A bill to force all business owners in the District of Columbia to provide abortion coverage to employees regardless of their faith beliefs has been delayed.
The “Reproductive Health Non-Discrimination Amendment Act of 2014” was pulled on Tuesday afternoon. The bill was introduced in the wake of the Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision that said the government could not force business owners to pay for abortion coverage.
“The council seems to have heard the voices warning them not to waste D.C. taxpayer dollars promoting the abortion lobby’s interests,” said Casey Mattox of the Alliance Defending Freedom. “There is simply no prospect that a court would uphold a bill forcing D.C. prolife non-profits to pay for abortions. The D.C. Council has wisely stepped back from the ledge and – for now – respected fundamental freedoms and avoided raiding taxpayers’ paychecks.”
Pro-abortion organizations had hailed the bill and the infringement on the religious freedom of business owners to advance abortion including NARAL Pro-Choice America.
Pro-life groups contacted the members of the city government to inform them that the bill would be a violation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“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.
A Muslim worship service being held at the National Cathedral was interrupted by a Christian protester offended by the Christian church being used for worship by those who deny the divinity of Christ.
“Jesus Christ died on that cross over there!” Christine Weick yelled after the announcements at the start of the service. “He is the reason why we are to worship only him. Jesus Christ is our lord and savior!”
Weick continued to yell her objections as she was being removed from the church.
“We have built, and allowed you here in mosques across this country. Why can’t you worship in your mosque, and leave our churches alone?”
The National Cathedral’s website said “Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Christian cathedral shows more than hospitality. It demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.”
One of the Cathedral’s officials has previously said she believes Muslims and Christians worship the same God.
An Islamic worship service is scheduled at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. for the first time in American history.
The national cathedral has been historically an Episcopalian site. Interfaith events have been hosted at the cathedral but there has never been an event where Christians are not part of the event until now.
“Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Christian cathedral shows more than hospitality,” representatives for the National Cathedral wrote in a press release about the matter. “It demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.”
“This is a dramatic moment in the world and in Muslim-Christian relations,” added South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool. “This needs to be a world in which all are free to believe and practice and in which we avoid bigotry, Islamaphobia, racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Christianity and to embrace our humanity and to embrace faith.”
Leaders at the national cathedral have been criticized over the last few years as moving away from Christian teachings and working to oppose teachings of the Bible.
America saw victories for life all over the country Tuesday night.
Many Senate candidates who spoke up for the lives of unborn children won resounding victories in the 2014 mid-term elections, bringing a more pro-life agenda to Washington, D.C.
“I think what you saw here are candidates who embrace the values, the values voters embrace them,” Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said after the results were announced. “I think this was a clear referendum on Barack Obama and his liberal policies, and I think that is going to come with a mandate to the Republicans that they address these issues and address them quickly.”
Several political observers say that Kansas Senator Pat Roberts’ strong advocacy in the election for the lives of unborn child was a factor in the surprisingly large win. Pollsters had expected the race to be close, but most voters for Roberts said his stance for life was one of the reasons they voted for him.
The pro-life Susan B. Anthony list was especially pleased by the win of Joni Ernst in Iowa.
“Ernst is the most significant among the Susan B. Anthony list’s efforts, because this is an unapologetic pro-life woman who will be on the floor for the U.S. Senate advocating for pro-life legislation,” SBAL president Marjorie Dannenfelser said. “And that is an enormous victory for women and the Susan B. Anthony List. Everything that we have done for this election is for gaining the Senate and having a woman be a great spokeswoman in the Senate.”
The Centers For Disease Control has finally admitted that Ebola could be transferred through sneezing.
Dr. Meryl Nass of the Institute For Public Accuracy in Washington, D.C. publicized the fact the CDC posted on their website a poster that says Ebola can be spread through “droplets.”
“Droplet spread happens when germs traveling inside droplets that are coughed or sneezed from a sick person enter the eyes, nose or mouth of another person,” the poster reads.
“If you are sniffling and sneezing, you produce microorganisms that can get on stuff in a room. If people touch them, they could be” infected, Dr. Nass told the New York Post.
Dr. Nass slammed the CDC for their continual statements in public that Ebola could not be spread through the air.
“The CDC said it doesn’t spread at all by air, then Friday they came out with this poster,” she said. “They admit that these particles or droplets may land on objects such as doorknobs and that Ebola can be transmitted that way.”
The CDC did not answer the New York Post’s requests to comment on their contradiction.
A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has sided with the IRS and thrown out lawsuits connected to the IRS targeting conservative and Christian groups.
Judge Reggie Walton ruled that the cases against the IRS for their actions were “moot” because the IRS claims they are no longer targeting conservative groups and because the IRS granted the tax-exempt statuses for the groups involved in the suit.
“After the plaintiff initiated this case, its application to the IRS for tax-exempt status was approved by the IRS. The allegedly unconstitutional governmental conduct, which delayed the processing of the plaintiff’s tax exempt application and brought about this litigation, is no longer impacting the plaintiff,” Walton said in his decision to throw out True the Vote’s lawsuit against the IRS.
This means that the IRS could begin targeting Christian or conservative groups again at any time because there is no legal prohibition to those actions.
“[T]he Court is satisfied that there is no reasonable expectation that the alleged conduct will recur, as the defendants have not only suspended the conduct, but have also taken remedial measures to ensure that the conduct is not repeated,” the judge wrote.
The United States will force all flights from countries that have Ebola outbreaks to five airports to allow more through screening for the virus.
Anyone flying into the U.S. from Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will now have to travel through JFK in New York, Newark in New Jersey, Dulles in Washington, D.C., Atlanta or Chicago. The move goes into effect immediately according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“We are working closely with the airlines to implement these restrictions with minimal travel disruption,” Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. “If not already handled by the airlines, the few impacted travelers should contact the airlines for rebooking, as needed.”
Johnson said that 94% of passengers from those areas reportedly already come through those airports, so it should have minimal impact on the worldwide airline flight schedules.
“We currently have in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days,” Johnson said.
A Washington-based travel group told Reuters that an average of 150 per day come into the U.S. from those countries.
The pro-life organization Live Action held a rally outside Planned Parenthood in Washington, DC, calling for pro-lifers across the nation to call for the government to stop funding the abortionists.
The group said the government gave $500 million taxpayer dollars to the country’s largest abortion provider.
Live Action says that in addition to the abortion services, Planned Parenthood is using taxpayer dollars to teach dangerous sexual practices to underage children.
“[Planned Parenthood] is a $2.1 billion corporation that has a dangerous sexual agenda for teens,” Lila Rose of Live Action said at the event.
“Someone has to draw attention to it,” added Live Action’s Drew Belsky. “We decided that it should be us.”
“Mother Teresa, an expert on peace who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, said that ‘the greatest destroyer of peace in the world is the cry of the innocent unborn child.’ The womb, which should be a safe, secure place, has become a war zone,” Rose told the crowd.
Extremist anti-Christian groups are attacking the family who owns the Hobby Lobby chain of stores for their plans to open a Bible Museum in Washington, D.C.
In one case, a group calls them a “great threat” to America.
The family of Hobby Lobby President Steve Green plans to open the Museum of the Bible in 2017. The museum’s construction was announced shortly after the Supreme Court ruled that Hobby Lobby could not be forced to provide four abortion causing drugs under the Affordable Care Act.
The Museum will have antique Bibles as well as educational areas about the Bible and its history.
“I think they (the Green family) are a great threat,” Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation, told The New York Times. “My instincts would tell me that they are choosing Washington, D.C. because they intend to influence Congress.”
A spokesman for the Museum of the Bible said that Washington, D.C. was chosen because it was the museum capital of the world and that studies showed they would have the best level of attendance in the nation’s capitol.
