Billydteacher's BlogWith two major Arab leaders addressing the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York, an Egyptian-born former Muslim claims Americans now more than ever need to understand the true agenda of Islam.
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called for a “new world order,” and Egypt’s President Mohammed Morsi rejected free speech rights this week at the U.N. General Assembly.
Nonie Darwish, founder of Arabs for Israel and author of The Devil We Don’t Know: The Dark Side of Revolutions in the Middle East, says anti-American comments at the U.N. give rise for further concern of the growing Islamic influence around the world.
“Wherever Islam goes and … becomes a strong minority, there’s going to be a demand for sharia law,” she asserts. “If they don’t get it, they’re going to have a separatist movement, and I’m predicting England will have a Chechnya maybe in 10, 20 years. France will have a Chechnya. I hope this will never happen to America.”
( Read more )
A coalition of liberal Christian groups has come out against Hobby Lobby’s lawsuit challenging federal health care guidelines that require companies to provide insurance that covers the “morning-after” pill.
Nazarene pastor Lance Schmitz says more than 80,000 people signed petitions opposing the Oklahoma-based arts and crafts chain’s lawsuit. The Oklahoma City pastor tried to deliver the petitions Thursday to Hobby Lobby headquarters but was ordered to leave the property. He says he will mail the petitions instead.
Hobby Lobby, which operates more than 500 stores in 41 states, says providing coverage for the morning-after pill violates its Christian owners’ “deeply held religious beliefs.”
The petitions say Hobby Lobby’s owners shouldn’t use their beliefs to deny women access to birth control. The company says it has no objection to preventive contraceptives.
( Billy’s thoughts – People of faith along with others who care about moral values need to support this business. Read more of the above story here. )
CHICAGO — The teen preacher addressed each person in the pew: the grandmother, the teenage usher, the unemployed father, the single mom.
“You are only blessed because you can be a blessing to others,” he implored, and the faithful of Greater New Mount Eagle Missionary Baptist Church rose to their feet in praise that could be heard outside on 123rd Street.
Some hollered “Amen!” Others applauded. One woman slipped out to cry, moved as much by the message as its messenger: the Rev. Donald Abram, age 17.
In some ways, Abram has followed in the footsteps of his father, now a preacher in Port Arthur, Texas. But he has managed to avoid the mistakes of his father, who did time on death row before winning his release and becoming an ordained pastor.
Abram has shown the congregation what can be accomplished when a community invests in its young people — and when they give back.
“God has given me the ability to reach many, and he’s been speaking through me and allowed me to be dynamic,” he said, sitting on the front porch of his Roseland home, facing the church. “It’s not me bragging on myself. I’m astonished and amazed by the things God has done for me. Whether it’s praying for someone and the power of God overcomes me or whether it’s just preaching the word of God and so many people getting happy and encouraged because of it.”
( BEYOND HIS YEARS )
Earlier this year, in the midst of the presidential primary season, I was asked to address a group of Southern Baptist pastors on the question of Christian faith and political engagement. Though no one knew for sure who the candidates would be at that time, the first question I was asked was, “How should an evangelical Christian decide who to support in this election?” That was a legitimate question, and has prompted me to think of some wider implications.
We should be grateful to live in a representative democracy where the right to vote and the rule of law are respected. Such has not always been the case, even in our own country, as the history of slavery, women’s suffrage, and the struggle for civil rights indicates. Freedom is ever under assault from without and within. Religious liberty and political responsibility are closely related: If we default on the latter, we may well forfeit the former. Vote!
2) The American republic was founded on a clear distinction between church and state, as the First Amendment shows, but this has never meant the separation of faith from public life. What we believe about ultimate matters has a direct bearing on how we deal with issues of everyday life. What is a human being? How do we foster a society where justice prevails? How do we construct “a more perfect union” for the common good? These are profoundly moral and spiritual questions, as well as political ones. While IRS regulations forbid pastors and religious leaders from endorsing particular candidates (a rule that should be reversed in the interest of free speech), there is no prohibition against addressing the great moral issues of our time, all of which have political implications. Michelle Obama was completely correct in her remark at the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s General Conference in June. She claimed that “there is no better place than church” to talk about political issues because they are ultimately moral issues. Distinguish!
( Billy’s thoughts – Read more of the above thought provoking piece by Timothy George right here or watch the video. )
By the time she heard the public address announcer call her name, it may be that the only person surprised was Allyssa Brubeck herself.
So there she was last Friday night, the new homecoming queen, a 19-year-old with Down syndrome, jumping and jumping under the football stadium lights as the full crowd from Park Hill South High School cheered and cried.
“Everyone in the stands was crying,” said 18-year-old classmate Leah Smith. “Everyone loves her.”
And perhaps the best part of the whole experience, say some of the adults who watched it unfold, is that all those high school teenagers behind the Allyssa-for-Homecoming-Queen phenomenon don’t seem to understand what all the outside attention is about.
They certainly understood Allyssa’s popularity in the school she has attended all four years. Always smiling. Always hugging.
“She deserved to be homecoming queen,” said Sam Boling, 17, who was a runner-up for queen.
“People say our generation is bad, and going downhill,” 15-year-old Dylen Propes said. “But then we pull something off like this.
( Homecoming queen prompts cheers, stirs hearts )
I am tired of those running for office going on showing like The View, and Kelly Ripa and answering silly questions like what kind of underwear do you prefer. I would like once for some soul running for office to not go on these shows or to go on them and say. Thanks for the question but I am sorry I’m too concern about the way our nation is going that I am not going to answer it. I will answer any questions you might have about what I would do if elected. Cal Thomas believes like I do. He said so yesterday in a short radio commentary. If you like to hear what Cal said click
here.
Billy David Dickson All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Billy or read more commentary on current issues at https://billydteacher.wordpress.com/.
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Crosses at Catholic School Upsets Muslims, 9-28-12 commentary
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Billy David Dickson All Rights Reserved, 2012
This blog may be reproduced in whole or in part with a full attribution statement. Contact Billy or read more commentary on current issues at https://billydteacher.wordpress.com/.