China: Christian Summer Camp Organizers Detained by Police for 'Indoctrinating Minors'

One of the church cross demolitions that were
frequented in Zhejiang, China until recently.

By Ruth Gledhill
Christian Today

Two Christian summer camp organizers were detained in China last month on the charge of "indoctrinating minors with superstitious beliefs".
Zhou Yanhua and Gao Ming, members of Yining County Church in Xinjiang region, had been getting ready to drive a group of children to a Christian summer camp.

Just as they were about to leave, police turned up, took the two women into custody and also took the children to the police station to register their identities.

An elder from Yining County Church, Xie Xianhua, said officials also called the families and school teachers of the children involved, threatening to deduct the teachers' wages or keep the students from being admitted to higher grade levels, according to the human rights organisation China Aid.

Gao, 27, who is a student at Yanjing Theological Seminary, was held behind bars for 15 days.  Zhou, the head of the church sponsoring the summer camp, was held for 10 days.

Chinese law forbids religious instruction being given to anyone under 18. It is held to be brainwashing. Christian parents and church leaders can get into trouble with police if they involve their children in any Christian activities, according to China Aid.

"Gao's status as a student at an official, government-sanctioned seminary reveals that not only house churches are at risk for government suppression. Members of China's official Protestant church, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement, are also targeted," the charity reported.

A conversation took place on the Chinese messaging app WeChat between other students at the seminary.

China Aid translated some sections, where students prayed to "strengthen the faith of the co-workers, strengthen the church and also protect the children could continuously follow the Lord".

One student seminarian said: 

"Also, pray for the parents and the kids. It is common to be detained because of things like this."

Website: christiantoday.com 

PARENTS SUE SCHOOL FOR FORCING DAUGHTER TO ‘CONVERT’ TO ISLAM

By Adan Salazar
Info Wars

Parents in Maryland are suing public school administrators over concerns that a classroom lesson attempted to indoctrinate their daughter into the Islamic faith.

In an incredible lawsuit filed in US district court last week, Melissa Wood and her husband John Wood, an eight-year US Marine Corps veteran, claim the La Plata Public School violated the First Amendment by promoting “Islam over other faiths, such as Christianity or Judaism.”

The Woods claim their daughter, identified as C.W. in court documents obtained by Infowars, was assigned lessons and homework in her 11th grade World History class which “required the students… to profess statements on the teachings and beliefs of Islam in written worksheets as graded homework assignments,” violating the family’s Christian faith.

According to the lawsuit, “C.W. and her classmates in 11th grade World History were instructed that ‘Most Muslim’s faith is stronger than the average Christian.’”
Additionally, “C.W. also had to profess the Shahada, by claiming, ‘There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah,’” the lawsuit reads.

“This statement is in direct contradiction to C.W.’s deep-seeded Christian beliefs and heritage that it is sinful to express that there is any other god but the monotheistic Christian God.”

The Woods also took issue with C.W. being instructed that “’jihad’ is a ‘holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty.”

The lawsuit claims the history class instructed students to read from the text of the Qur’an and directed them “to learn and recite the Five Pillars of Islam.”

Article continues

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Police charge man with murder of Christian father who tried to retrieve daughter from forced marriage

Mehwish Masih was kidnapped and forced into an Islamic marriage. BPCA

By Ruth Gledhill
Christian Today

A man in Pakistan has been charged with the murder of the father of a 14-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped, raped and forced into Islamic marriage.

Mehwish Masih, who is herself still missing, had to leave school early because her parents could no longer afford the fees. She went into domestic service and did not return home from her new employer's house.

A few days later the family received a letter stating that she had willingly converted to Islam and was now married. The family was denied access to Mehwish.

Her father Tanveer Masih sold his home and hired a lawyer to try to get his daughter back.

On 31 May he was shot dead after agreeing to meet someone who had told him he could retrieve his daughter if he dropped the legal action.

One man has been charged with murder and is expected to appear soon at Faisalabad High Court. A futher man is still being sought by police.

The family is being helped by the British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), which has moved them to a safe home and is helping with legal costs, food and education.

"Taking them away from the threats of the relatives of the accused has helped galvanise the family for the necessary court hearings they will have to attend. We will also protect them as much as possible from abuse and threats during those hearings and will be with them at all hearing dates. BPCA have been providing biblically based counselling and general advice," a spokesman said.

Najma Tanveer, widow of Tanveer Masih, said: 

"We were hopeless and destitute but God has delivered us. I have lost my husband Tanveer but thank God that I know he is safe in His presence. The cruel men that destroyed our lives will have to answer before God one day but even before then, I believe they will be punished here on earth too. I want my daughter Mehwish back so desperately, she should be in my arms that I can protect and comfort her. Please ask Christians to pray for her safety and return."

 Read more

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NETANYAHU TELLS ISRAELI STUDENTS: STUDY THE BIBLE

Benjamin Netanyahu recommends people read the Bible
(courtesy CBN video)

World Net Daily 

In America, public school students aren’t likely to hear about the Bible on the first day of classes.

But, in Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with 200 students, along with Education Minister Naftali Bennett, and urged them to be serious about Bible study – in the public schools.

Reminiscing about his school days, Netanyahu told the students to learn and “be good children.” In his speech, he emphasized coexistence and, at the same time, the importance of learning Jewish history.

“I want you to listen to me because I want you to learn – learn to write, learn to read, learn Hebrew, Arabic and English,” he said. “I want you to learn mathematics. I want you to learn science. I want you to learn history – history of the Jewish People, the history of your public. I want you to learn the truth, and the truth says that we were destined to live together.”

He continued, “I want you to be doctors, scientists and writers, and be whatever you want to – and are able to – be. I want you to be loyal citizens, integrated into the state of Israel; this is your state.”

The prime minister unconsciously echoed the Book of Proverbs when he instructed the students to listen to their parents and their teachers.

“Learn well. Go back home and do what mother and father tell you,” he told them.

Later, Netanyahu made an address to Israel’s students at large, exhorting them to learn the Bible in order to understand “why we are here” in Israel.

“First of all the study of the Bible,” he said. “We must make a major effort, this is the basis for why we are here, why we have returned here, why we stay here.”

Netanyahu takes his own advice and conducts Bible studies at his version of the “White House” in a “Bible study club” – a tradition begun by the first prime minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion.

He also met with contestants in a Bible knowledge competition in which students from around the world participate. He invited them to come to Israel to visit, to study and to live in the Jewish state.

Website: wnd.com

Elementary School Bible Club Ceases Following Complaint From Atheist Activist Group

By Heather Clark
Christian News Network

BREA, Calif. — A Bible club at an elementary school in California is no more following a complaint from a prominent professing atheist group that seeks to combat what it believes are violations of the “separation of Church and State.”
Earlier this year, the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) sent a letter to the Brea Olinda Unified School District after it was contacted by a parent who expressed concern that their son might feel pressure to join.

According to the correspondence, Club Monarch had been included in the weekly newsletter at Mariposa Elementary School and is listed on the online school calendar. There had been posters on the wall advertising the club as well, and the school’s principal had spoken about the option to parents during a back-to-school night.

“If a school chooses to allow outside groups to host after school programs on its property and an outside group decides to create a religious program, there must be no school involvement in the organization or promotion of that religious program,” FFRFwrote. “That means that the district cannot promote Club Monarch on its website, its school walls, to parents at back-to-school night, and cannot coordinate sign-ups for the club in the school office.”

The organization sent a second letter in March after submitting a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and discovered that Mariposa Elementary School had sent home registration forms for parents and that teachers had helped to plan and coordinate the meetings. Superintendent Brad Mason also spoke at the club on one occasion.

“It is impossible for this club to continue in a constitutional manner. The club and the school are inextricably entangled,” FFRF wrote. “The Brea Olinda USD can no longer allow teachers and other staff to take advantage of their positions and access to children to proselytize and attempt to convert students to Christianity. Club Monarch must be disbanded.”

On Aug. 26, the atheist organization received notice from attorneys for the district that the club has ceased its activities.  

Story continues here

Blogger's Note:  Below is an excerpt from this article regarding the primer used in schools before the founding of our nation until the early 20th century. 

The first textbook used in the American colonies even before the nation’s founding, “The New England Primer,” was largely focused on the Scriptures, and was stated to be popular in public and private schools alike until approximately the early 1900’s. It used mostly the King James Bible as reference, and spoke much about sin, salvation and proper behavior.

“Save me, O God, from evil all this day long, and let me love and serve Thee forever, for the sake of Jesus Christ, Thy Son,” it read.

 Many of the Founders’ children learned to read from the primer.

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UCLA Campus Leader Departs Over ‘Hostile, Unsafe’ Climate for Pro-Israel Students

Milan Chatterjee 

by JTA
The Times of Israel

The former president of the UCLA Graduate Students Association has left the university’s law school over what he calls a “hostile and unsafe campus climate.”

Milan Chatterjee will complete his third year of law school at New York University School of Law, the Los Angeles-based Jewish Journalreported.

Last November, Chatterjee, who is Hindu, threatened to rescind funding for a student town hall if pro-Palestinian groups used the occasion to promote divestment from Israel. He said his intention was to maintain the Graduate Student Association’s neutrality in political affairs. Chatterjee was later reprimanded by the university, who said he acted outside of his authority.

Late last month, Chatterjee sent a letter to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block informing the university that he was leaving in the wake of bullying and harassment by students and organizations promoting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel.

The attacks against him came after the 2015 UCLA Diversity Caucus event, whose funding Chatterjee conditioned on its sponsors not associating with the BDS movement.

Story continues here

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Barack Obama Urged to Use G20 China Visit to Fight for Persecuted Christians

President Barack Obama boards Air Force One in Nevada to
depart for Hawaii on his way to tour Midway Atoll and
attend summits in Laos and China. Reuters

By Ruth Gledhill
Christian Today

President Barack Obama has been urged to raise the issue of religious freedom in China when he visits next week for the G20 summit.

Obama will be in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on September 4 and 5. The province has been the focus of a months-long campaign to remove hundreds of crosses from church buildings, although this persecution has lessened recently.

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom is calling on Obama to raise the issue of religious freedom with President Xi.

The commission also wants him to press for the release of prisoners of conscience.

Thomas Reese, the Jesuit chair of the commission, said: "As the Chinese government aggressively asserts itself on the global stage, at home it aggressively violates the human rights and religious freedom of its citizens.

"While these violations have intensified in Zhejiang Province, the location of the G20 summit, they also are taking place throughout China as the government seeks to repress the voices of individuals and groups advocating for their rights."

Large numbers of Christians live in Zhejiang.  Churches in Hangzhou have already been closed in advance of the G20 because of alleged security concerns and religious activities in all hospitals have been banned. Underground churches have also been ordered to cease activities.

Story continues here

Another Church Leader Falls Victim to Russia's Anti-Evangelism Law

Under the new law house churches are illegal and religious 

activity or evangelism is prohibited anywhere outside a 

registered church or religious site.  Rueters

By Carey Lodge

Christian Today

A church leader has been arrested in Russia under the country's new anti-evangelism laws, days after a US missionary was convicted and fined for holding Bible studies in his home.

According to The Moscow Times, reaching in St Petersburg and accused of "violating a provision of Russian anti-terrorist legislation that bans illegal missionary activity".

Zhuravlyov was later released on bail and is awaiting a court hearing.

The legislation he was accused of contravening was signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on July 6 and came into force two weeks later. Under the new law, known as the 'Yaroyava' package, house churches are illegal and religious activity or evangelism is prohibited anywhere outside a registered church or religious site, including private homes and online.

Only named members of religious organizations are now allowed to share their faith, and even informal witnessing between individuals is forbidden.  Critics have branded it a draconian attempt to stifle religious freedom under the guise of clamping down on terrorism.

Sergei Ryakhovsky, head of the Protestant Churches of Russia, previously wrote with other evangelical leaders to Putin urging him not to support the law.

They argued the law "violates human rights and fundamental liberties with regard to religious freedom".  Last week, it was reported that the first known victims of the legislation had been convicted and fined.

Baptist preacher Donald Ossewaarde, a US citizen, was fined 40,000 rubles (more than $600) for holding and advertising religious services in his home.

In Moscow, Ghanaian citizen Ebenezer Tuah, who heads the Christ Embassy church, was arrested and fined 50,000 rubles after police raided a sanatorium where he was performing baptisms.

Website: christiantoday.com

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Colorado School Forces Girls To Wear “islam-Compliant Clothing” For A Field Trip To Mosque

By Phoenix
US Chronicle

Remember what a big deal it was when a Muslim woman was politely asked to take off her head coverings before she was allowed to enter an Omaha bank? In that case, the rules were clearly posted on the outside of the establishment, and patrons were given the option, if they didn’t want to comply, to use the drive thru bank.

The bank stated that their policy was based on security concerns because they had been robbed more than once during the previous year by individuals who masked their identities with head coverings.

The bank was accused of religious discrimination for asking a woman to take off her burka, just as they would ask a man to take of his sunglasses or baseball cap.

In an ironic twist on what is becoming acceptable and not acceptable in society, a public school in Colorado has decided that it would be appropriate to force it students to adhere to the rules of Islamic garb as they visited a mosque in Denver during a field trip.

continue reading at http://www.uschronicle.com

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Anti-Christian Crackdown in Cuba.....

...Over 1,000 churches seized, Christians dragged away from homes, churches

A member of the Christian Ladies in White protest movement

 is arrested and taken away by Cuban security forces.  Reuters 

by Hazel Torres

Christian Today

When Pope Francis visited Cuba in September 2015, many thought the milestone event could signal a breakthrough in the campaign to promote religious freedom in the Caribbean island nation.

But now the memory of that papal visit seems to have been forgotten as Cuba's communist regime has launched a renewed crackdown on the Christian faith with reports of churches destroyed, pastors imprisoned, religious leaders' personal property seized and Christians violently stopped from worshipping.

In its latest report, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) says the Cuban regime has launched a major crackdown against churches and has seized and demolished at least 1,400 church buildings. The regime is justifying its action by claiming that the churches are unregistered, and therefore, illegal.

The report cites more than 1,000 cases of religious freedom violations, including the "destruction of church property, arbitrary detention and other forms of harassment, in particular seizure of religious leaders' personal belongings."

article contines at http://www.christiantoday.com

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Clemson University Administrator Stops Man From Praying on Campus “This isn’t a free speech area.”

By Aleister
The Gateway Pundit

If you haven’t been following higher education news, you may not be aware that this sort of thing is happening on college campuses all over America.

Schools are designating certain areas as “free speech zones” and in some cases even restricting those areas to certain times of day.

Before you get too angry at the administrator in this video, remember that he wasn’t the one who created this policy, he’s just charged with the awful task of enforcing it.   

These ridiculous policies are created by higher level administrators in closed meetings.

Red Alert Politics reported: Clemson stops man from praying on campus: ‘Not a free speech area’   

A man was stopped by a Clemson University administrator for praying on campus, telling him and a Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) activist that “this is not a designated free speech area,” and asking them to leave the area. YAF’s blog The New Guard released the video today.

The administrator, Shawn Jones who is the assistant director for client services, also called their praying “solicitation,” and demanded that they would need to fill out paperwork to continue. Clemson receives state and federal funding, and many see these restrictions as disregarding the First Amendment to the Constitution by limiting free speech to certain zones…

“I was walking across the grassy area near Fort Hill after class at about 3:15 when I saw someone sitting in a folding chair. Next to him was another folding chair with an 8×10 sign that said PRAYER. I approached him and we sat down to pray for a few minutes. When we finished, a man from the university approached us and said he could not be praying there because it was not a “designated free speech area” and presented the person who was praying with a form for the procedures for applying for “solicitation” on campus. He told him he had to leave.”

This would be a great presidential debate question. Hillary Clinton, do you believe in free speech zones and safe spaces on college campuses?

Website: thegatewaypundit.com

US Christian Among First Victims of Russia's Anti-Evangelism Law

Don and Ruth Ossewaarde

By Mark Woods

Christian News Today

The first known victims of Russia's new anti-evangelism laws have been convicted and fined, according to the Forum 18 news service.

Two individuals, one a US citizen and one Ghanaian, have been heavily fined. A Russian citizen, Aleksandr Yakimov, leader of the New Generation Pentecostal community in Mari-Turek, is due in court on August 29.

An earlier case brought against a Hare Krishna devotee resulted in the acquittal of the accused, Vadim Sibiryev.

The legislation was passed by the government of Vladimir Putin to fierce international protests from campaigners who said it was a draconian attempt to stifle religious expression under the guise of clamping down on terrorism. Putin signed it into law on July 6 and Sibiryev was tried on July 28.

In Oryol, about 360 km south-west of Moscow, Baptist preacher Donald Ossewaarde, a US citizen, was fined 40,000 rubles for holding religious services in his home and advertising them on the bulletin boards of nearby housing blocks.

Ossewaarde, who has documented his case extensively on his website, was arrested in his home where policemen came to establish that a group was meeting with him for prayer and Bible reading, which they said was illegal. In court, he was accused of posting notices in public places, inviting anyone interested in studying the Scriptures to turn him for help. The Court also ruled that he failed to give the authorities written notification when he began his religious group activities.

According to Ossewaarde, the court refused to allow time for his lawyers to come from Moscow for the initial hearing, and then provided a lawyer for him. In a "confidential conversation" after the hearing, this court appointed lawyer advised him to accept the verdict and pay the fine without appeal. He then said that it would be better for the American to leave the city, because anything might happen to him and his family.  Ossewaarde's family has returned to the US but he has stayed to appeal his case.

Story continues here

Argentinian Pupils Wearing Nazi Armbands Attack Jewish Students in 'Mengele Village'

By James Baddock
The Telegraph

Children from a German school in Buenos Aires wearing swastika armbands and fake Hitler moustaches attacked pupils from a Jewish school in a resort where several Nazi war criminals lived for decades after the Second World War, including Dr Josef Mengele, Auschwitz’s “Angel of Death”.

The incident drew swift condemnation for the pupils and the parents who were accompanying them during the school’s end-of-course trip to San Carlos de Bariloche, in the Andes.

The town became a haven for fleeing Nazis who were welcomed by the sympathetic Peronist regime.

According to witnesses, pupils from the Lanús German School arrived at a party in a nightclub dressed as Nazis.

“Some of them were in leathers with swastikas painted on their chests and backs,” Dan, one of the students who was attacked, told Argentina’s TN television channel. “We wanted them to be thrown out of the club but they shouted 'f------ Jews’ at us and proudly showed off their symbols.”

When bouncers at the club refused to eject the pupils in fancy dress, there was a “confrontation” which turned into a fight, according to Dan.  The boys dressed as Nazis were finally expelled from the club.

Silvia Fazio, the principal of the Lanús German School, apologized, saying the incident was “absolutely indefensible” and that the children involved would be punished.

“They will have to make some act of atonement for the damage caused,” said Ms Fazio, starting with a visit to Buenos Aires’s Holocaust museum alongside students from the Jewish school. “There is much to reflect on,” she added. 

She stressed that the trip to San Carlos de Bariloche was not organized by the school, but arranged privately.

“There were many adults who made mistakes, such as the parents who were with the children, the trip coordinators [and] the club staff.”

However, Ariel Cohen Sabban, president of the Argentinian Delegation of Israelite Associations, said: 

“We think the real root of the problem is in what goes on at the institution these boys attend, because these kind of attitudes must be prevented by educational means.

Story of attack on Jewish students continues

Nigeria: Eight Killed as Mob Turns on Muslim After He Saved a Christian Accused of Blasphemy

Nigerian President Buhari condemned the attacks as "barbaric and unacceptable".

by Harry Farley
Christian Today


Eight people have been killed in Nigeria after a mob burnt down the house of a Muslim man who intervened when a Christian was beaten over allegations he had blasphemed.

The incident occured on Monday after a Christian was accused of blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in the northern state of Zamfara. According to witnesses quoted by News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), a large group of Muslim students started to beat their Christian classmate.

But a Muslim passerby intervened and drove the victim to hospital, according to local media reports.

The mob then turned on the Muslim passerby and burnt down his house with eight people trapped inside. The rescuer himself was not among the dead, a police spokesman confirmed.

article continues at http://www.christiantoday.com

Christian ‘Refugees’ Turned Away as US State Department Sets New Single-day Record for Muslim Migrant Approvals

by Robert Spencer
JewsNews

“Officials insisted they’re moving faster because they’re getting better at screening.” This is impossible. How can they get better at screening when the Islamic State has told its operatives to appear moderate and secular, and when they deliberately recruit people who don’t have criminal records, so that they don’t show up in databases? How can they get better at screening out Islamic jihadis when they don’t even admit that there are Islamic jihadis?

“Refugees are victims, not perpetrators, of terrorism.” Really? Ahmad al-Mohammed and one other of the jihadis who murdered 130 people in Paris in November 2015 had just entered Europe as refugees. And on May 10, 2016, Patrick Calvar, the head of France’s DGSI internal intelligence agency, said that the Islamic State was using migrant routes through the Balkans to get jihadis into Europe.

article continues at http://www.jewsnews.co

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, like us on Facebook, and visit our website using this link.  

satanic temple One Step Closer to Forming 'After School satan Club' at Utah Elementary School

First grader Adam Kotzian (C) does a spelling drill with classmates in his classroom at Eagleview Elementary school in Thornton, Colorado, March 31, 2010
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/satanic-temple-one-step-closer-to-forming-after-school-satan-club-at-utah-elementary-school-168187/#od4HSp84ljEMdM3X.99

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/satanic-temple-one-step-closer-to-forming-after-school-satan-club-at-utah-elementary-school-168187/#w1kRQRVkiuelxswi.99

First grader Adam Kotzian (C) does a spelling drill with classmates in his
 classroom at Eagleview Elementary school in Thornton, Colorado, March, 2010.

by Michael Gryboski
Christian Post

The Satanic Temple is one step closer to forming a chapter of its After School Satan Club at an elementary school in Utah.

Earlier this year, the satanist group announced that it's starting After School Satan Club chapters in public schools across the country, including Vista Elementary of Taylorsville, located within the Granite School District.

A representative of the Satanic Temple emailed The Christian Post providing an update on the effort to establish an ASSC chapter at Vista.

"On Tuesday, our Utah chapter head followed up regarding our classification and if we'd be categorized as the Good News Clubs are," explained the spokesperson.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/satanic-temple-one-step-closer-to-forming-after-school-satan-club-at-utah-elementary-school-168187/#od4HSp84ljEMdM3X.99
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/satanic-temple-one-step-closer-to-forming-after-school-satan-club-at-utah-elementary-school-168187/#w1kRQRVkiuelxswi.99

The Satanic Temple is one step closer to forming a chapter of its After School Satan Club at an elementary school in Utah.

Earlier this year, the satanist group announced that it's starting After School Satan Club chapters in public schools across the country, including Vista Elementary of Taylorsville, located within the Granite School District.

A representative of the Satanic Temple emailed The Christian Post providing an update on the effort to establish an ASSC chapter at Vista.

"On Tuesday, our Utah chapter head followed up regarding our classification and if we'd be categorized as the Good News Clubs are," explained the spokesperson.

article continues at http://www.christianpost.com

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. 

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Judge Plays God to Ban 'Unimportant' Bible Verse

 Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling 

By Andrew Shirley, Shirley & Banister Public Affairs
National Black Robe Regiment

The military’s highest court ruled yesterday that men and women serving in the U.S. Armed Forces can be punished for exercising their religion if judges deem the practice not religiously “important.” The ruling upholds the government’s criminal prosecution of a U.S. Marine for refusing to discard personal notes that had Bible verses on them. The case may now be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In 2014, Marine Lance Corporal Monifa Sterling was ordered to remove from her workstation three pieces of paper with a paraphrase from the book of Isaiah, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” even though co-workers were permitted to keep nonreligious messages on their desks. She declined and was court-martialed. A lower court upheld Sterling’s court martial, rejecting her argument that her faith was protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

“This is a real-life example of why judges shouldn’t play theologians,” said Daniel Blomberg, legal counsel of the Becket Fund, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting the Lance Corporal.

“Here, a few judges concluded that keeping Scripture nearby isn’t ‘important,’ even though more than half of the world’s population belong to religions that teach the exact opposite. Avoiding obvious errors like this is why RFRA protects all religious beliefs, not just beliefs that government officials deem ‘important.'”

The majority of judges on the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that Lance Corporal Sterling’s posted verses were a “religious exercise” under RFRA and assumed that the exercise was sincere. But it held that, despite the court-martial Sterling faced for refusing to remove the verses, the military hadn’t placed a “substantial burden” on her religion because the court was not persuaded that she had a “subjective belief in the importance of [the] practice to her religion.” 

The dissent disagreed, arguing that RFRA “does not empower judges to curtail various manifestations of sincere religious belief simply by arbitrarily deciding that a certain act was not ‘important’ to the believer’s exercise of religion.” The dissent also noted that the majority’s ruling falls on one side of a “distinctive split among the federal circuit courts of appeals” which the “Supreme Court has yet to address.” That split may raise the likelihood that the Supreme Court would grant review of the case.

Read more about this story and the national black robe regiment

Note to Persecution Unveiled Readers:  This story is an example of the incremental persecution of people of faith in America, especially Christians.  America is in the first phase of persecution. The removal of prayer and Bible reading in schools was the beginning. Most pulpits in America are silent on many issues threatening our freedom, faith and families.  

"If there is a decay of conscience, the pulpit is responsible for it…. If Satan rules in our halls of legislation, the pulpit is responsible for it. If our politics become so corrupt that the very foundations of our government are ready to fall away, the pulpit is responsible for it.” – Charles Finney, Evangelist Preacher

Air Force Officials Remove Open Bible From Major’s Desk, Investigation Launched

Officials at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs have removed an open Bible from a major’s desk after complaints from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.

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By Dave Urbanski
The Blaze

Base officials also are investigating if allowing the Bible on the desk was a reasonable accommodation of the officer’s religious beliefs or if it violated the separation of church and state, the Colorado Springs Independent reported.

“The basic premise of the Air Force instruction [on religious freedom], grounded in Department of Defense policy, grounded in law is, people have an inherent right to free exercise of religion within boundaries,” Col. Damon Feltman, 310th Space Wing commander, told the Independent. “At the same time, people have freedom to be left alone. It’s finding that right balance. The challenge of the commander is to be sure both people are treated fairly.”

MRFF founder Mikey Weinstein’s complaint letter to Feltman describes Maj. Steve Lewis’ “egregious Constitutional and DoD regulatory violations”:

For years he has kept an open, yellow highlighted Christian bible displayed front and center, quite prominently, on his official USAF work desk in an open office work environment. The egregious Constitutional and DoD regulatory violations of such a brazen display of sectarian Christian triumphalism and exceptionalism have been noted by many USAF members through the years but they have not sought to officially seek redress and remediation from this outrageous display of callous and bold Christian primacy from their respective USAF chains of command due to all-too-credible fears of reprisal and retribution from same.

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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. 

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Unbroken in China: The Growing Chinese Church

The greater the persecution, the greater the revival. 

By Eric Metaxis, Breakpoint

Prophecy News 

Originally published at breakpoint.org - reposted with permission.

You've probably heard a lot about China in the news lately: How it's threatening peace in the Pacific by building military bases on artificial islands. You've heard presidential candidates warn that China may soon overtake the U. S. as the leading global economic power.

But what you probably didn't realize is that China is ready to overtake the U. S. in another area: the size of its Christian population.

You see, despite years of often savage oppression, the church in China is growing by leaps and bounds.

Yu Jie, a writer and dissident from China, tells the story powerfully in the August issue of First Things magazine. Yu reports that since 1949, when the communists took over and Christian missionaries were expelled, the number of Christians in China has multiplied from half a million to more than 60 million today.

If current growth rates continue, "by 2030, Christians in China will exceed 200 million . . . making China the country with the largest Christian population in the world."

And Yu, who became disillusioned with communism after the Tiananmen Square massacre, might very well be a little bit cautious in his estimates. The respected Operation World prayer guide counts not 60 million but 105 million Christians of all kinds in the country, far outstripping the 70 million or so members of the Communist Party!

Growth of the Chinese Church Continues