Friday, April 27th has been designated as a Day of Silence (DOS). On this day, students who are gay, trans, and bisexual and their supporters will go through the entire school day without speaking in order to draw attention to the LGBT cause.

The Day of Silence website describes the event this way:

“GLSEN’s Day of Silence, this year on Friday, April 27, is a student-led national event where folks take a vow of silence to highlight the silencing and erasure of LGBTQ people at school.

To start, K-12 students and educators should register their participation.”

Some students will even go so far as to put tape over their mouths to prove their point.

. writer Janet Boynes, who used to be a lesbian herself before coming to the Lord, questions the wisdom of exposing children as young as kindergarten and preschool ages to the LGBT agenda.

“Our society has made a dangerous move in going from tolerance to celebration of LGBT—especially when kids are celebrating harmful sexual behaviors that can have life-threatening consequences,” writes Boynes.

Some Christian families are choosing to keep their children home from school on the Day of Silence, while others are using this as an occasion to talk to their children about this issue.

“Whether you keep your children home or allow them to go to school on the Day of Silence, be sure to let your…

Arizona megachurch pastor Les Hughey has officially resigned as senior pastor at Highlands Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, after several women accused the church founder of taking sexual advantage of them decades ago as teenagers and young women.

In a statement released Wednesday, the church announced that Highlands elders accepted Hughey’s resignation effective immediately.

“Pastor Hughey’s resignation does not end the responsibility of Highlands Church,” Bob Wade, the church’s interim senior pastor, said in the statement. “We are committed to providing counseling and spiritual care. Further, we recognize the critical importance of treating any allegation of abuse or misconduct seriously and its victims with compassion.”

The resignation comes after three more women stepped forward this week to claim that Hughey treated them in sexually inappropriate ways over 40 years ago when he served as youth group leader at Scottsdale Bible Church.

The newest accusations followed The Modesto Bee’s reporting last week of four other women who accused Hughey of engaging in sexual abuse at Modesto’s First Baptist Church. 

According to The Modesto Bee, a total…

A new Pew Research survey finds that one-third of Americans — both those who say they believe in God and those who say they don’t — trust in a higher power or spiritual force.

This group has a looser interpretation of the transcendent. Some call it God; others don’t.

The survey of 4,729 respondents conducted online in December offers some insight into the diversity of U.S. beliefs. And like other surveys over the past decade, it suggests the number of Americans who believe in God is slowly declining.

“One of the key questions that motivated the study was to get more detail among those who say they don’t believe in God,” said Gregory Smith, associate director of research at Pew. “Among those people who say ‘no’ in a straightforward way when asked, ‘Do you believe in God?’ what are they rejecting? Are they rejecting belief in God or a higher power altogether?”

In the survey, those who answered that they do not believe in God were asked a follow-up question, whether they believed in “some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe.”

To be sure, a majority, if a slim one — 56 percent — say they believe in the conventional all-loving, all-knowing, all-powerful God of the Bible.

Then there are the hardcore disbelievers: about 10 percent who say they don’t believe in the God of the Bible or a higher power.

One-third of…

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom cited more than two dozen countries as main contributors to an “ongoing downward trend” in religious liberty worldwide and called on the Trump administration to prioritize the release of religious prisoners and assist in resettling refugees fleeing persecution.

“Sadly, religious freedom conditions deteriorated in many countries in 2017, often due to increasing authoritarianism or under the guise of countering terrorism,” said USCIRF Chairman Daniel Mark as the independent watchdog issued its 2018 report on Wednesday (April 25).

“Yet there is also reason for optimism 20 years after the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act. The importance of this foundational right is appreciated more now than ever, and egregious violations are less likely to go unnoticed.”

The report noted the range of severe abuses in 28 countries, from what the U.S. and U.N. have labeled “ethnic cleansing” of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar (also known as Burma) to persecution of Tibetan Buddhists, Uighur Muslims and Falun Gong practitioners in China. It cited the so-called Islamic State’s continuing “genocidal campaign” against Christians, Yazidis and Shiite Muslims; Russia’s harsh treatment of Jehovah’s Witnesses, Muslims and Scientologists; and “the continued unjust detention” of U.S….

Evangelist Scott Dawson, who is running for Alabama governor but first faces a Republican primary in June, has said that he does not want to be known as a politician despite his aspirations.

“I don’t want to be a politician,” Dawson said in an Al.com article on Thursday.

“I want to be a public servant. The ark was built by amateurs. The Titanic was built by professionals,” he added, using a popular saying that refers to Noah’s Ark in the Bible.

Dawson has been leading Christian crusades for more than three decades, including large prayer rallies at baseball parks and football stadiums.

Some of his notable rallies have taken place following NFL games, such as one between the St. Louis Rams and Buccaneers in Tampa Bay in 2012, and another one at Samford University and Spain Park High School.

He has also participated in large conferences, such as…