Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/16/14

Iraq Law Would Allow 9-Year-Old Girls To Marry

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Search Grows As Pilots Face Increased Scrutiny

'19 Kids and Counting' Stars: We Won't Kiss Until Marriage

What Kind of God Do You Believe In?

Cardinal Dolan ‘Fully Supportive’ of Teaching That Homosexual Activity is Immoral

Priebus: Jolly Election Spotlights Republicans' 'Positive Vision'

Sen. Rand Paul Wins Presidential Survey

50 Years Later, We Know That the NYT Distorted the Kitty Genovese Story to Drive an Agenda

Networks Minimize Bad News For Dems, Tout Obama Shopping at the Gap

Air Force: Christians' Religious Speech Not Legally Protected Right

Maine Hospital Facing $27 Million In Costs Due To Obamacare

Why Some Christians' Kids Blow Off God – and Why Mine Didn't

Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/9/14

Most Corrupt Town in America in Danger of Being ‘Wiped Off the Map’

Is Ben Carson 2016's Sleeper Candidate?

I Was On Death Row, And I Was Innocent

Former 17 Year Marijuana Addict Urges Other States To Say No To Recreational Pot

No, Atheism and Conservatism Are Not Compatible 
 
Santorum: GOP Should Follow Pope's Example to Gain Followers
 
Obamacare Surcharge Appearing on Restaurant Bills Across the Country
 
George Will: Obama Donor Investigating IRS Scandal ‘Kind Of A Sham’ 
 
NBC Warns: Midterm Election 'Holds the Fate of the Rest of the Obama Presidency'
 
Ed Schultz Goes from Supporting Keystone to Comparing It to 'Vietnam' 

Chick-Fil-A Targeted By Black Mob

Iraqi Bill Would Allow 9-Year Old Girls to Marry, Husbands to Demand Sex

Can a Jew Get Down With Hot Jesus From 'Son of God?'

Koch Industries Responds To Harry Reid Attacks

Matthew McConaughey Wins Over Conservative Fans by Thanking God at Oscars

HotAir.com:

We see this a lot at sporting events, but not a lot of it from the entertainment industry. When someone from Hollywood gets up and thanks God, especially at the Oscars, it makes headlines … which says volumes about Hollywood and the media.

What’s most interesting about this heartfelt gratitude towards God is the reaction it gets from the Academy audience, or more accurately, the lack thereof.

RELATED: Matthew McConaughey Wins Over Conservative Fans by Thanking God at Oscars

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Delays Obamacare's Birth Control Mandate

Newsmax.com:

Roman Catholic Church-affiliated organizations on Tuesday obtained last-minute court injunctions that give them temporary exemptions from a part of the Obamacare healthcare law that requires employers to provide insurance policies covering contraception.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a temporary injunction to Baltimore-based Little Sisters of the Poor and Illinois-based Christian Brothers Services, plus related entities.
Sotomayor is giving the government until Friday morning to respond to her decision.
Two different appellate courts had granted stays in three other cases that were pending at the high court, filed by various organizations, including Catholic University of America and non-profits in Michigan and Tennessee, said a lawyer representing the groups. The lower-court actions meant the Supreme Court did not need to act in those cases.
The groups were all asking the courts to exempt them temporarily from the so-called contraception mandate while litigation continues. The mandate, which was to take effect for the organizations on Wednesday, is already in place for many women who have private health insurance.
The organizations accuse the federal government of forcing them to support contraception and sterilization in violation of their religious beliefs or face steep fines.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, requires employers to provide health insurance policies that cover preventive services for women, including contraception and sterilization.
The law makes an exception for religious institutions such as houses of worship that mainly serve and employ members of their own faith, but not for schools, hospitals, and charitable organizations that employ people of all faiths.
As a compromise, the administration agreed to an accommodation for nonprofits affiliated with religious entities, which was finalized in July.

RELATED: Catholic Groups Ask Supreme Court to Block Healthcare Law

Biblical Scholar Dr. Michael Brown Schools CNN's Piers Morgan on Jesus and Homosexuality

Breitbart.com:

In the ongoing "Duck Dynasty" debate, the bigoted media at first planned to toxify Christianity as de facto bigotry. "Since the Bible is very clear about homosexual behavior," the thinking went. "We'll just get over that hump by declaring the Bible bigoted." Well, that only revealed the media as bigoted and backfired. So now the plan is to rewrite Jesus and the Bible. This simple-minded, anti-science meme apparently started at the Huffington Post. 

CNN's Piers Morgan tried to further this nonsense the other night, and you can watch him get his clock cleaned by a Biblical scholar below:

Jesus never said anything as literal as "homosexuality is a sin." But in Matthew 19, Jesus made it extremely clear that marriage is between one man and one woman and that any sexual activity outside of that union is a sin:

Finally, it must be considered that Jesus did, in fact, speak against homosexuality. On numerous occasions, Jesus condemned the sins of adultery (Matthew 19:18), sexual immorality (Matthew 19:9) and fornication (Matthew 15:19). These terms describe any type of sexual intercourse that is not within the confines of a marriage ordained by God. Jesus then proceeded to define exactly what God views as a morally permissible marriage. He stated:

Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate (Matthew 19:4-6).

Gay or straight, the Bible does not discriminate. The sexual bar for Christians is very, very high.

The only people who might feel discriminated against are those of any sexual preference who base a large part of their personal identity on their sexuality. For my money, though, their biggest sin is being tedious, narcissistic bores.

RELATED:  Homosexuality is Condemned in the Bible!

Politiks As Usual: In The News 11/10/13

 

Former Homeless Man Loses Benefits For Failing To Report $850 Found On Sidewalk

'Worse Than Hell' In Typhoon-Ravaged Philippines 

Christian Rocker Tops Tim Tebow As Christian Youth Leader 

An Open Letter To Pope Francis

George Will: Other Than Nixon ‘Has There Ever Been a Worse First Year of a Second Term?’

CBS Issues Benghazi Apology

Pew Poll: 60% Oppose Obama on Immigration Reform

Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 

Unemployment Among Black Youth 393% Higher Than National Rate

Father of Bristol Palin's Son Seeking At Least Equal Custody

White Republican Wins Election By Convincing Voters He’s Black
 

Public Prayer Goes Before Supreme Court

Townhall.com:

The United States Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the constitutionality of prayer before public meetings. 

Town of Greece v. Galloway pits two challengers, one an atheist and the other a Jew, against the Upstate New York town of Greece. The two women claim the invocations violate the First Amendment for two independent yet mutually reinforcing reasons: 

“It puts coercive pressure on citizens to participate in the prayers, and those prayers are sectarian rather than inclusive.” 

In other words, these women claim the town is aligning itself with a particular religion and forcing it on those present in the meetings. A lower court ruled the prayers unconstitutionally endorsed Christianity due to unique Christian references such “the Holy Spirit’ and “Jesus.” 

The argument seems shoddy at best, considering the town does not regulate the content and accepts volunteers from any religion to lead the invocations. 

A 30-year-old precedent founded in Marsh v. Chambers upholds prayer prior to public meetings. Delivering the Opinion of the Court, Chief Justice Burger explained that historical contextualization:

“sheds light not only on what the draftsmen intended the Establishment Clause to mean, but also on how they thought that Clause applied to the practice authorized by the First Congress--their actions reveal their intent.”

Legislative prayer dates to the First Congress in 1789. While it is faulty logic to appeal to tradition for validity, it is safe to presume, as Burger reasoned, that the Founders' intention in the First Amendment was not to demand a secular public square.

RELATED:  Pastor loses bus driving job for praying with students

Politiks As Usual: In The News 10/27/13

Witness To Benghazi Recounts Attack

Barack Obama Knew US Spies Were Targeting Angela Merkel

How Can I Get My Kids To Go To Church?

Marriage And Abortion Are Economic Issues

Howard Dean: GOP Also To Blame For Botched Obamacare Rollout

Chris Christie: I Never Hugged Obama

Chris Wallace and Brit Hume Skewer Juan Williams For Defending Obamacare

Fringe Factor: End Homosexuality With a Class Action Lawsuit

Al Gore Strikes Out Again 

TV Has To Be At Least 42 Percent Gay?

Media Hounds Sports Team To Become Politically Correct  

Corporate Executives Join Soros-Backed 'Fly-In' Campaign to Push Amnesty

"Preachers of L.A." Trailer

There's a show coming this fall to Oxygen that is already sparking controversy. The reality program "Preachers of L.A." will follow the lavish lives and booming careers of six mega pastors — Clarence McClendon, Deitrick Haddon (one of the show's producers), Jay Haizlip, Noel Jones, Wayne Chaney and Ron Gibson.

A description on Oxygen's website boasts: "Known for their fiery sermons, community outreach and passionate followings, pastors have become iconic, beloved, and sometimes polarizing figures in modern culture. Yet, few people have access to these larger-than-life men away from the pulpit. Until now."

As the official trailer reveals, the docuseries shows these men of faith "inside and outside of the church" as they shop, golf, vacation. Bishop Clarence McClendon said, "The Bible says that I wish above all things that you will prosper and be in health, even as your soul will prosper--I believe that," expressing a view that all of the preachers seem to hold in common. And when it comes to the men's lifestyles there's no shortage of controversy.

"P. Diddy, Jay-Z — they're not the only ones who should be driving Ferraris and living in large houses," said Bishop Gibson, who is himself the product of a past characterized by struggle and redemption. The show's blog gives a brief overview of Gibson's background as a former gang member, and explains how his life was transformed by the Christian message:

"Although he was raised by a Christian mother in the Church, Ron succumbed to the pressure of the streets and became a Compton Crip by the age of sixteen. This led to a life of crime and drug addiction, until Christ changed his life. He started Life Church Of God In Christ with nine members, which has now grown to a congregation of approximately 4,000 members."

Politiks As Usual: In The News 7/22/13

U.S. Marriage Rate Drops to New Low 

Jesse Ventura Lawsuit vs. Murdered Navy SEAL Can Move Forward

Chris Wallace Fights Democrat On ‘Staggering’ Black Crime Stats: Zimmerman ‘Diversion’ From ‘Real Threats’

Where Is Trayvon Martin’s Rolling Stone Cover?

Autos Troubles, Race At Root of Detroit Collapse

Lies, Damn Lies, and America’s Astonishingly Partisan, Corrupt Media

Why Pay the Clintons Top Dollar to Not Provide Answers About Jerusalem?

Jezebel: Down Syndrome Babies ‘Live Terrible Lives’

Tavis Smiley: Obama Leads Nation in Conversation on Gay Marriage But Not on Race

Bible Made Personal and Relevant Through New Series
 
Pioneering Front-Row Journalist Helen Thomas Dies at 92
 
Bill Cosby: George Zimmerman Acquittal Not About Race

Politiks As Usual: In The News 3/18/13

 Pope Wades Into Crowds, Shocks Bystanders In Rome

Atheism Is A Religion Too

Sacred Mystery: Blockbuster Ratings for ‘The Bible’ Confound Hollywood

Dr. Ben Carson: Obama Trying to 'Destroy This Country'

Government Steering Americans Toward a Tele-Work, Tele-Shop, Mass-Transit Future

GOP Plans Fewer Debates, More Community Outreach

Ed Schultz: ‘I Don’t Think MSNBC Has Slighted Me’

Bill Maher Defends Iraq War, Bush: ‘It’s A Country That’s Standing, I Thought It Wouldn’t Be’

Karl Rove Slams Sarah Palin for CPAC Remarks

Do Women Belong In Racing?

Ann Coulter Blasts Chris Christie, Says He’s ‘Off My List’ For 2016 In Fiery CPAC Speech

Gretchen Carlson Moved To Tears As Mike Huckabee Urges America: ‘Quit Being Ashamed That We Believe In God’

Mediaite.com:

Fox News Host Mike Huckabee moved Fox & Friends host Gretchen Carlson to tears on Monday in a discussion about God and religion in the wake of the mass murder in Connecticut on Friday. After saying that no one “should be surprised” by the attack because schools have become a place free of religion, Huckabee softened his tone. He said that Americans should no longer be ashamed of their belief in a higher power and turn to morality before the tragedy rather than after. 

“I’m not suggesting by any stretch that if we had prayer in schools regularly as we once did that this wouldn’t have happened,” said Huckabee. But, we’ve created an atmosphere in this country where they only time you want to invoke God’s name is after the tragedy.”

Huckabee praised President Barack Obama freely quoting scripture in the wake of the shooting deaths of 26 people, including 20 children. However, he said that it was still important to “create an atmosphere in this country where morality is not something we discuss only when we have no other place to run.”

Carlson was moved to tears. “Yesterday at our church, Governor, it was so moving,” she said. “It was so wonderful to know that if you are a person of faith, you have a lot of questions why, but you have something to hold onto.”

“I think It’s important that we quit apologizing for having a spiritual conversation,” Huckabee continued. “Quit being ashamed that we believe in God.”

RELATED: Oklahoma Teen Arrested Friday In School Shooting Plot, Hours Before Sandy Hook Massacre

Politiks As Usual: In The News 11/19/12

Blame Affairs on Evolution of Sex Roles

San Francisco Eyes Public Nudity Ban

Ranchers, Farmers Brace for 'Death Tax' Impact

McCain Recommendation: Hand the Mideast Crisis from Obama to Bill Clinton

If God Doesn’t Judge Us, He’ll Have to Apologize to Sodom

Gallup: Americans Who Think We'll Be Worse Off in 4 Yrs Doubled in 4 Yrs

GMA Gleeful Over Tebow Criticism

Incoming Black Caucus Chair Accuses McCain of 'Sexism and Racism'

French Catholics March Against Same-Sex Marriage

Treasuries Plunge as Obama Says He Sees Fiscal Cliff Resolution

Rocket Fired at Tel Aviv, More Strikes in Gaza

Arizona Gun Store: If You Voted For Barack Obama, “Turn Around and Leave”

Godless: One in Five American Adults Now Have No Religious Affiliation

No surprise here. As idiot theologies like atheism and agnosticism become more and more popular and more Americans across the country embrace the totally anti-Christian tenets of social liberalism, belief in religion will see a serious decline:

The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.

In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%).³

This large and growing group of Americans is less religious than the public at large on many conventional measures, including frequency of attendance at religious services and the degree of importance they attach to religion in their lives.

However, a new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted jointly with the PBS television program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly, finds that many of the country’s 46 million unaffiliated adults are religious or spiritual in some way. Two-thirds of them say they believe in God (68%). More than half say they often feel a deep connection with nature and the earth (58%), while more than a third classify themselves as “spiritual” but not “religious” (37%), and one-in-five (21%) say they pray every day. In addition, most religiously unaffiliated Americans think that churches and other religious institutions benefit society by strengthening community bonds and aiding the poor.

With few exceptions, though, the unaffiliated say they are not looking for a religion that would be right for them. Overwhelmingly, they think that religious organizations are too concerned with money and power, too focused on rules and too involved in politics.

RELATED:  Pew study: One in five American adults now have no religious affiliation

Politics As Usual: In The News 6/4/12

George Zimmerman Surrenders, Is Booked Into Florida Jail

Nigeria Seeks Answers To Fatal Crash

The False Promises Of Modern Liberalism

What's This? Obama Longs For GOP Rival Like McCain

Pelosi Predicts Scalia, Alito, Thomas or Roberts Will Side With Administration on Obamacare

Lori Lolo Jones says No-No To Sex, ‘Infuriates’ Entertainment Media

Gulp: Bloomberg’s Stunning Nanny State Overreach

Remember When the National Media Despised Recall Elections? California in 2003

Faith Leaders: Obama Losing Religious Vote

Assad: Syria Massacre Carried Out By 'Monsters'

Grading On A Curve

Bush and Obama at the White House: Why the yukfest? (+video)

Politiks As Usual: 5/14/12

Social Conservatives Claim Obama's Gay Marriage Endorsement Could Unite Right

Across Country, Black Pastors Weigh in on Obama's Same-sex Marriage Support

Judge Suggests Chopping 10 Commandments Down To 6 

Mitt Romney Urges Liberty Grads To Honor Family Commitments

Brown Pushes Tax Hike As California's Money Woes Deepen

Disgraced Former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer Discusses Sanctity of Marriage on ABC's This Week

  

'Jersey Shore' JWoww Blasts 'ignorant' Bristol Palin

  

Hollywood: Driving the Homosexual Agenda for 40 Years

  

The Real Bully: Dan Savage by the Book

  

Time Magazine vs Mothers on Mother's Day

  

State Exam Asks N.J. 3rd Graders To Write Essay On Secret They Had Kept

  

How Much Will Obama’s Unlikeability Be A Factor In 2012

Politiks As Usual: 4/2/12

Top Obama Campaign Donor Accused Of Fraud

Obama Doubling Down On His Leftist Radicalism

Chris Christie: I'd Be Much More Ready in 2016

Liberals Prepare To Vilify The Supreme Court If They Don't Get Their Way

The Crusade Against Faith

Goal of Al Gore’s Current TV? ‘Compete with MSNBC from the Left’

ABC Not Sure Whether Death Threats In Trayvon Martin Aftermath 'Going Too Far'

Judge Tosses Blog Suit Against Huff Post

Mitt Romney Scores Endorsement From Paul Ryan

Keith Olbermann Complained To Current That Car Service Drivers ‘Smelled, Talked To Him’

Sarah Palin To Co-host 'Today' Show As Ratings Battle Heats Up

If The Health Law Falls, What's Next?

Why You Played Lottery Despite Odds

Rick Santorum Questions Obama's Christian Values

I love that Santorum is attacking Barry for being what he is: a fake Christian who uses Christianity only when it's convenient. It's a road too many Republicans are afraid to go down (and understandably so considering the power of the liberal media and the huge amount of skeletons in conservative GOP'ers closets), but Santorum is fully aware that with most Americans voters not being liberal, it's a road he must travel in order to have a chance at beating Barry come November:

Lashing out on two fronts, Rick Santorum on Saturday questioned President Barack Obama's Christian values and attacked GOP rival Mitt Romney's Olympics leadership as he courted tea party activists and evangelical voters in Ohio, "ground zero" in the 2012 nomination fight.


Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator known for his social conservative views, said Obama's agenda is based on "some phony theology. Not a theology based on the Bible. A different theology." He later suggested that the president practices a different kind of Christianity.


"In the Christian church there are a lot of different stripes of Christianity," he said. "If the president says he's a Christian, he's a Christian."


The Obama campaign said the comments represent "the latest low in a Republican primary campaign that has been fueled by distortions, ugliness, and searing pessimism and negativity."


Santorum was forced on his heels in recent days after a top supporter suggested women use aspirin to prevent pregnancy.


In Ohio, a Super Tuesday prize, he shifted decidedly to offense before friendly crowds. Trailing Romney in money and campaign resources, Santorum is depending on the tea party movement and religious groups to deliver a victory March 6 in the Midwestern contest.


More delegates will be awarded in Ohio than in any other state except Georgia in the opening months of the Republican campaign. Ohio and Georgia are two of the 10 contests scheduled for March 6, a benchmark for the primary campaign that often decides who can continue to the next level.


Santorum has surged in recent opinion polls after capturing Republican caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri on Feb. 7. Several polls have shown him ahead in Romney's native state of Michigan, where primary voters cast ballots a week from Tuesday.


Obama's campaign team has responded by starting to consider the possibility that Santorum rather than Romney could be the Republican nominee. The Chicago-based organization has begun scrutinizing Santorum's past record and asked its Pennsylvania allies to look for information that might be used against Santorum in future ads and speeches.


Even as he criticized Obama, Santorum also went after one of Romney's most promoted achievements — his leadership at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.


"One of Mitt Romney's greatest accomplishments, one of the things he talks about most is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic Games," Santorum said. "He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic Games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake games — in an earmark, in an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic games."

RELATED: Rick Santorum tries to show he can win in November

Politiks As Usual: In The News 8/29/11

Al Gore Calls Climate Change Skeptics 'Racists'

Why Is The MSM So Ignorant About Religion?

Colin Powell Blasts Dick Cheney's 'Cheap Shots'

Did Major Media Overdo Coverage Of Hurricane Irene?

Excluding Prayer From 9/11 Memorial Compounds The Tragedy Of That Day

Obama's War On The Secret Ballot

Surprise! New Fall TV Lineup Heavy On Sex

Rick Perry Bills Feds $349M For Incarcerating Illegals

Minister: Obama's $50,000-a-Week Vacation A 'Disgrace' In Light Of Economy

NBC's Ann Curry, CNN's Don Lemon Headline 'Revolutionary' Gay Journalist Convention

Pollsters: Modern History Shows Obama Can't Win In 2012

Genocide Continues In Sudan, Christian Group Seeks Congressional Help

Battle For New Orleans, 6 Years After Katrina

Bill Maher On The Factor, Part II: The Two Bills Clash On Religion

Mediaite.com:

After a pointed but down-to-earth conversation last night, Bill O’Reilly and Bill Maher had a more spirited (and probably more compelling) discussion on religion on tonight’s O’Reilly Factor. The two probably have even more wildly differing views on religion than politics, and they got a bit louder than last night, but like their previous segment, showed a refreshing ability not to descend into complete chaos when they don’t see eye-to-eye.

Not that things didn’t get animated – it was clear things would when O’Reilly teased the segment by saying, “Calling religious people ‘morons.’ That’s what Bill Maher is doing, and we will challenge him.” Even if Maher didn’t quite do that literally, he implied something similar with lines like, “Faith is “the purposeful suspension of critical thinking,” and “If it’s your perfect holy book written by God, why is there stuff in there that makes no sense?”

O’Reilly disputed this point, saying the Bible “is allegorical…designed to teach a greater truth that apparently has eluded you.” A central theme to that greater truth? In O’Reilly’s words, “Don’t call [your neighbor] stupid because they don’t agree with you politically.” He was VERY pleased with himself on this line. Maher, though, got in a pretty good crack of his own when he said, “If Jesus was in charge of the country we’d probably have health care for everybody.”

There were some strikes against both: O’Reilly drastically over-generalized the theory of evolution, and when he said Maher is “not noble” for mocking people of faith, he had a point – it wouldn’t hurt Maher to tone down his anti-organized-religion rhetoric a tad every now and again.

But mostly, this was another entertaining discussion conducted more rationally than many like it. And despite that “not noble” critique, O’Reilly does seem to have a bit of fondness for Maher, saying you “have to give him credit for debating.” Indeed, the last two nights it’s produced some good television.