With approximately 80 percent of the world's population living in countries high levels of religious oppression, persecution is a simmering global crisis. For years, U.S. officials have spoken of the importance of promoting religious freedom abroad. But what would it look like if American leaders took that seriously? The Trump administration has given us a glimpse, and it's impressive.
This Thanksgiving, Californians have a variety of onerous government restrictions to be thankful for. Near the top of the list (right under worship bans) come the restrictions on Thanksgiving itself.
On Sunday, I'll be preaching at Greenwell Springs Baptist Church at the 10:30 a.m. service. If you plan to be in the Baton Rouge area, we would love for you to worship with us. For those not in the area, you are welcome to watch the livestream on Facebook.
Once again, the Trump administration has taken unprecedented action to protect unborn life and promote families, this time by helping to form a global coalition of countries committed to these aims. The 32 countries that signed the Geneva Consensus Declaration agreed that the United Nations should never promote abortion as a method of family planning. They also reaffirmed basic human rights that enjoy a broad consensus among countries across the globe, including "the dignity and worth of the human person."
If an uninitiated viewer had stumbled upon the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett last week, they would have to be forgiven for thinking that Barrett was being nominated for a Health and Human Services (HHS) position in charge of regulating health care.
"The school districts won't come clean. They'll dress it up in buzzwords and euphemisms. And when you see this stuff, it's really shocking. It's stuff that almost no one in the country believes." Investigative reporter Luke Rosiak described on Washington Watch the tactics local officials use to keep parents in the dark about the radical agenda being pushed across America's 13,000 school districts. "You routinely see them using euphemisms and denying freedom of information requests, and a lot of times they'll just delete stuff when it's embarrassing."
For over six months Americans have been forced to adjust their lives because of the coronavirus. Aspects of everyday life, including the enjoyment of constitutionally protected rights, were temporarily set aside, or abridged while the nation worked to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the virus. While most states and entities worked in good faith with churches, certain jurisdictions and groups have used the virus as an excuse to infringe on basic religious liberty protections.
You can't say Wikipedia didn't warn us. Last month, co-founder Larry Sanger had a blunt message for users: the site's neutrality policy was "dead." Then, he went on to prove it -- decreeing that volunteer editors can no longer describe themselves as believers in natural marriage on their profiles, because it's too "discriminatory." Apparently, it isn't just social media picking sides anymore.
This past weekend, a longtime Washington Times reporter and friend, Ralph Hallow, passed away from complications that resulted from a fall and broken hip. I first met Ralph in a Lebanese restaurant in D.C. when I was a candidate for the U.S. Senate, which was my first taste of Ralph's eclectic personality. He was a journalist, an agitator, a great American, and he had a great sense of humor. He was also very devoted to his wife, Millie, who added to the intrigue and appeal of Ralph's character. We will miss him, and we'll be praying for his family.
Rule #1 of Crisis PR: If you want to discredit a story, don't try to cover it up. Obviously, that advice never made it to Facebook and Twitter, because when the bombshell broke about Hunter Biden's emails Wednesday, both companies panicked. Instead of letting the news cycle play out, they made a desperate move -- blocking the New York Post's articles and locking down the accounts of anyone trying to share them. But unfortunately for them, rather than stopping the story, Big Tech became the story.
In just 20 days, America will pick its president and new Congress. Just how critical is this election for religious freedom? As the seventh episode of FRC's Pray Vote Stand 2020 webcast series revealed, the numbers speak for themselves. There have been 87 incidents of churches being singled out and persecuted by local governments across the country in the name of "safety" during the coronavirus lockdown. But the church is fighting back: 68 churches in 16 states are suing to stop the unconstitutional crackdown.
The year 2020 is one for the record books on all accounts, including hurricanes. Hurricane Delta hit Louisiana on Friday, as the record-tying fourth named storm of 2020 to strike Louisiana, as well as the record-breaking 10th named storm to strike the United States this year. The frequency of the storms has made them almost common occurrences, which has brought less media coverage of the recovery efforts.
Day Two of Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearing was supposed to be when the probing questions about her fitness for the bench would begin. Instead, we were treated to more of the same from Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee -- a public charade that seemed like a healthcare campaign event for liberal policy priorities.
On Facebook, Wilhoit Properties says, "It is our sincere desire to do everything possible to make your stay here a long and happy one." Unless, older residents found out, that stay includes the Bible. In Oklahoma, one of the 16 states where Wilhoit runs a senior living facility, a controversy has been brewing since March, when one of the tenants said all of the religious material in the common areas disappeared. A resident had complained about an angel decoration at Christmas, and that was apparently enough to scrub 116 properties clean of anything remotely religious. At least until Secretary Ben Carson got involved.
Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban was pressed to answer why, exactly, he along with the entire National Basketball Association (NBA) claimed to promote human rights, but looked the other way concerning China's gross human rights abuses. His justification was simple -- for money.
It took more than an hour and a half for someone to say it, but Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebr.) finally did. Looking around the hearing room at the socially-distanced Democrats, he said bluntly, "I do not know what any of that has to do with why we're here today." Like the liberals before her, Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) had just finished five minutes of requisite Trump bashing, apparently forgetting that it was Amy Coney Barrett on the stand, not the president of the United States.
Just seven short months ago, it seemed unthinkable that local governments in America would openly ban churches from opening while allowing other facilities to remain open. But then the coronavirus pandemic happened, which revealed the anti-religious nature of many in the seats of power in our country.
Most Americans -- Democrats and Republicans -- know that social media engages in political censorship. And you would have to be naïve not to see that conservative viewpoints are the chief victims -- as documented daily at https://censortrack.org/ (although some still try to deny it).
"If there is a silver lining in the coronavirus pandemic, it may be the education that parents have received about what their children are being taught in government schools." As FRC President Tony Perkins made clear in the introduction to the sixth episode of FRC's Pray Vote Stand 2020 webcast series, government classrooms are where "kindergartners are learning that sex is encouraged but God is taboo" and kids are taught that America is a toxic, fundamentally unjust place.
As America lurches from one crisis to the next, 2020 seems like a year of reckoning for our national sins. This year also happens to be the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims landing in the New World. What better time is there to plead for the Lord's forgiveness, and what better place is there to do it than at the place where it all began?
Since the onset of the pandemic, churches around the country have had to make tough choices. Although suspending in-person gatherings was not an easy decision, an overwhelming percentage of churches closed their doors and reverted to virtual and online ministry. However, as the pandemic wore on and authorities began loosening restrictions on in-person meetings, churches, like restaurants, retail stores, and businesses, were ready to resume meetings while abiding by generally applicable health and public safety requirements such as wearing masks and practicing social distancing. But many churches soon found themselves held to a different standard.
From the president's bout with coronavirus, the impending Supreme Court confirmation hearing, and the politics of the 2020 election, there has been no shortage of news stories to follow. However, an important story that has received relatively little coverage is the religious liberty violations against churches across the country. Despite encouraging signs that the virus is being managed, certain state and local authorities continue to discriminate against churches and houses of worship.
As the clock ticks closer to the election, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, are representing their respective parties in the latest bout of COVID-19 relief negotiations. The problem with this set up is that there has only been two people involved in negotiating a measure with a trillion dollar price tag and thousands of pages of legislative text without any broader deliberation from the people's representatives.
He meant it as an insult, but when Chris Rock mentioned the president's condition on "Saturday Night Live" and said, "my heart goes out to COVID," the White House probably chuckled in agreement. If there's one person the virus probably regrets infecting, it's a fighter like Donald Trump. From the minute he announced his diagnosis to every upbeat video since, the president isn't flinching in the face of this test. He's doing what he's done since the very beginning: confronting the virus head-on.
Most of us woke up this morning with a grim reminder: the coronavirus is still very much alive. President Trump's tweet that he and First Lady Melania have tested positive for COVID was another shock to the American system, as everyone bears down for the last months of a year that no one will be sorry to see go. The president, in his tweet to the nation, was optimistic, promising that we would all get through this "together."
It isn't a crime to be a Christian -- but according to the Biden campaign, it is a crime to nominate one to the Supreme Court. In an eye-opening exchange, one of the Democrat's staffers seemed appalled that Amy Coney Barrett's resume includes a stint as a trustee of an Indiana Catholic school. The scandal, at least to liberals, isn't that the school is Catholic -- but that it acts like one.
There's nothing that Democrats and the media hate more than a win for President Donald Trump. And his third nomination in four years to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court is shaping up to be just that.
Why is the Left mobilizing to oppose the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court? The answer is simple: they want to "legislate" their radical left policies from the courts, and Judge Barrett stands in the way of their anti-constitutional plans.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson joined Tony on Washington Watch yesterday to discuss the launch of the Mustard Seed Series, a HUD initiative that will highlight how the faith-based community is working to help some of society's most vulnerable. Don't miss this exclusive interview.
Becoming a Supreme Court justice used to be an attorney's dream. It's getting there, Brett Kavanaugh will tell you, that's a nightmare. "I have no illusions that the road ahead of me will be easy," Amy Coney Barrett acknowledged at her Rose Garden nomination ceremony on Saturday. And she should know -- it's the same road where she collided with Senate Democrats over her Seventh Circuit appointment three years ago. But even then, with the worst the Left had to throw at her, the Scalia protégé proved one thing: moms of seven don't scare easily.
When Pastor Bob Fu left town to speak at a prayer event in Washington D.C. last weekend, protestors took the opportunity to intimidate his wife and kids. The incident shook the family, and it is a reminder that those who speak out against China's human rights violations do so at significant cost to themselves.
If you loved VVS, don't miss PVS--our Pray, Vote, Stand weekly broadcasts. Every Wednesday from now until the election, FRC is focusing on one issue a week that Christians need to think critically about before casting their ballot--and September 30's topic is the courts. Tune in from 8:00-8:30 p.m. (ET) to catch our featured interview on the confirmation process, a segment on key tools and resources, interactive opportunities, viewer Q&A, and, most importantly--prayer!
In a recent press conference, Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi refused to rule out engaging in religious tests for public office when looking to fill Justice Ginsburg's vacant seat. When asked by a reporter if Article VI of the Constitution should apply to Supreme Court nominees, Pelosi gave the following reply.
With election day less than 40 days away, it is easy to forget that Americans are voting right now. Many states have begun early in-person voting, and Americans are filling out and mailing in their mail-in ballots -- including military personnel. Protecting the voting rights of those who protect our right to vote is essential, and that's why when nine mail-in ballots (seven of which were from military personnel) were discovered in the trash in Pennsylvania, the Department of Justice announced they will launch an investigation.
If America's mainstream media and intellectual elites are to be believed, our nation's ideological divisions and racial tensions are and will always remain insurmountable. But the third episode of the Values Voter Summit made clear a simple fact: never count America out, and never underestimate the resilience of its people.
With President Trump scheduled to announce his Supreme Court nominee by the end of the week, the Left's opposition playbook for the prospective nominee is being opened for all to see. One of the leading contenders for the court vacancy is Amy Coney Barrett, currently serving as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She is a favorite among many religious conservatives, and given the growing attacks on religious expression, fervently desire to put a strong originalist justice on the court.
Americans overwhelmingly agree that the lives of black people have as much value as the lives of white people and people of every skin color. Black lives don't just "matter" (that's such a utilitarian word); they are precious in God's sight because they reflect his image. That's why the unjustified deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor this summer jarred so many Americans, including many white evangelicals (and why we should be similarly horrified by Chicago's murder wave: 558 and counting this year).
The challenges that America faces during this election season are daunting, with a pandemic, economic downturn, civil unrest, and an unexpected Supreme Court vacancy. It can be tempting to be discouraged by the tenuous state of our nation. But the second episode of the Values Voter Summit began with a spirit of hopefulness in the face of crisis.
While President Trump has not yet announced a nominee for Justice Ginsburg's vacant Supreme Court seat, politicians and members of the press have already launched a full-scale assault on Judge Amy Coney Barrett -- who has emerged as a leading contender for the vacancy -- for her faith and religious beliefs.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is a quasi-independent federal agency charged with enforcing federal employment discrimination laws. On September 15, the EEOC filed suit against the Kroger Company, charging that it violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In this case, the Kroger grocery store in Conway, Arkansas issued new aprons to employees that featured a small, rainbow-colored heart emblem. Two employees perceived this as an endorsement of the LGBT movement, and they objected on religious grounds.
The 15th annual Values Voter Summit kicked off last night during a time of great uncertainty and fear in our nation. But as guest after guest emphasized during the broadcast, what is more than certain is just how consequential the November election will be for the soul of our nation.
Filling the Supreme Court vacancy left by the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before the 2020 election aligns not just with the Constitution but with historical precedent. As National Review columnist Dan McLaughlin explained yesterday on Washington Watch, there has been a vacancy on the Supreme Court either during an election year or prior to the start of a new administration 29 times in U.S. history, and in almost all those cases, the sitting president has made a nomination. These presidents include George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt, and most recently, Barack Obama.
Title IX -- the 1972 federal law that prohibited discrimination based on sex in education -- is perhaps best known for its impact on girls' and women's sports. Schools and colleges were no longer permitted to offer multiple opportunities for athletic competition to men and far fewer to women. The result was a massive growth in girls' and women's sports.
If 2020 were a normal year, a few thousand people from around the country would be arriving in Washington this week to attend the 15th annual Values Voter Summit (VVS). But as we're all well aware, 2020 is not a normal year. The pandemic may have canceled large in-person gatherings, but it hasn't canceled the drive of Christians in America to pray for our nation, vote their biblical values, and stand for truth.
The magnitude of recent headlines pertaining to the new vacancy on the United States Supreme Court and the subsequent political maneuvering has understandably overshadowed the news cycle. However, another significant story that Americans (and especially conservative Christians) should care about is how various state and local governments continue to violate the First Amendment rights of churches.
Perhaps the only silver lining to public schools going virtual out of an irrational fear of the coronavirus is that many parents are finally taking a closer look at what their children are learning. And it's not pretty. Mary Hasson, an attorney, education expert, and fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, said in an interview on Washington Watch that parents "are realizing their kids have embraced this view of America as a toxic country, a place that's 'fundamentally unjust.'"
This week, in a strong show of support for religious liberty, the United States Department of Defense (DOD) issued new guidance protecting military service members from being punished for expressing their religious views. Following an executive order President Trump signed his first year in office, the DOD's announcement on its update of DOD Instruction 1300.17 (which contains the guidance) is very good news.
Our nation is enduring a time of great crisis. The direction our country is headed hangs in the balance as the November elections approach. As believers, voting our values has never been more critical.
On September 14, the Trump administration reaffirmed its commitment to pro-life values in a proposal which would extend the reach of the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) policy. The PLGHA policy, formerly known as the Mexico City policy, currently requires non-governmental organizations to agree, as a condition of their receipt of U.S. federal grant money, to neither perform nor promote abortion as a method of family planning overseas.
Federal agents seized a 13-ton shipment of human hair in July based on evidence the hair was taken from innocent people detained in Chinese internment camps. This was just the beginning of the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to protect U.S. citizens from unknowingly funding China's human rights abuses. Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli argues, "Americans don't want to be complicit in this immorality."
The transgender lobby has taken to blocking their opponents' free speech for made-up reasons. Yesterday, Facebook put its thumb on the scale of the Michigan Senate race in favor of Democratic incumbent Gary Peters by blocking a $4 million ad campaign from the conservative American Principles Project (APP) PAC.
One of the most remarkable international events in recent history took place on Tuesday, September 15 at the White House. The signing of peace agreements between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain strengthen relationships in the Middle East and opened the way for further economic and security arrangements with Arab countries.
When Seo Jin Wook met with a small group in a private home in Izhevsk, Russia to share the gospel with them, he had no idea it would lead to his deportation and an approximately $400 fine by the Russian government. Yet, under a so-called "anti-extremism" law passed in 2016, this is the new normal for religious people in Russia looking to share their faith.
Listen to Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) explain how Democrats are trying to kill the filibuster in the U.S. Senate, which would pave the way for a far-left legislative agenda for years to come.
Video streaming giant Netflix is drawing criticism once again, this time for hosting and promoting the film "Cuties," which sexualizes 11-year-old girls. Having failed to learn its lesson after the trailer generated outrage last month, Netflix has gone ahead and made the movie available on its platform, despite many critics describing it as "child pornography."
The most important thing we can do for our nation during this time of crisis is to pray. Thankfully, Christian leaders from across the nation are stepping up to lead a national prayer movement at just the right time as we head toward the critical November elections.
A high school student who identifies as transgender, who sued the school over which restrooms to use, is continuing to pursue the litigation even three years after graduating. To their credit, the Gloucester County (Virginia) School Board has continued to defend themselves.
The human race is divided into two sexes, male and female. This basic scientific truth has been under increasing attack. Anyone who dares express belief in this obvious truth quickly becomes the target of "cancel culture." Even those who are liberal in their political views, like Women's Liberation Front or cultural icons like J.K. Rowling are not safe from attack. Fortunately, science is once again on our side!
In the not too distant past, it would have been difficult to imagine a scenario in the United States where government officials would have the temerity to threaten churches for holding indoor worship services. However, as the coronavirus pandemic abates, and the nation returns to work, certain states and cities continue to reveal a startling level of bias against churches.
Judging by Democrat obstruction of the recent Senate vote on the latest coronavirus relief package, it's not COVID-19 on their minds, but this upcoming election season. As Senator Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) observed on Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, Democrats had no interest in supporting a bill which would have brought constructive relief to American across the country, instead almost uniformly voting against the half-trillion dollar bill, which fell short of the 60-vote procedural threshold when it failed 52-47.
Exactly how far apart are the two parties on the issues facing America? Tony Perkins and Congressman Mike Johnson (R-La.), chairman of the Republican Study Committee, answer that question in a new joint column for the Washington Times, "As Dems Apologize for America, GOP Still Believes in a Platform Standing for Life and Liberty."
Last week, over one hundred Jewish rabbis wrote a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, arguing "the SPLC 'hate map' is uniquely detrimental and even dangerous to the Jewish community." The Amazon Smile program relies on the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) to determine which charities qualify for donations.
What if the problems tearing our nation apart right now are not truly about racism, police brutality, or equality? What if the central problem we face is not a physical one, but a spiritual one?
New research from George Barna indicates that the percentage of Americans who hold a biblical worldview has declined yet again. Despite this decline, the outcome of the upcoming presidential election could very well be decided by evangelical Christians' level of participation.
Turns out, there's only one cause that matters to MobileCause: silencing conservatives. Their first target? Family Research Council. Hear about the Big Tech controversy that's making headlines in Tony Perkins's interview with CBN.
President Trump took another step toward fulfilling his promise to "Drain the Swamp" on Friday when he authorized Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought to ensure that federal agencies no longer hold "woke" re-education trainings. The memo directs agency heads to "cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars to fund these divisive, un-American propaganda training sessions."
Coinciding with its long-anticipated release, Disney's live-action remake of Mulan has become the source of mounting international controversy. Fans of Disney's 1998 animated tale of a young Chinese woman who disguised herself as a man to fight the Huns in her ailing father's place may find themselves disappointed in the way Disney created the film.
Like thousands of pastors around the country, Jack Trieber has had to make difficult decisions over the last six months concerning his church. In early March, when the coronavirus pandemic hit California, the Senior Pastor of North Valley Baptist Church followed the guidance of local and state officials and suspended church gatherings and events. However, after six months of not being able to gather, Trieber decided it was time to re-open.
When the citizens are marching in the streets with guns to protect their property, we've got a big problem. Lawlessness is breaking out around the country -- Seattle, Portland, even Washington, D.C. Roving bands are hounding diners at restaurants if they won't salute Black Lives Matter.
While the campaigns are, in many ways, still getting warmed up, the 2020 election officially started today when North Carolina became the first state to mail ballots to voters. The early start date is yet another reminder that mail will be one of the biggest storylines in the 2020 election. Will people receive their ballots? Can voters depend on the mail system to return their ballots?
It seems like a parallel universe now, but at the time it seemed perfectly normal. In 1988, Billy Graham gave a nonpartisan prayer at the Democratic National Convention, and it was received respectfully and without controversy. In those days, a respected pastor saying a prayer at a nationally televised political convention was seen as a matter of course, no matter what their personal political leanings might be.
Calling for law and order was never controversial -- until President Trump did it. And now that his message is resonating in America, the media has decided: restoring order isn't just controversial, but racist too. In one of the most absurd attacks on the administration since June, the Associated Press has decided that public safety is the cry of the prejudiced. But by column's end, it was their own biases that were laid bare, not Trump's.
"My heart just dropped." Scott Carpenter said it was "devastating" to watch the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin. His father had started a business selling office furniture out of his garage 42 years ago. On Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, Scott explained how he had taken over the family business -- that is, until the rioters burned his building and his entire inventory to the ground.
How big of a concern is mail-in voter fraud in the November election? In a CNN interview yesterday, U.S. Attorney General William Barr pointed out the very serious problems with proposed state-wide, or "universal" mail-in ballot systems because of the pandemic: "We are playing with fire."
Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion supplier, has glossed over its racist roots for decades. Their founder, Margaret Sanger, was a firm eugenicist who wanted to use her organization to, in her words, "weed out the unfit" through birth control and abortion. Despite the well-documented racism of Sanger, Planned Parenthood's website still speaks glowingly of her with no mention of her dark past.
Does the president have unlimited authority to stop the riots and chaos gripping our cities? If he doesn't, what can he do? Former prosecutor and current senior fellow at the National Review Institute, Andrew McCarthy, weighs in during our in-depth discussion on what happens when local order breaks down.
"It can get out of hand in a blink of an eye," Shelby Talcott said. And she ought to know. The Daily Caller reporter has been in a half a dozen riot-ravaged cities over the last few months -- and the things she's seen are tough to shake. "This is far more organized than I think people realize," she warned. There are the loads of bricks and frozen water bottles trucked in to use as weapons. Rocks, glass, and firecrackers. Then, there's the money trail -- a seemingly endless cash flow that's bankrolling plane tickets, hotel rooms, even clothes. "They're becoming more coordinated," she warned. But unfortunately for them, so is Homeland Security.
On September 1, Family Research Council's (FRC) daily radio program, "Washington Watch with Tony Perkins," will begin airing on Christian Satellite Network Radio (CSN Radio). CSN Radio has a long history of broadcasting great bible teaching and talk, including familiar broadcast with teachers like Alistair Begg, Dr. James Dobson, Tony Evans, Jack Graham, David Jeremiah, Greg Laurie, and Adrian Rogers.
This November, the counting of votes across America will begin. The question is, will your vote count? As the emergence of mail-in ballots and other potential points of fraud raise concern among voters, we're left wondering how we can even have confidence in the voting process. Add to that restrictions brought about by the pandemic, and many are wondering even if it's worth it to go to the polls this year.
How do you stop people from fighting an unpopular political agenda? Well, if you're a House Democrat, you turn it into a race debate. Based on their latest comments, that's how the far-Left has decided to tackle the country's objections to taxpayer-funded abortion. Their goal is to frame it as an issue of injustice, so that even if people don't agree with it, they'll be too scared of being labeled to push back. But after 43 years of this bright red line called the Hyde amendment, will Americans really be so quick to cross it?
If you're frustrated by the House leadership, imagine how conservative members of Congress feel. Republicans like Ohio's Warren Davidson have had to learn to rely on faith -- and each other -- as they try to push back against some of majority's darkest visions for our country. Hear his powerful story about staying the course and being used by God, even in the hard times -- and what advice he would give to Americans discouraged by what's going on in our nation.
What's really driving the chaos on the streets of America? It's not Black Lives Matter, Larry Taunton insists. At its core, it's Marxism, a dangerous plot that could destroy society as we know it. Don't miss Larry and Tony Perkins as they take a deep dive into the philosophy that could send our country down the oppressive path of the failed revolutionaries across eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. It's an eye-opening conversation you won't want to miss.
What does it take for followers of Jesus to stand in a culture that flows against us? How do we pray, and how does our biblical worldview affect our vote? For the next two months leading up to November, FRC and FRC Action is helping Americas like you become better equipped to engage your community with these issues that matter most.
Late on the night of Wednesday, August 26, the Anchorage (Alaska) Assembly (the municipal legislative body) passed an ordinance, AO-65, to prohibit sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts (SOCE or GICE) by any licensed professional counselor. The final vote was 9-2 in favor.
When Virginia Health Commissioner Norman Oliver promised last week to make a COVID-19 vaccine mandatory, he was probably counting on most people being too afraid of the virus to object. So were the members of a Virginia House committee who killed two bills to add a religious exemption to the mandate. \r
It's well known that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has a long record of hate-listing Christian and conservative organizations that do not agree with their ultra-liberal point of view. They have particularly focused on Family Research Council for strongly defending life issues and for disputing the LGBT's radical agenda.
Pray. Vote. Stand. With all that's facing America in these uncertain times, Christians in this country can't quarantine or isolate ourselves from our duty to God. The Bible says we should seek the peace of the city and pray to the Lord on its behalf (Jeremiah 29:7). In America's government by the people -- where all citizens have a governing role -- we must be good stewards of the responsibility we've been given, and vote in local and national elections. And as we pray and vote, we must stand firm on the truth of God's word.
For the first two hours of the Big Tech hearing in the House, the most newsworthy thing Amazon's Jeff Bezos did was eat a handful of snacks. Reporters actually tweeted about it, joking that even sitting there doing nothing, he'd probably "just made $300 million dollars or so." Lauren Goode of WIRED guessed that Bezos could probably receive a Prime package "in the time it takes for representatives to ask him a single question." When they finally did, most people would agree: it was a doozy.
Not every ruling at the Supreme Court is personal. But five of the justices have daughters -- and three of them went home one night in June knowing they'd destroyed their chance, and every girl's chance, at sports. Maybe, they'll rationalize, it was just a ruling on workplace discrimination. But we all know that in Bostock, the case that redefined human history's understanding of sex, it was a whole lot more than that.
How much damage can House Democrats do in 1,165 pages? A lot. And Thursday's massive appropriations package was the latest -- and most expensive -- example. If you want a transgender-identifying military, legalized marijuana, taxpayer-funded abortion, medical coercion, genderless shelters, and zero privacy protections, you've got H.R. 7617. And no chance, the president says, of passing it.
The same liberals who think the riots are a myth decided to spend Wednesday denying another reality: online censorship. This week -- the very one that witnessed the removal of a top performing video on Facebook -- House Democrats devoted a good chunk of their hearing with the titans of Big Tech dismissing the war on free speech. But as any conservative who's spent time online knows, the question isn't if there's bias, but what Congress is going to do about it.
In the campaign against people of faith, there is no line the Chinese government won't cross. Earlier today, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo testified at a congressional hearing, highlighting the Trump administration's efforts to stop China's human rights violations and international aggression in its tracks.
The Oregon governor says federal agents are on their way out of Portland. Acting DHS Secretary Chad Wolf's response? "Absolutely not." Find out who's right and what the administration is doing about those "mythical" riots in cities across America on "Washington Watch." Acting Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan joins Sarah Perry to get to the bottom of these false narratives and what conditions local leaders will have to meet before the president trusts them to protect their streets.
House Democrats have been itching to get Attorney General William Barr on the stand for more than a year. But after Tuesday's performance, I guarantee they won't be so eager again. The hearing in the Judiciary Committee, which was supposed to end in disaster for President Trump, was a spectacular failure for the Left, who emerged looking bitter, unhinged, and outsmarted. Barr, in sharp contrast, was the picture of unflappability, as liberals raged, interrupted, and mocked their way through five hours. If this was meant to be Barr's grilling, the media concluded, they blew it.
The who's who of Big Tech took a turn before Congress this afternoon -- and not a moment too soon, considering the mess they're making of free speech. The men behind Apple, Facebook, Google, and Amazon have a lot of questions to answer about censorship, if House leaders will let Republicans ask. And the first one, considering what happened this week with the frontline doctors' conference ought to be: Why are you letting your political agenda get in the way of the coronavirus facts?
These days, the two parties couldn't be more different -- and their latest attempts at virus relief certainly prove it. House leaders, who ditched the spirit of goodwill that got America through the first CARES Act, have already made it clear that they're not serious about anything but the elections. Their proposal, which was basically a summary of every radical idea Democrats have ever had, passed in May. Now, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) says, it's time to get down to business and consider something reasonable. Whether Democrats will is another story.
Don't miss my take on the recent explosion of lawlessness in America. Tune in at 9pm (ET) to Daystar or Daystar.com/live to hear our conversation about how Christians can stand for the truth in these chaotic and challenging times.
If there's one thing Americans have learned from the Supreme Court in 2020, it's this: there are no guarantees. Even now, after a slew of bad decisions, conservatives wanted to believe that when it comes to religious liberty, even Chief Justice John Roberts couldn't get that wrong. Well, think again. When it comes to siding with the Constitution, even Vegas will tell you -- don't bet on Roberts.
You have to give the Democrats credit. They've found a way to justify their silence on the riots: refusing to admit they exist! Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) tried that when he ran into a citizen who asked him if he disavowed the Antifa violence in Portland. "That's a myth," he insisted, "being spread only in Washington, D.C." Well, if it's a myth, Oregon residents will tell you, it's a pretty convincing one.
If there's any comfort to be had from 2020's miserable string of Supreme Court rulings, it's that conservatives aren't going to take the next vacancy lying down. After years of taking judges at their word, Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) says it's time to play hardball. If the next person sitting before the Judiciary Committee says they're pro-life, they'd better have a record that proves it.
If fans flipped on their TVs hoping for an escape from the madness of 2020, the return of major league baseball wasn't it. Americans who tuned in to Friday's season openers, desperate for a return to something normal, were forced to witness another protest: the players'. In some ballparks, like the Washington Nationals, the politically-charged messaging was everywhere -- from the Black Lives Matter "unity" ribbons to the "BLM" stenciled on the back of the pitchers' mound. But when the entire league is kneeling, it only takes one player to stand out. And for the Giants' Sam Coonrod, there was never any question.
It's a form of abortion so gruesome, so barbaric, that when it was described on the Nebraska Senate floor, one Republican said, "If you don't have a tear in your eye from watching that, you're coldblooded." We're talking about a procedure, Dr. Anthony Levatino explains, of "reaching into a woman's uterus with forceps and 'grabbing whatever is there. Maybe you rip off a leg, which is about four-inches long,' then you pull out 'an arm, the spine. The skull is the most difficult part. Sometimes there's a little face staring up at you." It is, he insisted, an "absolutely brutal procedure." One that Nebraska, as early as this week, hopes to outlaw.
It is, former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy pointed out on "Washington Watch," a temporary restraining order. But the idea that a federal judge would try to stop the president from protecting our cities is ridiculous -- even for an Obama appointee! President Trump, he insists, has every right to keep people safe if their local leaders will not. "To the commonsense American who looks at what's going on in Portland and realizes that there are... radicals outside [the federal courthouse] firebombing it -- with human beings inside," this is "a security mission." And a constitutional one at that. Hear why he thinks so in this conversation with FRC's Sarah Perry.
Today's Americans aren't the first ones to wonder if our country has lost its way. Abraham Lincoln used to worry, when the generation of the founders had died out, that we'd lost the living memory we'd need to carry on their legacy. "I think we're back there again," Katharine Gorka says. And if this nation is going to survive, we need to take a trip down memory lane, she insists, and remind ourselves what made America what it is.
President Trump has been trying to make school choice a priority for months. Now, with the virus forcing local districts to scrap their fall plans, he might finally have the opening he's been waiting for.
Two weeks ago, while statues were being roped down and schools were racing to change their "offensive" namesakes, Alexandria Desanctis wondered, "How long will Margaret Sanger last?" Surely, in the rush to erase the racists, the founder of Planned Parenthood was at the top of someone's list. "She was, after all, a foremost proponent of the eugenics movement -- motivated by her particular animus toward poor non-whites." Now, after more than 100 years of defending that legacy, at least one New York location has had enough.
When Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D) decided to throw on a mask and join the protestors Wednesday night, he found out pretty quickly that it wasn't just Donald Trump they despised. "It didn't go well for Wheeler," one reporter kindly put it. Booed, chased with leaf blowers, taunted, and shouted down, the mayor looked bewildered when he said, "Some of these people hate my guts." For the mayor, whose spent the last 56 days defending his city's criminals, it was one way to learn: protecting the mobs won't appease them.
The Chinese Consulate in Houston was instructed to close by U.S. officials on Tuesday, and its employees have 72 hours to leave. While the details remain unknown, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said China "has engaged for years in massive illegal spying and influence operations throughout the United States against U.S. government officials and American citizens." As if to prove their guilt, Chinese consulate workers appeared to burn documents in the courtyard of the compound later that evening, prompting nearby residents to call the fire department.
"Will they stop at burning an empty church?" It was a sobering question, but Ellen Fantani, who's been tracking the spike in anti-Christian attacks across Europe, can't help but wonder. "How much worse will it get?" she said, repeating the reporter's question. "Certainly, the climate today," on her continent and ours, "does not leave me optimistic."
With more of the country's school districts opting to go online this fall, parents are opting for something else: homeschooling. Find out the latest craze in teaching at home, which is catching fire in communities all across America -- Pandemic Pods -- on Tuesday's "Washington Watch."
Next to President Trump, there isn't a man the media loves to question more than Secretary Mike Pompeo. His latest initiative, the Commission on Unalienable Rights, couldn't have come at a better time for our country -- and yet, the media wants to know: what do principles have to do with it? Good question. One that the secretary took several minutes of his time to answer on a special FRC call with pastors.
It's a "myth," USA Today insists. "Rare," writes NPR. Either way, the New York Times argues, "it doesn't affect elections." That's interesting, the Heritage Foundation points out. Because they've counted more than 1,285 cases of this rare myth of voter fraud that doesn't affect elections in the last four years -- and they're convinced: that's not all of them.
The justices predicted a war -- and almost one month to the day of their Bostock ruling, they got one. The first shot was fired last Thursday, when the ACLU decided to sue Maryland's St. Joseph Medical Center for refusing to take out a woman's perfectly healthy uterus just because she wanted to live as a man. It goes against the hospital's religious beliefs, St. Joseph argued. But now, thanks to the Supreme Court, it might go against six justices' ridiculous definition of "sex" too.
One of the last times people saw flames in France's Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul church was during the Allied bombing in 1944. What's happening now isn't World War III, but it certainly feels like it, as things get increasingly violent on every continent. While believers around the world pray for an end to the chaos, arsonists, knife-wielders, and vandalizers are taking the battle to them.
It's not easy to expose radical sex ed in America, but it can be rewarding. As a mom, FRC's Cathy Ruse has a personal stake in making classrooms safe for kids -- and, after years of work, she's managed to convince other parents they do too. It's that hard work and dedication that earned Cathy a special honor over the weekend as the Ruth Institute's 2020 Activist of the Year.
Our founding principles, "weird?" Or worse, "partisan," "discriminatory," and "harmful?" Peter Berkowitz, the executive secretary of the Commission on Unalienable Rights, was just as surprised by the pushback to Secretary Mike Pompeo's report as anyone. He joined "Washington Watch" Friday to set these critics straight -- and explain why the mobs don't want us returning to the roots of American values.
When Secretary Mike Pompeo first set out on this journey to get back to the real heart of human rights, no one could have possibly predicted the year our country would have. Shaken by outrage, unrest, and the growing insistence that America is too flawed to fix, a return to our roots will only dredge up more hard feelings, some say. On the contrary, Pompeo insists. Maybe the best time to revisit all that's pure and good about our nation is when people are determined to destroy it. "Some say the report's timing couldn't be worse," he said. "I say the timing couldn't be better."
When Attorney General William Barr spoke at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Thursday and raked China over the coals, he expected the country to respond. Like other U.S. leaders, he's learned to wear China's criticism as a badge of honor. "I told [FBI Director Chris Wray] that I was going to aim today to be 'despicable,'" Barr joked. "But I'll settle for 'especially disgusting.'"
If you or the men in your life need a fresh, God-inspired message to rise up, FRC has the perfect event: Stand Courageous LIVE. On August 15, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (ET), streamed from the Household of Faith in Louisiana, our men's conference is going virtual. Together with FRC's Lt. General Jerry Boykin and myself, we'll be joined by special speakers Bishop Larry Jackson, Pastors Mark Stermer, Scott Bledsoe, Darryl Smith, and Philip Pimlott for sessions on how men can develop character, build relationships, and make commitments that will move them closer to God's purpose.
It looked like something out of a 2015 news report -- a picture from ISIS, maybe, torching its way through Mosul. But the charred pews and collapsed roof were not the work of Islamic terrorists, but America's own. Over the weekend, the rioters, the same ones who wanted us to believe their cause is justice, came for our churches -- using gasoline, lighters, gallons of paint, and vans to drive their message of destruction and chaos through the heart of America's faithful.
Spending your money has never been easier! In the House, even Democrats were shocked at how fast the leadership breezed through a dozen appropriations bills, making snap decisions on where to direct a whopping $1.4 trillion dollars. Is marking up 12 bills in 10 days a record? Maybe, staffers say. It certainly was "the fastest in anyone's memory." But faster, as the rest of America is about to find out, isn't necessarily better. Especially when innocent lives are on the line.
They said it was drought. Climate change. Territorial feuds. But the carnage in Nigeria is none of these things. It's genocide -- and the world isn't even paying attention. In the first half of 2020, 1,200 Christians were killed. They were believers just like us, mowed down at their weddings, burned to death in their beds, beheaded on the side of the road. And yet their cries, "Please help us! The herdsman are coming!" continue to fall on deaf ears.
It's not easy to find a place to stash 1,600-pound statues. In Virginia, local reporters were shocked to find out that their toppled leaders had ended up at a Richmond wastewater treatment plant, covered in bright blue tarps. It was a fast trip for the soldiers, who went from lining Monument Row to sitting in dirt outside the local sewage works. Even now, no one is quite sure what to make of this marble morgue, except to wonder: who else will be next? According to the people around the president's table -- no one, if they can help it.
There's an entire generation of moms today who wouldn't think twice about sitting their kids down in front of Netflix new "Babysitters Club" show. And that, experts warn, is exactly the problem. Like so many other women, they're expecting the same innocent storylines they came to love from Ann Martin's books in the 80s and 90s. What they're getting is anything but.
Republicans may be out campaigning to open schools, but they'll have their work cut out convincing a growing number of parents. A new poll from Axios shows a landslide of concerns from families -- with a whopping 71 percent worried that reopening schools carries "large" or "moderate" risk. And it's not just Democrats (82 percent) who think so, but a majority of Republicans (53 percent) too. What does that mean for the fall? It's time to explore your options!
She swore "up and down" that she'd never homeschool her kids. "Patience is not one of my virtues," Kristina Hernandez insisted. "I hate crafts. Playgroups are not my thing. I work a full-time job I love." Homeschooling was never going to happen, until -- thanks to coronavirus -- it did. Now, Kristina, like so many other families around the country, are never going back.
Not much about 2020 has gone according to schedule, but in the House, Democrats are determined to put their stamp on a series of spending bills before the summer is out. Well, they're making their mark all right -- but not how most Americans would want.
A handful of U.S. congressmen woke up to an angry slap on the wrist from the Chinese government on Monday.
First it was pancake syrup and Paw Patrol. Now, even Scrabble isn't safe. You can forget the triple word score on at least 236 "slurs" the North American players association is stripping from the group's lexicon. The goal, these gamers say, is to make the game "friendlier" for all types of people. Of course, no one has seen the official list of "potentially offensive" words -- leaving many to wonder if this new vocabulary is just W-O-K-E.
While the rest of Big Tech openly uses its power to censor, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg has stood out. Unlike his peers, he's had the refreshing sanity to reinforce free speech -- a position that hasn't exactly endeared him to the intolerant Left. Now, months into his First Amendment experiment, one of the lone holdouts on open debate is considering a policy that would silence the voices keeping some users alive.
On July 10, a Turkish court announced its decision to permit President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's regime to convert the ancient Christian church Hagia Sophia -- the Church of the Holy Wisdom -- into a mosque. An outcry from around the world greeted the news. But within an hour, Erdogan signed an official declaration, stating that the conversion of Hagia Sophia to a Muslim place of worship is a fait accompli.
It was the kind of program that, ordinarily, liberals would cheer. To hear them tell it, expanding the opportunities for minorities has always been their party's idea. But when President Trump took a stab at it, announcing a business and educational project aimed directly at Hispanic people, the Left wasn't about to cut him some slack. And worse than that, they're out to destroy anyone who does.
One by one, they started calling. These weren't conservative parents or even particularly religious ones -- some were liberal, progressive, "open-minded" moms and dads desperate for help. Their stories, Abigail would find out, were eerily the same. Their daughters had started hanging out with friends who'd decided to come out as transgender together. Suddenly, these sweet teenage girls -- who'd never shown a hint of gender confusion -- were demanding breast reduction, hormone treatments, new names and pronouns -- and their parents were beside themselves for someone to intervene. No one, they found out quickly, would.
Wednesday, the Supreme Court delivered two noteworthy victories for religious liberty. In Little Sisters of the Poor v. Pennsylvania, the court upheld a Trump administration policy protecting conscience and religious freedom in the context of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"). In Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, the court robustly defined the First Amendment rights of religious schools and institutions to determine who will teach and defend the tenets of their faith.
Whether it's the coronavirus wreaking havoc in our healthcare system or the riots on the streets, Americans have weathered a difficult few months. If there was ever a time when our nation could benefit from some grownups in Washington D.C., now is the time. But that appears to be asking too much as liberal politicians continue to advance a radical agenda that would only further tear our country apart. The latest example, which would defund law enforcement and shift the money to social programs, was unveiled on Monday.
It's been called the program for sinners and saints, or, Senator James Lankford (R-Okla.) joked, "Baptists and bars." With loans fanning out to everyone from jellybean companies to dating apps, Congress's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has been an equal opportunity lifeline for businesses crushed under the weight of the virus. But not everything has gone exactly according to plan, and the $150 million Planned Parenthood absconded with is exhibit A.
We can put it on the moon, but not a Virginia construction site. That's how ridiculous the debate over the flag -- and all things American -- have become in the chaotic weeks since George Floyd's death. The state that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, George Mason, and Patrick Henry called home would be barely recognizable to the great men now, who believed those stars and stripes were the ultimate symbols of freedom, of justice. Now, amazingly, the flag under which slavery was abolished and segregation crumbled is "too offensive" for the state that helped build America.
Higher education is teaching students to think critically all right -- about their own country. Turns out, this growing anti-American sentiment boiling over in our cities is no accident. Academia is, as President Trump warned it was, turning young people against their own country.
Given by any other man, it would have been considered one of the greatest speeches of our time. A triumph of American exceptionalism. But it was not any other man standing under the granite faces of Mount Rushmore on the night before July 4th. It was Donald Trump. So however inspired his words may have been, however sincere his call to remember the deep well of American goodness, however different his message might have been from all the others the media loves to criticize, he was never going to get a fair shake.
If you want to know how sincere companies like Nike, Apple, Samsung, and others are about fighting injustice, look overseas. While these CEOs get on their moral high horse about all of America's racial failings, it's time for these businesses to take a long, hard look in the mirror. If they think slavery was a blight on U.S. history, then what are they doing supporting it in China today?
The Fourth of July is a time of national celebration and commemoration. We rejoice in our liberty and remember those who won our freedoms and have preserved them at great cost.
If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? This was the question David asked in Psalm 11. Those around him, who were looking only to the natural world may have answered with things like "Run away." Or "Flee to mountains." "Get as far away as you can."
Faced with worldwide and local frustrations for its handling of the coronavirus crisis, China has made a power move, tightening its control of neighboring Hong Kong, which threatens its "status as one of the world's most prominent financial hubs." China's Communist Party passed a national security law designed to curb protest and dissent. The law went into effect Tuesday night and Hong Kong police wasted no time using it to make arrests.
According to a recent investigation, the situation for Uyghur Muslims in China has worsened. The latest abuse to be inflicted on this beleaguered religious minority is forced sterilization, abortion, and contraception. The goal is clear: Chinese officials want to reduce the Uyghur population in China by whatever means necessary. The sad reality is that while the rest of the world has been focused on containing the coronavirus, Chinese communists appear to have ramped up the persecution of anyone the government perceives is a threat.
After an eleven-year legal battle, Montana may resume its policy of providing equal financial opportunity to students who want to attend secular or religious schools. This is a result of the Supreme Court's decision in Espinoza v. Montana, where a 5-4 majority ruled that the Montana Department of Revenue policy which prevented students from receiving state scholarships unless they attended a secular school violated the First Amendment.
The other side calls her the "perfect messaging unicorn." But that's the tragic thing about Monday's Supreme Court decision. As a black, female, Democratic, pro-lifer, Louisiana State Senator Katrina Jackson isn't an outlier. If anything, the woman who wrote the law that five justices just struck down is a symbol of the consensus this court won't recognize. "There's nothing unusual about my views," Katrina insists. Americans can disagree about a lot of things, but no matter how this country feels about abortion, women's safety was never negotiable. Until now.
Thanks to New Jersey, we don't have to wonder if the mail-in balloting is a horrible idea. We have proof! In what is already a PR nightmare for the Democratic Party, at least one in five ballots have been disqualified in a local election for fraud. But wait, you say. Liberals swore that never happens! Well, it's happening all right. And just in time to rethink the ridiculous idea ending in-person voting.
After a few recent disappointing decisions, the Supreme Court delivered a win today for religious liberty, religious schools, and citizens' religious exercise in Espinoza v. Montana. The state's Department of Revenue had barred students from using scholarship credits towards religious schools (but permitting them to go towards secular schools), even though the students were otherwise qualified for the scholarship. Montana made the choice clear: in order to be eligible for government aid, a school must divorce itself from any religious affiliation.
Does anyone remember George Floyd? Allen West wonders, because his death is being lost in all of the noise of the protests, Antifa, mob riots, and this new war against American history. No one is having the conversation this country should be having. Hear what the former congressman and military vet has to say in my interview with Lt. Col. West on "Washington Watch."
Chances are, these Supreme Court justices will never meet the parents of Jamie Lee Morales. They'll never have to look in the eyes of the little boy left behind by Tonya Reaves or console the husband of Jennifer Morbelli. They won't have to explain how Karnamaya Mongar survived war in Nepal only to die in the filthy recliner of a Philadelphia abortion center. Because even though three of them have daughters, the five justices who struck down Louisiana's abortion law don't seem to care that young women will keep dying because of courts like theirs.
You can treat churches differently -- but you can't get away with it. That was one federal court's message to New York leaders late Friday, when it called out the state's double standards on coronavirus orders. Hypocrisy, which has been spreading faster than COVID, won't stand up to the legal challenge, Judge Gary Sharpe warned. Liberals may have selectively okayed mass gatherings, but the Constitution isn't a document of "freedom for me, but not for thee."
It was a floor speech for the ages. But someday, when history looks back on Senator Tim Scott's (R-S.C.) emotional words, the greatest tragedy will be that he had to deliver them at all. Like a lot of Americans, Tim assumed the other side of the aisle was serious about having a conversation on police reform. And, like a lot of Americans, he assumed wrong. Turns out, Democrats aren't here to fix our problems. In this crisis, they are the problem.
Two weeks ago, bombs began to rain down on quiet towns where Christians, Kurds, and Yazidis live in peace in an area of Iraq still recovering from ISIS's brutal reign several years ago. But this time the threat was not a terrorist organization. Instead, the attack came from a NATO ally. Turkey has launched yet another expansionist attack into a peaceful region in the Middle East, causing chaos and destruction and victimizing innocent Christian and Yazidi communities on the way.
"If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?"- Psalm 11:3\rKing David asked a question in Psalm 11 that still resonates today. In light of these challenging times in which we live, many Americans are trying to figure out how to respond to all that we see happening in our nation, cities, and homes. Thankfully, we know that God not only sees it all, but has the plan to bring true righteousness, justice, and peace to the world.
It's a dangerous game when you start thinking the law should change with the times. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) has plenty to say about this, the courts, the Democrats' sabotage of police reform, and Senator Tim Scott's "riveting" speech in one of her best interviews ever on "Washington Watch." Don't miss our conversation from this Thursday.
When the Taliban burned down churches or destroyed artifacts, we called it barbaric. But when angry mobs tear down our statues and vandalize monuments, it's "justice?" There are things this country has witnessed over the last few weeks that will take a lifetime to understand. And even longer to get over. The image of great American heroes being toppled and cracked into pieces on the streets is just the latest chapter in this story of chaos the radicals are writing. But if the outrage from the White House is any indication, this administration is done letting cities feed the monster.
There are more than 113,000 people working for the Justice Department. Does firing one really matter? It does if you're a liberal Democrat trying to disgrace Donald Trump. And the media circus over U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman is exactly that. A circus -- with plenty of politically-motivated clowns.
There is a lot of talk about personalities these days. I prefer to talk about policy. The irony here is that despite all the attention given the former, the latter makes a lasting difference for our country.
If there's one person in Virginia with job security, it's the head of Governor Ralph Northam's (D) crisis PR. Northam, who's become more known for his scandals than his successes, has managed to keep his damage control team hopping since the moment he was sworn into office -- first with his defense of legal infanticide and then with the surfacing of some unflattering blackface yearbook photos. But if 2020 was supposed to be the year of redemption, then someone might want to tell Northam to rethink his coronavirus strategy.
President Trump has already done more than any administration in modern history for Israel. But this week, he and his White House team are weighing a move that could change the status quo of America's ally forever.
A global pandemic, a case of police brutality that sparked nationwide pandemonium, the statues of great men being erased from another time. Add to that the lawlessness on our streets and the activism of our courts, and it can be more than unsettling. But there is an answer to the host of problems we face. It's found in the simple promise of scripture, 2 Chronicles 7:14. God promises us that if we wholeheartedly return to Him, He will heal our land.
It's an image that rolls over and over in her mind. She sees the police, spraying blue chemicals into the crowd. Then she notices her -- a young girl, one of the protestors, writhing as it burns her skin. In a few years, she thinks, that could be her child. "And there is nothing I can do to protect her." Hong Kong, the mother knows, is a ticking time bomb. And the sooner they get out, the better. "What else can you do," she says mournfully, "but leave?"
The Left knows the power of a good story. They've always understood that finding sympathy for an issue is sometimes as easy as putting a compelling face on it. For conservatives, telling stories hasn't always come so naturally. But now, after years of having the facts on our side, the personal testimonies from former LGBT activists are starting to change the way people think about the transgender lifestyle. Which may be why the Left is desperate to shut them down. The truth, on this issue, like so many others, is their biggest enemy.
The riots weren't how most Americans would have preferred to get their break from coronavirus news coverage. But for once, after months of force-fed fearmongering, the outbreak found itself in an unusual place: the backburner. Suddenly, concerns about social distancing were non-existent. Liberal leaders, who were doing everything they could to keep Americans locked down, were standing behind podiums, urging people to get out and protest. Now, after a couple of weeks of mob demonstrations, the Left wants to blame someone else for the surge of infections: Donald Trump.
FRC's Lt. General Jerry Boykin sure knows how to draw a crowd! This weekend in California, at a special Calvary Chapel Sonora men's retreat, the Army veteran was so popular that he had people waiting outside. Of course, they were protestors -- not that it mattered to this war hero. As far as he was concerned, they only helped boost the event's publicity!
Uncertainty seems to be the buzzword for 2020. From the pandemic to protests, from riots in the streets to a shocking Supreme Court ruling last week, from the fluctuating economy to the November elections, no one knows what will happen next.
It doesn't have to be June 21 to celebrate dads! FRC takes an in-depth look at the importance of fathers in a brand new publication called, "Leadership and Love: A Tale of Two Fathers." Don't miss the author, psychologist Jesse Gill, talk about how the presence of strong men in the family could fix a lot of cultural fallout we're seeing today. Check out his powerful interview with Sarah Perry on "Washington Watch."
After Monday's wildly off-base decision, most liberals should have been out celebrating. But despite being handed a judicial gift -- an LGBT victory they'd have never managed democratically -- Democrats didn't stop to party. They were already back on the Senate floor, demanding more. Now that they've got the Supreme Court taking a match to religious liberty, they're apparently hoping Congress will finish the job.
It's not easy to watch a bunch of unelected men and women burn down a law you helped protect. Senator Jeff Sessions ought to know. The former U.S. attorney general was the man helping the president roll back the redefinition of "sex" after Barack Obama took an ax to it in 2016. How does it feel to see the Supreme Court upend all the good the Justice Department did? Not great, the Alabaman says.
When Idaho went to the mat to protect women's sports, the ACLU vowed to see Governor Brad Little (R) in court. One group they didn't expect to see there is the U.S. Justice Department. But thanks to an administration that isn't going to let the Supreme Court dictate gender roles, that's exactly who will be waiting -- for the ACLU and anyone else on the hunt to destroy fair competition.
At a time when Congress is lucky to scrape together an 11-percent confidence rating, a majority of Americans have expressed an unusual level of faith in our justices. Maybe they still believe SCOTUS is above the political fray. But trust in the court may become increasingly difficult after Monday's "legislative" decision by six justices to redefine the meaning of biological sex.
There were 1,025 of them in Minneapolis alone -- buildings, homes, businesses, all damaged by the state's three weeks of rioting. A colored map shows each spots of destruction, so dense it's like looking down at a metropolis from a nighttime flight. "It's going to take a long, long time" to even quantify all the wreckage, officials say. And it's not over yet.
He was only eight years old when ISIS fighters ripped him from his mom's arms. "How do I feel?" he repeats blankly when a reporter asks him what it's like to home again. "Really," he said quietly, "I don't know how to feel." Mazen spent five years starving under his captors, rising every morning with the knowledge that he was being trained to kill his own people. Until one day, last spring, when he was freed, sent back to a family he wasn't sure was even alive.
When he first sat down in front of the cameras and a packed Senate committee room, it was tough not to like Neil Gorsuch. The prematurely gray dad of two kicked off his opening statement talking about his wife and family -- joking about his daughters, who were probably out "bathing chickens for the county fair," his extended family and childhood pranks, the values of working hard. Gorsuch thought back to the first time he put on his black robe -- how it reminded him of the important job he had to do. He told the senators he didn't realize how big it was until he slipped on it and fell. "Everything went flying," he recalled. Now, three years later, that robe is still tripping him up. But his fall, Americans are finding out, hurts us all.
To some Republicans, the party platform is "nothing but trouble." But take it away, and I guarantee: conservatives will find out exactly how much it matters.
What was it like to watch a law you helped protect go down in smoke? Jeff Sessions knows. As attorney general, he was part of the team that set the country right on the word "sex" that the Supreme Court just redefined. How does he respond to the activist judges who took a torch to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and sent us back to the days of Barack Obama? Find out on Tuesday's "Washington Watch."
It's a Supreme Court ruling that would have stung no matter what. But the timing of this one, when Americans are desperately waiting for something in 2020 to make sense, seemed to deliver a much more painful blow. In a country hurting for stability, the court only brought more chaos. Instead of common sense, more confusion. Where there should have been reassurances about basic truths, there was only shock and disappointment. Six justices, against the laws of science, history, and morality, decided to create their own Autonomous Zone -- where humanity's laws about male and female no longer apply.
Whole sections of Seattle are seceding from their city, and people everywhere are wondering: what happened? How did we get here? Was this an overnight implosion or a slow and steady erosion of everything that makes us Americans? Dr. Dave Brat, dean of Liberty University's School of Business, tries to unpack the breakdown of law and order. Don't miss his take from Monday's "Washington Watch."
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling today that makes the nation's high court look more like a uber-legislative body than a judicial one. The Court declared that the federal prohibition of employment discrimination based on sex in the 1964 Civil Rights Act also prohibits discrimination on the basis of "sexual orientation" and "gender identity." In redefining the term that describes biological sex, the Supreme Court took the question of protected categories out of the hands of the American people and once again created judicial legislation.
In sports, you win some and you lose some. Everyone knows and accepts this. But being cheated against is any athlete's worst nightmare. It's a form of theft, taking away years of training in a moment of dishonesty. And when it happened to Mary Kate Marshall, a sprinter for the Idaho State University Bengals, she decided to act.
In fairly typical fashion for a federal regulation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a final rule on Friday that is 344 pages long. However, most of the criticism of this rule has revolved around the answer HHS gave to a simple question -- did Congress pass a law -- in 1972 -- to make it illegal to "discriminate" on the basis of "gender identity?" The Department gave the only reasonable answer: "No."
If you're President Trump, you have to be wondering, "What next?" It wasn't enough that the administration had to deal with the liberals' three-year crusade to unseat him -- the Russian collusion, an impeachment sham, the deep-state FBI conspiracy. Then came 2020: the coronavirus, 119,000 deaths, an economic shutdown, and George Floyd. Now, if cities aren't burned to the ground, they're becoming part of a "proxy civil war." It is, the Left smirks quietly, the perfect election storm. But is it enough to win?
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced it had finalized a long-awaited rule to correct the Obama Administration's distortion of a key portion of their own signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare").
It's okay to protest a black man's death. It is not okay, it turns out, to protest millions of them. That much was clear when two pro-lifers were hauled away from an NYC abortion clinic in handcuffs in the middle of the George Floyd riots. "We're black women," they said, but this isn't just about black lives mattering. It's about "all lives matter[ing]."
You don't have to be conservative to think the media is out for Donald Trump. Both sides, a new survey shows, think the press is trying to drag on this shutdown to hurt the president's chances in November. Turns out, there is something all of America can agree on: the country doesn't trust the media as much as it thought.
There's "a great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced yesterday at the launch of the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom.
The Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, the Boston Globe -- they all have one thing in common: they've taken in millions from China to print advertising that looks like news. How did this happen and what does it mean? Find out with Asia expert Gordon Chang on Wednesday's "Washington Watch."
Most people don't scroll through their Twitter feed thinking a few simple clicks will change their life. But for Birmingham Pastor Chris Hodges, who's been a friend of mine for years, a handful of "likes" were all it took to make the biggest church in Alabama homeless.
Keira Bell can never get her childhood back. And her body, a scarred and mangled reminder, tells her every day. "I am living in a world where I don't fit in as male or as female. I am stuck between two sexes." Now 23, she's dedicated her life to stop teenagers from making the same mistake. And suing the clinic responsible is step number one.
It has been months since Americans first watched in shock as Turkey launched an incursion against the region of Northeast Syria controlled by the Kurds, faithful U.S. allies in the fight against ISIS. The news cycle has moved on. Yet, the Christians, Yazidis, and others who built their livelihoods in Northeast Syria still cling to the hope that the fragile system which protects their freedoms will remain.
What does defunding the police have to do with communism? Find out in this astonishing interview with former U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Joe diGenova. "People are going to have to stand up. They're going to have to say they won't tolerate this." And soon.
The fringe Left: Great at making slogans. Terrible at considering consequences. Maybe "DEFUND THE POLICE" makes an edgy statement slathered in yellow letters on D.C.'s 16th Street -- but putting it on paper, like Democratic lawmakers are threatening to do, would be one of the worst policy mistakes in history. And it's not just Republicans who think so.
It took 14,000 extra signatures, 1,500 volunteers, and two deadlines, but Colorado pro-lifers can finally breathe a sigh of relief. After a roller-coaster few months, the state will finally put Initiative 120 on the ballot -- and voters, not the government or the courts, will be deciding the future of the unborn.
New Jersey just added "anal sex" to its learning standards for eighth graders, in an 8-4 vote by the state board of education. Beginning in 2022, all eighth graders who attend public schools in the Garden State must be proficient in "gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation." They will work to "[d]evelop a plan for the school to promote dignity and respect for people of all genders [sic], gender identities, gender expressions, and sexual orientations in the school community."
They were the biggest gatherings, by far, but in Washington, D.C., where one reporter said it "felt as if the entire city had emptied into downtown," the atmosphere felt different. Calmer. Despite the steady stream of crowds outside the White House, there were some signs of summer nights from simpler times. By dusk, there were ice cream trucks and little children playing on the grass. Strollers were parked outside restaurants where families were eating under umbrellas. In some places, people held hands and danced to street musicians -- a far cry from the sounds of sirens and shattered glass the weekend before.
It was the good news no one expected to get. After weeks of sky-is-falling predictions, the economy made a surprising comeback Friday with the news that the unemployment rate actually dropped for the first time since the coronavirus. A whopping 2.5 million jobs were added when the country started to reopen in earnest this month, giving Republicans -- and America -- a win at a time when we desperately need it.
While coronavirus restrictions may be lifting for state-approved churches in China, many find themselves facing an even more dangerous situation -- being told what to teach by an officially atheist authoritarian regime.
If the protestors noticed the clouds, they didn't care. Hundreds of them walked down D.C. streets in sheets of rain, almost oblivious to the nighttime thunderstorm. Soaked, some of them knelt at the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial, quietly listening to his "I Have a Dream" speech in a kind of calm that's eluded the city for days. For several minutes after midnight, that iconic voice seemed to float over the Tidal Basin, a call as clear as it was all of those years ago: "Now is the time to rise from the dark."
The motto from the underground training session was simple: "Get out there and do dangerous things as safely as possible." Caught on video by Project Veritas, the advice from the Antifa organizers was jarring. "Gouge their eyes." "If you get a good liver or kidney shot, it's pretty much crippling." "Run away while they're doubled over in pain," the "fight instructor" says. Whatever you do, destroy your enemy. And with any luck, the thugs think, your country too.
Derek Chauvin was no saint. That much was known long before his knee crushed the life out of George Floyd. After racking up 17 complaints in 19 years, the question most people have is -- what was he still doing on the police force anyway? If we can stand the answer, it would go a long way to getting some of these bad people off the beat. But it would also mean taking a long hard look at the power of unions in this country. And for some people, that's a bridge too far.
Dr. Albert Mohler couldn't have predicted when he started his book that the title would be so tragically appropriate. The storm is most certainly here -- in the unrest of one man's death and the uncertainty from 110,000 more. Most people, Dr. Mohler insists, have no idea about the deepest challenge we face. What is it -- and what can we do about it? Find out in his interview on "Washington Watch."
If there's one thing we know about President Trump, it's that he won't tolerate America getting a raw deal. When it happened in trade pacts, he renegotiated. When it happened with COVID, he tore up WHO's check. If someone tries to take advantage of this country, they're going to pay a real price -- no matter who they are. And if the U.N. isn't careful, it might just be next.
If people tuned in for Russell Vought's confirmation hearing expecting fireworks, they must have been disappointed. The acting OMB chief's turn before Senator Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) committee Wednesday was a lot more subdued than 2017's cage match over the economist's faith. There were plenty of tough questions, to be sure, but none of them had to do with his deeply-held personal beliefs for once.
Every year for the past 30 years, crowds have gathered in Hong Kong on June 4th to light candles, hear from former Chinese pro-democracy activists, and mourn the infamous massacre of student demonstrators by the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1989. This year, no legal vigil was permitted, but that didn't stop thousands from bringing white candles to a Hong Kong park to remember the tragedy that came to be known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The sign said, "All Are Welcome." But apparently, "all" doesn't include Donald Trump. Any other leader visiting a church in the middle of a nationwide street war would have been praised for his solemnity, his search for healing. Not this president. His visit to St. John's, which had been engulfed in flames the night before, and St. John Paul II's National Shrine on Tuesday were just new opportunities for second-guessing.
The United States isn't the only country split wide open by pain and grief. In Nigeria, where senseless killings are a way of life, people are struggling to find the words to describe the horror inside a church in Benin City, where a young, 22-year-old microbiology student was found, lying in a pool of her own blood. Raped, attacked, and left half-naked on the floor, Vera Omozuwa had come to the sanctuary to study. She liked it, a parish member said, because it was peaceful. She died, telling a very different story.
Unrest has rocked our nation over the last week. After a blatant display of police brutality in Minneapolis that took the life of George Floyd, cities across our nation have experienced a torrent of lawlessness. Questions, opinions, hurt, anger, and fear have been some of the primary responses by Americans that are looking for hope, healing, and justice in the midst of the chaos. As followers of Christ, we know that the Scriptures give us directions on how to respond even in uncertain times.
When the mobs picked up guns and baseball bats and headed back into the streets last night, it was no longer about George Floyd. The chaos that's erupting at dark has stopped telling his story -- and started telling ours as a lost and desperate country. "It's okay to be angry," George's brother said. But the man in whose name policemen are being shot, cities are being burned, and businesses are being destroyed would have never wanted this. He was "about peace." And if the rioters cared about justice, they would be too.
The debate over reopening isn't just keeping pastors up at night. At the U.S. Supreme Court, justices were up well past normal business hours, weighing two states' emergency appeals. It took until almost midnight last Friday to decide whether Illinois and California churches should be able to bypass their leaders' orders. When Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the California opinion with the courts' liberals, some Americans were irate. But was it really the horrible outcome they thought it was?
Like a lot of the president's nominees, acting budget director Russell Vought doesn't have a whole lot of fond memories about his first confirmation hearing in the Senate. Back in 2018, when he was first picked to be OMB's second-in-command, he was grilled by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a debate so fiercely personal it became national news. Instead of big-picture economics, the Left turned his nomination into a firefight over Vought's Christian faith. A fight, this time around, Vought is hoping won't be repeated.
God's Word speaks to a lot of things -- including our responsibility to be engaged in our system of government. FRC's David Closson explains how relevant Scripture is to everything we face as a nation in this new and updated edition of "Biblical Principles for Political Engagement: Worldview, Issues, and Voting." Hear why it matters in this special interview on Monday's "Washington Watch."
When the sun broke over Washington, D.C. this morning, in a cloudless blue sky, it was hard to believe it was the same city where I had to navigate barricades and riot police as I made my way to our office. The fires that blazed up and down the National Mall were finally out, leaving one charred reminder after another of the carnage. Pieces of history, like St. John's Church, either went up in flames or were shattered into a thousand glassy pieces on sidewalks that were no longer places where presidents walked -- but war zones.
Chelsea Mitchell finally beat her foes on the track -- but now she's ready to beat them where it counts: in court. The runner, one of the three Connecticut girls suing to stop biological boys from competing in their races, got some good news on that front last week, when a letter from the Department of Education finally became public. For the first time since their case began, the DOE is warning schools -- uphold Title IX or face the consequences.
It's been a drama that's rivaled most primetime TV shows: America versus the World Health Organization (WHO). President Trump seems to be signaling a finale to the relationship -- announcing Friday that he was permanently slashing funding to the group who helped China keep the world in the dark about the deadly coronavirus. Now, a handful of days before his deadline to WHO leaders for a complete investigation, the president has decided it's never to early to end a bad investment.
To most of us, 24 sounds pretty young. But in the tech world, where things literally change overnight, a policy two and a half decades old is a virtual fossil. When Bill Clinton signed the Telecommunications Act into law in 1996, we were just getting used to the internet. There was no Twitter or Facebook -- no YouTube, Instagram, or TikTok. Even Google was a full two years away. Nobody could have predicted this thing called social media. Now, a generation later, it's got a cutting-edge world that we're still trying to govern with stuffy, outdated laws. And the explosion of censorship is letting us know: it's not working.
Hong Kong is still 27 years away from Chinese control -- and already the situation is a powder keg. After waves of violence and mass arrests, even the coronavirus couldn't keep people from spilling into the streets to protest Beijing's latest attempt at a political takeover. From shopping districts to banks, people of all ages joined huge groups, declaring independence while police fired water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets into the crowd. "Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!" they shouted.
DOJ is sure staying busy putting out constitutional fires in states with less than cooperative governors. As more parts of the country are starting to reopen, are things getting better or worse for churches? Find out from the man in charge of the civil liberties effort: Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband.
If ever there were a time for Christians to recognize the need to pull together and impact our communities, our states, and our nation, that moment is now. Thankfully, FRC has been on the front lines, providing direction and structure to help churches and other organizations really begin to have a serious and effective impact. The structure is the development of the Community Impact initiative, and it's making a difference.
The truly desperate ones hang red and white clothes outside their windows, a cry -- people have come to recognize -- for help. Hungry parents, out of work, scramble for boxes of rice, vegetables, and sugar across Latin America where even children are on a waiting list for meals. "We are going to starve from this disease," one emotional Haitian dad told a reporter. In Kenya, the situation is so dire that people from the slums died in stampedes just trying to get their hands on some flour and oil. Like everyone else, the U.N. is watching in horror as clouds of locusts ravage India's crops and looting starts in South Africa. And what kind of "relief" are they trying to send to countries? Abortion.
Two years ago, Mihrigul Tursun cried in a congressional hearing room as her prepared testimony was read by a translator. A Uyghur who survived one of China's now-infamous "re-education" camps in Xinjiang, her testimony recounted the brainwashing, horrific living conditions, and torture -- including electric shock treatment, "tiger chairs" used to immobilize detainees, and mysterious "medications" that caused sterilization -- that an estimated 1.8 million Uyghur Muslims and other detainees in these camps endure daily.
We've heard from health experts, the CDC, governors, and mayors. But when it comes to reopening our churches, have we stopped to hear from God? California Pastor Ron Hill says there's only one person who can give him the green light to have services. And He doesn't come with proclamations and rollout plans -- He just speaks, in a still small voice.
With billions in the bank, America's abortion giant isn't exactly the picture of a suffering small business. So when the country's biggest abortion network grabbed $80 million dollars in coronavirus loans, it's no wonder the country was outraged. Can they be prosecuted for it? Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) thinks so. Find out what he and more than 120 other congressmen are doing to get the money back -- now.
It's a tiny slip of an island, just 110 miles off the coast of China. But a narrow stretch of water isn't the only thing separating Taiwan from its communist neighbors. There, floating in the Formosa Strait, is a surprising patch of democracy. To most people, the thought is astounding. A boat ride away from one of the most oppressive regimes in human history, 23 million people go about their days free. And China can't stand it.
We don't know everything about the coronavirus, but we certainly know more than we did. And while we might have made different decisions with more information, America's top medical experts agree: we did the best with what we had. But now, Dr. Martin Makary points out, it's time to learn from those choices and move on.
Headlines like the one in the New York Post today said, "Costa Rica latest country to legalize same-sex marriage." But it wasn't really Costa Ricans who made it happen. Instead, Costa Rica became -- like the United States five years ago -- the victim of a multi-layer attack of judicial activism.
Even though we're in a presidential election year, liberals have yet to roll out their favorite catch phrase: separation of church and state! Maybe that's because -- in the wake of the coronavirus -- some Democratic governors have brazenly crossed that line of "separation," placing stricter restrictions on church gatherings than other establishments like restaurants, malls, and even casinos. But enough is enough. And on Friday, after hearing from pastors all across the country, President Trump took advantage of his bully pulpit to start getting pastors behind their own.
If there's one thing that everyone can admit about this virus, it's how impossible it would be to tackle without churches. From the president to his cabinet secretaries and needy people on the ground, there's one refrain that keeps echoing across this crisis: ministry, from even the smallest of communities, makes all the difference. "The federal government can provide a role," Secretary Chad Wolf agreed. But having been on the ground and seeing the deep need, he knows, "it's the faith-based organizations... that are the backbone of the response." And now, more than ever, we need to protect them.
James Shupe is a biological man who was the first legally recognized nonbinary person in America. Yet he now says it "was all a sham."
From hero to homeless. It wasn't the life that veteran Randall Sarratt imagined. But, like so many of our brave men and women, leaving the military only meant facing a new battle at home. For six years he lived on the streets, trying to scrape together enough money to survive. Then, a meeting with a California charity changed his life. He applied for a housing voucher, then a job -- all with help from the Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans' Reintegration Program.
Chicago has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country -- and what is the police department doing? Ticketing churches. That's how Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) is prioritizing his law enforcement's time despite what cops are calling "a double whammy" during the crisis. "We're catching it double. We have the virus and the violence to worry about." But who has time for real criminals when a handful of God-fearing people are meeting? Not Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D).
"The arms of tyranny have reached Hong Kong," declared pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui. The Chinese government has taken advantage of the quiet streets of Hong Kong -- just months ago filled with hundreds of thousands of protestors -- to push an extensive national security law for Hong Kong through parliament. Critics say this overreach by the Beijing marks the end of the freedom and autonomy that has enabled Hong Kong to thrive.
"If Joe Biden wants to do it, the world can feel assured -- we shouldn't do it." That was Rep. Ted Yoho's (R-Fla.) reaction to the former vice president's agenda for America's closest ally in the Middle East. Imagine all of the progress the Trump administration has made in Israel destroyed, rolled back, or ignored. According to the Democrats' pick for president, that's the Biden plan in a nutshell. Hear the shocking details in this sit-down on "Washington Watch."
Planned Parenthood is no "small" business. In 2018, America's hulk of an abortion provider reported net assets of $2.2 billion -- so the idea that they would be competing for stimulus loans is absurd. And yet, to the shock of people up and down East Capitol Street, that's exactly what dozens of its affiliates did. Even Republicans, who've come to expect this kind of larceny from Planned Parenthood, have a hard time believing it.
If they're protesting, at least they're courteous about it. In a show of good faith, pastors all across California aren't just determined to hold services, they're giving the government fair warning they will. In a polite but firm letter to Governor Gavin Newsom (D), thousands of pastors have let the state know that they're reopening May 31 -- whether the state likes it or not!
These are incredibly challenging times, but if America ever needed its spiritual leaders, it's now. "Pastors," Secretary Ben Carson said this morning, "make all the difference in the world." If the faith community bands together, he insisted, "this virus will not defeat us." Thursday, the faith community did in fact band together -- joining FRC for our first-ever National Virtual Pastors Roundtable.
Believe it or not, there's plenty of good news in the virus fight -- if only someone would write them! National Review's Rich Lowry tried to fix that, doing a deep-dive on the president's supply line victories that have changed the way America fights the outbreak. Don't miss Lowry's stunning interview on the Trump successes the Left doesn't want you to hear!
The Chinese Communist Party must wake up every morning and thank its lucky stars for the U.S. media. While the rest of the world rages at the regime for a virus that's killed hundreds of thousands of people, America's press corps only sees one villain: Donald Trump. That's been an unexpected blessing for China, who knows the media's red-hot hatred of the president will help undermine anything he does to hold them accountable. Fortunately for America, Donald Trump has had three and a half years of experience ignoring the press -- and he's not going to stop now.
California conservatives haven't exactly been riding a wave of great news lately, but last week's special election was a victory everyone can savor. Former Navy fighter pilot Mike Garcia (R) stunned the media with a landslide victory outside Los Angeles, flipping the seat, and joining Tom Tiffany (R-Wisc.) as the House's newest members. Now, barely hours into their new jobs, the two men aren't just giving House Republicans a shot in the arm -- but their pro-life plans too!
It's no wonder American students don't know basic history -- they're spending 70 hours of classroom time studying something else: sex!
When the dust settles from the coronavirus -- months, maybe even years from now -- there will be a lot of storylines from the crisis that were never told. One of the biggest, history will show, is about this president. Like most leaders in his position, he'd never faced a tragedy of this magnitude. But unlike so many others, Donald Trump turned to America -- not government -- for answers.
It took three elections, two political parties, and one pandemic, but Israel has finally sworn in its new unity government. The year and a half standoff is over -- and a new chapter in cooperative leadership, with all of its twists and turns, has begun.
He was just 17 years old, a young, broken teenager living in Delhi when he tried to end his own life. But Ravi Zacharias didn't die. Not then. He woke up in a hospital, where someone handed him a book that would change his life -- and so many others': the Bible. "Thank God I was spared," he said later. But over a lifetime of evangelism that spanned every corner of the world, it is us who are thankful.
It didn't look like recess. It looked like an elementary school jail. Instead of carefree children running around outside, the images from French journalists are almost tragic: little boys and girls, each sitting glumly in their own chalk-outlined box. To some parents, it was a sobering picture of what public education might look like in the fall. But to millions of others, it was confirmation -- the time to homeschool is now.
Election polling is big-time news these days. Unless the media doesn't like the results. Then, apparently, it's not news at all. Take CNN, NRO's Kyle Smith says. They just spent a pile of money to ask voters what they think of President Trump. Believe it or not, his approval ratings have never been higher -- not that viewers would know it, since CNN virtually ignored the numbers altogether.
It wasn't the news pro-lifers wanted to hear. After weeks of crisscrossing the state, knocking on doors, and rallying hundreds of volunteers, Colorado's petition gatherers were officially 10,000 names short. The announcement from the secretary of state's office hit organizers hard. The "Due Date Too Late" campaign thought they had more than enough signatures to put a 22-week abortion limit on the ballot. Now, in a race against the clock, they're hitting the ground running -- trying to find the signatures they need to save lives.
In 2009, when America was in a deep financial crisis, our new president, Barack Obama, appointed Rahm Emanuel to be his chief-of-staff. Emanuel was known for two things: bare-knuckle politics and radical liberalism. And he knew that while America's attention was focused on recharging our economy it would be a great time to sneak in parts of the liberal agenda that otherwise might never get done. As he put it, "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
The debate is raging throughout the country over whether the freedoms we enjoy as Americans are eroding as the lockdowns continue. On Wednesday's "Washington Watch," I share a warning about what will happen if we fail to exercise our freedoms. Let us not let our freedom atrophy.
If you could sit down and write a list of every bad idea the Left has ever had, guess what? You've got the House's Phase 4 coronavirus stimulus. Picture Planned Parenthood loans, taxpayer-funded abortion, cash for illegal immigrants, marijuana banking, state bailouts, rigged elections, freed felons, and a complete redefinition of the family. Clocking in at 1,800 pages -- more than three reams of paper -- the Democrats' bill reads more like a love letter to their radical base than a serious attempt at COVID relief.
Asking a chaplain to do his job without his faith is like asking an Army sergeant to go to war without a weapon. But thanks to a handful of atheist activists, that's exactly what the military's asking.
The CDC's opinion matters. But it isn't the only one that does. There are a lot more factors to consider when it comes to getting America back on its feet than public health. When the president decided to not go with the CDC's re-opening guidelines as they presented, he wasn't ignoring the experts' advice. He was just looking for something workable. If the White House had accepted the agency's recommendations, no one would be eligible for re-opening. And in a country struggling to keep its head above water, that's not just flawed -- it's fatal.
Was the Michael Flynn saga ever about him? Or was it just another way to get to the president? Andrew McCarthy has been following the case for three years, and he says there's no doubt. Find out what Democrats were up to -- then and now -- in this special sit-down with the former federal prosecutor. Hear about all of the new developments, including one judge's decision not to drop the case.
There were plenty of big guns at Tuesday's Senate coronavirus hearing, but it might be four-legged Rufus who stole the show. Senator Lamar Alexander's (R-Tenn.) napping spaniel was just one of the signs that business was anything but usual for the Hill. Like the Supreme Court flush heard 'round the world, Americans are getting a good look at their leaders as everyday people -- with rock band posters, barking dogs, messy desks, and books stacked to the ceiling. But more importantly, they got an honest picture of something else: where the country really is in its COVID-19 fight.
In the media's mad dash to keep fear alive, it's not herd immunity they're after, it's herd mentality. In headline after headline, we see surveys about Americans desperate to keep the country locked down. But is it true? Well, as far as Scott Rasmussen is concerned, a poll is only as good as its questions. And the press, many believe, might be asking the wrong ones.
Illinois isn't communist Romania -- but according to one pastor, it's getting harder to tell the difference. Chicago's Cristian Ionescu grew up watching dictators close churches, jail pastors, and marginalize men and women of faith. He just never dreamed that decades later in America, he'd be close to the same kind of oppression.
What could be worse than not finding a vaccine? Having it stolen. And right now, in the race to find a coronavirus treatment, that might be the biggest threat of all. That's why China isn't just putting its best scientists on the job -- it's unleashing an army of cyberthieves to break into U.S. files and steal whatever progress America's making. Turns out, the regime wasn't just content infecting the world -- they want to control who recovers first too.
People are reading the Bible more than ever these days -- and based on a new survey, they need to! Only six percent of adults in this country have what George Barna defines as a "biblical worldview" -- a shocker of a statistic that has more Christians wondering, what on earth are parents and churches teaching?
No one in the country is playing sports right now -- but when they do, three brave high schoolers are trying to make sure the competitions they come back to are fair ones. But before the girls get a fair shake in track, they'll have to get one in court. And based on this judge, they'd better not hold their breath.
What's driving the huge decline in biblical worldview? Why are Christians so affected? And, more importantly, what can you do about it? Find out in this special in-depth interview with FRC's Director of Christian Ethics and Biblical Worldview, David Closson.
Most parents don't hand their kids the remote on the "Teen TV" menu and expect them to be able to choose from "The End of the F***ing World," "Sex Education," or the suicide shocker, "13 Reasons Why." But on platforms like Netflix, where the ratings don't seem to factor into how the programs are listed, your middle schooler could be stumbling on all kinds of surprising content. Maybe, like a lot of moms and dads, you assume a TV-14 Netflix show is the same as TV-14 on broadcast television. Well, I've got news for you, entertainment writer Michael Foust said: "It's not."
"One of the reasons I believe in the resurrection," Mike Huckabee once joked, "is because we'd see dead people vote every year!" Well, he's about to make a lot of converts in California, where liberal Governor Gavin Newsom (D) just ordered a vote-by-mail system through November -- a decision that's scaring the daylights out of anyone who cares about ballot integrity. For all the talk of other countries meddling in our elections, they know as well as we do -- the biggest threats are right here at home.
The news is getting record viewers, but is it gaining back their trust? After a historically bad year for people's confidence in the media, the coronavirus gave the industry a chance to make up ground. A chance, based on one weekend controversy, they're squandering.
The news isn't slowing down -- and neither is FRC. Check out the latest from our experts in a slew of new op-eds, including Cathy Ruse's "Our Culture Needs Marriage, Because It Needs Mothers" in the Stream, Connor Semelsberger's "Why Are Catholics Turning on the Little Sisters?" in Crisis magazine, and Mary Beth Waddell's "'We're All in This Together' Should Apply to Needy Children Too" in the Christian Post.
Nothing about the National Day of Prayer was conventional -- but for Americans, hungry for hope in dark times, that didn't matter a bit. By now, people are used to getting creative with their events. And Thursday was no exception.
It was a case that, as former prosecutor Andrew McCarthy said, "stunk to high heaven." Now, three years into a bogus controversy that ruined General Michael Flynn's career, the DOJ is dropping the case against the former national security advisor. It wasn't a pardon -- but maybe, some say, it was better. It finally got prosecutors to admit what most people suspected all along: the case was a hoax.
For most of us, Mother's Day marks an annual occasion for celebrating the blessings of family. While celebrations will be different this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, most of us can still look forward to a family video chat, surprise bouquets and gifts, and the promise of hugs and kisses for mom and grandma once the world returns to normal.
They are the lasting images of every tragedy -- the pictures of heartbreak, triumph, humility, humanity. They are a scrapbook of a thousand moments that remind us simply: Americans are survivors. The flag over Iwo Jima. George Bush on a pile of rubble with a megaphone. An amputee, crying, at the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Years from now, looking back on the darkness of these days, what will we remember? The chaplains holding hands with patients. Nurses on a hospital helipad, praying over a city skyline. Cars lined up in the church parking lots. I hope what we remember is revival.
He hadn't kissed the bride. No one is sure they got through their vows. If they did, the words "death do us part" might have still been hanging in the air when men with rifles stormed the church, ripping the bride and groom away from the happiest day of their lives. Terrified, people tried to escape. The ones who couldn't were taken -- like the couple, who hasn't been heard from since.
What do Chinese communists know about Christianity? Not much, but that hasn't stopped them from saying Secretary Mike Pompeo has betrayed it. In a bizarre attack, even for China, the regime's latest approach seems to be calling out America's top diplomat for misrepresenting his faith. It's an interesting deflection -- but not an effective one.
A lot of things about the coronavirus are out of our control -- but how we approach China isn't one of them. And in a country where consensus is as rare as hand sanitizer, the outrage over the outbreak might be the single greatest exception. While Democrats in Washington keep their fingers pointed at President Trump, they're about the only ones, polling shows. Most Americans know exactly who's at fault -- and who should pay.
Nobody is thrilled to be stuck inside, but a lot of pollsters have been surprised by just how popular The Great Lockdown has been. Despite the state protests and rallies, there's been a lot of support for the stay-at-home orders that have canceled schools and disrupted life as we know it. "Worth it" said 80 percent in a Kaiser survey last week. "Appropriate" another 66 percent told the Washington Post. But is that mindset starting to change? Some surveys say yes.
Americans remain highly concerned about the coronavirus, even as parts of the country begin to reopen. While the root cause for these concerns varies -- recent polling indicates that a slightly higher percentage of Americans fear the economic effects of a prolonged period of quarantine (49 percent) than the health threat posed by the virus (45 percent) -- the fact remains: Americans are afraid.
The coronavirus hasn't slowed down the Senate's judicial confirmations. Wednesday morning, Trump's latest nominee, Judge Justin Walker, took a turn before the upper chamber. To find out why senators should move quickly to confirm him, check out my joint op-ed with SBA List's Marjorie Dannenfelser, "Judge Justin Walker: A Warrior for Religious Liberty" in RealClearPolitics.
Abby lived. In fact, she went on to become one of the most effective pro-life activists in the movement: Abby Johnson. Like a lot of women, she thought taking the abortion pill would be the easy way out. She was wrong. Her nightmare -- of gushing blood and excruciating pain, of clumps passing out of her body while she cried and sweated alone -- is the story of tens of thousands of women.
Samaritan's Purse doesn't serve to get praise. And that's a good thing in places like New York City, where radical liberals refuse to give them any. Even now, after treating 315 patients in its field hospital in Central Park, the news that Rev. Franklin Graham's work might soon be done was the only thing some liberal councilmembers felt like celebrating. Instead of gratitude, their message to the charity is simple: Get out. And don't come back.
How do you get the latest on the issues that matter to you right in the palm of your hand? It's easy with FRC's redesigned STAND Firm app. If you want to stay informed with what's happening on Capitol Hill and make a difference in your local community, then check out the new and improved version at FRC.org/app.
It's not a date most people have circled on their calendars. But whether they know it or not, May 4, 2017 was the day most Americans were set free. Free from government imposed anti-religious mandates, court battles, and fines. Free from jail threats, harassment, and closures. After eight long years of an administration at war with religious freedom, President Trump leaned over a piece of paper in the Rose Garden and vowed, "We will not allow people of faith to be targeted, bullied, or silenced anymore."
Staying home is supposed to keep people safe. But for unborn babies, even lockdowns have their risks. Any house can be an abortion clinic, Planned Parenthood wants people to know. You just have to call for pills.
Good news, California! Your generous dictator, Governor Gavin Newsom (D), has decided to "allow" residents to watch the sunsets! Turns out, it's one of the few government-approved activities his administration has benevolently approved in lockdown, according to a new decree. His scepter also waved agreeably at gardening and car washing, in case people were wondering. But if you want to play doubles' ping-pong, you'd better get the county's permission.
When Governor Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) steps up to the podium for his daily press briefings, there's one death toll he doesn't announce. There's no county-by-county map, colored in shades of red, telling people how many lives abortion has taken since March. If there were, his state would be horrified to know that they've lost 240 people to coronavirus, and more than double that -- 561 -- to another sickness: the liberal hypocrisy keeping his clinics running.
At 94-years-old, a 17-degree morning is a harsh way to start any day. But even the chill couldn't stop Rev. Fred Lunsford from making the two-mile trek to his prayer garden. The pastors who visited later that January day had heard the story of the decorated hero: a World War II veteran that stormed the beaches of Normandy and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. But as they stood there, in his den, Fred didn't mention the military medals and plaques. He was only interested in one thing: prayer.
Andrew McCarthy knew there was something fishy about General Michael Flynn's resignation in 2017. And three years later, new documents have finally proven him right. Hear what the former federal prosecutor has to say about the explosive new revelations and what tipped him off that the FBI was trying to frame Flynn in Thursday's interview on "Washington Watch."
As far as liberal set-ups go, it certainly followed the formula: a phone call, the Russians, a high-ranking government official's son, lying prosecutors, even some of the same politically-motivated FBI agents. But the case against General Michael Flynn had another familiar storyline in the Left's war against Donald Trump -- a lack of evidence. Based on the bombshell evidence today -- a damning picture of FBI corruption, coercion, and entrapment -- it seems General Flynn's only real crime was ending up in an administration the Democrats wanted to destroy.
There's federalism, and then there's overreach. In a crisis like this one, there's a fine line between the two -- but the Trump administration is intent on making officials walk it. As some Americans lose patience with the stay-at-home orders, the Justice Department wants the country to know it's paying attention. If governors or local leaders abuse their power to keep people locked up and businesses closed up, Attorney General William Barr wants states to know: he isn't giving them a pass.
She didn't just play Division 1 basketball -- she coached it, at four different schools. If anyone knows about women's sports, it's Idaho State Rep. Barbara Ehardt (R). Like a lot of people, she understands that what's at the root of this fight against athletes competing as the gender of their choice isn't prejudice. It's basic fairness. And when her governor signed the bill she'd drafted to protect it, Barbara couldn't have been happier. Then came the news everyone dreaded: far-Left groups were suing to settle the score.
Donald Trump isn't perfect. Far from it, in fact. But how can a Christian look at his record as president and not understand what's at stake? Eric Metaxas has no idea. The best-selling author and radio show host talks about that and more in his brand-new interview on "Washington Watch" with Sarah Perry.
The report is 104 pages -- but it tells a thousand stories. For young women like Mary Mohammadi, sentenced to flogging and more time in prison, the one hope she has, apart from Jesus, is here in the United States. Her prayer -- like so many others in Nigeria, North Korea, China, India, Iran, and elsewhere -- is that Americans step in and stop the suffering. For 21 years, one commission's goal has been to do exactly that.
Americans are a forgiving people, but when it comes to China, they aren't looking the other way any time soon. With the coronavirus death toll now surpassing our losses in the Vietnam War, the outrage over Wuhan's lethal cover-up is infuriating the world over. A lot of Americans were concerned about the communist regime before it turned humanity upside down. Now, with economies tanking and families grieving, a majority of the country thinks it's time to throw down the gauntlet. And trade is a good place to start.
Earlier today, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its 2020 annual report, naming the world's worst religious freedom violators -- while noting some who have improved too. Among a number of findings on religious freedom, the report calls out governments around the world that oppress or fail to protect this fundamental human right, recommending that the State Department label certain countries "Countries of Particular Concern" (CPC) or be put on a Special Watch List.
"No idea." That was the only answer state and local officials had. When a federal elections commission started asking questions, not one person had any explanation for the 28.3 million mail-in ballots that have gone missing since 2012. As far as they're concerned, one in five absentee votes just vanished. No one knows if it's fraud, system failure, general ineptitude, or a combination of all three. What we do know is that Democrats want us to trust this same process -- on a national scale -- this November. Thank you, but no thank you.
The public schools might be closed, but based on the country's latest history marks, some kids aren't missing much! In the "Nation's Report Card" from the Department of Education, U.S. scores took another big dive in subjects like history, part of an alarming trend that's prompted the Trump administration to call for "fundamentally rethink[ing] education in America." And the sooner the better, most people say. At the rate things are going, the only civics our kids will know are the Hondas parked out back.
For the families lucky enough, there are still cemetery plots. But even grieving is different now, one Iranian says soberly. Not even flowers are allowed on the rows of fresh dirt. "People are dying left and right here," a medic shook her head. "It's the same way in all of our hospitals." Signs of the country's suffering are everywhere -- even from space, where the trenches of mass graves are so big that satellites can't help but notice. Like so many nations rocked by the virus, the scene feels the same -- and yet, in the closed and punishing society of Iran, nothing is.
The news came down just in time for Sunday service. For all of the congregations, it had been a frustrating few weeks. Pastors in New York, North Carolina, and Mississippi had been fighting their state for the freedom they should have had all along: the right to gather, in their own creative and CDC-compliant ways, at church. But fortunately, while every locality is responding differently, every court is not. Religious liberty, they agreed, doesn't stop when a virus starts.
If there's anything this crisis should have taught us, it's the value of fighting for every life. So when Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear chose this moment to tell newborn children that they don't deserve medical care, the state was stunned. "Reprehensible" was all state attorney general Daniel Cameron could say when he heard the news that Beshear had vetoed the Born-Alive Protection Act Friday. "The governor had a choice," he shook his head, "and he used it to defend the indefensible."
They got in line at Peach Tree Battle Barbershop at 7 a.m. For a lot of them, it was the first haircut they'd had in a month and a half. "I certainly don't want to spread it to anyone," customer Matt Maddox said, "so I've got a mask. But I'm not concerned." Others, like Atlanta restaurant owner Hugh Acheson, understands that staying closed will hurt, but argues, "Now is not the time for fine dining." Either way, their governor, Brian Kemp (R), is giving them a choice -- which is more than a lot of Americans can say.
Richard Grenell never worked for Barack Obama -- but he's using tactics near and dear to that administration's foreign policy. The acting director of national intelligence has decided that it's time for America to stop sharing information with countries who aren't as pro-LGBT as he is -- a view that's eerily similar to Hillary Clinton's State Department, where ideological blackmail was the order of every day.
My daughter is a medical assistant. She and her coworkers were short on PPE [personal protective equipment]. I made reusable masks for 6 of the medical assistants. Others heard about it and it exploded. At this point in time I have made 113 masks for various people and would like to do more.\r
Whitney Tilson had come down from his Fifth Avenue apartment to walk the dog when he noticed the trucks. Right there, in Central Park, were stacks of tarps and white tents, all "bearing a name he had never heard of -- Samaritan's Purse." He found out the group was building a field hospital for his fellow New Yorkers and asked if he could help. He hasn't stopped, Yonat Shimron writes, since.
With more virus cases than anyone in the Middle East, Iran should have its hands full. Instead, the regime seems determined to show the world that it's got bigger priorities than the deaths of its own people. Wednesday, as a rocket shot high into the sky, carrying the country's first military satellite, it was obvious that even a global pandemic won't slow down Iran's Revolutionary Guard.
When President Trump pushed the pause button on funding the World Health Organization this past week, most people's only experience with the group was as a harmless arm of the United Nations. But the "watchdog" of the global health is a lot more than the world's disease and infection police. It's also, as more Americans are starting to learn, one of the biggest promoters of abortion and peddlers of radical sex ed.
The last thing we should do with sky-high unemployment is sending more jobs to China. Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) has a plan to bring U.S. companies home -- and make the communist party pay for it. Listen in on our conversation from Wednesday's "Washington Watch" to hear how.
The coronavirus didn't come with a set of instructions. There's no contingency plan, no precedent, no lessons learned from past administrations. For once, history can't teach us how to cope. It can only remind us who we are. And maybe, in a crisis like this one, that's the most important thing of all.
"What can we do about it?" The question, John Demers said, was about China. It was 2018, and he, along with then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, were sitting around the table with members of the FBI. The intelligence community was tracking a widescale campaign of intellectual theft and other economic espionage from the communist regime. China had been attacking the United States from within, and the Justice Department was ready to do something about it.
Part of what makes the coronavirus so challenging is just how different every state is. Some have been brought to their knees by infections, others are chomping at the bit to get back to normal. No one envies the job of these governors who have to weigh the risk of personal safety with the benefits of reopening the economy. But as unique as each region is, there is one thing they all have in common -- and that's the importance, in all of this, of religious freedom.
The coronavirus has made life miserable for plenty of people -- but for the extreme Left, it's a nightmare. For the first time in recent memory, America's children are learning at home, beyond the public schools' grasp. Amazingly, this outbreak, for all of its devastation, has managed to do what no one else could: free some kids from the daily drumbeat of liberal indoctrination. Suddenly, parents are the ones managing their children's schooling -- and there's nothing more dangerous to the Left's long-term agenda than parents finding out what that agenda consists of.
If you ask most protestors in the states, it's the hypocrisy that's bothering them -- not the commonsense rules. In places like Washington State, columnists raged at the double standards of governors like Jay Inslee (D), whose orders insist, "Private home construction must stop, but Sound Transit construction can continue. Private landscapers are out of work, but [counties] can still dispatch crews to trim grass in closed parks..." In Michigan, you can't buy flower seeds, but you can buy weed. And in Kansas, families can drive-through a Sonic, but not parking lot church service.
In America, the words "unified government" probably sound like an oxymoron. But in Israel, where a new deal brings rival parties together to lead the county, it's more than a grand political experiment. It's the new reality.
Homeland Security is used to handling disasters. But no one ever imagined anything like this. Even FEMA, who's the first government team on the ground after a catastrophe, is usually only juggling three or four states at a time. Now imagine every county, every American territory, in a state of emergency, Acting Secretary Chad Wolf says. "It's like a Category 5 tornado hitting all 50 states at the same time." And without churches and charities on the front lines, who knows where our country would be?
As part of their COVID-19 response, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared abortion as an essential service. The U.K. has now issued temporary approval for chemical abortions to be completely done at home. The U.S. abortion lobby continues to call for the FDA to lift restrictions (REMs) off the abortion pill (U.S. brand "Mifeprex"), making way for complete "self-managed" abortions. Unfortunately, this is what the abortion industry all over the world has pursued even before the current pandemic -- for abortions to be unrestricted, unregulated, and do-it-yourself.
One minute her coworkers were there -- the next, she was screaming from a tiny 18-inch ledge. Florence Rodgers's chair had blown out from under her, a narrow piece of floor suddenly all that remained of her office. Twenty-five years later, "Mother Goose," as her coworkers fondly called her, remembers sitting there in the wreckage of Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, crying out -- nothing but blue sky above her head.
Forget the economy. Democrats want to make political hay. Despite Twitter feeds full of concern for the American worker, liberal leaders are making it quite clear that it is not the American worker or family they want to help its their political cronies. Two weeks after working with Republicans to push out small business relief, the Paycheck Protection Program has run dry. Unfortunately, so has the Democrats' compassion. And there's no telling when -- or if -- it'll return.
It was built to withstand a magnitude-7 earthquake. But can the Wuhan lab at the center of the world's deadliest outbreak survive the storm of scrutiny? Experts aren't so sure.
Sometimes a crisis brings out the best in people -- and sometimes, it only makes other problems worse. In the world of Big Tech censorship, this pandemic is turning into just another excuse for social media magnates to shut down debate. But if that doesn't stop -- and soon -- they're going to find themselves on the wrong side of increased regulations.
Samaritan's Purse doesn't discriminate against any of its patients, so why are liberals discriminating against them? Hear Franklin Graham's side of the story after New York Democrats said he wasn't "tolerant" enough to help virus patients in his Central Park field hospital. For the exclusive interview, check out this week's "Washington Watch."
The street was a sea of debris. To any passerby, it would've looked like a bomb had exploded. In the shadow of jagged buildings, where entire walls had come tumbling down, the ground was a pile of rubble, bricks, and shattered glass. The riots are over -- for now. But in Delhi, where the mosques are still charred and smeared with blood, no one is under any illusions. Even in lockdown, there is persecution around every corner.
Scammers are everywhere during the coronavirus, experts are warning. But they're not just after your bank account or personal information. They're after your vote.
There are some benefits to being stuck at home, YouVersion is reporting. For one, people have more time to read. And what they're reading, surveys say, is important. Turns out, the best-selling book in history -- the Bible -- is also the most popular one right now. Since Palm Sunday, the app found, Bible reading was a whopping 54 percent higher than last year's holy week. "All of this," a spokesman said, "on the heels of a record-breaking month."
The coronavirus has derailed a lot of things, but religious freedom isn't one of them -- thanks to judges who understand the Constitution.
In Mississippi, tickets to attend a drive-in church service were expensive -- as much as $500 at Temple Baptist Church. That's how much police were fining people for pulling into the parking lot to listen to their pastor on the radio. Greenville's mayor, Errick Simmons, probably thought he could get away with a little local harassment. But U.S. Attorney General William Barr didn't waste any time setting the Mississippi leader straight.
In the real world, when someone doesn't do their job, you fire them. So when the World Health Organization (WHO), whose job it is to "guard the public health," fails, it's time to take a long hard look at the billions of dollars America is paying them. It's their job to sound the alarm on outbreaks like the coronavirus. And when they don't, and tens of thousands of people pay for it with their lives, President Trump is right to step back from the hefty investment America's been making.
When his publisher came to him and asked him to do another book, FRC's Lt. General (Ret.) Jerry Boykin said there was only one he was really interested in writing. It's about the biblical model for manhood -- men as providers, instructors, battle buddies, defenders, and chaplains. And we're happy to announce that his longtime vision is complete in a new book released this week, Man to Man: Rediscovering Masculinity in a Challenging World.
It's the very emergency that governors like Greg Abbott (R-Texas) have been trying to avoid. While hospitals burst at the seams with virus patients, the last thing first responders need is to be called to the scene of a completely avoidable tragedy. And yet, that's exactly what happened two Saturdays ago thanks to an overflowing abortion clinic in Illinois that was racing through procedures so fast that it botched one.
When Franklin Graham set up a 68-bed field hospital in the middle New York City's Central Park, he didn't hang a sign saying, "Christian Patients Only." But somehow, the state's extremists think it's okay to demand only pro-LGBT caregivers on his staff. Samaritan's Purse, liberals argue, isn't tolerant enough to treat the sick. In a tweet so offensive it's difficult to believe he holds public office, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman (D) said, "It's a shame that the federal government has left New York with no other choice but to accept charity from bigots."
Christians in America and around the world are adjusting to the challenges brought on by the coronavirus. For the persecuted abroad, the virus is an added pressure, as some governments are seeking to use the crisis as an opportunity to crack down on believers. Here in the United States, most governmental authorities are imposing reasonable restrictions and working with churches and other houses of worship. Yet there remains the need to be on guard. Overseas, the persecuted are facing more hostile governments that are blatantly using the crisis to suppress religious exercise and extend their long arm of state control.
It wasn't something people were used to seeing at Dominion Raceway. Instead of souped-up NASCARs, the lanes were replaced by hundreds of ordinary trucks and sedans, parked all across the asphalt. For once, the cameras weren't trained on lap-leaders but a worship team, singing with families from their cars. When Pastor Ernest Custalow got up to preach, separated by pit row, the Virginia congregation honked appreciatively. Despite a challenging few weeks, Grace Church could take a victory lap. They managed to keep people safe and still celebrate the holiest day of the year -- together.
"Mississippi isn't China," Governor Tate Reeves (R) insisted. Someone might want to tell Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons (D) that, since his Christian crackdown is making national news. In videos that exploded across the internet, Christians at a drive-in service were shocked to find policemen at their windows, handing out $500 tickets. The mayor, they were told, wanted to make an example of the church. But what he actually made was a classic case of religious intolerance.
"It's not supposed to be like this," Leah Klug thought, tugging on her face mask. "Her family is supposed to be here." But, in the Seattle hospital where she ministered -- like so many others around the world -- that was no longer an option. She dabbed oil by the patient's head and read a verse from the book of John. "We are walking," a fellow chaplain said somberly, "in the valley of the shadow of death." They do it with families, fears, and fragilities of their own -- but they do it, in many cases, because they are the only ones who can.
Writing about 20 years after the first Good Friday, the apostle Paul penned a letter to the believers at Corinth, acknowledging the difficulties and challenges they were facing. But although they were "hard-pressed on every side," Paul reminds these early Christians that the overcoming power of God was still at work in them, and even their trials and hardships served an important purpose -- making Jesus known.
Heading into the Easter weekend with slightly lower virus projections, the White House is asking that Americans keep doing their part -- and keep praying. Vice President Mike Pence stopped by "Washington Watch" to talk about the very latest developments and encourage Americans to take comfort in the new life we celebrate Sunday.
Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf has his hands full with the coronavirus, but there's one group of people he's not about to go into disaster relief mode without: clergy. Find out why he made them "essential personnel" as well as the challenges he's encountered with a full-blown, 50-state emergency.
You can stay in your car and get burgers, groceries, even prescriptions. But in Temple, Texas, north of Austin, you can drive through for something even more important -- prayer! Cars humming along West Adams Road have been passing a handful of members from Trinity Church every day, all encouraging drivers to pull right up and be ministered to. It's a good thing there's no shortage of prayer, they say, because hundreds of people are taking them up on it!
Some pastors call it the Super Bowl of their year: Easter Sunday. It's not just the holiest day on the calendar, it's also one of the biggest opportunities churches have to bring new people to Christ. And, for the first time ever, almost the entire world will be celebrating outside of their normal pews. They'll be in cars, on sofas, huddled around their kitchen tables. It's the new normal in the age of the coronavirus, and leaders everywhere are trying to make the best of it. So you can imagine their frustration, in a handful of places, when local officials step in to ruin even that.
Business is tough for a lot of industries right now. Pornography, unfortunately, isn't one of them. Isolated, stuck at home, and restless, more people seem to be turning to adult entertainment to while away the hours. That's terrible news for anyone concerned about young men, marriages, abuse, trafficking, addiction, sexual dysfunction, and brain development. Let's face it, experts say, porn was a pandemic long before this virus.
"China took all our jobs, and they sent us back a virus." --Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.)\rWhat should we do about it? Find out in her interview on Wednesday's "Washington Watch." Also, don't miss FRC's new op-ed in the Daily Signal, "China Keeps Suppressing Religion While Squelching Truth about COVID-19."
The world will see them as a number. To everyone else, they were high school baseball coaches, single moms, nurses, priests, songwriters, teachers, and grandparents. They were veterans of World War II and rabbis who survived the Holocaust. They beat breast cancer, lung cancer, poverty, and old age. But they could not beat this. Almost 13,000 Americans -- everyone of them someone's daughter or son. Every one of them with an ending written partially by one nation: China.
In a world that's only hearing about lives being lost, the Fifth Circuit Court is writing a different story about the ones being saved. Thanks to the courage of governors like Greg Abbott (R-Texas), there are literally hundreds of babies who are still alive in the womb today because leaders had enough sense to put a stop to abortions during the virus crisis. And Tuesday, to the relief of pro-lifers, judges refused to get in their way.
There haven't been any baseball players suiting up in Pensacola's Blue Wahoos Stadium lately. But come Easter Sunday, there'll be one team on the field: the leaders of Marcus Pointe Baptist Church. The stands will be empty, Pastor Gordon Godfrey says. But don't be fooled. The entire city will be watching.
Rev. David Fleenor stood in the New York City morgue, looking at the body of someone's mother. As a chaplain for Mount Sinai Hospital, death was always a part of his job. But not like this. Not for so many. Holding a telephone to his ear, he tried to soothe the son, telling his mom all the things the young man wished he could say in person. "I'm sorry I can't be there. I love you." But even now, as the images of heartbreak pile up in his mind, he calls it a privilege to be the hurting city's proxy.
"It's not what I had in mind when I accepted a 'higher' calling," Pastor Frank Carl joked to reporters about preaching from a 25-foot high lift in the parking lot. Like a lot of congregations, Ohio's Genoa Church in Westerville, Ohio has had to think of creative ways to keep their ministry going -- even if that means sitting in a passenger seat, not a pew. For people like Yolanda Blaze, that's just fine. "It wasn't just one person sitting in a house, watching a screen. There was that feeling again of having a family."
This is a bad week that could've been a whole lot worse. Try to remember that, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) urged Americans. Heading into the darkest valley of the virus fight, the Californian wants people to know that as bleak as things look now, the country will get through this. And when we do, we'll be stronger and more prepared because of it.
Targeted, surrounded, and arrested. Hear David Benham's firsthand account of being cuffed outside a Charlotte abortion clinic -- for what, even he isn't sure. Being pro-life isn't a crime, but it certainly sounds like one here.
"Love looks like an empty sanctuary," one pastor said. But after weeks of not gathering in person, it's the emptiness in the offering plate that's really hurting churches. And it's not necessarily the pastors' salaries or the building upkeep that worries leaders. It's the impact on ministry. "If this keeps up," one Baltimore pastor told the AP, "we can't fund all [of] our outreach to help other people." But, thanks to the Trump administration's insistence that churches be included in the virus relief, the president had good news: Help is on the way! (It just required some last-minute fixes first.)
If there's one thing David Benham isn't social distancing from, it's his convictions. So when police showed up outside a North Carolina abortion clinic that was still operating on Saturday and told his group to stop counseling pregnant moms, he didn't blink. If abortions can continue during the coronavirus, he insisted, then so should pro-life ministry.
As communities and our nation respond to the coronavirus sufferers with medical and economic aid, there is a role for the church -- on the front lines of our communities in a unique and personal way. As it says in 1 Corinthians 12:26, "If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it." People of faith must put loving hands to work, and there are many things we, the faith community, are uniquely able to do. But in this present crisis we have to have a paradigm shift; churches have to think and act outside the "box" -- the four walls of the church.
Hospitals aren't the only places bursting with people today. As of this morning, the second longest lines were probably at U.S. banks. Thanks to the Payroll Protection Program, business was anything but slow for tellers across the country who were trying to keep up with the flood of employers cashing in on the first day. But there was at least one group who didn't mind the crowds: faith leaders -- who, for once, were finally eligible for the government's relief!
Louisiana's been hit especially hard by the virus, but there's one kind of loss that pains everyone: a nurse. In New Orleans East Hospital, everyone's worst nightmare came true on Tuesday when Larrice Anderson became a victim of the infection she'd been fighting. The mom of two had been working in the ICU, caring for the sickest patients. But being on the front lines of the outbreak requires sacrifice -- and for Larrice, the ultimate one.
With much of the nation under "shelter in place" or "stay at home" advisories, most school buildings have closed, some for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year. There is a wide disparity among school districts in terms of how individual schools will help parents facilitate learning. American parents find themselves in an unprecedented situation: working from home (if they are so fortunate) while simultaneously serving as school teacher, administrator, and child wrangler.
How can you make financial decisions when everything's so uncertain? Are there things you can do that will protect you moving forward? Take a few minutes to listen to the advice from Dan Celia, president of Financial Issues Stewardship Management, from Thursday's "Washington Watch."
Senator Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) doesn't have a medical degree. But what he has, he jokes, are two eyes. And while the rest of the city was too spun up over impeachment to see straight, his sights were 7,500 miles away -- on a doomsday he worried was coming. Donald Trump, he tried to tell Congress, isn't the threat. China is.
If God is trying to get people's attention, a new Pew poll says He's succeeding. Turns out, the coronavirus hasn't just impacted people's lives, it's led to a growing outbreak of faith.
The white tents are all huddled together on the green lawn, a familiar cross logo on their sides. To the people in nearby skyscrapers, looking down at Central Park, the field hospital is another sign of how dramatically things have changed. The place where kids were happily kicking balls and walking dogs a month ago is gone -- replaced, like so much of New York City, with triage units.
Why is the virus so impossible to predict? According to Dr. Marc Lipstich, it's always changing -- and scientists have no choice but to change along with it. Hear what this Harvard epidemiologist has to say about the "second wave" and how seriously we should take the projections.
It wasn't the message Americans were hoping to hear. "The surge is coming," President Trump warned, "and it's coming pretty strong." He paused, thinking about the doctors and nurses he'd watched walking into hospitals that morning. "It's like military people going... into battle," he said soberly. And it's up to each one of us to determine who wins.
How easy is it to help your community in the crisis? Just pop your trunk! North of Dallas in Coppell, Texas, Pastor Tim Holland and his wife, Abigail, were praying for ways to join the virus relief efforts without making anyone sick. Suddenly, the idea came to them. A drive-up, drive-out approach that's helping to put food on the table in dozens of homes across the area.
"Unity" isn't a word people hear a lot in the Middle East, but in Israel, it might be the theme behind a new coalition government. In a world full of depressing news, America's ally might be on the verge of one of celebrating a development no one thought possible: a two-party rule.
When President Trump turned over the microphone to MyPillow founder Mike Lindell at the White House, liberals hit the fan at his advice for a quarantined America. Hear what led to the impromptu message -- and Mike's response to his critics -- on Tuesday's "Washington Watch."
Staying home can be tough, but it's nothing like the nightmare our health care workers are experiencing. For thousands of brave men and women across country, their office is no longer a hospital or ER -- it's a combat zone. "You spend hours in your [patient's] room," nurse Claudia Griffith wrote in an emotional post to the outside world, "gowned up head-to-toe, sweating and not able to breathe.
If there's one thing the coronavirus hasn't slowed down, it's the world's bullies! While the rest of the planet is busy trying to save people's lives, despots like North Korea's Kim Jung Un are busily firing missiles into the Japanese sea. Why? Because no one is paying attention... Or are they?
Idaho Governor Brad Little (R), facing a deadline to act upon bills passed by his state's legislature this year's session, signed two bills Monday to protect the integrity of classifications on the basis of biological sex. House Bill 500, the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, specifies that only biological females (as determined by reproductive anatomy, levels of natural testosterone, and genetic makeup) are permitted to compete on sports teams that are designated for females, girls, or women in public schools or colleges.
Christians are to blame for the coronavirus? New York City's mayor is threatening to shut down churches permanently? Hear Senator Josh Hawley's (R-Mo.) strong reaction to both controversies in his own words on Monday's "Washington Watch."
If Chinese officials weren't fans of the American media before, they are now. After weeks of taking all the heat for the coronavirus, the communist regime will be relieved to know that, according to the New York Times, they aren't to blame for this global pandemic. Evangelicals are.
The stories are gut-wrenching. They used sanitizer, kept a healthy distance, and refused to hug. But for one choir in Washington State, none of it mattered. By the end of the two-and-a-half-hour practice, 45 of the 60 people had been infected. Two will never sing again.
If there's one thing everyone admired about Senator Tom Coburn, it's that he was a fighter. He fought for America, for what was right, and -- since he was 28 years old -- for his life. The longtime doctor lost that battle over the weekend, finally succumbing to the cancer he'd managed to beat so many times before. At 72, he lived 40 years longer than most people gave him. But then, the biggest mistake anyone ever made was underestimating the gentleman from Oklahoma.
It was almost dusk when they pulled into the hospital parking lot, flashers on. For Midland, it had been a sobering few days. Like other parts of Texas, the first wave of virus patients hit this week -- leaving doctors and nurses alone to face the grim realities. Knowing their health care workers were probably exhausted and now isolated from their families, the tight-knit community had an idea: a car prayer chain, outside Midland Memorial Hospital.
A lot of Americans heard what Democrats tried to put in the coronavirus relief bill. What they don't know is: what's in it for them? Now that the aid package is headed to the president's desk, the question on a lot of people's minds is -- can it help me? And how soon?
With all of the challenges facing America right now, it's difficult to believe that anything but the coronavirus is being debated. But the country's business continues to go on, especially as it relates to the nation's military. While the rest of the country is busy fighting an unseen enemy, at least one commission is making plans for a time when the battle is more straightforward -- and our volunteer force isn't enough.
Louisianans are a tough bunch. They've ridden out hurricanes, bailed out floods, and rebuilt every time. Now, they're facing a much harsher test: a disaster no one can predict. "It's like preparing for an invisible hurricane," one nurse said. "But we don't know when landfall will be." What they do know is that no matter how prepared they are, it's not enough. Not this time.
It won't happen here. That's what Arkansas Pastor Mark Palenske thought when the coronavirus started claiming its first victims. Turns out, he was wrong. "When something like [COVID-19] touches the other side of the world, your first inclination is to assume that time and distance are on your side," he wrote. "That false assumption caught up with Dena and I this past week." Struggling with symptoms he and his wife can't shake, the Greers Ferry pastor has a message for America: take this crisis seriously.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) didn't exactly get the birthday present she was hoping for. Instead, the Democrat, who turns 80 today, was forced to watch the other chamber vote unanimously to pass a coronavirus relief package that largely ignored her last-minute grab bag of environmental, abortion, gender equity, union pork. "She exploited the opportunity of a deadly pandemic to inject the virus of [political extremism] when America was on its knees," the New York Post argued. And lost.
Some people won't know the name Li Wenliang. Nor will they have a chance to thank him. He died in China on February 7th of the plague he warned was coming. The Wuhan ophthalmologist was just 34 when his heart stopped, a husband and father -- with another baby on the way. "He wasn't an idealistic whistleblower. He was not a dissident. He wasn't even political," one reporter mourned. "He was simply a doctor doing his job." And for that, China silenced him. Permanently.
There may be people vying for President Trump's job, but right now, no one can envy it. It's not easy leading a country in the best of times. But now -- when the entire nation is at the mercy of a virus no one can predict? That's as difficult as it gets. As prepared as America was -- and no country was more so -- we're fighting a two-front war: one for the economy and one for American lives. Which battle should carry more weight? Right now, some people aren't so sure.
"We 100 percent plan to stay open," one abortion center in Northeast Ohio vowed. Well, not if pro-lifers have anything to do with it. National leaders from FRC to SBA List and more are doing everything they can to stop groups like Planned Parenthood from profiting in a time of coronavirus -- even if it means asking the Trump administration to intervene.
"Do Democrats even care?" It's a fair question -- and the editors at the Wall Street Journal aren't the only ones asking it. Here we are, in the middle of one of the greatest crises in American history, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) swooped into town to demand new curtains for the Kennedy Center. The $35 million for the performing arts hub is just one of the shockers in the House's 1,100-page virus relief counterproposal, which proves there will never be a shortage of one thing in D.C. -- pork peddlers.
If there's one thing the coronavirus has taught us, it's that people deal with a crisis like this in extremes. They either blow off the warnings and party on beaches or they operate in complete fear and paranoia -- refusing to step out of their homes. Are we making too much of the threat -- or is it real?
No one could understand it at first. Arkansas's Cleburne County isn't big -- but it still had the second-highest number of coronavirus cases. Eventually, local health officials started to piece it all together, a puzzle that led them straight to the doors of the Greer's Ferry First Assembly.
There's hardly a busier, more burdened man in America right now than President Trump. And yet on Friday, when he heard that Vice President Mike Pence was about to jump on an FRC conference call with 700 pastors, he asked if he could join. Hearing his voice was a surprise, even to me -- but hearing his earnest desire to stand with the faith leaders of America in crisis certainly wasn't.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves (R) is used to conducting business from his office -- not Sunday devotions. But over the past weekend, he decided -- America could use a little more of both.
As hard as it is to find things to be positive about right now, there is one thing Americans can celebrate: fewer abortions. In states like Texas, where all "non-essential medical procedures" have been postponed, unborn babies may be the safest population in the country. At least for now.
"The world owes China a thank you." To most people, the words from the Xinhua news service, hit like a ton of bricks. With the entire planet in crisis and leaders scrambling to stop another Great Depression, the communist regime is wrong. What the world is owed is an apology.
The government can't do everything. And Governor Pete Ricketts (R-Nebr.) knows it. With Nebraska's infection rates climbing, and more people hunkered down at home, the Cornhuskers decided to call in reinforcements: the church.
The streets are empty, but the Senate is full as members tackle another full day of debate over the government's coronavirus response. This morning, Democrats joined Republicans at the negotiating table, putting their heads together on what they hope will be the fastest and most effective way to stop the economic freefall. The goal? To reach an agreement before the end of the day.
If there were ever a time America should be grateful for its businessman-in-chief, it's now. The Left can say what it wants about Donald Trump, but the majority of people staring down this crisis have to take great comfort in the fact that the man at the helm was built to protect this economy. Even today, as the Senate dives into a third wave of relief, his expertise could very well make all the difference.
Down in Odessa, Texas, dinner isn't the only thing you can get by drive-thru -- so is church! Starting this Sunday, March 22, a pastor is announcing a new service from the parking lot. It's one of the many creative ideas congregations are trying to keep their church families safe and worshipping.
If people are looking at a map right now, it's for infection rates -- not "hate" hotspots. Try telling that to the anti-Christian Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) who picked this week, during a global pandemic, to suggest that the biggest threat facing America is conservatives! Rather than help communities with the virus, SPLC seems determined to divide them -- exposing, once again, where its real motives lie.
When the coronavirus hit Alabama, there was one thing Pastor Chris Hodges's church had that a lot of doctors' offices didn't: a big parking lot. For the last few days, that asphalt has been a saving grace to the people of Birmingham. By the thousands, they've come to Church of the Highlands -- which has just transformed into one of the largest testing sites in the city. And Church of the Highlands couldn't be happier.
Proactive verse reactive. Hong Kong, which shares a border with China, took quick action when the world had barely heard of the coronavirus. The result? They flattened the curve to prevent an unmanageable outbreak. Italy, on the other hand, reacted slowly, and the consequences have been disastrous.
No one is playing sports right now -- but when they do, Idaho is making sure the competitions are fair. Turns out, even the full weight of Nike (the athletic shoe company that benefits from the forced labor in China) couldn't convince the state legislature to turn the entire state of athletics on its head to please a handful of transgender activists. If the fringe wants to destroy women's sports, the message from Idaho is clear: try somewhere else.
"We're going big." Those were the president's words heading into a Senate debate over the latest coronavirus response. In Congress, where the bills are changing faster than the infection map, the White House is racing to strike the right balance between protecting America's economy -- and helping yours. Unfortunately, fiscal matters aren't the only concern as liberals echo what Rahm Emanuel, the former chief of staff for Barack Obama, said, "You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.
How do you love your neighbor from six feet away? That's a question churches across America are rallying to answer. This is a time for congregations to think and act outside the box -- or, in this case, the four walls of the church building.
In Sudan, Ishmael warns from behind a veiled screen, "it's very difficult to be a Christian." Like so many others, he should know. Sent to prison, where he was beaten until he couldn't stand. "There was no lawyer, no friend. There was nobody." He asked all of the difficult questions through the torture and suffering. "God, where are you? Why is this happening?" Until one day, he made a decision -- to love.
While lots of Americans are hunkered down at home, the U.S. Senate is holed up in its offices -- waiting for a crack at the House's coronavirus bill. And while there's a lot of uncertainty about what's actually in the package, Republican leaders won't have to contend with at least one thing: abortion funding.
"Hunger doesn't take a break at times like this." And neither does Second Harvest Heartland. For food bank workers like Allison O'Toole, the coronavirus is only part of the country's crisis. The other? Feeding struggling families and older people who don't want to leave their homes. But as the need intensifies, so are a lot of churches' efforts. And that's good news for everyone in these anxious times.
The government can do a lot of things to combat the virus. They can spend, test, isolate, and treat -- but nothing is as powerful or productive as calling the nation to its knees in prayer. And on Sunday, in response to the encouragement of several Evangelical leaders, President Trump did exactly that.
Congress's coronavirus bill was supposed to be about saving lives -- not taking them! But tell that to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who doesn't seem to mind exploiting a global tragedy to help out her pals at Planned Parenthood. Turns out, while Democrats are bashing the president for not working fast enough, they're bogging down the debate with secret language on abortion.
For pastors across the country, the coronavirus is creating a different kind of crisis. Through any other national disaster, emergency, or terrorist attack, the mission of the church seemed clear: to be a refuge, a help, a haven. Now, with governors like Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) calling on sanctuaries to close their doors, Christian leaders are facing a new challenge -- how to respond when the threat is in our pews?
Nike doesn't care what happens to people in their factories, so why should they care what happens to children at home? Bottom line: they don't. When the retail giant isn't pumping out shoes stitched together by China's Uyghur slaves, they're back in America arguing that we should let kids ruin their lives because it might be good for business. If there's one thing this brand must not care about, it's appearances.
There have been a lot of battles in his presidency, but never a faceless foe. For Donald Trump and the rest of the nation, the coronavirus is the enemy no one expected. Staring down a global menace, Michael Goodwin argued, Trump is now, effectively, a wartime president. "And his repeated assurances of victory were music to the ears of a rattled nation."
After three miscarriages, the news hit Kelly hard. She and her husband had tried for years to have a baby -- so when her fourth pregnancy tested positive for Down syndrome, they were shattered. Since Kelly was adamant about having their son, she hoped the doctors would give them some helpful advice. Instead, she says, they horrified her with worst-case scenarios. It's almost "like you're given a death sentence." When they got home later that day, she cried for hours.
"They usually arrive at night. They are barefoot, so you can't hear them coming unless they're on motorcycle. Sometimes a dog sounds the alert, sometimes a sentinel. Then a terrifying stampede, whirling clouds of dust, cries of encouragement from the invaders. Before villagers can take shelter or flee, the invaders are upon them in their houses, swinging machetes, burning, pillaging, raping. They don't kill everyone... They need survivors to spread fear from village to village, to bear witness that the Fulani raiders fear nothing but Allah and are capable of anything." -- Bishop Benjamin Kwashi
They were on their way to a wedding -- her wedding. Chatting away in the car, surrounded by her two best friends, Martha's mind was probably on last-minute details, the ceremony, the excitement of seeing everyone again. She and her fiancé were getting married New Year's Eve, just a few days away, near her family home in Adamawa State. It was a seven-hour trip from Maiduguri down the dusty, Nigerian roads. A trip that, for Martha and her bridesmaids, came to a sudden and horrifying end.
It seems counterintuitive, because it is. And yet, in the heat of a nationwide transgender debate, a group of "experts" has decided that puberty blockers, the same drugs linked to thousands of adult deaths, are good for kids. As part of a new Pediatrics article, three doctors claim to have found "positive mental health outcomes" for minors. That's interesting, a group of physicians is firing back, since only 2.5 percent of the children they studied actually took the drugs!
It's an anxious time for a lot of people -- and watching any amount of news can make it worse. As Christians, how do we deal with threats like the Coronavirus? With local stores wiped out of everything from toilet paper to hand sanitizer, it's hard not to get caught up in the hysteria. But God is faithful, and He's sovereign -- two things that FRC's Harold Harper and I focus on in a special segment about keeping your anxiety levels down while the rest of the world falls to pieces. How do we cope? How do we help our children cope?
Ben Baker is used to getting pushback. A conservative in the Missouri statehouse, he's been on the wrong side of the fringe Left before. But nothing compares to this. The dad of four is getting death threats at his office, violent messages on his phone -- all for trying to give parents a say on Drag Queen Story Hour.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, black women have the highest abortion rate in the country at 27.1 per 1,000 women compared with 10 per 1,000 for white women.
Joshua Payne-Elliott had worked at Cathedral High for 13 years. He knew the rules. So when the social studies teacher married another man, he knew he was putting his Catholic employer in an impossible situation. For 22 months, the Indianapolis Archdiocese and Joshua tried to talk it out. But eventually, there was nothing left to say. If Cathedral kept him, the school would be turning its back on Catholic teaching. If they let him go, they'd be inviting a legal firestorm. In the end, the school chose its beliefs.
If you're wondering who's running California, it's the eight-year-olds. That's where Assemblyman Evan Low (D) got his ridiculous idea to fine department stores that don't create gender-neutral aisles for clothes and toys. "I was inspired to introduce this bill," he said, after the third grader of one of his staffer's asked, "'Why should a store tell me what's a girl's shirt or toy is?'"
The two women hugged and started to cry. Stacked next to them in the office of Colorado's secretary of state were 29 boxes -- each one filled to the brim with petitions. For months, the organizers of "Due Date Too Late" had canvassed the state, desperate to find 124,632 signatures to protect life. They ended up with 13,868 more.
He'd planned on defending Chuck Schumer. The day before, John Kass's editor at the Chicago Tribune asked his longtime columnist if he was going to take the senator's side. "Yeah," Kass replied. "That was my intent." After all, he said, "We all say stupid things we regret." But, as John and the rest of the country were about to find out, the New York senator didn't regret it. Not really.
Are your shoes keeping thousands of China's Uyghurs locked away in factories, working like slaves? What about your cell phone or laptop? Based on the reports flying out of Xinjiang, a lot of Americans are walking around in high-tops stitched together by some of the most oppressed people on earth. And thanks to China's quiet partnership with Nike, Apple, Gap, Samsung, Sketchers, and others, nobody ever knew.
Jeffrey Smith didn't want to be a father. When his girlfriend told him she was pregnant, he told her to abort. Ending the pregnancy would be easy, he texted her. "You just have to take a pill." When she refused, he got angry and hatched a plan. While he was over at her house one night, he waited until she was in the bathroom and dropped a pill into her water bottle. Before she took another drink, she noticed the residue and called police. Days later, a Wisconsin crime lab confirmed it: the drug was RU-486, a chemical abortion pill.
At the end of last year, the Senate passed a bill that suddenly feels very ironic: the Security for Supreme Court Justices Act. With the country so divided, both parties seemed concerned the justices didn't have enough protection. Four months later, who could have dreamed the people they needed protection from were the Senate's own members?
Ten years ago, it might have taken six minutes to debate a bill like this -- if there was any debate at all. But this is 2020, when the conversations about something as straightforward as gender takes as many as six hours. Now, instead of overwhelming consensus on an issue that wouldn't have been an issue before, the margins are razor thin. Just how far has the cult of transgenderism gone? Not a single Democrat in the Arizona House voted Wednesday to protect women's sports.
Wednesday afternoon, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) used a hearing to highlight how the practice of stripping religious minorities of citizenship can be a precursor to mass atrocities -- and the witness testimonies all pointed fingers at India.
Nobody said puberty was easy. But it is necessary, Dr. Quentin Van Meter told Alabama legislators. He's practiced medicine for decades and, like a lot of doctors, can't believe that people are willing to throw pediatric science out the window just to satisfy a handful of transgender activists. After so many years treating kids, he says, it really is "hard to swallow."
A lot will be said about which way the Supreme Court might swing on the biggest abortion debate of the year. But it was out of an unlikely justice's mouth that the most profound question may have been asked. "How do [we] deal with this?" For Justice Stephen Breyer, even 24 years on the court don't offer a clear answer. "I have read the briefs. I understand there are good arguments on both sides." In a country where people have "very strong feelings" about abortion, days like this, he admitted, are difficult. Maybe, some of us thought sitting there in the Supreme Court chamber, because the court shouldn't be deciding these issues to begin with.
Markethia Clark will never forget that day. Looking across the table at a young lawyer named Mike Johnson, she shudders. "It was unusually bad," she told him. Denise had been the last patient of the night, so everyone was tired and anxious go home. Markethia wasn't in the surgery room when the screaming started. Looking at her coworkers in horror, they froze. "We were all alarmed," she said, "because screaming out loud like that is unusual." The abortion, they knew, had gone terribly wrong. But calling an ambulance, the doctor barked, was out of the question.
They are still coming home in caskets draped with American flags. On a lot of nights, when the transport plane touches down, the president will be there when the bodies make their final trip to U.S. soil, saluting as another son or daughter passes by. It's a horrible thing to watch, as President Trump did in February, a mother break free from the family tent and run to the metal ramp, wailing. One word is usually unmistakable: "No!"
Donald Trump knows a little about beating the odds. So when his good friend Benjamin Netanyahu called his own reelection "the biggest win" of his life, America's president could understand. To a raucous crowd, the Israeli prime minister said, "This is a victory against all the odds because we stood against powerful forces. They already eulogized us. Our opponents said the Netanyahu era is over." They couldn't have been more wrong.
For the hundreds of Uyghur girls walking through the factory's gates, it may not be a Xinjiang camp -- but it's a prison just the same. The barbed wire, the cameras, the heavy police presence, they're all a sickening reminder that the nightmare they've been living isn't over. It's just changed. Now, hunched over tables, stitching Nike's logo on endless pairs of shoes, they wonder which is worse: "reeducation" lessons or forced labor.
The Left seems to love creating hysteria and mocking Bible-believing Christians -- so they couldn't have asked for a better gift than the coronavirus. Not only does it give the media a chance to fuel the fear and fill headlines, but it's also given them a chance to take another whack at Vice President Mike Pence. Not because he's done anything wrong, of course. But because of what he believes.
Give the House conservatives credit. When it comes to protecting innocent life, there's no quit in this bunch. Despite hostile leaders at every turn, they've found creative ways to keep raising the issue of infanticide. For months, they've used every tool at their disposal, even managing -- this past Friday -- to turn a bill about vaping into a debate about born-alive protections.
If you're wondering what Washington would look like with a radical liberal in charge, Thursday's House hearing was a pretty good preview. Maybe you're thinking we already know what to expect after eight years of Barack Obama -- but trust us. As bad as the last administration was on religious freedom, those policies would feel like a love pat compared to the army of the new Left.
Mike Gonzalez doesn't like to write about his family. "I like to write about ideas," says the Heritage Foundation's senior fellow. But when the 2020 race started turning into a socialism love-fest, he decided it was time to speak up. His family came from Cuba -- and not the one Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) describes.
Liberal journalists may be part of the fake news crisis, but that doesn't mean they all want to be. ABC's David Wright made that abundantly clear on an undercover Project Veritas video that led to the correspondent's suspension. Sure, he may have radical views (he openly calls himself a "socialist" in the footage), but even he sees the values in reporting the truth. Unfortunately for him and so many others, his bosses at ABC don't.
Rob Hoogland can't turn back time and save his daughter. He wishes more than anything that he could. A year ago, he and his wife had a perfectly healthy child. Now, "that perfectly healthy child has been altered and destroyed for absolutely no good reason." And millions of parents are getting up every day completely oblivious to the fact that their daughter could be next.
How is killing off future customers good for business? Justin Danhof has no idea, but he's raising an important question now that some of America's biggest brands are starting to become major players in the abortion debate. Shareholders have already started changing the boardroom conversations, he warns. And conservatives, Danhof says, need to start speaking up.
"The worship, spiritual, and geo-political understanding that FRC contributes to the trip makes it an experience not to be missed!" That's just what one of our supporters said about Family Research Council's last trip to Israel. Of our first two trips to the Holy Land, others described their experience as "priceless", "beyond amazing", "exceptional", and "...much more than we ever expected."
After a while, even the most hardened doctors would admit it gets to them. For Dr. Anthony Levatino, it happened suddenly. He was in the middle of a dismemberment abortion -- holding the first piece of the baby he'd torn apart -- when he abruptly stopped. "I didn't want to continue," he said. "But I had to, because... if we don't get all of the parts out, the woman will get sick, get an infection, [or] even die." He kept working. But by the end, when he looked at the pile of little body parts he'd removed -- a pile similar to the dozens he'd made before -- something was different.
"What the heck is that?" Senator Ben Sasse (R-Nebr.) demanded. A CNN reporter, in a desperate bid to tie infanticide to the abortion debate, had coined an interesting phrase: "a fetus that was born." Caroline Kelly was trying to keep to the Democrats' talking points by describing Sasse's bill as a measure that would "require abortion providers to work to 'preserve the life and health' of a fetus that was born following an attempted abortion as they would for a newborn baby." There's just one problem. A fetus that was born is a newborn baby.
He was just a first-year pediatric resident when a hospital housekeeper came to him, panicked. "There's a baby," she said, "crying on the garbage can of the treatment room." Wide-eyed, Dr. Rocco Pascucci opened the door and saw him -- wrapped in a hospital blanket, wailing. Without a second thought, he reached out for the newborn boy and rushed him to a warmer, starting oxygen and an artery line. Dr. Pascucci never stopped to think why the baby had been left there. He just did what anyone would. Anyone, it turns out, except 41 members of the U.S. Senate.
It started as just one rogue Wisconsin school, showing their LGBT pride. Now, five years later, it's a national public-school movement -- and most parents have no idea it's happening.
When people ask Jeremy Chong about his Friday night plans, they don't get the typical college sophomore response. He and his friends usually head to downtown Chicago. But the point isn't to party -- it's to evangelize. And thanks to federal judge, the group of Wheaton students can finally resume that without harassment.
In today's divisive society, legislation that places any limit on abortion is immediately protested by abortion providers and activists, usually followed by lawsuits, and sometimes judicial prohibition. This is true of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, even though this proposed legislation does not address an abortion provision at all. It merely mandates medical care for an infant if he is born alive after a failed attempt at abortion.
Even in California, you have to be 18 to get a tattoo, 16 to drive a car, 21 to buy a gun, alcohol, or pot. But if you want to change your gender? Well, then, you just have to be 12. And your public school will be more than happy to help.
In the real world, no one would keep paying for a service that didn't work -- especially if it was hurting the people using it. But that's exactly what's been happening for years under "comprehensive sex ed." It's not making any difference on behavior, a new study says -- and worse, it's probably damaging kids in the process.
Their case wasn't technically over -- but eight months ago, when the Supreme Court ruled on the Bladensburg cross, the city of Pensacola, Florida couldn't help cheering. If the justices thought removing a large Maryland cross memorial was "hostil[ity] toward religion," then it certainly boded well for Florida's Bayview version too. Turns out, they were right.
Imagine dropping your son off at school, never knowing that he lives a completely different existence as a girl for eight hours a day -- and everyone knows it but you. And not only do teachers know it, but they go to great lengths to hide it. That's the reality in Madison, Wisconsin, where moms and dads have been furious to find out that not only is the district keeping their children's gender expression a secret, but there's an elaborate scheme in place to keep parents from ever finding out!
Senators Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) must really miss the days of Barack Obama, when faith-based groups were treated like second-class citizens when it came to government programs. Every time a member of the president's team rolls back a rule and levels the playing field, the northwest Democrats kick and scream. For people who talk about equality so much, Senate liberals sure don't understand it.
Nigeria ranks the 12th worst in the world for Christian persecution. The situation is so bad that several religious liberty advocates -- including FRC -- have asked the president to appoint a special envoy to the region to stop the abduction of so many innocents and the bloodbath that continues to affect so many people of faith.
They are the vanishing. Brothers, husbands, grandparents, who never come home. For Rozinisa Memet Tohti, the day came when her family just suddenly stopped returning her calls. Miles away from China in Istanbul, she'd heard the rumors of round-ups, the nightmarish stories hidden deep in Xinjiang's camps. Three years went by without a single word. Until one day, recently, when she got her hands on a set of leaked documents, listing the targeted Uyghurs. There, on the spreadsheet's row 358, she saw her sister's name. "Re-education camp #4, March 7, 2018."
Her abortion was supposed to be "100-percent effective." That's what doctors told Sofia Khan when she found out her unborn son had spina bifida. "We were heartbroken," she told the U.K.'s Sun, "but we made the decision to terminate. We felt it was best for the baby, but even so, I had moments of doubt and guilt." But that doubt and guilt gave way to horror the day her procedure came -- and her baby was born alive.
"In remembering the legacy of extraordinary black Americans, why does Clarence Thomas always go ignored?" That's the question FRC's Ken Blackwell asks in a new column for USA Today. "Thomas's life trajectory, which took him from a broken family and brutal poverty in the segregated south to the United States Supreme Court -- where he is now the longest serving justice -- is exactly what we should celebrate this month and all year long," he argues.
It's one of the saddest, most predictable "I-told-you-so" moments of our generation. The Boy Scouts, where future moon walkers and presidents learned the virtues and value of leadership, has finally collapsed. Turns out, the decade of compromise hasn't been kind to the Scouts, who turned in their moral compass seven years ago to chase the approval of critics it could never win. Now, deep into the BSA's self-imposed identity crisis, the group is filing for bankruptcy -- an unhappy ending we all warned was coming.
Eugenics made international headlines over the weekend after comments previously made by Andrew Sabisky, a newly-appointed aide to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, resurfaced.
Monday, I led a group of California pastors to the San Diego border sector to see firsthand what's actually happening on our southern border. It was an eye-opening experience for the pastors, as it was for me when I made my first trip to border last year. While there's no denying that there was a crisis at the border last year when thousands tried to enter the U.S. illegally or gain asylum, the liberal and media's narrative is a far cry from reality.
"We will cut you. We will kill you. We will do anything we want to you." The threat, Arjun and Neha knew, was real. Banished from the village well -- the only source of water -- the family left, carrying what they could hold. They had just become Christians, and like a lot of places in India, the decision to follow Jesus was a dangerous one. "God didn't call me to a life of comfort," one of the persecuted said. "But He does promise to walk with me."
Sunday morning, I joined my good friend, Pastor Jack Hibbs, at Calvary Chapel Chino Hills for their three morning services. While I was there, we did something we've never done before: the two of us sat down and had a conversation about how we as followers of Jesus should respond to government and politics. The basis for our discussion wasn't our opinions but what Scripture says.
"A great country can't borrow a trillion dollars a year," Stephen Moore warned. Nobody has to tell Donald Trump that. The man who's responsible for the economic boom knows a thing or two about finance. So maybe, when he sends a budget plan to Congress, they should listen.
It's not every day that Ruth Bader Ginsburg says something conservatives agree with. So when the 86-year-old Supreme Court justice told a group of Georgetown law students that she thinks the Left's Equal Rights Amendment is dead, people noticed.
It sounds like an episode of "The Americans" or a best-selling Tom Clancy novel. But when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looked into the faces of 40 governors and warned them that China had infiltrated their states, he wasn't kidding. They're hiding in the shadows of our schools, our lobbying meetings, even our business dinners. And no one, he said evenly, knows it's happening.
First, they attacked America. Then adoption. Now, women. Honestly, with such a busy schedule of political extremism, it's a mystery how Nike has time to sell anything. But for all of the company's radical campaigns, it's Nike's latest that's really raising eyebrows. The retail titan is picking a side in the transgender sports debate -- and it isn't girls'.
In the transgender debate, even Bert and Ernie are puppets for the Left! Incredibly, "Sesame Street," the once-beloved kids' show, is making the best case for defunding PBS yet: inviting drag queen Billy Porter on to teach kids the virtues of gender confusion.
"Can you look me in the eye and tell me that I shouldn't be alive?" That was the question 14 abortion survivors never got to ask America. Fox Sports, the host of this year's Super Bowl, refused to air their ad. Maybe they were afraid of creating controversy. Or maybe, they were worried about putting a real face on this thing called "choice." Either way, it's a question our country needs to answer. And Tuesday morning, Senate Republicans looked at their colleagues and did.
Not everybody gets a second chance at life. When Walt did, he only wanted to do one thing: free others. He traced back the painful parts of his life -- the surgeries, the hurt, anger, and abuse, and started writing. In a world where activists are fighting to castrate and mutilate children, he realized that staying quiet was no longer an option. He went public, pleading with society to understand the harm in gender change, "not because I was a psychiatrist, college professor, or some extraordinarily brilliant guy," he admits, "but because of living it."
700 kids. That's how many students would have lost their scholarships -- and a chance at a better life -- if Fifth Third Bank hadn't come to its senses. Instead, after a week of uncertainty, the company sat down with Florida parents and pastors and decided not to listen to Florida's cultural bullies. It's one thing for a company to support LGBT extremism. It's quite another, the bank agreed, to hurt needy children in the process.
Nike loves selling kids shoes -- it just doesn't care if they have a home to wear them in. That's the amazing revelation from a new campaign against Tennessee adoption. The sports giant, which is still on a lot of Americans' you-know-what list after dissing the national anthem, isn't doing itself any favors by signing a letter telling Christians to get out of the childcare business.
If there's any state that should've learned the importance of national security, it's New York. And yet, even after terrorists turned the Twin Towers into two gigantic craters, the state's liberals haven't learned those painful lessons. Instead of being more careful about who enters the country, they're throwing open the doors to criminals and illegals alike. And this president isn't about to stand by and watch.
If there were ever a time the nation needed prayer, it's now. The morning after America's long impeachment nightmare finally came to an end, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) spoke for everyone when he said at this morning's National Prayer Breakfast, "The Lord works in mysterious ways. I do not think he could have picked a better day to bring us all together."
It was the story that started November 8, 2016. And finally, 1,184 days later, the U.S. Senate finally wrote the last chapter -- acquitting the president of his only true crime: being elected.
Lynn Meagher seriously considered killing herself. Desperate, tormented, and out of options, she went to see a therapist. How should she cope, she cried, knowing that two of her children wanted nothing to do with her? Two children, who, through horrible, mutilating surgeries, destroyed the bodies she'd carried inside her? "I felt I was living in a dream, a nightmare," she says quietly. That nightmare, the one she wouldn't wish on her worst enemy, is real. And from now on, every time you walk through the door of a Starbucks, you're telling moms like Lynn you couldn't care less.
What kind of people would kick needy kids out of good schools? Big Business, that's who. In Florida, companies like Wells Fargo and Fifth Third Bank are dropping out of a scholarship program -- all because some of the private schools have religious beliefs. Apparently, these CEOs think the LGBT agenda is more important than giving low-income kids the chance to succeed. Unfortunately for them, most parents across the state disagree -- and aren't about to let the vouchers go quietly.
"My heart is filled with love for Jesus. My mouth cannot proclaim something different." Such was the defiant stance of one Iranian Christian in the face of persecution by his own government, even with his family pleading with him to denounce the Lord. As Iranian Christian Dabrina Bet Tamraz told us today, "[t]hey go to prison, they proclaim Jesus. They come out of prison, they proclaim Jesus." In Iran today, visions are so common that fellow believers ask each other if they have seen Jesus -- they expect the experience to be shared by others.
After being kicked out of a few U.K. venues over his faith, Rev. Franklin Graham joined "Washington Watch" Tuesday night to talk about his tour across the ocean and why his message is inclusive, not hateful. He also explains why President Trump's record has made all the difference -- not just for Christians here, but all around the world. You can hear that and more in our conversation below.
It's no secret that college campuses are liberal, but what is news is just how liberal they've become. According to a new study published by the National Association of Scholars, your teenager probably has a better chance of landing on the moon than having a conservative professor. And unless that changes, America needs to start rethinking this whole idea of "higher education."
"It's an absolute nightmare for a mother to live through." Elaine Davidson's voice shook as she talked. "I found out about the surgeries after the fact," she says haltingly. It was social media, she explained, where she first saw the photo of her daughter's chest -- bloody bandages covering the places where her breasts had been cut off. Elaine's daughter was 17. She had a double mastectomy and hysterectomy without her parents ever knowing -- and without a single psychologist signing off.
What does Christianity have to do with the quality of chocolate? A lot, according to Swiss Air. The company just announced that it's cutting ties with Läderach, one of its high-end sweets suppliers, because the owner happens to be a believer. And not just any believer, but a pro-life, pro-marriage evangelical. According to the international airliner, the sky is the limit for that.
The ongoing protests against the Iranian government and the harsh blowback protestors are receiving from their regime have put Iran back into focus in the international news cycle. Yet, other human rights violations of the Iranian regime remain largely unreported, including the consistent and ongoing violations against Christians and Iran's other religious minorities.
Pro-life group Faces of Choice recently created a powerful ad that seeks to show "the many faces of survivors of abortion, to put a face to the 'choice' of ending life." They spent considerable time and money hoping that the ad would air on Super Bowl Sunday. However, according to Faces of Choice executive director Lyric Gillett, when they pitched the ad to Fox Sports, they were completely ignored. After complying with legal inquires and storyboard approvals, Faces of Choice did not even get the courtesy of a "yes" or a "no" response.
January is both Human Trafficking Awareness Month and Sanctity of Human Life Month. These issues have more in common than people may realize. Across numerous global studies of sex-trafficking survivors, abortion is a consistent part of the story. Both abortion and sex-trafficking are businesses that exploit women, sometimes in tandem as organizations such as Planned Parenthood enable the abuse for profit. And both are an affront to human dignity.
This weekend while in Florida for our Stand Courageous men's conference in Pensacola, Tony Perkins will be preaching the 9:15 and 10:45 a.m. services at Marcus Pointe Baptist Church. If you are in the neighborhood, please join us for worship!
A recent review of U.S. special operations forces pointed to a leadership crisis in our military, concluding that leadership, discipline and accountability must be strengthened at all levels. West Point Military Academy, which is supposed to be the Army's preeminent leader development institution, hasn't been immune to this breakdown in leadership. Earlier this month, West Point cadets attended "Honorably Living Day," a mandatory event dedicated to promoting diversity and feminist thought where facilitators discouraged what they called "toxic masculinity."
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court began hearing oral arguments in an important religious freedom case, Espinoza v. Montana. At the heart of this case is whether or not parents can choose to send their children to the school that is best for them, even if that school happens to be a religiously affiliated one.
Yesterday, President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveiled the long-awaited Middle East peace plan. The 180-page plan, officially titled "Peace to Prosperity: A Vision to Improve the Lives of the Palestinian and Israeli People" offers one of the most comprehensive attempts to broker a deal between the Israelis and Palestinians in decades.
When students at East Ridge High School in Lick Creek, Kentucky turned a school locker into a prayer locker, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State rushed to stop it. It appears that the idea of students submitting prayer requests other students could pray for was just too much for the anti-religion activists to take. Accused of a supposed "violation of the separation of church and state," the school was quick to pull the plug on the student prayer effort. Yet, one bold sophomore, Emily Chaney, didn't give up so easily.
Last Friday, on the morning of the March for Life, HHS Secretary Alex Azar announced live from FRC's ProLifeCon that the Trump administration would be cracking down on California for forcing all insurance plans in the state, including churches, to cover abortion. The Weldon Amendment is a federal law ensuring that states do not discriminate against health care providers for refusing to cover abortion.
The Stand Courageous team was on the road again over the weekend, partnering with Dr. Pete Kunkle, Senior Pastor, and Men's Ministry Director Roy Jones for the sixth annual Men's Summit at First Christian Church in Kernersville, NC. The church was packed and chairs were brought out to accommodate the crowd of over 750 men, who were challenged with various aspects of the theme: "Restoring Biblical Manhood."
Seventy-five years ago today, the largest Nazi concentration camp and extermination camp was liberated by allied forces, but not before an estimated 1.1 million people were murdered between 1940 and 1945. January 27th has since been recognized as International Holocaust Remembrance Day, so that the world might never forget the 6 million European Jews killed in Holocaust.
Since that horrible Monday in 1973 -- the day our Supreme Court signed the death warrant for millions of unborn children -- America has had four pro-life presidents. Not one of them appeared at a March for Life rally -- until today. When Donald Trump walked across the stage at the National Mall, in front of a sea of pro-lifers, he wasn't just making a statement. He was cementing a legacy.
President Trump wasn't the only one making history at this year's March for Life. HHS Secretary Alex Azar put an even bigger exclamation point on the day when he broke news at FRC headquarters about new action the agency was taking. After four years of watching California attack its own people, HHS is finally saying, "Enough." If the state can't be bothered to follow the law, Secretary Azar has decided to make them pay for it -- in federal funds, if necessary.
Kathi Aultman is the abortion industry's worst nightmare. "I've killed more people than Ted Bundy," she admits. Coming to grips with the fact that she was "a professional mass murderer," as she called it, wasn't easy, but it has given this former abortion doctor a compelling reason to speak truth. And that truth, she insists, is that the abortion industry is a dark and nightmarish place that never, ever puts women first. She's been behind the curtain of "choice" -- and what she saw has changed her, and whoever will listen, forever.
FRC has been working with allies to advance pro-life policies in Washington, D.C. for years. But with congressional Democrats stalling progress in the nation's capital, the "action" has shifted to the states, where pro-life legislators have made huge gains in the past 10 years.
Hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers will join President Trump on the National Mall for the annual March for Life at noon tomorrow. But before that, FRC will be hosting our own one-of-a-kind pro-life event at 8:30 in the morning: the ProLifeCon Digital Action Summit.
Fred Deutsch didn't set out to be a trailblazer. He just wanted to protect kids. But if his South Dakota bill stops children from being mutilated, then all of the nasty emails will have been worth it. At least in one state, hurting teens will have a chance at a normal life -- not the suffering so many activists are pushing them toward.
If you flipped through newspapers from that day, January 22, 1973, it may surprise people to know that the Supreme Court's decision on Roe v. Wade wasn't the biggest headline. President Lyndon Johnson had died, forcing the story about America's darkest verdict into smaller font, below tributes to the "Great Society." Looking back, the parallel was probably fitting -- a nation in mourning, any which way it turned.
The liberal media couldn't have dreamed up a better scenario. In their ongoing quest to smear Christians, they'd found the perfect martyr: a sweet-looking teenage girl, who'd been expelled from her religious school for posing with a rainbow cake. Her parents, Kimberly and Mark Kenney, helped their cause -- playing dumb to reporters and insisting the LGBT symbolism was just a coincidence. The press ate up the story that their daughter, Kayla, was unfairly targeted. There's just one problem: none of it was true.
Her son, Sgt. Cole Wixom, was killed on duty -- almost one year ago today. His body was flown home to Michigan a week later, but along the way, his mom says, someone gave the soldier accompanying his remains a dog tag with a Bible verse on it. In a letter, she tells Kenny Vaughan, the founder of Shields of Strength, that she's "worn it ever since, along with the dog tag that was attached to his coffin. I can barely see the writing anymore. It's tarnished, but I know what it says. It says, 'I will be strong and courageous. I will not be afraid. I will not be discouraged.' You have no idea," the grieving mom said, "what this little piece of metal has meant to me...'"
There's never been a more dangerous time to just "skim the headlines." If you're lucky, you'll only get half the story. And in the case of the faith-based adoption debate, not even that! Just ask Tennessee, the latest state to agree that everyone has a right to participate.
The wind howled and banged against the shutters, but the people inside didn't care. Despite the rain and thunder, the crowd just kept growing. One by one, they'd file in, taking off their dripping coats and finding a seat in the pews, more anxious about the other storm brewing in America than this one. It was April 3, 1968 in Memphis. And no one knew that the man they'd come to see -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. -- was about to give the last speech of his life.
There's a day in everyone's life that helps define them. For Jewher Ilham, that date was February 2, 2013. She and her dad woke up that morning, thinking they were on their way to America. "It was supposed to be an adventure." Instead, it was the start of another journey -- the story of a teenage daughter, who China turned into a global freedom fighter.
A religious test shouldn't be used for public service, and it shouldn't be used for public funding either! And thanks to President Trump's string of announcements Thursday, Christians shouldn't have anything to worry about.
"Refreshingly sane." It's not everyday those two words are used to describe the circuit courts. But, then again, it's not every day -- at least anymore -- that those circuit courts are packed with liberal activists. Thanks to the White House, one in every four circuit judges is now a Donald Trump appointee, who respects the boundaries of the constitution. And after seeing the kind of transgender pronoun insanity being debated in Kyle Duncan's court, conservatives couldn't be more grateful.
He was a president -- a man who doubled the size of our country, abolished the international slave trade, even developed the plans for West Point. When the Library of Congress was demolished in the War of 1812, he single-handedly restocked it. He invented the polygraph, swivel chairs, the dumbwaiter, message encoders, a form of the pedometer, even the macaroni noodle. He was America's first secretary of state, its father of intellectual property rights. But as impressive as those accomplishments are, they weren't what mattered to him. When Thomas Jefferson died, not one of these things appeared on his tombstone.
"Y'all don't do that again." Eighth grader Hannah Frost looked up in surprise. It was her Honey Grove Middle School principal, Mr. Frost, walking toward the table where she and a few classmates were standing. One of their friends had been in a car crash, and they'd gone to an empty corner of the lunchroom to pray. If they wanted to keep this up, he told them the next day, they'd better move behind a curtain, meet alone outside, or hide out in the gym. Hannah was stunned. Since when did it become a problem to pray together, she wondered? Since never, attorneys said.
Her name isn't Hae Woo, but, like a lot of traumatized North Koreans, she doesn't want to take any chances. "I'm a believer," she says, "because of my husband -- because of the things he told me and my children about Jesus. 'You cannot see Him,' he would say, 'but He is alive and working.'" That became harder to believe when he was taken from them, locked away in a prison where he would die.
Ten seconds. That's all the time he had to make a decision: fire on the target or not. The officer on duty fired. And the entire world, as we know it, changed. When the Ukrainian plane fell out of the sky that day, killing 176 innocent men, women, and children, the wreckage didn't end at the crash site. Iran itself was in ruins. Days later, people still march on Tehran's streets -- their fury, sources say, only growing.
The Space Force just got off the ground -- but thanks to secularists, it's already logged its first controversy! Over the weekend, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) flew into a rage when pictures surfaced of the Air Force's Chief of Chaplains having a Bible blessed at the National Cathedral for anyone who wanted to be sworn in on this "official" Space Force copy.
If he sensed the irony, he didn't show it. "We want to be a no-kill state," Governor Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) said. It was a jarring statement coming from Newsom, leader of one of the most prolific taxpayer-funded abortion operations in the country. But of course, Gavin wasn't talking about people -- he was talking about pets.
"I had a small hope that maybe ISIS would not come," Thabet says, remembering, as he and the reporter drove the long road toward Mosul. But within hours, everyone he loved and knew had fled. Thirteen thousand Christians vanished, scattered miles from the Nineveh Plain, in hiding. They slept in courtyards, unfinished apartment buildings, churches, camps -- while waves of terrorists burned their way through their towns.
What in the world is a "gender snowperson?" Ask your fourth grader. In Massachusetts, that's how schools are teaching nine-year-olds to "never assume boys have penises." Welcome to sex education, Planned Parenthood-style. And, if the state's extremists get their way, Frosty's friend is just the beginning.
Religious Freedom Day isn't until Thursday, but Governor Pete Ricketts (R-Nebr.) is getting a head start on the celebration. The longtime conservative didn't waste any time promoting the occasion, which marks the date that Virginia passed its 1786 statute that laid the foundation for our First Amendment.
If Donald Trump is the problem in Iran, liberal Democrats are the only ones who think so. After days of trying to extract a pound of flesh from the president for killing a terrorist mastermind, the far-Left is surprisingly quiet now that the Iranian people are mobbing the streets shouting "Death!" to something other than America. Turns out, the country's crusade for freedom isn't nearly as useful to their 2020 hopes as painting Trump as a universally-hated warmonger -- something these weekend demonstrations go a long way to disproving.
It may be the off-season for baseball, but St. Louis Cardinals' player Adam Wainwright is pitching something else: a Bible-reading plan for fans. The 38-year-old veteran, who just signed a 2020 contract with the team, is hoping people step up to the plate for a year-long trip through the Scriptures.
Just because you're elected to Congress doesn't mean you understand the Constitution. Back in 2011, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute was shocked to find out that less than half of America's elected officials could name the three branches of government. Nine years later, not much has changed. Today's Democrats still don't understand the difference between the executive branch and legislative branch -- or they'd stop trying to tell Donald Trump how to do his job. The president doesn't need a permission slip from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to run the military. But based on the debate over this week's War Powers Resolution, that's news to her.
As many as 10,000 women walk through the doors of a Louisiana abortion clinic every year -- and any one of them could face life-threatening complications. Imagine telling one of those moms that her doctor couldn't admit her to a hospital to get help. The Center for Reproductive Rights can. In fact, they're so heartless that they're suing to keep these women from getting the emergency care they need. Why? Because at the deepest core of the abortion industry, they don't care about patients. They care about profits. I know -- because as a state legislator, I saw it.
Five teenagers from Berlin made international news earlier this week when they brutally attacked and sexually assaulted a 68-year-old Jewish man on his way to visit the Putlitzbrücke Holocaust memorial. This came just a day after a Jewish man was subjected to antisemitic slurs and physically attacked on the Berlin subway. Such alarming antisemitic attacks are on the rise across the globe and especially in Europe, posing a serious threat to Jewish communities everywhere. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) yesterday sought to address this issue in a congressional hearing on Global Efforts to Counter Anti-Semitism.
Actress Michelle Williams thinks abortion helped advance her career. In Jeff Van Drew's district, it could've ended his. Fortunately, after months of disgust over Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) agenda, the New Jersey congressman walked away -- leaving behind, not just a radical party, but an inhumane platform. And while the defection only became official a few days ago, the new Republican is already making his mark.
There were no champagne corks popping, no crystal balls dropping in Wang Yi's new year. The pastor of Early Rain Covenant Church was in prison, spending his second January 1st in a dark cell, charged with a crime Americans commit every day: worshipping Jesus.
Ignored by most media outlets amid coverage of the escalating conflict with Iran and the ongoing impeachment saga was a significant development last week within American evangelicalism. On Friday, representatives of the United Methodist Church tentatively agreed on a proposal that would split the nation's second largest Protestant denomination over "fundamental differences" regarding the "interpretation of Scripture, theology, and practice."
For once, Planned Parenthood is being honest about its number-one mission: abortion. And thanks to the organization's latest annual report, Americans are seeing just how profitable that mission has been.
It's not easy to be a man in today's culture. But no matter where you are in life as a father or grandfather -- whether you're single or married, a son or brother, God has called you to a specific role. And that's tough, especially now, with biblical masculinity under assault. General Boykin and I talked about this not too long ago in a special segment on "Washington Watch."
President Trump doesn't share a lot of Barack Obama's views -- especially when it comes to the mission of the State Department. After eight years, it was obvious that the 44th president was more interested in domineering than diplomacy. Even now, pockets of his cultural imperialism live on, deep inside the agency that Trump has tried desperately to clean up.
For the 11th straight year, January has been declared National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Through a presidential proclamation issued on December 31, President Trump intends to raise awareness about the estimated 24.9 million adults and children who "are trapped in a form of modern slavery around the world, including in the United States," and to prevent the future trafficking of many more people who may be vulnerable. As we enter January 2020, National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month is an opportunity for Americans to learn about the human rights violations happening all around them -- even in plain sight.
Have you ever been to a place that's really, really dark? I've had that experience a few times. Once, I was traveling in the desert at night -- miles from any town -- and as the sun went down, the darkness became absolutely profound. Most of us live around the lights of cities and houses and rarely see real darkness. As the night matured, the brilliance of the light from the countless stars pierced the black of that desert night. The sight was astonishingly breathtaking.
Yesterday, Mark Galli, the outgoing editor-in-chief of Christianity Today published a scathing editorial calling for President Trump to be removed from office. Within hours, the article went viral as the mainstream media rushed to capitalize on what they believed was an opportunity to exploit a divide in President Trump's evangelical supporters. The article was shared on social media so many times that CT's website temporarily crashed and throughout much of today "Christianity Today," "evangelical," and "Billy Graham" while maybe not the best indicator of interest, those terms were ranked higher on Twitter's list of trending stories than last night's Democratic debate.
Earlier this year, it only took the new Democrat majority in the House of Representatives one day into the 116th Congress before they began to pick a fight over longstanding pro-life and pro-family policies in the annual appropriations process. In a move to reopen the government after a 35-day partial shutdown, Appropriations Chairwomen Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) introduced a funding bill with language to repeal President Trump's Mexico City Policy, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion providers overseas.
Among the many things I've observed in my nearly two decades here in D.C. is that criticism flows freely while words of affirmation are usually reserved for funerals. We have tried to buck that trend at FRC by recognizing those who serve well. We honor them at events and express appreciation to leaders who do the right thing.
"Who am I"? Could this most basic of questions be at the heart of what is driving the identity politics that dominate our present cultural and political moment? Author and Senior Fellow at the Faith and Reason Institute Mary Eberstadt has written a provocative and challenging new book, Primal Screams: How the Sexual Revolution Created Identity Politics, which proposes and develops this novel theory.
Their news may be fake, but their glee over impeachment is not! Liberal members of the media were beside themselves with joy at Wednesday's "solemn" occasion -- the House vote on impeachment. Like Democrats, who celebrated the 218th vote like they'd won the Masters, Washington Post reporters clinked glasses in one photo. They were all smiles until Rachael Bade's "Merry Impeachmas!" tweet started dropping jaws -- reminding Americans what "objective journalism" looks like now.
Impeachment has been a flop on a lot of fronts -- but especially when it comes to hurting the president politically. Not only has the sham process boosted Donald Trump's approval ratings, but it's made people think twice about his 2020 opposition. In polling at Axios, the president is leading every Democratic candidate in head-to-head match-ups -- something that seemed downright impossible a few months ago. At this rate, when the curtain drops on November, the only thing Donald Trump will be saying to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is "thank you."
Under the First Amendment, religious schools have the right to choose who teaches their faith. This constitutional provision is called the ministerial exception. The Ninth Circuit threatened the rights of two Catholic schools, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. James Catholic Schools. In both of these schools, where religion teachers play a significant role in the spiritual development of the students, teachers were dismissed for poor performance. Despite the concerns over the spiritual well-being of their students, the Ninth Circuit held that the schools could not remove these teachers.
When Democrats get done impeaching Donald Trump, maybe they'll move on to Neil Gorsuch. After all, the Supreme Court justice probably met their definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" just by saying "Merry Christmas!" Judging by the hysterical reaction to his transcript this week, it won't be long until the subpoenas start flowing. How dare a public official invoke the real reason schools, governments, and businesses close their doors on December 25. Doesn't he know it's supposed to be a merry non-religious specific day off in winter?
We've seen stranger things during the Christmas season, but Netflix's latest stunt isn't turning out to be a blockbuster with Christians. It's supposed to be a comedy, but most Brazilians -- where the show originated -- aren't laughing. "The First Temptation of Christ" is about a Jesus who identifies as gay, "has relations," and refuses to preach the Bible -- a not-so-side-splitting plot to a predominately Catholic nation. In fact, the idea is so controversial that more than 1.8 million people have signed a Portuguese petition calling on Netflix to pull this "clear attack on Christianity" and issue an apology.
No matter how many times the Supreme Court says "no," the Left keeps targeting Christians. The latest act of blatant hostility comes from Bozeman, Montana, where the high school revoked the Fellowship of Christian Athletes' (FCA) status as an official student club. What did the club do to lose its official status after five years? Absolutely nothing. But the FCA does require its adult leaders -- not students -- to affirm biblical standards of sexuality. When four high school girls complained, the school board demanded the FCA club abandon its biblical principles or lose its official status.
Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry isn't a prude. In fact, he used to roll his eyes at his Christian friends, who he thought were exaggerating the dangers of pornography. Not anymore. This Frenchman, who believes eroticism "is one of God's greatest gifts to humankind," no longer scoffs the feminists' warnings or puritan concerns. "I have become deadly serious," he says now. "The damage is real, and it's profound." And no one can walk away from his article thinking otherwise.
Bethlehem is on people's minds a lot these days. But in Washington, the reason isn't Christmas -- it's politics. Jesus's birthplace is just one of the holy sites that happens to be in Israel's so-called West Bank, where the Trump administration made a splash last month by legitimizing the country's settlements. Naturally, Democrats let Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have it, firing off an angry letter for the move. But it may be the Kansan who gets the last word.
You may not know what to buy this Christmas, but do you know where to buy? Thanks to our friends at 2nd Vote, you can shop for presents without sabotaging your values in the process. So, make your list -- but check this one twice!
The last thing Planned Parenthood needs is more access to kids. So imagine parents' reaction when they found out that the abortion group isn't just visiting schools--it's moving in! Thanks to a forced donation from taxpayers, Planned Parenthood is about to open 50 clinics inside Los Angeles schools, the biggest public education takeover of its kind. And maybe, the most controversial.
A school can't pick and choose which students have rights--but that hasn't stopped one New York district from trying! Once Daniela Barca wrote down that she was a Christian trying to start a club, her application was doomed. Roy C. Ketcham High School administrators didn't care that there's such a thing as the Equal Access Act. They didn't care that there were 20 other clubs on campus. They only cared that Daniela had faith and might spread it.
"When parents think about predators, they think about someone tossing their kid in a trunk and driving off. They don't think about the unseen abuse that happens online," Sloane Ryan lamented at the table where they were working. "What if we just set up fake accounts ourselves to demonstrate to parents what can happen online?" her friend, Brian, asked. "I raised both eyebrows at the idea. Waited a beat to see if he was joking. He wasn't."
If you're indifferent about the crisis of pornography, the New York Times can change that -- almost instantly. The paper jolted an entire nation into caring last year with its jarring exposé, "What Teenagers Are Learning from Online Porn" (warning: extremely graphic). What kids think is normal will shock and sober you. Because these aren't Playboy magazines stashed under a teenage boy's bed.
Nothing says Christmas like the trees, snow, twinkling lights, and abortions. Wait -- you mean you don't think of destroying innocent children over hot cocoa? That's odd, because at the Texas Equal Access (TEA) Fund, abortion and Christmas go together like holly and ivy. They're so sure killing babies will put you in the festive mood that they're giving away candles that say "Abortion Is Magical."
Described by his friends as a humble, simple man who made bread for his church's communion services, 43-year-old Abdo Adel found himself sentenced to three years in an Egyptian prison. His crime? "Insulting Islam in the first degree." Residing in a small village in Egypt, a Facebook post comparing Islamic prophet Muhammad with Jesus was all it would take to violate the country's blasphemy laws.
There isn't a civilized country on earth that wants any part of China's chain of concentration camps. Certainly not this one. So imagine Americans' shock when they find out that our tax dollars have been streaming across the ocean to help fund these modern torture chambers. The news has been especially horrifying to U.S. officials, who've poured more money than anyone into the World Bank -- believing it was helping the needy, not an army of communist monsters.
You'd think that liberal news outlets would get tired of schlepping around the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) baggage. After a devastating year -- one that saw all of SPLC's top leadership resign over workplace sexism and racism -- it seemed, at least for a while, that the media would stop propping up the disgraced anti-Christian cesspool of bigotry. Apparently not. At CBS, they'd rather take the word of an organization being sued by its own employees than a conservative victim of the SPLC's labeling.
About half of American college students have listened to their professors go on anti-Trump tirades. The other 54 percent might get their chance soon, thanks to the president's executive order targeting anti-Semitism on U.S. campuses. In a lot of places, anti-Semitism is even rivaling the most acceptable form of intolerance in higher education: conservatism. And that's exactly why this administration is pushing back.
If it's okay for drag queens to host story hour, what about prostitutes? At one Austin, Texas elementary school, students got both! In what some parents are calling "a sign of things to come" under the city's radical new sex ed, the kids at Blackshear Fine Arts Academy had an unexpected visitor -- with an even more unexpected background. But as shocked as parents were to learn that "Miss Kitty Litter ATX" was a convicted criminal, they were even more horrified to find out that the school district knew it!
Usually, the local law enforcement is finding the offenders -- not doing the offending. But at the Freedom from Religion Foundation, where indignation is literally a full-time job, it's tough to do anything without insulting someone. When the Walker County sheriff called the town to pray after a tragedy, the foundation was irate. That's because, as far as they're concerned, embracing faith is the real crime.
It's been no coincidence that the latest mainstream media, women's magazines, and even Teen Vogue have been advertising abortion pills as the new wonders of women's healthcare that can be taken in the privacy of their homes.
When Congress sets records, they aren't always good ones! But Monday, the parties kept a good streak alive -- announcing their agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for the 58th consecutive year. In a Capitol where consensus is rarer than a solar eclipse, the military's spending bill is one of the few things Congress manages to approve on time. It hasn't missed since West Side Story was in the theaters, and gas cost 27 cents a gallon.
When Governor Matt Bevin walks out of his office for the last time tonight, it's somewhat fitting that the U.S. Supreme Court picked today to uphold one of the most important laws he ever signed -- the Kentucky ultrasound bill. The justices, who watched the ACLU appeal all the way to their doorstep, refused to even hear the case. Instead, they deferred to the Sixth Circuit, which didn't see the harm in showing moms a picture of their babies before they abort. If it's just "a clump of cells," who cares? Liberals, that's who.
Americans are united on one thing, USA Today says -- they're sick and tired of being so divided. Despite the fact that most people are personally happy and satisfied, they don't feel the same way about the condition of our country. "People don't even know how to have a discussion without getting offended first," Kaveeta Haywood, 35, a Democrat from the newspaper's focus group pointed out. Like 83 percent of the country, she thinks divisiveness is one of the biggest problems we face. But agreeing on what to do about it? Well, that's another challenge.
Christmas is a season of giving, and I want to start by giving thanks. The entire team at Family Research Council is grateful for all our partners who stepped forward last week to help exceed our $100,000 #GivingTuesday goal -- with a grand total of over $128,000 received!
With the House's impeachment circus sucking most of the air out of Washington, it's easy to forget that there's other business taking place on the opposite side of the Capitol. While Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is wasting her majority on the biggest witch hunt of the 21st Century, her Senate counterpart, Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), is a confirmation machine -- carefully stuffing the court's stockings with loads of qualified judges.
America isn't the only thing making a comeback under President Trump -- so is Christmas! The candidate who vowed, "We're gonna be saying Merry Christmas again," delivered on that promise again in a big way Thursday night. Thirty-feet of big, to be exact. In front of the giant spruce, the president made it very clear that this event wasn't about illuminating the tree -- but shining a light on the real reason for the season.
They sat in rows -- hundreds of them -- heads freshly shaved. The men are blindfolded and hunched over, their hands tied tightly behind their backs. Close to tears, Omerbek Bikali looks at the footage -- shot at a train station during another Uyghur round-up -- and becomes overwhelmed. "That used to be me," he says quietly. "I cannot forget."
Nothing can ever bring back Cheryl Spivey's son. After three tours, he had the chance to stay home. But the dad of three and combat medic reenlisted anyway, because "he could help." On his fourth deployment, Tony died helping. Now, a group of angry activists want to take away one of the few comforts Cheryl has left: a set of dog tags reminding her to be strong.
For FRC's JP Duffy, the revelations about Chick-fil-A, hit close to home. To read why, check out his new USA Today op-ed, "Chick-fil-A once inspired me to live out my faith in the workplace. Those days are gone."
Remember "we have to pass Obamacare to find out what's in it?" Well, in some cases, "you have to buy it to find out what's in it." And all too often, what's in it is abortion.
"I remember breaking down. It was like, this was a mistake. It should never have happened. But what do you do about it? How do you go through another harrowing transition? What do you do? I've got no hair. I've got a beard. I've had all [of] my body mutilated. How do I go back to being the Debbie that I was?"\r
"When my dad was alive, he would tell me, 'No matter what, have a smile on your face. No matter how you're feeling, you're living, and you should be able to smile.'" These days, Ohio State running back J.K. Dobbins has a lot to smile about. He just moved into second place on the Buckeyes' all-time rushing list. He racked up four touchdowns against rival Michigan over the weekend. He's a contender for the Heisman Trophy. But things haven't always been easy. J.K. had to overcome a lot of obstacles to get where he is -- including, Americans found out Saturday, just being born.
The turkeys may be gone, but some liberals are back to carving up something else: free speech. Now that it's December, the Left wants to make it clear that Santa Claus isn't the only thing coming to town -- so is censorship. And Brooklyn Benzel, an 8th grade homeschooler from California, seems to be the holiday's first target.
Last week, our families and loved ones came together to give thanks for our many blessings. As believers, we express gratitude most of all to our Creator and Savior. Now we are hours away from #GivingTuesday, a day dedicated to giving back to make a difference in the world.
It's been chipped and cracked, dropped and completely submerged. For America's Plymouth Rock, the journey has been anything but easy. For more than 120 years, it sat anonymously on the Massachusetts waterfront -- just another boulder, until an elderly man asked to be carried to the beach to say goodbye. Plans for a new wharf were underway, set to bury the exact stretch of sand where Thomas Faunce's father and the rest of the pilgrims had landed. That rock, he said, "had received the footsteps of our fathers on their first arrival." It should be, he urged, "perpetuated to posterity." Thanks to him, the son of a Mayflower survivor, it was.
Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is adamantly against the death penalty -- unless you're a baby with Down Syndrome. Turns out, the Democrat, who's refused to sign execution warrants since he was elected, has no problem using lethal force against an entire population of children. Their crime? Not living up to society's ideas of "perfection."
While Americans sometimes take their democracy for granted, turnout shouldn't be a problem in Hong Kong this Sunday. That's when the region heads to the polls to choose their local leaders. Normally, foreign affairs reporter Gordon Chang pointed out, the district elections don't attract very much attention. This time around, things are different. Five months into Hong Kong's violent protests, the people want to be heard. And not just about their districts. About everything.
In case you missed it, Dr. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, joined us on "Washington Watch" Thursday to talk more about the radical departure of Chick-fil-A and what it means for the broader culture. Check out his commentary above. Also, don't miss Dr. Mohler's briefing on the controversy, "The LGBTQ Revolution Takes No Prisoners: Chick-fil-A Will No Longer Donate to Christian Organizations That Affirm Biblical Marriage and Sexuality."
"My highest aim in life is to honor God -- and that informs everything I do, business included." For Kentucky photographer Chelsey Nelson, her work is personal. "When I look back on my life when I'm older, I want to be able to say that I stayed true to this goal." Unfortunately for Chelsey, the city of Louisville is doing everything they can to elbow Christians like her out of the market. But if they thought that would be easy, they're about to find out how wrong they are.
If the ACLU really wanted to celebrate International Men's Day, maybe someone ought to explain to them what a man is. They certainly don't know. In a tweet that lit up social media, one of the country's "premier" liberal groups insisted, "There's no one way to be a man. Men who get their periods are men. Men who get pregnant and give birth are men." It's a good thing my wife never knew that. We have five kids. She'd have probably asked me to spend nine months carrying one or two of them around.
If the last 24 hours have proven anything about Chick-fil-A, it's this: It was never about the chicken. For millions of Americans, there was a much deeper significance behind every decision to pull in the parking lot and walk through those doors. It wasn't about the menu. It wasn't even about the service. It was that every time someone ate there, they were making a cultural statement. Chick-fil-A was a business, yes. But it was also a giant rebuttal of everything the bullies stood for. Until it wasn't.
Around 100 protestors are still trapped inside Hong Kong Polytechnic University, after days of confronting the police surrounding the campus. The university has recently been the stage for some of the most dramatic events in the protests which have been going on for seven months. And as Gordon Chang told listeners on Washington Watch Tuesday, "I don't think that we're going to see an end to these protests for quite some time."
"I'm 19 years old, and I already feel like I've ruined my life." That's the heartbreaking story of Nathaniel, who said he was bullied into believing a lie -- that he was someone else. He heard about transgenderism, he wrote in a letter to survivor and activist Walt Heyer, and "convinced myself that's what I was."
Most of us who were there on that sunny August day will never forget. For everyone else, there's a sign: "Above this plaque is a bullet hole. It marks the heroic action taken by Family Research Council employee Leo Johnson on August 15, 2012." That was the morning Floyd Corkins walked into our lobby and changed FRC forever. He'd bought a gun and learned how to use it. He'd loaded three magazines. In his backpack was a stash of chicken sandwiches that he planned to smear in the faces of staffers he hoped to kill. "They endorse Chick-fil-A," he said. It would be a "statement against the people who work there."
The Israeli people didn't vote for Donald Trump, but there isn't a nation around that's benefited more from his administration than our Middle East ally. In just three years, he's managed to keep more promises on Israel than all of the previous presidents combined. He moved the embassy, recognized their sovereignty over the Golan Heights, and according to Secretary Mike Pompeo, he's nowhere close to done.
It's one of the most disturbing and elaborate cover-ups every attempted: millions of innocent people "vanishing" in the Chinese night. How do you explain to students coming home for a school break that they're parents are missing -- locked away in a Uyghur concentration camp, never to return? Simple. According to pages of leaked documents from deep within the Chinese communist state, you lie.
Like a lot of staffers at the Harris County Jail, Jason Spencer didn't expect to be fielding media calls about a surprise visit from one of the most recognizable celebrities. But then, a lot about Kanye West's last few months has been a surprise. A life-changing one, judging by the inmates at Friday's impromptu concert. "This is a mission," the newly-converted Kanye insisted, "not a show." And he proved it, doing his best to set even these prisoners near downtown Houston, free.
Kerry is a lifelong liberal who always believed in the transgender cause -- until now. "I was all in... there was nothing to suggest that there was any problem with this," she said. "Everybody's doing it -- it's fine [and] good." That all changed the day her daughter came to her and said she wanted to become a boy. She was 11.
"It's their fear." That's what's motivating the young protesters of Hong Kong to continue demonstrating after months of mounting threats from the Chinese government, according to Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). As Hawley told me on Washington Watch this week, "Beijing promised the people of Hong Kong when they took back over the city that they would protect the basic liberties of the Hong Kong residents -- their right to worship, their right to speak, their right to assemble, free press. And now they're trying to take those things away."
The Bible. It's a book owned by 88 percent of Americans and considered "sacred" by 8 in 10 of our fellow citizens. In the last two years, more than 2 million have been drawn to learn more about it at the Museum of the Bible. The influence of the Bible on our nation's founding was so strong that President Calvin Coolidge once observed that "the foundations of our society and government rest so much on the teachings of the Bible that it would be difficult to support them if faith in these teachings would cease to be practically universal in our country."
Celebrity culture makes headlines out of all kinds of unlikely bits of information. From favorite foods to pet choices, from dating to shoes, people seem obsessed with celebrities.
If you're wondering how much the employees of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) trust the group's new leadership, the answer is: not much. After former staffers pulled the curtain back on decades of racism and bigotry, the internal crisis is far from over. According to the AP, a "supermajority of staffers" has been trying to unionize -- one of the only ways, they believe, they'll be protected from the SPLC's toxic environment. There's just one problem. Management is refusing to let them.
It may be the most dangerous bill no one's really talking about. But if becomes law -- this radical grab bag of social extremism -- all of America will live to regret it. Meet the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). It's not just about women anymore. In fact, it's not really about women at all.
"It's a zone of death, of murder, of ethnic cleansing and displacement. The people here call it a zone of genocide. And right now, the U.S. has done nothing to stop it." -- Dave Eubank, on the ground in Syria
Most of us wouldn't donate to an unethical group, so why should the U.S.? That's the idea behind a new policy being hatched in the Trump administration, where officials are mapping out a way to incentivize international religious liberty. If countries want humanitarian aid, shouldn't they at least prove that they're capable of recognizing one of mankind's most fundamental rights? This president thinks so.
It's two weeks until Thanksgiving, but the NFL's halftime singer is already calling time out. Ellie Goulding, the musician who was scheduled to perform the turkey day game, is threatening to pull out of the show if the Cowboys' spotlighted charity -- the Salvation Army -- doesn't fold on its Christian beliefs. Either give a donation to an LGBT group, Goulding demanded of the nonprofit, or I'm out. In that case, some say, don't let the arena door hit you on the way out.
Nothing says "Thanks for your service" like ignoring the needs of U.S. troops. But apparently, that's the most our military can hope for under Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) majority. While the president tries to deal with conflicts around the globe, contain the threats from ISIS and rogue nations like North Korea, you'll be relieved to know that the House is hard at work on its most important mission: ushering into the military people who are in conflict over their biological sex. And they're willing to tie up the most important bill of the year to do it.
For families in Virginia, it isn't just diversity in the classroom parents are worried about -- but the library too. Now that LGBT activists have stacked the deck in sex ed, they're tackling another project: school shelves. And moms and dads in Loudoun County are taking a page out of other communities -- and fighting back.
Last year, my brother Josh, a 37-year-old married father with five kids under the age of 9, announced he was becoming a woman.
It was Mother's Day -- not that Sarah Cowart had time to celebrate it. Her husband, Daniel, was thousands of miles away in Iraq, a gunner from the 1st Platoon, Delta Company. She was watching her twin girls eat pancakes and thinking about talking to him later that day when the phone rang. The number wasn't one she recognized, but something inside her told her to answer it. That's when everything changed.
"Talk with teens about possible regret." That's what the American Academy of Pediatrics says about tattoos and body piercings. But when it comes to giving a girl who thinks she's a boy a double mastectomy, the same organization thinks parents should "respect" their kids' wishes.
Do you want your kids learning about sex from a group of Planned Parenthood pole dancers? Neither do parents in Austin, Texas. The state capital came within inches of adopting the group's middle school curriculum -- but had to scrap it at the last minute when the legislature banned "local governments from doing business with abortion providers." Unfortunately for local parents, what the school district did pass is just as horrifying. And locals have no intentions of taking it sitting down.
As accusations swirl about ongoing Turkish war crimes being committed in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan solidified plans to visit the Oval Office. This came after Erdogan threatened to cancel the meeting over the House of Representatives' passage of a bill recognizing the Armenian Genocide as "genocide" in addition to a bill that would allow for Turkey to be sanctioned.
She scrubbed in like she usually did. Their patient, she was told, had just lost her baby. It was supposed to be a routine procedure -- the kind they usually perform after a miscarriage. Turns out, nothing about the procedure was routine. When she met the doctor, he had an apologetic look in his eye. "Please don't hate me," he said. The woman's baby, the nurse discovered, hadn't died. They were there to destroy it.
They travel by military escort to get there, stopping at the charred car where they bury their faces in their hands and cry. It's the place where their family took their last breaths, victims of a massacre no one saw coming. In the three days since the news sent shockwaves around the world, there are no more answers for the LeBaróns' brutal deaths -- only questions about how a peaceful caravan of U.S. women and children could be in the crosshairs of Mexico's monsters.
It sounds like a cheerful sort of mentor program: "Pair Up and Become Family." But in China, nothing is cheerful, and certainly nothing about this intrusive (and probably abusive) home surveillance is good. When your husband has been hauled off to the country's modern-day concentration camps, the last thing you want is a government official spending the night in your bed. And yet, that's exactly what's happening in more Uyghur neighborhoods.
It's hard enough to get the truth out on a level playing field -- but in today's news, it's downright impossible. The Left has disinformation down to a science, especially when it comes to LGBT issues. That's dangerous in any situation -- but on the president's new adoption rule, it could mean the difference between a child finding a home and growing up without any love at all.
Donald Trump is more committed than anyone to cleaning up the environment -- at least the one Barack Obama left behind. Mopping up an eight-year mess is no easy task, but the new president kept at it on Monday, starting the process to pull America out of a dollar-sucking, job-crushing climate treaty that wouldn't have made a degree's worth of difference in the earth's temperature!
Owning a business can be a risky job for Christians these days. Just ask Blaine Adamson. Like a lot of believers, the head of Hands On Originals, a screen-printing company, found out that he could lose a lot more than his shirts for his faith!
Where can men, husbands, and fathers find a model of manhood, leadership, and strength in a culture of gender confusion? We need men to be men -- tough with compassionate strength, bent toward justice without compromise, locking arms and standing. We need them to be the people God created them to be: warriors for all that is right, true and just. Find out how at a special series of Stand Courageous Men's Conferences that FRC is launching to discuss critical aspects of masculinity.
"Leaving the hospital without my daughter was the single hardest thing I'd ever done," Adrian remembers. She thinks about watching the hospital clock tick down to the moment she'd have to say goodbye. In those final minutes, she thought her heart might shatter. "I was broken." She swaddled the tiny fingers and toes one last time before a hand came to rest on hers. It was her adoption social worker. Adrian looked into her face and knew she was doing the right thing.
"North Korea is the one country where people, the moment they are born, have no freedom." Ji Hyeon-a was born there; she should know. Her own story,\u00A0told at this year's Values Voter Summit, was so painful that it drove both her and her translator to tears. Why, then, does she tell it? She\u00A0hopes\u00A0it will provoke people to speak up on behalf of North Korea's victims. "While people are dying and the rest of the world watches that\u2026 if they maintain their silence despite knowing what is going on, I don't think that's right."
If you missed Saturday's "Cavuto Live" on Fox News, check it out below as FRC's Lt. General Jerry Boykin talks about the new leader of ISIS.
Dr. Bill Bennett's resume is full of incredible experiences - but it's not everyone who gets confirmed to a department your boss has openly tried to abolish. That was the unique situation Bill found himself in when Ronald Reagan picked him as America's secretary of education.
Pastor Andrew Brunson spent two years locked inside a Turkish prison, falsely accused of being a spy. His true "crime" was spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ in one of the largest unevangelized countries in the world.\u00A0
Justice may be blind, but the American Bar Association is not. That’s the biggest takeaway from Wednesday’s Senate hearing, when Ninth Circuit Court nominee Lawrence VanDyke became the ABA’s latest contestant on “conservatives don’t have talent.” Like most of this president’s picks, VanDyke probably braced himself for the Kavanaugh Treatment. But he never imagined the country’s largest attorney organization would stoop to label him “not qualified.”
They call themselves “formers.” And Wednesday, they were on Capitol Hill telling a story the Left doesn’t want you to hear. “We exist,” Elizabeth Woning told NBC News. Surrounded by men and women who’ve walked out of the LGBT lifestyle, her message to Congress is: stop pretending change isn’t possible. Because this group knows better than anyone—it is.
Halloween’s already come and gone in Hong Kong. Protestors, who’ve been locked in months of violent protests with police, stood outside of blockades yelling, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong!” Using the holiday as an excuse to wear costumes, protestors dressed up like everything from President Xi to tear gas canisters, while half a world away in New York, one U.S. leader decided to take the mask off the real villain of the story: China.
It was just hours before two hijacked planes cut through the New York sky on that bright September day. Former president Bill Clinton was in Australia, talking to a group of businessmen, when the topic turned to terrorism. “I spend a lot of time thinking about him,” the 42nd president said about Osama bin Laden. “I nearly got him once,” he admitted. “I nearly got him. And I could have killed him, but… I didn’t do it.” Turns out, the world didn’t need that confirmation. The next day, it had its own: 2,977 people, dead at the hands of the terrorist mastermind.
“For a long time, the scene in the van that day played over and over in my mind—how a living being just like us had his organs ripped out while he was still alive, and the frightful pain and fear in his eyes as he looked up at me. My heart couldn’t bear it.” –George Zheng, former medical student, China
Divorced parents Jeff Younger and Anne Georgulas don’t have a lot in common anymore—including, as most Americans know by now, their young son. Anne wants their seven-year-old to be able to wear girl’s clothes and eventually take puberty blockers to change his identity. His father, Jeff, Governor Greg Abbott (R-Texas), Donald Trump Jr., Texas legislators, and concerned parents everywhere disagree.
She didn’t live to see justice done. By 26, Kayla Mueller was already gone—killed a world away from home, in ISIS captivity. For four years, her parents have struggled to make sense of her death, “haunted every day,” they say, by the fact that her country was silent.
For some college students, it’s a parody that hits way too close to home. When the Babylon Bee ran a satirical news story about a motorcyclist identifying as a bicyclist to set a new record, a group of runners at the Big Sky Conference understood all too well. In their conference, boys don’t just compete as girls—they get honored for it!
It’s a simple fact that some people who have same-sex sexual attractions don’t want to experience those feelings. Some of them seek out counsellors or professional psychotherapists who can help them resist or overcome those unwanted feelings—what critics often call “conversion therapy.”
"This whole concept of political correctness ... it's going to destroy our nation." That was the no-nonsense response of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson to Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) earlier this week. Wexton was trying for a "gotcha" moment in a congressional hearing when she asked Dr. Carson if he would "apologize" for being quoted for expressing concern over "big, hairy men" trying to gain entry into an Alaska women's homeless shelter.
While Democrats race to the Left to get behind socialized health care plans like Medicare For All, the Republican Study Committee (RSC) is taking the lead for Republicans by offering a conservative market-based alternative that emphasizes providing quality health care coverage and reducing costs. On Washington Watch this week, I hosted Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Johnson (R-La.) to unveil the first phase of their new health care plan.
"Are people still praying for me?" That is the question Pastor Andrew Brunson asked his wife Norine each week when she visited him in a Turkish prison where he was unjustly detained for nearly two years. Less than two weeks ago at FRC's Faith, Family, & Freedom Gala, we celebrated and praised God together with the Brunsons on the one-year anniversary of Andrew's miraculous release from Turkey.
"Human rights" is a popular term. No one really thinks it's a bad thing. That's why even North Korea and China try to justify their behavior in terms of human rights. If one can claim this mantle, they are nearly unassailable.
Pastor Joshua Chinna Rao watched his church, which had stood for 18 years, burn to ashes in a small village in rural India. Like many others, it had been the target of radicals. "We do not know who burnt the church," Pastor Rao said. "We suspect it was done deliberately to prevent us for worshiping." Such unprovoked attacks against places of worship are becoming common-place. A hearing on Protecting Houses of Worship and Holy Sites, was hosted by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on Wednesday to address this growing issue.
Children suffer when their parents struggle with one another. A tragic case in point is unfolding in Dallas, Texas, where a jury this week denied a father sole custody of his 7-year-old son. What's uncommon about this custody battle is that the boy's mother is seeking ultimately to start the child on drug treatments that would block him from beginning puberty because, she claims, he now identifies as a girl.
In May 2018, the Trump administration proposed changes to the rules which govern the Title X Family Planning Program. These changes, finalized on March 4, 2019, are known as the Protect Life Rule. This rule provides existing and prospective Title X grantees with a straightforward choice: comply with the rule and separate their family planning services from abortion activities or choose to relinquish their federal grant funding.
"Five demands, not one less." This message was paraded throughout Hong Kong by pro-democracy protestors over the weekend. This is bad news for Hong Kong politicians who want to finally suppress the demonstrations that have been occurring all summer. Today, protesters received one of their demands when Hong Kong's government relented and formally withdrew the extradition bill which sparked the protests.
Mike Pompeo is a West Point grad, a Harvard Law alum, businessman, former congressman, and -- apparently -- prophet. When the secretary of state mixed things up with a speech to the American Association of Christian Counselors earlier this month, he said the media "would break out the pitchforks" when they found out he asks God "for direction in [his] work." He was right.
The Crossing Church from Columbia, Missouri has been in the news recently -- and for all the right reasons. Just last month, the church garnered national attention when it helped members of their community pay off unpaid medical bills. Through partnership with RIP Medical Debt, a nonprofit organization that helps people pay off outstanding medical debt, church members donated more than $430,000 which was used to pay off more than $43 million of medical debt by negotiating with debt collectors.
That is the overwhelming sentiment from more than 40 North Korean mothers who were forced to leave behind their children when they defected. Thursday, October 24, Tongil Mom will talk about her interviews with those women in a special event at FRC headquarters.
She wasn't supposed to be pregnant. Not with one baby -- and certainly not with twins. When the abortion technician asked if she wanted to know the details, the fact that she was carrying two babies apparently wasn't important enough to share. It was hard enough to get women to abort one child. If Planned Parenthood told her she had two, they might just lose her business. So, the clinician lied, and a young mom who didn't know the truth about her own children decided to end their lives. But fortunately for her twins, her word wasn't the last one.
Even now, his mom describes him as a typical kid. "He was a scout leader, an athlete, had a girlfriend, and led youth group at church." Talking about him in the past tense isn't easy. And for Julia, like so many hurting parents, it will never get easier. Her son Liam took his own life -- and even as a teacher with a degree in counseling, she never saw it coming.
The D.C. Council held a hearing last Thursday for the community to comment on a bill that would decriminalize the buying and selling of sex in the nation's capital. In addition, the bill would remove prison terms and fines for owning and operating a brothel. Family Research Council attended the hearing and testified against this dangerous and concerning bill.
"I had to be strong. Every day when I woke up, I thanked God that I was still alive." --Sayragul Sauytbay, Uyghur\rThere are harrowing stories -- and then there are the stories that seep deep into our bones. Sayragul Sauytbay's is the kind you don't forget. Her survival in China's concentration camps isn't just a miracle -- it's a warning that true darkness has settled over parts of the East.
One hundred and twenty hours isn't a lot, but U.S. officials are hoping it's at least enough to get more Syrians and Kurds out of harm's way. Hunkered down on the front lines, the families who haven't fled got word of the five-day cease-fire like the rest of the world. For some, it was too late. The shelling from Turkish forces on the border town of Qamishli had already taken innocent lives, including a young teenage boy. Others had already fled, piled on motorcycles and other in cars to shelters several towns away.
More than two out of every three Americans think their beliefs are under attack -- and after the Left's hysteria over a speech by Attorney General Bill Barr, it's not hard to understand why. Barr, a Catholic, gave a stirring talk at Notre Dame -- one of the most powerful given on religious liberty by a government figure in decades. "Secularists, and their allies among the 'progressives,' have marshaled all the force of mass communications, popular culture, the entertainment industry, and academia in an unremitting assault on religion and traditional values," he insisted.
Anywhere else, it would've been a normal night on the train. But this is Hong Kong, and nothing is normal. Not anymore. When Ng Chi Fai changed out of his chef's clothes to go home, he did what five months of protests have taught him: he checked his phone to find out where the worst riots were. Stepping onto the crowded train, he noticed some protestors -- but silently hoped the police wouldn't. Wiping away tears, he remembers the moment he knew they had -- the moment, he says, when "all hell broke loose."
Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic has spent almost 25 years in the world of gender reassignment surgery -- and even he has concerns. "Definitely reversal surgery and regret in transgender persons is one of the very hot topics," he admitted. He understands that this kind of "medicine" isn't for everyone. In fact, he's not even sure enough research has been done to prove whether his practice is actually helping people. So, like a lot of the medical community, he probably couldn't believe that America would actually force doctors into it.
"Do not upload adult porn." That was the stomach-turning warning from one of the most heinous child pornography sites on the dark web. Thanks to the Department of Justice, that horrible corner of cyberspace was just the target of an international takedown -- a victory months in the making.
When Gallup released its latest poll on the media, a lot of people were surprised the press had any scrap of credibility left to talk about. But despite all of the bias and fake news, an astonishing 41 percent of Americans still trust the media. Well, one thing's for certain, James O'Keefe would say, they must not be watching CNN.
Jasper, Georgia isn't a big town. At last count, it had about 3,800 residents. So it was a big deal when 900 of those people squeezed into the Pickens County High auditorium determined to stop Jasper from becoming the next stop in the march for transgender bathrooms.
The airstrikes had already begun in the border towns between Syria and Turkey when Bassam Ishak's cell phone started ringing. "People were so scared,"\u00A0he told NPR. "They were telling me, 'They are bombing us right now!'" In the neighborhood of Qamishli, it was already too late. The attacks had already killed Christians on the front lines, the first casualties of the fighting no one wanted.
There were a lot of powerful moments at last weekend's VVS, but one in particular stood out ?" a panel of courageous abortion survivors, whose stories were so moving that most of the audience couldn't hold back tears. "We are not a choice," an emotional Melissa Ohden insisted. From Claire Culwell's brave testimony of forgiveness to Josiah Presley's insistence that everyone has a purpose, it was a poignant reminder of what pro-lifers everywhere are fighting for.