A U.S. federal judge ruled last week that students have the right to use the restrooms, locker rooms and showers of those of the opposite gender in a public school, and that parents who don’t like the policy can pull their children out of school.

The case in Oregon arose when Dallas High School in Dallas, Ore., adopted a new policy allowing transgender students to use gender-specific facilities that correspond with their self-identified gender and not their birth gender. A group of parents then sued, saying their beliefs and Christian faith prevent their children from using the restroom and undressing in the presence of the opposite sex.

But in his ruling, U.S. District Judge Marco Hernandez – a nominee of President Obama — said the transgender students have the right to use gender-specific facilities. The school has a female student who identifies as a boy and wishes to use male restrooms, dressing rooms and showers.

“Forcing transgender students to use facilities inconsistent with their gender identity would undoubtedly harm those students and prevent them from equally accessing educational opportunities and resources,” Hernandez wrote. “Such an injunction or District policy would punish transgender students for their gender nonconformity and constitute a form of sex-stereotyping.”

If the parents don’t like they new…

Looking back at those who have undergone major transformations as they became followers of Jesus Christ, Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ, stressed the need for evangelism. He also revealed that he continues praying for his atheist brother to this day.

Strobel, once an atheist journalist intent on disproving God who later found Christ, talked in-depth about the importance of evangelism with Roger Marsh of the Family Talk program, which is produced by the James Dobson Family Institute.

Strobel, who became a pastor and has been writing books looking to point others to the faith, began his two-part discussion on Monday by explaining that the “overriding passion” of his life is “to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who don’t know Him.”

“I’m an evangelist at the depth of my heart, and I see evangelism not as just something that people gifted in evangelism do, but something we’re all called upon to do. We’re all called upon to share our faith,” he stressed.

“What I’ve found is if four things are true of you, if you are motivated to share your faith because of the love of Jesus Christ in you, if you are available to share your faith, if you make…

The average Bible reader spent 24 out of the last 30 days reading Scripture in the early morning, read the Old Testament far less frequently than the New Testament, and found the Prophetic books of the Old Testament the most difficult to understand.

That’s according to a survey of 6,000 Bible readers by the Christian book publisher Crossway that examined Bible reading habits of those who read Scripture regularly. 

Among the findings:

• 
  Early morning is the most popular time of the day to read the Bible. Bible readers spent, on average, 24 days of the past 30 days reading Scripture in the early morning. The second most popular time was late morning (21.59 days), and the third most popular time early afternoon (20.75 days). Late evening (19.02 days) was the least popular time.
• 
  “Women are more likely than men to journal and use devotional resources” while reading Scripture. Men use commentaries more frequently than do women.
• 
  The Old Testament Prophetic books (Isaiah-Malachi) are the section of Scripture hardest to understand.
• 
  Nahum is the book least likely to have been read in the past month. Matthew and Psalms are the books most likely to have been read during that time.
• 
  The Old Testament is far less likely to have been read in the past month than the New Testament. Genesis, Psalms, Proverbs and Isaiah are the Old Testament books most likely to have been…

 A Bible placed on a memorial table at a Wyoming Air Force base is at the center of an ongoing battle over what constitutes religious liberty and what violates it.

In response to demands by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Col. Stacy J. Huser, commander of the 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base near Cheyenne, Wyo., recently ordered that a Bible be removed from the base’s “Missing Man” table. The table, a POW/MIA memorial common in military base dining halls, hospitals and ceremonies since the Vietnam War, is set for a meal in honor of prisoners of war, the missing in action and the fallen. A Bible is traditionally placed on the table.

But Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of the foundation, said the Bible violates the civil rights of military personnel, many of whom “have been abused in the military for not being Christian enough.” Weinstein, a former Air Force officer and firebrand lawyer, claims to represent more than 50,000 anonymous clients worldwide, many of them Christians.

Pastor Sagar Baizu, 46, had finished one meeting and had an hour before the next one, so he decided to stop at a café on a major thoroughfare in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal, on July 19.

As he was about to sip a coffee in the crowded café at 2 p.m., six to eight men suddenly attacked the spokesperson and co-general secretary of the Federation of National Christians in Nepal (FNCN) from behind.

“They beat me for a minute and a half and suddenly fled the site,” Pastor Baizu told Morning Star News. “They said, ‘We will blast your church and all the churches with bombs and shoot you and all your leaders.’”

He became dizzy from many blows to his head by two of the assailants and could not see the faces of any of them, he said.

“I just could not understand what was happening to me for about 10 minutes after the assault,” the pastor said.

After cafeteria staff members helped him regain his bearings, Pastor Baizu informed police, who arrived in about 20 minutes.

Though he sustained no visible injuries, he received immediate medical attention, and doctors advised him to wear a neck brace for a week and to rest his head as much as possible.

Pastor Baizu, who has headed Anugrah Vijay Church (Grace Victory Church) in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu District, for 23 years, filed a report on the assault with police, and the chief district officer has taken it seriously,…

A keynote speaker for the first-ever Revoice Conference, centered on same-sex attracted Christians, has rejected the idea that Jesus Christ wants the church to accept same-sex marriage.

Wesley Hill, associate professor of New Testament at the Trinity School for Ministry based in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, said in his speech Saturday evening that Jesus did not support “trimming God’s standard down to fit whatever chaos is true of our lives.”

“Jesus was not out to undermine God’s holy will for our lives. If anything, Jesus ratcheted up the standard of sexual purity and sexual holiness,” said Hill.

“I mean, if God agreed with us on everything to begin with why do we need to have this religion called Christianity?”

Hill also noted that Revoice likewise was about bringing Christians together and that “we don’t want to adjust or trim down the law of God to fit our own proclivities.”

Revoice, which was held July 26-28 at Memorial Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri, drew controversy well ahead of…