High School Students Given Survey On How They Lost Their Virginity

Click to read original article from World Net Daily

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

A team of lawyers who advocate for parental rights is working with parents whose children attend Ventura High School in Southern California to raise a formal objection after teachers had students fill out a survey on sex with questions such as "Are you sexually active" and "If not, why not?"
Brad Dacus, president of Pacific Justice Institute, said the first step will be to file an administrative complaint.
"The parents have tried to reason with school officials about this, but so far administrators have failed to grasp that giving the students this survey without prior written notice and consent was illegal," he said.
The survey was reported in the student Cougar Press in December. The report apparently was not included as part of the paper's ordinary online presentation, officials said, but was obtained by a parent who posted the pages only for other parents to see.


The newspaper, in addition to the sex survey results, included a page of photographs of students revealing what songs put them "in the mood," a sex crossword puzzle and other advocacy for being sexually active.
A school spokesman said officials could not comment.

Dacus told WND schools should know that parents need to be able to trust their schools for the education system to work.
"When parental trust is breached, then school districts end up losing that participation," he said. "If school districts … want to be successful, they have to respect the rights of parents and not be caught doing things behind the backs of parents."
He said the primary issue is that a state law forbids such sex surveys without parental knowledge.

He said the problem only was revealed because a student took a copy home, in violation of instructions she was given, and some parents found out.
The questions included:

• What grade were you in when you lost your virginity?
  
  
• What is your overall number of partners you have engaged in sexual activity with?
  
  
• Were you sober the first time you engaged in sexual activity?"
  
  
• Have you or your partner ever had an abortion?"
  
  
• How often do you engage in sexual activity?"
  
  
• Are your parents aware of your sexual activity?

Pacific Justice said that according to the newspaper, the survey was given to 1,000 students in every grade in high school. The organization said it was administered with the knowledge and assistance of the high school during second class period and had no relationship to any subject the students were enrolled in at that time.
"The school allowed the use of instructional time to administer the survey and the teachers then collected it and handed it over to the newspaper," said parent John Silva, who obtained a copy of the newspaper from a concerned student.
"Because the sex survey was given without prior written notice and subsequent written consent by the parents or guardians, the school violated the law," said Kevin Snider, chief counsel of the Pacific Justice Institute.
"By facilitating the newspaper to conduct the survey, we feel the school was complicit in violating the rights of the parents," said Julie Wilson, a parent of a high school student.

Obama Administration To Hold Meeting with Atheist Anti-Religion Hate Groups

Click to read original Article from Christian News Wire

MEDIA ADVISORY, Feb. 26 /Christian Newswire/ -- The advocacy group In God We Trust today ripped the Obama administration for meeting to plot political strategy with 60 atheist activists representing organizations comprising the Secular Coalition of America.

"It is one thing for Administration to meet with groups of varying viewpoints, but it is quite another for a senior official to sit down with activists representing some of the most hate-filled, anti-religious groups in the nation," says In God We Trust's Chairman Bishop Council Nedd.

Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, will meet with representatives from groups that comprise the Coalition. The Coalition's sponsoring organization's include American Atheists, founded by Madalyn Murray O'Hare and the Freedom from Religion Foundation which is campaigning to stop the post office from issuing a stamp honoring Mother Theresa.

"President Obama seems to believe that it is a good idea to have a key senior aide plan political strategy with people who believe faith in God is a disease," Nedd says. "Some of the people in this coalition believe the world would be better off with no Christians and no Jews and they aren't shy about it. The fact that this meeting is happening at all is an affront to the vast majority of people of all faiths who believe in God."

According to the Freedom from Religion Foundation's President Dan Barker, "Christianity is an enemy to humanity, and the antithesis of freedom." (Dan Barker, Freedom from Religion Foundation Co-President in Losing Faith in Faith Page 255) and "Religion also poses a danger to mental health, damaging self-respect, personal responsibility, and clarity of thought." (Losing Faith in Faith Page 217.)

Madalyn Murray OHare declared, "Ours is a time when successful struggle against this reactionary philosophy requires more than a petulant argument over the authorship of the Gospels, more than a negative attack on the totalitarian and monolithic authoritarianism of conventional religion, but rather an aggressive action program to spread the positive philosophy of materialism." (Source: American Atheists website.)

"The President should tell the American people whether he believes these groups' hate-filled views to be 'mainstream' and worthy of his supposedly inclusive administration," Nedd says.

In God We Trust is a national political advocacy organization with over 70,000 supporters of various faiths. Council Nedd is a traditional Episcopal priest and serves as the Bishop of the Chesapeake and Northeast for the Episcopal Missionary Church. On the Internet: www.InGodWeTrustUSA.org.

2 College Students Held at Gun Point While Simulating Homeless Experience

Click to read original Article at WISTV.com

COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - Paul Bowers and Matt Wolfer are seniors at the University of South Carolina. The pair wanted to take part in a unique social experiment by becoming homeless for one week.
On Friday night, they tried out a test run. However, they got more than they bargained for on the test.
"One of the guys pulled out a shotgun," said Bowers.
Bowers and Wolfer say they were robbed shortly before dozing off to sleep underneath a gazebo in the park by the corner of Blossom Street and Pickens.
They expected to experience what a night in the cold would feel like, but what they experienced was much more severe.
"These three guys come in through that gate down there," said Bowers. "When they were in a few feet of the gazebo, one of them said something to the effect of 'What you got?'"
"Weren't quite sure what was going on until we saw the guns and realized more of their intent," said Wolfer.
That's when things quickly spiraled.
"He had it pointed at me at my chest," said Bowers, describing the suspect holding a gun to him. "They're asking for cell phones, wallets, we don't have anything."
"I heard Paul get slapped and then shoved," said Wolfer.
"Matt looked over and he got pistol whipped a couple times," said Bowers.
"At that point, they realized we really didn't have anything so they ran off," said Wolfer.
Since they didn't bring cell phones, it took a while before they were able to call police.
"What we experienced Friday night is something that happens all the time to homeless people," said Bowers.

Kentucky Middle School Student Suspended for Saying NO To Drugs!

Click to read original article 

from Wave 3.com

JEFFERSONVILLE, IN (WAVE) - The parents of a Kentuckiana seventh grade student say their young daughter was suspended from school for doing exactly what she's been taught to do for years - to just say no to drugs.
The girl did not bring the prescription drug to her Jeffersonville, IN school, nor did she take it, but she admits that she touched it and in Greater Clark County Schools that is drug possession.  
Rachael Greer said it happened on Feb. 23 during fifth period gym class at River Valley Middle School when a girl walked into the locker room with a bag of pills.
"She was talking to another girl and me about them and she put one in my hand and I was like, ‘I don't want this,' so I put it back in the bag and I went to gym class," said Rachael.
The pills were the prescription ADHD drug, Adderall. Patty Greer, Rachael's mother, said she and her husband are proud of their daughter for turning down drugs, just like she's been taught for years by DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) instructors at school.
"I'm proud her conscience kicked in and she said, ‘No, I'm not taking this. Here you can have it back,'" Patty Greer said.
But just saying no didn't end the trouble for Rachael. During the next period, an assistant principal came and took Rachael out of class. It turned out the girl who originally had the pills and a few other students got caught. That's when the assistant principal gave Rachael a decision.
"We're suspending you for five days because it was in your hand," said Rachael.
After hearing the news, Patty Greer went to school officials.
"He said she wrote it down on a witness statement and she had told the truth, he said she was very, very honest and he said he was sorry he had to do it but it was school policy," said Patty Greer.
According to Greater Clark County Schools district policy, even a touch equals drug possession and a one week suspension.
"The fact of the matter is, there were drugs on school campus and it was handled, so there was a violation of our policy," said Martin Bell, COO of Greater Clark County Schools.
We wanted to know what would have happened if Rachael had told a teacher right away. Bell said the punishment would not have been any different. District officials say if they're not strict about drug policies no one will take them seriously.
"That's not a good policy," said Patty Greer. "We're teaching our kids if you say no to drugs you're going to get punished, it's not right."

"Safe School" Czar seeks Transgender School Goals

Click to read original Article from World Net Daily

© 2010 WorldNetDaily

President Obama's 'safe schools' czar, Kevin Jennings, sees his transgender plans for public and private schools within reach in a move developing in the state of Maine.
A hearing is scheduled next week on a proposal before the Maine Human Rights Commission to make allowances statewide for 'transgender' students. An organization founded by Jennings is behind the effort, according to a new report.
The plan essentially would instruct schools to allow boys who say they are transgender to use girls' facilities, such as restrooms and locker rooms, and vice versa.
Mass Resistance, a Massachusetts organization that works to counteract the advance of homosexual activism, has documented in a new report that the Jennings-launched "Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network" "has played a key role in the nightmare plan to transgenderize restrooms in Maine's schools."

The newspaper

report said representatives from several "gay and lesbian" groups were involved in a Dec. 15 workshop with the Human Rights Commission on the guidelines.
"One of them was Peter Rees of the Downeast Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network [GLSEN] based in Ellsworth," the report said. "Rees said people who oppose rights for transgender students – such as allowing them to use locker rooms with people who are biologically of the opposite sex — fear something 'that just isn’t borne out in reality.'"

The Mass Resistance report noted Rees said, "What do they think is going to happen? That boy who is identifying as a girl is not going to be displaying herself in a girls' locker room. She's going to be acting as much like a girl as possible and being very modest."
But Mass Resistance wondered just what that means.
"'She' – meaning a boy – will be 'acting … like a girl … and being very modest.' But wait! We thought we weren’t supposed to stereotype on the basis of gender!? How confusing!" the Mass Resistance report said.
The organization also cited a 2008 report to the governor in Maine from the "LGBT Youth Commission," which cited GLSEN as an authoritative source on "what needs to be done in the schools."
"Maine's 2005 anti-discrimination law – covering the essentially undefined revolutionary concepts 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity or expression' – has opened the door to the horror of boys using girls' restrooms and locker rooms (and vice versa), and playing on opposite-sex sports teams, in schools," Mass Resistance said.
The report also cited an incident in which a GLSEN-Boston board member talked to a classroom of third-graders about a student transitioning to "become a woman."
"'Safe Schools Czar' Jennings was one of the masterminds of this insanity being foisted upon young children across the country," the Mass Resistance report said. "He founded GLSEN shortly after his participation in the 1987 gay march on Washington. He apparently also participated in the 1993 gay march on the capitol, which was the first big event to push 'gender identity' non-discrimination alongside 'gay and lesbian rights' demands."
Last May, WND broke the news of Jennings' federal appointment to oversee "safety" in the nation's public schools after he had boasted of using the theme to promote homosexuality and other alternative sexual lifestyles to students.

Teen Helps Inspire California To Pass Cuss Free Week in March

Click to read original article from 3 KCRA.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. --

A South Pasadena teen who inspired a no-cussing measure says he's received bomb and death threats in response to his crusade to clean up dirty mouths.The California Assembly has passed a resolution that would establish the first week of March as Cuss Free Week throughout the state.The resolution by Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, was approved on a voice vote Thursday and will be considered by the state Senate next week.McKay Hatch, who started a No Cussing Club at his junior high school in 2007, a movement that led to similar clubs in every state and 20 countries.Hatch traveled to Sacramento with his family to support the resolution. He sees a link between foul-mouthed incivility and other forms of problem behavior, such as drug use and bullying.However, the teen said that his efforts were received with hostility from the public."One day on Jan. 4, 2009, I think it was, we received 60,000 e-mails. And I was like, 'Sweet, that's pretty cool,'" Hatch said. "But actually what it was was a bunch of death threats of people trying to stop what I was doing and we actually had a couple bomb threats on our house."Hatch said because of those bomb threats, there is now a police car parked in front of his family's house."But I realize now they are bullies, and so I'm not going to let the bullies win," Hatch said.

However, Hatch said he's been getting positive support as well to his no-cussing club."We get a lot more support than we do death threats," Hatch said. "Really wants me to keep going."Hatch brought glass jars to the state Capitol Thursday, which he uses as a receptacles for change as penitence when people swear. He left one of those jars at the governor's office.The teen said he hopes legislatures in other states adopt similar resolutions on cussing.

Rifqa Bary: Reconciliation With Family Not Possible

 Click to read original article from The Chillicothe Gazette

COLUMBUS OHIO -- A teenage runaway who fled Columbus with the alleged help of Christian pastors, claiming she'd be harmed for converting from Islam to Christianity, said a reconciliation with her Muslim parents no longer is possible.
 Efforts by Ohio and Florida courts to reunify Rifqa Bary with her family have failed and she continues to fear being hurt by her parents, according to a court filing by Bary's attorneys.
"Bary continues to refuse any contact with her parents and has made clear that she does not foresee a time when she will agree to have any contact with her parents," Bary's attorneys said in the Monday filing in Franklin County Juvenile Court.
Bary, 17, wants Judge Elizabeth Gill to rule a reunion impossible and that it's not in Bary's best interest to be returned to her native Sri Lanka. A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Bary's parents, Mohamed and Aysha Bary, pulled out of a deal in January that would have included counseling as part of a reunion effort. The parents alleged that the county child welfare agency, which now has custody of the girl and which developed the reconciliation plan, still was allowing her to talk to the Florida pastor and his wife who sheltered Rifqa there.
Police in Columbus are investigating whether anyone broke the law helping Bary leave home for Florida in July.
Bary's father alleges a Columbus minister drove Bary to a Greyhound station where she received a bus ticket and took a bus to Orlando, Fla. There, she stayed with the minister and his wife -- whom she met through Facebook -- for about two weeks before the state of Florida took custody of her.
Monday's filing also alleges Bary would be harmed or killed if she returns to Sri Lanka and raises questions about the girl's legal status in the United States.
The document notes that federal law allows "an undocumented immigrant minor" to receive permanent resident status when placed in long-term foster care by a judge.
Bary's legal status has not previously been an issue in her case. The attorneys who filed the document are under a gag order and can't comment.
The filing alleges Bary has been threatened by Muslim fundamentalists in Sri Lanka and that she could be killed for converting if she returns.
Because of "the death threats from extremists and third parties in Sri Lanka, Ms. Bary legitimately fears being forced to return to her home country," the filing said.
Police in Florida and Columbus found no evidence the girl faced harm in Ohio.

North Carolina Student Refuses to do homework assignment on Selling their Soul to the Devil

Click to Read Original Article From
ABC 11 Eye Witness News

FAYETTEVILLE, NC (WTVD) -- A Cumberland County high school student says a homework assignment violated her Christian beliefs, so she took a stand.

Tieanna Trough is an A-B honor roll student at Gray's Creek High School. The junior potentially sacrificed her good grades over her Christian faith.

Trough refused to write an essay on making a deal with the Devil.

"I believe you don't write about how to sell your soul to the Devil," she said.

Trough's English class was studying the Washington Irving short story "The Devil and Tom Walker" - a miser who makes a get rich deal with the devil, then later tries to back out of the deal.

Trough says when the teacher told students to write an essay on how they would sell their souls - or what trade they would make with the Devil - she refused, saying that compromised her Christian values and her parents agreed.

"We can't allow God into the classrooms, but yet they are going to allow the Devil in the classroom, that's the way I felt," Trough's mother Monice McLean said. "They were told if they didn't do it they would get a zero."

Monice McLean-Trough says an alternate assignment was also unacceptable, so they complained to school officials.

"I think we had a genuine complaint and we just got lip service instead of really getting attention to the subject," father Frank Trough said.

Trough says other classmates also objected to the assignment.

But the school's principal, John Gibbs, says the short story is text-book curriculum and he hasn't heard any other complaints.

"I don't think it's anything wrong," Gibbs said. "I mean parents are going to do what they think is correct and I respect that, we can sit down and talk about what we think is right."

Trough says what's right is not making a deal with the Devil.

Monday, the school gave Trough a third alternate subject, how and why money is important.

Trough and her parents say that is more agreeable - if not a harder subject to explain.

Trough's parents say they wanted to get their story out just to make sure other parents are aware of what - and how - some things are being taught.

All 74 Teachers From one Road Island School To Receive Pink Slips

Click to read original Article from WPRI.com

CENTRAL FALLS, R.I. (WPRI) - All 74 teachers at Central Falls High School are expected to receive their pink slips on Tuesday.

Superintendent Fraces Gallo announced this month she would fire the teachers at the low-performing school for refusing an improvement plan. It includes an extra 25 minutes in the school day, required teachers to offer tutoring to students and forced teachers to get two weeks of summer training.

The teachers' union says it wants more pay for the additional work. Teachers, along with their supporters, are expected to hold a rally at 4 p.m. on Tuesday to protest the decision.

In the meantime, state Education Commissioner Deborah Gist announced Tuesday she has approved the turnaround model Gallo submitted to her office last week.

“I support doing whatever it takes to get the results we need and to do what’s best for the students in Central Falls High School,” Commissioner Gist said. “I know that there are many great teachers in Central Falls High School. Our goal is to ensure that we have highly effective teachers in every classroom in the school."

Under the intervention protocol , Central falls now has 120 days to develop a plan to improve the high school. Once she approves the plan, Gist said it will go into effect in the fall and will be implemented over a three-year span.

15 year old arrested in Connection With Church Shooting in Richmond California

Link to Video with Raw Footage from the church during the shooting

Click to Read Full Article From KTVU.com

RICHMOND, Calif. -- Richmond police Thursday arrested a 15-year-old boy in connection with a brazen shooting at a Richmond Church during a Sunday morning service.The boy is one of three suspects sought by Richmond police. The suspects -- all Richmond residents in their late teens or early 20s – have remained at large, and an intense search has been under way.At least three search warrants were served Thursday, but only one arrest was made around 7 a.m.The boy was charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, but police would not say if he was one of the shooters inside the church.Police said the shooting might be gang-related but no motive had been determined.A portion of the shooting was caught on camera by a church member who was taping the choir at the time of the attack. That chilling video was given to KTVU. The video shows the congregation, including a man with a young child in his lap, clapping their hands as the choir sings. Suddenly, there is gunfire."You just see a bunch of people... when they started running in, all I could do is tell the choir get down!” said choir member Pam Odom. “And we all fell to the floor. And that was it, it happened so fast."Meanwhile, outrage within the community has continued to mount."We have reached a new low in the city of Richmond," said Rev. Andre Shumake, a local anti-violence advocate."Until we start addressing the issues of these young people's pain, we're going to see more of this happening."The drama began Sunday when three male suspects entered the New Gethsemane Church of God In Christ at about 12:30 p.m. where about 100 people were inside attending the service. Witnesses have told police the three young men strolled down the aisles apparently searching for their victims as the services continued undisturbed.One of the suspects then began shooting at several members of the congregation, according to Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French.French said the teens struck by gunfire were believed to have been targeted, but the shooting does not appear to be gang or drug-related.There have been seven homicides in Richmond so far this year. Just last week a mother of two who was six months pregnant was killed as she sat in a car in front of her father’s home. The fatal shooting came on her son’s birthday.

School Cancels Dance Due to “freaking” Dancing

Click to read original Article at

Click On Detroit

BRIGHTON, Mich. -- Administrators at Brighton High School said they’re trying to stop a style of dancing they consider obscene on school grounds and recently canceled a popular winter event to make their point.

Watch: School's Winterfest Canceled Over 'Freaking'

The school’s Winterfest dance had been scheduled for Feb. 6, but with concerns that students would engage in “freaking," the school required anyone interested in attending the dance to sign a contract beforehand.

Principal Ken Hamman said the pledge contract was meant to curb students from engaging in sexually suggestive movements on the dance floor.

Hamman said they came up with the idea after seeing unacceptable dancing at October’s Homecoming dance.

Students protested the contract and ticket sales for the dance plummeted.

Hamman said more than 1,500 students were expected to attend the dance, but that only 67 students signed the contract.

“I don’t think it is (sexually suggestive). I think it’s just dancing,” said senior Phil Laquinto.

“If I had started dancing that way, then I would have been punished,” added senior Mark Bellinger. “But that’s what everybody does, dance that way.”

“If you open the door for that, what else comes after?” said Lois Lenaghan, whose grandchild attends the high school. “It’s like opening a can of worms.”

Area floral businesses said the dance cancellation has affected them.

Corsages were ordered without prepayment.

“We were all, all four florists in town, stuck with product,” said Bonnie Sanberg of Four Seasons Florist.

Hamman said the school is worried about the same conflict arising for prom, which is scheduled in May, but is working with student government to come up with a new document.

3 Men Shoot 2 People During Church Service

Link To SF GATE Original Article

(02-14) 20:05 PST RICHMOND -- Three young men with black sweatshirt hoods pulled over their heads walked into a packed church service in Richmond on Sunday, where one of them opened fire and wounded two teenagers sitting in the pews, police said.

The three suspects - who may have been juveniles - fled after the brash 12:30 p.m. attack at New Gethsemane Church of God in Christ, as the singing of the choir was replaced by frightened screams, said Richmond police Sgt. Bisa French.

The two victims, a 14-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man, were hospitalized and were expected to survive. However, French said, they were not willing to help investigators try to track down their assailants.

"The key people aren't being cooperative," she said.

A church deacon who was present during the shooting, Charles Miller, said one of the victims was struck in the leg and the other in the shoulder. It was not clear, both he and French said, whether they were intended targets.

Miller said some of the more than 120 church members who witnessed the shooting told him the suspects had paced up and down an aisle - apparently looking for one or more targets - before shooting the victims near the back of the church.

Church members "were going to ask them to remove their hoods" before the shooting, he said.

"I was listening to the choir and all of a sudden there was a 'pop pop pop pop pop,' " Miller said. "Everyone hit the floor. I didn't know the shooting was inside the church at first, until I heard all of the hollering and screaming."

The shooting, at 2100 Roosevelt Ave., comes amid a violent beginning to the year in Richmond, which has already recorded seven homicides. The city is still recovering from a violent gang rape outside a high school homecoming dance last year that made national headlines.

"Obviously it was a very brazen attack - in broad daylight during a church service," French said. "It's very unusual. You'd think a church is a safe place that people can go no matter what circumstances they have in their life or where they are in their life. After today, obviously not."

French said investigators were talking to witnesses and believe some of them can identify the suspects. But French said the congregants - apparently scared to get involved - were unwilling to look at photo lineups.

"I don't understand," French said. "Where do you draw the line?"

Highlights From Radicalis 2010

Radicalis is really twelve conferences in one that makes it possible to bring your entire church team for individual learning experiences.
Radicalis is a unique hands-on, comprehensive experience that will enhance each member of your team’s role in your church and build and inspire them to serve God in your community and the world. Rick Warren, the Saddleback Team and leading national pastors will challenge, develop, and expand your vision to be moving force for God in today’s world.
They’ll help you understand the paradigm, learn the process and build relationships for expanding your ministry. They’ll enlarge your understanding of what “church” and “ministry” mean to enable you to affect positive, purposeful change for God. Imagine what would happen in your community, in your church and in our world if your church team collectively shared a Radical experience guided by the Spirit of God in which we saw His calling and His will for your ministry.
RADICALIS WEBSITE
_____________________________________
Here are some of the highlights from this year’s Radicalis 2010 via Twitter posts! #rad10

lasting ministry RT @dbeckner Being a Christian w/o a church is like being a soldier w/o a platoon. Believing w/o belonging is like being an orphan. #rad10
AlexMurashko RT @radicalsonly: Preventative Steps to Affair-proofing your marriage: #3 Maintain Your Mind - Don't Resist...ReFocus! @RickWarren #rad10
workwithyouth RT @radicalsonly: If you know the power of the sin, you will do whatever it takes to remove it from your life! #rad10
JonPfeiffer "A TRAP: something that catches you off your guard. Satan doesn't warn you when he is about to ruin your life."@RickWarren #rad10 #fb
powdertraitor RT @ReporterHaley: If you're a Pastor and are not following the people you're ministering to, then youre not a pastor but a self-proclaimed celebrity. #rad10
AlexMurashko That's just for the last 50 tweets! RT@OutreachNuMedia Tweets about #rad10 have reached 57,799 people - http://bit.ly/9yFJP4
Juventya If you're not growing TOGETHER as a couple, you're growing APART. @RickWarren #rad10
brandonacox RT @Komanapalli: The truth will set you free, but first it may make you miserable. #rad10
ANGELLARA RT @nickcarnes: Satan uses Internet & TV to lower standard of sin by (4 Ways) #3 Fail to Show Consequences #4 Get You to Laugh at It... #rad10 @RickWarren
ANGELLARA RT @nickcarnes: "Date your mate" "If more marriages courted, there would be less marriages in court" @RickWarren#rad10
jonathon_welch RT @ReporterHaley: If schools taught 'drug ed' the way they teach 'sex ed' it'd b handing out free needles & telling them 2 shoot-up. #rad10
radicalsonly You need to become your own mental police. No one else can control the thoughts going on inside your head.@rickwarren #rad10
danbrubacher "Every time you give, it breaks the grip of materialism in your life." (@RickWarren) #Radicalis #rad10
JulieP820 RT @ReporterHaley: The word "retirement" is not in the Bible. You're going to serve God for the rest of your life!@RickWarren #rad10
ReporterHaley The prupose of influence is to speak up for those who have no influence. @RickWarren #rad10
ReporterHaley Take some time to ask God, what do you want me to do with what you've put in my hand? #rad10
nickcarnes God instructs Moses to lay down his Identity, income & influence & it came alive, but if Moses picked back up, it died@RickWarren #rad10
radicalsonly RT @ReporterHaley: Your enemy is not your neighbor, brother, or sister, it's Satan. @KerryShook #rad10
RT @srivera: Instead of fantasizing the Affair, Fantasize the Consequences #rad10
joecook given the right circumstances, ANYone can fail. Don't be self-deceived. #rad10 @kaywarren
ReporterHaley If you don't talk out your feelings with your spouse, you are going to take them out the door with someone else. #rad10
andydisher RT @ReporterHaley: Whenever you fire arrows back at someone else who hurts you, you're firing arrows at Jesus@KerryShook #rad10
thomasriffey RT @edstetzer: The Church's imperfections does not discount or discourage how God can use it. #rad10
MarketerMikeE If Jesus can forgive you, why can't you forgive yourself? @PastorMark #rad10 @karlameachem
mwhyde RT @nickcarnes: 2 Thoughts from @edstetzer "You CANNOT go wrong following Christ's Mission" & "We CANNOT allow money to determine church planting" #rad10
bigmikelewis RT @ReporterHaley: #1 mistake in missions: throwing money to fix a spiritual problem. #rad10
hayleybarnard RT @leigh_barnard: Radical Mission is slaying the giants of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease and illiteracy. #rad10
joecook Don't see church plants as "competition" see them as "compliments" to your ministry. #rad10
_______________________________
I hope you enjoyed some of the life changing quotes from Radicalis 2010!

JMC LIVE will be interviewing Alex Murashko Jr, the Co-leader for the  Social Media Ministry Team at Saddleback Church.
This Tuesday at 8PM EST come hear Alex share about this outstanding ministry experience!

JMC LIVE WEBSITE

Ohio Minister Fatally Shot While Shoveling Snow

Police say robbery may have been a motive for the shooting of Billy Howard.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Neighbors thought a minister found dead outside his home was hurt while shoveling snow, but police said Wednesday that he was shot.

A neighbor saw Billy Howard outside his home on Bulen Avenue on the city's east side and said he did not realize it would be the last time, 10TV's Tanisha Mallett reported.

"My oldest son saw Bill outside shoveling," neighbor Karl Thomson said. "The next thing I know, maybe 15 or 20 minutes later, he said a squad was in front of the house."

Thomson said medics worked on Howard for 20 minutes before taking him to the Ohio State University Medical Center East where police said he was pronounced dead.

Investigators said that is when they realized Howard had been shot once in the chest, Mallett reported.

Howard's death has been ruled a homicide, and investigators were still trying to determine a motive. They said robbery may have been a motive, Mallett reported.

"There is no was to make sense of it, there is no way to make sense," said friend Mary Jenkins.

Family and friends said Howard was a minister at Columbus Christian Center Church and a friend to everyone in the community.

"He was an incredible example of a good man, a good father, a good husband, a business man and all of those things," Jenkins said.

Friends said Howard was the type of person who devoted his life to helping people turn from a life of crime.

"He was definitely a God-fearing man who understood what is means to love God first and he loved his family he was truly a provider," Jenkins said.

Family and friends hope someone will come forward with information, Mallett reported.

"It is beyond sad, it's just senseless," Thomson said.

Click to read original Article from 10 TV News

Marijuana Found inside Pictures of Jesus

(CNN0 -- A marijuana bust along the U.S.-Mexico border revealed 30 pounds of the drug stuffed into framed pictures of Jesus Christ, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency said Wednesday.

"This is not the first time we have seen smugglers attempt to use religious figures and articles of faith to further their criminal enterprise," said William Molaski, port director of the agency's office in El Paso, Texas, in a statement.

"What some might find offensive or sacrilegious has unfortunately become a standard operating procedure for drug smugglers. This would include using religious symbols, children and senior citizens in their attempts to defeat the CBP inspection process."

Authorities said a 22-year-old woman in a Jeep from Juarez, Mexico, told federal border patrol officers that she had nothing to declare besides the framed art. The officers checked out the vehicle with Cesar, a federal drug-sniffing dog, who alerted them to three framed pictures of Jesus in the vehicle.

The officers pulled the backing off the pictures and found numerous bundles, authorities said. The woman was arrested.

The bust was one of three marijuana seizures made Tuesday at the El Paso point of entry. Officers said they seized 214 pounds of marijuana in the two other busts.

Click to read original Article from CNN.com

More Churches In East Texas Set Ablaze By Arsonists

February 11, 2010 - 10:32 AM | by: Maggie Kerkman

Fire investigators are in a desperate race against time. They’re trying to catch the arsonist, or arsonists, who are setting fire to churches in East Texas. So far, there have been nine since just the first of this year. So far, no one has been hurt, but law enforcement officials are worried that as the fires continue, it’s only a matter of time.

Today we’re live in front of the Dover Baptist Church, which is one of two churches that burned Monday night. We talked to the woman who lives right next to the church. She had no idea there was a fire until she heard the frantic knocks from two people who happened to be driving by and saw smoke.

Minutes later, she watched helplessly as flames consumed the small church her great grandfather helped build. While firefighters were trying to save Dover Baptist, another fire started, just a few miles down the road at the Clear Spring Missionary Baptist Church. Both churches are a total loss.

These two churches were not the arsonists' only target Monday night. We talked with an elder at Clearview Church, which is just a few miles from both Dover and Clear Spring. On the night of the fire, someone tried to get in to Clearview. Says Monty Nations, the elder, says “I can’t imagine someone wanting to do that.” The person or persons broke the front glass doors of the church but apparently got spooked when they realized the church had an alarm system. The church had just installed the system the week before because they worried their church might be next. Other churches are now taking similar actions, installing security systems or having members guard their churches in shifts.

Why is someone targeting churches? Investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives say that’s what they’re trying to figure out. They have a national response team investigating the fires. So far, many of the churches have been located in rural areas, but not all of them. The targets aren’t racially motivated and they’re not aimed at any particular faith. In Clear Spring, the last church to be targeted, the fire was started in the pulpit, something that sends chills up the spine of Pastor Brandon.

Click to read original Article at Fox News

New Report Shows Sex trafficking in Ohio Reaches Over 1,000 Youth Last Year

The Columbus Dispatch:New report documents extent of scourge in state

Sex traffickers ensnared more than 1,000 youths in Ohio last year
New report documents extent of scourge in state
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 3:00 PM
By Alan Johnson
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Read the report

* Click here for the full text of today's report on human trafficking (PDF).



More than 1,000 youngsters under the age of 18 were sex-trafficking victims in Ohio during the past year, according to the first-ever statewide report on the subject by the Ohio Trafficking in Persons Study Commission.

A preliminary report released this afternoon by Attorney General Richard Cordray concluded that another 2,879 youth were at risk of being trafficked.

An additional 783 foreign-born persons were trafficked for sex or forced labor in Ohio in the past year, with another 3,437 at risk, the report said.

At the same time, the research subcommittee that prepared the report acknowledged that human trafficking is a largely invisible crime, making it "virtually impossible to determine the exact number of victims in Ohio at any given time and with any degree of certainty."

California Man Arrested in Mall By Guard for Having Conversation About God

Man Sues California Mall After Guard Arrests Him for Having Conversation About God - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News - FOXNews.com

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
By Diane Macedo


Justin Smith

Westfield Galleria shopping mall in Roseville, CA.

Imagine getting arrested for just striking up a conversation about religion in public.

That’s what happened to California resident Matthew Snatchko in 2006 when the youth pastor initiated a conversation about God with three shoppers at the Roseville Galleria mall.

The women gave Snatchko permission to broach the subject, but a nearby store employee said they "looked nervous," so he ordered the evangelist to leave. After Snatchko refused, mall security arrested him.

"He was put in handcuffs and hauled down to the mall’s security station and later booked at the local jail," said Snatchko’s attorney Matthew McReynolds of the Pacific Justice Institute, a legal defense organization specializing in the defense of religious freedom.

Snatchko was later released and never charged with a crime, but he and the Justice Institute decided to challenge the constitutionality of Roseville Galleria's restrictions on conversations about topics such as religion and politics.

"He wanted to make sure that neither he nor anybody else got harassed again at this mall or the 55 other malls this company owns throughout the United States," said McReynolds.

Pro-Life Teen BANNED From Receiving Honor by Ohio House Speaker

 LifeSiteNews original article
COLUMBUS, Ohio, February 9, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In what critics are calling an unprecedented act of bias, pro-abortion Ohio House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beechwood) has denied Shelby County teen Elisabeth Trisler a routine legislative honor, evidently because he objects to Trisler's pro-life values. Budish is refusing to allow Trisler on the House floor to accept a legislative resolution, authored by Rep. John Adams (R-Sidney), which honors Trisler's accomplishment as the National Right to Life Oratory Contest winner. 
Alongside local pro-life leaders, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio has criticized the move, indicating the refusal amounted to "teaching young people that the answer is to silence those who disagree with us."
Honorary resolutions such as the one given to Trisler are routinely presented at the start of Ohio House legislative sessions to constituents, including those who win athletic championships or academic contests.  In this case, however, Trisler will receive the resolution in the mail, according to Ohio Right to Life.
 
"Surely Speaker Budish can put aside his partisanship for 10 minutes to honor the accomplishments of a talented and optimistic teenage girl," said Ohio Right to Life Executive Director Mike Gonidakis.  "Perhaps his real message to Ohio's teens is that excelling in public speaking isn't worth being honored if their views are different than his." 
State Rep. John Adams called the Speaker's denial "an outrage."
 
Trisler won the National Right to Life Oratory Contest held at the NRLC Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in June, 2009. During the second half of 2009, Rep. Adams's office worked to schedule the presentation of Trisler's proclamation on the House floor, as is typical of such awards. The presentation was scheduled for Wednesday, February 3, 2010.
 
However, on January 29th, the House Clerk informed Rep. Adams's office the presentation would not take place because the Speaker "had a problem with the subject matter." The clerk advised the representative's staff to take the matter up with the Speaker. Speaker Budish supports abortion.
 
"The Ohio House chamber is a monument to the importance of oratory and persuasion on the great issues facing our state," said Gonidakis. "Silencing someone because you disagree is a terrible lesson to teach teens. The Speaker should reconsider his unfortunately petty decision."
ACLU of Ohio Executive Director Christine Link also criticized the move, which she says created a "troubling precedent."
"Instead of teaching young people that the answer is to silence those who disagree with us, legislators should be modeling how to address difficult issues thoughtfully and listen respectfully to others," said Link.
"Ohio has a diverse political and social landscape that includes a broad spectrum of views that may be controversial to some," she continued.  "If we limit whose achievements may be honored, we are only contributing to the notion that these issues are divisive and cannot reasonably be discussed."
Keary McCarthy, the communications director at Speaker Budish's office, said that the Speaker's decision was consistent with precedent that such a presentation should not be used as a platform for a specific political agenda.
"The Speaker believes it's important to avoid having political interests on either side of the aisle abuse this brief opportunity for celebration and recognition," McCarthy told LifeSiteNews.com.
However, he said, "the Speaker will gladly reconsider the request of Representative Adams if appropriate discretion is used in a way that does not contradict the history of the House" for not using the reception as a forum for advocacy.

Contact information:
Armond Budish
Speaker of the House, Ohio House of Representatives
77 S. High St
14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215-6111
Phone: (614) 466-5441
Fax: (614) 719-0008
Email: district08@ohr.state.oh.us

Liverpool schools to offer pregnancy testing to kids

Plans to provide pregnancy testing to thousands of secondary school girls in Liverpool have been condemned by family values campaigners.
Liverpool NHS Primary Care Trust (PCT) has confirmed that plans are afoot to establish sexual health drop-in clinics in five of the city’s secondary schools.
The controversial scheme, which is already operating in secondary schools in neighbouring Wirral, gives pupils on-site access to pregnancy testing, contraceptives, the morning-after pill and advice on sexually transmitted infections.
However, critics have warned that the scheme will normalise underage sex and increase promiscuity.
Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust said: “Sexual health clinics on school premises send out the message that it is normal for schoolchildren to engage in sexual activity.
“In the past, natural inhibitions combined with fear of pregnancy, legal proceedings and being found out by parents offered a powerful disincentive to under age sex.
“Confidential health clinics in schools are part of a mix that is removing the restraints which previously limited under age sexual activity.”
However, a spokesman for Liverpool PCT said: “National and international research evidences that if we are to improve young people’s sexual health and reduce the number of unplanned conceptions in young people under the age of 18, we must provide high quality sexual health education, and easy access to sexual health services for information and support.”
But Dr Adrian Rogers, founder of the Family Focus campaign, said: “There is already free, confidential testing and advice available at every GP’s surgery and family planning clinic.
“Offering this kind of service in the school setting is going to promote promiscuity. It is a complete waste of time and money and will prove counter-productive.”
The drop-in clinics are currently operating in 13 of Wirral’s 29 secondary schools and the five clinics in Liverpool are due to be opened later this year.
Last September the Scottish Government called for every Scottish secondary school to have a sex clinic.
And in 2008 it was revealed that one third of secondary schools provide on-site access to contraception, abortion advice and pregnancy tests.
A survey of over 2,000 secondary schools in England found that one in six schools are giving out the morning-after pill.

Click to read original article from Christian.Org

Child Hood Pregnancy Is it becoming A World Wide Epidemic?

A few days ago we found a startling article about a 9 year old little girl in China giving birth! And found out through this article that this is not the youngest child to ever give birth. In 1939 Peru Reported that a 5 year old little girl gave birth.

As we were getting ready to report on this topic of child hood pregnancy today when we found that a 11 yr old girl in the U.S has given birth! Below we have shared the Article about the 9 year old in China and also the Newest article of the 11 year old girl from the U.S as well as a picture of the 5 year old with her baby from 1939.

This is an outrage that anyone would allow their 11 year old daughter to be placed in a situation where they could get pregnant but in the article there is no mention that the police are getting involved to arrest the boy or man who got the little girl pregnant or that the parents are in trouble for allowing this to happen to their daughter.

In the China incident the police are involved because it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 14. Here in the U.S we are to represent the moral standard that most look up to.  How have we fallen so far? Why aren’t parents, schools and even communities protecting the children? What kind of a life will not only the little baby have but the 11 year old as well?

From Fox News

An 11-year-old girl in the Northeast recently gave birth to a baby boy, according to the girl’s family.

"My daughter and baby are fine, and the baby is absolutely beautiful," stated the girl’s mother.

The girl and her family are not being named in order to protect the girl’s privacy.

According to Dr. Manny Alvarez, managing health editor of FoxNews.com, the girl’s age places her in significant dangers

"A very comprehensive approach to her care needs to be instituted early in her pregnancy," Alvarez said.

A recent report by the Guttmacher Institute said U.S. teen pregnancies were up 3 percent in 2006.

But of course, this case is not about a teenager, Dr. Abdulla Al-Khan, a leading high-risk obstetrician noted; it’s about a pre-teen, or child, who’s body is not built to carry a child yet.

"Her body is clearly not defined for pregnancy with its short stature," Al-Khan said. "Her chest is not extensively developed for breast tissue, her bones aren’t quite fused, and once you expose a child this young to high amounts of progesterone and especially estrogen, there is controversy that it could halt her growth."

Click to read full article from Fox News

From “Daily Mail” in the UK

A nine-year-old Chinese schoolgirl has become one of the world's youngest mothers after giving birth to a healthy boy.

The unnamed girl was brought to a hospital in Changchun, which lies in the north-east of the country, when she was eight and a half months pregnant.

Two days later, she gave birth to the 6lb boy by Caesarean section, a Chinese newspaper has reported. 

The child comes from the nearby town of Songyuan. Her family refused to discuss the pregnancy, but confirmed they had reported it to the police.

Last night police were reportedly trying to establish who the father is.

In the province, sex with a child under the age of 14 brings an automatic rape conviction and a lengthy jail sentence.

A legal expert told the paper that women under the age of 14 do not have sexual rights  - 'so any argument of being consensual as a defence is completely untenable,' he said.

He added: 'Anyone who had sexual relations with a girl under 14 means they have committed rape and is to be punished severely.'

A  hospital in China's largest city, Shanghai, recently said that about 30 per cent of abortions were on school-aged girls.

The youngest reported mother in the world - and the most bizarre of all young pregnancy cases - is five-year-old Lina Medina of Peru, who gave birth to a 6lb son named Gerardo in a Caesarean operation in 1939.

Her father was arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse but was later released because of lack of evidence.

In 1957 another Peruvian girl, aged nine, gave birth to a girl weighing just over 6lb and, curiously, it was in 2006 that yet another Peruvian girl, aged eight, gave birth to a 4lb 4oz girl.

Several other girls aged nine, from Thailand, Singapore, Rwanda and Brazil, have also given birth.

Mothers aged as young as 10 and 11 have also become an increasing occurrence.

The youngest mother in Britain is believed to have been 11 when she got pregnant and 12 years old when she gave birth.

Lina Medina, accompanied by her 11-month-old-son Gerardo, and Dr Lozada who helped with the birth. The picture was taken in 1939 in a hospital in Lima, Peru's capital

Click to read original article from Daily Mail

Churches in Texas Set on Fire

TYLER, Texas —  Eight Texas churches barely 150 miles apart have caught fire since New Year's Day, putting pastors and congregations on edge and on guard wondering whether theirs is next.

Authorities determined seven of those fires were intentionally set and they are investigating one that broke out Thursday as a possible arson. There have been no reported injuries or arrests, and federal officials aren't saying whether there's a connection.

Most people in these parts can't help but think they are.

"I think everybody is expecting more of these, to tell you the truth," said pastor David Mahfood, whose Baptist church in Tyler was destroyed in a Jan. 16 fire. "I think the worst is probably behind Tyler, but I'd worry about other cities."

Six of the seven arsons were just nine days apart, sending many congregations in east Texas scurrying to install security systems and prompting volunteers to keep close eyes on church properties from dusk to dawn. Federal and local authorities have released scant details and say they need more information.

"These things are painstakingly slow because a lot of evidence is lost in fire scenes," said Tom Crowley, a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesman. "They're still working it, but we could use more leads."

The fires have struck a region where Christian stations fill the radio dial and an area newspaper runs a Bible verse on the front page every day. All seven churches varied in size and denomination.

Some were Baptist. One was a red-bricked Christian Scientist's church nestled among stately homes. Another was a nondenominational church on the outskirts of town.

"The shock of it, it's so outside the norm," said Lloyd McCaskill, pastor of a church in Tyler that has given Mahfood's congregation a temporary home. "To try to get into the mindset, why would someone want to do this?"

Athens was the site of the first arson Jan. 1, and two more churches burned 10 days later in that town of about 12,000. After that, blazes blackened two churches about 35 miles away in Tyler. Days later, a church in Temple went up in flames, followed by one in Lindale, just north of Tyler. Thursday's fire was less than 50 miles away in Wills Point.

Two earlier fires at churches in the area came under suspicion, but authorities haven't determined whether arson was the cause.

click to read full article at Fox News

College Student Auctions off her Virginity to Highest Online Bidder

A student in New Zealand has auctioned her virginity to a stranger for almost $31,900 to help fund her university tuition fees.

The 19-year-old offered her virginity to the highest bidder in an online auction on the www.ineed.co.nz Web site after she found herself desperate for money.

The student, who called herself "Unigirl," said that she was delighted with the outcome and thanked auction participants who had bid more than she expected.

"Thank you to the more than 30,000 people who viewed my ad and to the more than 1,200 offers made," she said on the auction site yesterday. "I have accepted an offer in excess of $NZ45,000, which is way beyond what I dreamt."

The woman said that she had never been in a sexual relationship. She described herself as attractive, fit and healthy but desperate for money to pay university fees. She offered her virginity to the highest bidder “as long as all personal safety aspects are observed” and with full awareness of "possible consequences."

The proprietor of the Web site, Ross MacKenzie, said that the auction had created overwhelming interest from all around the world. He told the Waikato Times newspaper that if an advertisement was legal and not offensive, "it was OK."

He added: "Ineed does not place moral judgments on our members, believing in the fundamental rights of the individual."

MacKenzie denied the transaction was a stunt to promote his Web site. Trade Me, a rival New Zealand-based website, said that it would never allow such an auction. "We don't want Trade Me to be seen as the place where people auction off their virginity," Paul Ford, its spokesman, said.

"As a company we try to do things that are young at heart and do edgy things, but we do not think this one would pass muster," Mr Ford added. "We would not want to be part of it and I think our community would be pretty overwhelmingly against it."

A spokesman for the New Zealand police, Jon Neilson, said that no law appeared to have been breached.

"[But] we would suggest it's not a safe practice," Neilson added. "There are definitely issues of personal safety in using chatrooms, social dating networks and other internet sites that can be used to arrange meetings between strangers."

The deal follows an online auction in the US, where a Californian woman selling her virginity attracted an offer of $5 million (£3.14 million) from an Australian businessman in January 2009. The college graduate student, using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan, ran the auction through a Nevada brothel to help fund her postgraduate studies in family and marriage therapy.

The businessman later pulled out of the transaction after his wife objected.

Click to read Full Article at Times Online

JMC Ministries Response

Written By Miranda Caverley

As a woman the most precious thing to me was my virginity and saving myself for my future husband. Today it seems moral values are long gone in some societies today. Women are selling their virginities to the highest bidder as if it was a business transaction and nothing more even here in America. This young woman doesn’t know this man if he has STD’s or even AIDS if he has a criminal history is violent or that he he won’t do her harm. Just so she can go to college she will put herself in a position where she can get a disease and die. Well some good that education will do her then. If she wants an education she needs to study on the hazards of online hooking up and have promiscuous sex. Women everyday are victimized by men they meet online young girls and women are kidnapped and placed into slavery by hooking up with people they don’t know and meet online. I cannot believe that a website would endorse such a thing as this and allowing this young woman's life to be placed in danger.

13 year old Saudi Arabia Girl Sentenced To 90 lashes and jail time for bringing Cell phone to School

Video originally Posted January 21, 2010

Though this news is nearly 2 weeks old we wanted to share it.  It is so sad that America calls This country an “Ally” when they treat their own citizens this way. Like the reporter says It has to do with All That OIL!

Father Banned from Taking Daughter To Church

A Father From the Chicago Illinois area has been banned from taking his daughter to church after he and his wife separated and now are going through a divorce. The mother a devout follower of Judaism filed a restraining order against the Devout Christian Father from taking their daughter to a Christian church because the mother wants her brought up in the Jewish Religion and fears if she is brought up or exposed to the the Christian Faith will cause her mental harm. 

It seems parents are just going too far when it comes to divorce even to put restraining orders against the other parent from taking their child to church. What about the mental harm this little girl could be facing dealing with the divorce of her parents and now being the topic of discussion on the news and media circuits.

The only person going to be harmed in this whole thing will be the child.

Ohio Woman Murdered in Church Parking lot after Service

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio  —  Police have arrested a man in the death of an 80-year-old Ohio woman who was shot in the head in her church parking lot after Mass.

Youngstown police Lt. Kevin Mercer says 18-year-old Jamar Houser was arrested Friday night on warrants charging him with aggravated murder and aggravated robbery.

Houser is being held Saturday without bond in the Mahoning County Justice Center. The jail doesn't list an attorney for him.

Angeline Fimognari was killed Jan. 23 in the parking lot of St. Dominic's Parish in Youngstown.

She was found slumped over in the driver's side of her car with her purse missing.

Click to read original Article from Fox News