The South Carolina Senate may have thought they were gathering to talk about the Confederate flag, but they heard a sermon instead.

Republican Sen. Lee Bright took the stand to talk about what was really on his heart: That the Confederate flag debates are distracting Americans from what’s really going on in this country, a moral decline facilitated by the devil himself.

He points to the White House displaying “abomination colors,” and Judeo-Christian principles “under assault by men in black robes who are not elected by you.”

“We can rally together and talk about a flag all we want, but the devil is taking control of this land and we’re not stopping him,” the senator said.

Instead of the flag debate, Bright believes Americans need to be addressing the “business of marriage.”

“I believe that Christ teaches us to love the homosexual, but He also teaches us to stand in the gap against sin,” he said. “I know that we need to respect our brother and love our brother, but we cannot respect this sin in the state of South Carolina, so I’m asking you … to deal with marriage.”

JOS, Nigeria – A day of extremist violence against both Muslims and Christians in Nigeria killed more than 60 people, including worshipers in a mosque who came to hear a cleric known for preaching peaceful coexistence of all faiths.

Militants from Boko Haram were blamed for the suicide bombings Sunday night at a crowded mosque and a posh Muslim restaurant in the central city of Jos; a suicide bombing earlier at an evangelical Christian church in the northeastern city of Potiskum, and attacks in several northeastern villages where dozens of churches and about 300 homes were torched.
President Muhammadu Buhari condemned the attacks on places of worship and said the government will defend Nigerians’ right to worship freely.

It was the latest spasm of violence by Boko Haram extremists who have killed about 300 people in the past week — apparently after an order by the self-proclaimed Islamic State group for more mayhem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Earlier this year, Boko Haram became an affiliate of the Islamic State group.

The deadliest attack came on Wednesday when more than 140 people were killed — mostly men and boys mowed down by gunfire as they prayed in mosques in the northeastern town of Kukawa.

Burials were held Monday for 51 people killed by the two bombings a day earlier in the city of Jos, said Muslim community lawyer Ahmed Garba.

Another 67 people were wounded, according to Abdussalam Mohammed, the National Emergency Management Agency coordinator.

The explosion at the Yantaya Mosque came as cleric Sani Yahaya was addressing the worshippers, survivors said. Yahaya is the national chairman of the Jama’atu Izalatul Bidia organization, which preaches that all religions should peacefully coexist.

Garba said gunmen also opened fire on the mosque from three directions.

Survivor Danladi Sani said he saw a man dressed in white take aim at Yahaya, and then blow himself up. Yahaya was unharmed, Sani added.

“He is a great Islamic scholar who has spoken out against Boko Haram, and that is why we believe he was the target,” Sani told The Associated Press.

Another bomb exploded at Shagalinku, a restaurant often patronized by state governors and other top politicians for its specialties popular with Muslims, witnesses said.

Sabi’u Bako was picking up a takeout meal when he heard a massive explosion as he walked away with friends.

“The restaurant was destroyed, and we saw many people covered in blood,” he said. “We can’t believe that we escaped.”

Jos is a hotspot for violent religious confrontations because it is located in the center of the country where Nigeria’s majority Muslim north meets the mainly Christian south. The city has been targeted by bombs claimed by Boko Haram extremists that have killed hundreds.

Earlier Sunday, a female suicide bomber struck a crowded service of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Potiskum, killing six people, witnesses said.

Elsewhere in the northeast, extremists killed nine people and burned down 32 churches and about 300 homes in several villages, said Stephen Apagu, chairman of a self-defense group in Borno state’s Askira-Uba local government area. He said the militia killed three militants.

The villages had been attacked three days earlier and 29 people killed.

The United States condemned the recent attacks and said it continues to provide counterterrorism assistance to Nigeria to “combat the threat posed by Boko Haram,” said a statement Monday from State Department spokesman John Kirby.

Boko Haram took over a large swath of northeastern Nigeria last year. A multinational force from Nigeria and its neighbors forced the militants out of many towns, but bombings and village attacks have increased in recent weeks.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s military freed 180 detainees who had been held for up to two years, accused of being Boko Haram members. Those freed Monday included women with babies and toddlers.

A suicide bomber killed six people at a church in northeast Nigeria on Sunday at the end of a week in which suspected Boko Haram insurgents killed more than 200 people.

The spate of bloodletting prompted renewed international outrage and French President Francois Hollande said he was ready to hold a summit with regional leaders to coordinate the fight against Boko Haram.

The blast in Potiskum in Yobe state on Sunday came after an attack on the capital of neighboring Borno state on Friday, deadly raids in three towns during the week and suicide bombings along a highway.

President Muhammadu Buhari said the murder of up to 150 Kukawa residents near Lake Chad on Wednesday by Boko Haram was a “heinous atrocity”. Several people who attended burials there, including a senior government official, said 147 bodies, including 22 children, had been interred.

Also last week in Borno, about 50 people were shot dead in nearby Monguno, 12 men were killed in a raid on Miringa and two suicide bombers killed another 10 alongside a highway.

“DEVASTATE AND DECAPITATE”

The Defence Ministry said six suicide bombers had blown themselves up during the attack on the outskirts of Maiduguri on Friday, killing a soldier and “scores” of civilians.

The army said it recovered a jeep packed with explosives after repulsing the attack.

New president Buhari vowed to crush Boko Haram when he was sworn in on May 29. But the insurgents have stepped up their attacks, despite losing huge chunks of territory this year to soldiers from Nigeria, Cameroon,Chad and Niger.

A member of a county government in Pennsylvania has placed a Ten Commandments placard by his seat in a courthouse meeting room.

Mathew Benol, councilman on the Northampton County Council, placed the Decalogue display behind his seat in the county courthouse in Easton, according to local media.

“Benol hung the Ten Commandments before the meeting without saying a word and the plaque’s presence was not discussed during the meeting,” reported John Best of lehighvalleylive.com.

“Benol said he made the decision to place the commandments on the wall after careful consideration, but he wanted to do it without fanfare and didn’t want to make a scene.”

This is not the first time that Northampton County Councilman has placed a Ten Commandments placard in the Easton courthouse.

In 2002 Councilman Ron Angle placed a similar Ten Commandments placard behind his seat, which was stolen in 2012.

“Council Clerk Frank Flisser discovered the plaque was missing during Wednesday’s council meeting, held on the eve of Holy Thursday,” reported Samantha Marcus of The Morning Call in April 2012.

“He doesn’t know how long it’s been missing. He only noticed its absence when he looked in the direction of Angle’s old seat during the council meeting.”

After another council member opposed to the plague suggested Benol would oppose displaying the Koran, Benol told Best he would be fine with a Koran display, if a council member similarly decided to place it on the wall behind them.

Regarding news of the new Decalogue display, Angle told local media that he was thrilled at the decision to place it in the courtroom.

“Religion isn’t what hurts this country … I think it’s the lack of it that’s hurting this country,” said Angle to lehighvalleylive.com.

Ten Commandments displays on public property have been the subject of much debate among politicians and various courts, with diverse results for the displays.

Benol’s decision to display a Ten Commandments placard on government property comes not long after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled against a Decalogue statue placed on capitol grounds.

In a 7-2 decision released last week, the state’s highest court concluded that the privately-funded 6-foot tall granite monument violated the Oklahoma constitution.

“Because the monument at issue operates for the use, benefit or support of a sect or system of religion, it violates Article 2, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution and is enjoined and shall be removed,” concluded the opinion, overturning a lower court decision.