A group of atheists who are angry the chancellor of Troy University sent an e-mail that says democracy works in America because people know “they’re accountable to God” are demanding an apology.
“Atheists are overwhelmingly ethical and upstanding people. It is not true that religion is necessary to keep people from becoming criminals,” wrote Americans Atheists’ President David Silverman in an open letter sent to Jack Hawkins Jr. on New Year’s Eve. “In fact, in the United States, in states with the highest percentages of atheists, the murder rate is lower than average. In the most-religious states, the murder rate is higher than average.”
The message from Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr. read: “As we approach a new year I am reminded of the blessings we enjoy within a democracy which is the envy of the world,” wrote Hawkins. “For your pleasure — and as a reminder — I am sharing with you a 90 second video which speaks to America’s greatness and its vulnerability.”
The video link was Harvard Business School professor Clay Christensen saying a visiting Chinese scholar told him about the importance he saw of religion in American democracy and life.
A spokesman for Troy University sent a statement to the Christian Post about the email.
“The purpose of this email was to spur introspection and encourage thoughtful discussion as we transition from the challenges of 2014 to the opportunities ahead in 2015,” read the statement. “This message and video were shared to provide the university community with information and insights for healthy consideration and debate about our country’s democracy, the role it plays in the world and the challenges America faces going forward.”
A disgraced journalist has published a piece smearing Christians that Newsweek has run on the cover of their magazine at Christmas.
The article, called “The Bible: So Misunderstood It’s a Sin”, was written by Kurt Eichenwald, a reporter who left the New York Times shortly before it was discovered he had given thousands of dollars to a source for a story he had written on child pornography. In the piece, Eichenwald smears Christians who follow Scripture.
“They are God’s frauds, cafeteria Christians who pick and choose which Bible verses they heed with less care than they exercise in selecting side orders for lunch,” Eichenwald wrote. “They are joined by religious rationalizers—fundamentalists who, unable to find Scripture supporting their biases and beliefs, twist phrases and modify translations to prove they are honoring the Bible’s word.”
Christian leaders across the country immediately responded to the hit piece timed to hit shelves during one of the most holy times of the year for Christians.
“Newsweek’s cover story is exactly what happens when a writer fueled by open antipathy to evangelical Christianity tries to throw every argument he can think of against the Bible and its authority,” Southern Baptist leader Albert Mohler wrote in an article entitled “Newsweek on the Bible: So Misrepresented It’s a Sin.” Oddly enough, Kurt Eichenwald’s attack on evangelical Christianity would likely be a measure more effective had he left out the personal invective that opens his essay and appears pervasively. He has an axe to grind, and grind he does.”
“But the authority of the Bible is not the victim of the grinding. To the contrary, this article is likely to do far more damage to Newsweek in its sad new reality,” Mohler continued. “To take advantage of Newsweek’s title—it so misrepresents the truth, it’s a sin.”
Officials with a New York town are targeting a church for an outreach to their community.
A code enforcement officer for the city told First Presbyterian Church that a “glee camp” they hosted at a building they own. A cease-and-desist order was issued in July saying that the church’s camp was a violation of zoning because they were operating a commercial action in a residential zone.
“Cease operating a summer glee camp @100/camper in a residential district. This is not an allowable use here,” the order said.
“I believe this action is a misguided and discriminatory act on the city’s part that not only harms the church’s ability to carry out its religious mission in the community, but also threatens a chilling effect upon other faith organizations similarly situated in residential areas throughout the city,” Pastor Eileen Winter said in a deposition.
The church charges $100 per camper but the money goes entirely to offset the church’s costs to put on the camp. The church makes no money on the camp and some years even loses money.
Hiram Sasser of the Liberty Institute says that the city is in violation of the Religious Land Use Act.
Turkish officials are seeking an arsonist who attached a building that contained thousands of New Testaments and other Christian documents.
The fire was noticed at 7 p.m. on December 7th at the offices of Bible Correspondence Course in Istanbul, Turkey. The BCC was located in a multistory building that also housed the Kadikoy church.
BCC Turkey says that no one was injured in the blaze and because of the concrete construction of the building there was no structural damage. However, everything inside the building was burned to ash.
“I think whoever did it knew something about what happens up here, because they kind of knew to come on a Sunday afternoon, and that if they were going to have an opportunity where there weren’t going to be a lot of people around, that’s probably the one that was most likely,” Paul Weaver of BCC-Turkey said.
“I think the firemen were genuinely surprised that when they got there they didn’t find a bigger fire, and I call that providence,” he said. “I don’t know what else to call it because I would agree, I think it should have been a bigger fire than what they actually found.”
BCC Turkey officials say that multiple groups within the city have wanted to stop the group from distributing the Bibles.
The Pakistani Supreme Court has ordered the arrest of two Muslim clerics that they say incited a mob to kill two Christians last month after they made false accusations of the couple desecrating the Koran.
In addition to the clerics, five police officials who failed to take action to protect the couple have also been arrested for their lack of action.
“Why they did not make an attempt to secure the couple as they could disperse the mob through aerial firing?” Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk asked. “It is because of the police’s negligence that the tragic incident occurred.”
In the incident last month, 28-year-old Shama Bibi and her husband Shahzah Masih, 32, were burnt in a kiln by a Muslim mob. The mob had been informed at a mosque that the couple has been found guilty of blasphemy against Islam.
It turned out that the Bibi had burned items that her late father-in-law used to perform black magic and his family was so upset they told the clerics she had burned a Koran to get the Muslims to kill her.
The police report that over 100 people have been arrested on at least one charge connected to the unlawful killing of the couple.
Three Iranian pastors who were facing six years in prison for committing “action against national security” by sharing Christ have been acquitted of their crimes.
Behman Irani, the leader of the 300 member Church of Iran, had been facing 18 new charges along with two other pastors in the church, Abdolreza Ali-Haghnejad and Reza Rabbani.
The charges included “spreading corruption on Earth” which carries a death penalty.
An appeals court overturned the convictions of the three men on December 9th. Irani is still being held in prison because of a conviction on another charge that has him in jail for another two years.
“It is encouraging to see the Iranian judicial system rule on the merits of the case, rather than simply exploiting the system as a means of persecuting religious minorities, as is regularly the case,” International Christian Concern Regional Manager Todd Daniels remarked in a statement. “It is a fundamental aspect of religious freedom to be able to meet together with others who share your beliefs. For too long, the Iranian regime has treated such meetings as a threat to national security.”
A Christian man who was working to help other Christians open a bookstore in Shanxi Province, China is being released from a Chinese prison.
Wenxi Li, a native of Beijing, has been working with Chrisitans in Shanxi when he was asked to come to a police station on December 19, 2012 to pick up books that had been seized by authorities. When he arrived, he was immediately arrested and thrown in jail.
They denied him bail and he was sentenced to two years in prison on June 17, 2013.
Family members say that they are optimistic the Chinese government will follow through on their word to release Wenxi. He has been transferred to a prison where he’s receiving better medical treatment and food and has been able to make short phone calls to his family.
His wife, Cal Hong Li, told Voice of the Martyrs that her husband has been able to share Christ with many of his fellow prisoners during his time behind bars. She said that she is thankful God found him worthy to suffer for His sake.
Cal Hong said she hopes her husband will take some time to rest and spend time with her before going back into the field to serve Christ.
American pastor Saeed Abedini has released a letter from behind bars according to his wife and his legal team.
The American Center for Law and Justice says that the letter was given to a relative who visited Abedini last week. The pastor was in great pain from internal injuries that the Iranian government continues to forbid Saeed medical treatment.
“Saeed continues to have severe pain and would appreciate your prayers,” his wife Naghmeh told reporters.
“These days are very cold here. My small space beside the window is without glass making most nights unbearable to sleep,” Abedini wrote. “The treatment by fellow prisoners is also quite cold and at times hostile. Some of my fellow prisoners don’t like me because I am a convert and a pastor. They look at me with shame as someone who has betrayed his former religion.”
“Brothers and sisters, the fact of the gospel is that it is not only the story of Jesus, but it is the key of how we are to live and serve like Jesus,” the letter continues. “Today, we like Him should come out of our safe comfort zone in order to proclaim the word of life and salvation though faith in Jesus Christ and the penalty of sin that He paid on the cross and to proclaim His resurrection. We should be able to tolerate the cold, the difficulties and the shame in order to serve God. We should be able to enter into the pain of the cold dark world.”
Abedini’s wife says that he treasures the prayers of those around the world and says that he can feel the comfort that comes from them.
A new law passed in Saudi Arabia could impose the death sentence on people who bring Bibles into the country and anyone else who distributes information about a religion that is not Islam.
“The new law extends to the importing of all illegal drugs and ‘all publications that have a prejudice to any other religious beliefs other than Islam,’” Paul Washer’s HeartCry Missionary Society outlines in a post on their website. “In other words, anyone who attempts to bring Bibles or gospel literature into the country will have all materials confiscated and be imprisoned and sentenced to death.”
The Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington has been refusing to confirm or deny the new law.
Members of the HeartCry Missionary Society reminded Christian News about the fact Christians in Saudi Arabia are routinely harassed by Muslims with virtual immunity.
“Christians are raped, abducted, murdered, and beaten on a daily basis. Saudis who accept Christ as their Savior are choosing to pick up a cross of ostracism, discrimination, harassment, and even death,” it outlines. “They risk losing their jobs, access to education for their children, or even the right to basic utilities like water and electricity.”
The Open Doors International list of the 100 most dangerous places for a Christian to live has Saudi Arabia at number 6.
A teacher at Arizona State University openly mocked Christ in one of the school’s classes.
Christofer Bang teaches biology and ecology courses for the state-funded university. The teacher held a class last week where he openly mocked Christ and described Biblical creation as “magic.”
The teacher’s actions were released to the website Campus Reform by a student who wished to remain anonymous. The teacher posted a slide that showed Darwin on one side with his evolution and Jesus on the other with a caption that read “zap! Magic!”
“Quite a few students in the lecture hall were bothered by the picture, and it didn’t contribute to the lecture besides adding spite,” the student said.
Arizona State officials are defending the teacher’s anti-Christian attitude.
“The image you are referring to is on the title page of a [PowerPoint] and sets the stage for a discussion about the extremes of the public discourse on evolution/creationism,” Sandy Leander, media relations manager for ASU’s School of Life Sciences stated.
Even non-Christian students were offended by the teacher’s actions.
“All the professor needed to do was state the facts about evolution and move on,” one student said. “There’s no need to attack Christianity in the process.”