Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Young evangelicals high on social issues, but lean toward socialism
A research and educational institute has found young evangelicals are moving to the left politically -- many of their convictions are supporting more liberal public policies. A number of books and reports find evangelicals under the age of 30 have a strong desire to help the poor, and are concerned about the environment as well as other social justice issues.
Ryan Messmore of The Heritage Foundation tells OneNewsNow, "What we found is that a lot of young evangelicals have a good passion about caring for people in need and we want to say 'Amen' to that passion. The problem is that that passion is often directed in bad policy initiatives and approaches."
Messmore says many young evangelicals interpret God's call to help those in need as providing more government assistance and redistribution of wealth from the rich to the poor.
"What we're trying to argue is that if you really care about poverty, if you really understand what poverty is, it's not just material in nature," he says. "It's not just a lack of money or finances that the government can come along and meet. Given who we are as human beings, we have a wide range of needs -- and a true approach to helping people in need takes into account all of those approaches."
The Heritage Foundation attempts to help young evangelicals see that families, churches, and local neighborhood initiatives are more effective in addressing the real needs of the people rather than the government.
Socialism 'unbiblical'
Historian James Rose says socialism is an "unbiblical" idea of man and government that has become very popular with many Americans.
Rose, founder of the American Christian History Institute, says many Americans are welcoming European-type socialism as a model for the United States. Rose points to the biblical story of Israel when the nation cried out for a king to rule over them instead of God. When God responded to their request, he told them their king would "take" from them all that they had -- an early example of socialism, Rose suggests. (Listen to audio report)
"Socialism is a false, deceitful view of man and government. It seeks to do things to people while it undermines individual responsibility and private capital," he explains.
"This view of man and government appears to offer safety and security and to supply our needs and wants, [but in fact] it makes the individual more and more dependent on public policy and less and less able to be independent and self-governing."
One News Now: Read More
Rhode Island School Keeps Prayer Banner
A Rhode Island school district has decided to legally fight, if necessary, to keep a prayer banner hanging inside a public school despite threats from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The Cranston School Committee voted 4-3 Monday to continue displaying a banner of the Cranston West prayer. About 200 people came to the Monday meeting to witness the vote, with much of the crowd supporting the banner.
Committee member Michael Traficante said the banner models the morals on which the country was founded. He and fellow committee member Frank Lombardi proposed the recommendation approved Monday.
The battle over the banner began last July when the Rhode Island chapter of the ACLU asked the school district to remove the prayer, saying it violates the First Amendment and the constitutional principle of separation of church and state.
The R.I. chapter of the ACLU took special offense to the prayer’s opening and closing statements, “Our Heavenly Father” and “Amen.” The group says having the prayer in school is proselytizing.
However, school officials say the prayer is meant to be non-denominational.
The beginning of the prayer banner reads, “Gant us each day the desire to do our best, to grow mentally and morally as well as physically; to be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers; to be honest with ourselves as well as with others. Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win. Teach us the value of true friendship. Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston High School West.”
The prayer, which is no longer said out loud, has hung in Cranston West for 50 years.
Still, the R.I. ACLU chapter urged the school to reword the prayer, take it down altogether, or face legal action.
Monday, March 7, 2011
10 Commandments Removed From Virigina School In Face Of Lawsuit
The Ten Commandments were first posted on the walls of Giles Gounty Schools in 1999, but were removed this past December following an anonymous complaint. A month ago the school board voted unanimously to re-post the Commandments, but has now decided to take them down again.
"One of the things that I think they're able to do is to be able to appropriately display the Ten Commandments in the right context, at the right time, in the right manner,” Staver explains, “because of its historical nature and the fact that it has a very strong and very significant educational component."
While the Liberty Counsel founder will not divulge the advice his firm gave the board, he points out the U.S. Supreme Court has never indicated the Ten Commandments are impermissible in all circumstances.
“Indeed they can be posted in the right context,” he affirms, “and indeed they have been upheld in many situations at both the lower courts and at the federal courts of appeals as well."
Staver says the school board is currently weighing all its options, and assures that Liberty Counsel will stand behind the board all the way.
Read More From One News Now
College Students Handing Out Bibles In Ethiopia Attacked By Mob
Ethiopia (MNN) ― A mob of Muslim extremists overpowered police to get to Christians sharing the Gospel.
Voice of the Martyrs, Canada recently reported that 17 students were on a short-term mission trip at the tail end of February in Oma village, Ethiopia. The students, from Meda Welabu University, went to the Muslim village distributing Bibles and striking up conversations with villagers.
As students were handing out Gospels and talking to Muslims, one of the villagers began to argue with the believers. His rage became so overwhelming that a mob began to attack the young students.
The mob of Muslim extremists began shouting "Allah Akbar," which means in English, "Allah is greater." They beat the students with rods and threw stones at them. Government militia attempted to protect the students but were overpowered by the mob.
The mob attempted to set the Christians' car on fire, but failed, and the students were able to get away.
Currently, the students are praising God that no one was killed. They are, nonetheless, distraught that such a thing would happen in a country that guarantees freedom of religion. Ethiopia is #43 out of 50 countries on the Open Doors' World Watch List of the highest concentration of persecution.
4,000 Muslims Attack Christian Homes And Burn Down Church In Egypt
(AINA) -- A mob of nearly four thousand Muslims has attacked Coptic homes this evening in the village of Soul, Atfif in Helwan Governorate, 30 kilometers from Cairo, and torched the Church of St. Mina and St. George. There are conflicting reports about the whereabouts of the Church pastor Father Yosha and three deacons who were at church; some say they died in the fire and some say they are being held captive by the Muslims inside the church.
Witnesses report the mob prevented the fire brigade from entering the village. The army, which has been stationed for the last two days in the village of Bromil, 7 kilometers from Soul, initially refused to go into Soul, according to the officer in charge. When the army finally sent three tanks to the village, Muslim elders sent them away, saying that everything was "in order now."
A curfew has been imposed on the 12,000 Christians in the village.
This incident was triggered by a relationship between 40-year-old Copt Ashraf Iskander and a Muslim woman. Yesterday a "reconciliation" meeting was arranged between the relevant Coptic and Muslim families and together with the Muslim elders it was decided that Ashraf Iskander would have to leave the village because Muslims torched his house.
The father of the Muslim woman was killed by his cousin because he did not kill his daughter to preserve the family's honor, which led the woman's brother to avenge the death of his father by killing the cousin. The village Muslims blamed the Christians.
The Muslim mob attacked the church, exploding 5-6 gas cylinders inside the church, pulled down the cross and the domes and burnt everything inside. Activist Ramy Kamel of Katibatibia Coptic advocacy called US-based Coptic Hope Sat TV and sent an SOS on behalf of the Copts in Soul village, as they are presently being attacked by the mob. He also said that no one is able to contact the priest and the deacons inside the burning church and there is no answer from their mobile phones.
400 Kentucky Residents Protest Westboro Baptist Church Group
The United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of the controversial church last Wednesday, stating that funeral picketing is a form of free expression protected by the First Amendment."I believe without the First Amendment, they wouldn't be able to protest. But without our troops, they wouldn't have that amendment," resident Donnie Russell said.
Because of this ruling, the church members have shown up at military funerals across the country, and protesters said they came to prevent it from happening in Louisville."I think it is despicable that they would blame this on the soldiers. It's not the soldiers' fault. They're barking up on the wrong tree," resident Beth Dorsey said.
Read More From WLKY.com