WASHINGTON (BP) – The city of Houston has "no business" in issuing subpoenas for the sermons of pastors who oppose a new homosexual-transgender rights ordinance, says Southern Baptist Convention's lead ethicist Russell D. Moore. Opposition to the ordinance is based in part on concerns it will violate the religious freedom of business owners and others who disagree with the measure. Also, foes think it will make women and children vulnerable to sexual predators by permitting people to use … [Read more...]
Prayers for Abedini, persecuted church
JEFFERSON CITY – A small crowd of about 50 on the Missouri Capitol front lawn joined Christians across the U.S. and 32 foreign countries Sept. 26 in praying for and remembering American citizen and pastor Saeed Abedini and the persecuted church. It was the two-year anniversary of Abedini’s imprisonment in Iran on charges of threatening national security by planting house churches there years earlier. While in prison, he has received inadequate medical care and faced beatings and death … [Read more...]
Outrageous, arrogant ruling by judge, Koster
Jackson County Circuit Judge J. Dale Youngs, appointed to the court in 2009 by Democrat Gov. Jay Nixon, ruled Oct. 3 that part of Missouri's Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage is illegal and the state must recognize same-sex marriages occurring in other states. This arrogant and outrageous ruling comes despite Missouri citizens voting in 2004 by a 71-29 percent margin to amend the state Constitution to say that marriage will be only between a man and a woman. This ruling makes a … [Read more...]
CLC to recognize two Christian gentlemen
In 1957 a panel of United States senators concluded that attorney Daniel Webster, a senator from Massachusetts in the first half of the 19th century who argued 223 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and won about half of them, was among the five greatest senators in our nation’s history. I will not detail his bonafides, suffice it to say he is an important figure in our nation’s history. Webster once said, “Whatever makes men good Christians makes them good citizens.” No one could read … [Read more...]
ERLC: Town’s sign code violates church freedom
WASHINGTON (BP) -- The Southern Baptist Convention's religious freedom entity has called for the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a municipal sign ordinance it says violates a church's free speech and assembly rights. The Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) joined in a friend-of-the-court brief filed Sept. 22 that contends the sign code of Gilbert, Ariz., discriminates against churches while favoring political and ideological messages. The brief, filed by the Christian … [Read more...]
MBC asks Supreme Court for a sign – of freedom
The Missouri Baptist Convention has filed a brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in joining other religious groups asking for a sign – that religious freedom trumps local sign codes which discriminate against churches and church plants. The case, Reed v. Town of Gilbert, originating the Phoenix area, is potentially the most important religious freedom case on the Supreme Court's docket in the new term beginning Oct. 6. Michael and Jonathan Whitehead, a father-son legal team in Kansas City, … [Read more...]
Stand for religious liberty
NASHVILLE (BP) – Southern Baptists must boldly proclaim the Gospel as they fight for religious freedom in the United States and globally, David Platt said in an interview conducted by the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. Platt, newly elected International Mission Board president, participated in an interview with Dan Darling, vice president of communications for the ERLC, focusing on religious persecution. The ERLC posted the interview, which took place during … [Read more...]
BSU mission team fights trafficking in Moldova
ORHEI, Moldova – It was the first time she had truly been alone with her thoughts since their mission team arrived in Moldova, and Jamie Jackson couldn’t stop crying. When orphaned children reach a certain age, they are required to leave the orphanage and start taking care of themselves. The friends she had made in just a short amount of time, Valentina (13) and her brother, Nelu (14), were coming up on that age. “If they have nowhere to go, they’ve got nowhere to go,” said Jackson, a … [Read more...]
Abedini prayer vigil set for Sept. 26
TEHRAN, Iran – Christian persecution and yes, genocide, is real in the world today, and Naghmeh Abedini is calling out to the body of Christ to pray. Sept. 26 will mark two long years since her husband and American pastor, Saeed Abedini, was imprisoned in Iran for his Christian faith. And most recently, Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terrorists were brought into the same prison as Saeed. Because he is both an American and a Christian convert, he immediately started receiving … [Read more...]
What comes next is tyranny
The concepts of human rights and liberty as we know them can all be traced back to one history-changing idea; an idea that began with God’s revelation to the Jews and was brought to the world by the Christian Church. And that’s the Imago Dei, the idea that man is made in the image of God. In fact, it was the Christian concept of the Imago Dei that conquered pagan Rome. The Christians said that women, slaves, children, all had eternal value. Talk about revolutionary! This belief in … [Read more...]
China’s crackdown on the cross spreads
(WNS)–Three months after Chinese officials ripped down the gigantic Sanjiang Church in Wenzhou, the number of churches facing persecution – whether that means demolition, cross removal, or threatening notices – in Zhejiang province has reached into the hundreds, according to Texas-based Christian human rights group ChinaAid. Every few days, news of cross removals and confrontations between church members and police streams out of the region. ChinaAid has compiled many of the reports into … [Read more...]
Fayette school district settles prayer suit
FAYETTE – The Fayette R-III School District has agreed in federal court to change policies regarding the religious expression of teachers and school district staff. The move comes as a result of a suit brought by the American Humanist Association on behalf of a former student. The suit alleged a faculty adviser for a student religious club prayed with students before class and that the club’s meetings were announced over the intercom. Under the consent decree, the school district has … [Read more...]
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