School District Pays Over $40K to Atheist Group, Removes Ten Commandments to End Lawsuit

A Ten Commandments display placed on the campus of
Valley High School of New Kensington-Arnold
School District in Pennsylvania

By Michael Bykoski
Christian Post

A school district in Pennsylvania is paying the nation's largest atheist group over $40,000 following a years-long legal battle over a Ten Commandments monument.

New Kensington-Arnold School District and the Freedom From Religion Foundation reached the settlement that was announced earlier this week, in which the district agreed to remove the Ten Commandments display from a local high school.

In a statement published on Triblive, School District Superintendent John Pallone said the district decided "to take the high road," and "compromised and agreed to remove the monument" within 30 days.

"Under the agreement to remove the monument, the school district's insurance company will pay $163,500 in legal fees, including more than $40,000 to the Freedom From Religion Foundation."

The 6-foot-tall monument of the Ten Commandments has stood at Valley High School near the public school's gymnasium entrance since it was donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles in 1957.

In September 2012, FFRF filed a lawsuit against the school district on behalf of a few local residents who took issue with the display.

Christian Post article continues

Chinese Christians Sentenced to Up to 7 Years in Prison Over Christian Devotionals

'This isn't a judgement: it's persecution.'

Catholics attend a Christmas eve mass at a Catholic church 

near the city of Taiyuan, Shanxi province, December 24, 2012

By Stoyan Zaimov 

Christian Post

Five persecuted Christians in China have reportedly been sentenced to between three to seven years in prison for purchasing and selling what authorities called "forbidden Christian devotional books."

"Of them, pastor Li Dongzhe and Piao Shunnan received seven years, Zhao Chunxia and Li Yuan were given five years, and Shi Jinyan was sentenced to three years," the report stated.

"Most of them belong to a Korean ethnic minority group that resides within China, and all of them attend registered churches. They were arrested last June."

The Communist government in China has been cracking down on Christian churches, pastors of underground congregations, and various Christian minorities that it deems pose a threat to its rule.

In January, a predominate house church pastor in southwest China's Guizhou province was tortured into "confessing" charges related to "divulging state secrets," and sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Pastor Yang Hua of Living Stone Church was first detained in December 2015 when he tried to prevent authorities from taking his computer and hard drive during a raid on the house church.

His lawyer, Chen Jiangang, stated,

"Even a day in jail is too much for an innocent person. I have only one thing to say about this. This isn't a judgement: it's persecution."

"This is a political case that has nothing to do with the law or the truth," he added. "This is political persecution pure and simple."

Christian Post article continues

Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google; like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link.  

China's Terror Laws Increasingly Used To Crack Down On Churches

Christians in China are facing increased restrictions  

By Andrew Blake
Christian Today

Another crackdown on Christians in China is being reported. Radio Free Asia says both Catholic and Protestant congregations are being targeted in the northwestern region of Xinjiang.

Underground churches are being put under the spotlight by the state. 

'The ruling Chinese Communist Party, which embraces atheism, has stepped up controls over any form of religious practice among its citizens in recent years,' says the report, 'putting increasing pressure on faith groups to join the Protestant Three Self Patriotic Association or the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, which has no ties with the Vatican.'

The attempts to disrupt unofficial churches are apparently being made in the name of 'anti-terrorism'. An anonymous church member is quoted saying:

'We don't dare gather for worship now... The police are saying it's part of terrorism prevention in Xinjiang and that they won't allow gatherings of even a few people.'

While officially sanctioned churches continue to grow, the house churches and underground networks of churches have also experienced growth in numbers, despite harassment from the government. The church member went onto say, 

'I heard that several churches...have been targeted. They are also going after people regarded as participating in evil cults.'

Fines have been issued, Bibles have been confiscated and some churches are now too afraid to meet. A government official is reported to have said: 'They all have to worship in [an officially approved] church.'

Website: www.christiantoday.com

Nigeria's Forgotten Christians

By Eric Metaxas
Christian Post

Almost nobody knows what's happening to the Christians of Nigeria — but even fewer care. Here's why we should.

In Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country, Christians don't have time to worry about culture wars. They're too busy facing a real one instigated by their Muslim neighbors and by a government that has studiously decided to look the other way. The scope of the violence is so vast as to be almost beyond belief, so let me first give you a snapshot of what's happening on the ground.

Deborah, now 31 and living in a camp for the internally displaced, was captured by the Boko Haram terrorist group and held captive for a year and a half. The Islamists came to her village and slaughtered her husband and family before abducting her and "marrying" her off to a 20-year-old Muslim terrorist, who complained of her argumentativeness while raping and impregnating her. After Deborah was recaptured following an escape, she received 80 lashes as punishment. She told journalist Douglas Murray that she no longer fears death.

"What sort of death would I be running from?" Deborah asks. "I have already died once."

You could repeat Deborah's basic story countless times in Nigeria. Operation World estimates that Nigeria, which is an officially secular state with a Muslim president, is 51 percent Christian and 45 percent Muslim. 

Since 1999, the West African nation of about 158 million people has been convulsed by ongoing attempts at imposing Islamic law in eight northern, mostly Muslim states, as well as in four other states where Christians predominate or where the numbers are fairly even.

Things are particularly bad in the north right now. Unarmed Christian villages there are sitting ducks for Muslim Fulani tribesmen, who have been armed with weaponry provided by elements in the national military. According to The Spectator, it's religiously motivated genocide, although outside agencies dismiss the violence as tit-for-tat.

"The locals daren't collect the freshest bodies," the magazine reports. "Some who tried earlier have already been killed, spotted by the waiting militia and hacked down or shot. The Fulani are watching everything closely from the surrounding mountains."

"Every week, their progress across the northern states of Plateau and Kaduna continues. Every week, more massacres — another village burned, its church razed, its inhabitants slaughtered, raped or chased away."

Open Doors USA, as part of its annual World Watch List, says the killings have jumped by a whopping 62 percent in a year. And while Nigeria is No. 12 on the World Watch List of Christian persecution globally, it's in the top 10 in terms of overall violence.

And yet it's not all gloom and doom in Nigeria. As Tertullian reminded us, the blood of the martyrs is often the seed of the church. 

Operation World says the country now boasts a strong prayer movement, dynamic church growth, and a growing missionary movement, with more than 5,000 cross-cultural workers — many of them in Nigeria or in other African nations.

Christian Post report continues

Right to Share the Gospel at Risk in Trial of British Preachers

CBN News

Three British street preachers will appear before a British court Thursday charged with public order offenses for preaching the gospel and offending bystanders.

On July 6th, 2016, Michael Overd, Adrian Clark and Michael Stockwell were sharing about the differences between Islam and Christianity at an outdoor event in Bristol, England.

Then police officers interrupted the event and forced them to stop speaking to a crowd that had gathered.

Michael Overd was wearing a body camera at the time and captured the moment when a police officer forcibly removed the three from the scene.

"You are causing a disturbance," said a police officer to Overd. "You are not welcome, okay?"

The police officer proceeded to ask Orverd for his personal details.

"I'm going to give you a Dispersal Notice to leave the area," the police officer told Overd. "I'm not going to leave the area," Overd replied.

A few minutes later, video shows Overd being forced to the ground by the officer.

"I've got a bad back, sir," Orverd can be heard screaming in the video. "Then, get up! Get up!" shouts the officer. "You are hurting my arm," Overd replied.

Later, the officer accuses Overd of challenging homosexuality and Islam, and upsetting the peace, to which Mr Overd responds that he and his friends were "just saying what the Bible says."

CBN news article continues

Christian Man Dies After Being Forced To Spend Night In Cold Pond For Refusing To Deny Christ

Ruth Gledhill
Christianity Today

A Christian man in India has died after he and his wife were forced to spend the night in a cold pond for refusing to deny Christ.

Bartu Urawn, 50, from Jharkhand state, survived the night, but has now died from illness which came on afterward.

Other villagers in Kubuaa, Palamu disrtrict were upset that he and his wife had deserted their indigenous faith.

They were made to spend the 17 hours overnight in the pond as punishment with their hands tied, their son Beneswar Urawn told Morning Star News.

After Bartu emerged, he became ill and suffered two bouts of paralysis due to nerve damage.

Beneswar Urawn said: 

'All throughout the night, they were in the cold water shivering, and I along with 15-20 villagers were witness to the brutality. The villagers kept asking my father if he is ready to forsake Christ and return to the Sarna fold."

He reiterated every time, "I will not deny Christ … I will continue to believe till my last breath."

Christian Today story continues 

Blogger's note: Christians in America live relatively secure and comfortable lives. Thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters live in countries where they face death simply for being a Christian. 

How many American Christians, who claim to love Jesus, would be willing to refuse to deny Christ, even in the face of certain death? If the church in America continues its apathy and indifference to the plight of our brothers and sisters, what persecution awaits us if we continue to ignore this genocide.

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:40

New Mexico City Officials Consider Next Step to Defend Ten Commandments Monument

By Heather Clark
Christian News

Officials in a New Mexico city are considering their next steps to defend a Ten Commandments monument placed on the grounds of city hall after the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied this week a request for a full court review of a three-judge panel’s ruling against the Decalogue display.

“Americans shouldn’t be forced to censor or whitewash religion’s role in history simply to appease the emotional response of two offended individuals with a political agenda,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel Jonathan Scruggs, which represented the City of Bloomfield in court.

As previously reported, the monument at issue had been erected in 2011 following a resolution allowing private citizens to place historical displays at Bloomfield City Hall. A former city council member had proposed the monument four years prior, which was then approved by city council but paid for with private money.

“Presented to the people of San Juan County by private citizens recognizing the significance of these laws on our nation’s history,” the monument read, which was unveiled during a special ceremony on Independence Day 2011.

But Wiccans Jane Felix and Buford Coone of the Order of the Cauldron of the Sage felt offended by the monument and contacted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for assistance.

“Our clients who are not Christians, they took issue with this and it made them feel alienated from their community,” Alexandra Smith, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, told local television station KRQE.

The organization filed a lawsuit against the city in 2012, asserting that the monument’s presence on government property amounts to the government endorsement of religion. While the city argued before the court that the monument was historical in nature, the ACLU contended that the content of the Commandments themselves is blatantly religious.

Christian News article continues

Virginia Senate Advances Bill Prohibiting Punishment of Those Who Believe in Biblical Marriage

By Heather Clark
Christian News

Lawmakers in Virginia have passed a bill that prohibits the government from punishing those who believe in biblical marriage and conduct their public lives in accordance with that conviction.

S.B. 1324 passed the Senate on Tuesday 21-19, and now moves on to the House for consideration. The vote was along party lines.

“No person shall be required to participate in the solemnization of any marriage, or subject to any penalty by the Commonwealth, or its political subdivisions or representatives or agents, notwithstanding any other provision of law, solely on account of such person’s belief, speech, or action in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman,” the legislation reads.

Sen. Charles W. Carrico Sr., R-Grayson, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that the bill is necessary to protect citizens from being sued simply because their faith prohibits them from being a partaker in others’ sins.

“And not discriminating against them because of that belief, I believe, is important to our Constitution and important to the economy of Virginia,” he said.

Christian News report continues

Blogger's note: 

Constitutional Amendment I
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment to the Constitution is clear.  "Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof" means the freedom to practice and adhere to religious beliefs without government interference or threat of punishment. End of debate.

Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google; like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link. 

Report: Boko Haram Destroyed Over 900 Churches in Northern Nigeria

By Wale Odunsi
Daily Post

The youth wing of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), 19 Northern states‎, yesterday said over 900 churches have been lost to Boko haram terrorism in the North east.

It therefore urged the Federal Government to rebuild the churches and also re-establish Nigeria Inter Religion Council (NIREC) with a view to curbing incessant religious violence in the country.

Speaking after its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting held in Gusau, Zamfara State, the youth wing Chairman, Evangelist Musa Misal, noted that demolished churches that needed to be rebuilt were spread across Gombe,Yobe, Adamawa, Borno, among others.

The youths lamented “continued attacks on Christians in Southern Kaduna, Plateau, Benue, and Taraba communities”, stressing This carnage is no longer accidental”.

They also called on the Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-rufai, to treat both religions with equal rights and privileges in the provision of dividends of democracy.

Meanwhile, CAN national leadership has urged Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to use his postion to address critical matters, especially killing of Christians.

Website: dailypost.ng

Mississippi Town Rallies After Complaint Results in Removal of Christian Flag

By Heather Clark
Christian News

Over 100 residents from a small Mississippi town rallied on Saturday after a complaint from a prominent professing atheist organization that took issue with a Christian flag being displayed in a public park resulted in the removal of the banner.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter on Jan. 20 to Rienzi Mayor Walter Williams to assert that the flag, which had been flown in Veterans Memorial Park, was unconstitutional. It said that it had been contacted by a local resident—who was not named—to advise them of the flag’s presence.

“We write to ensure that the town remove the Christian flag from its memorial garden in order to avoid unconstitutional religious endorsement,” the letter read.

 “We appreciate that the town of Reinzi is attempting to memorialize [veterans’] sacrifice. But as numerous government entities have already discovered, honoring those who have served their community and country does not override the need to remain neutral toward religion.”

FFRF urged Williams to utilize a completely secular display instead, and noted that it can be “quite costly” to ignore their request as another city settled with FFRF in 2015 for $500,000.

“There are countless ways to recognize the sacrifice of our veterans and military members without also endorsing one religion over all others in violation of the Constitution,” it said. “By flying a Christian flag over the memorial, Rienzi sends the message that the town values the service of minority religious and nonreligious service members less than their Christian counterparts.”

As a result of the letter, Williams had the flag removed.

“I never dreamed that something like this would have happened in a town this small, but it happened,” he told local television station WREG. “We’re gonna fly that flag again and I’m hoping it’s not going to be long.”

On Saturday, more than 100 residents from the small town of 300 held a rally in support of the flag, some themselves bearing the emblem.

“We’re not gonna let other people, or a foundation, or anybody else up in Wisconsin tell us that we can’t fly our flag!” organizer Kevin Nelms proclaimed to those gathered.

Christian News story continues

Atheist Mother Sues West Virginia School System Over Elective ‘Bible in the Schools’ Program

By Heather Clark
Christian News

BLUEFIELD, W.V. — An atheist woman whose daughter attends a public elementary school in West Virginia has filed a lawsuit to challenge a more than 75-year-old elective Bible course as she “wishes to raise her child … without religion.”

The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit on behalf of the woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous under the name “Jane Doe.” Her daughter Jamie attends an elementary school in Mercer County, and is in kindergarten.

The Mercer County school system offers a “Bible in the Schools” program, which is available on a weekly basis in over a dozen elementary schools and three middle schools.

The course, which is paid for by a non-profit organization, is elective—that is, it is available voluntarily for students who desire to learn about the Bible. The district requires that schools offer an alternative for students who prefer another option.

However, the woman is concerned that because most students choose to attend the classes, her daughter could be ostracized by others if she decides not to join the program, which has been in place since the 1930’s. She feels that her only choices are to expose her daughter to Christianity against her will or risk having her daughter looked down upon by others.

“Jamie will either be forced to attend Bible indoctrination classes against the wishes and conscience of Jane Doe, or Jamie will be the only or one of only a few children who do not participate. Jamie will therefore be made conspicuous by absence, and essentially be identified as a non-Christian or nonbeliever, subjecting Jamie to the risk of ostracism from peers and even school staff,” the suit claims.

FFRF contends that the Bible program violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which mandates that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…”

Christian News article continues

Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google; like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link.  

Indian Pastor Assaulted by Hindu Extremists

By Heather Clark
Christian News
HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – A week after a pastor fell into a coma following harassment by hard-line Hindus in southern India, a gang of Hindu extremists in the same state beat another pastor after he prayed for healing at the home of an elderly church member, family members said.

Police altered the statement of Gandham Padma Rao, 49, so that the 10 young men who assaulted him on Jan. 27 in Medipally village, Telangana state, were described only as drunken youths, not members of a Hindu nationalist group as the pastor had stated, his son told Morning Star News.

Pastor Rao fulfilled church duties the two days after the assault before seeking medical help, and doctors told family members that his blood pressure was so high that he could have suffered a hemorrhage had he waited any longer. Another pastor, 47-year-old K.A. Swamy of Hyderabad, on Jan. 21 fell into a coma after suffering high blood pressure and a brain hemorrhage hours after Hindu extremists threatened him with highly offensive language and took him to police for distributing Bibles.

Pastor Rau’s son, Samuel Mark, told Morning Star News his father had left the home of the elderly church member, who had just been released from a hospital, at about 9:30 p.m. and was walking to his car when the young men blocked his way with their motorcycles.

When the pastor ignored them and began walking on the other side of the road, one of the assailants shouted, “Why are you coming to our village? Why are you praying here?” as four others began hitting him, knocking him to the ground, relatives said.

Pastor Rao and eyewitnesses said the youths were members of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Vahini.

“They spoke to me in vulgar language: ‘You must never come to our village to pray. You should never enter our village,’” Pastor Rao told Morning Star News.

Two of the assailants held him while the others punched and kicked him, he said.

“I could not balance myself and fell in a pit nearby,” he said. “They picked me up, threw me on the road and started battering me again. I tried hard to regain my strength and run, but they followed me quickly held my collar, pushed me off with their feet. When I fell down again, they began kicking and beating me again.”

One of the Hindu extremists tried to pick up a large stone and throw it at him, he said. Area residents heard his cries and came out of their homes, including a member of his church who came running and cried out for help.

Christian News story of Pastor Rao continues

Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google; like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link.  

Iraqi Archbishop: Where Were the Protesters ‘When ISIS Came to Kill Christians’?

“We are an ancient people on the verge of extinction because of our commitment to our faith. Will anybody protest for us?” 

Virgin Mary Statue Beheaded in Iraq

By Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.
Breitbart

The Catholic Archbishop of Erbil has denounced the hypocrisy of those protesting President Trump’s recent executive order on immigration, wondering aloud where all of the demonstrators were when Islamic State fighters were slaughtering Christians and other minorities in the Middle East.

In an interview with the online journal Crux, Archbishop Bashar Warda said that from his perspective in Iraq, he couldn’t help but ask “why all of these protesters were not protesting in the streets when ISIS came to kill Christians and Yazidis and other minority groups.”

Warda also criticized the policies of the Obama administration, which offered no financial assistance to displaced Christians in Islamic State territory and instead favored Syrian Muslims when it came to accepting refugees into the United States.

“They were not protesting when the tens of thousands of displaced Christians my archdiocese has cared for since 2014 received no financial assistance from the U.S. government or the U.N.,” he said.

 “There were no protests when Syrian Christians were only let in at a rate that was 20 times less than the percentage of their population in Syria.”

“I do not understand why some Americans are now upset that the many minority communities that faced a horrible genocide will finally get a degree of priority in some manner,” Warda added.

The archbishop also suggested that the inconvenience posed by a three-month moratorium on visas is nothing compared to the suffering of minorities in Iraq and Syria during the past several years, and yet no one seemed to think that was worthy of a protest.

“Most Americans have no concept of what it was like to live as a Yazidi or Christian or other minority as ISIS invaded,” he said. “Our people had the option to flee, to convert, or to be killed, and many were killed in the most brutal ways imaginable."

“But there were none of these protests then of ISIS’s religious test,” he said.

In his lengthy interview, Warda underscored the hypocrisy of protesters who are willing to side with Muslims but won’t lift a finger to aid Christians facing genocide in the Middle East. 

Breitbart story continues 

Blogger's note: 

Since 2014, Persecution Unveiled has been posting stories concerning religious persecution. We have garnered stories from various internet sources. These reports document the unspeakable tortures, rapes, and murders committed by ISIS and radical Islamists against men, women and children.  

The main stream media and cable news networks rarely report on this genocide. The United Nations, the Obama administration and the Church in the West have been apathetic at best and complicit at worst by their inaction.

With thousands picketing and protesting for their questionable causes, why do these protesters refuse to speak out against the extermination of Christians, Yazidis and other religious minorities? Your silence is telling and shameful.

Click on Open Doors link to become an advocate for Christians being persecuted

CHRISTIAN REFUGEES MERIT PRIORITY STATUS

from the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights

Bill Donohue comments on the urgent need to give priority status to persecuted Christian refugees:

In November 2015, President Barack Obama told a G20 press conference that proposals to give priority status to Christian refugees from Syria were “shameful.” He said, “We do not have a religious test for our compassion.” Now he is criticizing President Donald Trump for making good on this initiative.

What is really shameful is Obama’s hypocrisy, and that of his supporters. According to the logic of Trump’s critics, Obama employed a religious test to keep Syrian Christian refugees out of the United States, something that Trump is now seeking to rectify. Moreover, those refugees were created, in large part, by Obama’s failed Middle East policy.

Obama’s policy of giving priority status to Muslims was so blatant that it caught the attention of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Daniel Manion.

In November, he voiced concern over the almost complete absence of Christians among the Syrian refugees. He noted that “of the nearly 11,000 refugees admitted by mid-September, only 56 were Christian.”

He further observed that “Perhaps 10 percent of the population of Syria is Christian, and yet less than one-half of one percent of Syrian refugees admitted to the United States this year are Christian.”

Article continues at Catholic League website using this link.

     

The Catholic League is the nation's largest Catholic civil rights organization. Founded in 1973 by the late Father Virgil C. Blum, S.J., the Catholic League defends the right of Catholics – lay and clergy alike – to participate in American public life without defamation or discrimination.  Use this link for more information on the Catholic League.

Persecution Unveiled has been called by God to prick the consciences of this nation and all free people to speak up and act on behalf of those who have no voice.  Follow us on  Pinterest, and Google; like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link.