Survey Reveals That 54 Percent of Republicans Believe ‘Deep Down’ Obama Is a Muslim

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Survey Reveals That 54 Percent of Republicans Believe ‘Deep Down’ Obama Is a Muslim

Christian Post report– As many as 54 percent of Republicans have said in a survey that they believe President Barack Obama “deep down” is a Muslim, and only 9 percent trust that he’s really a Christian.

Alex Theodoridis, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Merced, described the results as “staggering” in an article for The Washington Post on Wednesday.

The direct question asked was “Which of these do you think most likely describes what Obama believes deep down? Muslim, Christian, atheist, spiritual, or I don’t know.”

Only 45 percent of Democrats identified Obama as a Christian, though only 10 percent said that they believe he is a Muslim. Twenty-six percent said that they do not know what religion the president is, and 17 percent said they believe he’s “spiritual.”

Those who identified as Independents also largely did not trust that Obama is a Christian. Close to half, or 47 percent said that they don’t know Obama’s religious beliefs; 26 percent suggested that he’s a Muslim, and only 16 percent said that he is a Christian.

The poll was conducted as part of the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, and was undertaken by YouGov during October and November of 2013, sampling 1,000 American adults.

Obama has, on several occasions throughout his presidency, talked publicly about his Christian faith.
In January, he said that anyone who questions his faith does not know him. At the same time, he said that there would be nothing wrong if he was indeed not a Christian.

“In our lives, Michelle [Obama] and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith. Still, as you may know, my faith has at times been questioned — by people who don’t know me — or they’ve said that I adhere to a different religion, as if that were somehow a bad thing,” Obama said.

“Every person has the right to practice their faith how they choose, or to practice no faith at all, and to do so free from persecution and fear.”

That being said, Obama has also emphasized his Muslim upbringing in Indonesia during interviews with foreign press and speeches in predominately-Muslim countries. During an address to the Turkish Parliament in 2009, he said: “Many Americans have Muslims in their families or have lived in a Muslim-majority country — I know, because I am one of them.”

Theodoridis suggested that the phrasing of the survey’s question, which asked what people really think about Obama’s beliefs, could have had an impact on the results.

“Previous survey questions about Obama’s religion tend to sound like a pop quiz — such as ‘do you happen to know the religious faith of Barack Obama?’ But by asking ‘what Obama believes deep down?’ I was intentionally granting respondents license to stray from the president’s self-reported Christian faith,” he explained.

“This reveals a prevalent willingness to distrust this president or categorize him as ‘the other’ in terms of religion.”

Theodoridis also suggested that the results might be reflecting respondents’ dislike of Obama, rather than offering a genuine opinion on the president’s faith.

A number of Christian voices, including evangelical preacher Rev. Franklin Graham and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, have accused Obama of supporting the Muslim community in expense of Christians by refusing to identify terror group ISIS as radical Islamic jihadists.

Obama has explained that he does not want to give legitimacy to ISIS and give the terror group what it wants by calling it Islamic.

Source: Christian Post

 

Eric Pickles:’Proper Understanding’ of Religious Faith, the Perfect Way to Fight Bigotry

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Eric Pickles:’Proper Understanding’ of Religious Faith, the Perfect Way to Fight Bigotry

Christian Today report– A “proper understanding” of religious faith is the best way to stand up to bigotry in all its forms, according to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles. He praised faith groups as a “tremendous force for good” and said faith could no longer be treated as a minority hobby.

Pickles, speaking at a reception to support Coexist House, a new London institution being developed by the Coexist Foundation and Cambridge University’s interfaith programme, criticised “violent extremists” and “aggressive secularists”.

Speaking at the Temple church in London, he said: “We live in an age of confusion and fear about religion. Violence and conflicts are erupting around the world driven by man who claim to have a monopoly on faith and on piety. Many people are concluding religion is a problem, a relic of a past, [that] it would be much better if it didn’t exist.”

He said that starting a peaceful dialogue did not guarantee a peaceful resolution.

“Most people in Britain are proud of the freedoms that we enjoy,” he said. But religion was seen as an “obstacle to progress” rather than something to be understood. This was a lazy and dangerous attitude because it left the fundamentalists unchallenged.

“Faith should no longer be treated as a personal hobby which should be for the few. This will only ensure that fundamentalists control debate enjoy a position in the public spotlight. We need to recognise that faith groups are a tremendous force for good, serving and supporting the downtrodden, the marginalised in society, and bringing our different communities together.”

He said Coexist House will play a big role in promoting religious education and mutual respect. It will help deliver “religious literacy”, increasingly seen as an essential tool to business, political, health and education leader leaders both nationally and internationally.

“Recent months of religious violence across the world have made many feel pessimistic about the future, especially the role of faith in Britain,” said Pickles. It was now “more important than ever” to demonstrate that faith was compatible with British values such as tolerance and freedom and the rule of law.

British society would be the less without strong Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and other voices of faith.

The Coexist Foundation last week organised London’s first multifaith pilgrimage.

Professor David Ford, of Cambridge University, said it would be the first of many and the new Coexist House, due to open in 2020, will provide a focal point for future pilgrimages. “For the first time this country will have a building that is fully shared between different religious traditions and open to all.”

Sir Bernard Rix, recently retired Lord Justice of Appeal, said no other city in the world besides London was better suited to a project such as Coexist House. “Diversity of faith is an opportunity for friendship and understanding, not conflict.”

Source: Christian Today

Unknown Giver Offers Reward for Return of Rare Bible

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Unknown Giver Offers Reward for Return of Rare Bible

Christian Today report– An anonymous donor is offering up a $1,000 reward for the return of a rare Jewish Bible to the Hastings College’s Perkins Library with no questions asked.

The two volume Bible, valued at $6,000, was printed in 1921 for the Roxburghe Club from a manuscript called the Bible of Olivares that belonged to the Duke of Berwick and Alba. It was donated to the college in 2007.

This rare illuminated Bible features unique cover design on brown Moorish leather and many colour plates from the original manuscript. Rabbi Moses Arragel of Guadalfajara created the Castilian translation from the original Hebrew text in the late Middle Ages.

The college was not immediately able to catalogue the tomes and only discovered the loss of the set two months ago when the donor asked to see it.

Matt Fong, the chief of staff of Hastings College, said that the only lead they had of the Bible’s whereabouts was that it was last seen in an office. College officials are still unsure of whether the book was stolen, and when exactly it went missing.

“We’ve checked with everyone on campus, so all indication is that, since nobody on campus has it, that it was taken maliciously from the library. We feel bad in the sense that it was a gift to the college from a donor, and feel we need to do our due diligence to take care of those gifts to the college and put it back in its permanent place in Perkins Library,” he said.

Meanwhile, College spokesperson Alice O’Donnel said that library staff have already looked in the entire building for the Bible and reached out to offices and department who may have an academic interest in it to help with the search.

“As a campus community, we shared the news several weeks ago but as of yet have received no leads.We do hope anyone who has had contact with a book fitting this description will contact us regarding its whereabouts. Again, no questions will be asked,” she said.

According to college officials, the Bible can be returned to Matt Fong at the Daugherty Conference Center, 716 N. Turner Ave., Hastings between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. He can be contacted through (402) 461-7786.

Source: Christian Today

 

 

Assyrian Church Leader Says US ‘Grotesque Mistakes’ is the Reason for ISIS Beheading, Kidnapping Christians

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Assyrian Church Leader Says US ‘Grotesque Mistakes’ is the Reason for ISIS Beheading, Kidnapping Christians

Christian Post report– Assyrian Archbishop Jacques Behnan Hindo, ordinary of the Syrian Catholic Archieparchy in Hassaké-Nisibis, has spoken out against the kidnapping of more than 260 Assyrian Christians and blamed the U.S. and its Western allies for triggering conflicts that have destabilized the region and prompted ISIS to carry out such attacks.

“With their disastrous policies — mainly the French and the U.S., with their regional allies, have favored in fact the Daesh (ISIS) escalation,” Hindo told Fides News Agency.

“Now they persevere in error, commit strategic, grotesque mistakes such as the announcement of the ‘spring campaign’ to liberate Mosul and insist on interfering with irrelevant interventions, instead of recognizing that their guaranteed support to jihadist groups has led us to this chaos and has destroyed Syria, making us regress 200 years.”

The Archbishop refers to revelations made by the U.S. that in the summer of 2015 it is going to be launching an operation along with Iraqi forces to retake the city of Mosul, the second largest city in the country. Mosul was one of the first major cities to fall under ISIS control when the terror group began its advance in 2014.

Gen. Lloyd Austin, the head of the military’s Central Command, told The Wall Street Journal in January: “If we did things alone or with some of the other allies on the ground, it could move faster,” he said. “But the Iraqis have to do this themselves.”

The U.S. and its allies have hit a number of ISIS targets across Iraq and Syria with airstrikes, but have focused on arming and supporting local ground troop forces instead of sending any of their own.

ISIS has continued to gain ground, however, and has often targeted Christians and other religious minority groups in its aggression. Last week, it released a video depicting the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians, while earlier this week it kidnapped an estimated 262 Assyrian Christians following an attack on villages in the northeastern Jazeera province in Syria.

The archbishop confirmed the news and said: “The jihadists have taken full control of the villages on the western shore of Khabur, while yesterday afternoon, Feb. 24, all the inhabitants of 22 villages scattered along the eastern shore were evacuated and more than a thousand Christian Assyrian and Chaldean families fled to the major centers of Hassaké, Qamishli, Dirbesiye and Ras al-Ayn.”

(Photo: Reuters/Map)
(Photo: Reuters/Map)

 

The terror group’s raid on the villages caused the death of at least four Christians who had been fighting for the Assyrian milita, Fides reported.

Osama Edward, founder of the Assyrian Human Rights Network, shared fears that the Assyrians kidnapped by ISIS might be facing the same fate as the beheaded Copts.

“Maybe they are facing the same destiny. That’s why we call on all over the world, like the U.S., Europe, coalition forces — protect Assyrians, save Assyrians in Syria,” Edward said in an interview on Wednesday.

“They are facing death, people are unarmed, they are peaceful. And they need help, they are just left alone — no one’s protecting them.”

The Vice President of the Assyrian Church in Lebanon, Father Yatroun Colliana, has said that Christians in the region are under great threat, and can only “look to God” to protect them.

“ISIS terrorists carried out this attack against these Assyrian villages, and the number of our people still there in the area is somewhere between 7,000 and 10,000 people,” Colliana told the Lebanese Daily An-Nahar.

“The rest fled to Lebanon, or Iraq or other countries. At the very least, we know that our families face great dangers, and they are now threatened with death, or kidnapping or displacement.”

Colliana also pleaded for more international help, in particular for Iraq to open up its borders and allow the fleeing people to escape from the jihadists.

“The problem is that this danger still threatens our people, meanwhile the world stands by silently watching. We are asking Iraqi officials to open up the borders, at least to let women and children escape,” he said.

Source: Christian Post

Former Strip Club Converted to a Holy Facility by Washington’s Bethany Community Church

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Former Strip Club Converted to a Holy Facility by Washington’s Bethany Community Church

Christian Post report– A church in Washington state is converting a former strip club into an evangelistic facility that’s serving the community seven days a week.

Bethany Community Church, a Seattle-based multi-site congregation founded in 1900, acquired the former strip club called “Sugars” and has turned it into a site for missions.

The strip club was located in the city of Shoreline, which is north of Seattle. The facility will serve as part of Bethany Community Church North.

Scott Sund, lead pastor for Bethany North, told The Christian Post about how the church came to possess the strip club.

“A local businessman purchased the property from the federal government which had seized it because of money laundering and prostitution charges against the strip club in the facility,” explained Sund.

“When it came up for rent, our children’s ministry director Anna Guerrero, who lived in the same neighborhood, brought it to my attention. At the time we were looking for a full time rental in order to facilitate our Sunday worship services.”

Sund added that Bethany Community Church saw this as a way to minister and witness throughout the week. “We started worrying more about Monday through Saturday.”

“We started to dream about a coffee shop that could bless the community and a way to build relationship with the heroin addicts that frequent the area to get their methadone medication from the nearby clinic,” continued Sund.

“We are complete with a total remodel of the space. We’ve sandblasted the old beams, smashed the former mirrors, cut in dozens of windows, and transformed the place of darkness into a place where God is doing amazing things.”

Presently, the back portion of the edifice is serving as office space for a staff of seven and much of the building now serves as a coffee shop named “One Cup,” and its profits are going to charity.

When asked by CP what impact he hopes the strip club-turned-church mission will have on the community, Sund responded that the “impact of the transformation project has already started.”

“We now serve breakfast from out front of the Café every Tuesday to homeless and drug addicted people. From that outreach ministry we’ve started a Bible study,” he said. “We have a great relationship with the methadone clinic and nearby neighbors have begun work to clean up and transform their own spaces.”

In total, Bethany Community Church has five campuses: Bethany Green Lake, Bethany West Seattle and Bethany Northeast, all of which are in Seattle, as well as Bethany North in Shoreline, and Bethany Eastside in Kirkland.

Source: Christian Post

 

A Homeless Daily Mass- goer is Buried at the Vatican

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A Homeless Daily Mass- goer is Buried at the Vatican

Catholic Herald report– A homeless man who used to urge pilgrims to go to Confession and pray daily has been buried at a Vatican cemetery.

Willy Herteller, who was Flemish, died in December at the age of 80 and his body had been left unclaimed at a local morgue.

But a Vatican official – Mgr Americo Ciani, of the Roman Rota – upon discovering his death arranged a burial for him alongside illustrious Germans at the Teutonic Cemetery, just behind St Peter’s Basilica.

Vatican spokesman Fr Ciro Benedettini told the website Cruxnow.com that Vatican employees regarded Mr Herteller as a good man who attended Mass twice a day in the church of St Anna.

Fr Benedettini said: “He used to say that receiving Communion was his medicine.

“He slept with other eight homeless people, trying to bring them closer to Jesus,” he said.

Fr Benedettini said that, contrary to reports, Pope Francis was not involved in the decision to bury Mr Herteller at the Vatican.

Fr Bruno Silvestrini, the parish priest at the church of St Anna, told Vatican Radio that Mr Herteller had attended the 7am Mass for 25 years.

Fr Silvestrini said: “He was very, very open and had made many friends. He spoke a lot with young people, he spoke to them of the Lord, he spoke of the Pope, he would invite them to the celebration of the Eucharist. He was a rich person of great faith…

“Then we no longer saw him, and subsequently we heard about his death. I’ve never seen so many people knocking on my door to ask when the funeral was, how they could help to keep his memory alive,” he said.

Source: Catholic Herald

Jerusalem: Christian Building Destroyed in Arson attack

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Jerusalem: Christian Building Destroyed in Arson attack

Christian Today report– A Jerusalem building belonging to the Greek Orthodox Church was torched and vandalised in a suspected hate crime on Thursday.

A spokesperson for the fire services confirmed that fighters attended the scene near the Jaffa Gate of the Old City at around 4am and extinguished the blaze. A police spokesperson described the attack as “nationalist”.

An inspection found anti-Christian graffiti sprayed on the walls of the building, and police are exploring the possibility that the incident was a hate crime. It is thought that the fire may have been started by far-right Jewish extremists, who are known to instigate ‘price tag’ attacks against Palestinian property and religious sites.

Archbishop Aristarchos of the Greek Orthodox Church said that the building has been previously threatened by “religious Jewish people”.

“It is a seminary and people live there,” he told Army Radio after the attack. “Luckily a great deal more damage was not caused. This is a saddening incident, and luckily nobody was hurt. Once, religious Jewish people with sidelocks came and issued threats. Perhaps the police will know if this is connected to them.”

Today’s attack follows the torching of a mosque in the West Bank village of Jab’aa on Wednesday. Grafitti was also found on the walls of the Muslim building, including a Jewish Star of David and the word “revenge”.

Mayor of Jerusalem, Nir Barkat, condemned the attack. “There is no room for such deplorable activity in Jerusalem. We must eradicate this behaviour and bring those responsible to justice,” he said. “We must quickly restore the peace and coexistence in Jerusalem”.

Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat blamed the two latest attacks on “Israeli terrorists … protected by a government that claims exclusivity over this land.”

His comments were backed by the Arab Joint List party in a statement. Criminals are being “strengthened by the racist and fascist atmosphere sweeping through the Jewish Street, under the auspices of the far-right parties,” the statement said, adding that the government has “implemented clear policies of discrimination, exclusion and oppression.”

Source: Christian Today

 

Together LA Conference: Pastor Rafer Owens to Speak About How He Took Back Compton From War Zone for Gangs

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Together LA Conference: Pastor Rafer Owens to Speak About How He Took Back Compton From War Zone for Gangs

Christian Post report– Upon meeting Pastor Rafer Owens, who is both the dynamic leader of Faith Inspirational Missionary Baptist Church and a deputy sheriff serving in Compton in Los Angeles County, it is easy to understand why he was chosen to speak at Together LA, the three-day conference about discovering how to “love on” the metropolis, beginning this Thursday.

Owens has ministered for 17 years to not only a primarily black congregation but to a much wider audience – Compton, a city once known as a war zone for gangs.

“Our mission is to take back the city of Compton and bring the love of God and the spirit of God and overall revival to the city,” he said while describing the goals of his church. “What we’ve done as a church is become involved in everything that the city does and everything that would help lift up the community.”

At Together LA, where much of the discussion from nearly 50 speakers is planned to include action steps that the Christian community within the city should take toward resolving social issues, Owens, a 21-year veteran deputy sheriff for Los Angeles County, said he’s been asked to share about what his church has been doing, what “God has been doing,” and give practical illustrations showing how FIMBC became partners with Compton and has “become a blessing.”

“Christians need to get off their behinds and get up and start getting active,” said Owens, when asked what needs to be done in Los Angeles. “I don’t need to know the entire Bible, I just need to know how to love people. I believe if we just learn how to love on people with the love that God has given us we can see a major revival in the city of Los Angeles. I see a revival coming. … people are ready to get up and move forward and do the will of God and make sure that God is being seen and glorified. I believe God is raising up a standard and an army of people that want to do the will of God. When we see that we will see revival take place in a great way.”

In a Los Angeles Times article several years ago, “Homicides plunge, hope rises in Compton,” featuring Owens and his church’s community involvement, it was reported that in Compton, “slayings were at their lowest level in 25 years, people are walking the streets again. Once resembling a military operation, law enforcement is engaging more with residents.”

Owens described how many members of his church enrolled in a volunteer program for the three high schools in Compton and let school officials know that “we are at your disposal, whatever you want, whatever you need, we are here to give it.” The church’s participation in community events includes movies and gatherings in the park. Members are also given lists of neighborhoods and individual families and homes to prayer for.

In a testament to a changing Compton, Mayor Aja Brown is also scheduled to speak at the conference. Brown is described as “the new face of a changing Compton” in a recent interview with MSNBC.

Source: Christian Post

 

Lent is the Time to Fight Evil, Pope Francis Reminds Faithful

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Lent is the Time to Fight Evil, Pope Francis Reminds Faithful

Christian Today report– Pope Francis reminded the faithful that Lent is the time to battle against evil.

He likened the faithful’s struggles to that of Jesus himself, who spent 40 days in the wilderness to face off against the temptations presented by Satan.

In his Angelus address, the Pope said that in Christ’s victory over his nemesis, “we have all triumphed but we need to protect this victory in our daily lives.”

The pontiff explained to that like Jesus, it is important to listen to the voice of God, especially during the time of the Lent, which is the representation of Christ’s wilderness.

However, he said that the faithful cannot triumph over temptation without guidance from the Scriptures and underscored the need to seek guidance from the Gospel.

This prompted the Pope to renew his call for the faithful to read and reflect on the meaning of the Gospel even for 10 minutes a day and make it a habit to carry around a copy of the Scripture in their pocket or bag every day.

“The Lenten wilderness helps us to say ‘no’ to worldliness, to ‘idols’, it helps us to make courageous choices in line with the Gospel and to strengthen our solidarity with our brothers and sisters,” he said.

With the help of volunteers, many of whom were homeless, the Pope distributed 50,000 free copies of a small booklet entitled “Safeguard Your Heart,” which contains key teachings of Jesus and the essential tenets of faith. The book includes the seven sacraments, the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments, and the virtues and works of charity.

According to the Pope, having a copy of the booklet will help them in their conversion and religious growth which always starts from the heart.

“It’s there that we play out the daily choice between good and evil, between worldliness and the Gospel, between indifference and sharing. Humanity needs justice, peace and love and we can have this only by returning with our hearts towards God who is the source of all this,” he said.

Source: Christian Today

SC Judge Rejects Episcopal Church’s Appeal to Take Over Breakaway Church’s Properties

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Christian Post report– A South Carolina judge has denied a motion to reconsider a ruling made in a $500 million property dispute case in favor of a diocese that voted to leave the Episcopal Church due to the national denomination’s increasing acceptance of homosexuality.

Judge Diane Goodstein decided earlier this week to reject arguments made by The Episcopal Church requesting that she reconsider her order granting the Diocese of South Carolina ownership over the name and $500 million worth of diocesan church properties.

“The court has studied defendant’s lengthy motion extensively and oral argument would not be of assistance to the court,” ruled Goodstein on Monday.

The legal victory was the latest for the South Carolina Diocese, which broke away from the national mainline denomination back in November 2012 due to theological differences and purported mistreatment of its leader, Bishop Mark Lawrence.

The Rev. Canon Jim Lewis, spokesman for the Diocese, told The Christian Post that they were “gratified” by Goodstein’s conclusion to reject the motion.

“Where closely and factually considered, the TEC argument of hierarchy simply is not defensible,” said Lewis. “We are grateful to God that our right to freedom of association continues to be upheld.”

Earlier this month Goodstein issued a 46-page order concluding that the church properties belong to the diocese rather than The Episcopal Church.

Goodstein ruled that the diocese owns all property, real and personal, according to the paperwork connected to the diocesan property.

“It is equally undisputed that there is nothing in the deeds of their real property referencing any trust in favor of TEC,” reads the decision.

Goodstein ordered that both the property and the trademarked name of the diocese belonged to the Diocese of South Carolina and not The Episcopal Church or The Episcopal Church in South Carolina, a group within the diocese loyal to the mainline denomination.

In response to the order, TECSC filed an 186-page motion for reconsideration which argued that the original decision erred on multiple points.

“The court erred by failing to recognize that the parties are all part of a religious organization and that their status as incorporated or unincorporated entities does not eradicate the application of First Amendment legal protections,” read part of the motion.

“The court erred by applying corporate definitions of membership to the relationship between The Episcopal Church and the diocese, and by failing to recognize clear evidence establishing that the diocese is in union with and part of The Episcopal Church, which is a hierarchical religious organization.”

Regarding the latest legal victory, Lewis told CP that he expects the legal action to continue, as The Episcopal Church will likely appeal the Goodstein decision.

“While it is unfortunate that ministry resources on both sides will continue to be wasted in this fashion, it is entirely in keeping with TEC legal strategy,” said Lewis, who drew parallels to a similar property case that took place in Illinois between The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Quincy.

“The court sanctions imposed against TEC in Illinois last week are the perfect illustration of the lengths to which their leadership is prepared to go in pursuit of its scorched earth policy. We have no reason to expect different behavior here in South Carolina.”

Source: Christian Post

 

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