Dear Friends,
News about the persecution of Christians around the world has become more frequent and more vivid. We are jarred by the growing stream of photos showing bloodied corpses and crying children, by reports of gruesome slaughter and indiscriminate massacres. In many places, professing faith in Jesus is requiring the ultimate sacrifice.
FRC is calling on Christians throughout America to "Stand with the Persecuted" this coming Sunday, April 17th. With our friends at Open Doors USA, The Voice of the Martyrs, the Institute on Religion and Democracy, In Defense of Christians, Christian Solidarity Worldwide-USA, International Christian Concern, and the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative, we're issuing a call for churches nationwide to show a brief, two-minute video, distribute a special bulletin insert, and spend time in prayer for our persecuted brothers and sisters internationally.
"Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body," we read in Hebrews 13:3 (ESV). This coming Sunday, let's do just that.
Rob Schwarzwalder
Senior Vice-President
Family Research Council
Lectures
How can Christians tell our story in a culture that is increasingly hostile toward our message? Warren Cole Smith, V.P of Mission Advancement for the Colson Center for Christian Worldview and former Associate Editor at WORLD Magazine, answered this question in an FRC lecture concerning his new book, Restoring All Things: God's Audacious Plan to Change the World through Everyday People. Co-authored with another longtime friend of FRC, the Colson Center's John Stonestreet, the book shares "inspiring real-life stories of justice, mercy, love, and forgiveness in our communities and neighborhoods, (through which) you'll encounter a God who is intimately involved in His creation and using His church to work out the redemption of this world."
April 6 - Religious Liberty Around the World: Where We Stand as of Spring 2016
Religious believers around the world experience violence, repression, and exile of various forms and degrees. It deserves our attention and America's action.
This lecture featured remarks by former Congressman Frank Wolf of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative; Dr. Thomas Farr, Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University; Tina Ramirez, Founder and Executive Director of Hardwired Global, an organization focused on training and promoting religious freedom around the world.; and Pervez Rafique, President of Bleeding for Belief, an organization working to stop religious persecution in Pakistan and former Member of the Punjab Provincial Assembly in Pakistan.
March 30 - ISIS, Sharia, & the Islamic State Phenomenon: The Caliphate in Light of Sharia
There is perhaps no better authority on radical Islam than someone who at one point espoused that very system of belief. Al Fadi, a former Wahhabi Muslim who has come to trust in Jesus Christ, now works to educate and equip others about Islam for the purpose of reaching Muslims for Christ. In this fascinating lecture, Al explains how sharia and the caliphate drive ISIS and other radical groups in the ideological conflict into which we and many others have been drawn.
Al Fadi is the founder and director of CIRA International, a ministry focused on training and equipping Christian leaders and laypersons on reaching out to our Muslim neighbors, for the purpose of effectively sharing Christ and His message of salvation and hope with them.
Op-ed and Blogs
Ken Blackwell, Senior Fellow for Human Rights and Constitutional Governance
- April 17: Stand With the Persecuted Sunday, a Call to Solidarity Between Domestic and Global Church (with Tom Farr) -- The Stream
- Dancing around Christian Persecution (with Bob Morrison) – CNSNews.com
- Principle, Federalism, and Passion: GOP Needs All Three to Win and Govern -- PatriotPost.com
Cathy Ruse, Senior Fellow for Legal Studies
- Little Sisters, Little Pills: It's All About Power -- The Stream
Tony Perkins, President, FRC
- Don't punish religious belief -- USA Today
Rob Schwarzwalder, Senior Vice-President for Policy
- Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, Materialists -- The Stream
- Memo to the State Department: Christians Were Murdered in Lahore. That's C-h-r-i-s-t-i-a-n-s -- FRC Blog
- Obama's Religious 'Accommodation' on Birth Control Coverage Is a Gimmick - TIME Magazine
- Obeying God, Not Men -- FRC Blog
- Pay-Pal Prefers Cuba to North Carolina -- Florence (Alabama) Courier-Journal
- Science, Faith, and the "Siegel Test" – The Gospel Coalition
- "Stand with the (Unstoppable) Persecuted" Church on Sunday, April 17th" -- FRC Blog
- Supreme Court's Abortifacient Case and the Value of Lost Things -- Christian Post
- Stand With the Persecuted -- Real Clear Religion
Travis Weber, Director, Center for Religious Liberty
- Freedom of Conscience and New "LGBT Rights" in International Human Rights Law (with L. Lin) -- The Public Discourse
- Labeling ISIS Actions Against Christians a Genocide Isn't Enough -- Daily Signal
- The Little Sisters of the Poor and Big Brother -- The Stream
- Mississippi Protects Freedom to Believe -- FRC Blog
- Obama's Judicial Philosophy Unsound -- Orlando Sentinel
- Supreme Court Oral Argument Leaves a Question Mark Hanging Over Little Sisters -- FRC Blog
- Voters Right to Worry about Court Vacancy -- Philadelphia Inquirer
Publications
"The Value of Religious Organizations and Businesses to Society," by Travis Weber. This significant study of how Christian-based companies benefit our culture and economy makes the case the faith should not be divorced from professional life. As Travis notes, "profit making should not exclude a business from having ethical standards and a conscience, whether for large corporations or family owned businesses."
"Investigating Planned Parenthood and Research Using Aborted Babies," by Arina Grossu, Director, Center for Human Dignity. An update of Arina's earlier work on this disturbing issue, "This paper synthesizes what we know of Planned Parenthood, its aborted baby parts harvesting, the operations of biotech companies involved in this industry, and its end-consumers, including NIH and FDA taxpayer-funded programs. Planned Parenthood performs about 30 percent of all abortions in the U.S."
