Last week, U.S. District Judge David Ezra struck down a Texas law that would require hospitals and clinics to bury or cremate fetal remains of pre-born babies instead of discarding them as medical waste.

In the 53-page ruling, Ezra said, that requiring this would place a burden on a woman’s “right” to an abortion.

“[T]he court finds the challenged laws impose significant burdens on women seeking an abortion or experiencing pregnancy loss (1) by requiring women’s healthcare facilities to use unreliable and nonviable waste disposal options and thus reducing access to abortion in Texas and (2) by enshrining one view of the status of and respect that should be given to embryonic and fetal tissue remains thereby burdening a woman’s abortion decision,” he wrote.

“At worst,” he said, “the challenged laws intrude into the realm of constitutional protection afforded to ‘personal decisions concerning not only the meaning of procreation but also human responsibility and respect for it.”

According to Christian News, Ezra went on to say that the law made it difficult for abortion clinics to dispose of the aborted babies, saying that an industry does not exist that would serve this purpose.

“Women’s healthcare facilities offering abortion and pregnancy-related care need to dispose of their accumulation of embryonic and fetal tissue…

September 12, 2018 (Morning Star News) – The growing crack-down on unofficial churches in China deepened on Sunday (Sept. 9) when authorities closed one of the largest churches in Beijing, according to reports.

 

The Beijing Chaoyang District Civil Affairs Bureau informed Zion Church that it was “legally banned” for organizing events without registering as an official Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) church, Reuters reported. The church has faced growing threats from authorities, including eviction, since it refused to comply with a government order in April to install closed-circuit television cameras at its worship site.

 

Bob Fu, president of advocacy group China Aid, said authorities are enforcing rules requiring registration as a TSPM church in order to exercise increased control over ideologies. He called the church closure part of a larger crackdown on Christianity across China.

 

“The massive clampdown against thousands of churches in Henan [Province] and the forced closure and total shutdown of the largest house church in Beijing, Zion Church, represents a significant escalation on President Xi [Jinping]’s crack-down against religious freedom in China,” Fu said in a statement. “Now that the Chinese Communist Party has started to burn Bibles and coerce millions of believers in the Christian faith and other religious…

During Mass in Casa Santa Marta on Tuesday morning, Pope Francis told bishops, that the “Great Accuser” is trying to make scandals out of the Catholic church by uncovering their sins.

To combat the ‘Great Accuser’s” uncovering of sins, Vatican News reports, the Pope urged the bishops to remember three crucial things: to be men of prayer, remain close to the people, and have the humility to remember they were chosen by God.

The Pope said that prayer is “a bishop’s consolation in difficult times,” and encouraged the bishops to pray for one another as Jesus did.

Catholic Herald reports that Francis then referred to the devil saying, “In these times, it seems like the Great Accuser has been unchained and is attacking bishops.”

“True, we are all sinners, we bishops,” he added. “He tries to uncover the sins, so they are visible in order to scandalize the people.”

The Pope said, “The Great Accuser, as he himself says to God in the first chapter of the Book of Job, ‘roams the earth looking for someone to accuse’.”

Francis continued saying, “Let us pray, today, for our bishops: for me, for those who are here, and for all the bishops throughout the world.”

“The bishop who loves Jesus is not trying to climb a ladder, advancing his vocation as if it were a mere task or seeking a better placement or promotion. No. A bishop feels…

A Georgia school’s decision to reinstate paddling has sparked a nationwide debate over corporal punishment, which remains legal in 20 states despite the trend against it.

Students from the Georgia School of Innovation and the Classics (GSIC) – a K-through-9 school – were sent home with forms asking parents for consent to paddle their children. About a third of the parents consented, according to WRDW-TV. 

“There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems that you have,” school superintendent Jody Boulineau told the TV station.

Boulineau called it “just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox.”

Paddling would happen only on the third offense, and only in front of another adult witness. According to the consent form, the paddle will be made of wood and won’t be bigger than 24 inches in length, six inches in width, and three-fourths of an inch thick. Students whose parents don’t consent to paddling will be punished via suspension. 

On social media, people were divided about the news – and passionate. A Fox News story elicited 3,000 comments in less than eight hours on Facebook.

“At one point in time in our society, we had decency in our schools and towns,” reader Lou Lawson wrote. “Guns were almost guaranteed to be in every home, but school…

Two leading German publications are saying a report on sexual abuse in Germany inside the Catholic Church has come to light detailing 3,677 abuse cases by Catholic clergy between 1946 and 2014.

Spiegel Online and Die Zeit are saying the report was commissioned by the German Bishops Conference and researched by three universities and concludes that more than half of the victims were 13 years old or younger. The majority of the victims were boys. 

According to Fox News, every sixth case involved rape and no less than 1,670 clergymen were involved in the abuses.

According to the news outlets, the report says that the number of victims is likely much higher than what was reported.

Die Zeit reported that researchers were not actually allowed to look at the original files but were asked to submit questionnaires to the dioceses.

Die Zeit’s researchers noted that there was evidence that some files were manipulated or destroyed, several cases were not brought to justice and some abuse suspects were moved to other dioceses without the congregations being informed of the accusations against them.

At this time the German Bishops Conference had no comment on the report but are currently preparing a response. 

In the last several months the Catholic Church has been under scrutiny for sexual abuse by clergy.

In August, an investigation in the United States found that…

Pastor and author Tim Challies of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto has assured Christians worried they have committed the one unpardonable sin of the Bible.

Challies reflected in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday that at one point, nearly all believers wonder “Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Have I broken God’s law in that way?”

He said that some people are “really concerned, racked with guilt, racked with worry” over this, but he assured them it is unlikely they have gone that far.

Defining the unpardonable sin in question, the pastor took to Matthew 12:31 in the Bible, where Jesus says: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

Similarly, Mark 3:29 reads: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin.”

Challies said that such passages “sound terrifying,” adding that he has done a lot of research and study into the topic.

He said that the theological consensus defines blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as an act that involves “ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit accomplished through Jesus…

Four out of five primetime “family comedies” on television include explicit sexual dialogue used in front of children, according to a new Parents Television Council study that calls it a disturbing new trend.

A total of 81.5 percent of the so-called family comedies included situations where adults – or even children – make “explicit references to sex in front of teenage and even child characters.” Just as concerning, many of the comedies were rated TV-PG, and some did not contain the “D” descriptor designating sexual dialogue, according to the study.

“Furthermore, the networks are marketing this alarming content trend as being appropriate for children to watch,” said PTC President Tim Winter. “Our study reveals a fundamental problem with the way TV shows are rated. Each TV network assigns its own ratings, and oversight of the system is then handed to a group of the very same network executives who routinely rate programs inaccurately.”

Networks don’t want their programs to be rated TV-MA, Winter said, because “mainstream corporations won’t sponsor programming” with that rating. 

NBC’s A.P. Bio was the worst offender, followed by The Mick (Fox), American Housewife (ABC), Life in Pieces(CBS) and Family Guy(Fox).

A.P. Biospotlights a disgruntled high school teacher named “Jack.” According to the study,…