U.S Cities Warned to Stop Persecuting Christians

Click to read full story from World Net Daily

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Some months ago, officials in Elk River, Minn., reversed a policy banning religious meetings at its public library at the urging of Alliance Defense Fund attorneys.

Now letters have gone out from ADF to more than 150 other government jurisdictions across the nation asking them also to correct policies that illegally target the religious content of community activities.

"I think it's finally gotten to a head," ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster told WND today. "The Supreme Court in 2001 in the Good News case sealed the deal on this issue. It should not be litigated any more."

But the organization explained litigation might be needed if officials don't change suspect policies in the Chambers County library in Valley, Ala.; the Carlsbad, Calif., city library system; the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes library in Old Lyme, Conn.; the Gwinnett County public library in Lawrenceville, Ga.; the Sycamore, Ill., public library; the Clinton, Ind., public library; the Nelson County public library in Bardstown, Ky.; and the Lynn, Mass., public library.

Also, the Ann Arbor, Mich., district library; the Pamlico County public library in Bayboro, N.C.; and others in Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas were sent letters.

A total of 151 governmental entities that control more than 750 public facilities are receiving notice, according to the ADF.

The organization explained government officials "frequently refuse or restrict Christian churches, groups, and individuals when they attempt to reserve facilities otherwise open to the public at schools, libraries, parks, and community centers – a practice routinely determined to be unconstitutional by the courts."

"Christians shouldn't be excluded and restricted from using public meeting rooms and other facilities simply because they plan to express a Christian viewpoint," Oster said. "The Constitution prohibits the government from deciding who can and cannot use space based upon which viewpoints are being discussed during those meetings. Public officials can't give preferential treatment to some views over others."

He said that many times inappropriate policies – imposing illegal limits on Christian and other religious groups – have gone unchallenged, and, as a result, churches and others are prevented from discussing their faith, while secular subjects are not banned.

ADF reported that as a result of its litigation over the years, policy changes have been made that already affect more than 1,900 other public locations.

One such case was Elk River, Minn. City officials there stated a library meeting room was "free of charge, for use by community members for non-religious, non-commercial meetings, which are open to the public." The policy further said "usage may not be for prayer or other worship purposes."

The city allowed reduced rate rentals for park facilities to all Elk River non-profits, except groups using them for "prayer or other worship purposes." That meant those engaging in religious expression would have to pay the full rate charged to commercial and out-of-town groups.

Elk River resident Brad Bjorkman approached the city council about its discriminatory policy, and one member responded that the policy would not be changed and that his only option was to sue the city. Bjorkman then contacted ADF attorneys, who sent a letter on his behalf to Mayor Stephanie Klinzing urging the city to change its policy based upon well-established First Amendment case law.

The city council soon agreed to remove the problematic restrictions.

Oster told WND the heart of the problem is the longstanding insistance that there is a "separation of church and state" in the U.S. Constitution.

He pointed out the concept is not in the Constitution and a lot of education will be needed before the belief is corrected.

"The Supreme Court has been very clear. The Constitution does not require government to be hostile to religion," he said. "Religious speech clearly is protected."

He said what is forbidden is for the government to establish a church and require citizens to attend or support it.

Report Says United States More Violent Than China and Cuba

Click to read full story from Fox News

BRUSSELS (AP) — Cuba and China are more peaceful than the United States, according to a report published Thursday.

The global peace index, prepared by the Sydney, Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace, says the world in general is becoming a more violent place. The report says nearly two-thirds of the countries it ranks every year have become more violent since 2007.

Iraq is the most violent nation in the world, the report says, followed by Somalia, Afghanistan, Sudan, Pakistan, Israel, Georgia, Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Beacons of peace are New Zealand — which tops the index — Iceland, Japan, Austria, Norway, Ireland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Finland and Sweden.

The United States ranks 85th, below Cuba and China and just ahead of Angola.

The idea for the index came from Steve Killelea, an Australian entrepreneur who wanted to identify what makes a peaceful country. He asked the Economist Intelligence Unit, which is affiliated with the Economist news magazine, to look at a range of variables, from levels of homicides per 100,000 people — which drags down America and boosts Denmark — to corruption and access to primary education.

South Africa Hides It's Homeless As The World Cup Games Draw Closer

Click to read full story from NPR News

As Friday's kickoff to the 2010 World Cup approaches, some of South Africa's host cities are going to great lengths to clean up their images.

After all, the four-week, 32-team tournament is expected to draw more than 300,000 international soccer fans and the attention of a global television audience.

Just a few blocks from Cape Town's new Green Point soccer stadium is Sea Point, where high-rise hotels stand atop old stone walls at the ocean's edge. Families and tourists stroll through the area's grassy waterfront parks.

It is beautiful, and that's partly because of what visitors don't see: dozens of homeless people who normally live in the area.

Ahead of the matches, Cape Town police have been arresting homeless people who live there and, in some cases, relocating them to the outskirts of the city.

Shane Raymond is a homeless man who eats at a nearby soup kitchen.

Blikkiesdorp is supposed to provide temporary shelter for Cape Town residents who are waiting for government housing. But many say they have been forcibly relocated there in an attempt to clean up Cape Town streets and make way for a World Cup stadium.

Blikkiesdorp is supposed to provide temporary shelter for Cape Town residents who are waiting for government housing. But many say they have been forcibly relocated there in an attempt to clean up Cape Town streets and make way for a World Cup stadium.

"There are people that I have known who are no longer in circulation. And there's this little area just outside of Cape Town near the airport that they call Blikkiesdorp, and that is where they are moving these people to," Raymond says.

Life In 'Tin Can City'

Blikkiesdorp is about 45 minutes outside Cape Town. The name is Afrikaans for "Tin Can City," and it's easy to see how it got the name — there are hundreds of identical metal shanties laid out in perfect rows. Children and dogs run through the area's maze of gravel roads.

About 300,000 families in Cape Town are awaiting government homes, and Blikkiesdorp is supposed to provide temporary shelter for many of them.

But most people there are never issued a home elsewhere. Natasha Flor says she lived in a field near Green Point stadium for 14 years before a social worker brought her to Blikkiesdorp.

"I ended up here when that lady, she just come and throw us here, because she is a social worker in Green Point for [those of us who are] outside, and then she just dropped us here," Flor says.

Gavin Brooks and his three children were brought to Blikkiesdorp from Sea Point. He says he was told he couldn't stay where he was and that the government had a better place for them to live, but that they would have to live in Blikkiesdorp for three to five years.

"We feel like we are thrown away here, like the government is just throwing us away. It's like a dump," Brooks says.

No Coercion, Official Says

Cape Town officials deny that anyone has been moved to Blikkiesdorp against their will. Hassan Khan is on the board of the City Improvement District — the organization responsible for cleaning up Cape Town's streets — and he also directs the Haven, a night shelter for homeless people.

"I think there's a misunderstanding here. It is quite possible that those people ... didn't think that they had any other choice of housing than going to Blikkiesdorp. But if the implication is that they were forced there, then I would have to say that that's not possible in a democratic country," Khan says.

South Africa wants to present itself as a top tourist destination to World Cup fans, and ridding the streets of homeless people seems to be an important part of the preparations in many of the nine cities hosting matches.

In Johannesburg, one official bluntly acknowledged the city's intention to chase away homeless people, saying, "You have to clean your house before you have guests."

More than 800 people in Johannesburg have been arrested or relocated, according to local reports, and similar actions are reportedly taking place in Rustenburg and Durban.

In a country where the forced removal of millions of black people during apartheid is still a recent memory, the relocations are especially controversial.

Christians Ordered To Leave Their Homes In Pakistan

click to read full story from Christian Post.com

KHANEWAL, Pakistan (Compass Direct News) – The head of a Muslim village last week ordered 250 Christian families to leave their homes in Khanewal district, Punjab Province, local residents said.

Abdul Sattar Khan, head of village No. 123/10R, Katcha Khoh, and other area Muslim residents ordered the expulsions after Christian residents objected too strenuously to sexual assaults by Muslims on Christian girls and women, said a locally elected Christian official, Emmanuel Masih.

Most of the village’s Christian men work in the fields of Muslim land owners, while most of the Christian women and girls work as servants in the homes of Muslim families, said Rasheed Masih, a Christian in the village who added that the impoverished Christians were living in appalling conditions.

The Muslim employers have used their positions of power to routinely sexually assault the Christian women and girls, whose complaints grew so shrill that four Christian men – Emmanuel Masih, Rasheed Masih, his younger brother Shehzad Anjum and Yousaf Masih Khokhar – sternly confronted the Muslims, only to be told that all Christians were to leave the village at once.

“The Muslim villagers came to us with the expulsion order only after Christian women and girls raised a hue and cry when they became totally exasperated because they were sexually attacked or forced to commit adultery by Muslims on a daily basis,” said Khokhar, a Christian political leader.

Khokhar said the unanimous decision to compel the Christians to leave their homes and relocate them was possible because the Christians were completely subject to the Muslims’ power.

“The Muslims had been telling the Christian women and girls that if they denied them sex, they would kick them out of their native village,” Emmanuel Masih added.

Christians created the colony when they began settling in the area in about 1950, said Anjum. Since then the migration of Muslims to the area has left the Christians a minority among the 6,000 residents of the village, said Emmanuel Masih.

“There is no church building or any worship place for Christians, and neither is there any burial place for Christians,” Emmanuel Masih said.

He said that the Rev. Pervez Qaiser of village No. 231, the Rev. Frank Masih of village No. 133 and the Rev. Sharif Masih of village No. 36, Mian Channu, have been visiting the village on Sundays to lead services at the houses of the Christian villagers, who open their homes by turns.

Asked why they didn’t contact local Katcha Khoh police for help, Emmanuel Masih and Khokhar said that filing a complaint against Muslim village head Khan and other Muslims would only result in police registering false charges against them under Pakistan’s notorious “blasphemy” statutes.

“They might arrest us,” Khokhar said, “and the situation would be worse for the Christian villagers who are already living a deplorably pathetic life under the shadow of fear and death, as they [the Muslims] would not be in police lock-up or would be out on bail, due to their riches and influence, very soon.”

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JMC Ministries Response

When you read the headline of this story what first comes to your mind?

What did come to our minds first was this is very much like what happened to the Jews during Hitlers Reign. They were forced out of their homes. Lived in deplorable conditions and was forced to work for the Nazi's and endured beatings, rapes and other horrible kinds of abuse.

This is very similar to what is happening to these Christians in Pakistan. How did it become a Crime to just believe in something, because that is basically how these people are being treated...like criminals.

It's frightening how far society has come in some parts of the world that if you just believe something that someone else doesn't you will be forced out of your homes, raped, and beaten.

We must pray for our brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for just believing in Jesus and also those here in America that are facing persecution as well.

The signs are everywhere that we are living in the end times nearly everyday a prophecy from the bible about the end of times from Ezekiel, Daniel, Matthew, and Revelation is being fulfilled. We must be ready to go when Jesus comes back to take us home. We must endure to the end and not lose faith.

School Appeals Judge's Ruling That It's Unconstitutional To Have Graduation at a Church

Click to read full story from NBC Conneticut

The rollercoaster ride of not knowing where they’re going to graduate took a big dip for Enfield’s high school seniors.

The school board voted on Tuesday to reverse an earlier decision and will now appeal a temporary injunction, which banned the district from using this Bloomfield church for the two high school graduations.

"If we don’t appeal it, we’re somewhat saying we acknowledge or validate that opinion," said Enfield Board of Education Chairman Greg Stokes.

The lawsuit was brought on by the ACLU on behalf of a few students and their parents. The judge sided with them and ruled that using the First Cathedral Baptist Church was an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.

"I feel like the class of 2010 got punished from this whole thing, and it’s not really fair," said Amanda Barrosa, a senior at Fermi High School.

Even with the appeals process, students at Fermi and Enfield High will still be graduating at their two schools. If the graduations are held indoors, it could mean attendance limits, which the students and parents aren’t too happy about.

"I have family flying in from Kentucky, North Carolina to see me graduate, if it’s inside they won’t be able to," said Tyler Cunningham, a senior at Enfield High School.

"I wanted to have a lot of family there that now I’m not going to be able to have due to space and tickets, whereas Cathedral we would have been able to have a lot more people," said Alex Ginsberg, a senior at Fermi High School.

Many students are hopeful, though, that this appeal will bring change for future classes.

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JMC Ministries Response

What is the point of having the freedoms our forefathers fought to give us if we don't continue to fight to keep them in place?

So many times The ACLU and other anti religious groups/anti freedom groups seem to bully people into submission and we are so happy that the school as changed their minds of appealing the ruling this judge made in saying it is unconstitutional to have a graduation in a Church "building". If we don't fight for our freedoms and our rights as U.S. Citizens then who will? Certainly not our current president. It is up to the citizens to rise up and take a stand. We applaud Enfield High School Keep up the good fight.

To read the original article about this story type "graduation" or "graduation in church" into the search bar above.

Saying "God Bless" May Be Banned In Schools

Click to read full story from World Net Daily
Lawmakers in Florida have decided to slap down school boards whose members try to appease the ACLU with a "consent decree" or other agreement that limits student, faculty and staff religious and speech rights protected by the First Amendment.

The new law, which goes into effect July 1, is a response to a school-endorsed "consent degree" in the Santa Rosa County School District that demanded a student change "God bless" to "good luck." The law requires a school to get permission from those whose rights are impacted before agreeing to any such plan.

The state's new HB 31 reads, "District school boards, administrative personnel, and instructional personnel are prohibited from taking affirmative action, including, but not limited to, the entry into any agreement, that infringes or waives the rights or freedoms afforded to instructional personnel, school staff, or students by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, in the absence of the express written consent of any individual whose constitutional rights would be impacted by such infringement or waiver."

Mathew Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of Liberty University School of Law, said, "Liberty Counsel will ask the Santa Rosa School District to request the court to reconsider the consent decree in light of this new law. Liberty Counsel will continue to press this case until the consent decree is set aside. Not only is the decree unconstitutional, it is also moot, since the ACLU student plaintiffs graduated three weeks before the order became final.

"This consent decree," he said, "drafted by the ACLU and agreed to by the superintendent, is the most unconstitutional order I have ever read. It was written as though the First Amendment does not exist. It is only a matter of time before this consent decree is overturned."

The case already has generated a lawsuit against the district. The case developed when the district made a deal with the ACLU "to criminalize 'protected religious expression,' banning students from saying "God bless' and forcing teachers to 'hide in closets to pray,'" the Liberty Counsel report said.

The claims against Santa Rosa County School District began in August 2008 when two anonymous students sued with the help of the ACLU over longstanding practices at the school allowing prayer at some events. The school's separate counsel had agreed to a consent decree that "essentially bans all Santa Rosa County School District employees from engaging in prayer or religious activities," Liberty Counsel reported.

Liberty Counsel lawyers said they volunteered to work for free for the school to protect the First Amendment rights at issue.

"But the school district decided instead to shake hands with the ACLU, pay the ACLU $200,000 in legal fees and voluntarily enter into the consent decree that obliterates religious freedom and makes a mockery of the First Amendment," Liberty Counsel said in its description of the conflict.

Since then, several school officials have faced civil and criminal contempt charges demanded by the ACLU and the school district but have been cleared.

The Santa Rosa restrictions prohibited religious expression such as voluntary, student-initiated prayer or off-the-clock religious discussion among adults, critics said.

Liberty Counsel had announced just a few days earlier it was requesting an injunction against the district and its superintendent, Tim Wyrosdick.

Staver said the order conflicts directly with opinions from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Schools are not religious-free zones," he said.

The Liberty Counsel complaint claims injury to 22 individuals representing students, faculty and staff as well as members of the community.

The firm said under the school's agreement, teachers were prevented from replying to e-mails sent by parents if words such as "God bless" were included, and district employees were not allowed to participate in privately sponsored off-campus religious events.

The policy also was used to prevent then-Pace High School student president Mary Allen from speaking at her own high school graduation.

The dispute remains volatile. WND reported Liberty Counsel declared it was "game over" because the ACLU admitted in court documents that the two anonymous plaintiffs graduated from the district's Pace High School in May 2009, effectively ending the court's jurisdiction in the case.

10,000 People Protest to Stop Ground Zero Islamic Mosque

Click to read full story from World Net Daily
As many as 10,000 protesters from across the country – including family members who lost loved ones on Sept. 11, 2001 – took to the streets in New York City Sunday to fight construction of a 13-story Islamic mosque to be built just steps from Ground Zero where Muslim terrorists murdered 2,751 people in the name of Allah.

Now the organizers plan to sue the federal government to designate the site as a war memorial.

The following are some photos of the protest posted by various blogs:

(Photo: Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs)

(photo: El Marco, LookingatTheLeft.com)

(Photo: Urban Infidel)

As WND reported, the new Islamic mosque plans to open its doors on Sept. 11, 2011 – the 10th anniversary of that fateful day when time stood still as millions of Americans grieved the loss of loved ones, friends, family members, co-workers and strangers.

"The only Muslim center that should be built in the shadow of the World Trade Center is one that is devoted to expunging the Quran and all Islamic teachings of the violent jihad that they prescribe, as well as all hateful texts and incitement to violence," Geller said in a release announcing the protest.

They noted that thousands of protesters came from Washington state, California, Texas, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Maine, South Carolina, Florida and elsewhere.

"They were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists, Muslims of conscience," Spencer wrote. "They were lovers of freedom."

He added, "Police estimated that 5,000 people were there, and other estimates ranged as high as 10,000. The crowd carried signs expressing their love for freedom, their contempt for Shariah, and their anger at Islamic supremacism and insult to the memories of those murdered on 9/11 that this mosque represents."

Obama tells Graduating Class Don't point fingers Don't make excuses Don't pass the buck

Click to read full story from Fox News

Don't point fingers. Don't make excuses. Don't pass the buck.

That was the advice President Obama gave to a graduating high school class in Michigan Monday night -- advice that sent off an irony alert among Republicans who accuse the president of having "spent his tenure" doing exactly that.

Obama offered his guidance during the commencement speech at Kalamazoo Central High School.

"Don't make excuses. Take responsibility not just for your successes, but for your failures as well," he told the graduates. "The truth is, no matter how hard you work, you won't necessarily ace every class or succeed in every job. There will be times when you screw up, when you hurt the people you love, when you stray from your most deeply held values.

"And when that happens, it's the easiest thing in the world to start looking around for someone to blame. Your professor was too hard, your boss was a jerk, the coach was playing favorites, your friend just didn't understand. We see it every day out in Washington, with folks calling each other names and making all sorts of accusations on TV."

He told the students that "pointing fingers" and "blaming parents" and everyone else in their lives is not the road to follow.

Senate Republicans reacted quickly to the speech, sending out a "best-of" list of instances in which Obama was "looking around for someone to blame." The quotes showed Obama using Bush as a scapegoat for everything from the deficit to America's image abroad.

Obama over the past 17 months has selectively blamed the Bush administration for the big problems he now faces.

One of the president's favorite rhetorical devices is the figurative "mop" he uses to clean up what he says were the mistakes of his predecessor.

"I don't mind cleaning up the mess that some other folks made. That's what I signed up to do," he said at a Democratic fundraiser last October.

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JMC Ministries Response

So I guess Mr. Obama is telling the future of America do as I say, not as I do right?

Since day one of Obama being in office he has pointed fingers and blamed the Bush administration for everything that has happened since he has been in office. As if Bush was the one forcing him to sign the stimulus bill, or the new Government mandated Health Care bill. I'm sorry but Bush is not holding a gun at Obama's head forcing him to make the decisions and spending billion and billions of money that WE don't have!

No one forced Obama to run for President he made that choice on his own Because he wanted "Change" well he certainly made alot of changes and George Bush has not had a hand in any of them. So Mr. President Start taking your own advice that you gave so freely to this Graduating class. Grow up, be a man and start taking responsibility for your actions!

Obama Continues To Push Health Care Law In Face of Public Opposition

Click to read full story from Fox News

President Obama on Tuesday kicked off a big push to promote the government's $1 trillion health care overhaul, following a string of critical reports about missed deadlines and rising costs related to the legislation.

The president used a "tele-town hall" in a Washington suburb to tout the $250-per-person rebates that will soon be going out to seniors to help cover prescription drug costs. The rebates, set for distribution beginning Thursday, are one of the earliest provisions of the new law. Most of the major spending measures don't go into effect until 2014.

But with an election on the horizon and a rapid-fire sequence of domestic and international crises consuming the president's time and the public's attention, Obama is trying to keep focus on the early benefits of the law. He's getting some help from his Democratic allies in making sure health care stays front and center in the months ahead -- and that criticism does not go unanswered.

Obama's town hall Tuesday was only one component of a multi-layered campaign to promote the health care law. Anita Dunn, Obama's former communications director at the White House, is teaming up with Democratic strategist Andrew Grossman to launch an advocacy arm to promote the bill. The effort reportedly aims to raise $25 million every year for the next five years.

They'll have their work cut out for them.

Republicans served notice early on they were going to make the November election all about health care. Former New York Gov. George Pataki is leading an effort to collect 1 million petition signatures and force congressional candidates to say whether they support repeal.

A Rasmussen Reports poll out Monday shows that 58 percent of 1,000 likely voters want to repeal the law, while 35 percent want the law to stay put.

Pollster Scott Rassmussen said even with support leaning for repeal, it's a long shot that Republicans will regain control of Congress with the mandate to overturn the law.

"It looks like Democrats will be able to hang on to majority control of the House. If that happens, repeal is going nowhere. If the Republicans gain control and have a very good night in November, the House is very likely to pass a repeal and then replace it with some kind of popular components from the legislation. It will probably die in the Senate," he said.

Nonetheless, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a taste of that enduring criticism Tuesday during a campaign-style speech at a hotel in Washington, where she was trumpeting the benefits of the bill. A protester screamed, "I'm not going back to a nursing home," and others started chanting as Pelosi tried to calm down the crowd.

Athiest Demanding Grant Money to Repair Cross Monument Be Returned

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ST. LOUIS (AP) — Farmers sold pigs to help raise money to build the towering cross on southern Illinois' highest point as a year-round testament to faith. The 11-story monument draws thousands of visitors each year, and supporters say it has promoted self-growth and reflection for nearly half a century.

But over the years, the once-glistening structure about 130 miles southeast of St. Louis began to show its age. The 650 or so white porcelain panels that cover the concrete and steel frame rusted or fell off. Some remained attached with only coat hangers and bailing wire.

A group cobbled together $360,000 of the $550,000 needed to restore the Bald Knob Cross of Peace, including a $20,000 grant from the state of Illinois. Now, a Chicago-area atheist who objects to the grant as a bit of unconstitutional pork has threatened to sue if the group doesn't return the money to the state.

Pitching the project as the renovation of a major tourist attraction "is a nice cover story," Rob Sherman said in a telephone interview Wednesday. But the retired Chicago-area radio talk show host who successfully fought Illinois' "moment of silence" in public schools said he thinks it would be more appropriate to use the money for such public interests as schools and roads. If it isn't returned, he promised "a long and expensive" lawsuit.

That didn't deter the Friends of Bald Knob Cross. The money was used long ago as a down payment on the renovation of the monument near Alto Pass, Ill., said Bill Vandergraph, a minister and Friends board member.

"We're not shaken in any way," Vandergraph said Thursday. "We're trying to stay low-profile, and that's not out of fear. We're absolutely not intimidated."

His group applied for the money only after a state senator said they'd be eligible for it, he said. And, the landmark has proven versatile, housing federal government transmission equipment and used by Union County's conservation department.

Standing sentry over forests and much of the region's orchards and burgeoning wine country, the cross has been a fixture on the 1,025-foot-high Bald Knob Mountain for nearly a half century.

Easter services have been held on the mountain since 1937. Rural mail carrier Wayman Presley and pastor William Lirely envisioned a huge cross there that would be visible for miles and serve as testimony year-round.

Their fundraising efforts got a big boost in 1955 when Presley was featured on television's "This is Your Life." Donations poured in. Schoolchildren and Sunday school classes collected coins for the cross.