Freedom of Expressing Religion Now Allowed at National Parks!

Link to original article: No more Mt. ‘Hushmore’: Free speech preserved at national parks

ADF attorneys secure victory for religious expression in iconic American parks, monuments
Friday, August 06, 2010

“The First Amendment is the only permit a Christian or any American needs to engage in free speech on public property. The court was right to reach this conclusion,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “Certainly, it made no sense to enforce unconstitutional regulations that deny free speech at the foot of Mount Rushmore--a place where four men who championed America’s freedoms are immortalized in stone.”

“It is unlawful to engage in expressive activities within any of this country’s 391 national parks unless a park official first issues a permit authorizing the activity. Michael Boardley argues this licensing scheme is overbroad and therefore unconstitutional on its face. We agree,” states the opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. “Requiring individuals and small groups to obtain permits before engaging in expressive activities within designated ‘free speech areas’ (and other public forums within national parks) violates the First Amendment…. We have no choice but to hold the regulations unconstitutional in their entirety.”

“This important decision means that Mr. Boardley and all Americans who visit our beautiful national parks and monuments will be able to exercise their free speech and religious expression rights without further unconstitutional barriers,” said ADF Legal Counsel Heather Gebelin Hacker.

ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.

www.adfmedia.org | twitter.com/adfmedia

Port Chester NY gives Latinos 6 votes per person!

Rifqua Bary Turns 18 Let The Bells Of Freedom Ring

Written By Miranda Caverley

Yesterday Rifqua Bary Turned 18. This young Ohio Girl in the past year has had the fight of her life. Born into a Muslim family Rifqua converted to Christianity and when her parents found out, Rifqua claims her father threatened to kill her. Because in the Islam religion if anyone converts to another religion they must be put to death. So Rifqua Fled Ohio with the help of some Christians to Florida where she was living with a Christian Family.

When her family found out that she had fled to Florida A Media Frenzy ensued. This young girl was plastered all over TV News Stations Across the Country. Along with this Rifqua was forced to return to Ohio and be placed into the custody of Franklin County Ohio Children Services. During the months Rifqua was in the custody of Children Services. Rifqua was not allowed to have contact with any one and was not even allowed on the internet. There was a very high profiled Court hearing whether or not Rifqua's parents really threatened to kill their daughter just because she converted to Christianity. The Ohio court tried to get Rifqua and her family to reconcile their differences but in the end the court found that is was in the best interest that Rifqua she stay in the custody of Children Services until her 18 birthday.

During the months of living in the custody of Children Services Rifqua found out she had cancer. She had surgeries and went through chemotherapy treatment. In the end Rifqua was healed from the cancer and it is now in remission. This may have been the end of Rifqua's fight with cancer but another battle was about to begin.

In the past few months it was found that Rifqua is not a legal U.S Citizen. Her parents brought her here when she was a baby when they immigrated from Sri Lanka. When this was found out, it was being said that Rifqua the day she turned 18 would be kicked out of the United States and sent back to Sri Lanka. However, many people have stepped up in protest against this because it is said that if Rifqua is Sent to Sri Lanka She will be murdered in an Honor Killing by Muslims for converting to Christianity. So now proceedings are under way to allow Rifqua to stay in the United States and become a legal Citizen.

When I found out yesterday was Rifqua's 18th Birthday. I broke down into tears and just thanked God that this fight is nearly over for her. I know and everyone who is educated in the Islam Religion knows that what Rifqua was claiming about her going to be killed for converting to Christianity is TRUE. If this young girl did not run away from her family and the Muslim community she would have been killed. And we here in Ohio would have heard another murder has happened in the city of Columbus a senseless act of violence another young life lost. But thank God that is not the headline I heard yesterday! I heard "Rifqua Bary is FREE! Free to practice Christianity"

We at JMC Ministries has been following Rifqua's story since it first began. Writing about it on our Eternal Flame News and Talking about it on our JMC LIVE Show. Our prayer for Rifqua is that she be allowed to stay in the U.S and become a citizen. To share her testimony to all the world and that many may come to have a relationship with Jesus through Rifqua's life. And that Rifqua be able to live a life of peace and safety here in the U.S where we have Freedom of Religion and can practice her faith openly and freely without worry of being killed.

God Bless you Rifqua and God Speed on your Journey in life with Christ.

If you would like to read all the Eternal Flame News articles about Rifqua type in "Rifqua Bary" in the search bar above

60,000 Babies Born To Illegal Immigrants In Texas Every Year

Click to read full story from CNN

From CNN's Jack Cafferty:

As the debate over illegal immigration – and now over the 14th amendment – heats up, consider this:

In Texas alone, there are more than 60,000 babies born to non-citizens every year. These babies automatically become U.S. citizens.

The Dallas Morning News reports that last year these births represented almost 16% of the total births statewide. And, that from 2001 to 2009, there were more than 542,000 births to illegal immigrant women.

Let me repeat, all these babies automatically become U.S. citizens... and we're just talking about Texas here.

This is why some Republicans want to consider changing the Constitution's guarantee of citizenship for anyone born in the United States.

House Minority Leader John Boehner says many illegal immigrants come here just so their children can become U.S. citizens. Boehner points to parts of our country where schools and hospitals are being overrun by illegal aliens.

Other Republicans say if both parents are here illegally, why should there be a reward for that behavior? And they have a point.

But opponents worry about the children, saying they didn't break any laws, yet would have no rights and nowhere to go.

Others claim the whole issue isn't about babies, but rather about politics and using immigration as a wedge issue headed into the midterm elections.

The 14th amendment became law in 1868. It was meant as a way to block states that prevented former slaves from becoming citizens.

Pregnant Widow Accused Of Adultry Is Executed By Taliban

click to read original story from CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The Taliban has executed a pregnant widow accused of adultery in western Afghanistan, provincial and district officials said Monday.

The 47-year-old woman, Sanam Gul, also known as Sanam Bibi, was killed in Badghis province Saturday morning, said Ashrafuddin Majidi, the provincial governor's spokesman.

The district governor of Qades, Hashim Habibi, confirmed the execution. He said the woman was accused of adultery that left her pregnant. The Taliban shadow district governor, Mullah Abdul Hakim, and his judge ordered the woman to be executed, he said.

Mohammad Yousuf, a Taliban commander, carried out the execution, shooting the woman in her head, Habibi said.

The International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan condemned the killing. "This tragic gruesome brutality is an example of Taliban justice," said U.S. Army Col. Rafael Torres, director of the ISAF Joint Command Combined Joint Operations Center. "This is not what the people of Afghanistan want -- they want peace and freedom and that's what we're going to help provide."

The statement from the ISAF cited reports that the widow was whipped 200 times before she was shot.

Pastor Protests Schools Demon Mascot and Is Arressted

click to read full story from 13WMAZ

A pastor arrested Monday for protesting Warner Robins High School's "Demon" nickname and mascot says he was just standing up for Jesus -- and he'd do it again.

Pastor Donald Crosby said the school's demon logo just encourages children to evil.

"I don't scare easily. Lock me up as many times as you have to lock me up. Even kill me if you have to. I'm standing up for Jesus."

He criticized other Christians who, he says, are singing in church while their children are being taught to praise demons.

"Demons aren't lazy, Christians are," he said.

He said the city of Warner Robins must repent for its demon-praising.

Crosby is pastor of Kingdom Builders Church of Jesus Christ in Macon.

Warner Robins police spokeswoman Tabitha Pugh says the 36-year-old Crosby was arrested after police told him he didn't have a picketing permit, as required by the city.

Crosby and the group protested outside the school on the opening day of classes.

Last month, Crosby started a petition to remove the demon as Warner Robins High School's mascot.

But others started a petition in favor of keeping the demon.

School officials say they have no plans to change the name.

Warner Robins police say they tried to work with the pastor to make the protest legal.

Pugh said, "Our officers asked him several times, it wasn't just once, several times to leave the property and go and obtain a permit, to say they can legally and lawfully protest."

She says officers asked Crosby and the group to leave. Crosby refused and was arrested, she says. Others in the group dropped the protest.

Pugh says Crosby is charged with picketing without a permit and disorderly conduct for not leaving when asked. Crosby was released from the Houston County jail on bond.

Greg Green says he was dropping his daughter off for the first day of classes at Rumble Academy around 7:10 a.m. when he saw about 30 protesters outside the front of the high school.

Green says the group wasn't blocking the school entrance or the flow of traffic.

Green says some of the signs said things like, "Demons don't like me, because I'm Christian", and "Home games will have to be played in hell."

The pastor says a 15-year-old, who he has legal custody of, is zoned for the school, and he doesn't want him exposed to the name's evil connotations.

China warns US to stay out of Yellow Sea

Click to read full story from Fox News

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — An American warship docked Tuesday in central Vietnam where the former foes planned to conduct naval training in a sign of growing military ties amid new warnings from China for the U.S. to stay out of its backyard.

The USS John S. McCain's port call comes as the U.S. and Vietnam celebrate 15 years of normalized diplomatic relations following a bloody war that remains an open wound for many veterans. The two governments, while ideologically different, have embraced on a number of issues, including a recent stance against China's territorial claims over the South China Sea.

China on Tuesday told the U.S. and South Korean navies to keep out of the Yellow Sea, where it claims exclusivity.

The allies have planned another round of joint military war games following last month's drills in the Sea of Japan, which China also criticized.

The brief Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said Beijing had repeatedly "expressed our clear and firm position" on any maneuvers in the Yellow Sea, a move that would theoretically put Beijing within range of the ship's F-18 warplanes.

"We urge the relevant parties to take China's position and concern seriously," the statement said.

On Sunday, the U.S. Navy hosted a delegation of Vietnamese military and government officials on the USS George Washington, a hulking nuclear-powered aircraft supercarrier cruising in waters off Vietnam's central coast. Chinese military ships were seen shadowing the carrier in the distance.

"These waters belong to nobody, yet belong to everybody," Capt. David Lausman, commanding officer of the George Washington, said Sunday aboard the mammoth carrier that can carry up to 70 aircraft, more than 5,000 sailors and aviators and about 4 million pounds (1.8 million kilograms) of bombs. "China has a right to operate here, as do we and as do every other country of the world."

The U.S. has ratcheted up its military presence in the region in recent weeks, conducting large-scale joint military exercises with ally South Korea last month as a show of solidarity following the sinking of a South Korean navy warship in March that killed 46 sailors. North Korea was blamed for torpedoing the Cheonan, but it has denied any involvement and has repeatedly threatened war if punished.

On Monday, the North fired off a barrage of about 110 artillery rounds into the ocean near its disputed western sea border with South Korea. The display caused no damage, but prompted terse warnings of retaliation from South Korea. U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley joked that Pyongyang likely caused "a lot of dead fish," and said it wasn't clear what the reclusive government was trying to achieve with its "ongoing chest-thumping."

Iran digs mass graves to bury US troops if Americans attack

Click to read full story from Fox News

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran has dug mass graves in which to bury U.S. troops in case of any American attack on the country, a former commander of the elite Revolutionary Guard said.

The digging of the graves appears to be a show of bravado after the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, said last week that the U.S. military has a contingency plan to attack Iran, although he thinks a military strike is probably a bad idea.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build nuclear weapons. Iran has denied the charges, saying its nuclear program is geared merely toward generating electricity, not bomb.

Gen. Hossein Kan'ani Moghadam, who was the Guard's deputy commander during the 1980s, said graves have been dug in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province, where Iran buried Iraqi soldiers killed during the ruinous 1980-88 war between the Islamic republic and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's regime.

"The mass graves that used to be for burying Saddam's soldiers have now been prepared again for U.S. soldiers, and this is the reason for digging this big number of graves," Moghadam told The Associated Press Television News late Monday. He did not say how many were prepared.

Footage obtained by APTN showed a large number of empty, freshly dug graves in a desert region of Khuzestan. The digging of the graves was first reported earlier this week by Iran's semiofficial news agency Fars.

Moghadam repeated warnings that Iran will retaliate against U.S. bases in the Gulf if there is an attack on Iran. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters is based just across the Gulf from Iran in Bahrain.

If U.S. forces attack, "Iran will have no choice but to strike the American bases in the region," he said. "The heavy costs of such a war will not be just on the Islamic Republic of Iran. America and other countries should accept that this would be the start of an extensive war in the region."

Missionaries Murdered In Afghanistan

Click to read full story from AOL News


(Aug. 7) -- Six Americans, a Briton and a German all working for a Christian medical charity in Afghanistan have been ambushed and killed by militants, their group said today.

Two Afghan translators were also killed with the eight foreign aid workers -- three women and five men -- whom they'd been helping. Their bodies were found riddled with bullets next to their abandoned vehicles in a mountainous area of Badakhshan province, the provincial police chief told The New York Times.

The victims were a group of foreign medical personnel who'd been working at an eye care center in remote Nuristan, and were returning to the Afghan capital when they were ambushed, the International Assistance Mission said in a statement on its website. The charity lost contact with the group on Wednesday evening, and a local shepherd later found their bodies and alerted Afghan police, CNN reported.
"We object to this senseless killing of people who have done nothing but serve the poor. Some of the foreigners have worked alongside the Afghan people for decades," the IAM statement said, noting that the charity has worked in Afghanistan since 1966, making it the longest-serving NGO there.

This is one of the largest death tolls for foreign aid workers in Afghanistan in a single incident, and the deadliest episode for American civilians there since a suicide bomber killed seven CIA agents at a base in eastern Afghanistan last year. It also underscores the danger for charity workers there, whom the Taliban often view as collaborators with U.S. and NATO forces, rather than humanitarian non-combatants. Earlier this summer, gunmen and suicide bombers stormed the northern Afghan offices of the U.S.-based DAI charity, killing at least five people.

One of the victims of this week's ambush, a female British doctor identified as 36-year-old Karen Woo, had set up a Facebook page for the fated Nuristan expedition, requesting donations for the charity and posting photos of herself and Afghan children. Another photo shows at least two SUVs on a rocky path in Nuristan surrounded by snow-capped mountains, in a hauntingly idyllic scene not far from where the group was killed.

Food Stamps Face 14 Billion Dollar Cut Soon If Not Blocked

Link to original article: Bill slashing food stamp funds worries charities. If it passes, Harris County could lose up to $174 million in federal aid

"Local charities already struggling to provide food for needy families worry that a U.S. Senate bill that cuts $14 billion from the national food stamp program will increase demand for assistance in the Houston area and put more strain on nonprofit groups"

“We think this is a huge mistake,” Dwyer said. “The food program is the front line of hunger relief in America. With the cut, the pressure falls to charities that are not equipped to handle it.”

The Senate approved a $26 billion financial aid package Thursday to help state and local governments cover Medicaid payments and avoid teacher layoffs. And it’s doing it by siphoning money from the food stamp program. The bill calls for rolling back an increase in food stamp benefits provided through last year’s stimulus recovery act. The rollback would save $12 billion and would go into effect in 2014.

More than 524,000 Harris County families are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. A slash in benefits would mean the average Houston family of four would see a $60-a-month reduction in benefits, said Brian Greene, president and CEO of the Houston Food Bank.

Nearly 41 percent of families who receive food stamps have incomes at or below the federal poverty line, and only 13 percent have incomes above the poverty line, according to government records. The 2010 poverty threshold is $22,050 a year. A full-time wage earner making minimum wage earns just $15,080 a year, Greene said. “It’s the low-wage employment that’s driving them to pantries, and that’s why we need a strong food stamp program,” he said. In a recent Houston Food Bank survey, 62 percent of those surveyed said they had to choose between buying food and paying utilities and 52 percent said they had to choose between buying food and paying rent.
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JMC Ministries Response:

The body of Christ needs to facilitate the love of Christ through giving our time and resources to reach these that will be affected if this bill passes.

In no way should we as Christians say that everyone who is on food stamps is lazy. This form of assistance is supposed to be a hand up for those out of work and a way to help those who can't work.

The love of Christ knows no bounds when it comes to helping people.

I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to convict hearts across the country to give time, money, and prayers for the homeless shelters, food pantries, churches, and others who reach out to feed the need.