A federal court heard an appeal Thursday in a case involving an atheist group that wants congressional invocations opened up to those who don’t believe in God.

The lawsuit by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) says atheists should be allowed to give invocations – which typically are prayers — before congressional sessions. A judge last year ruled Congress had the right to bar those who have no faith.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard FFRF’s appeal Thursday. 

“This is not a case that attacks the concept of legislative invocations,” an FFRF brief to the appeals court states. “This is not a case that challenges the delivery of religious-themed invocations. This is not even a case about the gross disproportion of invocations by Christians. Instead, this case is simply, but disturbingly, about the intentional and purposeful exclusion of nonbelievers as invocation-givers by the Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives.”

Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, was invited in 2015 by his representative, Democrat Mark Pocan, to deliver an invocation but was prevented from doing so by House Chaplain Patrick Conroy. Conroy’s office said all guest chaplains must be ordained by a “recognized body in the faith in which he/she practices” and must have an ordination certificate. 

The Freedom…

A Reformed theologian told a conference centered on the Bible book of 2 Timothy that it’s wrong for Christians to “unhitch” their beliefs from the Old Testament, something megachurch pastor Andy Stanley had exhorted earlier this year.

Preaching from 2 Timothy 1:3-8, Ray Ortlund, senior pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee, and the president of Renewal Ministries, pointed out that when the Apostle Paul was writing to Timothy in the epistle, he stressed his religious heritage through Judaism.

“Paul looks back into his own deepest roots. He goes back to David, to Moses, to Abraham. He reveres the faith that came down to him even filtered through Jewish tradition,” Ortlund said Tuesday at the Gospel Coalition’s West Coast Conference, held at EvFree Fullerton in California.

Ortlund then alluded to comments that Stanley made in a sermon back in late April, without naming the Georgia pastor.

“Unlike some preachers today, Paul did not ‘unhitch’ the Christian faith from the Old Testament,” said Ortlund, his…

After a Doctor was fired in December 2015 for refusing to perform a procedure that contradicted her faith, on October 11, Norway’s Supreme Court ruled that a physician has the right to refuse to conduct procedures that violate their conscience.

In December 2015, a General Practitioner Clinic in Sauherad fired Dr. Katarzyna Jachimowicz after she refused to insert IUDs into her patients.

Jachimowicz made it clear that IUDs or intrauterine devices, which CBN News reports can act as an abortifacient, are a clear violation of her Roman Catholic faith.

According to CBN News, Jachimowicz’s clinic was aware of the physician’s pro-life stance before she was hired in 2010.

LifeSiteNews reports that Jachimowicz told her bosses in a meeting, “Life begins at conception and I do not want to take part in destroying it.”

“All present agreed to my conditions, but I did not ask for written confirmation, knowing that an oral agreement is valid as well,” Jachimowicz told the outlet. 

Jachimowicz is an experienced physician with more than 20 years of field work. She is also fluent in Polish, Russian, and Norwegian making her a valuable asset to patients from several walks of life. 

According to CBN News, Jachimowicz’s termination marked her as the first medical professional in Norway to be fired for exercising her right to freedom of conscience.

“Dr. Jachimowicz…

Weeks after a video clip in which she declares she doesn’t describe herself as a black woman because it gives “too much power” to her blackness went viral, “War Room” actor and evangelist Priscilla Shirer apologized to black Americans offended by her words.

“It hurts my heart to know that I could have possibly offended some of my African American sisters & brothers. If I did, I hope you’ll receive this sincere apology & clarification in the spirit in which I am posting it,” Shirer said in a statement posted on Facebook Wednesday.

The actor’s controversial statement went viral three weeks ago after Chuck Bernal, founder and lead pastor of LifePointe Church in Crowley, Texas, shared it on Facebook and endorsed it as “one of the best statements on a Christian perspective regarding RACE and POLITICS that I have ever heard.”

“I do not describe myself as a black woman because that gives too much power to my blackness,” Shirer, whose father is Dallas megachurch pastor Tony Evans, said.

“I don’t want my race to be the describing adjective of who I am as a woman. I am not a black woman. I am a Christian woman who happens to be black,” Shirer continued to cheers in the video which has been viewed more than 7 million times…

A 65-year-old man was hospitalized on Monday after being viciously attacked while praying outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Florida.

According to the Naples Daily News, pro-life supporter Joe Alger was sitting outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic reciting the rosary when an unidentified man began to verbally assault him. According to Mary Claire Dant who witnessed the attack, “the attacker walked up to [Joe] and for several minutes he was verbally badgering him.”

Dant continued saying, “at some point, he kept screaming. All of sudden Joe is standing there – BOOM – he knocks him down onto the ground.”

She goes on to say that Alger was attempting to get up when the attacker started to strike him. Dant, who is also a peaceful pro-life protester, said she, too felt threatened by the situation.

According to The Christian Post, later that day a man fitting the attacker’s description was escorted from the clinic by a sheriff’s deputy. 

Alger, however, decided not to press charges and his attacker was not arrested.

“It’s a painful situation,” Alger, who was taken to a hospital, said.  

“And I’m not going to make it any worse,” he added.

Reportedly, the Naples Planned Parenthood clinic has regular protests outside the clinic, prompting the facility to station volunteers outside of the building to escort patients…

A pastor who serves as president of the Texas Southern Baptist Convention has warned evangelicals against the dangers of “legalism” in the church.

Juan Sanchez, who also serves as senior pastor of High Pointe Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, gave a speech at The Gospel Coalition’s West Coast Conference on Wednesday. When discussing 2 Timothy 3:1-9, Sanchez spoke about the temptation for church leaders to engage in legalism, tying it to the early church and how some back then demanded that new believers be circumcised.

“We look at that and we think how ridiculous that is, but in our own churches there’s a temptation to say ‘unless you fill-in-the-blank, you cannot be saved.’ Now we don’t say ‘you cannot be saved,’ but we have a tendency to look down on people,” said Sanchez.

“Unless you vote Republican, you can’t really be saved. Unless you vote Democratic, you really cannot be saved. Unless you homeschool your children, unless you private educate your children, unless you public educate your…