do business, fines of as much as $100,000, and a year in jail.
“Free speech is for everyone. No one should be forced to say something they don’t believe,” said ADF Legal Counsel Bryan Neihart, who will be arguing before the court on behalf of Carpenter. “The government cannot coerce or silence speech because it doesn’t like certain ideas. The Constitution ensures Americans can speak consistent with their convictions. We are urging the 2nd Circuit to uphold this freedom so that Emilee can promote marriage according to her beliefs without being coerced by the government to speak a contrary message.”
Airline Invites Employee Comments, Fires Two Christians for Theirs: Now-former Alaska Airlines Flight Attendants Marli Brown and Lacey Smith responded to a company invitation to employees to comment on the operation’s new policy in support of “equality.” Here’s how their federal court suit put it:
“Plaintiffs Marli Brown and Lacey Smith were exemplary flight attendants for Alaska Airlines. Yet when their faith compelled them independently to ask a question about the airline’s support for federal legislation that would remove protections for religious employees and women in the workplace, Alaska Airlines fired them.
“To make matters worse, their Union not only failed to vigorously represent and defend Marli and Lacey against the Airline’s religious discrimination but also discriminated against them because of their religious beliefs and actively undermined their ability to assert their federal and state protections against such discrimination.”
Brown and Smith, with the assistance of attorneys from the First Liberty Institute, the Plano, Texas-based legal foundation that has won multiple First Amendment court victories, filed complaints with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC agreed they have a case, and First Liberty has filed its suit.
Related: Why Are So Many Young Americans Irreligious? The Secular Brainwash Is the First Reason
Silicon Valley County’s Unconstitutional Fines Against Church: Santa Clara County, Calif., officials used the COVID-19 pandemic as the excuse for imposing bans on church assemblies that effectively closed them. Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a California-based public interest law firm devoted to the defense of religious freedom, is taking the officials to federal court.
“Pastor Mike McClure and Calvary Chapel San Jose sued Santa Clara County, Dr. Sara Cody, James Williams and the Board of Supervisors for implementing and enforcing unconstitutional COVID-19 public health orders. Santa Clara County was the first county to issue a shelter-in-place order and has implemented the most aggressive fine system.
“The county seeks to collect $2.87 million in COVID-19 fines from the church, even though the Supreme Court has admonished California five times and held their orders as applied to churches were violative of the First Amendment. Plaintiffs seek to enjoin the Defendants from collecting one penny and seek a judgement that the Defendants violated the First Amendment and the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.”
These four cases are just a small sample of the many examples of Christians being denied their First Amendment rights simply because they insist on being able to exercise those rights regarding their religious expression and practice.
For now, redress is available through litigation, but why should Christians uniquely have to bear the mental and financial burdens that come with going to court to assure their constitutional protections simply because they are Christians?
Given the steadily more aggressive official hostile actions against faith in American society, we may wake up one morning in the not-too-distant future to find that sharing the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been banned, as it is in much of the rest of the world.
SEE: https://www.massresistance.org/docs/gen4/22d/TX-parents-stand-up-to-Antifa/index.html;
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
We’re all learning how the Left’s storm troopers are not only violent but degenerate. They come out in force to defend those who push sexual deviancy on children – and attack anyone who disagrees.
But in Texas, pro-family activists - including MassResistance – are boldly standing up to it!
As we recently reported, Texas MassResistance leader Tracy Shannon and MassResistance activist Kevin Whitt exposed how a local leftist church in Katy, Texas, was bringing in a Drag Queen with a criminal record to perform at an upcoming event with children. This was widely reported on conservative news sites, and several pro-family groups announced they would be showing up there to protest as the Sept. 23 event was taking place.
The church, First Christian Church of Katy, had quickly dropped that particular Drag Queen after Tracy exposed his past and published his degenerate social media posts. But the church continued to advertise the event with a different Drag Queen.
Besides pushing “Drag” culture on children, the purpose of the church’s “Drag Bingo” event was to raise money for "Transparent Closet," the church's in-house organization that helps teenagers to cross-dress without their parent's knowledge. For example, the group gives dresses and make-up to boys, and gives girls strappings to “bind” their breasts tight to appear masculine – a very unhealthy practice promoted by the LGBT movement.
One pro-family man managed to get an admission ticket to the church's Drag show. While inside, he also was given a tour of the "Transparent Closet" by a church member! But when they saw that he was videoing, they had a police officer remove him. Someone later posted his video on Twitter. Right after he left the church, Tracy Shannon interviewed him.
He told Tracy that the Drag show was just as bad as people imagined it would be:
It was a drag show. And there were kids and other adults giving the drag queen money during the performance. There were suggestive things said, all of that. There were adults, younger children, and teenaged kids.
He then described what he saw in the "Transparent Closet" area:
The closet is set up in a way that is designed to keep parents uninformed. Chest binders, underwear, and bras can be found.
They told me that they're trying to get more binders and things like that. They showed me jewelry, purses, makeup, bracelets, earrings, underwear, and scarves.
They said they give Home Goods bags to the kids to take it all home secretly, "because families aren't supporting."
On Saturday, Sept. 23, 0ver 200 people from several area pro-family groups – including Texas MassResistance – lined up across the street from the church to protest the event.
Many held signs. Some prayed and sang. A Catholic group prayed the Rosary. A contingent of “Proud Boys” (who are much maligned in the media) showed up in support. The peaceful protesters came because they were upset that this was targeting children in their city.
A group of several dozen Antifa thugs clearly had been organized to disrupt the pro-family protest. They lined up on the sidewalk in front of the church, facing the pro-family people across the street.
Many of them were masked and dressed entirely in black or wearing other bizarre clothes. They brought signs promoting homosexual and transgender behaviors (and child grooming), and, as usual, labeling those who disagree with them as “fascists.” (This is ironic, of course, because they are acting exactly as the true fascists of the 1930s.)
Word of Antifa’s plans had apparently become known to the police, who showed up in riot gear to attempt to act as a barrier between Antifa and the pro-family people.
The overwhelming opinion of the local people in Katy, TX was clearly against the Drag Queen event with children. Nearly all of the counter-protesters (supporting the event) seemed to be part of the Antifa group, and from outside of the community. All of the cars that passed by that honked or gestured supported the pro-family side. (A lot of thumbs-up!) The Antifa group appeared to be discouraged by that response, Tracy told us.
The Antifa thugs assaulted the pro-family people with Bear Mace – a powerful 20-foot spray meant to subdue aggressive, charging bears. Here’s what Tracy Shannon told us:
Antifa sprayed everyone with Bear Mace because they are idiots. They were intending to spray the Proud Boys but it was windy. The Mace blew down the street and affected most of the crowd.
There was also a drive-by by Macing of the Catholics who were praying Rosary. My son was Maced. The Mace got in all our throats. One woman had a panic attack, another had to administer an EpiPen because of allergic reaction to the Mace.
The police saw what was happening but made no arrest of the thugs. They did not seem to want to get involved beyond keeping people apart. It was outrageous, and very frustrating.
There were some strange people on the pro-family side that the Antifa people insisted were “Nazis.” But this was likely a false-flag stunt similar to what we’ve seen the Left do many times before. As Tracy told us:
They kept pointing out that “Nazis” were on our side. So, I yelled at them that “we didn't invite Nazis, but you invited drag queens for children.” Not sure if the weird men standing here were real Nazis or not, but they have shown up before, but only when Antifa is there. So they are either plants (most likely) or they are more interested in Antifa than protecting children.
Although the church event itself could not be stopped, the fact that over 200 pro-family people came and stood up to the intimidation tactics of Antifa is significant. People working to sexualize children should never get a free ride. And prominent conservative media across the country reported and commented on this action.
Besides being violent, Antifa is more degenerate than many people realize. Like the Nazis of the 1930s and the Leninists before that, they recruit dysfunctional people from the dregs of society and form them into a nationwide terror group. They are clearly well funded and well organized. In this case, much of their funding (as we know) comes from US corporations that give hundreds of millions through a variety of disgusting leftist “social justice” front groups.
But good people must continue to stand up – and we will eventually bring back decency and a healthy society!
Please help us continue to do our uncompromising work!
Our successes depend on people like you.
Your support will make the difference!
