Vandals attack life-saving banner at Operation Rescue headquarters

Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 4:53 am  
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Wichita, KS/May 18, 2011 –

A billboard-sized banner on the front of Operation Rescue’s National Headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, has been vandalized on the day after Gov. Sam Brownback signed into law sweeping clinic regulations supported by Operation Rescue that could close 2 of the 3 remaining abortion clinics in the state. The banner directed women to a pregnancy help center next door that offers free, practical help to pregnant women.

“Whenever there is significant progress on one of our projects, or when we are under attack by pro-abortion supporters in the news, we have incidents of vandalism, in spite of all our security precautions,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman.

“But in this case, the vandals are taking it out on pregnant women. Now that Wichita is abortion free, women need the services of our friends next door more than ever. We want to help direct women to those life-saving services,” said Newman. “It is a sorry state of affairs when pro-abortion people want to deny women access to free pregnancy tests, ultrasounds, and other practical assistance.”

This is the third time the banner has been vandalized, and now it must be replaced.

Operation Rescue’s offices are in a former abortion clinic that the group bought and closed in 2006. The building, which was left in dangerously poor condition by the abortion clinic, underwent a complete renovation and is now a place where OR works to stop abortion nationwide.

Operation Rescue is using the front of the building along busy Central Avenue to advertise free pregnancy testing and other services at A Better Choice, a pregnancy help center directly next door to Operation Rescue’s office.

Immediately after it went up in September, 2010, the banner began to work, and traffic into the pro-life center increased nearly 10%. Within the first two days, four women made decisions to keep their babies after seeing the banner and seeking help at A Better Choice. Dozens of women have received needed assistance over the past few months as a result of the advertising.

Operation Rescue is seeking donations to replace the banner.

“Our budget is tight in this struggling economy, but this banner has been so effective at saving lives, it would be wrong not to replace it,” said Newman. “We have faith that our dedicated supporters will come through, and that we can raise the replacement costs very soon.”

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Wisconsin Gov. Walker’s Faith Under Attack

Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 11:00 am  
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Madison, WISC. (Christian Newswire) – Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor attacked Governor Walker’s faith in The Progressive, “It is frightening that the highest executive in our state suffers from the delusion that God dictates his every move. Consider the personal and historic devastation inflicted by fanatics who think they are acting in the name of their deity.”

Governor Scott Walker is in an epic battle over Wisconsin’s future budget. The world is watching as 14 Democratic Senators are in Illinois. Without their involvement, the Senate in Wisconsin cannot pass their budget.

As Wisconsin faces many challenges, Governor Walker is putting his faith in Jesus Christ. Also, his Lieutenant Governor Rebecca Kleefisch is a Christian who recently overcame colon cancer.

Governor Walker expressed his Christian faith before being elected. He has never pushed his personal beliefs on anyone, but has talked about it when asked.

Governor Walker’s father was a pastor at the First Baptist Church in Delavan, Wisconsin. The Governor currently attends Meadowbrook Church in Wauwatosa. He became a Christian at age 13 after submitting his life to Jesus Christ.

At a Christian Businessmen’s meeting in 2009, Governor Walker said, “I don’t believe God picks sides in politics. I believe God wants us on His side.”

Walker believes that abortion is immoral. He opposes embryonic stem cell research, but approves of adult stem cell research.

As his Christian positions are clear, the Freedom From Religion Foundation is attacking his personal faith. Freedom From Religion purposely attacks Christians every day.

On April 15, 2010, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb from Madison ruled in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation by saying the National Day of Prayer proclamation by the president of the United States violates the Constitution.

As citizens of the State of Wisconsin, we need to be praying for our elected leaders as they attempt to do what is right. We need to pray that the problems in Wisconsin would be solved soon.

Christian Investigator President Steve McConkey says, “We are bombarded with news stories every day on issues that influence people here in Wisconsin and beyond. We are asking people throughout the United States to be praying for our elected officials in Wisconsin.”

Steve McConkey is the President-Founder of 4 WINDS which offers the news site Christian Investigator (CI). Also, CI produces articles that are distributed worldwide on important issues.
www.ChristianInvestigator.com.

Christian Newswire

Publication date: March 9, 2011

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House Members Seek Rationale from Sebelius over Attack on Conscience Protections

Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 10:39 am  
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 Published: February 14, 2011

WASHINGTON /Christian News/ — A letter to Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius signed by 46 members of the U.S. House of Representatives Friday asks her to explain why her department is seeking to repeal conscience protections for health care workers in light of known attacks on such workers. The two situations cited in the letter involve clients represented by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund.


“Medical professionals should not be punished for holding to their beliefs, and they should not be forced to perform abortions against their conscience,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “Members of the House are justified in asking why the Obama administration would be seeking to repeal such protections, especially in light of the recent examples of abuse involving ADF clients.”


One of the situations cited involves a nurse forced against her conscience by New York’s Mt. Sinai Hospital to participate in an abortion. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit upheld the dismissal of her federal lawsuit filed by ADF attorneys, leaving only an ongoing investigation by HHS as the means to defend her federally protected rights while her New York state lawsuit continues.


Planned Parenthood and other plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit State of Connecticut v. United States of America are seeking to tear down the regulation that enables HHS to conduct investigations. ADF attorneys filed a motion to intervene in that case on behalf of Cenzon-DeCarlo in December. Because the defendants, Sebelius and the Obama administration, want to dismantle the regulation as the plaintiffs desire, little adequate defense exists for the regulation and for health care workers protected by a federal law known as the Church Amendment. The Church Amendment prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating against pro-life health care workers but its enforcement may be limited without the implementing regulation that directs HHS to conduct investigations.


Another situation cited by the House letter to Sebelius involves Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. In January, ADF attorneys filed complaints with HHS over problematic language on the applications for Vanderbilt’s nurse residency program which included a pledge to participate in abortions. The university changed the language, but only after ADF filed the complaints.


“Both of these situations are precisely the type of discrimination against health care providers that federal conscience statutes were meant to redress,” the letter from House members explains. “We strongly oppose any action that would undermine or eliminate the responsibility of HHS to enforce conscience laws that have been enacted by Congress for nearly four decades. The Implementing Regulations did not add to the substance of existing law, but required fund recipients to certify compliance with the law and more specifically committed HHS to enforce those laws as written.”


ADF is a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending the right of people to freely live out their faith. Launched in 1994, ADF employs a unique combination of strategy, training, funding, and litigation to protect and preserve religious liberty, the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family.


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BREAKING NEWS: Egypt Blames Al-Qaeda Linked Group For New Year’s Church Attack

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011 at 6:43 am  
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By Worthy News Middle East Service with reporting by Worthy News’ Stefan J. Bos

CAIRO, EGYPT (Worthy News)– Egypt on Sunday, January 23, blamed a Palestinian group with links to terror group Al-Qaeda of masterminding a New Year’s church attack in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria that killed as many as 24 Coptic Christians.


Interior minister Habib al-Adly said there is “conclusive evidence” that the Army of Islam planned and executed the attack on al-Kidiseen Church, which also left about 100 others wounded.


“The Palestinian Islamic Army, which has links to Al-Qaeda, is behind the attack on the al-Qiddissin church in Alexandria,” Adly said in a speech to mark Police Day, carried live on state television.


President Hosni Mubarak took to the stage to congratulate the police “for finding the perpetrators of the terrorist act in Alexandria.”


In a reaction, the Palestinian Army of Islam denied any involvement in the deadly attack.


”NO RELATION”


“The Army of Islam has no relation, whether close or distant, to the attack on the Coptic church in Alexandria, Egypt,” a spokesman for the group, who gave his name as Abu Muthanna, told French news agency AFP.


The bombing prompted protests by Christians saying the government failed to protect its Coptic minority.


Copts make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s 80-million population. Most Egyptian Christians are Copt, a word derived from the Greek name Aigyptos, which means Egypt.


Egypt has been rocked by terrorist attacks between 2004 and 2006, targeting lucrative tourist destinations on the popular Red Sea coast of Sinai. The Alexandria church attack followed reported threats to Egypt’s Copts from the Al-Qaeda-linked group in Iraq that claimed an October 31 attack on a Baghdad church.


In 2010, six Copts were gunned down as they came out of a Christmas mass in the southern city of Naga Hammadi, in an attack that also left one Muslim policeman dead.


HAMAS CONDEMNS


The Palestinian militant group Hamas condemned the New Year’s attack, saying the perpetrators were seeking to promote confrontation between Muslims and Christians.


Hamas reportedly cut ties with the Army of Islam in 2007, when the group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of British Broadcasting Corporation reporter Alan Johnston. But on Sunday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum defended the Salafist group.


“We confirm that the Zionist Mossad is behind the church crime in Alexandria,” AFP quoted him as saying. “Our weapons are directed at the Zionist enemy and the conflict arena with that enemy is inside Palestine,” he added, insisting that “Al-Qaeda does not exist in Gaza at all.”


The Palestinian group accused of perpetrating the attack is a small outfit that espouses Salafist ideals, an austere form of Sunni Islam that seeks a return to the practices of the faith’s early days, analysts say.

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Global church body condemns vicious attack in Egypt

Monday, January 3rd, 2011 at 10:09 pm  
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Global church body condemns 'vicious attack' in Egypt A Coptic priest throws holy water over worshippers, unseen, during mass in Saints Church in Alexandria, Egypt, where 21 worshippers were killed in an apparent suicide bombing, AP

The World Council of Churches, which represents more than 560 million Christians, has condemned the New Year’s Day bombing of a Coptic church that killed at least 21 people and wounded 97.

It described the incident as a “vicious attack on innocent worshippers” attending the New Year’s midnight mass at Saints Church in Alexandria, Egypt. WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, sent general condolences and prayers on behalf of the ecumenical body to the families of the victims.

WCC calls on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, religious leaders, and governments across the region to safeguard the fundamental religious rights of worshippers of all faiths.

“Government action must be matched by solidarity among Muslims, Christians and people of all faiths as they interact at the local level and together denounce any violent attack,” said Tveit. “We expect leaders to join once again in condemning such acts.”

An explosion, suspected to be triggered by a suicide bomber, took place outside of a Coptic Christian church as people were exiting. It is the deadliest terrorist attack in Egypt in recent years.

President Obama strongly condemned the bombing in a statement released on Saturday. The European Union High Representative Catherine Ashton also condemned the bombing, saying there cannot be any justification for the attack.

Authorities are reportedly holding seven people for questioning in connection to the church bombing, a security source told Reuters Sunday.

Coptic Christians have responded by gathering Sunday outside the church and demanding the state and church do more to protect believers. Protesters pointed out that al Qaida had threatened harm to the Egyptian Christian community a month ago but the government did nothing to prevent this weekend’s bombing.

Early last January, gunmen also opened fire on Coptic Orthodox Christians coming out of a Christmas Day mass, killing six Christians and a Muslim security guard, in the southern town of Nagaa Hammadi.

Christians make up somewhere between eight and 12 percent of Egypt’s population of 79 million. Historically, Christians and Muslims have lived in relative harmony, but in recent years there has been increasing tension and violence between the two communities.

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