Woman’s Customized Stamp Order Rejected for Being Too Religious

Woman’s Customized Stamp Order Rejected for Being Too Religious



A legal organization is demanding the United States Postal Service change its policy on custom stamps after a woman’s order was rejected because it showed her family standing in front of a historic cathedral. 


First Liberty Institute is representing client Tavia Hunt, who submitted an order through Zazzle.com for stamps showing her and her family standing in front of Moscow’s famous St. Basil’s Cathedral. The order was to be filled through Stamps.com, a separate public company. 


But Zazzle.com declined the order, saying it violated USPS policy prohibiting “any depiction” of religious content on customized stamps. The policy was adopted in 2017.



Photo courtesy: First Liberty


“No one should have to go to court to send a Christmas card,” said Hiram Sasser, general counsel for First Liberty Institute. “USPS policies are so ambiguous and unequally applied that even its approved vendors don’t know what is allowed and what isn’t. The USPS has made Zazzle and Stamps.com agents of discrimination.”


First Liberty sent a letter to the Postal Service Dec. 20, asserting that a “photo’s inclusion of a secular cultural icon such as St. Basil’s Cathedral cannot plausibly be prohibited under a regulation for ‘religious’ depictions.” 


The letter says a lawsuit is possible if the issue is not resolved.


“If you insist that Mrs. Hunt’s…

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Actress to Star in Upcoming Film about Abortion Learns that She was Almost a Victim

Actress to Star in Upcoming Film about Abortion Learns that She was Almost a Victim



December 20, 2018 (Family Research Council) – When Ashley Bratcher decided to take on the starring role in Unplanned, she wasn’t unsure about life – but she completely exactly ethusiastic about it either. The thing to change all of this was an epiphany that changed her entire world. Ashley, the woman who was preparing to star as the leading character in a movie centered around abortion, had nearly been the victim of it herself.


Ashley’s moving real-life story came to light during a Tuesday interview with Fox & Friends, causing the project to take on an entirely new meaning — one that was not just for the actress. When she first auditioned to take on the role of Abby Johnson, Bratcher had no knowledge of who this person was. “I was given just six pages. Six pages that ignited my curiosity… How could this incredibly [devoted] woman one day change her mind about everything she believed in? There had to be more to the story.”


Johnson’s story, however, is one that is familiar to quite a few pro-lifers. As the former director of Planned Parenthood stood within the four walls of a Byran, Texas clinic room nearly a decade ago in 2009, she viewed the ultrasound of a baby who would never take its first breath. When the doctor began to take another unborn life, Abby Johnson knew that she had to change hers. After seeing the lives of 22,000 unborn babies taken,…

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Many Brits struggle to retell Christmas story

The majority of adults in Britain (58%) agree that it is important to understand the story of religious festivals that other people celebrate even if they do not celebrate them themselves.

However, one in five are not confident at retelling the stories themselves.

Seven out of ten people said they could confidently tell the Christian Christmas story, although there was a considerable difference between generations with around half (56%) of young people aged 18-24 saying they could do so confidently, compared with eight out of ten (83%) of those aged over 55.

In a survey of over 2,000 British adults by YouGov, on behalf of the National Association of Teachers of RE (NATRE) and the Religious Education Council of England and Wales (REC), more young people aged 18-24 agreed that it is important to understand religious festivals than those over 55 did – with 64% among the young and 55% among the older generation thinking understanding is important.

When asked about various religious festivals, including Christmas, Easter, Hannukah, Diwali, and Eid-ul-Fitr, 18% of all ages said they could not confidently retell the story of any of them though.

Understanding of non-Christian festivals and holidays was lower, with around one in twenty or fewer agreeing that they can confidently retell the Jewish story of Hannukah (5%), the Hindu Diwali festival (5%), or Muslim Eid-el-Fitr…

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Samaritan’s Purse Gets Award from PETA for Rescuing Starving, Abandoned Tiger and Lion

Samaritan’s Purse Gets Award from PETA for Rescuing Starving, Abandoned Tiger and Lion



Christian humanitarian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse received an award from animal rights organization People for Ethical Treatment of Animals after the group saved a starving tiger and lion who were abandoned after a typhoon.


According to the Christian Post, the North Carolina-based aid organization was awarded a Compassionate Action Award this week from PETA. The group was given the award after they volunteered to fly two starving and abandoned zoo animals from the Pacific island of Saipan, which was devastated by a Typhoon in November, to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Weld County, Colorado.


Samaritan’s Purse had been flying in tons of supplies to the devastated Island, and on their third trip to the island, since it was struck by Typhoon Yutu in November, the Federal Emergency Management Agency reached out to Samaritan’s Purse for help. 


Through a collaborative effort with FEMA, Tigers in America and The Wild Animal Sanctuary, Samaritan’s Purse was able to fly Tasha and Lambert from the U.S. commonwealth in the North Mariana Islands to a sanctuary in Colorado where they will each have habitats of between 15 and 25 acres, a video detailing the rescue recalled.


In the video, Casey Craig of The Wild Life Sanctuary expressed his gratitude for Samaritan’s Purse. He said, “I know there is not a lot of flights going in and out of Saipan…

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World’s First ‘Transgender Cultural District’ Created in San Francisco

World’s First ‘Transgender Cultural District’ Created in San Francisco



With the support of San Francisco’s leaders, transgender activists have enacted the world’s first “Transgender Cultural District” in the Tenderloin area of the city to “create a safe, welcoming and empowering neighborhood lead by trans people for trans people” and to “preserve the places where transgender history took place for future generations.”


Reports claim that Jane Kim, who is an active member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and represents the district that includes the Tenderloin, proposed legislation last year that would enable and assert the creation of “Compton’s Transgender Cultural District.”


“The lower Tenderloin is the most important neighborhood in America for transgender history, culture, and civil rights,” Kim said in a statement. “By creating the Compton’s TLGB District we are honoring this vibrant community built by transgender people, and are sending a message to the world that trans people are welcome here.”


The area stretches across six blocks in the southeastern Tenderloin as well as two blocks of 6th Street, includes the site of the now former Gene Compton’s Cafeteria, a dining establishment that would frequently make phone calls to the police in the 1960’s since it had the idea that the lingering of men dressed as women would have a negative impact on business, and worked to drive them to…

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‘Thank God That Wall Wasn’t There’: House Democrat Says Border Wall Would Have Killed Baby Jesus

‘Thank God That Wall Wasn’t There’: House Democrat Says Border Wall Would Have Killed Baby Jesus



Democratic Congressman Luis Gutierrez stormed out of a House Judiciary Committee meeting Thursday after he called the Secretary of Homeland Security a liar. 


According to CBN News, In a meeting with the House Judiciary Committee and the Secretary of Homeland Security Kirsten Nielson on border security, Representative Gutierrez took his turn to speak to call Christians to the carpet. Gutierrez passionately said, “It is repugnant to me, and astonishing to me, that during Christmas — I like to call them the holiday seasons to be inclusive, but during Christmas because the majority always wants to just call it Christmas — that during Christmas, a time in which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, a Jesus Christ who had to flee for his life with Mary and Joseph, thank God there wasn’t a wall that stopped him from seeking refuge in Egypt.” He continued, “Thank God that wall wasn’t there, thank God there wasn’t any administration like this, or he would have to have perished on the 28th, on the Day of the Innocents, when Herod ordered the murder of every child under two years of age.”


“Maybe I haven’t gone a lot to Bible school, but I know that part,” Gutierrez added. “Thank God. Shame on everybody that separates children and allows them to stay at the other side of the border fearing death, fearing hunger, fearing sickness. Shame on us for…

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Jesus, Mary and Joseph would have been granted asylum under Trump, US gov says

The secretary of the Department for Homeland Security made the point as she refuted any suggestion the state has a blanket policy endorsing the separation of incoming migrant children from their parents.

Kirstjen Nielsen spoke after an angry speech by one Democrat congressman who claimed Christ would have been left to the mercy of King Herod, had the Trump administration existed during biblical times.

 

Luis Gutierrez, who is of Puerto Rican descent, said: “A Jesus Christ who had to flee for his life, with Mary and Joseph – thank God there wasn’t a wall that stopped him from seeking refuge in Egypt.

“Thank God that wall wasn’t there, and thank God there wasn’t an administration like this or too would have perished… when Herod ordered the murder of every child under two years of age.”

 

After also being accused of dishonesty, Ms Nielsen responded: “Only to say that calling me a liar is fighting words. I’m not a liar. We’ve never had a policy for family separation.”

Building a wall along the border between Mexico and the United States was an…

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Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Unexpectedly Resigns Following Major Military Decisions in the Middle East

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Unexpectedly Resigns Following Major Military Decisions in the Middle East



United States Defense Secretary Jim Mattis made an unexpected announcement late Thursday night informing America that he would be leaving the White House in the new year. 


Mattis, who is a retired four-star general, was nearly-unanimously voted into the President’s Cabinet following Trump’s inauguration. 


The highly respected cabinet member offered the president his resignation following two major military decisions that he seemingly did not agree with. On Wednesday, President Trump announced that the U.S. had defeated ISIS in Syria and that he would be withdrawing all U.S. troops from the Middle Eastern country. According to NPR, Trump also announced that he would be decreasing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan by almost half. 


Many, including Mattis’ close friend Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane, who recommended Mattis for the defense secretary job, are speculating that these two major decisions were factors that played into Mattis’ decision to resign. 


In his resignation letter, the four-star General made it clear that his views no longer aligned with the president’s. He wrote, “My views on treating allies with respect and also being clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly held.”


He continued, “Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are better…

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‘Never again’, pope vows end to clergy sex abuse cover-ups

The pope used his annual speech to urge those who have carried out sex crimes against children to turn themselves into authorities.

He said: “Let it be clear that before these abominations the church will spare no effort to do all that is necessary to bring to justice whosoever has committed such crimes.”

 

The pontiff’s comments come after a year of damaging revelations concerning sexual misconduct and cover-up which have undermined confidence in the Catholic Church.

Earlier this year, he admitted making “grave errors” in his own handling of a clergy sex abuse scandal in Chile. Meanwhile, state prosecutors have been uncovering decades of cover up in the United States.

 

During his speech, Francis acknowledged failings by the Church to treat the issue seriously and to always believe victims.

Urging people with information about misconduct to come forward, he added: “The church asks that people not be silent, but bring it objectively to light, since the greater scandal in this matter is that of cloaking the truth,”

AP Photo/Andrew Medichini

 

Pope Francis shall welcome to the Vatican church leaders from around the world in February 2019 for an abuse prevention summit.

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Church of Scotland reader says he was almost in Lockerbie that evening

On the 21st December 1988, a bomb exploded on a plane 31,000 feet in the air, 259 people were killed on board with sections of the aircraft landing in the town of Lockerbie in Scotland.

Several houses were destroyed and one family lost four members.

30 years later, the Church of Scotland is marking the anniversary of this event which changed the town by doing a silent ‘walk of peace’ and a special remembrance service at Tundergarth Parish Church.

Geoff Brown, a Church of Scotland reader and the Moderator of the Presbytery of Annandale and Eskdale – just a few miles away from Lockerbie – told Premier he was meant to be in Lockerbie that night, until he got a phone call from a friend to rearrange the time:

“I was actually here at home in Moffat, which is about 14 miles away.

“We had intended to go visit friends that evening in Lockerbie because I previously lived in… the Lockerbie community and we were taking parcels down to them but we were supposed to actually be there during the time when the air disaster took place but they had phoned to change the time so we were at home at the time…but you could hear the noise and the sky lit up.”

Geoff described the following week in the area: “It was a very difficult time, very sad, the whole community had that feeling of loss and grief and wondering what you could do to support the people of Lockerbie.”

When asked how the…

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