04a Faith

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Excerpt from bitterwinter.org

A Christian man was hospitalized in critical conditions after a mob accused him of having burned pages of the Quran and tried to lynch him.

The incident of May 25 in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan, has generated strong domestic and even international reactions by Christian and human rights leaders. On May 26 and 27, Christians took to the streets to protest in several different Pakistani cities, It is because of these reactions that police acted with unusual quickness and arrested more than 100 suspects, which may have been part of the mob that tried to lynch 74-year-old Christian Nazeer Masih Gill, accusing him of blasphemy and burning his shoe factory.

The arrests are good news, but they should be followed by serious prosecution. As Monsignor Joseph Arshad, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and other Christian religious authorities commented, justice is not guaranteed in Pakistan. It is often the case that when the news disappears from the first page of the media those arrested are quietly released.

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Excerpt from amgreatness.com

The ex-wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates has pledged to donate at least $1 billion to pro-abortion groups and other far-left organizations over the course of the next two years.

As reported by the Daily Caller, the announcement was made on Tuesday by Pivotal Ventures, Melinda Gates’ new charity, that it would spend money to oppose “the rollback of women’s rights and headwinds to social progress in the U.S. and around the world.” The group designated $200 million to be given specifically to American groups that support “advanc[ing] women’s power and protect[ing] their rights, including reproductive freedom.”

“For too long, a lack of money has forced  organizations  fighting for women’s rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense,” said Gates in her own statement. “I want to help even the match.”

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Excerpt from thefederalist.com

The small Catholic city of Mandeville, Louisiana, will be hosting its first-ever “pride” parade on June 1, and a group of men in the community is rising up to peacefully dissent. According to local farmer and father of five Ross McKnight, “[The pride parade] seems to be an offensive maneuver on a location known for its family-friendly environment, its plentiful church parishes, and its selection of schools.”

A group called “Queer Northshore” is orchestrating the event. The group was co-founded in 2022 by Jeremy JF Thompson, who, according to his public Facebook profile, appears to be a Los Angeles transplant to the area.

“While a display such as this would perhaps not be so surprising in New Orleans, Chicago, Austin, or Los Angeles, the objective here appears to be the infiltration of a community with traditional, Catholic values,” stated McKnight.

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Excerpt from www.catholicworldreport.com

Kansas City Chiefs’ kicker Harrison Butker doubled down on his May 11 Benedictine College commencement speech comments during a Catholic home schooling association’s gala in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday.

“If it wasn’t clear that the timeless Catholic values are hated by many, it is now,” Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion and the 2019 NFL scoring leader, said during the May 24 Regina Caeli Academy’s Courage Under Fire Gala.

Butker faced some pushback on social media and from commentators and celebrities for comments about gender ideology, gender roles, homosexuality, abortion, and other hot-button issues during the commencement speech.

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Excerpt from pjmedia.com

 

 

Presuming it is signed by Gov. Jeff Landry, Louisiana House Bill 71 will mandate that the Ten Commandments be displayed in all schools that receive public funding. Sponsored by Republican Rep. Dodie Horton, the final version of the bill passed 79-16 Tuesday night. Sources report that the only legislators opposed to the bill were Democrats.

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Excerpt from

Commentary: Homeschooling isn’t for every family and comes with challenges, but we would do it again if we had to  TODAY

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Excerpt from www.texastribune.org

SAN ANTONIO — From his booth in the exhibit hall of the Texas GOP’s 2024 convention, Steve Hotze saw an army of God assembled before him.

For four decades, Hotze, an indicted election fraud conspiracy theorist, has helmed hardline anti-abortion movements and virulently homophobic campaigns against LGBTQ+ rights, comparing gay people to Nazis and helping popularize the “groomer” slur that paints them as pedophiles. Once on the fringes, Hotze said Saturday that he was pleased by the party’s growing embrace of his calls for spiritual warfare with “demonic, Satanic forces” on the left.

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Excerpt from www.personneltoday.com

A group of female nurses has launched legal action against an NHS Foundation Trust after being told by its head of HR that they needed to ‘broaden their mindset’ when they asked not to share a changing room with a trans colleague.

The NHS trust’s trans changing room policies permit any member of staff identifying as the opposite gender to access single-sex changing rooms, toilets or showers on that basis.

Supported by the Christian Legal Centre, six nurses have now launched legal action against their employer for sexual harassment and sex discrimination.

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Excerpt from www.nytimes.com

Fitch’s team was grateful for A.D.F.’s help. But to them, this had the feel of a power grab — a bunch of Washington lawyers coming down to Jackson to take over once there was a chance to make history. This was Fitch’s case. She had chosen Stewart, and Stewart was determined. Mississippi would forge its own path.

“Like everything else, you get four attorneys in a room, you’re going to get 10 opinions,” Kevin Theriot, an A.D.F. lawyer, said later in an interview, adding that he was on the phone for part of the meeting. “It’s not that our original strategy went out the window. It was just that instead of making ‘You should overturn Roe’ the second argument, they made it the first argument.”

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Excerpt from www.sltrib.com

Vatican City • During a closed-door meeting with 200 Italian bishops last week, Pope Francis allegedly used derogatory terms to describe gay people during debates about whether the Italian church should allow gay men to enter the seminary.

According to local reports, the Argentine pope said “there is already enough faggotry” in Catholic seminaries, in his speech to prelates May 20. The pope used the Italian term “frociaggine,” a rarely used slur to describe flamboyant gay attitudes. Francis allegedly also used other disparaging words to describe gays.

“The pope never meant to offend or express himself with homophobic terms, and he issues his most sincere apologies to all those who felt offended by the use of a term reported by others,” read a statement Tuesday by Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni.

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Excerpt from www.reformaustin.org

While public school administrators plan budgets for the upcoming school year that mandate layoffs and loss of services, rural and metro area districts face the grim reality that the state legislature continues to fail to provide adequate funding, choosing to hold funding hostage to pro-voucher advocates in the state.

The recently formed group, Rural Texas Conservative Coalition, was onhand in the exhibit hall at the Texas GOP convention in San Antonio in May to urge support for public schools. A voucher program financially could prove disastrous for rural communities.

The group’s  website says that rural public schools have faced numerous challenges that threaten the quality of education and the very existence of rural communities. They were launched just in time for the 2024 convention at the Henry B. González Convention Center to voice opposition to the pro-voucher elements in the party.

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Excerpt from www.tulsakids.com

I should start off this post by stating that neither of my kids are homeschooled. I have long been intrigued by the idea of it, but for various reasons both kids have ended up at different traditional schools that suit their needs. For some children and families, homeschooling is a wonderful choice. It’s also becoming an increasingly popular choice and one that I’ve learned more about recently at a few conferences I’ve attended for work. 

Nobody can deny that homeschooling is gaining serious momentum in the United States. According to the Washington Post, around 2.7 million kids were homeschooled in 2023. More families were forced into it during the pandemic and many decided to stick with it after. For many families, it just makes more sense. In one word “adaptability,” seems to be the theme I hear most. 

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Excerpt from wordandway.org

This Saturday (June 1) marks the fourth anniversary of an infamous presidential Bible moment. Even more than Donald Trump hawking the “God Bless the USA Bible,” the image of him awkwardly holding a Bible outside St. John’s Episcopal Church in 2020 continues to epitomize his abuse of Christian symbols. And the images from that day offer an important insight into the development of Christian Nationalism in the United States.

Waltzing across Lafayette Square after police teargassed Black Lives Matter protesters — including clergy on church property — Trump stood in front of the church’s parish house for a photo op. Although advisers suggested he go over to the church to pray, read a scriptural passage, or meet with clergy, he instead just stood there oddly holding the Bible (but not upside down as is commonly claimed).