Jerusalem Synagogue Re-opens for Morning Prayers

The Jerusalem synagogue that was attacked by a pair of Palestinian assailants reopened today (Nov. 19) for morning prayers. The Bnei Torah Kehilat Yaakov synagogue attack killed four civilians and one police officer, the city’s deadliest mass murder in six years.

The four civilians killed were all rabbis; BBC reports that the men were killed by two Palestinians who carried a gun and meat cleavers.

Worshippers attended the morning prayers as usual on Wednesday, though the Bnei Torah Kehilat had a security guard posted at the entrance.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised that the Palestinians will face a penalty for their actions.

Netanyahu said he has “ordered the destruction of the homes of the Palestinians who carried out [Tuesday’s] massacre and to speed up the demolitions of those who carried out previous attacks.”

Source and Original Content by Christian Headlines

Jerusalem Synagogue Attack; Rabbi Offers Prayers

Lord Sacks, Britain’s former chief rabbi, has offered a prayer at a Vatican conference after militants killed at least four people in an attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem.

Religious leaders from all over the world – including Muslim and Jewish leaders as well as Christians – paused for a moment to pray while at a conference on marriage.

Two Palestinian men armed with a pistol, knives and axes stormed a seminary in West Jerusalem. Both of them were shot dead, police say.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to respond “with a heavy hand to the brutal murder”. US Secretary of State John Kerry described it as an act of “pure terror”.

Source and Original Content by Catholic Herald

Pope To Raffle Gifts as Fund Raising Efforts for the Poor

Want a white Panama hat owned by the pope? Now is your chance.

Pope Francis is raffling off the Homero Ortega brand hat, a new four-wheel-drive Fiat Panda, bicycles, an espresso coffee machine, watches and other objects he has received as gifts in order to raise money for the poor.

A poster recently went up around the Vatican announcing the raffle of 13 objects as well as more than 30 unspecified “consolation prizes”.

In the past, most gifts given to popes have either been quietly given away to missions, church institutions, or have gathered dust in a Vatican warehouse.

Francis, the first Latin American pope, has made concern for the poor one of the hallmarks of his papacy. He recently ordered shower stalls to be built around the Vatican so that homeless people in the area could wash.

Tickets for the raffle cost 10 euros ($12.50) and the winners will be announced on January 8.

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Mayor Attacked by Pastors on Homeless Feeding Claims

The mayor of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, is deliberately misleading people about a programme to feed homeless people, say pastors there.

The city has put a new ordinance in place which opponents say is aimed at clamping down on the distribution of free food by church-run charities, saying it encourages homelessness. One of those to fall foul of the legislation was 90-year-old Arnold Abbott, who faces jail because of the activities of his Love Thy Neighbour charity. The legislation says that outdoor food programmes must provide a portable toilet and cannot be within 500 feet of residences, and Abbott said it was impracticable for the charity to comply.

Now, Fort Lauderdale mayor Jack Seiler has claimed that adequate feeding arrangements have been put in place to ensure that no homeless person went hungry. He told the Local10 news station: “There are dozens and dozens of proper locations in the city of Fort Lauderdale. We’re working with some 70 churches, some 20-plus organisations – they’re all feeding on a regular and daily basis…Read More

Source and Original Content by Christian Today

Liberty Counsel Launches Twelfth Annual Christmas Campaign

Liberty Counsel launched its Twelfth Annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, pledging to be a “Friend” to those who recognize Christmas and a “Foe” to those who censor it.

This year, employees from the Denver Post contacted Liberty Counsel after receiving a memo banning them from writing or using cards that say “Merry Christmas.” Often newspaper carriers will leave Christmas Cards in the mailboxes of those they serve. The Denver Post will provide its postal workers “Holiday Cards” to hand out and threatened anyone giving out different cards with firing. Federal regulations state that employers must make reasonable efforts to accommodate the sincerely held religious beliefs of their employees. It is ludicrous to threaten termination for wishing someone a “Merry Christmas,” a federal holiday.

Liberty Counsel has helped overturn a number of grinch-like decisions, including nativity scenes which were banned from public property, senior living centers banning elderly residents from singing Christmas carols, public schools which sought to ban students from wearing the Christmas colors of red and green, school officials who censored religious words from Christmas carols, companies which renamed Christmas trees to “holiday trees,” and Christmas parades renamed to “holiday” parades. In all of these situations, Liberty Counsel successfully educated and reversed these anti-Christmas sentiments.

As part of the annual “Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign,” Liberty Counsel publishes a “Naughty and Nice” list, which catalogs retailers who either censor (“naughty”) or recognize (“nice”) Christmas. The list is compiled from information gathered by individual consumers and is updated whenever new information is received. Liberty Counsel wants to give the gift of Christmas back to those who support it.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono legal assistance and representation on these and related topics.

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Rick Warren Lays Out Plan for Christians to Defend and Promote Traditional Marriage

“There is always a danger in being the 28th speaker in a conference,” said Rick Warren during his speech today at Pope Francis’s marriage conference. “What’s left to say?”

Apparently plenty, as Warren’s speech—which he said he wrote from scratch the night before after yesterday’s speakers covered his previously prepared main points—was “probably the first time ever the synod hall resembled a revivalist meeting,” tweeted David Quinn, an Irish Catholic columnist. The Saddleback Church senior pastor reportedly received a standing ovation following his remarks defending marriage between a man and a woman.

“As Christians we seem to be known more for what we’re against than what we’re for. I want to change that,” said Warren. According to his prepared remarks obtained by CT, he explored why Hebrews 13:4 commands that “marriage is to be honored by everyone” and laid out an “action plan” for conference attendees. In true evangelical form, his eight steps are in mostly alphabetical order:

Affirm the authority of God’s word
Believe what Jesus taught about marriage
Celebrate healthy marriages
Develop small group courses to support marriage
Engage every media to promote marriage
Face attackers with joy and winsomeness
Give people confidence
Teach the purposes of marriage

“It is a myth that we must give up biblical truth on sexuality and marriage in order to evangelize,” said Warren in his conclusion, which noted how Saddleback recently baptized its 40,000th adult convert. “In the end we must be merciful to the fallen, show grace to struggling, and be patient with the doubting. But when God’s Word is clear we must not—and we cannot—back up, back off, back down, back out, or backslide from the truth…Read More

Source and Original Content by BCNN1

Digital Platform Deal Announced by Microsoft and Real Madrid

Real Madrid and Microsoft Corp have sealed an agreement to create a digital platform to connect fans of the European champions around the world.

Real president Florentino Perez and Orlando Ayala, a Microsoft vice president, presented the platform at a ceremony at Real’s Bernabeu stadium in the Spanish capital on Tuesday.

“Powered by Microsoft’s cloud solutions, we will offer fans exclusive, personalised and customised content and digital services,” Ayala said.

“So fans will be able to choose not only what content they want to access but also create their own customised versions of an experience whenever, however, and from wherever,” she added.

“And because sport is intrinsically community oriented, we’re setting up social and other digital ways for fans to share these experiences with friends and family in real time.”

Perez, who has transformed Real into the world’s richest club by income, said the agreement was “a powerful alliance” that was “capable of changing the relationship of millions of fans with Real Madrid”.

“In every country, on every continent, there will always be millions of Madridistas connected by a feeling that knows no borders,” added the construction magnate.

Real last month announced a long-term strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi fund International Petroleum Investment Co (IPIC) that will help fund a planned overhaul of their stadium.

Source and Original Content by Ndtv

Facebook Launches Tech News Page

Facebook on Tuesday launched FB Techwire, billed as a showplace for technology talk shared by influential sources.

“The goal of FB Techwire is to aid in the discovery of original content including breaking news, first-person analysis, photos and videos for journalists that care about and cover tech,” Facebook said in an email to AFP.

“With every breaking tech story, debate, launch or event we will find, verify and share the most relevant and high-value content to the tech community on Facebook in real time.”

The amount of newsworthy content shared at the world’s leading social network is climbing, and features, such as trending topics, along with changes to the news feed have been intended to make such tidbits easier for journalists to access, according to Facebook.

Posts on the page will also be shared on Twitter from an @fbtechwire account, the California-based company said.

The launch came a day after word spread that Facebook is creating a version of the social network tailored for the business world.

Facebook at Work is being tested with a small group of businesses and could make its public debut in a matter of months, according to a source familiar with the project being led by a team in London.

Source and Original Content by Ndtv

Jerusalem Synagogue Attack Celebrated by Palestinians

As Israelis mourned the latest murders of four rabbis praying in their synagogue and buried the dead, some Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the killings.

The terrorists who allegedly carried out the murders were killed in a shootout with Israeli police. Two young men, identified in the Palestinian media as Ghassan Abu Jamal and his cousin Udayy, were reportedly members of the terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

PFLP members danced in the streets and waved flags, while a woman threw candies to a crowd of Arabs.

Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a terse statement condemning the attack. But Hamas welcomed it without claiming responsibility.

Hamas had flooded the Palestinian media and social media outlets with messages urging further attacks, citing the need to protect Jerusalem’s al Aqsa Mosque from Israeli desecration.

Israel’s government says that despite Abbas’s disapproval of the killings, it holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the incitement to terror and for serving in a unity government with Hamas.

Palestinian Media Watch quotes Mahmoud Al-Habbash, an Abbas adviser and Sharia judge who in an interview earlier this month applauded October’s deadly riots in Jerusalem.

Al-Habbash said, “We kiss every forehead, every hand and even every foot that carries out Ribat (religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic) at the Al Aqsa Mosque and in Jerusalem…We are behind them. The leadership is with them.”

Three of the murdered rabbis were Americans with dual American and Israeli citizenship: Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky and Cary William Levene.

The fourth rabbi, Avraham Goldberg, was a dual citizen of Britain and Israel.

Tuesday’s attack was the worst in Jerusalem since eight Jewish students were murdered at their yeshiva in 2008.

Source and Original Content by Cbn news