Tag Archive for: Christian

Christian Teen Silenced on Zoom — Then the Governor Stepped In

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The censorship was swift, but the correction was even swifter once Christians stood up. 

A junior at Arkansas Connections Academy (ARCA) learned a hard truth this year. In modern America, a young person can say almost anything in school — except the name of Jesus.

Every day, students at this online public school join a “social time” Zoom session. They can talk freely about anything they choose, as long as their comments are not violent, vulgar, or obscene.

On September 23, 2025, sixteen-year-old Zion Ramos decided to use his two minutes to speak about something deeper.

Inspired by the memorial service of Charlie Kirk, Zion told his classmates:

“We don’t know how long we have. One day, it’ll all be over. When our time is up, all we will have is eternity… and we need to decide where we want to spend it.”

He wasn’t shouting.

He wasn’t preaching hate.

He wasn’t attacking anyone.

He was sharing his faith.

The teacher monitoring the call muted him instantly. Moments later, she removed him from the Zoom meeting entirely — cutting off his message mid-sentence.

Why?

For talking about heaven.

For talking about eternity.

For talking about Jesus.

It was a brazen violation of Zion’s religious freedom, especially in an age where After School Satan Clubs are routinely allowed in elementary schools.

That same week, First Liberty Institute sent ARCA a demand letter reminding them of what the Supreme Court already made clear in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District: The First Amendment “doubly protects” religious speech.

And then something remarkable happened.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders ordered an investigation.

ARCA suddenly changed its tune.

The school invited Zion back to speak, publicly guaranteed him three whole minutes to share his faith, and agreed to complete religious liberty training. Officials also pledged that students’ free speech and free exercise rights would be honored going forward.

Zion won.

“We are grateful that school officials acknowledge how concerning this situation was,” First Liberty said in their statement. Zion himself responded with the courage of a young believer beyond his years:

“Christians must stand up, speak out, and defend our right to share what we believe.”

In a time when many students feel pressured into silence, one young man refused to hide his faith — and the state was forced to back down.

May his example inspire all of us.

In Scripture, God repeatedly uses the young to shame the powerful. David against Goliath. Daniel before kings.

Here, another young believer stood firm while the system tried to silence him. And when he refused to back down, the truth prevailed. This moment is a reminder that religious liberty survives not by accident, but because courageous Christians insist on exercising it.

AUTHOR

Martin Mawyer

Martin Mawyer is the President of Christian Action Network, host of the “Shout Out Patriots” podcast, and author of When Evil Stops Hiding. Subscribe for more action alerts, cultural commentary, and real-world campaigns defending faith, family, and freedom.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

Please visit the Patriot Majority Report substack.

Merry Christmas or Happy Kwanzaa? Christian vs Marxist ideology!

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Kwanzaa is a Communist/Marxist collective ideology that is a none religious celebration of black people who Identify as African hyphenated Americans.

I would hazard a guess that most black Americans that celebrate Kwanzaa have never once been to, or ever lived in or have family in Africa.

So this African-American festival starts December 26th and ends January 1st which, does not include all races even though they say it does on their website to evade prosecution from Federal discrimination laws.

Kwanzaa is another means of dividing Americans in our great republic that focuses only on African culture and heritage with a goal of creating a Marxist collective.

Each night of Kwanzaa starts with a lighted candle whose colors could be identified as satanic starting with:

Day 1 as a day of “Black Unity” as portrayed and celebrated by “Black Lives Matter” and “Black Power” fist in the air groups.

Day 2 is “Self Determination” which may seem good but it is actually an undercurrent of communism making white folks feel shame and guilt about their culture and so called white privilege.

Day 3 focuses on a Marxist “Collectivist Work” ideology with a mindset of group identity not on individual freedom or liberty as laid out in our Declaration of Independence.

Day 4 concentrates on the black “Responsibility” to ensure this ideology does not fail.

Day 5 celebrates “Collective Economics” as practiced in nations like Communist Cuba and Communist China with all parties involved classified as equal.

Day 6 focuses on Kuumba or “Creativity” with no description on what to create.

Day 7 focuses on Imani or “Faith” but faith in what? This celebration specifically excludes any form of religious worship or praise to our creator.

Then at the end of this divisive celebration they exchange gifts aimed mainly at black children and they only permit handmade gifts of black African heritage to include a book of African culture.

The Judeo-Christian values that built the United States are excluded from Kwanzaa so this is not a festival of inclusion but none religious atheist Marxist form of segregation and separation.

Kwanzaa’s goal is to brain wash black Americans from celebrating a religious Judeo Christian Christmas and instead make them focus on a Marxist secular none religious event.

Black Communists in positions of leadership identify Christmas as an Invention by white Christian people which detracts from their goal of government control and power over the black community.

My many black American friends who do not identify as African celebrate the all inclusive Christmas and Hanukkah and refuse to become part of the Kwanzaa Marxist collective.

This is my opinion only and feel free to challenge it.

©2025 . All rights reserved.

Ukraine’s Holy War Comes To America

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Republicans are demanding the Trump administration investigate certain Russian Orthodox churches in the United States, claiming they may be compromised by Russian intelligence — but members of an Orthodox delegation pushed back against those assertions to the Daily Caller.

Three Republicans, led by South Carolina Rep. Joe Wilson, requested that the Department of Justice (DOJ) initiate a review and consider an investigation into whether Russia has sought to “recruit, leverage, influence, or otherwise compromise the independence” of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), according to a Thursday letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi obtained by the Caller.

The letter asks the DOJ to look into whether the New York-based ROCOR maintains ties to Russia or its intelligence services through the Moscow Patriarchate.

“Such an inquiry should assess potential espionage activity, coercive activity, recruitment of agents, and other national security risks arising from Russian state exploitation of religious organizations connected to the Moscow Patriarchate,” the letter stated.

The letter claims the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, previously served as an officer of the KGB and now provides “explicit theological justification for Russia’s war against Ukraine, portraying it as a ‘holy struggle’ against the West.”

ROCOR Letter by erinvannatta

During an August visit to Ukraine, state officials and national leaders from across Ukraine’s Christian denominations told the Caller their congregants and clergy were actively being persecuted by occupying Russian forces in Crimea. They pointed to allegations of murder, arrests and the destruction of places of worship.

These leaders agreed that the ROC and Kirill played a key role in pushing for the war and Russia’s persecution of Ukrainian Christians.

The U.S. State Department designated Russia as a “Country of Particular Concern” in 2022 under the Religious Freedom Act. Trump recently gave this designation to Nigeria over the mass murder of thousands of Christians by radical Islamist forces.

The letter references reports documenting ROCOR-affiliated clergy participating in or condoning persecution of Christians within the occupied Ukrainian territories.

The letter comes as a response to Wilson’s discovery that leaders within the ROCOR and other Orthodox churches engaged in “lobbying efforts claiming to represent interests of Ukrainian Christians.”

Wilson shared a screenshot on X of an email calling on Orthodox Christians to join the delegates on Capitol Hill in support of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC). The email claimed the UOC is “facing increasing pressure and persecution in Ukraine.”

The UOC has historically been affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate, while the larger Orthodox Church of Ukraine was established more recently as a separate Orthodox church independent of Russian influence.

The congressman responded to the email Monday on X and asserted the ROC is an extension of Russia’s government. He later posted a clarification saying he was only speaking about the ROCOR “operating under the umbrella of the Moscow Patriarchate” and that “most Orthodox churches are NOT affiliated with Moscow.”

“This development raises legitimate concerns that ROCOR or other entities subordinate to Patriarch Kirill could serve as vehicles for intelligence collection or sabotage operations directed at U.S. policymakers,” the letter read. “The vast majority of Orthodox Christians around the world are not subservient to Moscow, but remain proudly Orthodox affiliated with other spiritual leadership.”

A priest of ROCOR and a member of the delegation told the Caller on Wednesday that his church does not have administrative ties with Russia, and it was founded as a Soviet-era response to Russia’s embrace of communism. He said ROCOR only holds spiritual ties with the ROC, along with every other Orthodox church. The priest claimed Wilson’s comments demonstrated an ignorance of Orthodoxy.

Along with ROCOR leaders, the delegation also consisted of Catherine Whiteford, co-chair of the Young Republican National Federation and an Orthodox Christian; senior Orthodox bishops and clerics of the churches of Antioch and Serbia; and a lawyer working for Robert Amsterdam, a lawyer who represents the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), Amsterdam told the Caller in a statement.

The Orthodox Church in America was also part of the delegation, according to The Hill.

The pan-Orthodox delegation represents around 80% of Orthodox faithful in the U.S., including many of Wilson’s constituents, the ROCOR priest told the Caller.

The lawyer representing Amsterdam’s firm in the delegation told the Caller the delegation had not suggested halting U.S. aid to Ukrainian forces but was only speaking to the rights of UOC members who face unfair treatment from the Ukrainian government for alleged relations with Moscow.

The ROCOR priest also clarified that the delegation’s main focus was to raise awareness and support for the UOC.

Wilson told the Caller in the statement that the UOC maintains a direct connection to the ROC.

“[The UOC] declared intent to separate from the Moscow Patriarchate in 2022 after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, but it is not formally independent and retains remnants of Moscow leadership from Soviet occupation, which pose substantiated threats to the safety of Ukrainian civilians and soldiers,” his statement read.

His statement clarified that the UOC is different from the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which was established in 2019.

“It is prudent to highlight these factual complexities in church leadership to preserve religious freedom. Well-meaning people should be aware that there are efforts led by Patriarch Kirill to subvert the Christian message to justify invasion and atrocity,” Wilson’s statement concluded.

Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience, also told the Caller in August that the UOC was investigated and found to hold a connection with the ROC through the Moscow Patriarchate and is now facing a full-scale crackdown by the Ukrainian government.

Amsterdam said that his firm has not worked with the ROC.

“The firm has never been in touch or worked with the Russian Orthodox Church or any of its leadership, clergy or officials,” he said.

Amsterdam also challenged Wilson’s claims, saying the UOC is independent of the ROC. He pointed to the UOC gaining the right to self-governance and broad autonomy in 1990 and declaring full canonical independence from the Moscow Patriarchate following Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022.

“Since then, it has undertaken a range of practical measures to prove its separation from the Russian Orthodox Church,” Amsterdam said. “The UOC has provided vast sums in humanitarian aid, and many of its parishioners have and continue to serve in the Ukrainian army on the front lines.”

The Caller previously spoke to leaders of the UOC in Cherkasy and Dnipro, Ukraine, who emphasized that their church has cut ties with the ROC in every way but canonically, which they claim has no bearing over the teachings or administrative processes of the church.

Those leaders, along with local parishioners of the UOC, told the Caller that severing the canonical tie would create another schism instead of preserving the UOC as part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The UOC members also said they have faced the unfair seizure of churches, harassment and injury resulting from misinformation regarding their alleged relationship with Moscow.

Amsterdam said the November meetings are meant to “present vital evidence and raise awareness of the persecution of the UOC.” He pointed to Pope Francis, JD Vance, the United Nations, Human Rights Watch, the Church of England and the World Council of Churches for having spoken out against the alleged persecution of UOC parishioners and clerical leaders.

Amsterdam emphasized that the churches involved in the delegation have been serving “the spiritual needs of millions” in the U.S. for decades.

“Even at the height of the Cold War, the United States left these churches to worship peaceably,” Amsterdam told the Caller. “It is shocking that there are sitting congressmen willing so blatantly to violate the founding principles of this nation — the freedom of religion and the freedom of speech — and put these churches and their parishioners at risk of reprisals.”

Wilson’s letter urges the DOJ to assess whether Russia or its intelligence services sought to compromise the ROCOR. It also requests that the DOJ “determine whether any clergy, staff, or volunteers of ROCOR or other Russian Orthodox institutions affiliated with the Moscow Patriarchate” maintain operational or financial relationships with the Kremlin.

Finally, the letter asks Trump’s DOJ to “evaluate whether hierarchical, financial, or property ties between the Moscow Patriarchate and U.S.-based Russian Orthodox entities create vulnerabilities to coercion, sanctions evasion, or state-directed influence.”

“Given the continuing Russian war against Ukraine with mass murder of civilians and kidnapping of children and the well-documented role of the Russian Orthodox Church–Moscow Patriarchate in supporting the invasion, I urge the Department to treat this matter with appropriate urgency,” Wilson wrote.

The letter’s other signatories include Republican Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, who called on the ROC on Tuesday to condemn Putin’s actions, and Republican Georgia Rep. Austin Scott.

The DOJ offered no comment to the Caller.

Reps. Bacon and Scott have not responded to the Daily Caller’s requests for comment as of publication.

AUTHOR

Derek VanBuskirk

Reporter

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Is America’s Newest Friend A Threat To Christians?

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President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House Monday, prompting scrutiny over al-Sharaa’s treatment of his country’s Christian minority.

Trump has made addressing the global persecution of Christians a priority of his administration, and he designated Nigeria a “Country of Particular Concern” and called for a congressional investigation in October.

Nigeria is not the only country where Christians are being targeted. Religious minorities are targeted or caught in the crossfire as players move for power in Syria.

As the nearly 14-year civil war came to a close, al-Sharaa’s forces took control of the Syrian government from Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in late 2024.

Al-Sharaa’s resistance, the Nusra Front, was formally aligned with al-Qaeda until 2016, Reuters reported. It rebranded itself in 2017 as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Al-Sharaa previously had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, but he told CNN in December that his group was working to reassure Christians targeted by extremist and jihadist groups during the civil war that they would be safe under his rule.

“There were some violations against them [minorities] by certain individuals during periods of chaos, but we addressed these issues,” al-Sharaa told CNN.

“No one has the right to erase another group,” he continued. “These sects have coexisted in this region for hundreds of years, and no one has the right to eliminate them.”

Despite al-Sharaa’s promises, doubts remain due to his resistance group’s jihadist origins and track record of human rights abuses, Open Doors research analyst on the Middle East, Henriette Kats, said in December.

CEO of Christian rights organization Open Doors U.S., Ryan Brown, told the Daily Caller the attacks happening in Syria don’t take place in a vacuum, and they are the result of a civil war.

Brown said the threat Assad’s regime posed to Syrian Christians was a “known entity,” but the rise of al-Sharaa bred uncertainty and elicited mixed reactions from Christians.

Al-Sharaa began his rule by meeting with high-level clergymen to “lay the foundations for future dialogue” with the goal to “continue these meetings to reach future understandings,” an anonymous official told AFP, Al Arabiya English reported.

Despite al-Sharaa’s purported commitments, the future of Syrian Christians remains uncertain. They face attacks from groups opposing al-Sharaa because of their faith, while others are being killed in unrelated conflicts involving forces allegedly tied to his government.

A suicide bomber attacked an evening Catholic Mass in June, taking the lives of 22 people and wounding more than 50 others, according to Open Doors.

“I was preaching when the shooting began. Then came the screams,” the father of a neighboring Greek Orthodox church told Open Doors. “Everyone instinctively dropped to the ground. The fear… it was unspeakable. We were all in shock, paralyzed by the horror.”

Syrian authorities attributed the attack to ISIS, according to the report.

“We thought getting rid of the previous regime was going to give us some sense of freedom,” an Open Doors partner told the organization, claiming authorities are only “pretending to protect the rights of everybody in Syria.”

Hundreds of minorities — including the Druze and Alawites —were slaughtered in 2025, Open Doors reported. The group noted that many are questioning whether al-Sharaa can control the extremist groups in his country.

Al-Sharaa called on “remnants of the former regime” to immediately surrender and vowed to hold accountable “anyone who was involved in the bloodshed of civilians,” according to Al Arabiya English.

Head of the Europe branch of the Christian Syriac Union Party, Joseph Lahdo, said Christians have become the “target of direct attacks,” according to Christian Solidarity International.

Outside of the bombings and direct attacks on churches and families, Lahdo alleged Christians face taxes and financial pressure, and Christian women are forced out of workplaces and universities.

Christians also face political marginalization, absence of real representation in governing institutions and continuous threats from extremist groups and Turkish military operations, according to Lahdo. He added that Christians lack access to adequate international support.

In preparation for Trump’s Monday meeting with the president, nearly 100 U.S. church leaders signed an open letter thanking Trump for his recent efforts in combating Christian persecution in Nigeria.

The letter urged Trump to address the persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, in Syria.

“[R]eligious minorities face ongoing violence, death, displacement, starvation, and water and medical deprivation, all while innocent women and children are held hostage by ISIS terrorists,” the letter stated.

The letter, whose signatories included Vice Chair of Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission Dr. Ben Carson, requested Trump “secure President al-Sharaa’s commitment to opening a secure humanitarian corridor from Hader to Suwayda in southern Syria,” arguing the corridor would facilitate aid delivery and the evacuation of civilians.

It’s estimated that nearly 90% of the aid being distributed through Damascus does not reach its intended target of Sweida, according to the Catholic Review.

Although it is unclear whether such topics came up during the first-ever visit by a Syrian president to the White House, Trump said he believes al-Sharaa can make Syria successful and help bring peace to the region.

After Trump’s meeting, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom indicated the government will continue to address issues of religious freedom in the region.

The commission will hold a virtual hearing on religious freedom in Syria Thursday to “identify continued challenges to U.S. policy and religious freedom in Syria.”

Witnesses are slated to speak on specific threats to freedom of religion or belief toward Syrian minorities, as well as how the U.S. “can leverage bilateral, regional, and international interests in its support of [freedom of religion or belief] for all Syrians.”

Brown told the Caller there are ways Syria’s government can ensure Christians and religious minorities are protected, including by implementing constitutional reforms that enshrine basic protections for Christians and other Syrian minorities. He said the U.S. should continue to encourage the prioritization of the freedom of religious belief in its international relations.

He said the most important way someone can help is to pray for Christians and others caught in the Syrian turmoil, as well as donating to groups like Open Doors. The organization supplies information on countries dealing with Christian persecution, helps support the livelihood of Christians and provides trauma care after attacks, like the suicide bombing in June.

Brown said that although most Christian persecution is directly violent, other forms of persecution are increasing around the world, specifically during the past few years in sub-Saharan Africa.

“It is becoming alarming how much violence is continuing to escalate in the expression of persecution,” he told the Caller.

AUTHOR

Derek VanBuskirk

Reporter

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Trump welcomes Syrian jihad leader to White House, waives sanctions as he signs onto global coalition against ISIS

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

Charlie Kirk: RIP

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Critically Thinking about Life…

As a Christian person, I believe that the Big Guy starts out each life by giving each person an allotted time (5 years, 31 years, 76 years, etc.). What we then do with that time is up to us.

Of course we don’t know what that allotted time is, which makes things interesting…

When we inevitably cash in our chips, I believe that this is what we will be asked: “What did you do with the time and opportunities you were given?”

Although the secular world is focused on the negatives of Charlie’s death, there are positive parts of this experience. For example, Charlie is now happy and in a great place. Yes, it is a big loss to us, but if we really liked him, don’t we want him to be enjoying his eternal reward?

I would like to communicate my vision that Charlie is doing just fine. I’m not an artist, so I found two photos that had elements of what I was looking for, and then combined and edited them. I know a professional artist could have done much better. See what you think of my unique end product —

My view also is that there is merit to New Orleans’ style funerals — they are an upbeat celebration! Yes, that’s the spirit — celebrate a good life! (The video below is only 1+ minute, but you should get the idea…)

Assigning Responsibility:

Yes, there are a lot of haters out there. A reasonable explanation is that this is largely due to what is being taught in K-12 schools where: a) Judeo-Christian standards are being undermined, and b) the opposite of critical thinking (conformity) is being taught, making many children grow up as easy prey for hateful ideologies.

What to do? As readers know, I’ve dedicated years of my life to fixing K-12 education, and some progress is being made. Constructively and intelligently speaking up against this travesty is a good place to start.

Bottom Line —

Charlie: THANK YOU for your efforts on behalf of America.

You were an inspiration.

©2025 All rights reserved.

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TMLC Asks U.S. Supreme Court to Reverse Decision That Strips the Right of Parents to Guide the Religious Upbringing of their Children

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WASHINGTON — The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), a national nonprofit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on behalf of its client Libby Hilsenrath, asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to reverse the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruling based on the Supreme Court’s new test announced in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District decided in 2022.  This new test instructed courts that they must refer to “historical practices and understandings” whenever considering a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

The controversy began in January 2017 when Libby Hilsenrath, a Christian, discovered her 12-year-old son was being proselytized to convert to Islam during a mandated class in World Cultures and Geography being taught at the Chatham Middle School in Chatham, New Jersey. Seventh grade students at Chatham Middle School were forced to endure Islamic propaganda and an explicit call to convert to Islam through a disturbing set of videos.

One of the videos, Intro to Islam, students were told to watch is 5 minutes long.  It is filled with the Islamic religious beliefs presented as facts, and Islamic propaganda.

This video includes the following phrases as facts:

  • “Allah is the one God who created the heavens and the earth, who has no equal and is all powerful.”
  • “Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is the last & final Messenger of God.  God gave him the Noble Quran.”
  • “Lo, We have sent thee (O Muhammad) with the truth, a bringer of glad tidings and a warner.”
  • “What is the Noble Quran? Divine Revelation sent to Muhammad (S) last Prophet of Allah. A Perfect guide for Humanity.”
  • “The Noble Quran: Guidance, Mercy and Blessing for all Mankind.”
  • “The Noble Quran: Without any doubt and an eloquent guide from Allah.”
  • “The Beautiful Quran: Guidance for the wise & sensible.”
  • “Islam: A shining beacon against the darkness of repression, segregation, intolerance and racism . . .”

The video ended with a call to conversion: “May God help us all find the true faith, Islam.”

No similar proselytizing videos involving other religious faiths were presented to students.

Mrs. Hilsenrath also learned that her son was required to complete a worksheet which included a fill-in-the-blank written profession of the Shahada, the conversion statement to become a Muslim, “There is no God but ____ and ____ is his messenger.”

After the school board disregarded her concerns, Mrs. Hilsenrath filed a federal lawsuit which ultimately ended with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals affirming the district court’s granting of summary judgment in favor of the Chatham School District.

The Third Circuit’s decision in the Hilsenrath case is inconsistent with the broad protection from subtle coercive pressures that the Establishment Clause affords parents and students in the school setting under previous cases.  The Kennedy case never overruled these cases.

The Hilsenrath Petition argues that in the public-school setting, the Establishment Clause provides parents and students with broad protection, ensuring that the classroom will not purposely be used to advance religious views that may conflict with the apparent private beliefs of the student and his or her family.

Hilsenrath presents important unanswered questions about the proper Establishment Clause test to apply in the public-school context after the Kennedy decision.  Lower courts have struggled to determine whether Kennedy articulated a new Establishment Clause test, what that test is, and what impact, if any, that test has on the long-standing Establishment Clause precedents which safeguard parents and their students against coercion in public-school.

Only the Supreme Court can resolve the lower courts’ confusion and confirm the heightened protection parents and students enjoy under the Establishment Clause in the public-school setting.

Moreover, the recent case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, decided after the Third Circuit’s ruling, confirms “the right of parents to direct the religious upbringing of their children.”

Supreme Court review is necessary because the Third Circuit’s ruling in Hilsenrath disregards fundamental principles which allow school districts to ignore their duty to guard and protect a parent’s right to direct the religious upbringing of their children.

The Hilsenrath petition argues that review is warranted because of confusion in the lower courts: 5 courts have reached at least 4 different conclusions about what Establishment Clause test to apply after the Kennedy decision, especially in the public-school context.

Click Here to read the Cert Petition filed with the Supreme Court

©2025 . All righs reserved.

The Thomas More Law Center defends and promotes America’s Judeo-Christian heritage and moral values.  It supports a strong national defense and an independent and sovereign United States of America.  The Law Center accomplishes its mission through litigation, education, and related activities.  It does not charge for its services.  The Law Center is supported by contributions from individuals, corporations, and foundations and is recognized by the IRS as a section 501(c)(3) organization.  You may reach the Thomas More Law Center at (734) 827-2001 or visit our website at www.thomasmore.org.

Catholic School Shooting Suspect Reportedly Identified, Manifestos Found

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Authorities have reportedly identified the man who police say opened fire on children at a Catholic school in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday before killing himself.

Authorities identified Robin Westman, a man in his early 20s, as the gunman who killed two children while they attended Mass at Annunciation Catholic School, injured 17 other people and fatally shot himself Wednesday morning, local and national news outlets reported, citing law enforcement sources. Videos from a channel bearing Westman’s name were posted on YouTube around the time of the attack, showing disturbing footage featuring multiple guns, cartridges and ammunition with statements written on the weaponry such as “where is your God?” and other ramblings, the Daily Caller News Foundation found.

The videos, which the DCNF saved before they were deleted, show what appears to be Westman filming an array of weapons in a bedroom and writings on paper apologizing to his family. A thumbnail image from a four-year-old video on the channel shows a man whose face matches images of Westman shared by The New York Post.

“I was corrupted by this world and have learned to hate what life is … I have wanted this for so long. I am not well. I am not right. I am a sad person, haunted by these thoughts that do not go away,” a notebook shown on camera reads.

One message written on weaponry in the video said “Guy Bartkus,” an apparent reference to the man who authorities say blew himself up at a fertility clinic in California in May because he believed humans should not procreate. Another name written on a gun was “Rupnow,” the last name of a high school student who opened fire at a Christian school in Wisconsin in December before killing herself.

Other written messages in the videos show a seemingly incoherent mix of racial slurs, a pride flag, calls to kill President Donald Trump, the phrase “kill pedos,” pentagram symbols, and a statement that “6 million wasn’t enough,” apparently referring to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust. One of Westman’s guns was inscribed, “There is no message.”

Another clip of the footage shows a picture of Jesus Christ on a shooting target, while the words “fuck everything that you stand for” are seen on one of the cartridges.

The suspected gunman did not have an extensive criminal history, authorities said Wednesday, according to FOX9.

The FBI’s Minneapolis office and the Minneapolis Police Department did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.

AUTHOR

Hudson Crozier

DCNF Crime and Extremism Reporter

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Live Updates: Motive Sought in Minneapolis Catholic School Shooting That Killed 2 Children and Injured 17

TRANS-TERROR: Firing at Church Pews, Trans Gunman Opens Fire on School Children at Catholic School, 2 Children Dead, 21 Wounded

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

America and Anti-Semitism

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The shooting last Wednesday night of two Israeli diplomats, a couple that were soon to be engaged, was a horrible act of violence. It comes as anti-Semitism in America is increasing on college campuses and elsewhere. Many protesters reject Israel and embrace Hamas, which officially states, “Jihad is its path and death for the sake of Allah is the loftiest of its wishes.”

An American Jewish Committee survey last year found one-third of Jews in the U.S. were targeted by anti-Semitism in the previous 12 months.

What made last’s week shooting so egregious was that it was on American soil. 30-year-old Israeli citizen Yaron Lischinsky, a Messianic believer, and his fiancé-to-be, 26-year-old Sarah Milgrim of Kansas, were shot in cold blood outside of a Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

The alleged shooter, 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez, who has already confessed, told police, “I did it for Palestine. I did it for Gaza.”

America was largely created by Christians for the purpose of religious freedom. People of all religions or even no religion have been afforded sanctuary here.

Jews in particular, who have suffered in various nations around the world, have prospered and flourished here.

Rabbi Daniel Lapin, the founder and director of the American Alliance of Jews and Christians, commented: “No country in the last two thousand years has provided the same haven of tranquility and prosperity for Jews as has the United States of America. And, this is not in spite of Americans being Christian; it is because of it. You might say that America’s Bible belt is the Jewish community’s safety belt.”

Lapin adds, “I fear for life in America if, heaven forbid, we ever find ourselves in a post-Christian society. Because what will come in its place is not a benign neutrality, but a very sinister form of secularism. And it is one in which life will have diminished value.”

We can see what the rabbi warned about on Christian television in the early 2000’s coming to fruition on many of our college campuses, with the pro-Palestinian protests.

For example, a month after October 7, some pro-Palestinian protesters at GWU wrote up in big words, “From the River to the Sea.” What does this mean? It means death to the Jews, who live between the River (Jordan) and the Sea (the Mediterranean).

Thankfully, the administration of the school was swift in curbing such protests. One could only wish such was the case with Columbia and Harvard and other Ivy League schools.

But anti-Semitic protests at GWU were ironic, in light of the views of the school’s namesake.

Around the time of our first president’s tenure, there were only a handful of synagogues in America. Just as President Washington found time to send correspondence to various Christian groups and ecclesiastical societies, he wrote letters of encouragement to some of the Jewish houses of worship.

These missives show how out-of-step anti-Semitism is with the founding of our nation.

For example, on June 14, 1790, President George Washington wrote a letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Savannah, Georgia: “Happily the people of the United States of America have, in many instances, exhibited examples worthy of imitation.” America is a land of sanctuary to the Jews and the rest.

Washington continued, “May the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivering the Hebrews from their Egyptian Oppressors planted them in the promised land—whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation—still continue to water them with the dews of Heaven and to make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.” Washington knew his Bible and was grateful for Jews to flourish here in this land.

In his August 18, 1790 letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Rhode Island, he again expresses his gratitude for the United States’ enlightened policy, “worthy of imitation,” allowing “liberty of conscience.” He pens, “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

And he closes with a summary of his favorite Bible verse, Micah 4:4, which he saw as a picture of what America offers. Here “every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

The Judeo-Christian views espoused by early Americans like George Washington keep this nation much safer than the radical views voiced by those who labor to kill Jews in America.

All ideas have consequences, and as John Stonestreet of the Colson Center likes to add: Bad ideas have victims.

George Washington renounced anti-Semitism—so should we.

©2025   All rights reserved.

RELATED VIDEO: Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Adolf Hitler dreamed of a world without Jews, an idea he shares with Hamas.”

Don’t Underestimate Christian Media

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For years, Christian media has often been viewed as a backwater source—like something seen in a Saturday Night Live skit. A source for snickers, but not for sensible information.

But, as Dr. Ted Baehr, the publisher of “Movieguide,” likes to say in effect, “The good news is: The bad news is wrong.”

Recently, the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) commissioned a study with the respected pollster, the Barna Group, and found that a majority of Americans “engage with Christian media.”

The NRB reported on the survey’s findings with this title: “Most Americans Engage with Christian Media, NRB and Barna Report.”

The NRB notes in the findings: “More than 60% of American adults report consuming Christian media in some form, whether through television, radio, podcasts, news websites, social media, or YouTube. This is not an occasional interaction—among these users, half engage with Christian content at least once per week.”

Barna defines “Christian media users” as “viewers, listeners, or readers of Christian media” or consumers of “Christian radio, Christian TV, Christian podcasts (not including sermons), Christian news websites,” as well as users of social media with Christian content.

Troy Miller, president of the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB), told me in a recent radio interview about this: “To be honest, that number nearly caught us off guard.” Wow—nearly two-thirds of all Americans are engaged to some degree with Christian media. Miller said: “That was much, much higher than we thought it would be.”

And he added, “If you drill down further, within the Christian community—those who recognize that the Bible is the authority, who attend church on a regular basis, who read their Bible on a regular basis—their involvement with Christian media is [much greater]. They listen to Christian media almost on a daily basis.”

Furthermore, the NRB writes that there is a higher trust factor of Christian media among listeners/viewers than of other sources of media.

The NRB observes: “Christian media isn’t just widely consumed; it’s also largely respected. Two-thirds of the general population view Christian media as valuable and trustworthy, and that figure rises to four in five among those who use Christian media…..Even among those who don’t identify as born again, roughly half view Christian media in a positive light.”

Nonetheless, they also note the other side of the same story: “However, this trust is not without tension. Some respondents—particularly heavy users—express concerns about bias and manipulation in Christian content….Meanwhile, non-Christians tend to have the most negative perceptions of Christian media.”

During the time of America’s founding, what was the mass media in the various colonies? Certainly, newspapers were very influential. Stacy Schiff, author of The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams (2022), notes that Samuel Adams had incredible influence writing for the key newspaper of his city, The Boston Gazette.

Adams usually used pseudonyms (e.g., A Puritan, Candidus, Victus, etc.)  to avoid arrest or deportation to Canada or England for trial (and likely execution). She writes of the Royalist Massachusetts Governor, who despised Samuel Adams: “To [Thomas] Hutchinson’s dismay, seven-eighths of Boston read nothing but that ‘infamous paper’ [The Boston Gazette]. It set the temper of the town.”

Samuel Adams had another form of mass media. He utilized the Committees of Correspondence to communicate to the other colonies what was actually going on in Boston, the seedbed of the Revolution.

But there was yet another aspect of the media in those days almost always overlooked in our time—and that is, the sermons of the day. They were very influential.

I once interviewed the late Dr. Donald S. Lutz, author of The Origins of American Constitutionalism, of the University of Houston. Lutz had co-written a major study with Charles S. Hyneman. They found that about one-third of the quotes from the founding fathers’ writings came from the Bible; and other major quotes came from Bible-oriented writers, such as Montesquieu, Sir William Blackstone, and John Locke (in that order).

Lutz told me: “During the Founding Era, the late 1700’s, there were no magazines, newspapers had a very small circulation, there was no television, there was no internet. What did people do for entertainment? They would read pamphlets….Now, of all the pamphlets published during the last part of the 1700’s, more than 80% of them were reprinted sermons.”

As Americans, we have been given a great gift: free speech and a free press—largely because of Christian influence. But like all good gifts in this fallen world, it must be safeguarded.

As Troy Miller of the NRB noted recently to RadioWorld: “Free speech isn’t optional, It’s the foundation of the American experiment…If one group’s voice can be silenced because of its beliefs, every voice becomes vulnerable.” Thankfully, many Americans are sitting up and paying attention to Christian media.

©2025 All rights reserved.

What Starts With The Jews Doesn’t Always End With The Jews

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Because radicalized students and agitators have been able to target Jews with little or no pushback, it should come as no surprise that progressive activists have broadened their scope to harass and abuse others with differing ideologies or political affiliations. 

I was asked during a reception at a recent speaking engagement whether I was shocked at the rise of political violence in the US – where elected officials incite it with words or condone it by silence. I responded that violence masquerading as political expression is neither new nor rare and that the current trend was presaged by the rise in violent antisemitism against Jewish university students, businesses and institutions, and by the acceptance of genocidal rhetoric as virtuous over the last couple of decades – and especially since October 7th.

Those who chant “free Palestine” are not seeking independence for a nation that does not exist, but the destruction of one that does. Indeed, the slogan is a call for extermination; and yet is tolerated with blasé acceptance – and often encouraged – by the progressive mainstream.

And these are often the same people who scream “death to America,” thus illustrating that Jews are still the proverbial canary in the coal mine when it comes to attracting frontline extremist hatred. While prominent conservative voices have condemned the recent wave of violence against Jews, many were nonetheless surprised when it spread to other targets, including Tesla owners and dealers, Republican party offices and officials, and corporate executives like UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, whose murder by a progressive extremist has been lauded by many on the left.

When purveyors of hate discovered they could harass Jews without consequence (and with the approval of many in the progressive political, academic and media establishments), they knew they could attack anybody perceived as ideologically or culturally divergent (usually conservative or anti-woke) without fear of consequence. And when anti-Jewish violence drew neither censure nor punishment from radical prosecutors or prominent Democrats, there was nothing to restrain leftist brownshirts from assaulting anyone they chose to vilify and dehumanize – even as they employed Orwellian doublespeak to accuse their victims of fascism for asserting the right to speak freely, advocating democratic principles, or condemning antisemitism.

Irony is entirely lost on useful idiots who demonstrate little capacity for moral clarity or logical consistency. And they advertise their idiocy whenever they scream “intifada now” or “death to America,” lobby in support of Hamas, or perpetrate antisemitic violence on university campuses across North America – all in the service of Islamists who hate everything these moral dilletantes stand for.

It is the height of absurdity when progressives who denounce their own religious traditions as evil turn around and embrace a radical faith-based hatred of all things Jewish and western – and all the more so when they glorify murder, rape, and kidnapping as noble acts of “resistance.”

Those who justify antisemitism, call for the destruction of Israel and western society, and endorse revisionist Palestinian Arab mythology include socialists, radical feminists, “queers for Palestine,” communist wannabes, and other extremist activists who blindly channel the rejectionist tropes of militant Islam. Without a hint of self-awareness, they legitimize religious doctrines under which they would be oppressed, subjugated, beheaded, or thrown off buildings by the same savage terrorists they regard as ideological confederates. Though they may share a common hatred of Jews and Israel, they would be among the first casualties in any Sharia state.

More frightening than the violence and unrest that have become so pervasive is the refusal of many liberals, including prominent Democratic politicians, to condemn violence against conservatives and others who oppose the woke agenda (despite its resounding rejection by the American electorate last November). In interview after interview, Congressional Democrats have refused to condemn brazen acts of arson, vandalism, or physical assault against perceived enemies of the left or violence against Jewish students and faculty that has continued unabated on college campuses.

It seems liberals have no problem condemning right-wing extremists for racism while giving leftist antisemites a free pass on faux constitutional grounds. Indeed, many invoke the First Amendment to shield progressives who spew hatred against Israel; riot in support of Hamas; call for the Jews’ extermination; repackage ancient blood libels as false claims of genocide in Gaza; harass Jewish university students without fear of arrest; or spout antisemitic rhetoric in the halls of Congress without serious rebuke by party hierarchy.

This double standard is tantamount to saying, “your bigots must be silenced, but ours have the right express themselves through words and violent deeds.”

Not only is this chutzpah, but it also mischaracterizes the First Amendment, especially when asserted to protect institutions that encourage antisemitic excess while simultaneously curtailing any speech they find disagreeable. Many (if not most) liberal universities have codes of conduct restricting speech that might offend progressive sensibilities regarding race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, pronoun usage, or any other social flashpoint of identity politics. Such restrictions are based on priorities held sacrosanct by progressives and designed to silence opposing viewpoints. Under many such policies, students and faculty can be penalized for stating simple scientific truths (e.g., that there are only two biological sexes), expressing conservative values, or defending Israel’s right to exist.

Though antisemitic demonstrators who engage in campus violence claim the benefit of Constitutional safeguards, the First Amendment does not protect incitement or criminality. This principle was firmly articulated by the US Supreme Court in Brandenburg v. Ohio, which upheld restrictions against speech likely to incite “imminent lawless action.”

Given that incitement is not protected speech – and that the Constitution has never been interpreted to shield acts of lawlessness or violence – the Trump administration was within its rights to withhold federal funds from universities that permit antisemitic activism on campus and fail or refuse to protect Jewish students. The receipt of federal funds by private universities is not a fundamental right, but rather a discretionary, conditional entitlement bestowed by the executive branch; and if recipient institutions permit violent antisemitism and deny Jewish students equal protection, the President certainly has the authority to stop the flow of funding.

It seems, however, that many Democrats disagree, as they are circling the wagons and exhorting these institutions to resist the Trump administration – and implicitly by extension, its Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism. Perhaps most prominently, Harvard University rebuffed Trump’s demands aimed at eliminating campus antisemitism (among other things) – despite the threat of a multibillion-dollar funding freeze.

Rather than concede the reality of antisemitism, liberal champions of Harvard and similar institutions are urging resistance, including Barack Obama, who posted the following statement on X:

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

Such statements beg the question of how demanding the cessation of campus antisemitism and protection of Jewish students could in any way “stifle academic freedom.”

How does allowing calls to exterminate the Jewish nation contribute to “an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect”? Would Obama and others who advocate resistance against President Trump’s efforts to eradicate campus hate be concerned about stifling academic freedom if the victims were black, Hispanic, female, gay, trans, Arab, or Muslim?

It is hypocritical to claim that Trump is somehow threatening academic integrity at universities which for years have used conduct codes and threats of probation, suspension, or expulsion to stifle speech they find disagreeable when it contradicts progressive dogma. Rather than encourage the free exchange of ideas, many institutions have become incubators of intolerance, narrow-mindedness and hatred, where dissent is quashed by systemic bullying and indoctrination that evokes totalitarian excess.

Those who passionately exhort universities to resist Trump’s efforts to eliminate campus antisemitism are not defending academic freedom. In fact, they are enabling extremism, excusing incitement and violence, legitimizing anti-Jewish and anti-western hatred, and reinforcing dictatorial impulses.

Given the influence such institutions have on society and in grooming future leaders, it should come as little surprise that their role in enabling or failing to curb Jew-hatred has normalized intolerance against all. And because radicalized students and agitators have been able to target Jews with little or no pushback, it should likewise come as no surprise that progressive activists have broadened their scope to harass and abuse others with differing ideologies or political affiliations.

Similar radicalization occurred in pre-war Nazi Germany, where institutions of higher learning were often cesspools of antisemitic indoctrination and the philosophy of dehumanization provided an intellectual predicate for genocide. Perhaps not surprisingly, many American universities at the time provided fertile ground for nurturing and disseminating similar loathsome views.

Only a dullard could fail to see the symmetry between then and now; and only a fool could fail to understand that what starts with the Jews doesn’t always end with the Jews.

©2025 All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLE: The blindness of the west

Trump Picks Leader Of Key Catholic Political Org, Father Of Nine For Vatican Ambassador

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President-elect Donald Trump nominated CatholicVote president Brian Burch to serve as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See.

Trump made the announcement on Truth Social Friday, praising Burch for “helping build one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the Country.” Burch is a devout Catholic and outspoken supporter of Trump who urged Catholics to vote for the president-elect over his support of religious freedom and pro-life policies.

“I am pleased to announce that Brian Burch will serve as the next United States Ambassador to the Holy See,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post. “Brian is a devout Catholic, a father of nine, and President of CatholicVote. He has received numerous awards, and demonstrated exceptional leadership, helping build one of the largest Catholic advocacy groups in the Country. He represented me well during the last Election, having garnered more Catholic votes than any Presidential Candidate in History! Brian loves his Church and the United States – He will make us all proud. Congratulations to Brian, his wife Sara, and their incredible family!

The Holy See Ambassador serves as the official representative of the United States to the Vatican.

Burch took to X to accept the nomination.

“I am deeply honored and humbled to have been nominated by President Trump to serve as the United States Ambassador to the Holy See. Words cannot express my gratitude to all those that have helped me achieve this nomination,” Burch wrote. “I am committed to working with leaders inside the Vatican and the new Administration to promote the dignity of all people and the common good. I look forward to the confirmation process and the opportunity to continue to serve my country and the Church. To God be the glory.”

Burch openly supported Trump’s election run, issuing a memo urging Catholics not to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, previously telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that the Democratic ticket “poses an existential threat to Catholics and all people of goodwill.”

“This is a candidate who doesn’t merely disagree with Catholics, but has a deep animus towards Catholics,” Burch warned at the time, adding that Harris has proven to have “broad hostility to Catholic institutions, Catholic moral beliefs, religious freedom and policies that would undermine the common good of the entire country.”

Trump’s victory on Nov. 5 was due in no small part to the Catholic vote, holding a double-digit lead over President Joe Biden despite losing the same group to him in 2020. Trump’s pro-life stance, defense of religious freedom and decision to pick Catholic J.D. Vance as his running may are all possible factors in Catholics’ voting trend this election.

AUTHOR

Jaryn Crouson

Contributor.

RELATED ARTICLE: ‘Sign Of Great Hope’: Religious Leaders See A ‘Fourth Great Awakening’ As Americans Flock To Christianity

RELATED VIDEO: President Trump: “We do NOT answer to bureaucrats we only answer to God in Heaven.”

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

How to Avoid Political Turmoil with Your Family This Thanksgiving

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After every presidential election in our nation, millions of Americans are elated, while millions of others are dejected. And this year is no different.

A politically divided nation ensures that many extended families will likely face some contentious conversations this holiday. But it doesn’t have to play out that way with your family. Imagine experiencing tremendous unity this Thanksgiving, in spite of any political differences that may exist.

While you cannot control the decisions your relatives make, you can certainly do your part to avoid political turmoil and contentiousness. Pray that your family members will be accepting of one another this Thanksgiving, and that everyone will hold their tongue if tempted to gloat over the election results or to become contentious.

Once everyone has arrived on Thanksgiving, maybe someone could begin your festivities by offering the following prayers for the family: 1. Give thanks to God for all His blessings; 2. Ask God to bless the food you will enjoy that day; 3. Ask God to bless all the conversations.

Christian missionary Elisabeth Elliot (1926-2015) said, “Prayer lays hold of God’s plan and becomes the link between His will and its accomplishment on Earth.” And the Scottish evangelist and teacher Oswald Chambers (1874-1917) wrote, “God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede.”

“God is not a God of disorder but of peace” (1 Cor. 14:33). And this is why the Holy Spirit will lead and empower followers of Christ to promote peace and order this Thanksgiving. After all, what good can come from a divisive and chaotic family gathering that spins out of control?

In addition to prayer, we can put Romans 14:19 into practice: “Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification.” That is to say, be intentional about avoiding political confrontations this Thanksgiving. Make every effort to build one another up with words of encouragement.

Come up with some topics to discuss on Thanksgiving that everyone will enjoy. Visit about one another’s interests, while avoiding political controversy. Family members who are agitated over the election results will likely already be on edge when they walk through the door. Followers of Christ should avoid topics that might trigger a loved one to become upset.

The Apostle Paul wrote, “If your brother is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy your brother for whom Christ died” (Romans 14:15). The same thing applies to any political comments you might be tempted to make this Thanksgiving. If a relative becomes distressed because you are rubbing the election results in their face, you are no longer acting in love.

Paul wrote, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). Friendly and loving conversations tend to unite, whereas political combativeness only divides.

Do you have some topics in mind to discuss this Thanksgiving? Make a list of some non-political issues that are important to your family. Visit about things that provide hope. “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life, but a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:4).

If someone throws a political grenade into the middle of your Thanksgiving celebration, maintain self-control. And if anyone expresses anger or intense animosity, remember this biblical principle: “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:4). God will help you exhibit gentleness, even in the face of aggression.

Always remember: “Love is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5). This is exactly how God loves His children whose sins are forgiven through faith in Jesus. If you are keeping a record of wrongs committed against you by any of your relatives, Thanksgiving is a perfect time to let go of grudges as you choose to “forgive each other, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers…” (Matthew 5:9). Will you choose to be a peacemaker this Thanksgiving, even if someone attempts to pick a political fight? The Holy Spirit will give you the self-control necessary to hold your tongue while responding to any sarcastic comments with tenderness and compassion.

David made a particular request of the Lord that you can use in your personal prayers. “Set a guard over my mouth, O Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Let not my heart be drawn to what is evil” (Psalm 141:3-4). Regardless of what others choose to say, you can respond with sensitivity and empathy.

Jesus gave His life on the cross so that we could be reconciled to our Father in Heaven, and then do our best to be reconciled to others in Jesus’ name. The Bible instructs us: “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

In other words, if we refuse to live in peace with others, we are refusing to live in peace with God. Followers of Christ are “a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). You can love your family this Thanksgiving by speaking kind words, as well as by keeping certain thoughts to yourself. Silence is golden.

There are of course times when the Holy Spirit leads followers of Christ to visit privately with a relative about a delicate matter that needs to be addressed. In those situations, “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver” (Proverbs 25:11).

Jesus said, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). If you celebrate Thanksgiving prayerfully and with the right mindset, your kindness will honor the Lord and be a huge blessing to your family.

This article was originally published in The Christian Post.

AUTHOR

Daniel Delzell

Dan Delzell is the pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska.

EDIORS NOTE: This Washington Stand column is republished with permission. All rights reserved. ©2024 Family Research Council.

The Washington Stand is Family Research Council’s outlet for news and commentary from a biblical worldview. The Washington Stand is based in Washington, D.C. and is published by FRC, whose mission is to advance faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. We invite you to stand with us by partnering with FRC.

ROOKE: Liberals Might’ve Been Hit With Divine Retribution For What They Did To Samuel Alito’s Wife

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The left mercilessly attacked U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. and his wife in 2024 over her decision to fly the “Appeal To Heaven” flag at their New Jersey home. Now that Democrats’ nightmare scenario of President-elect Donald Trump being back in the White House and Republicans likely in complete control of both chambers of Congress has become reality, one has to ask: Is this divine retribution?

In early 2024, the Alito family was heavily scrutinized for a patriotic flag displayed at their vacation house. The New York Times called the “Appeal To Heaven” flag, made popular by America’s first president George Washington during the American Revolution, a “provocative symbol” that represented the right’s “push to remake American government in Christian terms.”

Anthony Grafton, a historian at Princeton University, told The Times that it symbolizes the justification for using violence to settle grievances rather than judicial remedies.

“It’s a paraphrase for trial by arms,” Grafton said. “The main point is that there’s no appeal, there’s no one else you can ask for help or a judgment.”

San Francisco City Hall removed its “Appeal to Heaven” flag after the Alitos came under fire. Of course, the far-left cesspool didn’t want to be synonymous with Christianity or patriotism, so it had to be removed. Apparently, before the attacks, it was fine and patriotic to fly it.

The left even sent undercover “journalists” to an event with Martha-Ann Alito in an attempt to discredit her. Still, all it did was make her look like a Catholic matriarch tired of radical ideologies taking up space in public discourse.

Martha-Ann was recorded telling a story about how her husband asked her not to put up a separate flag to celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a month-long holiday in June, in response to her neighbor flying the Pride flag. She promised her husband that she would refrain from displaying another flag until the left stopped their attacks.

“When you are free of this nonsense,” she said. “I’m putting it up, and I’m going to send them a message every day, maybe every week. I’ll be changing the flags.”

The attacks were intended to force Alito to admit his faith in God made him a partial judge and either step down from the Court or recuse himself from the upcoming Jan. 6 related cases. It famously didn’t work. Alito stayed on the bench and helped decide these cases.

Since these attacks, the left has continued to rack up losses in Court and at the ballot box. Americans resoundingly voted against the left when they were presented with a Democrat presidential candidate who infamously skipped the Al Smith Charity Dinner and told rally-goers who shouted, “Jesus is Lord,” that they were at the wrong rally.

It’s almost like if your party decides to go against God and his followers, you’ll eventually find yourself on the losing side. At the very least, it would probably be a good idea for Democrats to take a long, hard look in the mirror. It’s time to stop using Christianity and patriotism to fearmonger

Either way, God clearly doesn’t like being used as a cudgel to cow the innocent. It’s pretty possible that Alito and his family’s decision to “Appeal to Heaven” could have saved this country Nov. 5.

AUTHOR

Mary Rooke

Commentary and analysis writer.

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EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

REPORT: Hamas’ leader Sinwar Has Surrounded Himself with 22 Handcuffed Hostages

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The definition of evil.

Israel has had several opportunities to eliminate Hamas terrorist after locating his hiding tunnels. However, these attacks were not authorized due to the danger posed to the hostages.

Dressing as a woman, living like a cornered rat……hiding behind women and babies.

Hamas leader Sinwar, surrounded by 22 ‘handcuffed hostages’

Intelligence sources told the Jewish Chronicle that Israel has had several opportunities to eliminate Hamas terrorist after locating his hiding tunnels. However, these attacks were not authorized due to the danger posed to the hostages.

By ILH Staff, Israel Hayom, August 28, 2024;

The Jewish Chronicle reports that out of the 108 hostages believed to be still held in Gaza, only about 20 are alive and under Hamas’s control. These captives are reportedly being used to surround Sinwar, providing protection for the Hamas leader who remains in hiding underground.

Intelligence sources told the Jewish Chronicle that Israel has had several opportunities to eliminate Sinwar after locating his hiding tunnels. However, these attacks were not authorized due to the danger posed to the hostages.

The remaining captives, both living and dead, are believed to be in the hands of smaller terror groups, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Mujahideen Brigades, the al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, and the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades. These groups have reportedly cut off contact with Sinwar and are rebelling against his instructions.

Security sources cited by the Jewish Chronicle suggest that these smaller groups have been planning a coup for months due to disagreements with Sinwar over the identity and numbers of Palestinian prisoners to be released in any hostage deal. While Sinwar prioritizes the release of Hamas prisoners, these organizations demand representation for prisoners from their own ranks. The smaller groups are also taking a harder line in negotiations, insisting on the release of all terrorists from Israeli jails, including 1,236 convicted murderers serving life sentences. They also oppose Israel’s proposal to deport released prisoners from Gaza and the West Bank.

These internal Palestinian frictions have reportedly been a significant obstacle in reaching a hostage deal. The situation is further complicated by Sinwar’s reliance on the captives for his own safety. The Hamas leader, in hiding since October 7, has reportedly surrounded himself with 22 living, handcuffed hostages, using them as protection against potential elimination by Israel.

Sinwar’s main demands include ending the war, the withdrawal of the IDF from the entire Gaza Strip, and American guarantees that Israel will not continue the war after a hostage deal is completed. He is also seeking assurances that he will not be eliminated once the hostages in his possession are released.

Another point of contention in recent talks is the Philadelphi Corridor, a narrow strip of land between Gaza and Egypt used for smuggling. Hamas seeks control of this area to restore its military power, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposes this, even at the risk of derailing a potential deal. Talks in Cairo have resumed, but a breakthrough remains elusive. Israeli sources believe Sinwar may be stalling, hoping for a wider regional war that would divert the IDF’s attention from Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas is reportedly encouraging terrorist activity in the West Bank to further burden the Israeli army. Zaher Jabarin, a former prisoner released in the 2011 Gilad Shalit exchange, has been tasked with activating terrorists in the area, according to intelligence sources who spoke with the JC. Jabarin, currently operating from Turkey, is considered Hamas’s top financier and is believed to be transferring large amounts of funds received from Iran to fuel terror in the West Bank.

Continue reading.

AUTHOR

Pamela Geller

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EDITORS NOTE: This Geller Report is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

New evidence for the Shroud of Turin suggests that it is authentic

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Anyone who thought that the Christian relic known as the Shroud of Turin was dead and buried would have been surprised last week by a sudden burst of headlines around the world suggesting the burial cloth, said to carry an image of Jesus in death, was not a fake after all.

The headlines included: “Turin Shroud may actually be Jesus’s burial cloth, new study suggests” (TheIndependent); “Controversial new Shroud of Turin evidence said to offer proof of Christ’s crucifixion” (the New York Post), and “Was Jesus buried in Shroud of Turin? Latest research reveals shocking details” (The Times of India)!

Reports also appeared in London’s Sun, Mirror, and Daily Mail, Al Jazeera, The Tablet, Fox News, and the Hindustan Times.

What the heck?

Close inspection reveals not one story, but two feeding off each other.

One was based on a recent dating test of a Shroud sample to the first century. Most people know a carbon-dating test in 1988 concluded that the Shroud was a medieval forgery.  But the latest tests, recently published in the peer-reviewed academic journal, Heritage, contradict the carbon dating, and say that the Shroud is likely to be 2000 years old.

The tests were carried out by a team of five scientists, led by a member of Italy’s National Research Council, Dr Liberato De Caro. They were based on a new dating technique – wide-angle, X-ray scattering (WAXS), which measures the natural ageing of flax cellulose, from which the Shroud is made.

Dr de Caro insists WAXS is more reliable than carbon dating. He points out it is not affected by carbon-14 contamination, widely believed to be responsible for the misleading results from the 1988 carbon dating.  He explains that it is difficult to know whether the radiocarbon tests measured the carbon 14 on the original fabric or additional carbon-14 that was added later.

The other story behind the headlines was about a former atheist, British filmmaker David Rolfe, who set out to “prove Shroud of Turin was fake”, realised it had to be “the cloth Jesus was buried in”, and became a Christian. Rolfe’s award-winning film, The Silent Witness, showed cinemagoers all over the world how compelling the evidence for the Shroud was at the time.

Many people would have wondered last week how the Shroud could suddenly be authentic. But the truth is that evidence has been growing relentlessly for decades. And most people don’t know the 1988 carbon dating is now widely believed by Shroud researchers to be flawed.

I am very aware of all this because I set out to write a book about the Shroud a few years ago explaining why it was a fake and ended up publishing a book titled: Riddles of the Shroud: Questions science can’t answer. The message, summed up in the sub-title, was that science has indeed failed to answer many questions raised by the Shroud since it first attracted the attention of scientists 126 years ago.

In 1898, when the first photo of the Shroud was taken, the world was amazed to hear that the image on the linen cloth was a negative “photographic” image that had existed for centuries before photography was thought of.

Sceptics claimed at the time – with impressive faith – that science would work it out. But over the past century, as the Shroud became the most researched artefact in history, science has only succeeded in discovering more unanswerable questions about it.

My list of questions in Riddles of the Shroud stopped at 99. The list has grown longer since then.

So why do so many people think the Shroud is some kind of miracle? Well, apart from the image’s photo-negative features, the Shroud has no traces of any artistic medium – no paint, pigment, ink or dye, but is inexplicably made from a microscopic layer of discoloured linen microfibres, found only on the microscopic surface of the cloth. (This means the image could not have been caused by a fluid or even gas, both of which would have penetrated much deeper into the cloth.) Many scientists have concluded it is an image that could only have been produced by a burst of radiation from the body.

Several tests have also confirmed that the image is three-dimensional, unlike all known photographs. Then there are the wounds and blood flows on the body image. They are forensically perfect. And the blood chemistry shows it came from someone who was tortured.

As well, microscopic traces of soil and flower pollen from the area around Jerusalem were uncovered. Other pollens point to a journey from Jerusalem, through Eastern Europe to France and Italy, all confirmed by historical writings and images on icons and coins matching the face on the Shroud.

The list goes on.

But it is not just this evidence that casts doubt on the 1988 carbon dating, but the raw data from the carbon dating as well. This was only recently made public after being locked away for almost three decades. Many requests for the data over the years were denied, but it was finally released by a legal request under Britain’s freedom of information laws.

Suspicion about the carbon dating goes right back to a press conference carbon daters held in 1989 to publicise their findings. The three men who conducted the conference in London (seen l-r) were Professor Edward “Teddy” Hall (deceased), from the Oxford University carbon-dating lab, Dr Michael Tite (retired) from the British Museum which coordinated the dating, and Professor Robert Hedges (retired), from Oxford University.

The carbon daters claimed the Shroud was “faked up” by a forger from a “multi-million-pound business in making forgeries during the fourteenth century”. But physicists and statisticians have now published papers in peer-reviewed academic journals challenging the carbon dating. They say the statistics are not “homogenous” – that they are “heterogeneous”. Most people would have no idea what these words mean, but the experts who do know say the findings are dramatic – they argue the dating was invalid and new dating tests are needed.

The other recent headlines, about former atheist filmmaker David Rolfe, followed the release of Rolfe’s latest film: Who Can He Be? It is one of several documentaries he has made on the Shroud, including Shroud of Turin Material Evidence, and A Grave Injustice, about the carbon dating.

 

The filmmaker is so convinced the Shroud is authentic, he has bet the British Museum a million dollars that it can’t replicate the Shroud. He explained: “They said it was knocked up by a mediaeval conman, and I say: ‘Well, if he could do it, you must be able to do it as well. And if you can, there’s a one-million-dollar donation for your funds.’”

The museum has not taken up the challenge. So, on a visit to the United States, Rolfe extended the bet to that country. Again, no one has come forward to claim the million dollars.

There are two prominent theories about the high concentrations of carbon 14 on the Shroud. One is that it was caused by a massive burst of radiation, believed to be responsible for the photo-like image on the cloth – a theory supported by many physicists.

The other theory involves traces of cotton found on the linen cloth, suggesting it was repaired in the Middle Ages using a method known as French invisible weaving.

If you are one of those who were surprised by last week’s headlines, be warned there is more to come. Next year the Catholic Church will celebrate a Jubilee year and as part of that Pope Francis is to make a pilgrimage to the Shroud on May 4, which will be shared online. A Shroud educational display will be set up in Turin to educate people “about the Cloth, its history and its meaning”.

There will be many other exhibits around the world of full-size photographic copies of the Shroud, as well as statues based on the 3D features on the Shroud.

At least two international Shroud conferences are being organized – one in the United States and one in Australia – both to be addressed by Shroud experts from around the world.

I can also confirm that, after digging more deeply into the carbon-dating of the Shroud, I will soon publish the results in a second book. In 50 years of journalism, I have never come across anything like the hidden story behind the carbon dating. The bottom line is that the carbon daters got it wrong, and the story of how it happened is one of the most fascinating I’ve come across.

The main conclusion from all of this is that reports that the Shroud’s death have been grossly exaggerated. Those who still believe that the burial cloth of Jesus expired almost 40 years ago will have to come to terms with its resurrection.

Carbon daters who have passed away since 1988 must be rolling in their graves.

Is the Shroud of Turin authentic? What do you think? 

AUTHOR

Journalist and editor William West has worked on national and international news publications for half a century. After years of research, he has written an introduction for ordinary people to what he believes is ‘the most profound puzzle of all time’.  His book ‘Riddles of the Shroud’ is available on Amazon. 

EDITORS NOTE: This Mercator column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.