Pope Francis speechless as a little girl asked him a touching question

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Pope Francis speechless as a little girl asked him a touching question

Record crowds greeted Pope Francis as he wrapped up his historic visit to the Philippines. While he delivered a message of compassion, some of his remarks were considered controversial.

One of the first stops on the pope’s Philippines tour was a visit to Tacloban, the region devastated just over a year ago by Typhoon Haiyan. But his stay was cut short when a tropical storm started to move in.

The pope was criticized just moments before his Philippines arrival when he suggested the Charlie Hebdo terror attack occurred because Muslims were insulted by the magazine’s critical cartoons.

“Freedom of expression is a fundamental right,” but people “should not abuse it by provoking, or insulting the faith of others,” the pope said.

Once he arrived in Manila, he strongly defended traditional marriage, saying that “powerful forces threaten to disfigure God’s plan for creation.”

He called same-sex marriage a threat to the family and society itself.

He also said abortion is a threat to the family unit.

“Protect your families, protect your families … be sanctuaries of respect for life, proclaiming the sacredness of every human life from conception to natural death,” the pope insisted.

While the pope’s earlier comments were deemed somewhat political, and maybe even a bit controversial, in his final day of meetings in Manila, he told thousands of young people that they need to live their faith—to demonstrate it through mercy, compassion and humility.

If Filipinos are to be good Christians, they need to have an encounter with Christ, learn to weep and reach out to help those in need, he said.

The chairman of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches suggests the pope’s message also applies to non-Catholics.

“We evangelicals can benefit from that because it has been a long time that our faith has been private and very personal and we need to re-focus our faith into engagement,” Bishop Cesar Punzalan explained.

One of the most memorable moments came at the pontiff’s final meeting as a record 6 million people gathered in the rain at Rizal Park.

The gathering is where a rescued homeless girl, 12-year-old Glyzelle Palomar, asked the pope why God allows children to suffer and become crime victims.

He hugged her as she wept.

“There are some realities that you can only see through eyes that have been cleansed by tears,” he said.

The pope urged people to see children as “a gift to be welcomed, cherished and protected, not allowed to be robbed of hope and condemned to life on the streets.”

Pope Francis will make history again with his first visit to the United States. It’s scheduled for next September in an appropriately named city for this compassionate pope: Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love.

Source: Charisma News

US will cut off palestinian annual funding if it file a lawsuit against Isreal at ICC

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US will cut off palestinian annual funding if it file a lawsuit against Isreal at ICC

The Palestinians could lose annual US aid if they file a lawsuit against Israel at the International Criminal Court which they joined this month over American and Israeli protests, a senior US Republican senator said on Monday.

Lindsey Graham, part of a seven-member delegation of senators visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, said existing US legislation “would cut off aid to the Palestinians if they filed a complaint” against Israel.

At a news conference in Jerusalem, Graham called the Palestinian step “a bastardising of the role of the ICC. I find it incredibly offensive”.

“We will push back strongly to register our displeasure. It is already part of our law that would require us to stop funding if they actually bring a case,” said Graham, of South Carolina.

US President Barack Obama’s Democratic administration has said it does not believe Palestine is a sovereign state and therefore does not qualify to be part of the ICC, but has not explicitly threatened to withhold aid.

Any cut in US funds could make it hard for the Palestinian self-rule authority in the West Bank and Gaza to survive. The US supplies more than $400 million (264 million pounds) annually to the Palestinian Authority. Israel has frozen a monthly transfer of some $120 million in tax revenues it collects for the Palestinians.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has confirmed the Palestinians will formally become a member of the ICC on April 1, after applying earlier this month.

With jurisdiction dating back to June 13, 2014, the court’s prosecutor could investigate the 50-day war between Israel and Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip in July and August 2014, during which more than 2,100 Palestinians, 67 Israeli soldiers and six civilians in Israel were killed.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas applied to the court after losing a vote at the UN Security Council seeking a deadline for an Israeli withdrawal from land it captured in a 1967 war and where Palestinians seek to establish a state.

Israel and the United States deplore Palestinian moves at the UN as unilateral steps that undermine diplomacy, which has made little progress in years and collapsed most recently in April.

Graham urged the Palestinians to re-evaluate ICC membership, saying he supported their aspirations for statehood but opposed joining the court as a “provocative step” against Israel.

Senator John McCain, chairman of the Armed Services Committee, charged that a US-led campaign against Islamist militants in Syria and Iraq was moving too slowly, arguing that aerial attacks had to be backed up by “more boots on the ground”. He did not say which country should provide the troops.

Source: Christian Today

Mississippi congressmen set to make Bible official state book

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Mississippi congressmen set to make Bible official state book

If at first you don’t succeed….

While one US politician has abandoned his bid to make the Bible the state book for Louisiana, others are confident their efforts will be fruitful.

After Republican Rep. Thomas Carmody withdrew his bill to make the Holy Bible Louisiana’s the state book because of concerns the measure was distracting legislators from more pressing concerns, at least two Mississippi congressmen are pushing ahead with a similar bill.

Rep. Tom Miles of Forest and Rep. Michael Evans of Preston, have said that the bill is the result of discussions with their constituents, who apparently bemoaned a lack of Bible awareness.

“Me and my constituents, we were talking about it and one of them made a comment that people ought to start reading the Bible,” Evans said, according to the Associated Press.

In a report in AL.com, Evans, who said that he was a believer in the Bible expressed confidence that the bill will not cause problems from critics.

“The bill doesn’t force anyone to read it,” he said.

Miles, in a separate interview with AP, echoed Evans’ statement.

“The Bible provides a good role model on how to treat people. They could read in there about love and compassion.”

The two lawmakers further remarked that declaring the Bible as the state book is more of a symbolic gesture much like several other symbols that the state has declared through the years like the mockingbird as the state bird, the magnolia as the state tree, the oyster as the state shell and milk as the state beverage. It also went so far as to declare the teddy bear as the state toy.

“This (bill) isn’t any more out there than that,” he said.

The bill currently has about 20 co-sponsors, from both Democrat and Republican parties, making its chances for passage quite optimistic.

In 2014, the state also included the phrase “In God We Trust,” on their seal without much opposition.

The bill, which was proposed last week will take some time before it moves forward.

Source: Christian Today

Hobby Lobby birth control ruling doesn’t apply to faith-based non-profit groups,says feds

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Hobby Lobby birth control ruling doesn’t apply to faith-based non-profit groups,says feds

A June 2014 ruling exempting faith-based corporations from having to comply with Obamacare birth control mandates does not apply to faith-based non-profits, White House attorneys argued last week.

Pro-life ministry Priests for Life asked the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to give them the same consideration as crafts chain Hobby Lobby, but the Obama administration is fighting the case.

The Supreme Court allowed Hobby Lobby to opt-out of providing the morning-after pill and IUDs because they are a “closely-held” company, which the IRS defines as being majority-owned by five or fewer people – and they demonstrated that the free contraceptives mandate violates their religious beliefs and is a burden.

A July decision in favour of Christian liberal arts school Wheaton College affirmed the Hobby Lobby ruling, and found that these exempted employers do not have to submit a form, EBSA-700, to have their insurers pay for the controversial contraceptives.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that it is offensive to their clients’ religious beliefs, and a contradiction of the prior Supreme Court rulings, that they must still submit the form.

“It makes no difference whether plaintiffs must pay for the contraceptive coverage,” the attorneys said in court papers. “What matters is that, in their religious judgment, it would be immoral for them to contract with a vendor that will provide the offending coverage to their plan beneficiaries.”

A November decision ruled in favour of the government, which argued that all faith-based organisations are not exempt from submitting EBSA-700.

“Unlike plaintiffs here, the plaintiffs in Hobby Lobby were closely held for-profit companies that were not eligible for the accommodations,” the government’s attorneys said.

“The linchpin of the court’s ‘very specific’ holding in Hobby Lobby was the existence of the opt-out alternative afforded to organisations such as the plaintiffs in this case.”

Priests for Life does not have to comply with the prior ruling while their appeal is pending.

Source: Christian Today

Pastor calls for apology from Police after using mugshots of black men for officers’ target practice

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Pastor calls for apology from Police after using mugshots of black men for officers’ target practice

A North Miami pastor is calling for an apology from the police department after it was discovered that mugshots of black men were being used for officers’ target practice.

Pastor Jack Hakimian of Impact Church was disturbed that images of detained citizens were used in sniper training, and said the chief of police should apologise to the community, reports Local 10 news.

“As someone who is of Afro descent, we are saddened that as we approach MLK holiday, these things are still happening in our society,” Hakimian told reporters.

The controversy began after a police sergeant visited the shooting range, and discovered a15-year-old mugshot of her brother in the trash, riddled with bullet holes.

The North Miami Police Department was using mugshots of six black men instead of the traditional faceless silhouettes as targets.

Hakimian said the race of the people being used as targets mattered little.

“Our issue is not whether it’s black [people],” he explained. “It’s [that] you don’t use human faces of actual people… We’re here to defend the rights of all people.”

In a statement, the police department said they will no longer use mugshots in sniper training, and emphasised the diversity of the police department and sniper unit.

Pastor Hakimian, who is also the police department’s chaplain, said more needs to be done to repair the damaging effects on the community.

“People are outraged,” he admitted. “People are saddened.  We are asking the chief, J. Scott Dennis, to apologise to the family, to apologise to this young man.”

Officers involved in the sniper training programme have reportedly been suspended pending an investigation.

Source: Christian Today

Westboro Baptist Church Twitter account rendered inactive

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Westboro Baptist Church Twitter account rendered inactive

The controversial Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) lost its primary Twitter account last week, LGBT site Pink News reported on Tuesday.

The username @WBCSays is no longer active, but over a dozen  WBC-related Twitter accounts remain on the micro-blogging site.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of late WBC leader Fred Phelps, said the church’s account was suspended because of last year’s protest outside of Twitter’s headquarters. Phelps-Roper’s account, @WBCShirl, was also temporarily suspended.

“Dear @pinknews plz keep up,” she tweeted. “WBC picketed @Twitter in August. Their response: steal @WBCsays &@WBCShirl #OldNews #CostOfPreachingTruth.”

The group picketed outside of Twitter and eight other media companies’ headquarters as part of its “God Hates the Media Tour” last summer.

“God did not set these social media networks in place to facilitate perverts pursuing their divers filth; nor do they exist for paedophile grooming, spreading sodomite agenda, other wicked political propaganda or propagating mountains of false doctrine,” WBC wrote in a press release.

“On the contrary, all these media platforms have one purpose; to spread the gospel far and wide. Though you labor in vain to demonise and stop the words we speak; you only succeed causing more people to see, hear, and be convicted.”

In addition to Twitter, WBC targeted the headquarters of Google, Apple, Skype, YouTube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Reddit in its campaign.

As of early Monday morning, Phelps-Roper’s account was restored, but the main WBC account was still inactive.

The extremist church has expanded its protests beyond military funerals in recent years.

Two weeks ago, WBC picketed outside the Portland Trail Blazers vs. Orlando Magic game in Portland because of the Trail Blazers’ pro-LGBT stance.

In October 2013, the Trail Blazers became the first NBA team to publicly support gay marriage as Oregon’s gay marriage ban came under fire. Over a year later, the team’s position caused them to be targeted by the WBC.

“The Portland Trail Blazers punched the Lord Jesus Christ in the face,” the church’s statement read.

“There was absolutely no reason for the Portland Trail Blazers to throw in their lot with the fags except to gratuitously kiss fag [expletive]. The Portland Trail Blazers should REPENT and apologise to God.”

WBC also protested two NBA playoff games last season after numerous players, coaches, and executives voiced support for retired player Jason Collins after he announced that he is gay.

Source: Christian Today

After posting $2.5m bail following fatal hit-and-run incident, Bishop Heather Cook goes to inpatient alcohol treatment facility

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After posting $2.5m bail following fatal hit-and-run incident, Bishop Heather Cook goes to inpatient alcohol treatment facility

Episcopal Bishop Heather Cook, who is facing criminal charges for the hit and run of a 41-year-old cyclist, has checked herself into an alcohol treatment facility after posting $2.5 million bail.

According to a report by CBS News, Cook, who holds the position of Bishop Suffragan of Maryland, was intoxicated on December 27 when she crashed into Tom Palermo while he was out cycling that day.

Eyewitness reports placed Cook in her car roughly 100 yards from the man’s body, before she drove off and only returned 20 minutes later to talk to police officers.

After undertaking alcohol tests, Cook was confirmed to be three times above the limit of alcohol for drivers in Maryland. Palermo, a husband and father to two children, died in the hospital shortly after due to head injuries.

As a result, Cook was charged with driving under the influence and vehicular manslaughter. She was arrested and detained at the Baltimore City Detention Center.

According to WBAL investigative reporter Jayne Miller, an unprecedented amount of $2.5 million was slapped against Cook because she was considered by the presiding judge as both a “danger and a flight risk.”

Despite her lawyer’s claim of his client’s inability to produce the amount, Miller tweeted that the bishop was allowed to leave the facility after posting a check deposit and a promise to pay the remainder in increments.

“Bishop Cook posted $35,000 cash and signed note to pay $1,000/month for 215 months to bail bondsman to make her $2.5 million bail,” reported Miller on the social media site twitter.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Cook’s lawyer Jose A. Molina confirmed his client had left the detention centre.

“She has been released. She’s going directly to an inpatient alcohol treatment facility and she will not be driving pending trial,” he said.

Cook’s preliminary hearing is scheduled for early February.

Fox explained that Cook will also be on administrative leave while being investigated, but details of the Church proceedings will remain confidential.

The fatal accident involving Palermo is not the first time the bishop was caught drink driving.  She was caught driving under the influence in 2010, when police also found in her possession two small bags of marijuana, and bottles of wine and liquor.

Source: Christian Today

Cameroon army frees 24 kidnapped by Boko Haram in a raid

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Cameroon army frees 24 kidnapped by Boko Haram in a raid

Cameroon’s army has freed 24 of around 80 hostages kidnapped in a raid by Boko Haram Islamist fighters based in neighbouring Nigeria.

Many children were among those abducted in the attack, which left three people dead. However, a defence ministry spokesman, Colonel Didier Badjeck, said: “The Cameroon army was able to free about 24 hostages taken yesterday by Boko Haram in the far north. They were freed as defence forces pursued the attackers who were heading back to Nigeria.”

Most of those kidnapped – around 50 – were children aged between 10 and 15, with 30 adults, according to a senior army officer.

Boko Haram has brought territory the size of Belgium under its control in northern Nigeria and the Nigerian army has been unable to deal with its depredations. The group, which has killed thousands and kidnapped hundreds in its bid to carve out an Islamic state, has also targeted Cameroon and Niger over the past year as it seeks to expand its zone of operations.

Sunday’s kidnappings, among the largest abductions on Cameroonian soil, came as neighbouring Chad deployed troops to support Cameroon’s forces in the area.

The army officer said that the early-morning attack had targeted the village of Mabass and other villages along the porous border. Soldiers intervened and exchanged fire with the raiders for around two hours, he added.

Government spokesman Issa Tchiroma confirmed the attack, in which he said three people had been killed, as well as the kidnappings. He was not able to say with certainty how many people had been taken in the raid.

“There was a Boko Haram attack on several localities in the Far North region. The assailants burnt down about 80 homes and kidnapped several inhabitants including women and very young children,” he said.

In an attack that gained worldwide attention last year, its fighters kidnapped around 200 schoolgirls from the town of Chibok, in northeastern Nigeria.

It has stepped up attacks in the region as Africa’s biggest economy prepares for a February 14 presidential election.

In a video posted online this month, a man claiming to be Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau threatened to step up violence in neighbouring Cameroon unless it scraps its constitution and embraces Islam.

Faced with increased violence along the border, Yaounde has deployed thousands of additional troops, including elite soldiers, to the area.

A convoy of troops from Chad arrived in Maroua, the main town in Cameroon’s Far-North Region, to support the fight against Boko Haram, late on Saturday, Colonel Badjeck said on Sunday.

Chad has a reputation as one of the region’s best militaries and helped French forces drive al Qaeda-linked Islamists from northern Mali in 2013. Government officials in N’Djamena say the deployment to Cameroon includes around 2,000 soldiers, armoured vehicles and attack helicopters.

Ghana’s President John Mahama, who currently heads West African bloc ECOWAS, said on Friday that regional leaders will seek approval from the African Union next week to create a new force to fight Boko Haram.

Source: Christian Today

Christians join Muslims in protests against Charlie Hebdo in Pakistan

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Christians join Muslims in protests against Charlie Hebdo in Pakistan

Christians in Pakistan have joined Muslims in protests against cartoons in the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine whose Paris offices were attacked by Islamist extremists.

Twelve people died in the magazine attack on 7 January, which resulted in the deaths of the brothers responsible, Cherif and Said Kouachi.

The largest protest was in Lahore, in eastern Pakistan, where more than 10,000 protesters chanted “Down with Charlie Hebdo” and “Death to blasphemers”. The leader of the hardline Jamaat-ud-Dawa party, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, urged Muslim leaders to convince the United Nations that it should declare any form of blasphemy an international crime.

“If the United Nations doesn’t pay any heed to it, then Muslim states should form a United Nations of their own,” he said. Another group gathered in front of the Lahore Press Club to pay homage to the Kouachi brothers who conducted the attack. Among signs praising them was one saying: “A strong message was needed and they delivered it. We salute the messengers… may they live long.”

In Peshawar, where in 2013 a twin suicide bomb at All Saints Church left 127 people dead and more than 250 injured, around 100 Christians said to be members of the United Christian Movement political party also demonstrated against the magazine, burning the French flag and demanding that the paper be banned.

In the southern Pakistan city of Karachi police used teargas and a water cannon against demonstrators outside the French consulate.

In France, an outpouring of national mourning was capped with the issue of a special international edition of the paper with Mohammed on the front. Around 5 million copies sold out instantly, with the magazine’s lawyer and spokesman, Richard Malka, saying: “We are not giving an inch. The spirit of ‘Je suis Charlie’ also implies a right to blaspheme.”

The Saudi Arabia-based Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) is planning to sue Charlie Hebdo following the publication. In Saudi Arabia, the former culture minister Iyad Madani, now head of the Jeddah-based OIC, said it was “an idiotic step that requires necessary legal measures”.

The announcement came as demonstrations against the image on last week’s “survivor” issue turned violent in Niger, Pakistan and Algeria, with up to 10 deaths.

Source: Christian Today

David Cameron defends letter to Muslim leaders, says we all have important role play

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David Cameron defends letter to Muslim leaders, says we all have important role play

David Cameron has made a strong defence of Communities Secretary Eric Pickles who has come under fire from Britain’s Muslim leaders after calling for mosques and imams to work harder to fight Islamist radicalisation.

Cameron said everyone had a responsibility to fight extremism. He said the letter was the most “reasonable, sensible, moderate” letter that Mr Pickles could possibly have written.

In the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks, Pickles and communities minister Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon wrote: “You, as faith leaders, are in a unique position in our society. You have a precious opportunity, and an important responsibility, in explaining and demonstrating how faith in Islam can be part of British identity,” the ministers wrote.

“We believe together we have an opportunity to demonstrate the true nature of British Islam today. There is a need to lay out more clearly than ever before what being a British Muslim means today: proud of your faith and proud of your country. We know that acts of extremism are not representative of Islam, but we need to show what is.”

The letter led to protests from Muslim leaders. Harun Khan of the Muslim Council of Britain said: “We will be writing to Mr Eric Pickles to ask that he clarifies his request to Muslims to ‘explain and demonstrate how faith in Islam can be part of British identity’.

“Is Mr Pickles seriously suggesting, as do members of the far right, that Muslims and Islam are inherently apart from British society?”

Mr Cameron said: “I think it is absolutely right to write this letter, to say that we all have a responsibility to fight extremism.”

Answering questions after a speech today on employment in Ipswich, the Prime Minister said: “Anyone who reads this letter, and I’ve read the letter, will see that what he’s saying is that British Muslims make a great contribution to our country, that what is happening, in terms of extremist terror, has nothing to do with the true religion of Islam.

“It’s being perverted by a minority who have been radicalised.

“But everyone needs to help dealing with this problem of radicalisation.

“And anyone, frankly, reading this letter who has a problem with it, I think really has a problem. Because I think it’s the most reasonable, sensible, moderate letter that Eric could possibly have written. And, frankly, all of us have a responsibility to try and confront this radicalisation and make sure we stop young people being drawn into this poisonous, fanatical death cult that a very small minority of people have created.”

In the letter, Pickles and Ahmad wrote: “We have recently seen terrible atrocities committed in Paris. Finding the right response to these events is a challenge for everyone. The hijacking of a great faith to justify such heinous crimes sickens us all. As Muslims around the world have made clear, such actions are an affront to Islam.

“And yet, amid the carnage, came a sign of hope – over three million people of all backgrounds marching to defeat the gunmen and to protect our values: free speech, the rule of law, and democracy.

“We are proud of the reaction of British communities to this attack. Muslims from across the country have spoken out to say: not in our name.

“But there is more work to do. We must show our young people, who may be targeted, that extremists have nothing to offer them. We must show them that there are other ways to express disagreement: that their right to do so is dependent on the very freedoms that extremists seek to destroy.

“We must show them the multitude of statements of condemnation from British Muslims; show them these men of hate have no place in our mosques or any place of worship, and that they do not speak for Muslims in Britain or anywhere in the world.

“Let us assure you that the Government will do all we can to defeat the voices of division, but ultimately the challenges of integration and radicalisation cannot be solved from Whitehall alone. Strong community-based leadership at a local level is needed.”

Source: Christian Today

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