The 3 - January 26, 2014

On this week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, the contraception mandate garnered more action from the U.S. Supreme Court this week concerning a group of nuns, as the high court prepares to hear arguments in March involving two companies who have filed suit against the mandate.  There's also more news on the marriage front, with developments in two states concerning challenges to the traditional definition of marriage.  And, on this anniversary week of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision, another large crowd gathered in Washington, DC, and pro-life people across America were involved in commemorating this dreadful anniversary by speaking out for life.

3 - U.S. Supreme Court offers further protection for group on nuns from contraception mandate

It was just hours before the end of 2013, and the Little Sisters of the Poor, a group of nuns from Colorado who serve elderly, impoverished people, were faced with paying fines because they did not wish to provide free contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plan.   Their case had been turned back by a Federal appeals court, and their last hope was a last-minute appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.   And, justice Sonya Sotomayor put the government mandate on hold and required the Obama Administration to respond within a matter of days.

Not unexpectedly, the Adminstration said that while the Sisters themselves were exempt, their insurance provider still was required to provide these drugs - so, in essence, they would still be involved in this objectionable practice.   Now, the high court has extended the temporary relief that was given at the end of 2013.

The WORLD website has a report, which says that the organization will be entirely exempt from the mandate pending a decision from the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court wrote that, “If the employer applicants inform the Secretary of Health and Human Services in writing that they are nonprofit organizations that hold themselves out as religious and have religious objections to providing coverage for contraceptive services, the respondents are enjoined from enforcing against the applicants the challenged provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related regulations pending final disposition of the appeal by the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit."

Court watchers were in the dark about what the justices were doing on this case leading up to Friday’s order. Sotomayor had asked the federal government to file a response to Little Sisters by Jan. 3, after which she would decide whether to extend her injunction. Weeks passed with nothing from the court.

The delay was apparently because Sotomayor had submitted the case to the full court’s consideration. The WORLD article reminds us that, "while religious liberty advocates will celebrate the decision, the high court said its order “should not be construed as an expression of the court’s views on the merits.”

2 - Marriage amendments facing challenges in Florida, Virginia

Recently, I reported to you about court action involving the marriage amendments in Utah and Oklahoma in which singular Federal judges had struck down the respective amendments.   Earlier this week, it was announced that an effort is underway to repeal the amendment in the state of Florida defining marriage as one man and one woman.  CitizenLink reports that six couples have filed suit to challenge the amendment, which was approved by 62 percent of Floridians in 2008.

Now, attorneys from the Equality Florida Institute claim it violates the U.S. Constitution.

John Stemberger, president of the Florida Family Policy Council (FFPC), called the challenge “nothing more than a publicity stunt.” He is quoted as saying, “Filed in Miami, it represents ‘forum shopping’ in the most liberal legal venue in the state...However, we are confident that Florida’s Attorney General Pam Bondi will provide a vigorous defense of Florida’s longheld law, and in doing so, will expose the radical views and overreaching legal positions set forth in today’s lawsuit.”  He said that his group will “vigorously defend” the amendment.

And, this week, the Attorney General of the state of Virginia announced that instead of defending the law of his state, a marriage amendment approved by 57 percent of the voters there in 2006, he would side with 2 gay couples who have filed suit against the amendment. A memorandum filed in court by his office this week said that Attorney General Mark R. Herring would side with the plaintiffs in the case.

It reads, according to CitizenLink, “Having duly exercised his independent constitutional judgment, the Attorney General has concluded that Virginia’s laws denying the right to marry to same-sex couples violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution...The Attorney General will not defend Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage, will argue for its being declared unconstitutional, and will work to ensure that both sides of the issue are responsibly and vigorously briefed and argued to facilitate a decision on the merits, consistent with the rule of law.”

Interestingly enough, it has been reported that Herring, while a state senator, voted in favor of the same amendment that he is now refusing to defend.

1 - Scores join March for Life in D.C., events populate the landscape of America to affirm life

This past Wednesday marked the 41st anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, which, along with the companion decision, Doe vs. Bolton, resulted in legalized abortion in America.  Since then, it is estimated that over 56 million unborn children have lost their lives.   As National Right to Life reported this week, the rate of abortion has slowed, to around 1.1 million children per year, but that is an incredibly excessive amount, considering that the acceptable level would be "zero" unborn children dying.

LifeNews.com reported that hundreds of thousands of pro-life people turned out for the annual March for Life in Washington, braving cold temperatures to take a stand for the right to life of unborn children. While marchers mourned 41 years of legalized abortion, many sounded a hopeful theme for a pro-life future and think the decision will eventually be reversed.   This weekend, March for Life West Coast was held in San Francisco, and locally, in Montgomery, on Sunday, the annual Memorial Service for the Unborn took place at the gravesite of 18 aborted babies that were found in a dumpster.

As with other recent marches, the number of young adults and high school and college students impressed March for Life organizers and provided another reason to be optimistic.

A CNN Blog post by Jake Tapper provided a behind-the-scenes look at the organizers of the March for Life.   The piece quotes the new president of the March for Life, Jeanne Monahan, who replaces Nellie Gray, who ran the march for some 40 years.   Monahan says, "Our theme this year is adoption, and that adoption is a noble decision for a birth mother.  She told CNN, "We're trying to do everything we can to encourage women who are facing an unexpected pregnancy to choose life."

The piece contends that under Monahan, the tone has changed, and that adoption organizers are hoping the new tone can help change deeply entrenched ideas about abortion.

Ryan Bomberger, an outspoken adoption advocate, is quoted as saying, "It really is a natural outgrowth of fighting for the human dignity of all human life...When we see far fewer percentage of women with unplanned pregnancies placing their children for adoption, or making a loving adoption plan, it should be a concern."

Monahan is reportedly hoping to build on the momentum to change the march into a year-round operation. The group brought on a full time Washington lobbyist to take their fight not to the Supreme Court, and to Congress.

Marchers got a boost from Pope Francis who tweeted his support from the Vatican, writing, "I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable."   The movement is attempting to broaden its participation by reaching out to evangelicals and other non-Catholic groups.

The Media Research Center lamented the lack of coverage for the March on broadcast television - it highlighted that ABC offered the March 24 seconds and NBC gave it 22 seconds, correctly noting the “huge turnout” despite brutal weather conditions. CBS didn’t bother to cover it at all.

Yet earlier this month, MRC points out that the networks lavished coverage on...the birth of the new panda cub at the National Zoo. They gave “Bao Bao” 4 minutes and 41 seconds, to be exact. The MRC report states, "Whereas tens of millions of dead human babies pry just a few seconds of grudging coverage, the single panda birth had network 'journalists' embarrassingly enthusiastic."

A leading media voice had a poignant commentary.  That would be Brit Hume of Fox News, who said, according to LifeSiteNews.com, 

...science has given us an ever clearer picture of just how much of a baby a fetus is. At 20 weeks, we now know, these tiny creatures can hear, even recognize a mother’s voice. Their toenails are growing and their hearts beat loud enough to be heard by a stethoscope.

The moral case for allowing such beings to be killed grows ever weaker and its advocates resort to ever more absurd euphemisms to describe what they support. They’re not really pro-abortion, they’ve long said, they’re pro-choice. This isn’t about killing unborn babies. it’s about reproductive health. And the biggest chain of abortion clinics in the country refers to itself as Planned Parenthood.

In 2012, this organization says it carried out “abortion procedures” 329,445 times. Whatever that number represents, it’s not parenthood. These protesters here today understand that there is something deeply false and wrong about all this. They come each year to remind the rest of us.

The LifeSiteNews article referenced a blog post on the Washington Post website by Juliet Eilperin, which stated in part,

Both abortion rights advocates and foes agree that those seeking to curtail access to the procedure are winning. Fifty-three abortion restrictions were enacted into law in 2013, according to NARAL Pro-Choice America, and the states where abortion opponents have unified control outnumber those dominated by abortion rights proponents by a ratio of 3 to 1. As a result, a slew of new requirements — on questions ranging from the point of a fetus's viability to whether a women seeking an abortion should be required to see an ultrasound before undergoing the procedure — are making it into law.

Eilperin also included a very telling graphic that shows the restrictions on abortion in each state.  She quotes Grazie Pozo Christie, a member of the Catholic Association's advisory board, who said that the combination of this political trend and the fact that many young people oppose abortion make it more socially acceptable to voice their views in public.

"People are more confident about being pro-life," she said in an interview, after attending the rally. "They're not ashamed of being on the other side."

The 3 - January 19, 2014

This week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, includes news on a court ruling potentially affecting pro-life pregnancy resource centers in New York City in a positive way.  Also, there is news out of a Federal court, where a single judge has struck down Oklahoma's marriage amendment, defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  The top story involves a major conference bringing together thousands of college students in Atlanta to unite and be challenged in their walk with Christ.

3 - Appeals court ruling helps pregnancy resource centers in New York

On Friday, a panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld most of a lower court order saying that New York City cannot force pro-life pregnancy centers to post signs telling women to go elsewhere.

CitizenLink has this report.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg had signed the law in spring 2011. It mandates these centers to post notices stating whether they provide referrals to abortion sellers. They must also state whether there is a licensed medical provider on staff. Failure to do so could result in fines of up to $1,000 the first day and up to $2,500 for each day after.

In summer 2011, a federal district court issued an order prohibiting the city from enforcing the ordinance. The city appealed that decision.

Matt Bowman, Senior Legal Counsel for the Alliance Defending Freedom, is quoted as saying, “The district court’s order kept the city from enforcing the totality of its anti-speech ordinance, which some city officials designed to deter women from receiving the help they need to make fully informed choices about their pregnancy...The 2nd Circuit reinstated one provision of the ordinance, but did not provide any clarity as to whom it applies and when the city’s language must be recited. The district court was right about the vagueness of the entire ordinance. It should be completely invalidated.”

Bowman also said, “The appeals court rightly affirmed that the city cannot force pregnancy centers to communicate some city-crafted messages that encourage women to go elsewhere, but the court left one provision in place that still does that. Because this type of compelled speech is not constitutional, we are considering our options for appeal regarding the remaining provision of New York City’s ordinance.”

In this week prior to the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the legality of abortion, there were several developments on the pro-life front.   The high court heard oral arguments on a Massachusetts law that prevents sidewalk counselors from coming within 35 feet of an abortion clinic entrance.  And, the court agreed to hear a case from Ohio involving billboards that were erected by a pro-life group publicizing a Representative's support of the Affordable Care Act based on empty promises that it would not fund abortion.  And, from North Carolina, a Federal district judge struck down that state's provision that a woman obtain an ultrasound prior to an abortion.

In Congressional action, the House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would prevent Federal funds from being used for abortion - a move that was precipitated, at least in part, by the inclusion of taxpayer-funded abortion in the ACA.

2 - On heals of Utah ruling, another judge strikes down Oklahoma marriage amendment

On Tuesday, a Federal judge ruled that Oklahoma's marriage amendment, passed by three-fourths of voters, was unconstitutional.   According to ChristianNews.net, U. S. District Judge Terence Kern wrote, “The Court holds that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution...Equal protection is at the very heart of our legal system and central to our consent to be governed. It is not a scarce commodity to be meted out begrudgingly or in short portions.”  He placed a stay on its enforcement pending appeal.

Oklahoma’s constitutional marriage amendment was approved by 76 percent of voters during the November 2004 election.  State regulations were first challenged in 2004 by four lesbian women, who renewed their lawsuit again in 2009.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin expressed disappointment, saying, "The people of Oklahoma have spoken on this issue...I support the right of Oklahoma’s voters to govern themselves on this and other policy matters.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Washington-based Family Research Council, responded by saying, “This activist judge is overrunning both the constitution and the rule of law in a drive to fundamentally alter America’s moral, political and cultural landscape...He is substituting his own ideology for the three-quarters of Oklahomans who voted to preserve marriage in their constitution as it has always been defined.”

The decision comes about a month after a federal judge declared Utah’s ban on same-sex “marriage” unconstitutional.  He, nor the 10th Circuit, would stay that decision, but the U.S. Supreme Court did, and the appeal moves forward.  The Justice Department had said last week that it would recognize the greater than one thousand same-sex marriage licenses that had been granted in the state of Utah.

1 - Thousands of young adults gather for first of two Passion gatherings 

The first Passion gathering for 2014 took place over the weekend at the Philips Arena in Atlanta, a sold-out event attracting young adults ages 18-25.  The next one is scheduled for next month at the Toyota Center in Houston.

The Christian Post website reported that over 20,000 students attended the two-day event, representing over 1,200 universities and 33 countries.

Passion 2014 brought together several internationally renowned pastors, teachers and worship leaders. Joining Passion founders Louie and Shelley Giglio in Atlanta were John Piper, Christine Caine, and Francis Chan.  Worship was led Chris Tomlin, Matt Redman, David Crowder, Kristian Stanfill, Brett Younker, Christy Nockels and Hillsong United.

Organizers insist that Passion is more than simply a conference or an event. Rather, it is a call for "saying goodbye to lesser things and saying yes to the One whose name is above every name," a theme that is stated on the Passion website and often echoed by the speakers.

Last year's event at the Georgia Dome drew some 60,000 participants, who raised a collective amount of over 3 million dollars to help curb human trafficking.   This year, people were asked to bring towels and socks to distribute to homeless shelters in the Atlanta area.

Instead of a single, massive Passion conference this year at one location - the Georgia Dome - multiple events will be held.   The Post reports that in addition to Atlanta and Houston, events will be staged in Dubai, Hyderabad and Delhi in India, Singapore, Manila, and Honolulu between March 20 and April 1.

It reports that, "Passion Conferences has been uniting college students around the world for the past 16 years, hosting 48 events in 16 countries. Since the first Passion Conference was held in 1997 in Austin, Texas, with 2,000 people, the movement has grown exponentially and hosted millions of university students at large-scale gatherings across the U.S. and around the world through nine conferences, four world tours and multiple one-day and regional events."

The 3 - January 12, 2014

This week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, includes more disturbing news out of the nation of Nigeria, where dozens of Christians lost their lives recently.   Also, the U.S. Supreme Court has placed a judge's ruling against Utah's marriage amendment on hold.  And, the top story - an advocacy group for persecuted Christians has released its latest list of the nations where Christians suffer the most persecution.

3 - Dozens slain in attack on Christians in Nigerian village

Some parts of the African nation of Nigeria cannot be considered safe places.  According to a report on the ReligionToday.com website, this past Monday, over 30 people were brutally murdered in an attack on Shonong, a Christian village in central Nigeria.  ASSIST News Service reports that the death toll is 33.

Islamic gunmen, believed to be from the Fulani ethnic group, opened fire on residents of Shonong village located in Nigeria's Plateau State, killing those unfortunate enough to be in the village at the time of the attack.

According to survivors, "hundreds of attackers" poured into the Christian village with automatic weapons, killing Christians they discovered still in the village proper. On top of the killings, 20 Christian homes were set ablaze and other private properties owned by Christians were either destroyed or stolen by the attackers.

Although this attack on Shonong village was devastating, many believe the death toll could have been much higher if not for the swift intervention of the police and Nigerian military.

Christian leaders in Nigeria suspect the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram is inciting the Fulani Muslims to attack Christians living in Nigeria's middle belt region. "From all indications, the terrorism being witnessed in the country is purely in pursuit of Jihad," Rev. Yiman Orkwar, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Makurdi in Benue State, told Morning Star News. 

And, ASSIST News reports that survivors of the Jan. 6 slaughter said Special Task Force (STF) soldiers stationed to protect them turned their weapons on those fleeing the attack.

According to a story by Morning Star News, speaking from her hospital bed with bullet wounds in her legs, Antele Alamba, 25, told the news agency that hundreds of Muslim Fulani herdsmen armed with guns and machetes attacked Shonong village in Riyom Local Government Area. They did so unprovoked, burning homes and butchering women and children.

2 - Utah halts gay marriages after U.S. Supreme Court puts lower court ruling on hold

This past Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision that places on hold a ruling by a lower Federal court judge concerning gay marriage.  According to a report on the CBN.com website, the judge had ruled on December 20 that Utah's ban on same-sex marriage violates gay and lesbian couples' constitutional rights. 

The state filed an emergency appeal, and the case went to the high court, which ruled that gay marriages cannot take place during the appeals process.  

Utah will not recognize the nearly 1,000 gay marriages performed in the state.

On Wednesday, the governor instructed state agencies to freeze all actions regarding same-sex marriages until a federal appeals court rules on the issue.

The Supreme Court's ruling will remain in effect until it decides whether to uphold the federal judge's decision. The court's order will not affect same-sex marriages already performed.

In an interesting twist, on Friday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Federal government would recognize the marriage licenses of same-sex couples in the state of Utah, even though the state said it would not.   Ryan Anderson of the Heritage Foundation says in a piece on The Foundry blog on the Heritage website that Holder's announcement, "highlights the need for the federal government to respect state marriage laws. Just yesterday, bipartisan legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives that does just that."

He writes:

That legislation, the “State Marriage Defense Act of 2014,” HR 3829, requires the federal government to respect state laws on marriage. The Act requires the federal government to look to the laws of the state where citizens reside to determine the definition of “marriage.” It states that the term “marriage” shall “not include any relationship which that State, territory, or possession does not recognize as a marriage, and the term ‘spouse’ shall not include an individual who is a party to a relationship that is not recognized as a marriage by that State, territory, or possession.”

1 - Open Doors releases World Watch List; North Korea remains top persecutor of Christians

This week, the organization Open Doors, which advocates for the persecuted church worldwide, released its World Watch List, consisting of the 50 countries where Christians face the greatest amount of persecution. And, for the 12th straight year, the country of North Korea remains the world’s most restrictive nation in which to practice Christianity, according to a press release from Open Doors USA.

Dr. David Curry, Open Doors USA President/CEO is quoted as saying, “The 2014 WWL is the most comprehensive study of the systematic persecution of Christians ever done. Often completely unaddressed in the West is the fact that Christians are the largest persecuted minority in the world...Countries on the WWL, such as North Korea, Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East and North Africa are targeting Christians; imprisoning, punishing, and even in some cases murdering people who choose to express privately or publicly their Christian faith. The 2014 WWL is a wake up call to Americans to become more aware of these atrocities and restrictions on religious freedom.”

Here are the top 10 nations on the List:
1) North Korea

2) Somalia

3) Syria

4) Iraq

5) Afghanistan

6) Saudi Arabia

7) Maldives

8) Pakistan

9) Iran

10) Yemen.
The List also shows a marked increase in persecution for Christian communities in states that are commonly regarded as “failed.” A failed country is defined “as a weak state where social and political structures have collapsed to the point where government has little or no control.” The World Watch List Top 10 contains six failed states: Somalia (#2), Syria (#3), Iraq (#4), Afghanistan (#5), Pakistan (#8) and Yemen (#10). Another newly failed, war-torn state – the Central African Republic (CAR) – made the list for the first time at #16. Libya (#13) and Nigeria (#14) remain very high.

And, the country of North Korea has been in the news this week, as the result of former NBA player Dennis Rodman's visit to the isolated country.  He seems to have struck up a friendship with the country's leader, and he enlisted the assistance of some other former pro basketball players to travel with him to the nation.   In an interview with CNN, Chris Cuomo asked Rodman about the plight of Christian missionary Kenneth Bae, who is in the prison in North Korea.  Rodman responded harshly, for which he later apologized.

According to ChristianNews.net, Rodman issued an apology surrounding his behavior, stating that alcohol and stress contributed to his outburst.

Bae's sister Terri Chung released a statement, saying:

“As Rodman has stated, being drunk and stressed is not an excuse for what he said, but we acknowledge he is human and we all do make mistakes...Our greatest concern remains the health and freedom of my brother Kenneth. We hope and pray that Rodman’s comments and ongoing antics have not further endangered my brother. Kenneth’s health and freedom are precarious.”

Bae operates a tourist company in Washington state and was arrested not far from the city of Yanji in November 2012, where some Christian groups provide aid to North Korean refugees. He was sentenced to 15 years hard labor, and has been reportedly struggling with his health over the past year as his family has made several pleas for his release.

The 3 - January 5, 2014

In this week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, the spotlight shines on California, where the count of signatures calling for a voter referendum on the co-ed bathroom bill that was passed in 2013 continues - a favorable court ruling this week provides that signatures from 2 counties will be counted, after being blocked by the Secretary of State.   Also, news out of California involves a teenager who has been declared "brain-dead", but her parents believe otherwise - she's been greenlighted to be moved out of an Oakland hospital.  And, with the HHS contraception mandate set to go into effect this past Wednesday, there were multiple court actions temporarily blocking the mandate for certain groups, including one ruling by a Supreme Court justice.

3 - California co-ed bathroom bill on hold, receives favorable court ruling in petition signature count

It has been stated that if you want to see what the rest of America might look like morally in a few years, just look to California.   And, when Governor Jerry Brown signed a co-ed bathroom bill earlier in 2013, he set off a moral firestorm, which has resulted in the original bill being on the verge of being placed on a referendum ballot later this year.  The group organizing the petition drive, Privacy for All Students, which had to collect a minimum of just north of 504,000 signatures in 90 days, is accusing the Secretary of State's office of stonewalling the petition count and misinforming the public by saying that the bill went into effect this past Wednesday, January 1st.

The group went to court against the Secretary's office, and according to its website, PrivacyForAllStudents.com, in a strongly worded tentative ruling, a Sacramento Superior Court judge directed the California Secretary of State to count petitions submitted in two northern California counties for the referendum effort

The Secretary of State had refused to count signatures timely submitted in Tulare and Mono counties. Problems had resulted from the statutory filing deadline falling on a Sunday in the middle of a three day weekend.  Privacy For All Students arranged for courier delivery before the Sunday deadline in both counties. While each of the counties reported the signatures to State elections officials, the Secretary of State refused to count any of the signatures submitted in these counties.

The opinion, delivered by Judge Allen Sumner, concluded that PFAS actually had until Tuesday, November 12 to file the petitions, due to the weekend and the Monday holiday.

Karen England, a spokesperson for PFAS, said, “The process of collecting 504,760 valid signatures in 90 days is tough enough. But the Secretary of State seemed determined to shorten the time we were given wherever possible...We have slowly realized that the Secretary of State is not an unbiased referee in this process but an advocate for the co-ed bathroom law.”

Nearly 620,000 signatures presented in support of the referendum are being validated in a joint process by the counties and the State.   Presentation of those signatures in November suspended the implementation of the law. However, officials at the office of the Secretary of State are erroneously advising that the law became effective on January 1.  PFAS is advising school personnel that the law was suspended based on the presentation of the signatures and that the law will only go into effect if the signatures are determined to be inadequate or the voters approve the law on the November ballot.

2 - Parents attempt to intervene on behalf of teenager declared "brain-dead"

Jahi McMath is a 13-year old girl in California who was left in an incapacitated state in the aftermath of a tonsillectomy in December.  Even though she has been declared "brain-dead" by medical professionals, her mother and family insist that she is still alive, and so far, have received positive court orders to continue life support for the girl.   LifeNews.com reports that after a protracted legal battle, Children’s Hospital Oakland on Friday reached an agreement with Jahi’s family to allow a medical team to enter the hospital to perform the procedures necessary to move her to a medical facility that will continue her care and treatment.

The family in the case also claims that the hospital has been starving Jahi for three weeks, a charge which the hospital denies.
The San Francisco Chronicle is quoted in the piece as saying:

Under the agreement, Jahi’s mother, Nailah Winkfield, is “wholly and exclusively responsible for Jahi McMath the moment custody is transferred in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit and acknowledge(s) that she understands that the transfer and subsequent transport could pact the condition of the body, including causing cardiac arrest.”

The agreement was supervised by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo, who refused the family’s request to require doctors from the hospital or an outside physician to insert a feeding tube and a tracheostomy tube on Jahi.  

The family insists that Jahi is alive and that there is hope for recovery because her heart continues to beat and she remains on a ventilator, which will be kept on as she is moved.   LifeNews.com reports that pediatrician Dr. Paul A. Byrne told a local television station he does not believe that brain death is “true death” and said, with “proper nutrition and care,” McMath can have meaningful recovery to the degree that she would not meet the “brain death” criteria.

1 - Enforcement of HHS contraception mandate put on hold for some organizations 

With the approach of the Jan. 1, 2014 effective date for non-profit religious organizations to comply with the mandate that employers provide free contraception, sterilization, and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans, three circuit courts and a Supreme Court Justice on Tuesday ruled on motions for injunctions pending appeals by non-profits who had lost at the district court level.

According to the Religion Clause website, here are those instances:

The 7th Circuit denied Notre Dame University's emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal, but ordered expedited briefing and oral argument.

The 10th Circuit denied Little Sisters of the Poor's emergency motion for an injunction pending appeal.  However late in the evening, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement, and ordered a response by the federal government by 10:00 a.m. on Friday.

Also, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, by a 2-1 vote, granted emergency motions for injunctions pending appeal filed by Priests for Life and by various plaintiffs  in the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Washington case (Thomas Aquinas College was exempted).   The court ordered the two cases combined for appeal.

In the case that went before Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor, the Department of Justice, in its response, according to CitizenLink, argued that the Little Sisters of the Poor could be exempted from the mandate if they sign a government form that delegates the action to a third party. Refusing to do so could result in steep fines.  Mark Rienzi, senior counsel for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is quoted as saying, “Unfortunately, the federal government has started the new year the same way that it ended the old one: trying to bully nuns into violating their religious beliefs."  Rienzi said that the DOJ's brief "...is devoted to trying to keep the Court out of the issue, which would leave hundreds of religious organizations subject to massive fines for following their religion.”

The 3 - December 29, 2013

This week's edition of "The 3" includes the story of violence on Christmas Day in nation of Iraq.  Also, there was some good news for "Duck Dynasty" fans and Christians who were alarmed when family father and grandfather Phil Robertson was suspended by the cable network carrying the show for his comments on homosexuality.   And, the top story: the celebration of Christmas and the timeless message of God's love for humanity that has been proclaimed to a greater degree throughout the last few weeks.

3 - Churches in Baghdad come under attack on Christmas Day

Tragedy struck in Baghdad, the capital city of Iraq, on Christmas Day, where militants killed almost three dozen people – most of them Christians – in two bomb attacks, according to BBC News, cited by Open Doors USA.  One bomb exploded outside of the St. John’s Catholic Church while worshippers were leaving a Christmas Day service, killing at least 24.  Another bomb ripped through an outside market in a Christian neighborhood, killing at least 11 (information updated from BBC website).  There were an estimated 60 wounded in the two bombings.

Pastor Tariq (not his real name) told Open Doors recently that “churches are targets for terrorists, especially on Christmas Day. Many Christians stay home because they are too afraid.”

An Open Doors field worker said in an earlier report: “We received documents and threats stating that the aim of Islamist insurgents is to make Iraq a ‘Muslim only’ country. They want Christians out.”

Iraq is No. 4 on the 2013 Open Doors World Watch List, which ranks countries that are the worst persecutors of Christians.  In the early 1990's, there were an estimated 1.2 million Christians in the nation, and that number has diminished to an estimated 330,000 Christians left in that nation, as many have fled the country due to violence and persecution.

Dr. David Curry, president/CEO of Open Doors USA, stated that, “There is a concerted effort by extremists to drive Christians out of the Middle East...Iraq not only is a hostile, volatile environment in general, but often the violence is directed specifically towards Christians...

“Only the power of prayer is going to improve the conditions for believers in Iraq and countries such as Syria and Iran. Pray that the families of the victims will feel the embrace of Jesus. Pray that the government of Iraq will do more to protect people of all faiths. And pray that in 2014 Christians will be able to worship the Lord in peace and freedom.”

Curry adds that attacks on Christians during Christmas and New Year’s Eve is a “very disturbing trend.” He cited the bombing of the Two Saints Coptic Church in Alexandria, Egypt on New Year’s Eve and attacks on Christians in Nigeria on Christmas Eve the last three years.

2 - Phil Robertson reinstated to "Duck Dynasty" by A&E

Friday afternoon, the A&E cable network lifted its suspension of Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the family featured in the reality show, "Duck Dynasty"   In a statement which was quoted by The Hollywood Reporter website, the network said that, regarding comments made about homosexuality which were consistent with the teachings of the Bible:

While Phil's comments made in the interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the "coarse language" he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would "never incite or encourage hate." We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article and reiterate that they are not views we hold.

But Duck Dynasty is not a show about one man's views. It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family … a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about.

The channel reportedly had discussions with the Robertson family and consulted with "numerous advocacy groups" prior to their decision to lift what was announced to be an "indefinite" suspension.  A&E also said they would launch a public service campaign promoting unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people, "a message that supports our core values as a company and the values found in Duck Dynasty."

In response, Family Research Council (FRC) President Tony Perkins released a statement which said, in part: 

The attacks on Phil Robertson revealed to the American people that the push to redefine marriage is less about the marriage altar than it is fundamentally altering America's moral, political and cultural landscape. A&E Network's reversal in the face of backlash is quite telling to the American people who are growing tired of GLAAD and cultural elites who want to silence people and remove God and His word from every aspect of public life.

He went on to say:

We've also seen these intimidation tactics used against wedding florists, bakers, photographers who have been hauled into court, fined and even ordered to violate their religious beliefs by participating in same-sex weddings. Where is the fairness there? Where's the tolerance? There is none. This is why hundreds of thousands of Americans had enough and took a stand by signing petitions in support of Phil Robertson and the right of Christians to quote the Bible".

The Hollywood Reporter article also quotes Chris Stone of Faith Driven Consumer, which started the IStandWithPhil.com website, which had generated over 200,000 signatures.   He said: "Despite our celebration, we remain uncertain of A&E's true intent. Today, in the network’s statement of their core values – centered on ‘creativity, inclusion, and mutual respect’ - Faith Driven Consumers are left wondering whether A&E considers us to be a part of America's rich rainbow of diversity...Do they also now embrace the biblically based values and worldview held by the Robertson family and millions of Faith Driven Consumers?"

Perkins and Stone both pose good questions.  Unfortunately, in the name of "tolerance", the views of Christians based on the teachings of the Scriptures have been marginalized and denigrated.   Could this represent a tipping point, where the voices of people of faith may actually be included in the conversations and our views tolerated?  Do we still have the freedom of religion in America to be able to express Biblical views without being chastised?  People will disagree with one another about a variety of issues, and it is important that we have that freedom to express different views without the threat of being silenced.

1 - Christians celebrate our Savior's birth

Throughout the world, Christians set aside this past Wednesday and the days leading up to it as a time to celebrate our Savior's birth.   And, even though a new Pew study shows that about a third of Americans see Christmas as a cultural holiday, over half of those survey (51%) still see Christmas as a religious holiday. 96% of Christians say they celebrate Christmas, and two-thirds of Christians see it as a religious holiday.  

And, the indications from this polling data show that over half of Americans attended some sort of Christmas service recently.  While about seven-in-ten Americans said they typically attended Christmas Eve or Christmas Day religious services when they were children, 54% said they planned to attend Christmas services this year.

Pew also reports significant generational differences in the way Americans planned to celebrate Christmas this year, with younger adults less likely than older adults to incorporate religious elements into their holiday celebrations.  Adults under age 30 are far less likely than older Americans to say they see Christmas as more of a religious than a cultural holiday, they are less likely to attend Christmas religious services, and to believe in the virgin birth.

This is consistent with other research showing that younger Americans are helping to drive the growth of the religiously unaffiliated population within the U.S.   But the report on the Pew survey points out that even among Christians, young people are more likely than older adults to view Christmas as more of a cultural than a religious holiday.

It is clear that people are celebrating Christmas differently - there was a difference in the number of people putting up a Christmas tree, in contrast to their childhood.   Belief in Santa Claus and the participation in caroling?   Respondents indicated a sharp decline over what they did during their childhood years.  

But, even though methods and degrees of celebration have changed, the message of Christmas has not changed - God sent his Son, Jesus, into the world, so that the world might receive His love and come into a right relationship with God through salvation in Christ.   And, when you consider that even 8-in-10 non-Christians in America still celebrate Christmas, that tells me that there is at least a sensitivity to something special during the season, even though they may not acknowledge the real meaning of it.   So, our mission as Christians during the Christmas season is to shine the light of Christ, to recognize that the holiday was established to be centered on the birth of our Savior, and to find ways to communicate that incredible truth to a world that so desperately needs to hear it.

The 3 - December 22, 2013

This week in my week-in-review feature, "The 3":  What's being described as an early Christmas gift was extended to 180 ministries who receive health benefits from a organization of the Southern Baptist Convention - temporary relief from having to comply with the HHS contraception mandate.   Also, same-sex marriage had 2 positive court rulings this week - one from the New Mexico Supreme Court, another from a Federal court judge in Utah.  And, of course, the top story involves comments made by Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson about homosexuality and the Biblical view of it.

3 - Judge gives relief to 180 evangelical ministries from HHS mandate

There continues to be news about the progress of lawsuits involving the mandate from the Department of Health and Human Services requiring that employers provide free contraception and abortion-inducing drugs as part of their health care plans. Christianity Today reports a positive outcome, albeit temporary, in one of two class-action lawsuits filed against the mandate, as The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty announced that an Oklahoma judge granted GuideStone Financial Resources a temporary injunction against the Affordable Care Act requirement.

CT cited a Baptist Press piece that reported that GuideStone had sued on behalf of 180 evangelical ministries affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

Becket writes:

These evangelical organizations only object to four out of twenty FDA-approved contraceptives—those like the "morning after pill" and the "week after pill" that may cause early abortions. The court's order is an early Christmas gift that came just days before the January 1, 2014 deadline that would have forced the ministries to choose between following their religious beliefs about the sanctity of life and paying thousands of dollars a day in fines.

Becket had said that the class, represented by Reaching Souls International and Truett-McConnell College, includes over 100 ministries that currently receive conscience-compliant health benefits through GuideStone. None of the ministries that comprise the class qualify for HHS' narrow "religious employer" exemption, and they all face enormous fines if they do not comply with the government's mandate by January 1, 2014.

"The very purpose of the GuideStone plan is to provide ministry organizations with employee health benefits according to Biblical principles," said O.S. Hawkins, GuideStone's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The government shouldn't prohibit us from continuing in that ministry."

2 - Same-sex marriage rulings: New Mexico Supreme Court, Utah Federal judge 

This week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in the state.

According to a CitizenLink report, state marriage laws, enacted in 1961, do not clearly define the institution. There are sections for a “male” and “female” on its marriage applications. It also includes the words “husband” and “wife.” Activists claim the ambiguous laws open the door for same-sex marriage. Many attorneys and legal analysts disagree.

Earlier this year, the ACLU sued the state, claiming that because the state Constitution does not exclude same-sex marriage, that it should, therefore, issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. This summer, six of the state’s 33 county clerks began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Shortly after, a judge ordered a Santa Fe clerk to issue the licenses. State Attorney General Gary King refused to take any action against the clerks.

Jim Campbell of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) responded to the ruling, saying, “The New Mexico Supreme Court ignored that time-tested understanding of marriage and replaced it with the recently conceived notion that marriage means special government recognition for close relationships.”

And, this week, a Utah Federal judge, Robert Shelby ruled that the state's voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as one man and one woman, was unconstitutional. Byron Babione of ADF said, 

“The government’s purpose for recognizing marriage is to bring together one man and one woman as husband and wife to be a father and a mother to any children their union may produce. The ruling in this case ignores that time-tested and rational understanding of marriage--affirmed by 66 percent of Utah voters--and replaces it with the recently conceived notion that marriage means special government recognition for close relationships. A court should not impose this shortsighted, novel view of marriage on the people of Utah. We encourage the state to appeal this decision.”

This comes just days after another Federal judge in Utah ruled that a portion of the law banning polygamy in the state was unconstitutional.   A CitizenLink story relates that judge, Clark Waddoups, found in favor of the family of Kody Brown of the TLC reality series, Sister Wives. Judge Waddoups claims the part of the law making cohabitation illegal violates the Constitution.

1 - Duck Commander comments unleash controversy

This week, an article was published on the website for GQ, which featured Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Robertson family featured in the A&E hit television series, Duck Dynasty.   His comments on sin, and specifically homosexuality, resulted in a predictable reaction by groups such as the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD).   Basically, Robertson took the traditional teaching of the Bible and the church and enhanced it in his own unique way.

Regarding sin, he said, according to FOX411:

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong... Sin becomes fine,” he said. “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men.”

Paraphrasing [1st] Corinthians he added: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”

Wilson Cruz of GLAAD stated:  "Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil's lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe...He clearly knows nothing about gay people or the majority of Louisianans – and Americans - who support legal recognition for loving and committed gay and lesbian couples. Phil's decision to push vile and extreme stereotypes is a stain on A&E and his sponsors who now need to reexamine their ties to someone with such public disdain for LGBT people and families."

Robertson responded firmly to the critics, releasing a statement that said:

“I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior.

“My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together.

"However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me. We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity. We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

Well, in less than a day, A&E took action.  FOX411 quotes a statement from the network:

"We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson's comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series Duck Dynasty...His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely."

Who knows what that means, but the family was none too pleased at the reaction of the network, for whom they have made a large sum of money.   And, the family released a statement on Thursday and posted it on its website:

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The family has spent much time in prayer since learning of A&E's decision. We want you to know that first and foremost we are a family rooted in our faith in God and our belief that the Bible is His word. While some of Phil’s unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse, his beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the Bible. Phil is a Godly man who follows what the Bible says are the greatest commandments: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Phil would never incite or encourage hate. We are disappointed that Phil has been placed on hiatus for expressing his faith, which is his constitutionally protected right. We have had a successful working relationship with A&E but, as a family, we cannot imagine the show going forward without our patriarch at the helm. We are in discussions with A&E to see what that means for the future of Duck Dynasty. Again, thank you for your continued support of our family.

And, Todd Starnes of FOX reported that Cracker Barrel announced the removal of some Duck Dynasty merchandise from its store shelves.   The chain of stores released this statement on its Facebook page:

“Cracker Barrel’s mission is Pleasing People. We operate within the ideals of fairness, mutual respect and equal treatment of all people. These ideals are the core of our corporate culture. We continue to offer Duck Commander products in our stores. We removed selected products which we were concerned might offend some of our guests while we evaluate the situation. We continually evaluate the products we offer and will continue to do so.”

Starnes said that Cracker Barrel's statement led to confusion among some customers who wondered if the restaurant was removing Duck Dynasty products owned by A&E or products owned by the Robertson family's Duck Commander business.


Well, Sunday morning, Cracker Barrel posted on its Facebook page that it was reversing that decision:

"When we made the decision to remove and evaluate certain Duck Dynasty items, we offended many of our loyal customers. Our intent was to avoid offending, but that's just what we've done. You told us we made a mistake. And, you weren't shy about it. You wrote, you called and you took to social media to express your thoughts and feelings. You flat out told us we were wrong. We listened. Today, we are putting all our Duck Dynasty products back in our stores. And, we apologize for offending you. We respect all individuals' right to express their beliefs. We certainly did not mean to have anyone think different. We sincerely hope you will continue to be part of our Cracker Barrel family."

And, this illustrates a point that has been regularly made in areas of religious liberty and freedom of expression of Christian values:  in an attempt to appease certain segments of the population that do not embrace Biblical principles or respect Christian values, who do you end up offending?   The Christians! At least Cracker Barrel admitted they were wrong and apologized for offending their customers.

What's next?  Who know - I believe A&E made this "suspension" to buy time and let things die down.  It's still disturbing that they felt the need to capitulate to GLAAD and similar groups, which represent a small percentage of the population.  A new season is about to launch after the first of the year, and I just have a hunch they won't be editing all (if any) of Phil's appearances out. 

The 3 - December 15, 2013

On this edition of my week-in-review feature, "The 3", an update on the efforts being made by the wife of an Iranian-American pastor, who is currently being held in prison in Iran, to set him free.   Also, a judge has ruled that a long-standing veteran's memorial in California that features a large cross must be taken down. And, the top story involves the ongoing confusion over the proper, constitutional expressions of Christmas in public schools.

3 - Imprisoned Iranian-American pastor's wife testifies before Congress

As Christmas approaches, believers continue to be reminded about the plight of Saeed Abedini, a pastor and an American citizen who was born in Iran and returned there to do ministry over a year ago.   He was arrested and has been placed in notorious prisons in the nation, including Evin prison and now the Rajai Shahr prison, where his plight is said to be worsening.

His wife, Naghmeh, testified before a House subcommittee on foreign affairs on Thursday. According to a story on the ReligionToday.com website, quoting Charisma News, she said that, "Each day that [Saeed Abedini] remains in that dreadful place could mean a death sentence; any day could be execution day."

Jordan Sekulow of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) joined Abedini before Congress. He related that, "The Obama Administration and the U.S. State Department had a historic opportunity to demand Pastor Saeed’s release, along with that of all wrongly detained Americans in Iran, as a precondition to the nuclear negotiations...As Dr. Katrins Lantos Sweet, Vice Chair of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, testified, this would have been an easy ask. Yet, the Obama Administration intentionally chose not to even ask for his release as a precondition to the negotiations, leaving Pastor Saeed behind – malnourished, in increasing pain, and without medication.”

Naghmeh is quoted as saying that, “As Christmas quickly approaches, it is just another painful reminder of life without Saeed for our family. When I ask my children what they want for Christmas, their answer is simple. It’s the same thing they wanted for their birthdays this year. It’s the same thing they want every day. They just want Daddy. They want Daddy home..."
At the website, BeHeardProject.com, which you can access by typing in SaveSaeed.com, you can add your name to an online petition calling for his release.  Over 161,000 people have done that thus far.  The section of the website dealing with Pastor Saeed mentions the nuclear "deal" with Iran, so you might assume that this number has been acquired since that deal, because, previously, over 610,000 signatures were reported to have been collected.  Also, over 193,000 people have written to the President of Iran asking him to release Pastor Saeed.

2 - Mount Soledad cross ordered to be removed

Since 1954, a large cross has stood on Mount Soledad, overlooking the city of San Diego, as a memorial to the sacrifices of veterans.  It is surrounded by 3,000 plaques to memorialize America’s war heroes from the Revolutionary War forward.

CitizenLink reports that a Federal judge has ruled that the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross must be removed from the San Diego site.  Liberty Institute vows to appeal the decision all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court — if necessary.

Hiram Sasser, Director of Litigation for Liberty Institute says that, “The judge reluctantly agreed with a previous ruling by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that this hallowed veterans memorial must be removed." The appeals court had ruled in 2011 that the cross was unconstitutional.

Sasser said he’s confident that the memorial will win on appeal.

The legal proceedings started in 1989 when the ACLU and other groups filed suit saying the 43-foot-tall cross violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.  Since then many attempts have been made to save the cross.  Congress passed a law in 2004 making the city-owned display a national memorial.

Bruce Bailey, president of the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association, told Fox News: “It is unfortunate that the 9th Circuit left the judge no choice but to order the tearing down of the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Cross."  He added that he’s grateful the judge chose to allow the memorial to remain in place while the court challenge continues.

1 -  Christmas clashes occur throughout America

The top story of the week is actually an amalgamation of a number of different stories, all centered around the same issue - the rights of students to have freedom of expression as it pertains to the celebration of Christmas.   We have seen instances throughout the years of school districts who have placed restrictions on the acknowledgement and celebration of this holiday, which is a Federal holiday, and the state of Texas earlier this year attempted to codify the rights of students regarding Christmas by passing the "Merry Christmas" Bill, which was introduced by Texas State Rep. Dwayne Bohac, who says he just wants to inject a little common sense back into the holiday season, according to the website, YourHoustonNews.com.

The bill amended the education code to allow Texas public school administrators, teachers, students and parents to discuss, use traditional greetings of and display symbols and scenes of “traditional winter celebrations,” generally Christmas and Hannukkah, without proselytizing.

Bohac held a press conference this week in an attempt to remind school districts about this legislation.  In a release announcing the conference, Bohac uses an example given by Rep. Pat Fallon, who said that before Thanksgiving a PTA email distributed through Frisco ISD outlined a list of “winter party rules” that included no references to any religious holiday, no use of red and green colors, and no Christmas trees would be allowed. Fallon contacted the PTA and informed it of the new law.

Bohac said, “With Christmas around the corner, our goal is to educate the public on this new law so that our teachers and students are able to celebrate the upcoming holiday season without fear of retribution or punishment...We also hope by raising awareness this legislation will become a model for others states around the country.”   Religion Today also reports that Missouri overrode a governor's veto to pass a similar law.

CitizenLink ran a story this week on 3 Montana high schools, who faced threats from the ACLU and the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF), demanding that choir students not participate in a community Christmas festival at a local church. These schools represented students from 2 districts, who both agreed the show should go on as scheduled.

Student choirs are allowed to voluntarily participate in Christmas events.

The Alliance Defending Freedom wrote to the district superintendents, saying, “We write to commend you for rejecting the ACLU’s and FFRF’s unfounded demands that school choirs be excluded from the community Christmas festival. Such participation fully complies with applicable law...Your school districts were also right to be concerned that only disallowing choir students from singing at community events sponsored by churches would violate the First Amendment.”

Religion Today reported on a recent Rasmussen poll, showing that 75% of American adults believe Christmas should be celebrated in public schools. The pollsters note, “Despite school administrators’ concerns nationwide, Americans strongly believe that Christmas should be a part of public schools. They feel just as strongly that religious symbols should be allowed on public property.”

Widespread public support, however, has not squelched threatened litigation and school policy fights.

Periodically at Faith Radio, we receive calls or e-mails from listeners who relate to us instances where they feel that students' rights of religious expression are being inhibited.  Sometimes, people ask us to whom they could turn to find legal relief.   Earlier in this story, I had mentioned the Alliance Defending Freedom.  They have published a Christmas Memo, outlining the legal ways in which Christmas can be commemorated in a public school setting.   They also have a Fact Sheet about this issue.

Recently, ADF wrote a letter to over 13,000 school districts across the nation about the constitutional celebration of Christmas on school grounds.   This letter was intended, according to ADF, "to explain constitutional protections for religious Christmas carols that some districts have censored due to misinterpretations of the First Amendment. The letter also backs up the legitimacy of schools participating in community service projects sponsored by religious organizations and offers free legal assistance to districts that need help."

Other legal advocacy organizations that are involved in defending the religious rights of students include Liberty Institute (www.libertyinstitute.org), which defended to so-called "Candy Cane Case", out of Plano, TX, where a student had been prohibited from handing out candy cane pens to his classmates because there was a message attached regarding the legend of the candy cane, which points to Jesus.   That case is still being litigated, apparently.

Liberty Counsel (www.lc.org) is another organization that has actively defended students whose religious expression rights have been limited.   The American Center for Law and Justice (www.aclj.org) is also involved in defending students' rights.

The 3 - December 8, 2013

It's time for another edition of my weekly listing of top stories impacting the Christian community, including information, links, and commentary.  I call it "The 3", including 3 stories of relevance.   This week, one item involves action before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding health care - the justices decided not to hear an appeal in a case involving Liberty University and the employer mandate in the health care law, along with other issues.   Another story involves two high-profile pastors and their large-scale book releases this week. And, the top story spotlights opportunities for charities, including ministry organizations, to shine and to raise funding.

3 - Supreme Court rejects Liberty University challenge to Affordable Care Act

The day that President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act into law - March 23, 2010 - a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Liberty University and two private individuals. They are represented by Liberty Counsel, which stated that the case challenged (1) the entire employer mandate, (2) the forced funding of abortion drugs and devices under the law and as implemented by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and (3) the forced funding of abortion by individuals under the individual mandate.

The Liberty University case first reached the U.S. Supreme Court in 2011, and the issue raised by the case, the Anti-Injunction Act, became the subject of the first day of the three-day oral argument in 2012.  In November 2012, the High Court ordered the federal court of appeals to rehear the remaining unresolved issues, including the employer mandate. After the three-judge panel (two of whom were appointed by President Obama) upheld the law, the case again went back to the Supreme Court.  This week, the high court decided not to hear Liberty's appeal in the case.

Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, said, “The High Court has decided to take up the HHS contraception and abortion drug mandate, but it is not ready yet to tackle the entire employer mandate. That challenge will wait for another day...The Liberty University case would make strong arguments that the employer mandate could not be upheld as a tax because the penalties are exorbitantly high and punitive. Deciding the case would have highlighted the absurdity of the Supreme Court’s convoluted decision upholding the individual mandate as a tax. Apparently the Court was not willing right now to venture back into that morass.”

2 - Major pastors Jeremiah, Warren announce new releases

This past week marked the release of 2 major works by 2 of America's highest-profile pastors. The Christian Post reports that in New York City's Madison Square Garden, an crowd packed the 5,500-seat venue to celebrate the release of Dr. David Jeremiah's new Jeremiah Study Bible.

The 72-year-old pastor told his family, friends and ministry supporters, "Tonight, we are celebrating the completion and publication of the Jeremiah Study Bible. This is the culmination of a lifetime of teaching and studying the Word of God...Over these many years I have watched this book and the savior it presents permanently change the lives of people. And it is my prayer that the study Bible introduced on this night, will encourage you to make the study of God's Word a priority in your life." [sic]

The Jeremiah Study Bible: What It Says. What It Means. What It Means for You is in the New King James Version and includes over 8,000 study notes, hundreds of sidebars and more than 60 articles on "Essentials of the Christian Faith."  Dr. Jeremiah is speaker on Turning Point radio and television and Senior Pastor of the Shadow Mountain Community Church in San Diego, had a number of musical guests on hand to mark the release of the Bible: Marshall Hall, Gordon Mote, The Brooklyn Tabernacle Singers, Kari Jobe, and MercyMe.

Also, this week, the Senior Pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, California, Rick Warren, took to the airwaves to discuss his new book, The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life, co-written with Dr. Daniel Amen and Dr. Mark Hymen.  Media appearances included Piers Morgan Live and CBS This Morning.

According to a story on The Christian Post website, Pastor Warren and members of the church have undergone life-changing weight-loss experiences after collectively realizing three years ago that many of them needed to lose weight. About half of the church reportedly participated in the challenge, resulting in a collective weight loss of more than 250,000 pounds after the first year. Now, Warren aims to go beyond his own congregation and spread the word about living healthy with his new book.

Warren, in an interview with Parade Magazine, said that, "There's a verse in the Bible that says Jesus went into every village preaching, teaching, and healing. I say that preaching is evangelism; teaching is education; and healing is health care."  He added, "Jesus didn't only care about getting people into heaven. He cared about spirit, mind, and body. To me, health care isn't simply helping the sick get well, but helping the well not get sick."

Warren stated that, "People say they want to work on their marriages, their careers, or get their finances in shape. If you can get your energy level up by living healthier, then you can say, 'now I can start working on my marriage, then I can work on my finances or my career or my parenting.' We're really starting at a base level."  He says the Daniel Plan is about spiritual motivation.  There are 5 components: faith, food, fitness, focus, and friends.

1 - Churches, charities use Giving Tuesday to motivate

This past Tuesday marked the second annual Giving Tuesday event, involving thousands of non-profit organizations, including a variety of ministry-related groups.  The Nonprofit Quarterly website reports that according to online donation company Blackbaud, they processed donations worth $19.2 million, an increase of 90 percent over last year. (On Giving Tuesday 2012, the company processed $10.1 million in donations.)

This year there was a dramatic increase both in promotion of the event and in the numbers of nonprofits taking part. Not only were there more social media and email campaigns, there was also much more coverage in print and television.

According to Crain’s New York Business, 10,000 nonprofits participated this year, as compared to 2,500 in 2012.

There was much more infrastructure this year. On the #GivingTuesday webpage, there is a playbook for kickstarting a Giving Tuesday campaign and an article on measuring success.

A new word/hashtag combination was coined: “#unselfies.” An unselfie is a picture of someone marking the act of giving back.

A Christian denomination became involved in the #GivingTuesday concept this year.  According to a report on the Newsday website, the United Methodist church General Board of Global Ministries announced that the first-ever UMC #GivingTuesday generated a record $6.5 million online on December 3.  Nearly 11,000 donors in 34 countries gave more than 16,300 gifts through The Advance to mission and ministries they believe in. Global Ministries matched the first $500,000 received.

The Advance is The United Methodist Church’s giving channel which ensures that 100 percent of each gift supports the project designated by the donor; it is a link that connects the church in mission. The Advance encompasses more than 850 Methodist-related projects and more than 300 missionaries, all of them reviewed and monitored by Global Ministries staff.

In the wake of #Giving Tuesday, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability released some financial giving statistics.  Christianity Today reports that the ECFA revealed that charitable giving to more than 1,600 of its accredited organizations increased 6.4 percent last year. Donations reached $11 billion in 2012, compared to $10.3 billion in 2011.

The organization reports that giving to evangelical churches and ministries outpaced giving to secular charities in 2012. The Chronicle of Philanthropy's recently released giving data for the largest 400 charities in America reflected a giving increase of 4 percent for 2012, compared with 2011. This data most closely correlates with giving to ECFA members with $25 million or more in revenue, which showed a 7.5 percent increase.

The 3 - December 1, 2013

This week's edition of "The 3", which is my week-in-review feature, begins with a story about a court ruling from the previous Friday which has been producing responses since then, as news spread last week.   Also, a major announcement this past week came from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding the mandate forcing employers to provide contraception and abortion-inducing drugs in their health care plans.  And, the top story - giving thanks!

3 - Ministers, Christian organizations ponder ramifications of court decision on housing allowance

A ruling issued on Friday, November 22nd has brought response from a number of Christian organizations. According to Religion News Service, U.S. District Court Judge Barbara Crabb ruled that an Internal Revenue Service exemption that allows a clergy housing exemption, in order to reduce their Federal tax burden, is unconstitutional.

The exemption applies to an estimated 44,000 ministers, priests, rabbis, imams and others.  If the ruling stands, some clergy members could experience an estimated 5 to 10 percent cut in take-home pay.

The suit was filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation on grounds that the housing allowance violates the separation of church and state and the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. The group’s founders have said that if tax-exempt religious groups are allowed a housing subsidy, other tax-exempt groups, such as FFRF, should get one, too.

CitizenLink quotes Dan Busby, President of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, as saying that, “We find the Freedom from Religion Foundation’s argument to be disingenuous...They indicate that they are harmed by the inability to claim the clergy housing exclusion for their leaders, when they actually never attempted to claim this exclusion.”  ECFA says on its website that, "The district court’s decision on the clergy housing exclusion may be appealed to the Seventh Circuit. Since the case was filed over two years ago, attorneys for the federal government have defended the constitutionality of the clergy housing exclusion and have argued that FFRF lacked legal standing to bring the challenge in the first place."

According to RNS, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission and Southern Baptist-affiliated GuideStone Financial Resources plan to fight for the exemption.

ERLC President Russell Moore says, “The clergy housing allowance isn’t a government establishment of religion, but just the reverse...The allowance is neutral to all religions. Without it, clergy in small congregations of all sorts would be penalized and harmed.”

2 - U.S. Supreme Court to consider HHS contraception mandate

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it would hear Hobby Lobby's challenge to the government mandate requiring potential abortion-inducing drugs in employee health plans.  The arts-and-crafts chain, owned by evangelical Christians, filed suit against the Obama administration last year.

CitizenLink reports that in July, a federal court granted Hobby Lobby temporary relief from the mandate. This followed an appeals court order favoring such a reprieve. The administration then asked the high court to hear the case.

Also, the high court will take a case involving a Mennonite-owned business in Lancaster County, PA, Conestoga Wood Specialties, owned by the Hahn family. The lower courts ruled against the family.

The Obama administration required for-profit businesses to comply with the Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate by August 2012.  Nonprofits - many of which are faith-based - have a so-called safe harbor until January.

More than 80 suits are in play.  According to CitizenLink, as of last Tuesday, courts have granted 32 injunctions, halting the mandate for for-profit businesses; six of these requests have been denied.

1 - Christians celebrate Thanksgiving, ministries demonstrate love of Christ

This past Thursday, people from a variety of faith backgrounds, even those without a faith perspective, participated in the celebration of Thanksgiving.   And, for a believer in Jesus Christ, we have plenty for which to be thankful, and Christians have a large opportunity to show our appreciation for what God has done in our lives by putting His love on display.

A report earlier last week highlighted the work of rescue missions across America, partnering with people in their local communities to reach out to those less fortunate.  A release from the Association of Gospel Rescue Missions (AGRM), the oldest and largest network of independent, faith-based crisis shelters and rehabilitation centers, estimated that its member-ministries served about 50 million meals annually, with the year-end holidays being one of the busiest times.

John Ashmen, president of AGRM, is quoted in a press release from the Association, posted on the Christian Newswire website: "All are saying the same thing: Volunteers and donations are consistent with that of past years, but the number of people in need seems to have increased substantially."

He also said that, "On behalf of every one of the rescue missions out there, I am extremely thankful for all of the volunteered hours and donated dollars...These gift are making the holidays -- starting with Thanksgiving -- meaningful to so many. But we all must remember that hunger and homelessness are not reserved for November and December. The problem is year-round."

And, in Houston, a number of area churches turned Black Friday into "Bless Friday".  According to its website, since 2010, Houston area churches have provided an alternative to frenzied Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving.  Continuing this tradition, an assortment of churches scheduled community service projects on Friday, November 29. These churches ask families and individuals to celebrate Bless Friday as an alternative to Black Friday.

Chuck Fox, founder of Bless Friday, states, “People get our message that when we focus too much on buying things, we lose sight of the real reason for Christmas – remembering and honoring Christ. We want to begin our Christmas celebration by serving others just as Jesus did.”

Also, best-selling author Karen Kingsbury teamed up with the large Christian retail chain Family Christian Stores to help provide relief for children in Haiti.  According to a Christianity Today piece, Kingsbury, who has adopted three of her five sons from Haiti, said in a recent FCS press release, "Haiti is still recovering from the 2010 earthquake that ravaged the already-destitute nation. As in any crisis, many of those most gravely affected were the most vulnerable—infants and children...This Thanksgiving weekend, Family Christian and its customers will be telling these children that they are not forgotten, they are not abandoned and they are not without hope."

The chain said that it would donate 100 percent of its profits from customer purchases over the three-day holiday weekend to build a neonatal orphanage in Haiti.  Furthermore, it would match any donations made during the period.

And, the Christian Defense Coalition was asking Americans to leave an empty place at their Thanksgiving dinners as a sign of solidarity with Pastor Saeed Abedini and the persecuted church worldwide, according to ChristianToday.com.

Pastor Abedini, an Iranian and US citizen, has been imprisoned in Iran for over a year as a result of his Christian faith. He is serving an eight-year sentence in one of the most notorious prisons in the world, Tehran's Evin prison.

The 3 - November 24, 2013

In this week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, I want to take a look at tragedy adversely affecting the campus of Liberty University in Virginia, which would not doubt have a devastating impact on students.  Also, a pro-life initiative in Albuquerque went down to defeat, but was still heartening to supporters.  And, it was a week of commemorations - including the 50th anniversary of the deaths of John F. Kennedy and C.S. Lewis, and the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.

3 - Shooting at Christian university causes alarm, concern

Liberty University, the school founded by the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, and whose main campus is in Lynchburg, Virginia, was hit by a series of tragedies this past week.  According to The Christian Post,
early Tuesday morning, 19-year-old student Joshua Hathaway was shot and killed by a school security guard.  As the school's community was learning the details of incident, Jerry Falwell Jr., the current chancellor of Liberty, informed students that the twin brother of a current Liberty student was killed in a car crash.  A day after Hathaway was shot, a current student attempted suicide.

Grant Leasure, a senior at the school and its newspaper's editor-in-chief told the Post that, "People are in shock about all of the serious things that have happened involving Liberty."

A day after Hathaway's death, Colby Tallafuss, a resident assistant (RA) in the building where the slain student had lived, described the campus mood as "somber" and "introspective" and said that the incident had shaken his collegiate "aura of invincibility."

A search warrant was sought this past week by city police Detective Collin Byrne and filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court, stating that Hathaway allegedly violently turned on a security officer after informing the officer that he had been robbed of his vehicle.

"The security officer then began to investigate Hathaway's complaint but Hathaway then pulled out a hammer from his clothing and assaulted the officer," it stated.

WORLD reports that Falwell thanked the support Liberty has had from Lynchburg police, as well as from Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and presidents of other colleges, who offered prayers and services. He said that counselors had been made available to students.

Falwell stated, “It’s events like this where we feel like it’s our duty as a Christian university to pull together and to support everybody as much as possible."

Liberty is the largest evangelical nonprofit university in the nation.

2 - Albuquerque voters defeat proposed ordinance banning late-term abortion

This past week, voters in Albuquerque, New Mexico went to the polls to consider a ban on abortions after 20 weeks gestation, a point at which research has shown that an unborn child can feel pain.  According to LifeNews.com, voters in the city defeated the nation’s first city-wide ban on late-term abortions. The reported final tallies are around 55-45% against the ban.

This comes at the conclusion of a monumental battle that saw national pro-life groups and abortion supporters engage in a furious fight in the state. Some pro-life advocates are asserting the results are something of a moral victory because Planned Parenthood and other abortion advocates were forced to spend $1 million or more on defending late-term abortions, though pro-life groups also spent considerable sums of more meager resources.

The loss came at the same time the Texas law to limit abortions — which has already closed or halted abortions at numerous abortion clinics — won a victory at the Supreme Court, as it refused to hear the appeal of a Federal appeals court decision not to halt the Texas law banning abortion at 20 weeks from going into effect. 

LifeNews speculates that the results may go to show that focusing on electing pro-life candidates and passing pro-life laws in Congress and state legislatures, rather than ballot measures, are the more successful route to stopping abortions.

1 - Significant anniversaries explore faith connections (Gettysburg, Kennedy, Lewis)

This week brought the commemoration of several notable events from history - on Tuesday, the 150th anniversary of President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was observed, and on Friday, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was noted in a number of ways, from a ceremony in Dealey Plaza in Dallas, where the tragic event took place, to an online replay of the CBS broadcast of the President's death.

And, somewhat overshadowed was the observance of an event that has some enhanced meaning for Christians, the 50th anniversary of the death of C.S. Lewis, who authored The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, and The Screwtape Letters.  WORLD reports that Westminster Abbey in London remembered Lewis by adding a memorial to him in Poets' Corner, the burial place of Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, and numerous other famous British writers.

The memorial stone in Poets' Corner lies in tribute to Lewis’ life, faith, and work, bearing one of the author’s most quotable lines: “I believe in Christianity as I believe the sun has risen. Not only because I can see it but because by it I can see everything else.”

Former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, a great fan of Lewis, gave the main address at the ceremony to unveil the stone before 1,000 guests.

The weight of the Gettysburg Address was underscored by historian Ken Burns' Learn the Address Initiative encouraging people to memorize Lincoln's speech delivered at the National Cemetery that day.   Burns enlisted the assistance of former Presidents, the current President, and celebrities.   The inclusion of the words, "under God" in the speech became a topic of discussion after those words were omitted by Mr. Obama in his recording.  Burns' website and the White House say that the President was quoting from an earlier draft of the speech which did not include the words.

The Daily Caller points out that the draft most often taught to American school children — and listed on Ken Burns’ website as the preferred draft for the video project — is the Bliss Copy, which says:

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” (emphasis mine)

Historians do believe that Lincoln honed the address in later drafts after he delivered it, but there is little disagreement about whether Lincoln uttered the words “under God” when he spoke at Gettysburg.

“Every stenographic report, good, bad and indifferent, says ‘that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom,’” wrote historian William E. Barton.  “There was no common source from which all the reporters could have obtained those words but from Lincoln’s own lips at the time of delivery.”


And, while the commemoration of Kennedy's death did not generate a great deal of coverage or emotion in the Christian media that I follow, we still cannot ignore the impact of that day in Dallas some 50 years ago on the trajectory of our nation of that day in Dallas.  There were some faith components that intersected the work and life of Kennedy.  Kennedy's Catholic faith had been an issue in the 1960 campaign in which he was elected, and an issue in which he was deeply involved - the civil rights cause - was heavily influenced by faith leaders.

Kennedy had met and talked with Billy Graham on occasion, although accounts seem to indicate that Graham may not have been as close to Kennedy as some of the other Presidents to which he ministered, according to the Asheville Citizen-Times, which recounts that in 1963, “Sometime toward the end of the second week in November, I unaccountably felt such a burden about the presidential visit to Dallas that I decided to phone our mutual friend, Senator Smathers, to tell him I really wanted to talk to the President...all I wanted to tell him and the President was one thing: ‘Don’t go to Texas!’ I had an inner foreboding that something terrible was going to happen.”

The 3 - November 17, 2013

This week's edition of "The 3", my week-in-review feature, includes news out of China that some might find encouraging on first glance, but it is really just a small tweak to a policy that many pro-life individuals and groups find objectionable.   Also, the state of Hawaii is the latest to legalize gay marriage.  And, the top story involves Christian organizations responding to the devastation in the Philippines due to Typhoon Haiyan.

3 - China relaxes one-child policy

This week, the news agency Xinhua proclaimed, with this headline, “China to Ease One-Child Policy.” While this may sound encouraging upon first glance, if you look just a little deeper, the truth of the matter is that China will now lift the ban on a second child, if either parent is an only child.

Reggie Littlejohn of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, writing for LifeNews.com, says,

All the reasons for this adjustment are economic or demographic: China’s dwindling labor force, the country’s growing elderly population, and the severe gender imbalance. Completely absent from the discussion is the issue of human rights violations. China has not promised to end forced abortion, forced sterilization or forced contraception. The coercive enforcement of China’s One Child Policy is its core.

She goes on to make the point that, while we are glad for the second children who will be allowed to be born, the problem with the One Child Policy is not the number of children “allowed.”   She writes that, "Rather, it is the fact that the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) is telling women how many children they can have and then enforcing that limit through forced abortion, forced sterilization and infanticide. Even if all couples were allowed two children, there is no guarantee that the CCP will cease their appalling methods of enforcement."

Pro-life individuals and groups continue to speak out against China's one-child policy, and this narrow exemption may save some lives, but the reality of the threat of forced abortion remains for a large number of families in that nation.

2 - Hawaii legalizes same-sex marriage

With the vote of the Hawaii Senate and the signature of Governor Neil Abercrombie this week, the state is now the 15th to legalize same-sex marriage.

CitizenLink quotes Jim Hochberg, president of Hawaii Family Advocates, said the law will do more than create same-sex marriage. It will also infringe on religious freedom.

He said Christian business owners — including wedding photographers, cake makers and florists — will lose the freedom to turn down same-sex ceremonies.  He stated that also, “...churches are only protected from being forced to participate in solemnization or celebration of marriages, but not other things related to marriage..."  For instance, marriage counseling would not be protected.

If a church opens its facilities to any outside group, it will be forced to allow its property to be used by anyone, even those who do not support what the church believes.

The legislation would also create special divorce rights for same-sex couples.

The report says that Hawaiians have not been silent regarding their support for marriage. On Oct. 28, the first day of the special legislative session, about 10,000 people rallied for marriage at the state capital.

In addition, an unprecedented 5,000 people signed up to testify. Eighty-seven percent were in opposition to redefining the institution, according to the House Minority Office, responsible for registering those who testify.

CitizenLink's Stuart Shepard discussed the Hawaii gay marriage law on a recent edition of The Meeting House.   Commentary on the law is found beginning at 23:11.

1 - Christian organizations respond to typhoon in Philippines

The death toll continues to increase in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan, which roared through the island- based nation, leaving a death toll of over 3600 people confirmed as of Sunday afternoon and others feared to be dead.   And, as we see so often, Christian and ministry-based organizations are stepping in to help provide relief for the thousands who are in need, having lost homes and property and facing an uncertain future.


According to a report on The Christian Post website, over 1.8 million are estimated to have been displaced, with over 9 million having been affected in some way.  The Post quotes a statement from Indiana-based Church World Service (CWS), which says:  "Tragic stories of loss are emerging every day – mothers searching for their children, families torn apart...The people of the Philippines and other regions damaged by the storm desperately need our prayers and financial support."

CWS is working in the central Philippine city of Tacloban, the capital of Leyte province, where Haiyan destroyed about 80 percent of structures in its path.

There are estimates of sustained winds of up to 195 miles per hour and gusts of up to 235 in some parts of the nation.

Philippines' President Benigno Aquino is being criticized for lack of preparation on the part of his government for the storm, as well as the slowness of aid delivery.

The Post reports that about 18,000 people are involved in the rescue and relief effort, according to BBC, which also reports that the flow of aid to the affected area has increased dramatically over the last two days thanks to international aircraft, ships and personnel, including a U.S. aircraft carrier group.

Christian relief agencies World Vision, Convoy of Hope, and Samaritan's Purse are all on the ground.  Also, there is a consortium of agencies called the Integral Alliance, which, according to another recent Christian Post story, is an international network of 19 Christian relief organizations and an affiliate of the World Evangelical Alliance.  It has launched a joint disaster response with 18 of its members, working either directly on-ground in the Philippines or through fundraising efforts in other parts of the world. Fiona Boshoff, International Director of Integral Alliance, told The Christian Post that right now the most immediate needs of Typhoon Haiyan victims are "water, food, medicine and shelter."

She said, "Our members are responding to the needs they have found, and co-ordinating with the government and other agencies, as well as with local NGOs and church and ministry networks wherever possible to bring a holistic response to those in need..."   The road back will be long for these displaced victims and others adversely affected by the storm, but faith-based organizations provide not only needed supplies, but that incredible intangible element - hope.