A high school student in Everett, Washington has been suspended from school multiple times for sharing Jesus with his classmates.
Michael Leal, a senior at Cascade High School, has been suspended three times since September for his efforts to provide the truth of Christ to classmates. He hands out gospel literature and preached at an open air school event.
The school says that Leal is a disruption and has threatened him with expulsion if he does not stop talking about Christ to his classmates.
Cascade High School attorney Michael Patterson claims it’s not because of the Christian content even though the principal of the school told Leal it’s “breaking the law” if he distributed Christian materials.
“At no time was Mr. Leal told that his distribution of material or his statements were inappropriate at school because of their religious content,” he wrote. “Rather, he was informed of district policy … and told that he needed to comply with it. He was also informed that he could not create a substantial disruption at school or school events.”
The Pacific Justine Institute is defending Leal and says that at no point did Leal harass any student or staff member and did not disrupt any event.
Christian families who were unable to flee Raqqa when the terrorist group ISIS overran the city and made it their base are being subjected to violence and excessive “protection taxes”.
Fides News Agency reports that the 23 families have been routinely harassed and beaten by the terrorists. They have been told that unless they pay “jizya”, or tax, they will be forced out of their homes on Sunday.
The tax amounts to $535 American dollars and Fides reports the families will be unable to pay because of the restrictions upon them by ISIS.
“In my opinion this is a very grave situation. No western leader is moving to stop such a tragedy but they offer only empty words with no actions,” Munir S. Kakish, chairman of the Council of Local Evangelical Churches in the Holy Land, told The Christian Post.
The churches within the city have been converted to offices for terrorist officials and Bibles and Christian materials are routinely burned by the terrorists.
A New York high school is denying a Christian student her right to form a student group on campus.
Elizabeth Loverde had proposed a “Dare To Believe” club to the principal of Wantagh High School and was reportedly told by Principal Carolyn Breivogel that the group would be rejected because it would violate the Constitution.
The Liberty Institute has stepped in to help Loverde protect her Constitutional rights.
“Once a secondary school such as yours creates a limited open forum, it cannot deny equal access to student groups on the basis of the religious content of the students’ speech,” read a letter to the school from the Institute. “We therefore demand that the school reconsider its position, approve Liz’s club proposal, and grant official recognition to Dare to Believe.”
The school has released a statement saying that they are now reviewing the request.
Muslims throughout Indonesia are furious over the swearing in of Jakarta’s first Christian governor in nearly 50 years.
Basuki Tjahaja Purnama had been acting governor since Joko Widodo stepped aside to become the country’s President.
Indonesia has the world’s largest Muslim population and has been experiencing a wave of religious intolerance from Muslim hard liners angered that other religions have been given freedom to worship. The new president has vowed to protect religious minorities.
“I don’t need to be approved by everyone,” Purnama told reporters. “The ones that deny me aren’t Jakartans. They come from Bekasi, Depok, Bogor, which are not in my territory.”
Purnama is also the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta. He is known as a transparent, no-nonsense leader who focuses on elimination of corruption in government.
A former porn star is using a fake religion created to mock Christians as an excuse to take a driver’s license photo with a colander on her head.
Jessica Steinhauser, who performed in adult films as “Asia Carrera”, brought a spaghetti strainer to a Utah Department of Motor Vehicles location, demanding she be allowed to wear it in her photo because she is a member of the “Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.”
The “church” was created when an anti-Christianist named Bobby Henderson created concept to mock Christians where he says he worships a “flying spaghetti monster” that no one could see.
Henderson and others who belong to his anti-Christian group claim it’s no different than Christians worshipping God.
The group celebrates blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In one place on their website, they have a mockery of John 3:16 where they say “he boiled for your sins” and mark it “Spaghetti 3:16.”
Atheists and anti-Christianists in other states have been bringing a colander to their photos for official pictures as a way to mock and show their hatred for Christians.
A 40-year-old Christian man is jailed in Pakistan charged with “insulting the Prophet Mohammed”, the same charge used to sentence Christian mother Asia Bibi to death.
Qaiser Ayub has been a fugitive for almost three years after the computer science professor was accused of posting statements on his blog that some Muslims considered blasphemous.
The law used by the government to arrest Ayub has been roundly criticized as a tool used by Muslims within the country to target religious minorities for persecution.
The American Center for Law and Justice sees this as another example to support their demand that the USA stop all foreign aid to Pakistan.
“We must stop sending billions of our taxpayer dollars to nations that persecute Christians. It’s that simple. Not one more dime for persecution. Cut off American foreign aid to any country that persecutes Christians,” the ACLJ states in a petition to the White House.
“As a wave of persecution sweeps across the Middle East — and Christians flee for their lives — it’s time for the money to stop. Already there is growing support for basic human rights and basic common sense on Capitol Hill.”
An anti-Christian organization is attempting to remove the teaching of creation from schools in Scotland.
The Scottish Secular Society claims their goal is to “support and further the cause of secularism” and was founded by Garry Otton, who has openly said he has a deep hatred for Christianity.
The group has filed a petition with the Scottish Parliament to prohibit any teaching of anything that conflicts with evolution.
“Evolution, meaning the common descent of living things and their change over time, is, and has been for generations, the unifying concept of the life sciences,” the petition claims. “The deep time necessary for this evolution had been recognized by Scottish geologists over a century earlier.”
David Robertson of the St. Peter’s Free Church, says that SSS is desiring to “undermine and attack Christianity in pursuit of their sectarian and bigoted anti-religious beliefs.”
“Christians should not cower to the new intolerance.”
These were the words of Mary Eberstadt, senior fellow for the Ethics and Public Policy Center, as she addressed a Washington, D.C. audience.
Eberstadt said that the new intolerance “is not an intellectual or philosophical force. In fact, it’s hardly about ideas at all. It is instead something very specific, taken from playbooks that nobody should be proud of studying. It’s about using intimidation, humiliation, censorship, and self-censorship to punish those who think differently.”
Eberstadt said the new intolerance is a serious threat to the church and is already causing divisions because it focuses on the desire to be loved and also to avoid being criticized for the choices made in life.
The end goal of the new intolerance is to get Christians to self-censor, Eberstadt said. This keeps Christians from speaking the truth of Christ’s teachings because someone might feel badly and “not loved” if they choose to do something that opposes Christ.
Islamic terrorist group ISIS has beheaded another captive and posted the video on the internet.
Peter Kassig is the third American to be brutally slaughtered by the murderers.
Kassig, 26, had served in the Iraq War and became motivated to make a difference in the lives of the Iraqis after the war ended. He had founded a group called SERA (Special Emergency Response and Assistance) which delivered food and medical supplies to refugee camps near the Syrian and Iraqi border.
Kassig had written to his parents stating he feared being killed.
“I am obviously pretty scared to die but the hardest part is not knowing, wondering, hoping, and wondering if I should even hope at all,” Kassig said. “I am very sad that all this has happened and for what all of you back home are going through. If I do die, I figure that at least you and I can seek refuge and comfort in knowing that I went out as a result of trying to alleviate suffering and helping those in need.”
The Obama administration confirmed that the video was genuine.
Religious freedom attorneys have filed a lawsuit in California aimed at protecting the religious freedom of a first grade student who was harassed by his school for handing out candy canes last Christmas with a message of Jesus.
Isaiah Martinez was told by his teacher “Jesus is not allowed in school” and prohibited from handing out the candy canes.
Advocates for Faith & Freedom filed suit in U.S. District Court to prohibit the West Covina Unified School District from stopping Isaiah’s distribution of the candy canes this year.
“The school has neglected to correct its actions, and after exhausting all options to avoid a lawsuit we were left with no choice but to file a complaint in federal court. We are asking the court to protect Isaiah’s rights and the rights of others like him from having their religious speech censored. Students do not shed their First Amendment rights just because they enter into a classroom,” attorney Robert Tyler said.
There has been no official statement from the school, however attorney James Long with the AFF says the school has made it clear they want only “religious neutrality.”
