Atheists Sue City Officials for Supporting a Community Prayer Vigil

The American Center for Law & Justice (ACLJ), which focuses on constitutional law, said they have agreed to represent the City of Ocala, FL which faces a federal lawsuit by an atheist organization for its support of a community prayer vigil in response to recent shootings that left young children injured.

 

The American Humanist Association (AHA) and four individual atheists have taken aim at the City of Ocala because of the decision of Ocala’s Chief of Police to publicly support a community prayer vigil aimed at developing unity and seeking justice in the wake of a spree of shootings that injured several small children in Ocala.

 

“Rather than concocting a constitutional crisis, these plaintiffs should be applauding the efforts of law enforcement officers to engage with the citizenry to make the community safer for all residents,” said David French, ACLJ Senior Counsel.  “The position that government officials working alongside members of the community to restore peace constitute an affront to liberty if prayer makes its way into those efforts is simply not supported by the law.”

 

The AHA filed its federal lawsuit at the end of November, claiming the City and its officials violated the ‘establishment clause’ of the 1st Amendment by supporting the community prayer vigil.  The ACLJ rejects that assertion noting that numerous court decisions — including by the U.S. Supreme Court — have upheld governmental prayer practices as lawful and constitutional.

 

The ACLJ will ask the court to dismiss the claims against the City, its Police Department, its Chief of Police, and its Mayor, as the plaintiffs are not entitled to any of the relief they seek, which includes an injunction against the City and monetary damages from the Police Chief and Mayor.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Supporters of Abortion Can’t Handle the Truth

We’ve all heard the argument: “Outlaw abortion and abortion won’t stop; women will just do it illegally and women will die!”  Oh really?  The fact is: The opposite was found to be true.

 

Legal restriction of abortion has a negative connotation since the idea of women resorting to illegal abortion – risking their own lives – is strongly rooted in worldwide public opinion.  However, a series of independently peer-reviewed articles, challenge this notion in some countries.  The latest data in this subject have been discussed by the Chilean epidemiologist Elard Koch, Director of Research of the MELISA Institute, in the current issue of the official journal of the Chilean Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.  The research shows that not only abortion-related mortality continued its decreasing trend in Chile after its prohibition by law in 1989, but also hospital discharges due to abortion have significantly decreased during the last decade.  The number of maternal deaths decreased from 41.3 to 12.7 per 100,000 women (69.2% reduction).  That puts Chile in 2nd-place for the lowest maternal mortality rate in the Americas (even better than the United States). According to the research from the MELISA Institute, since Chile’s ban on abortion, not only has maternal health improved, but the number of women seeking illegal abortion has plummeted!

 

The Chilean experience represents a paradox in our times: even under less permissive abortion legislation, maternal health indicators can be significantly improved by other factors, including a noteworthy reduction in mortality and morbidity associated to abortion.

 

In countries with higher abortion restrictions, fewer women have to seek treatment for “unsafe abortion” than in countries where abortion is “safe and legal.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel
 

Re-Name Planned Parenthood to Pedophile Protection

Over 60-court cases reveal that girls as young as 10-years-of-age were taken to Planned Parenthood (PP) facilities and other clinics for abortions and birth control by their sexual abusers; but because staff failed to report the crimes, the girls were subjected to years of ongoing sexual abuse.

 

Mark Crutcher, president of Life Dynamics (LD) – a national pro-life organization that has compiled these cases – said they reveal that PP is “operating a nationwide pedophile protection racket.”  Some girls were even taken back to the same clinics by the pedophiles who were abusing them for repeat abortions; yet the staff still failed to ask questions or file a report with local law enforcement.

 

In Florida, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) even paid $200 toward the cost of an abortion for a 12-year-old girl who was 24-weeks pregnant by her 34-year-old abuser.  Life Dynamics and Priests for Life (PFL) are calling for a criminal investigation of late-term abortionist Michael Benjamin who performed the abortion on the 12-year-old rape victim at his Florida clinic without reporting her case to law enforcement.  They’re also calling for an investigation into two abortion clinics where the girl was taken by her abuser, and of the NAF which also violated mandatory reporting statutes.  According to a statement from Fr. Frank Pavone, national director of PFL, a staffer at the Florida clinic was asked why no one reported that a 12-year-old girl was pregnant, and she commented: “Maybe we’ve been hardened with so many kids coming in.”

 

The 60-court cases LD has posted on its website childpredators.com is just a sample of the total they found where trials revealed that pedophiles used abortion facilities to their advantage in an effort to cover up their crimes and continue years of abuse.  “We just took a select group of the total number that was found and all those are cases where men have been convicted of sexual contact with a minor female,” Crutcher told Christian Post.  “And at some point it was revealed — either during the trial or in the indictment or in the police reports — that the child was taken to an abortion clinic in order to cover up the crime.  And the abortion clinic did not report the crime to authorities like they’re required to under law.”  He continued, “This is not just a theoretical thing going on, there are real victims out here.  This is a major, major problem in our country.”

 

Although staff at abortion clinics are supposed to report suspected cases of abuse when an adult brings in a child who’s under the age of consent for an abortion, they’re also required to report any suspected sexual abuse when minors go into clinics for birth control or treatment for an STD. “Abortion doesn’t have anything to do with it, really — abortion, birth control, STD treatment, whatever — what you have to have is reasonable suspicion that a child who’s beneath the state’s age of consent is sexually active,” Crutcher explained.  “So the role that abortion plays, or birth control, treatment for an STD or even a pregnancy test, those are evidence that a child is engaged in sexual activity.”  He asserts, “Obviously, if she’s not engaged in sexual activity, she doesn’t need birth control, abortion, treatment for an STD or a pregnancy test.  So, if you have a child there that’s demonstrating that she’s sexually active, and you have reason to believe that she’s also beneath the state’s age of consent, that triggers mandatory reporting.  How else could she need an abortion?  How else can a girl that’s 12-years-old need an abortion unless she’s sexually active?”

 

Crutcher noted that if an underage girl is taken to a hospital emergency room anywhere in the U.S. because she’s pregnant or has an STD, the staff is trained to abide by mandatory reporting laws.  When asked by Christian Post why people should be concerned about abortion clinics not reporting suspected cased of sexual assault of minors, Crutcher emphasized that people assume young girls are getting pregnant by teenage boys their same age, but the reality is they’re being raped by men who are in their 20s, even 60s.  “The biggest problem here that you have is that the U.S. has the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world.  And what we now know is that conservative estimates are 60% and liberal estimates are 80% of all minor children in this country who get pregnant are impregnated by adult men, not by other children,” he said.  Crutcher continued: “Everybody has this idea that we’ve got a bunch of sexually active kids — that we have a bunch of 14, 15-year-old boys having sex with 14, 15-year-old girls.  That’s not the issue.  The issue is that we have girls, ages 10-14, having sex with 20, 30, 40, 50, 60-year-old men.  There’s the problem.”  He goes on to ask, “As a country we passed the mandatory reporting laws and statutory rape laws for a specific purpose.  If we’re not going to enforce them in this environment, what environment would we enforce them in?”

 

Crutcher told Christian Post that among all of the criminal cases of child sexual abuse that his organization has looked at, they couldn’t find a single example where staff at a PP facility or other abortion clinic had faced criminal charges for not reporting these crimes to authorities.  “This is the second stage in the scandal that’s going on,” he asserted.  “There are three stages: The first stage is that we have men who are raping these little girls, and that’s an epidemic in this country; the second scandal is that the places where they’re most likely to show up, which are abortion clinics, are not reporting them; and the third part of this scandal is that law enforcement agencies in this country are not going after these abortion clinics for failing to report.”

 

“What you’re talking about is: PP and the NAF operating a nationwide pedophile protection racket, and the law enforcement community not doing anything about it,” Crutcher said … adding that far too many people don’t care about the issue until they discover that their daughter is a victim and find out that people who should’ve reported the crime chose not to.  “We ought to be concerned about this when it’s anybody’s daughter.”

 

Given the U.S. Constitution’s balance of power, it falls to the Executive Branch to enforce the laws of the land.  Obviously, this Administration is selective on which laws it will enforce … or not enforce.  Based upon these reported findings, it’s very clear which party is engaged in a ‘war against women.’

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Call Me a ‘_____phobic’ Who Speaks the Truth!

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines ‘phobia’ as, “an exaggerated usually inexplicable and illogical fear of a particular object, class of objects, or situation.”

 

The so-called ‘Progressives’ love to brand anyone with logical moral disapproval of their unreasonable and immoral social deconstructionism as ‘phobic.’  It works like this: Take any objective evil, such as homosexual sin.  State its prefix (“homo”) then add “phobia,” and you’ve got it!  The person who holds to the longstanding precepts of authentic biblical sexual morality is no longer a “Judeo-Christian” but, rather, is magically transformed into that mythical creature called – “The Homophobe.”  The same applies to so-called “Islamophobia.”  Isn’t it really an “illogical fear” if Muslims are trying to kill you?

 

The ‘Progressives’ like to refer to Islam as the “religion of peace.”  In the words of Matt Barber the founder and editor-in-chief of BarbWire.com, “They are no more peace-loving as rape is snuggling.”  A central tenet of Islam is to convert, enslave or kill the infidel.  An infidel is anyone who is not Muslim or, depending on who’s doing the killing, belongs to a different sect of Islam.  Why, even those who fall into the category tagged ‘moderate Muslim,’ are also infidels.  Such ‘moderate Muslims’ embrace an apostate version of Islam that runs directly counter to the clear teachings of the Quran – “… slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.” (Surah 9:5)

 

By the same token, there are ‘moderate [liberal] Christians,’ such as those belonging to the denominations that embrace certain apostasies that run directly counter to the biblical teachings of Christianity (which is the true “religion of peace”).  The devout followers of Jesus Christ, who is God incarnate, are characteristically peaceful; while devout followers of the child-raping, woman-beheading ‘prophet’ Muhammad, who is Satan incarnate, are characteristically violent.  Let’s be clear: Islam is directly opposite of Christianity.  It is the difference of light and darkness.  While Christianity brings eternal life to those choosing to surrender to Jesus, who alone is “the Way, the Truth and the Life” (John 14:6), Islam brings eternal death to those who surrender to Allah – “the best of deceivers” (“[A]nd Allah was deceptive, for Allah is the best of deceivers.” – Surah 3:54)

 

The Bible calls Satan a deceiver.  Revelation 12:9, for instance, explains that he “deceives the whole world.”  Even though liberals often claimed that Muslims, Christians and Jews “worship the same God,” nothing could be further from the truth.  Allah is not God; Allah is the deceiver. Insofar as Christianity, true Christianity, spreads peace, love and truth … true Islam, spreads violence, hate and deception.  Jehovah God sent His Son, Jesus, to die for the repentant individual’s sins on the cross of Calvary as a substitutionary sacrifice.  Islam’s Allah has his ‘prophet’ Muhammad calling for the self-sacrificial death of its followers.  It is the difference of life and death.

 

The secular ‘progressive’ mainstream media won’t adequately cover the Middle East that runs red with the blood of Christian and Jewish martyrs – because it doesn’t fit their narrative.  These are peaceful men, women and children … no different from us … being slaughtered by the tens-of-thousands at the wicked hands of the Islamic faithful.  While there are exceptions, the ‘left’ is overwhelmingly anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and pro-Muslim.  Liberals and Islamists, such as those belonging to the American-Islamic terrorist group CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) have forged a bizarre and notably odd sociopolitical partnership.  The only explanation for this is best illustrated by the adage: “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”

 

Of course, the ‘common enemy’ is likewise signified by an alliance.  It consists of Christians and Jews worldwide.  It, too, is built around a shared cause.  But this cause, unlike that of the ‘Islamo-progressive’ axis, intends freedom, not tyranny; representative democracy, not control.  Most importantly, this Judeo-Christian cause is built upon the rock of truth given us by the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the God of the living, not the dead; the great “I Am.”

 

The common enemy to both the Muslim and the ‘progressive’ is truth. Which is to say: The common enemy is Christ Jesus … whose birth we venerate at Christmas.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Victory for Voters – Vigilance Vital

Arkansas voters got an early Christmas present last week, when Fayetteville put the city council on notice that it wouldn’t tolerate a Houston-type ordinance.  In an incredible victory, voters turned out in droves - even in an ultra-liberal college town - to roll back a measure that would have given locals the “right” to use either gender’s bathroom, shower, locker room or any other public facility of their choosing.

 

After collecting more than 5,000 signatures on petition, the issue was put to a public vote last week - and despite the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) sending activists and $200,000 to protect the anti-religious freedom ordinance, it was soundly rejected by 52% of locals.  The people saw right through this “non-discrimination” ploy to the real goal: strong-arming and silencing men and women who hold natural views of human sexuality.  Under Ordinance 119, the city would have actually established a special position dedicated to investigating complains of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) prejudice.

 

Thanks to the Family Research Council and Church Ministries teams, there was a ground-swell of opposition to the measure, which would have created a dangerous precedent by which Christian businessmen, wedding vendors and other believers could have been punished simply for living out their faith.

 

For now, the city council heard loud and clear the people’s rejection of an LGBT ordinance.

 

Listen: The forces of political correctness are moving stealthily toward a city council near you.  But take heart: You can fight city hall - and win!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Iran Confines More Christians for Their Faith

Three Christian clergymen in Iran, each facing 6-years in prison for their faith, recently attended a second appeal hearing.  Reports noted that yet another Christian, a house church leader in Shiraz, was recently arrested.

 

Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas in a news release said, “The charges faced by Pastors Behnam Irani, Matthias Haghnejad and Deacon Silas Rabbani are clearly unjust, as Mr. Farahani has argued in court.  We continue to call on the authorities to release these clergymen along with Ebrahim Hosseinzadeh [house leader], unconditionally and without delay.  Their only ‘crime’ is to exercise their right to freedom of religion or belief, as guaranteed in the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, to which Iran is signatory.  We urge the Iranian government to uphold this right for religious minorities in Iran, in line with its obligations under international law and the provisions upholding the rights of religious minorities in its own constitution.”

 

Irani, Haghnejad, and Rabbani were represented by their lawyer Moshkani Farahani in court, who previously had been denied access to his clients.  While the Iranian court has accused the men of political crimes, CSW has argued that they are being persecuted for their Christian faith.  Farahani argued that people cannot be sentenced on political charges only because they belong to a religious community.  “It is normal for members of minorities to be in touch with each other; Jews are in touch with others; Zoroastrians are in touch with each other; it is the same for Assyrians, Orthodoxies and Evangelicals.  Such connections cannot be perceived as a penal crime,” the lawyer told the court.

 

Another Christian house church leader, 32-year-old Hosseinzadeh, was also arrested last month, CSW learned.  The man was apparently apprehended by Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, which took his Christian books and laptop during the raid on his apartment. Hosseinzadeh is reportedly still detained at the Pelak 100 detention center in Shiraz.

 

Christians in Iran continue facing arrests and charges for their faith, despite the Islamic country seeking to arrange a nuclear deal with the U.S. and other western nations.

 

Last month, the deadline for the negotiations was extended until July 1st, 2015, after it became clear that more time will be needed to work out the details.  Iran has promised not to use its nuclear capabilities to build weapons, and is hoping that the western states will ease sanctions to allow it to continue its work.

 

Groups such as the American Center for Law and Justice have argued, however, that Iran cannot be trusted unless it shows evidence it is willing to improve its record on religious minorities, such as releasing Pastor Saeed Abedini – an American citizen serving 8-years in prison in Iran for his faith.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Newly Revealed ISIS Pamphlet Authorizes Enslaving, Abusing, Buying/Selling, Forcing Sexual Intercourse with ‘Unbelieving’ Female Captives

The Islamic State (ISIS) released a new pamphlet teaching jihadis why it is permissible, under Islamic law, to enslave, abuse, buy, sell and have forced sexual intercourse with religious minority female and child captives.

 

The Research and Fatawa (Islamic law) Department of the Islamic State released a set of guidelines recently in the form of a frequently asked questions-style pamphlet, which posed serious ethical questions about the militants’ sex slave practices.  The questions are followed up with brief answers, using verses from the Koran and teachings of ‘Islamic scholars’ to justify why Islamic law permits those actions.  It also provides certain guidelines for the militants to follow.

 

According to the document, which was released on December 3 and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, women of opposing religious views are viewed as a part of the al-harb (people of war).  Once the women of the al-harb are captured, the pamphlet claims they are sexually permissible for fighters because of their state of ‘unbelief’”  “Unbelieving [women] who were captured and brought into the abode of Islam are permissible to us, after the Imam distributes them [among us],” the pamphlet reads.  “It is permissible to have sexual intercourse with the female captive.  Allah the almighty said: ‘[Successful are the believers] who guard their chastity, except from their wives or [the captives and slaves] that their right hands possess, for then they are free from blame [Koran 23:5-6].’”

 

Although the pamphlet claims that all women of unbelief are eligible to be taken captive and used sexually, the pamphlet says that Islamic scholars are undecided as to whether women who convert to Islam should be eligible for sexual intercourse with fighters.  “There is no dispute among the scholars that it is permissible to capture unbelieving women [who are characterized by] original unbelief, such as the kitabiyat [women believing in the Bible like Jews and Christians] and polytheists,” the pamphlet adds.  “However, [the scholars] are disputed over [the issue of] capturing apostate [Muslim defecting] women.  The consensus leans towards forbidding it, though some people of knowledge think it permissible.  We lean towards accepting the consensus.”

 

After explaining why it is divinely moral for their fighters to sexually abuse the captives, the pamphlet then addresses certain rules and rituals that militants must follow before using their newly captured religious minority woman or girl.  The pamphlet allows for fighters to have sex with a young captured girl who has not yet reached puberty, if “she is fit for intercourse.”  But if she is not fit to have intercourse, the document says it is okay to have sensual relations with her in other ways.

 

The guide further explains that if a militant comes into possession of a captured virgin, he may immediately begin having sex with the woman, because her genital parts are already deemed pure.  But if a fighter comes into the possession of a woman who is not a virgin, the woman must be cleansed.  “If she is a virgin, he can have intercourse with her immediately after taking possession of her.  However, if she isn’t her uterus must be purified,” the pamphlet asserts.

 

The pamphlet also justifies jihadis beating female slaves as a form of disciplinary action; but the militant cannot simply beat or torture female slaves just for his own gratification.  Additionally, fighters may not hit the women in the face.

 

Since the captured women are deemed a possession of their master, ISIS justifies the selling of the women, which the militants do frequently with a trafficking center in their stronghold of Raqqa.  “It is permissible to buy, sell, or give as a gift female captives and slaves, for they are merely property, which can be disposed of [as long as that doesn’t cause the Muslim nation] any harm or damage.”

 

There are a few guidelines that the pamphlet highlights that places clear restrictions on the militants.  One such restriction is that if the fighter impregnates the captive, he can no longer sell her as she is now the mother of his child.  Also, fighters may not separate a mother from her child through the act of purchasing and selling.  A mother or daughter can only be sold separately once the child is fully mature … although the pamphlet does not provide an age for the acceptable level of maturity. Additionally, fighters may not have intercourse with a captive that is owned by more than one fighter.  If two jihadis wanted to save money and buy one captive to share for sex, Islamic law would not allow them to have intercourse with the woman, according to the pamphlet.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Funding of ISIS … has NO Moral Limits

As the Islamic State (ISIS) has risen to become a yearly $2-billion terrorist ensemble, it has found various methods to reel in its revenue such as oil production, human trafficking, and drug smuggling.  However, it has been revealed that there is yet another lucrative source for ISIS funding: trafficking human organs.

 

According to a recent Al Monitor report addressing the various revenue sources of ISIS, a doctor from Mosul named Siruwan al-Mosuli is claiming that ISIS hired foreign doctors to run an extensive organ trafficking system that has the potential to generate great profits.  Mosuli, who is an ear, nose and throat physician by trade, said he noticed something suspicious when ISIS leaders hired new Arab and foreign medical doctors to work in their hospitals in Mosul and did not allow the foreign doctors to interact with the local doctors.  Mosuli claims that soon after, information was leaked to him about organ selling.  According to Mosuli, ISIS takes organs from a variety of sources.  He said the organs mostly come from dead militants, whose bodies are quickly transported to the hospital.  However, Mosuli said that ISIS also takes organs from individuals they kidnap (religious minorities like Christians and Yazidis).

 

According to the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR), ISIS also sells the bodies and organs of the injured individuals under ISIS arrest.

 

The ISIS’ organ trafficking system would not be successful without the aid of external expert organ transporters, or as they have been called – “networks specialized in trafficking human organs.”  Mosuli further added that the network is a “specialized mafia” dedicated to organ smuggling and nothing else.

 

Although Mosuli said that organ selling can yield outstanding profit, it absolutely requires coordination between all parties involved … including the cooperation of hospitals and other medical institutions in other countries … because the organs must be transported and implanted in a timely manner.  He added that without such coordination, the success of the trade could not be maintained.

 

As the Assyrian International News Agency points out, it is suspected that most of the organs smuggled out of Syria and Iraq by ISIS are usually being shipped to neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia or Turkey.

 

Although ISIS’ biggest revenue gainer is their selling of over $1-million per day in crude oil, which they produce from oil refineries captured in besieged towns, another massive ISIS revenue producer is their human trafficking ring, which the UNOHCHR estimates has led to over 25,000 religious minority women and children being either imprisoned or sexually assaulted.

 

But another less-publicized revenue source is ISIS’ drug smuggling ring. Al Monitor report finds that ISIS traffics Afghan heroin into Europe from the city of Nineveh, which the Russian Federal Drug Control Service (RFDCS) says is generating “significant revenues.”  The service added that ISIS supplies half of Europe’s total heroin consumption.  “The large-scale movement of Afghan heroin acts as an ongoing financial base aiding the functioning of ISIS, which secures huge profits by providing half of the total heroin supplied to Europe via destabilized Iraq and some African heroin, which is sent from Iraq to Europe,” says RFDCS in a statement.

 

ISIS also makes money from smuggling families and individuals into other countries.  The report highlights one instance when a family paid ISIS over $8,000 per individual to sneak them into Turkey.

 

While this explains how ISIS is funded, don’t lose sight of the evil being rendered by ISIS and the need to stop it without delay.  Any one of these means of funding these terrorists is bad in and of itself, and America must put aside its governance by ‘political correctness’ and lead by the other P.C. – ‘principled character.’

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Atheists Lose the Battle of Public Prayer & Prayer Proclamations

The Colorado Supreme Court upheld the right of Colorado Governors to issue proclamations calling for state days of prayer, upholding an earlier ruling by the Colorado District Court, and overturning a subsequent ruling by the Colorado Court of Appeals.

 

This case began 6-years ago (in 2008) against former Governor Bill Ritter by a small group of atheists headquartered in Madison, WI.  Judge Mullins of the District Court in Denver, CO, originally dismissed the case on October 28, 2010, declaring “ … there is nothing controversial about a restatement of a right protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution ... the proclamation [does] not have the force and effect of law, and even if [it] did, the language does not support the foundation for a state religion, but only an acknowledgment of the rights of the citizenry as recognized as far back as the Declaration of Independence.”

 

“Public officials today should be as free to issue prayer proclamations as the founders of America and Colorado were,” said Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) Senior Counsel and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Michael J. Norton.  “State and federal courts nationwide have repeatedly upheld and recognized prayer proclamations as a deeply rooted part of American history and tradition.”

 

Shirley Dobson, Chairman of the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force added, “I applaud the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court. Since the days of our Founding Fathers, the government has protected and encouraged public prayer and other expressions of dependence on the Almighty.  Prayer is an indispensable part of our heritage, and as citizens, we must remain faithful in our commitment to intercede for our states and nation during this pivotal and challenging time.”

 

In 1952, President Harry Truman signed into law a joint resolution by Congress to set aside an annual National Day of Prayer.  Congress amended the law in 1988, which was signed by President Ronald Reagan, specifying that the annual event would be observed on “the first Thursday in May each year.”  In April of this year (2014), members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a resolution “affirming the vital role that prayer has played throughout the more than 200-year history of our Nation, strengthening the fabric of our society, and recognizing May 1, 2014, as the 63rd Annual National Day of Prayer.”

 

John Bornschein, Vice-Chairman for NDP Task Force commented that, “This is definitely a victory for the free exercise of religion that our Founding Fathers sought to ensure, and we are thankful for the outcome. I can't think of a time in recent memory when it has been more important to pray for wisdom and direction for our state and its leaders.”

 

Back East, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina’s order in Joyner v. Forsyth County in 2011.  The federal district court lifted its order against the prayer policy of Forsyth County, NC in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision affirming prayer before public meetings in Town of Greece [NY] v. Galloway.  After winning that lawsuit in May, ADF attorneys representing Forsyth County asked the district court to lift its order against the county’s prayer policy.  The order required the county to censor the way people pray to ensure only generic prayers are offered at public meetings.  Now, the way is cleared for uncensored prayers to resume in Forsyth County … in Jesus’ name.

 

“All Americans should have the liberty to pray without being censored, just as the Supreme Court found only a few months ago, and we are delighted to see this freedom restored in Forsyth County,” said ADF Senior Counsel Brett Harvey.  “The Supreme Court affirmed the freedom of Americans to pray according to their consciences before public meetings.  For that reason, the district court was right to lift its previous order against Forsyth County’s prayer policy, which is clearly constitutional.”

 

So there you have it: Americans are free to pray according to their own beliefs at public meetings without censorship, and public officials can issue prayer proclamations.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Children Tell ISIS “We love Jesus” Before Beheading

Some of the bravest martyrs this generation may ever know are teenagers—and perhaps even younger.

 

When Islamic State (ISIS) militants threatened children in Iraq with death if they did not promise to follow Islam’s ‘prophet’ Muhammad, they defiantly stated, “No.  We love Yasua.”  [This spelling is similar to the Hebrew name, Yeshua, which is translated ‘Jesus’ in English.]

 

Andrew White, an Anglican priest known as the ‘Vicar of Baghdad,’ has seen violence and persecution against Christians unprecedented in recent decades.  In a CBN News video, he recounts the story of the Iraqi Christian children who were told by ISIS militants to convert to Islam or be beheaded.  “ISIS turned up and they said to the children, ‘You say the words that you will follow Muhammad,’” White says on the video.  “The children, all under 15, four of them, they said, ‘No, we love Yasua.  We have always loved Yasua.  We have always followed Yasua.  Yasua has always been with us,’” White recounted.  “[The militants] said, ‘Say the words!’  [The children] said, ‘No, we can’t do that.’  They [ISIS] chopped all their heads off.”

 

We have heard it said: “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”  In keeping with God’s purpose, these four Christian Iraqi children have glorified His name and their martyrdom will advance the Kingdom of our God and of His Christ.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Other 5-Million Children Crossing the Border

As United Nations (UN) statistics estimate that over 5-million children’s lives have been affected in Syria as a result of the Islamic State’s (ISIS) ongoing jihad, UN officials are saying that ISIS has created new and more barbaric ways to utilize children in the conflict, including using them as human shields and forcing them to donate blood to injured jihadis.

 

UN International Children’s Fund regional child protection adviser, Laurent Chapuis, recently said in an interview that ISIS militants are recruiting children, including those of younger ages, to join the caliphate by providing them with various paying roles within the caliphate.  Although Chapuis says that some children are used in more civil and “domestic” roles like “cooking, cleaning, bringing water or providing medical aid to the wounded,” some children are thrust to the front lines and used in military roles like combatants or human shields.  “There is conclusive evidence that children in Syria have and continue to be used by all parties to the conflict – as combatants, human shields, messengers, spies, guards [and] porters,” Chapuis said.

 

According to a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq, some of ISIS’ child soldiers “were forced to form the front line to shield ISIL fighters during fighting,” and others “had been forced to donate blood for treating injured ISIL fighters.”

 

The report also found that ISIS is using children for propaganda purposes and states that the testimonies tell of one instance where militants went to a hospital and forced two very sick kids with cancer to hold the ISIS flag while posing for a picture with the militants.

 

According to testimony from an escaped 15-year-old former ISIS fighter, the militant leaders are also forcing child fighters to take anti-anxiety pills in order to make them more likely to follow through on a suicide attack.  “That drug makes you lose your mind,” the ex-militant teen named Mufleh told CBS News.  “If they give you a suicide belt and tell you to blow yourself up, you’ll do it.”

 

Ivan Simonovic, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for human rights, told International Business Times that the reason why ISIS recruitment is so successful with children in the region is because the recruiters really press the importance of fighting and dying for their faith.  “What is striking for me is to meet mothers who [tell us], ‘We don’t know what to do,’” Simonovic said.  “‘Our sons are volunteering and we can’t prevent it.’”

 

Chapuis further added that he thinks the new ways that children are starting to be recruited, trained and utilized in front line roles by extremist groups like ISIS is causing a change to the traditional “child soldier’s paradigm.”  Chapuis asserts, “The geopolitical, regional and international dimensions of today’s armed conflicts and the growing polarization around specific ideological, religious and sectarian agendas are all contributing to the emergence of a new ‘child soldier’s paradigm,’ or new ways in which children are being mobilized, recruited and dragged into conflict and extreme violence.”

 

When it comes to children, we have a duty to protect and ensure that they are not put in harms way.  Jesus said it would be better for us to drown than to cause one of His children to stumble and sin! (Matthew 18:5-6)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Public Educators Losing Parent Acclaim to Home-Schooling

According to Fox News, many parents are outraged and alarmed by Common Core, the federal government’s national solution to improving education outcome.  The perception of an increased number of parents is that Common Core is creating a progressive-friendly and impossible-to-understand new curriculum.  Parents claim their children’s public school lessons are pushing a political agenda.  As a result, it appears that more and more parents are pulling their kids out of public schools.

 

The home-schooling boom is getting a new push due to the increased opposition to Common Core.  North Carolina, already a home-schooling hotbed, saw a 14% rise last year in the number of students being educated at home, according to a report from Heartlander Magazine. Similar increases have been seen in Virginia, California and New York, according to education activists.  “If you look at national, and even state polls, you can see that the more familiar people become with Common Core, the more they dislike it,” says Bob Lubke, a senior policy analyst for the North Carolina-based Civitas Institute, told FoxNews.com.  “They feel like they are losing control of what their kids are learning.”

 

Be that as it may, North Carolina’s state government is brushing away concerns that the state’s enrollment rates are plummeting.  “We have experienced a statewide increase in enrollment over the past few years,” Vanessa Jeter, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, told FoxNews.com.  “Since 2012-13, our statewide enrollment has increased by 27,512 students.”

 

In other words, the rise in home-schooling practices is, at least for now, having a negligible impact on enrollment rates.  Nonetheless, there is no denying that home-schooling has become an increasingly viable option for many families.  And this isn’t just because of Common Core, either. There are many reasons why parents choose to educate their children in the home – greater flexibility, autonomy, and over-sight to name just a few – and therefore it should be a choice left to individuals, not the state.

 

So while it seems evident that Common Core is, in some instances, the final straw for some parents, let’s also not forget that home-schooling has been popular for many, many years.  And thus, one assumes, it will only continue to be, especially as concerns about Common Core grow and become more visible over time.

 

As of yesterday’s decision to adopt a “transgender student athlete policy” by the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), this will result in more parents choosing home-school for their children.  To understand the MSHSL policy, read my previous blog posting of December 3.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Slippery Slope of Student Sports in MN

The Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) has proposed a “transgender student athlete policy.”

 

MSHSL has been working on the policy since this summer; working directly with OutFront Minnesota (the state’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization) to draft the policy.  The policy would force ALL schools (public and private) and ALL students participating in MSHSL sports (public, private, homeschool) to permit students who say they feel they are “transgender” to participate on the team opposite their biological sex; thereby gaining access to the showers, locker rooms, hotel rooms, etc. of the opposite sex.

 

When the truth of God’s design for us as male and female is being distorted in such a visible way – a way that directly harms all children – it stands to reason that God-fearing people show the strength to stand-up against such distortion … united in one voice.

 

The public only became aware of the policy shortly before the MSHSL Board’s meeting on October 2, 2014.  After the issue became public, MSHSL said they received over 10,000 e-mails expressing concern over the proposed policy (in addition to calls and letters)!  MSHSL also heard public testimony at a special workshop on October 1st.  The testimony was overwhelmingly opposed to MSHSL’s proposed “transgender policy.”  As a result of the overwhelming opposition, the MSHSL Board did not pass the “transgender policy” at their Board meeting on October 2nd!  Instead of passing their policy, the Board cited the need for further work on the policy and the need for more input from key stakeholders.  A motion was passed for a “task force” to be formed with MSHSL Board members and key stakeholders representing both sides of this issue … specifically including a voice for private religious schools.  The task force was to bring forth their recommendations for the best policy.  To date, no such task force has been formed; only MSHSL Board members have been involved in further policy development; private religious schools still do not have a voice in this process; and only OutFront Minnesota has had a place at the table in policy development.

 

The MSHSL Board is set to meet again on December 4, 2014 (9:00 a.m. @ 2100 Freeway Blvd, Brooklyn Ctr, MN 55430), to make a final decision on the policy.  This may be the last chance to stop this “transgender policy.”  If you’re from the Twin Cities e-mail Troy Urdahl [turdahl@stanthony.k12.mn.us] or Dan Johnson [dan.johnson@hopkinsschools.org] today!

 

This must be understood:

·         The policy is not required under state or federal law.

·         The policy will affect both public and private schools … and homeschooled 

          students who participate in public or private school athletics – No exemption

          for religious schools or religious students.

·         The policy allows transgender boys to play on girls’ sports teams and

          transgender girls to play on boys’ teams with no safety provisions for

          physical disparities.

·         The policy will almost certainly lead to biological boys being able to access

          girls’ locker rooms, showers, bathrooms, and hotel rooms (and vice versa).

·         The policy contains no privacy protections for students.

·         The policy leaves schools vulnerable to lawsuits for violations of students’

          privacy rights and religious freedom rights.

·         The process for developing this policy has lacked transparency, bringing

          only one viewpoint (LGBTQ) to the table, despite requests and offers for

          participation from other viewpoints.

 

When it comes to children, we have a duty to protect and ensure that they are not put in harms way.  Jesus said it would be better for us to drown than to cause one of His children to stumble and sin! (Matthew 18:5-6)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel