A 15-year veteran of the NFL is defending New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and Focus on the Family following mainstream media criticism of both. 

Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the New England Patriots, said Monday the criticism against Brees and Focus on the Family was unfair and inaccurate. As Christian Headlines previously reported, Brees faced a backlash after he recorded a video promoting Bring Your Bible to School Day, which is being held Oct. 3 this year and is sponsored by Focus on the Family.

The criticism focused on the organization’s stance on LGBT issues, including its defense of the traditional definition of marriage. The articles that sparked the controversy said Focus on the Family was “anti-LGBT.”

Watson, who is known for his Christian views, previously played with Brees. 

“My reaction was, first, that the article itself was misleading and a mischaracterization of Focus on the Family and of Drew. It was slanderous,” Watson said Monday on Fox and Friends. “And so my response was to stop lying with those sorts of labels.”

It is a lie, Watson said, to label Focus on the Family “as anti-gay, anti-non discrimination.”

“It’s a shame in this country right now, where if you adhere to certain biblical beliefs that we all have a right to choose what religion we adhere to, you’re labeled as anti,” he added….

Christian pastors across China are being forced to incorporate the teachings of Confucius in their sermons, and some churches even have been ordered to hold classes to study the ancient philosopher’s ideas. 

Confucius (551-479 B.C) is considered the most famous teacher and philosopher in East Asian culture. His teachings are compiled in a book, the Analects. 

The government’s Religious Affairs Bureau in the province of Henan ordered all Three-Self pastors in Yuzhou city in July to prepare their sermons based on a book, The Analects Encounter the Bible, that compares Christianity to the teachings of Confucius, according to the religious liberty watchdog Bitter Winter. Three-Self churches are Protestant congregations registered with the government. 

In other regions, Three-Self churches hold classes comparing the Bible to the Analects. The goal is to find similarities.

“An Analects study class takes all day long,” a house church member in Shandong province told Bitter Winter. “The participants even had to take photos holding the Bible in one hand and the Analects in the other, and post the images online.”

The teachings of the Bible and the Analects cannot be harmonized, one pastor from the Yuzhou area complained. The Analects Encounter the Bible book compares the Confucian saying, “All men within the four seas are…

Though abortions across the U.S. are down, a recent article by the Associated Press highlighted women crossing state lines to seek late-term abortions, noting that some states have experienced a major uptick.

New Mexico is one of those states, having experienced the highest increase in women crossing state lines to seek an abortion with a 158% jump between 2012 and 2017.

The New Mexico Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, a faith-based group, believes that abortion is a “deeply personal” decision and each woman should be given the right to make such a choice. The coalition assists an average of 100 women a year with their abortion and many of its 55 volunteers even open their homes to these women.

Executive director Joan Lamunyon Sanford believes her group “is doing what faith communities have always done: ‘Care for the stranger and welcome the traveler.’”

Beth Vial, a 22-year-old college student, was one of the women the coalition assisted. Due to a medical condition, she didn’t realize she was pregnant until she was 26 weeks into her pregnancy. Living in Oregon, she was unable to acquire an abortion, so she drove to Albuquerque for her abortion.

In response to the AP article, conservative political commentator Autumn Johnson tweeted her own story of being born at 26 weeks, the same age Vial aborted her child, as reported by 

According to a new report, more than 120 attacks have targeted Christian churches in Syria since the beginning of the country’s eight-year civil war with President Bashar al-Assad responsible for about 60 of those attacks, according to the Christian Post.

The report, released by the Qatar-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR), used its network of sources and daily monitoring of the country since 2011 to support its findings.

Between March 2011 and September 2019, more than 60% of the incidents were carried out by Syrian Regime forces. Other attacks were implicated by factions of the armed opposition, extremist Islamist groups and other parties.

Churches in the Aleppo governorate have been the most targeted, suffering 34 attacks. And many churches have experienced multiple assaults, such as the Church of the Lady of Peace in Homs undergoing seven attacks all by Syrian regime forces.

The onslaught of violence has left several injured and hundreds of churches seriously damaged. Attackers use missiles, bombs, bulldozers and guns to inflict damage.

“Targeting of Christian places of worship is a form of intimidation against and displacement of the Christian minority in Syria. The current regime bears direct responsibility for the destruction, displacement, and collapse of the Syrian state at various levels because it is the main cause of Syrian state…

The founder of a new pro-life clothing brand, which earlier this year named prominent pro-lifer Abby Johnson as its Global Ambassador, said her company’s goal is to become the “Chick-fil-A of fashion.”

Carla D’Addesi, who founded COL1972 with her three teenage daughters in January, told Faithwire one of the goals for the company is to educate Americans about the pro-life movement. COL in the company name stands for Culture of Life and 1972 refers to the last year in which abortion was illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion the following year with the landmark Roe v. Wade decision. COL1972’s founding coincided with Sanctity of Life month.

“We’d really like to get back to a culture of life, the year 1972,” D’Addesi said in January. “1973 is when our Supreme Court ruled that the tiniest people did not have the right to life.”

The company, whose motto is “Life is Always in Style,” manufactures leggings, T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, gym bags, jewelry and other accessories and has created four special collections, all with an eye toward celebrating life for the unborn.

“We want to be the Chick-fil-A of fashion,” D’Addesi told Faithwire. “We want people to say, ‘Where did you get those waffle fries? They’re amazing.’ And then they go to Chick-fil-A because it’s clean, great service, fabulous food.”

According to…

Planned Parenthood will close two of its clinics in Cincinnati later this month due to a new Trump administration pro-life rule that led the organization to opt of federal funding. 

Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio said Monday the two clinics – Springdale Health Center and Western Hills Health Center – will close Sept. 20. Although neither clinic performed abortions, they referred patients to a nearby Planned Parenthood clinic that did perform abortions. 

The closures come after the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services began enforcing a new rule that prevents family planning clinics receiving Title X money from promoting or referring for abortion. Planned Parenthood Federation of America chose to opt of the program rather than abide by the rule, which it calls the “gag rule.” Supporters labeled it the Protect Life Rule. Planned Parenthood will lose roughly $60 million each year. 

Title X is a family planning program that funds cancer screenings, contraceptives and pregnancy tests for low-income individuals. 

“Anti-choice politicians have really been emboldened by this administration to cut access to Planned Parenthood and basic reproductive healthcare services,” Kersha Deibel, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southwest Ohio, said, according to WLWT television. “And the city of Cincinnati and the people…