An Army recruiting station in Phoenix was admonished by seniors on Friday over a recruiting sign that included a religious message.
Since at least October, the station had a sandwich board outside of its office that read: “On a mission for both God and country.”
US Army Recruiting Command spokesman Brian Lepley said the sign, which included a Special Forces patch and Ranger, Airborne, and Special Forces tabs, was erected by “local recruiting personnel” without prior approval.
“Had the process been followed, the copy shown would not have been approved,” Lepley told reporters.
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), an atheist organisation, called the sign the “Poster of Shame” and a “stunning, unconstitutional disgrace” in a blog post published Thursday, according to the Army Times.
MRFF’S Mikey Weinstein applauded the Army’s decision to remove the advertisement.
“The Military Religious Freedom Foundation is delighted the Constitution has been adhered to by the US Army Recruiting Command,” he said in a statement.
Separation of church and state issues were also raised at a National Guard station in Missouri last August.
The station was threatened with a lawsuit after a humanist organisation took issue with the station’s display of Gideon Bibles in the lobby.
Lt. Cmdr. Nathan Christensen of the Office of the Secretary of Defense said that the display of religious materials in military stations does not violate any laws.
“Non-Federal entities may request and when authorized in writing by the unit commander may place secular or religious literature for use (including, but not limited to, Bibles, pamphlets, tracts, and texts) in a location on the base or recruiting station designated by the commander,” he said in a statement.
World Vision announced in a press release Friday that it has become part of a multi-million effort to combat the deadly Ebola epidemic.
With a grant from Europe’s Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the Christian humanitarian organisation will work on the Ebola Vaccine Deployment, Acceptance and Compliance (EboDAC) project, a part of IMI’s $250-million Ebola+ programme aimed at providing a vaccine solution to the disease.
EboDAC is one of eight projects launched by IMI “to accelerate all aspects of vaccine development and manufacturing as well as deployment and compliance with vaccine regimens and diagnostics,” according to World Vision.
In partnership with Janssen Pharmaceutica, the Grameen Foundation, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, World Vision will work directly in West African communities to disseminate information regarding the potential vaccine and the disease, as well as to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“We are thrilled to be a partner in this critical fight against Ebola, which has ravaged communities where we work in places like Sierra Leone,” said Magnus Conteh, World Vision’s Health and Programs Coordinator in West and East Africa.
“We’ve seen firsthand the devastating impact the disease can have on families, leaving children orphaned and vulnerable. Although there is no vaccine or treatment against Ebola as yet, we hope by these groups coming together there will be a significant impact on both current and future outbreaks,” Conteh added.
A primary issue that the non-governmental organisation aims to address is the fear of shame or disgrace that many survivors and relatives of the infected face.
“The concern is that the stigma surrounding Ebola, coupled with a suspicion of vaccines in general, may deter people from getting vaccinated,” Conteh explained.
In a report published on World Vision Ireland’s website, Conteh described how not only geographical proximity, economic set-up, weak health care systems, and lack of awareness and resources, but also fear of stigmatisation, contributed to the rapid spread of the Ebola virus disease.
According to Conteh, many of those infected by the disease choose not to seek medical help, concerned that their communities will know of their condition. Even those who have survived the disease face the same fear of disgrace.
As of January 4, 2015, more than 8,000 lives have been lost to the current Ebola outbreak and more than 20,000 are confirmed or suspected to be infected with the virus, according to the World Health Organisation. With the staggering number of fatalities, the current Ebola epidemic is the largest outbreak known since the discovery of the virus in 1976.
The pope surprised journalists yesterday by encouraging his followers not to breed “like rabbits” and instead practice “responsible” parenting.
During his return flight from the Philippines on Monday, Francis was asked to respond to the issue of Catholics having more children than is financially viable because of the Church’s stance on artificial contraception.
“Some people think that – excuse my expression here – that in order to be good Catholics we have to be like rabbits,” the pope replied.
“No. Parenthood is about being responsible. This is clear.”
Francis affirmed the ban on contraception, but insisted that there are many Church-approved methods of regulating pregnancy. He recalled meeting a Filipino woman pregnant with her eighth child. “She said, ‘I trust in God.’ But God gave us the means to be responsible,” he said.
The pope also condemned what he called the “ideological colonisation” of developing nations by Western countries, which he said are increasingly imposing birth control laws. “Every people deserves to conserve its identity without being ideologically colonised,” Francis said.
On Friday, the pope told an audience in the Philippines that attempts to “redefine family” were a threat to society. Referring to the government’s subsidy on birth control for women, Francis condemned “insidious attacks and programmes contrary to all that we hold true and sacred”.
“The family is also threatened by growing efforts on the part of some to redefine the very institution of marriage, by relativism, by the culture of the ephemeral, by a lack of openness to life,” he said.
The pope also clarified during Monday’s flight that he did not intend to justify violence when he said a friend who insulted his mother could “expect a punch” in return.
Speaking of the terrorist attacks in Paris earlier this month, the pope told reporters on January 15: “You can’t provoke, you can’t insult the faith of others, you can’t make fun of faith.
“You can’t make a toy out of the religions of others,” he added. “These people provoke and then [something can happen]. In freedom of expression there are limits.”
Francis said yesterday that while violence is not justifiable, it is a human response to provocation.
“In theory we can say a violent reaction to an offence or provocation isn’t a good thing, that one shouldn’t do it. In theory we can say what [the] gospel says, that we should turn the other cheek. In theory we can say that we have the freedom to express ourselves,” he said.
“But we are human. And there is prudence, which is a virtue of human coexistence. I cannot insult or provoke someone continually because I risk making him angry.”
The pope’s trip to the Philippines culminated with a record-breaking Mass for more than six million people in Manila.
Vatican officials said the number eclipsed the estimated five million worshippers who gathered at a Mass led by Pope John Paul at the same venue in 1995. There are around 80 million Catholics in the Philippines, making it Asia’s most populous Catholic nation.
ISIS made an unusual move by releasing 200 Yazidi prisoners in northern Iraq, according to a Kurdish military official statement on Sunday.
The Washington Post reports that the prisoners were held captive for five months and most of them are elderly and sick people. Three of them are young children.
The ISIS militants transported the prisoners from the northern town of Tal Afar and dropped them off at Khazer Bridge, near Irbil. The prisoners are in poor health and appear to have suffered abuse. They are now being given medical treatment in the town of Alton Kupri.
“Their situation is very bad, especially the psychological condition,” said Hersh Hussein, a representative from the Irbil governor’s office who was in Alton Kupri. “Regarding other diseases we provide first aid and the most important medical treatment.”
The reason for the release appears to be that the prisoners were slowing down the militant group and that keeping them had become too much of a burden, according to a statement by Gen. Shirko Fatih, commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, to the Washington Post.
“It probably became too expensive to feed them and care for them,” he said.
There have been previous reports that ISIS has forced its captives to convert to Islam. After the Sunni Muslim group attacked the town of Sinjar, near the Syrian border back in August, massacring hundreds of captive soldiers and tribal fighters, women were reportedly sexually abused, raped, and sold off. Some were taken as brides for the jihadists, while young boys were separated to train them to become jihadists.
There were an estimated 50,000 Yazidis who fled to the mountains on the day of the attack and still remain there.
Bishop Oliver Dashe Dome of Maiduguri, northeast of Nigeria is calling for western military intervention to put an end to the terror brought on by the militant group Boko Haram in Nigeria.
In his interview with the Aid to the Church in Need, a charity working on behalf of suffering Christians, the prelate lamented the continuous acts of violence being perpetrated by the group and accused the government of knowing who is sponsoring the attacks but still allowing the atrocities to happen.
He charged that the offensive against the Boko Haram remains weak because of “incompetence” and sympathisers of the group within the military ranks itself.
“The West should bring in security – land forces to contain and beat back Boko Haram. A concerted military campaign is needed by the West to crush Boko Haram,” he said.
The bishop further lamented the decimation of churches in the region, and death of at least 1,000 of the faithful since 2009.
Boko Haram, since it was established in 2009, has consistently fought to overthrow the government with the goal of creating an Islamic state. Its activities have resulted in at least 13,000 deaths while around 1.5 million have been forced to leave their homes out of fear.
Its latest wave of terror happened over the weekend when the group raided Mabass, a small village in Cameroon and abducted 80 people, most of whom were women and children.
An Al Jazeera update reported that as of press time, 24 hostages were liberated as the Cameroonian armed forces pushed its offensive against the Boko Haram.
Even as members of the group launched their attack in Cameroon, a suicide bombing perpetrated by one if its members killed five people and injured 35 others in Potiskum, Nigeria.
The attacks are believed to be the militants’ response to the offensives launched by the Chad military in Baga, which was taken over by the Boko Haram earlier in the month in what could be considered the group’s deadliest raid yet.
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch estimated at least 2,000 people massacred by the Boko Haram in the raid which destroyed close to 4,000 structures in Baga.
The area is believed to be a strategic location as it straddles the borders of Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon and would enable the group to conduct their operations freely across the region.
A divorced father has been ordered by a judge to take his children to a Roman Catholic mass when he has them at Christmas – though he says that his ex-wife, who is a practising Catholic, did not request the ruling at their divorce.
Known as “Steve” in order to protect the identity of the children, the man – a contributor to an atheist website – told the Daily Telegraph: “It’s all very bizarre. This aspect of the contact order was not requested by the other side in the case.
“The judge decided that I would commit to taking the children to mass and he put it in the court order.
“What I think is really concerning is that it does not allow me or my children any freedom of religious expression.
“I am definitely not Catholic. The last time I went to church was some time ago and it was a Unitarian church that I attended.
“My oldest son, who is now 10, has already expressed a clear lack of belief but legally I am required to take him to Roman Catholic mass at Christmas.
“Because my contact arrangements now give me the children on some weekends, I am concerned that I will now also be required to take them to mass on Sundays when they are with me, even though that is not part of the original order.”
The Telegraph says it has seen court transcripts that show that Judge Orrell discussed his own Catholic faith during the course of the hearing into contact arrangements for Steve’s two sons.
The order reads: “If the children are with their father at Christmas he will undertake that they will attend the Christmas mass.”
Steve applied to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the order was a breach of his human rights. However, appeal judges and a later judicial review in the High Court both failed to support him, as did the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office.
A Christian health worker is taking legal action against her employer after being investigated for offering to pray for a Muslim colleague.
Victoria Wasteney, 37, offered to pray for a junior colleague when she was upset, and gave her a book about a Muslim woman who had an encounter with God.
The colleague, Enya Nawaz, later filed a report which said she had tried to convert her, an allegation which Wasteney says was a “complete surprise”.
She was suspended for nine months while the matter was investigated and subsequently given a written warning for “bullying and harassment”.
Wasteney has since returned to work but is taking the trust to an employment tribunal today in a bid to raise awareness about the difficulty of what she saw as ordinary interactions between colleagues.
“I’m not particularly fighting for myself,” Wasteney told Christian Today. “This needs to be something that’s talked about.
“We need to look at some of our policies in place, so that staff are clear about where they stand. Otherwise we’re going to have lots of people in this situation, not just Christians.”
She doesn’t see this as a problem just within the NHS, but a widespread issue, and one that people are afraid to talk about.
Wasteney is a senior occupational health therapist at the John Howard Centre, a specialist mental health facility in east London, but is currently working at the trust’s head office while the tribunal takes place.
In a statement released this weekend she described the time she offered to pray for Nawaz after she had come to her in some distress about a health problem.
“I said to her that she had strong faith and she should draw on that faith,” Wasteney explained. “‘I said ‘Pray!’ She told me she could not pray, so I replied ‘Maybe I can pray for you?’ And she said ‘OK’.
“I asked if I could put my hand on her knee, and she said yes. I don’t know if I said ‘Lord’ or ‘God’ but I said what I thought was the most neutral. Then I said ‘I trust that You will bring peace and You will bring healing’.”
She also gave Nawaz a copy of the book ‘I Dared to Call him Father’ about a Muslim woman who eventually converts to Christianity.
Wasteney had not read the book, but it had been recommended by a friend. “I understood it was a book about a spiritual journey – a woman’s encounter with God,” she told Christian Today.
“The whole basis of our conversations around faith started with her telling me that she’d had an encounter with God, that she felt she had been brought to London for a particular reason.”
She said it wasn’t her intention to suggest that ‘Christianity is the only way’.
The subsequent complaint came as a shock, since she had believed their conversations were part of the everyday interaction between friends. “It came as a complete surprise – a complete flip of my experience of the situation,” Wasteney said.
“We were both interested in what one another were involved in – it was part of the normal process of building a relationship with someone, to talk about primarily things we were interested in outside of work.”
Speaking of the wider issue, Wasteney said: “I believe in equality and I believe in diversity and open discourse, and if… we can’t talk with people who might have different views, I think that’s very limiting and I’m not sure that is a reflection of the society that we pride ourselves [on being].”
One area of common ground between the two colleagues was a shared interest in campaigning against human trafficking, which led Wasteney to invite Nawaz to an event on the subject being held at her church. The invitation to church was another aspect addressed by the investigation.
Wasteney said she knows that other colleagues were asked during the investigation whether she had invited them to church as well. She said she now fears being seen at work as a “religious nutcase”.
“It looks like I’ve been suspended for inviting people for church, which basically makes me look kind of crazy,” Wasteney said.
The publicity the case has already received has made things difficult both with colleagues and clients, so why take it further?
“I very much felt like my reputation had been jeopardised and I had a choice to make therefore. Do I feel strongly enough about this issue? Do I think it’s an issue that’s beyond myself?
“I don’t see other people coming forward. People seem to be very scared about sharing these things, and therefore I don’t think we’re really tackling the issue,” Wasteney said.
Despite the trust making an effort to reintegrate her at work, she said things still weren’t clear about what is allowed and what’s not.
When Wasteney asked whether it was ok to attend the lunchtime prayer meeting, she was told “What you do in your lunchtime is your own business.”
She responded: “I prayed with this girl in my lunchtime and I nearly lost my job over it.”
Andrea Williams, chief executive of the Christian Legal Centre, which has supported Wasteney, said in a statement:Â “Victoria’s case highlights the risks of the current ‘equality and diversity’ framework. Rather than bringing people together and creating more cohesive workplaces where people can be honest about who they are and build meaningful relationships, ‘political correctness’ means that many workplaces are becoming fragmented, superficial and suspicious. People are being forced to hide their identity and the things that matter most to them.”
A pastor has been shot and killed in the same Florida city that saw the death of Rev James “Tripp” Battle of Bayshore Baptist Church, Bradenton in December.
Anthony Shinholster, 57, served at Gethsemane Missionary Baptist Church in Bradenton. He was reportedly killed in his home on Sunday. A man is being held in custody for the Battle shooting and the two cases are not said to be connected.
As well as serving as a pastor, Shinholster also ran a fruit and vegetable stand and was well known in the community. His sister Thenecia, who was staying with him, said she could not think of anyone who would wish to harm her brother. She told the Bradenton Herald, “He was a wonderful man. We are all baffled.”
Battle was one of three victims of a shooting spree which also saw the deaths of Amber Avalos and her friend Denise Potter. Avalos’ husband Andres is being held in connection with their deaths.
A memorial fund was set up to benefit Battle’s widow and two young children with a target of $30,000. Another fundraising page has been set up to support the children of the Avaloses and Denise Potter.
Bradenton has also been in the news for a business venture started by the notorious Pastor Terry Jones, who burned copies of the Koran. He set up Fry Guys Gourmet Fries in a local mall, though he was asked by the management not to attend personally due to fears of disruption and shoppers’ safety.
With the continued rise of violent Islamic extremism around the world, many today are calling for a Reformation of Islam such as happened with Christianity in the 16th century.
Commenting on the call of Egypt’s president for a theological “revolution” within Islam, Mayor Rudi Giuliani, in an interview on Fox News, concurred saying that Islam needs a Reformation such as Christianity experienced.
Others within Islam, such as Dr. Zudhi Jasser, are also calling for a Reformation within Islam that will deal with the radical extremism. Can it happen?
The Critical Importance of Origins
The Christian Reformation was needed because, with the 4th century (supposed) conversion of Constantine and the merging of Christianity with the political state, the peaceful church of Jesus and the New Testament had been transformed into the imperial church of the Middle Ages that relied on political and military force to advance and maintain its cause.
The Reformation occurred when there was a movement within the church to return to its founder, Jesus Christ, and its founding document, the New Testament. This is why there are no beheadings today by Baptists, Methodists or even Catholics. Not a smidgeon of justification for such acts can be found with Jesus and the New Testament.
Jesus was a man of peace who taught love for God and one’s neighbor. But never mistake this for weakness, for it was in the midst of much civil and religious war and strife that Jesus boldly confronted the powers-that-be with His radical message of faith in God and peace and nonviolence toward people. It was Jesus who told His followers;
But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him. If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, give him your cloak also. And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two (Matthew 5:39-41).
With the Reformation and its return to Jesus and the New Testament, there was a disentangling of the Christian faith from the political ambition and the use of force that had begun with Constantine. The power of the Reformation and its return to Christian origins produced new churches that renounced the use of political and physical force.
The power of the Reformation and its emphasis on Christian origins also led to the Catholic Church giving up the use of force in matters of conscience and faith.
America Founded on Reformation Values
America was founded on Reformation principles of religious liberty and freedom of conscience. This is what the First Amendment to the Constitution is all about. “Congress shall make no law concerning the establishment of religion, nor hindering the free exercise thereof.” This is merely stating that the new nation will not have an official state church, as in medieval Europe, that seeks to control the minds and speech of its populace.
This is the context of Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation” comment to a group of Baptists concerning the First Amendment. The “wall,” in Jefferson’s thinking, was unidirectional designed to keep the state out of the church, while at the same time protecting everyone’s right of religious freedom. He used this terminology to assure the Baptists that they could freely practice their faith in the new nation without government interference.
These are the values on which this nation was founded. These are not Islamic values. These are not even Roman Catholic values. These are Reformation values! These are Christian values based on the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament. Woe to America if she ever forgets the values on which her freedoms are based.
The Challenge for Islam
The problem Islam faces in seeking a Reformation is that its founder, Mohammed, unlike Jesus, was a man of war who spread his teachings and influence with violence and the sword. A return within Islam to its founder and origins will thus have a very different outcome than what occurred with the Christian Reformation. In fact, returning to Islam’s founder and origins seems to lead people to becoming even more radicalized, and we get Al Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram.
This does not mean that all Christians today are nice people or that all Muslims are bad people. Not at all! But here is the big difference: Christians are continually confronted with Jesus and His amazing example of sacrificial love, and His command to love one another as I have loved you (John 14:34). Even though they fall short of the standard, Christians are continually being pulled towards it by the example and words of Jesus Himself. In contrast, Muslims have no such example to follow, unless they too turn to Jesus!
A Jesus Reformation in Islam?
In the Bible school where I once served on faculty, a student from Ethiopia brought a video of a mosque in Cairo showing that the crescent on top had been replaced with a cross. The imam had experienced a supernatural encounter with Jesus, but instead of becoming a Baptist, Methodist or Catholic, he remained where he was and began preaching Jesus and the meaning of the cross to his Muslim congregation.
He could do this because there is an opening, be it a slight one, in that the Quran recognizes Jesus as a prophet. Yes, Christians know Jesus is much more than a prophet, but this could be the opening needed to preach Jesus within Islam.
Christians recognize Jesus as God incarnate. The New Testament, however, also presents Jesus as the human archetype—the universal human being. This is what Paul was referring to when he referred to Jesus as the second man and the last Adam (I Corinthians 15:45-47). God has set Jesus as the universal example of what a human being ought to be. This is clearly stated in Romans 8:29 where Paul says that God has predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Jesus is the Answer
Presenting Jesus as the ultimate role model seems to offer the best hope for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Dr. Jasser and others seeing the “revolution” or “reformation” they are calling for. If Muslim leaders will encourage their followers to learn all they can about Jesus, even by going to the New Testament, and then call on them to follow His words and example, I see every reason to believe that a powerful Jesus reformation would emerge in Islam that would root out the extremists and bring Muslim nations into the modern world.
As I write, I am reminded of the words of the song written by Andre Crouch who went home to be with Jesus a few days ago. He wrote;
Tributes to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were held across the United States yesterday, with observers linking the federal holiday to a rallying cry in recent protests over police brutality: “Black lives matter.”
King’s 1960s dream of racial equality was being viewed through a lens focused on the deaths of unarmed black men after confrontations with police, including Eric Garner, who died in July after being put in a chokehold in New York City, and Michael Brown, shot in Ferguson, Missouri, in August.
More than 60 people demonstrating against police brutality were arrested after blocking traffic on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge, a major thoroughfare in the San Francisco Bay Area, said California Highway Patrol Officer Damian Cistaro.
Another 19 people were arrested by Seattle police after protesters blocked a major artery, causing traffic delays.
More than 1,800 people pressed into a King commemoration service at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King once preached, some holding signs with his famous quote “I am a man,” others with placards reading “I can’t breathe” in Garner’s memory and “Hands up! Don’t shoot!” to honor Brown.
“We look at the yellow crime scene tape that’s wrapped around America now and we know that we have a lot of work still to do,” Gwendoyln Boyd, president of Alabama State University, told the crowd that responded with an earsplitting “Amen!”
‘RECLAIMING MARTIN LUTHER KING’
About 400 protesters blocked traffic in New York City as they walked about 60 blocks from Harlem to near the United Nations, chanting “Black lives matter!” as King’s speeches blared from loudspeakers.
“This march is about reclaiming Martin Luther King. He was a radical organiser – he’s been arrested, he believed in non-violence, but he was also disruptive,” said Linda Sarsour, spokeswoman for the Justice League NYC, which organised the #Dream4Justice March.
Hours before an evening vigil on the Staten Island street where Garner died, his family placed wreaths on the Brooklyn street where two uniformed officers were ambushed in December by a gunman claiming to avenge the deaths of Garner and Brown.
“This holiday should also represent that we are unequivocally against the shedding of innocent blood,” said Rev Al Sharpton, who accompanied Garner’s widow, mother and children as they laid down arrangements of blue hyacinths and white roses.
Demonstrations in other US cities included 1,500 protesters against police brutality in Oakland, California, said Oakland Police Officer Johnna Watson. There were no arrests.
President Barack Obama, the nation’s first African-American president, took a more traditional approach to honoring King, spending the day working with his family and other children on a literacy project at a Washington charity.
Obama has shied away from race-related activism, but after a grand jury failed to indict a white officer in Brown’s death, he spoke out against what he called the “deep distrust” between law enforcement and black Americans, vowing to use his last two years in office to improve community policing and trust between the groups.
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