35 Child Psychologists Leave Gender Identity Clinic over Concerns of ‘Over-Diagnosing’ Gender Dysphoria

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35 Child Psychologists Leave Gender Identity Clinic over Concerns of ‘Over-Diagnosing’ Gender Dysphoria


35 Child Psychologists Leave Gender Identity Clinic over Concerns of ‘Over-Diagnosing’ Gender Dysphoria

Some 35 child psychologists have resigned from the UK’s juvenile gender-identity clinic over the past three years after becoming concerned by the ease with which medical professionals were diagnosing young people with “gender dysphoria.”

According to Sky News, many of the former staff claimed that they were unable to properly assess patients out of a fear that they would be labelled “transphobic.”

Other clinicians expressed anxiety over the potential health risks associated with hormone treatment. “Our fears are that young people are being over-diagnosed and then over-medicalized,” one anonymous psychologist explained. “We are extremely concerned about the consequences for young people… For those of us who previously worked in the service, we fear that we have had front row seats to a medical scandal.”

Another psychologist insisted that they felt pressured to prescribe hormone medication, even if it wasn’t necessarily in the patient’s best interest. “The alarm started ringing for me… I didn’t feel able to voice my concerns, or when I did I was often shut down by other affirmative clinicians,” the staffer told the Telegraph. “Looking back there are young people who I now wouldn’t necessarily put on medication.”

In an interview with the Christian Post, endocrinologist Michael Laidlaw warned that the effects of many U.S.-based…

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Average Sermon Is 37 Minutes, But it Depends Where You Worship – Study Finds

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Average Sermon Is 37 Minutes, But it Depends Where You Worship – Study Finds


Average Sermon Is 37 Minutes, But it Depends Where You Worship – Study Finds

The average church sermon in the United States is 37 minutes long, although the length differs significantly depending on the specific Christian tradition, according to a new Pew Research Center study.

Catholic sermons are the shortest, at an average of 14 minutes, while sermons in historically black Protestant churches are the longest, at an average of 54 minutes. The average sermon length in mainline Protestant congregations (25 minutes) and evangelical Protestant congregations (39 minutes) falls in the middle.  

Pew examined the transcribed texts of 49,719 sermons posted online that were preached between April 7 and June 1, 2019. The sermons came from 6,431 churches.

Pew also examined the sermons for words and phrases that were more frequently used by certain traditions than others. 

The study found that the following Christian traditions had unique phrases that were distinctive and used more than in other traditions:

  • Evangelical: “eternal hell,” “lose … salvation,” “trespass … sin,” “home … heaven” and “absent … body.”
  • Catholic: homily, diocese, Eucharist, paschal and parishioner.
  • Mainline Protestant: “always … poor,” “house … Thomas,” “gospel … lesson” and “disciple … betray.”
  • Historically black Protestant: powerful hand, “hallelujah … come,” “neighbor … tell,” “hand … praise” and “praise … got.”

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Supreme Court to Decide How Far Religious Freedom Protections Extend for Parochial Schools

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Supreme Court to Decide How Far Religious Freedom Protections Extend for Parochial Schools


Supreme Court to Decide How Far Religious Freedom Protections Extend for Parochial Schools

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide how far religious freedom protections extend in parochial classrooms after agreeing on Wednesday to hear the cases of two California teachers who claim their firings were discriminatory. In both instances, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit sided with the teachers.

Attorneys with Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which is representing the two Catholic elementary campuses, said the appeals court decision is tantamount to giving the government control over who provides religious instruction in parochial schools, which are constitutionally entitled to “choose ministers that embody their faith without government interference.”

Both schools argue that since a significant part of their classroom duties dealt with religious instruction, the teachers are “ministerial” employees as covered by Supreme Court precedent, and thus exempt from laws that extend to other employees, according to an article in USA Today.

“Parents trust Catholic schools to assist them in one of their most important duties: forming the faith of their children,” Montserrat Alvarado, vice president and executive director for Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, said in a news release. “If courts can second-guess a Catholic school’s judgment about who should teach religious beliefs to fifth graders, then neither Catholics nor any other religious…

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Axe-Wielding, Tribal Animists Set Bibles, Church Building Ablaze in Eastern India

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Axe-Wielding, Tribal Animists Set Bibles, Church Building Ablaze in Eastern India


Axe-Wielding, Tribal Animists Set Bibles, Church Building Ablaze in Eastern India

HYDERABAD, India, December 18, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Tribal animists in eastern India earlier this month surrounded a church building with axes, threatened to kill Christians within and later burned down the thatched-roof structure, sources said.

Hard-line animists in Odisha state’s Perigaon village, Rayagada District, attacked on Dec. 1 after having raided Christians homes to seize and burn Bibles five days earlier.

“After we concluded the prayers and community lunch service [on Dec. 1], a batch of around 15 tribal men came with axes, surrounded the church and threatened that they will chop us into pieces,” pastor Bibudhan Pradhan told Morning Star News.

The assailants surrounded the pastor and his wife as they were trying to return to their home in another town, he said.

“They took us inside the village and held us hostage for more than four hours,” Pastor Pradhan said. “They abused us in vulgar language, words that I can’t utter with my mouth, and threatened us that their gods and goddesses will swallow us alive for propagating Christianity in an Adivasi [indigenous tribal] hamlet.”

He and his wife remained calm in captivity, he said. Church members told the assailants that the pastor had to return to his home in Rayagada and suggested they take them in place of him and his wife. The assailants released the couple with an ultimatum to stop worship…

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The Rock Where the Ark of the Covenant Rested May Have Been Unearthed

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The Rock Where the Ark of the Covenant Rested May Have Been Unearthed


The Rock Where the Ark of the Covenant Rested May Have Been Unearthed

Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a temple-like structure and a large rock they say may be the one described in 1 Samuel – and if so, it would have played a role in the Ark of the Covenant that housed the Ten Commandments.

The team from Tel Aviv University digging near the Beth Shemesh site outside Jerusalem discovered a structure apart from the residential area that had sturdy walls and dates to the time of the biblical Israelites. They also found piles of animal bones.

“There is a lot of evidence that this was indeed a temple,” archaeologist Shlomo Bunimovitz of Tel Aviv University told Haaretz. “When you look at the structure and its content, it’s very clear that this is not a standard domestic space but something special.”

Yet it is the unusual rock – a huge stone slab resting on two rocks – that perplexed the archaeologists. Initially, the archaeologists believed it was a pillar that had fallen over. 

“But soon we realized that it was meant to be a table,” archaeologist Zvi Lederman of Tel Aviv University told the newspaper.

The stone table resides inside the temple. 

Both Bunimovitz and Lederman believe the table could have been a resting place for the Ark of the Covenant that is described in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel 4-5 tells of the Philistines capturing the Ark of the Covenant but then being punished by God for having it in their possession. Then, in 1 Samuel…

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Three ways to interpret the impeachment of President Trump: The verdict of history and God’s call to eternal significance

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Three ways to interpret the impeachment of President Trump: The verdict of history and God’s call to eternal significance

The House of Representatives voted to impeach President Trump last night, a decision that fell almost entirely along party lines. 

As I noted yesterday, some House members have been trying to impeach the president for years and undoubtedly see yesterday’s vote as a vindication of their efforts. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some see the House Democrats as attacking the president unfairly and are even more likely to support him. 

This marks only the third time in American history a president has been impeached. Few events in American political life are as potentially significant and insignificant at the same time. 

A vote that could change nothing or everything 

There are three ways to interpret what happened in the House of Representatives yesterday. 

In one sense, the House vote may change nothing. The Republican-controlled Senate is widely expected to acquit the president when his trial begins in early January. If it does, he will stay in office and will be free to run for reelection in 2020. 

In a second sense, the House vote dramatically changes history. Even if the Senate acquits the president, impeachment will forever be part of the record of his administration. And if the Senate removes him from office, America will obviously never be the same. 

In a third sense, we do not yet know the future significance of yesterday’s action. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House could at least temporarily hold its articles of impeachment from the Senate, depending on how the latter chooses to conduct its trial on the president’s removal. 

Even if the Senate acquits the president, we do not know the effect of impeachment on his future. President Andrew Johnson survived impeachment in 1868, lost his party’s nomination for reelection later that year, then won back his old Senate seat in 1875. President Bill Clinton survived impeachment in 1999 and left office in January 2001 with a 65 percent approval…

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Bethel Church addresses scepticism around prayers to resurrect 2-year-old girl

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Bethel Church addresses scepticism around prayers to resurrect 2-year-old girl

On Monday Bethel worship leader Kalley Heiligenthal asked “the global church” to pray for “resurrection power” after her two-year-old daughter Olive was “unexpectedly” pronounced dead on Saturday after not waking up from her sleep.

 

Since then the church in Redding, California has held daily prayer and worship services, believing that God will bring the girl back to life again.

 

In a video posted on Facebook on Wednesday night, Johnson thanked the “countless people” who have joined the church in “prayer and intercession for the life and resurrection of Olive Heiligenthal” and added that many people have asked “important questions on that journey”.

Johnson explained that they’ve been praying for a miracle of God because of the “biblical precedent” Jesus set when he raised the dead and commanded his disciples to do so also.

“We try to run with a real conviction and a devotion to the very thing that Jesus taught us to do. So I’ve been asked, ‘isn’t this interrupting the sovereignty of God?’ And my response is… we don’t ever want to violate the sovereignty of God. God is sovereign. He chooses what he wants and we cooperate with him.

“The reason Jesus raised the dead is because not everyone dies in God’s timing. And Jesus could tell, and he would interrupt that funeral, he would interrupt that process that some would just call the sovereignty of God. He’d raise a…

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Trump asks for prayer for future presidents as impeachment process moves to Senate

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Trump asks for prayer for future presidents as impeachment process moves to Senate

Donald Trump wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “Can you believe that I will be impeached today by the Radical Left, Do Nothing Democrats, AND I DID NOTHING WRONG! A terrible Thing. Read the Transcripts. This should never happen to another President again. Say a PRAYER!”

The President is accused of asking Ukraine’s President to investigate his political rival Joe Biden, the former Vice President and potentially the Democrat candidate he will stand against in 2020. As foreign involvement in elections in this way is illegal, he is being accused of abuse of power.

Secondly, he is also being accused of obstructing Congress by failing to co-operate with the impeachment investigation.

 

 

The House of Representatives, currently made up mostly of Democrats, needed a simple majority of over 50% to impeach the President on Wednesday.

The process then moves on to the Senate where the President will stand trial, but he is unlikely to be removed from office as the Senate is currently home to mostly Republican members.

Greg Swenson, a Christian member of Republicans Overseas UK told Premier: “Almost every Democrat supports the impeachment and just about every Republican is against it.

“Most importantly, in the states that are critical to this election in 2020, you see a majority – even as high as 58% in Wisconsin – that are against impeachment. So it’s pretty clear that the whole…

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When is a Church Too Far Gone? – Revitalize and Replant Episode #124

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SUBSCRIBE TODAY:
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Today, Thom and Mark answer questions from podcast listeners specifically dealing with churches struggling to make needed changes. The real question is, “Is my church too far gone?”

From Ed:

I have been filling in for a month at a church that has dwindled to 25 active members and they are asking me to stay on as pastor. My early impression is that this church may be too far gone. We are facing some financial strain soon due to deferred maintenance on our building. It feels like I’m just here to help them die with dignity. What are some signs that I have arrived too late?

From Ken:

In my church when I say “we are trying something new,” it’s often heard as “you were doing things all wrong.” How can I better communicate the need for doing new things in the church without the potential uproar or people getting their feelings hurt?

Resources mentioned in today’s podcast:

    • Revitalize & Replant is sponsored by the North American Mission Board and ChurchReplanters.com. More than 10% of churches in North America are at risk of closing and the North American Mission Board is committed to reversing this trend by decreasing the death rate of existing churches while simultaneously increasing the birth rate of new churches. To learn more about what it means to become a replanting pastor or to explore resources for replanting and revitalization in your own church, visit

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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.

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Charles condemns ‘assault on religious freedom’ in service at Tamil church

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Charles condemns ‘assault on religious freedom’ in service at Tamil church

Charles told the congregation the terrorist atrocities, which claimed the lives of more than 250 people when churches and hotels were targeted in April, were “an assault on religious freedom everywhere”.

Among the worshippers in the east London church were those who lost family and friends in the attacks, and the prince said seeing people from different backgrounds grieving together gave him “confidence that compassion and community will always prevail”.

 

Charles had travelled to the Emmanuel Christian Fellowship, a Tamil Christian church established in 1982 in Manor Park, to express his solidarity with the worshippers during an advent service.

He said: “I’ve come here to stand with this community in remembrance of all those who were killed or whose lives were changed forever in the utterly barbaric attack on churches in Sri Lanka this past Easter day.

Charles, who at the time of the attacks sent a message of condolence to the Sri Lankan president, went on to say: “The appalling loss of life made Sunday the 21st of April the single worst day of violence targeting Christians in the modern era.

“There are no words that can heal the wounds that you and your fellow Christians have endured, but I did so want you all to know just how much I, and so many people in this country, mind about what you’ve suffered and how much we have been thinking of you all.

“The attacks at…

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