Terror threat -- U.S. churches in danger

by Becky Yeh

With the recent airing of an al-Qaeda video that encourages Muslims to attack religious institutions, Christian churches are being warned.

In a video released by al-Qaeda spokesman Adam Gadahn, the American-born Muslim asks jihadists to quickly obtain guns and carry out terrorist attacks against the West. He states that Muslims are placed in the region to "do major damage to the enemies of Islam, waging war on their religion, sacred places, and things and brethren."

"That's very troubling," admits Steve Amundson of the Florida Security Council. "Adam Gadhan lived here in Southern California for a number of years. He studied under Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi at the Islamic Center of Orange County, which is in Garden Grove."

church steepleGadahn's statements to U.S. Muslims follow the death of Osama bin Laden. In response, the Christian Emergency Network has issued a warning for churches in the United States, and Amundson advises Christians to stay alert.

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ACLU Attacks God and Children, Again

by Mark Baisley

Last Tuesday, June 21, 2011, the ACLU filed its latest lawsuit against an American school district for violating their “separation between church and state” mantra. The specific offense is allowing parents to spend vouchers for their children at schools that have a religious foundation.

The famous words, “wall of separation between church and state” came from a letter of assurance from President Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church. That same letter from Jefferson also includes the sentiments, “I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man.”

And yet, there is no insistence by the courts nor the ACLU that public schools recognize the Father and Creator of man.

Thomas Jefferson was not a fan of having a Bill of Rights in the Constitution.

Yet his unofficial words that were never debated, voted on, nor ratified have become the phrase used to hammer school districts who would dare allow voluntary attendance to schools that acknowledge an intelligent design behind the science that they teach.

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Why I Left Islam - Farhad

Indonesian mob burns churches, attacks police

by Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Hundreds of Islamic hard-liners stormed a courthouse and set two churches on fire Tuesday in central Indonesia to protest what they considered a lenient sentence for a Christian convicted of blaspheming Islam.

Antonius Richmond Bawengan, 58, was found guilty of distributing books and leaflets that "spread hatred about Islam" and sentenced to five years for blasphemy. Islamic hard-liners shouted during the rioting that the man should have received the death penalty. Anti-riot police fired into the air to disperse the crowd.

The mob set two churches on fire and threw rocks at a third and a school building. They also torched a police truck, three cars and six motorcycles.

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Why I Left Islam - Rita

Why I Left Islam - Kamran

Underground Chinese churchs coming out of hiding

Egyptian Christian worshippers murdered by Muslims

Egypt: Coptic Christians demand justice

for worshippers murdered by Muslims

by Asia News

Dozens of Christians and Muslims protested in front of the Egyptian Supreme Court in Cairo on December 4 demanding the release of demonstrators jailed for their participation in protests held at Talbiya on November 24. They want to draw the court’s attention to the fact that police used live ammunition during the protest, killing four Copts and wounding an additional 120.

The demonstrators want all those in jail to be released, including children and minors. They also call for the resignation and prosecution of Giza’s governor and chief of state security “who gave orders to open fire on the unarmed Coptic protesters," said Dr. Naguib Ghobrial, head of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organization, who organised the rally.

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Giant Jesus Now Looms Over Polish Town

by Scott Baker

SWIEBODZIN, Poland (AP) — Workers have completed a giant statue of Jesus Christ in a small Polish town that its creators say ranks as the biggest in the world.

Hundreds of residents gathered to watch a towering crane lifting the crowned head onto the top of the statue in the town of Swiebodzin on Saturday.

The statue is the creation of a retired local priest, Rev. Sylwester Zawadzki. Many local residents and business people in Swiebodzin (shvee-eh-BOHD’-jeen) say they hope it will put their town of 22,000 on the map for Roman Catholic pilgrims and bring in money to their community.

Organizers say it will be the largest statue of Jesus in the world, rising even higher than Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue.

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It's Now A Crime to Request A Christian Roommate

Should pastors speak about candidates from the pulpit?

Pastors, not the government, should decide when

they can speak about candidates from the pulpit

by Wayne Grudem

An important moral voice in American public life was muzzled in 1954, and we are still paying the price.

Before 1954, pastors of churches were free to speak out about candidates and political issues whenever they thought it wise to do so, and many did. But in 1954, Congress amended the Internal Revenue Code to restrict the speech of non-profit organizations. This amendment – spearheaded by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson of Texas – required churches to refrain from promoting or opposing any political candidate by name. Apparently Johnson had proposed the amendment to “get back” at two non-profit organizations that had vocally opposed his candidacy. His amendment passed on a voice vote without debate.

Since that time, the IRS has insisted that any speech by churches that deals with candidates for political office, including a pastor’s sermon, could result in a church losing its non-profit, tax-exempt status. This law has suppressed the valuable moral guidance that American pulpits could be contributing to our political process.

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Pastors Defy IRS by Talking Politics

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