Faith

Chief Rabbi: Jewish prayer on Temple Mount is crime punishable by death

Shalom Aharon Baadani, the teen who died Friday after sustaining critical wounds in a terror attack at the Jerusalem light rail this week, was laid to rest at the city’s Givat Shaul cemetery. Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef spoke at the boy’s funeral and centered his talk on the wave of violence that has swept through the capital. He lashed out at Jews who go up to the Temple Mount, suggesting they played a role in the recent surge in violence, which has raised concerns of a possible third Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

DC Schools Strip Christmas From Calendar After Muslims Complain

The Montgomery County school district in suburban Washington, DC has voted to strip Christmas from the school calendar after complaints by Muslims, who say the move doesn’t go far enough. In a 7-1 vote, Montgomery’s Board of Education removed references to Christmas, Easter, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah from next year’s school calendar, replacing them with ambiguous terms such as “winter break” and “student holidays.” The decision was made after complaints by Muslim parents that the Islamic holiday of Eid wasn’t being recognized.

National Cathedral To Host First Muslim Prayer

Washington National Cathedral is hosting a Muslim prayer service for the first time on Friday. Planners say they hope Friday’s service at the historic cathedral will foster more understanding and acceptance between Christians and Muslims around the world. The prominent Episcopal cathedral often hosts national events, such as presidential funerals, and has hosted Muslims at various interfaith services in the past.

Wiccan Priest Opens Alabama City Council Meeting With Invocation to ‘Gentle Goddess, Loving God’

A Wiccan priest opened an Alabama city council meeting with an invocation to the ‘gentle goddess and loving god’ this past week in an effort to make the prayers that open each session more diverse, appeasing church-state separation groups. “O gentle goddess and loving god, we thank you for the beauties and the wonders of the day that you have given to us, and for the opportunity we have this evening to assemble here and work together to make Huntsville a better city for all of its residents,” Blake Kirk led those in attendance at the Huntsville City Council meeting on Thursday. (Read the rest of the story here…)

Russell Moore, Rick Warren to Join Pope Francis With Muslims, Buddhists for Interfaith Conference

Russell Moore, the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Saddleback megachurch leader Rick Warren will team up with Roman Catholic Pontiff Francis later this month for an interfaith Vatican conference on marriage and family. “Complementarity of Man and Woman,” will be held Nov. 17-19 at the Vatican, and is expected to feature more than 30 speakers from over 20 countries.

Pope Francis Wants To Know What Rick Warren, Russell Moore, And Other Christian Leaders Think About Marriage

Even Southern Baptists know not to turn down an invitation from the Pope. Rick Warren, senior pastor of Saddleback Church, and Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberties Commission, will meet Pope Francis and offer an “evangelical Protestant” perspective as part of a Vatican colloquium on marriage and family held this November 17-19. “I am willing to go anywhere, when asked, to bear witness to what we as evangelical Protestants believe about marriage and the gospel, especially in times in which marriage is culturally imperiled,” wrore Moore on why he’s going to the Vatican despite his disagreements with the Pope.

Christian Couple Killed By Mob In Pakistan For ‘Blasphemy’

A Christian couple accused of desecrating a Koran have been killed by a mob of Muslim vigilantes in Pakistan. The husband and wife, known only as Shama and Shehzad, were beaten to death. Their bodies were then burned in the brick kiln where they worked.

Temple Mount crisis fuels unrest in volatile Jerusalem

Swirling winds and heavy downpours probably did more than the massive Israeli police presence to dampen Palestinian protests in Jerusalem over the weekend. Dire predictions that a third intifada was about to erupt after the brief closure of the Temple Mount — known to Arabs as the Noble Sanctuary — came to nothing. But the weather could not sweep away the toxic atmosphere in the city.

California Forces Churches to Fund Abortions

First, the mayor of Houston flagrantly violated clergy’s First Amendment rights, when she subpoenaed sermons, and she still refuses to rescind her mandate. And now California government officials are forcing churches and other faith-based organizations to fund abortions. What’s next?

The Pope’s Embrace Of Evolution Brings Us One Step Closer To A One World Religion

If you wanted to create a religion that almost everyone would love, how would you do it? Perhaps you would change your faith to make it more appealing to a modern world that is changing at blinding speed. Perhaps you would indicate that you are willing to become more “mainstream” on hot button issues such as gay rights.

Report: Palestinians accept US request to delay Security Council bid for statehood

The London-based pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday that the Palestinian Authority has agreed to delay by two months its plan to seek a Security Council resolution calling for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines within three years. The paper quoted Palestinian sources in Ramallah as saying that the PA leadership will give US Secretary of State John Kerry a two-month window to present his own plan for peace. The sources said that the PA leadership was nevertheless determined to proceed with the Security Council bid.

She Was A Lesbian Porn Star Until A Vision Shook Her to the Core — And Led Her To Christ

Once a lesbian porn star, Teresa Carey’s transformation from purveyor of smut to devout evangelical Christian speaker is a story ripe to captivate and intrigue audiences. Carey, 36, who is expecting her first child with husband Scott Carey, opened up in a recent interview with Barcroft TV about her religious conversion five years ago and the reasons she willingly left her porn past behind. “The way I became a Christian is not kind of the usual way someone becomes a Christian,” she said, highlighting her uncommon path toward biblical understanding.

The Pagan Roots Of Halloween

Most people that celebrate Halloween have absolutely no idea what they are actually celebrating. Even though approximately 70 percent of Americans will participate in Halloween festivities once again this year, the vast majority of them are clueless about the fact that this is a holiday that is thousands of years old and that has deeply pagan roots. If you are going to celebrate something, shouldn’t you at least know what you are celebrating?

Brutal female police enforce ISIS sharia vision on women of caliphate

The Islamic State’s bid to impose Dark Ages law on the women within its so-called caliphate depends on a merciless cadre of young women who roam the streets of Raqqa, terrorizing females who fall short of the standard of strict Shariah. Known as the Al-Khansa brigade, the group consists of about 60 armed women between the ages of 18 and 24 who patrol the Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold. Their job, which they are said to perform with cruel relish, is to arrest and beat women who commit such transgressions as allowing ankles or wrists to show or being seen without a male chaperone.

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