Morsi denial of Copt persecution just Shariah-speak. Text smaller Text bigger Amid eyewitness accounts and press reports that Copts are leaving their homes after being threatened, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi denies there is anti-Copt persecution. In an article in AllAfrica.com, Morsi said, “Persecution does not exist on Egyptian soil. We are all people of the homeland.” An Egyptian citizen who lives in Cairo who asked not to be named for security purposes says the denial is because of how Morsi defines persecution.
“Morsi denies outright the Copts are persecuted in Egypt,” the Cairo resident said. “Morsi is not lying because he sincerely believes what he is saying.” “The Western definition of persecution differs to Morsi’s understanding of persecution because Morsi is following the Islamic meaning,” he explained. Islam analyst and Jihad Watch, publisher Robert Spencer agrees, saying the difference is perspective is an “inversion” of reality. “This is a classic example of the Islamic inversion of reality. “They are fair game. THIS isn’t allowed even on Bourbon Street. Text smaller Text bigger New Orleans’ Bourbon Street is home to Mardis Gras, Southern Decadence, open containers of alcohol and just about anything else you can imagine, especially from sundown to sunup.
Except the Christian message. That’s because of the city’s “Religious Speech Ban,” which is in effect between the sunset and sunrise hours on the famous center for jazz and festivals. “Those who violate section 54-419 by engaging in religious, political or social speech ‘shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than $500, and/or imprisoned for not more than six months,’” according to a lawsuit filed over the controversial restriction. City officials did not respond to a WND request for comment.
The controversy was brought to a head by the Alliance Defending Freedom, which filed the case on behalf of Pastor Paul Gros of Vieux Carre Assembly of God Church at 433 Daupine Street, just a block off of Bourbon. “Pastor Gros shares his faith in various ways. Should Churchgoers Be Able to Bring Guns to Houses of Worship? Editor’s Note: This is a crosspost from Beliefnet.com. It was composed by Rob Kerby, Senior Editor, Beliefnet. Bring guns to church? Pastor Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky’s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their Second Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church. Pastor Ken Pagano (Photo Credit: Beliefnet) The national news media opened fire at the very idea. However, two years later as the nation recoiled from a series of shootings at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C., a Colorado movie theater and a Wisconsin Sikh worship center, Black Christian News raised the question again: “Should Christians Be Allowed to Carry Guns to Church?”
Wisconsin Sikhs await word about their loved ones (Photo Credit: Beliefnet) “America today would be unrecognizable to our Founders,” said Liberty Institute President, Kelly Shackleford. Kelly Shackleford (Photo Credit: Beliefnet) Jason Torpy (Photo Credit: Beliefnet) Why? » Chicago Chick-fil-A Kiss-In protesters “chalk” homeless street preacher. Posted by Anne Sorock Saturday, August 4, 2012 at 7:03pm I attended Friday night’s “Kiss-in” protest outside the only Chick-fil-A location in Chicago. The small group of between twenty to thirty protesters gathered outside the restaurant around 7pm.
A few same-sex couples took the opportunity to kiss in public, as the protest organizers encouraged attendees to do on their facebook page. I asked many of the protesters whether they agreed with Alderman Moreno’s actions; the reactions were mixed. Some agreed — one woman told me she took a “European view” of our Constitutional Rights — while others felt he was in the wrong despite agreeing with him in a general sense. While there, a group formed around an elderly African-American homeless man, who was reading his bible while seated along a fence rail off to the side of the protest. Ed Driscoll » Five Angry Pieces, Revisited.
Belmont Club » The Chicken Disses the Hat. August 2nd, 2012 - 1:52 am The refusal of the Chick-fil-A issue to leave the headlines and its tendency to embrace more and more facets of the culture wars mean it will become increasingly about something other than what it started as: an attempt by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to strong-arm a business into parroting the Chicago line. Chick-fil-A is now being denied permission to open a branch in Mountain View, CA, because of “zoning restrictions.” Maybe it is about zoning restrictions, and maybe it isn’t. It’s hard to tell anymore, since it has become the symbol of so much. For Joe Ozersky of Time, who initially supported Chick-fil-A against Rahm Emanuel, the controversy has become symbolic of an excessive intrusiveness of private belief into a “nonfundamentalist real world.” Now he thinks Chick-fil-A must be taught that being religiously intrusive is beyond the pale: Today is National Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day, at least according to Mike Huckabee.
One man’s religion is another man’s ideology. 5 Companies Like Chick-fil-A That Share Their Christian Faith. Chick-fil-A isn’t the only company willing to share its Christian faith with the world. While attaching a specific religious view to a product or service holds the potential to turn a portion of consumers off, some business leaders and companies stick to their values and intentionally include them in their packaging and messaging. Some of these brands include: Forever 21, Interstate Battery, Tyson Foods, In-N-Out Burger and Hobby Lobby. Forever 21: Forever 21 is a clothing store that was founded by Don and Jin Chang, devout Christians who moved to America from Korea in 1981. The small store they opened in Los Angeles in 1984 has grown into a mass business comprised of hundreds of locations across the globe. On the bottom of each bag, shoppers will find “John 3:16,” the popular Bible verse that reads, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Image Credit: Los Angeles Times John H. (H/T: FOX News) Project too much: Citizens continue to appreciate Chick-fil-A; Left, media frame as day of intolerance while bullying. Ah, yes. There was a lot of intolerance: Wishing that people would choke on chicken, bomb threats and reprehensible hate-filled harassment of young Chick-fil-A workers. Oh, wait. That was all from the Left. Freedom-lovers? They peacefully, and patiently, came out in tolerant and loving droves to support speech and the rights of business owners. Exactly. Nope. Huh. Conservatives tried to explain the truth to Mr. Spewing hate? He likes you, if you support gay marriage and, you know, watch Bravo. Again, implying that Chick-fil-A and/or its customers are intolerant.
Sorry, Ari. And continuing to wish people choke. Because that is their real problem, of course. They lost. Well, it’s not stopping; the Left and the media (concentric circles on a Venn diagram) won’t be able to bully people this time. The crowds were still going strong late last night. Look at those “hateful” kids! Look at that “intolerant” face! Shep, tell this beautiful child’s daddy that she’s “intolerant.”
Day 2! Anti-Chick-fil-A Tough Guy Fired for Bullying Drive Thru Girl. UPDATE: TheBlaze has an exclusive interview with the man seen in the video. You can read our initial story, and his take, here. It appears Blaze readers weren’t the only ones disgusted by the actions of Adam M. Smith, the grown man who recorded a video of himself berating a female employee at a Chick-fil-A drive-thru in Tucson, Ariz. It looks like his former employers at Vante were just as displeased: Vante regrets the unfortunate events that transpired yesterday in Tucson between our former CFO/Treasurer Adam Smith and an employee at Chick-fil-A.
Effective immediately, Mr. Smith is no longer an employee of our company.The actions of Mr. As TheBlaze’s Mike Opelka noted this morning, Smith believes the chicken chain is really hateful. After pulling up to the window and getting his free water, the tough guy activist proceeded to harangue the remarkably calm young woman. Huh. Smith must have thought he scored a major victory because he put the video on Youtube. Mike Huckabee on ‘Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day’: Massive Turnout Proves People Are Tired of Hypocrisy, Bigotry Toward Christians. After crowds of people gathered at Chick-fil-A restaurants around the country, Fmr. Governor Mike Huckabee - a strong supporter of the movement - reacted to the turnouts on today's Your World. He said that the response of the American public proves that people are 'tired' of hypocrisy toward Christians.
"We've had over 21 million views on my Facebook page, but this is something not just for Chick-fil-A but for America, and for people who believe the First Amendment applies to everyone, including Christians," he said. "I think a lot of people felt that if you're a Muslim and you take a position against same-sex marriage, Rahm Emanuel will put his arm around you in a public ceremony like he did to Louis Farrakhan the very day he was condemning Dan Cathy, and it's that hypocrisy and inconsistency and intolerance and bigotry toward Christians that I think people are just tired of. " "No, I purposefully had no contact with the company personally ...
Supporters Show Their Appreciation for Chick-fil-A After CEO’s Comments on Gay Marriage Spark Backlash. Could Cities Really Block Chick-fil-A Based on Executive’s Views on Same-Sex Marriage? Politicians, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, are reacting to comments Chick-fil-A’s president Dan Cathy made about same-sex marriage. Cathy said, “We are very much supportive of the family – the biblical definition of the family unit.” In a radio interview, Cathy said, “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say ‘we know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage and I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.”
The comments sparked reaction from Emanuel, who threatened to block the opening of two news Chick-fil-A venues in Chicago. Emanuel said, “Chick-fil-A’s values are not Chicago values. So, could Chick-fil-A be banned from Chicago based on Cathy’s views on same-sex marriage? Ford O’Connell weighed in on America’s Newsroom, saying, “Rahm Emanuel is conflating the law with liberal outrage. Boston mayor vows to keep Chick-fil-A out of city. BOSTON (AP) — The mayor of Boston is vowing to block Chick-fil-A from opening a restaurant in the city after the company's president spoke out publicly against gay marriage.
Mayor Thomas Menino told the Boston Herald ( ) on Thursday that he doesn't want a business in the city "that discriminates against a population. " Chick-fil-A President Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press this week that his privately owned company is "guilty as charged" in support of what he called the biblical definition of the family. The fast-food chicken sandwich chain later said that it strives to "treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. " Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A has more than 1,600 stores nationwide but just two in Massachusetts, both located in suburban malls. Information from: Boston Herald, Atheists on the March.
Now we have some jerk – won’t even give him the publicity here – trying to get a Federal Judge to declare that there is no God. He says that if the judge would so rule then we could get rid of all references to God in this country … on currency, in courts and elsewhere. Let me help y’all out here. Let me try to explain to you just why atheists are so active right now trying to remove all references to the Christian religion from out society.
We can deal with this with a few bullet points. Most atheists are liberals. Some are libertarians. Few are conservatives.Atheists connect Christianity to conservatism. Just that simple. Atheists: Obama Administration Out Of Line To Pray For Rain. 50 Christians burned to death in pastor’s home. Text smaller Text bigger Fifty members of a northern Nigerian church were burned to death in their pastor’s house. The attack by armed gunmen was only the first in a 12-village spree of violence that left over 100 dead in northern Nigeria’s Plateau State, a region that had previously been outside Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram’s operational area and is the largely Muslim Fulani tribesmen’s homeland. Yet Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the attacks and threatened even more violence. Open Doors, USA spokesman Jerry Dykstra says the recent wave of attacks is rapidly turning Nigeria into a deadly religious battlefield, where Boko Haram is declaring Christians must convert … or die.
“Nigeria is truly becoming the new killing field for Christians. Church of Christ of Nigeria officials report that all of their denomination’s church buildings were burned to the ground in the 12-town rampage. “I don’t think that Boko Haram could, out of nowhere, have raided these villages. Ministry asks for removal of Maddow case judge. Text smaller Text bigger A Christian minister who brought a defamation case against MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow, alleging she maliciously asserted the preacher advocated the execution of homosexuals, is asking that the judge in the case be removed because of her biased comments. “Recusal is required when judicial remarks create the appearance that the court’s impartiality may be called into question, and ‘could suggest, to an outside observer, such a ‘high degree of favoritism or antagonism’ to defendants’ position that ‘fair judgment is impossble,”” says an affidavit filed with the Superior Court of the District of Columbia concerning the actions and statements of Judge Joan Zeldon.
WND was told by one of Zeldon’s staff members that she was out of the office, but a message was left requesting a comment from the judge on the issue. The case was brought by a Christian preacher whose ministry features hard rock, high school seminars and an occasional letter exchange with Barack Obama. ‘The real threat to freedom is Catholic bishops’ Text smaller Text bigger Julia Sweeney The former “Saturday Night Live” star famous for playing the ambiguously androgynous “Pat” character has created a TV commercial painting Catholic bishops as “the real threat to freedom” in the nation’s ongoing debate over mandated health-care contraception coverage.
Julia Sweeney, in partnership with the Freedom From Religion Foundation, or FFRF, as part of the organization’s “Quit the Church” campaign, has created a TV ad called “Stand Up to Catholic Bishops” for engaging in what she describes as attempting “to force their dogma on people who don’t want it.” Many American Catholics, lead by the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, have argued the Obama administration’s decision to require employers – regardless of religious objection – to pay for their employees’ contraception coverage is an attack on conscience and religious liberty. The advertisement states, “Hi, I’m Julia Sweeney, and I’m a cultural Catholic. The ad itself can be seen below: CNN’s Don Lemon Discusses Why Fewer Young People Believe in God With Atheist Guests Jesse Galef and Hemant Mehta. Christian Pastor executed in Iran. Emory Commencement Speaker Sparks Evolution Controversy. San Juan Capistrano, California City, Changes Zoning Code to Allow Home Bible Study After Fromm Couple Was Fined.