Chi Alpha, a Christian student fraternity that exists to “reconcile students to Christ, equipping them through Spirit-filled communities of prayer, worship, fellowship, discipleship and mission to transform the university, the marketplace and the world”, has lost its fraternity status at the California State University-Stanislaus because they required their leaders to be Christians.
The university claims that the Christian group requiring their leaders to affirm their Christian beliefs violates the school’s non-discrimination policy.
Matthew Jacob, Turlock City Councilman, feels the group is being treated unfairly.
“It’s nothing less than religious discrimination,” he told CBS Sacramento. “It goes against the very purpose of the organization to begin with,” Jacob added, “to have somebody that doesn’t even uphold that faith system to be teaching and mentoring other students in that capacity.”
“Cal State Stanislaus allows fraternities to limit their leaders and members to men,” said Adèle Keim, Legal Counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, in a press release. “So why can’t a religious group require its student religious leaders to practice what they preach? We call on Cal State to reinstate the Chi Alpha chapter immediately.”
Officials with the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) say the U.N. Human Rights Council is taking a hard look at the case of Pastor Saeed Abedini and his wrongful imprisonment in Iran.
“The Human Rights Council Working Group looked at the facts, they looked at the evidence and they came to the independent conclusion, as we have, that his detention is arbitrary, that it is in violation of international law and that he should be freed,” Associate Counsel Matthew Clark said to One News Now.
“So the U.N. is taking steps to put out there exactly what is happening and what action needs to be taken by the Iranian government to free him.”
The move by the U.N. is seen as significant to put pressure on Iran in the wake of Abedini’s home country doing nothing to help obtain his release from an Iran prison.
“It’s been nearly two and a half years now since Jacob’s dad, Saeed Abedini, has been imprisoned in Iran because of his Christian faith,” Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ wrote in an article for Fox News.
“And, on this day, the day Jacob turns 7, his dad is still languishing in prison — separated from his son, his daughter and his wife — still in need of medical care, still facing an uncertain fate.”
A town councilman in Leesburg, Virginia is being attacked for saying that God “touched the hearts of men” to defeat slavery in America.
Leesburg Town Councilman Thomas Dunn had been participating via phone to an hours-long public hearing on the creation of a town Diversity Commission. During the hearing, the president of the local NAACP brought up racism and said that “without government, I’m still in the fields picking cotton.”
Dunn, who was agreeing with a previous speaker the government was not the solution, said that government didn’t end slavery but the hand of God working in the hearts of men.
“That was an evil that this country had. It was the hand of God touching the hearts of man that freed those slaves,” Dunn stated. “And it’s the same hand of God touching the hearts of man that will bring unity within diversity. It’s not government.”
“If you think the people in this room are going to be able to make a change in any shortfalls that we have and how we handle different cultures and races, number one, that’s holding yourself up too high. That has to come from God. That healing comes from God,” he continued. “Jesus said ‘I give you one commandment, and that is to love one another.’ He could have said, ‘Go out and create a diversity commission,’ but He didn’t. He said you go out and love one another, not rely on government to do that. If government was the best answer, He could have said that.”
Thompson attacked Dunn for his references to God, saying the 13th Amendment is pretty clear and that God had nothing to do with it.
At least 14 people were killed when terrorists attacked their churches.
Officlals in Lahore, Pakistan said that at least 70 were wounded in the twin attacks. One church was Catholic, the other was Protestant.
Geo TV reported that police stopped one of the bombers outside the church, forcing him to detonate outside killing one officer and wounding others. The second bomber was able to enter the church and detonate in the middle of services.
“Islamist militants in Pakistan have attacked Christians and other religious minorities often over the last decade or more. Many Christians, who make up less than two percent of Pakistan’s population of more than 180 million, accuse the government of doing little to protect them, saying politicians are quick to offer condolences after an attack but slow to act to improve security,” Retuers reported.
The Pakistani Taliban, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they are planning to attack more churches.
A federal judge in Oklahoma has dismissed a lawsuit brought by atheists against a Ten Commandments monument in the state capital.
The anti-Christian group American Atheists, based in New Jersey, filed suit on behalf of an anonymous woman who claimed about the installation of a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma capitol building.
The State Capitol Preservation Commission argued that the woman had only seen the monument once and had traveled to the capitol solely for the purpose of being offended by the monument.
U.S. District Judge Robin Cauthron ruled that the woman lacked standing to sue because she could not prove that she had suffered any personal injury from the display.
The monument has faced suits in the past. The ACLU sued in August 2013 claiming the presence of the display was unconstitutional.
A British group is trying to raise world awareness of the rape of two Pakistiani Christian girls by a gang of Muslims.
The teen girls, Sherish and Farzana, live in Pakistan’s Punjab province. The Muslim men attacked them only because they were Christian and the men wanted to punish them for their faith.
The British Pakistani Christian Association says the teens have been intimidated by the group of men after the attacks in an attempt to keep them quiet. One of the men on a motorcycle fired guns into the family home of the girls. They were told they shouldn’t be in an Islamic country and they should leave immediately.
The BPCA says that the local officials arrested three men in connection with the attack but two of them have been released on “bail” with no date to return to face charges. The local police reportedly have misplaced evidence and made other mistakes that the BPCA says it related to corruption rather than incompetence.
After a group of anti-Christianists sued to have a “reason station” placed in a city facility to counter a “prayer station”, the mayor of Warren, Michigan announced a new city campaign.
The city will be handing out free posters that say “In God We Trust” and will be hanging them throughout the facility where the anti-Christian group will be sitting.
The decision by Mayor James Fouts comes after the city lost a court battle with the anti-Christian groups Freedom From Religion Foundation, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the ACLU.
“Obviously, I was concerned about the court order that forced the city of Warren to have a reason station within our city hall atrium,” Fouts said in a statement.
“The prayer station had been functioning for years without any problems or any controversy. They’re now allowed to have an atheist station under the euphemistic guise of a reason station.”
The mayor said all religions were able to place displays, noting a Ramadan display that was set up during that period of the Muslim calendar.
“However, this group is a non-religion, and I don’t know what display they’re going to put up unless they are attempting to disparage our prayer station, which I cannot tolerate,” Fouts said.
“I will not allow either a racial hate group to go up, a religious hate group to go up, or a group that disparages a particular ethnicity to go up on the city hall atrium.”
The son of a Pakistani Christian woman who was accused of stealing of from her Muslim employer’s home was beaten and killed by local police in an attempt to make her confess to the crime.
The British Pakistani Christian Association says the police dumped the lifeless body of 20-year-old Zubair Rashid Masih into the street in front his mother’s home on March 8th.
The Muslim owner of the home where she had worked claimed she told gold ornaments and money from his home on February 24th, even though Aisha Bibi stopped working for him on February 20th.
Bibi was arrested and beaten by local officials when she did not admit to the crime. She suffered a broken arm as a result of the attack.
“When they arrived they had my eldest son with them and detained him as well. They were beating him and he was screaming in pain. I thought that I should confess to the theft charges to save my son,” Bibi said in an interview for The Christian Post translated and conducted by BPCA officer Shamim Masih. “However, at this point, they stopped my son’s beating for a while and told me to leave the prison and go home. Later they tortured my son to death.”
“I want justice, but I know the court will ignore our case. Our judicial system is corrupt despite attempts to prevent it. We forced police to lodge a [case] against the police officers involved in my son’s death,” Bibi explained. “It has now been registered after a protest but none of the police murderers have been arrested. The police are protecting themselves, placing their badge before their duties.”
“I am still facing threats from local Muslims who think I am a Christian thief,” Bibi continued. “I do not know how my remaining son and I can survive after this incident in this city that hates Christians.”
Officials in Ottawa County, Michigan are returning a sign to a public park that contains Psalm 13:1.
The catch is that it will have a disclaimer to satisfy a resident who complaint of its presence.
The sign had been in Hager Park over 40 years stating “the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Last year, a resident who chose to hide their identity complained about the sign saying they were illegally promoting Christianity.
The sign was removed by Ottawa County Parks and Recreation director John Scholtz who said he removed the sign to “reduce potential conflicts.”
The County Board of Commissioners voted 9-2 to return the sign but also to include a sign that would talk about the history of the sign’s placement. The sign was part of an agreement with the landowner who deeded the land to them.
The anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation has sent a letter to the county demanding they do not return the sign.
The superintendent of a Texas school district is standing up to a militant anti-Christian who attacked a school principal for quoting the Bible during school announcements.
Hemant Mehta, who calls himself “the Friendly Atheist”, took the unfriendly step of contacting the virulently anti-Christian Freedom From Religion Foundation after what he claimed was an anonymous student’s complaint over Proverbs being read during announcement time.
“He who leads upright along an evil path will fall into his own trap, but the blameless will receive a good inheritance,” Principal Dan Noll read from the book of Proverbs in one of the announcements. “The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.”
The FFRF demanded that the Principal stop reading scriptures and for disciplinary action be taken against Noll.
White Oak Superintendent Michael Gilbert would have none of that.
“The residents were offended at the use of Scripture, demanding that it be stopped and calling for disciplinary action against Mr. Noll,” he stated. “I am fully aware of the practice at the high school and will not pursue any action against our high school principal or any other member of our faculty/staff concerning this issue.”
“Let me also be clear that we have not (in my opinion) violated anyone’s rights and/or subjected anyone to undue stress,” Gilbert continued. “Bible studies and Scriptures are allowed in schools. The requirement is that the material be presented in a neutral manner. It is my position that we met that standard with the morning announcements.”