The town of Pismo Beach, California will no longer have any form of prayer in their council meetings after bowing to the demands of the virulent anti-Christian groups Freedom From Religion Foundation and Atheists United San Luis Obispo.
The city claims they are trying to save taxpayer dollars by giving in to the demands of the anti-Christianists.
The two groups had filed a lawsuit against the city six months ago claiming the city was violating the mythical separation of church and state because the prayers were mostly Christian in nature. They said the city’s volunteer chaplain was a Christian and thus had a Christian tone to his prayers.
They also said that the volunteer chaplain, Rev. Paul E. Jones, would tell people to live a life “in accordance with the Bible.”
The city agreed in their settlement to eliminate the volunteer chaplain position but claimed no liability in the lawsuit.
David Leidner, a member of the anti-Christian Atheist United, said he was “very happy” that the Christian chaplain was no longer part of the meetings and that there will be no prayers allowed.
An anti-Christian group is seeking to have a memorial to men killed during World War I removed because it is in the shape of a cross in a public area.
The American Humanist Association sent a letter threatening a lawsuit if the 40-foot tall Bladensburg Cross is not immediately turn down. The anti-Christianists say that the location of the cross violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.
The 40-foot concrete memorial to 49 Prince George’s County men who were killed in combat during World War I was built by the American Legion in 1925. The monument was initially owned by the state but then deeded to the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in 1960.
Steven Lowe, a man from Washington, claims in the complaint that he was “shocked” when he first saw the cross and gets “upset” every time he has to pass it because he is exposed to something that could possibly be Christian. Lowe is trying to perpetuate the myth that the existence of the cross in itself is the state promoting Christianity over other religions.
The town administrator said that the cross has historic and patriotic value and they will not remove it because of the anti-Christian group’s efforts.
Jim and I do what we do because we believe with all our hearts that there are Times of Trouble coming – we will be here on this earth for at least part of that trouble – and if we are not prepared, some will succumb to those troubles and do whatever they have to do to survive… including taking the Antichrist’s mark.
There are going to be many methods by which the Antichrist will force his mark upon people. There is no Christian that I know who wants this mark, but will you take it if it means your family will have food? Will those you love be forced to take it to feed or shelter their families and care for their medical needs?
None of us want our families to go hungry. Most of us would do just about anything to keep our loved ones alive – to keep them from starving to death in a famine. Wouldn’t we? Continue reading →
The anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation continued their campaign to drive Christians out of America by filing a suit in U.S. District Court challenging the 1954 law that allows clergy members to use untaxed income to purchase a home.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb, appointed in 1979 by Democratic President Jimmy Carter, ruled the law “provides a benefit to religious persons and no one else, even though doing so is not necessary to alleviate a special burden on religious exercise.”
Judge Crabb is the same judge that ruled in 2008 in a suit brought by the same anti-Christian activists that the National Day of Prayer was unconstitutional.
The defendants in the case are U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and acting IRS commissioner Daniel Werfel. Neither agency commented on the case.
The U.S. Air Force Academy admitted to Fox News that they had removed the phrase “so help me God” from three oaths in the official cadet handbook.
Fox News’ Todd Starnes reported that two dozen members of Congress sent a letter to the Academy Superintendent demanding to explain why the phrase was removed from the 2012 edition of the handbook. The phrase was taken out of the Cadet’s Oath of Allegiance, The Oath of Office for Officers and the Oath of Enlistment.
The news comes less than a month after the Air Force Academy announced they were making “so help me God” option in the school’s honor oath after a threat from the anti-Christian Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
“This phrase is a deeply-rooted American tradition – begun by George Washington as the first president of the United States and now stated by many who take an oath of service to our country,” Ron Crews of the Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty told Fox. “The removal of this phrase is a disservice to the countless men and women who wish to include this phrase as a solemn reminder that they are pledging their fidelity to God and their country.”
Crews pointed out that law requires the words remain part of the oath.
The Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram has targeted Christians for extermination in northern Nigeria and has killed more people for their faith in Christ in one year than the rest of the world’s martyrdom of Christians combined.
The Jubilee Campaign released a report showing that close to 1,200 Christians were killed for their faith in northern Nigeria. The persecution watchdog group Open Doors agreed with Jubilee’s data that more Christians have been killed in Nigeria than the rest of the world combined in the last year.
The group released their information at an event sponsored by the Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom.
One of the event’s speakers was Adamu Habila, a Nigerian Christian who survived being shot in the head at close range by a Boko Haram militant when he refused to convert to Islam.
“I give thanks to God Almighty for keeping me alive up to this moment. I know if not because of God I am a dead man now,” said Habila. “But because of His grace I am still alive in order to testify the goodness of God in my life and the work of God in my life.”
The U.S. State Department officially declared Boko Haram a terrorist organization last week.
