The U.S. Justice Department has sided with the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., in a case against local censorship of religious advertising. Last fall, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) rejected the archdiocese’s Christmas ad, which depicted shepherds following the star of Bethlehem and included the message: “Find the perfect gift.” The ad also listed the web address for a site with information about the archdiocese’s Christmas events and the phrase, “Jesus is the perfect gift.”

The transit authority said it does not allow any ads promoting religion, but the Justice Department argued it can’t use that policy to justify viewpoint discrimination. In a friend-of-the-court brief filed last week, the department said because the transit authority accepts other ads related to Christmas, including those encouraging charitable giving, it cannot reject the archdiocese’s ads.

“Just as a university cannot subsidize secular speech on a given topic while refusing to subsidize religious speech on the same topic, WMATA cannot accept a secular Christmas – encouraging charitable giving while rejecting religious Christmas ads that do the same,” the brief stated. In essence, the department argued, the transit authority is turning the Constitution on its head by favoring commercial speech, including ads for Christmas gifts, over First…

Muslim students at a high school in Nairobi on Tuesdaynight (Jan. 23) beat and stabbed Christians who refused to convert to Islam, a local source said.

 

Tensions had been growing for weeks at Jamhuri High School in northern Nairobi, with Muslims primarily of Somali, Boran and Oromo descent complaining of discrimination. Due to increasing hostilities, the boarding school had designated separate bathrooms and separate sections in the library for Christians and Muslims, a source told Morning Star News.

 

The conflict came to a head Tuesday night (Jan. 23), when Muslim students began speaking in inflammatory terms and tried to force Christian students to recite the Islamic creed for conversion and force students to participate in Muslim cleansing rituals, a source on campus who requested anonymity said.

 

“Some Muslim students forcefully tried to induct Christian students into their Islam faith, and those who refused were knifed, while others were physically beaten,” the source told Morning Star News by phone. “The knives and machetes used are alleged to have come from outside the school.”

 

At least 35 of the school’s 1,500 students were injured, including some Muslims when the Christian students tried to defend themselves, the source said. Some Christian students received hospital treatment for stab wounds and dislocated bones in their hands and joints,…

Pop star Justin Bieber was recently seen attending a Hillsong church service with his mother.

In the past couple years, Bieber has seemed to turn his life around. He often speaks of his Christian faith and shares Christian messages on social media.

According to CBN News, Bieber attended a Wednesday evening church service at Hillsong’s Beverly Hills campus with his mother, Pattie Mallette.

Although Mallette raised Bieber in the faith and even introduced him to his friend and mentor Pastor Judah Smith, the two were estranged for some time.

“I was distant because I was ashamed,” Bieber shared. “I never wanted my mom to be disappointed in me and I knew she was. We spent some time not talking, so it takes time to rebuild that trust. She’s living in Hawaii now, so it’s hard, but getting better.”

Mallette has also shared that, although it is tough as a parent to step back, it is important to allow one’s children to make their own choices at some point:

“Me, personally, I would love to be with him all the time and to be able to ground him and deal with his problems and do all of that stuff, but at some point the parenting style changes. I hope to still be a respected voice in his ear,” she shared.

It seems, however, that the relationship between mother and son is mending. Mallette and Bieber even vacationed together recently in the Maldives.

Just last…