Tag: religion

Criminalizing Bible Verses? Canadian Lawmakers Target Religious Expression With Proposed ‘Hate Speech’ Amendment

In a move that should alarm anyone who is pro-free speech, members of Canada’s Liberal Party have capitulated to pressure from Quebec’s ultra-secular separatist party by voting to strip away a longstanding religious exemption from the country’s hate-speech laws as part of the draconian Bill C-9, also known as the so-called Combating Hate Act.

Canada’s Criminal Code has long shielded good-faith religious expression with a clear exemption that speech is not hate propaganda “if, in good faith, the person expressed or attempted to establish by an argument an opinion on a religious subject or an opinion based on a belief in a religious text.”

On Tuesday evening, that protection was casually deleted at the Bloc Québécois insistence.

CBC has the details on what happened next:

Progress appeared to stall after an initial committee meeting to go over the bill was abruptly cancelled last week. Three sources speaking to CBC News said the bill was held up because Justice Minister Sean Fraser’s office brokered the deal with the Bloc without getting buy-in from the Prime Minister’s Office. Tuesday’s meeting was scheduled last-minute after last week’s cancellation. The Bloc has long sought to remove the religious exemption, saying religion could be used as a cover for promoting hate, such as homophobia and antisemitism. Blanchet said his party would not support the bill without the amendment.

Conservatives immediately sounded the alarm. Canadian Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre warned on X that the amendment would “criminalize sections of the Bible, Qur’an, Torah and other sacred texts.”

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Vatican Accepts Resignation of Jailed Bishop, Raising Questions About Religious Freedom in China

The Vatican replaced detained underground Bishop Joseph Zhang Weizhu in the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang with Bishop Francis Li Jianlin in a December 5 ceremony, drawing praise from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) but serious concern from China’s underground Catholic community.

Zhang, secretly ordained in 1991 with Vatican approval but never recognized by Beijing, has been detained since May 2021 and his whereabouts remain unknown. He was arrested just after recovering from cancer surgery, along with priests and seminarians, for allegedly violating regulations requiring clergy to register with the state. Chinese authorities barred him from attending his successor’s ordination.

China officially recognizes only five religions: Buddhism, Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism, and Taoism. These groups operate under state-sanctioned patriotic religious associations supervised by the United Front Work Department (UFWD), the CCP’s propaganda and influence arm. In 2018, the State Administration for Religious Affairs was absorbed into the UFWD, bringing all religious affairs under direct Party control.

The constitution protects only “normal religious activities,” without defining what “normal” means, and forbids religion from disrupting public order, impairing citizens’ health, or interfering with education. Clergy must support CCP leadership and adhere to the Sinicization of religion. Religious activity is restricted to approved premises, and the state maintains control over clergy appointments, publications, finances, and seminary enrollment. Minors are forbidden from entering places of worship, and pastors and imams have been instructed to emphasize socialist values in their teachings.

Under the Sinicization campaign, the Three-Self Patriotic Movement and the Chinese Christian Council drafted a five-year plan to retranslate the Old Testament and provide new commentary on the New Testament to align scripture with socialist ideology. A 2020 university textbook even rewrote the Gospel account of the woman caught in adultery, replacing Jesus’ mercy with a fabricated story in which he stones the woman and declares, “I am also a sinner.”

Across Henan province, officials forced Protestant churches to replace the Ten Commandments with Xi Jinping quotes. Authorities have ordered the removal of crosses and replaced images of Christ and the Virgin Mary with portraits of Xi. These campaigns censor religious texts, compel clergy to preach CCP ideology, and mandate the display of political slogans.

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Conservative MP calls on religious leaders to oppose Liberal plan to criminalize quoting Scripture

Conservatives are warning that Canadians should be “very afraid” of the Liberals’ proposal to punish quoting Scripture, while advising religious leaders to voice their opposition to the legislation.

During a December 6 session in Parliament, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Larry Brock warned Canadians of the very real threat to their religious freedom thanks to proposed amendments to Bill C-9, the “Combating Hate Act,” that would allow priests quoting Scripture to be punished.

“Do Christians need to be concerned about this legislation?” MP Bob Zimmer questioned. “Does it really threaten the Bible and free speech in Canada?”

“They should be very afraid,” Brock responded. “Every faith leader should be very afraid as to what this Liberal government with the support of the Bloc Quebecois wishes to do.”

“As I indicated, religious freedom is under attack at the hands of this Liberal government,” he declared.

Brock stressed the need for religious leaders to “speak out loud and clear” against the proposed amendment and contact their local Liberal and Bloc MPs.

Already, the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops penned an open letter to the Carney Liberals, condemning the proposed amendment and calling for its removal.

As LifeSiteNews reported earlier this week, inside government sources revealed that Liberals agreed to remove religious exemptions from Canada’s hate speech laws as part of a deal with the Bloc Québécois to keep Liberals in power.

Bill C-9, as reported by LifeSiteNews, has been blasted by constitutional experts as empowering police and the government to go after those it deems to have violated a person’s “feelings” in a “hateful” way.

Now, the Bloc amendment seeks to further restrict free speech. The amendment would remove the “religious exemption” defense, which has historically protected individuals from conviction for willful promotion of hatred if the statements were made “in good faith” and based on a “religious subject” or a “sincerely held” interpretation of religious texts such as passages from the Bible, Quran, or Torah.

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Israel Funds Summit For 1,000 US Pastors Overseen By Amb. Huckabee

A group of more than 1,000 American Christian Zionist pastors and influencers has spent a week in Israel on an all-expenses-paid trip that was funded by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

“This is the first time in history that the state of Israel has officially partnered with 1,000 strategic pastors to commission them as ambassadors to combat antisemitism and reach the youth of their generation,” Mike Evans, an evangelical pastor who helped organize the trip, told CBN News. “Right now there’s an ideological war that Israel is losing, so they need the evangelicals, they need the Zionists to fight an ideological war,” Evans added.

Christian Zionists like Evans believe that the modern state of Israel has the right to all of the land in historic Palestine, including the Israeli-occupied West Bank, based on the Bible, a view that has its roots in dispensationalism, a Christian theology developed in the US in the 19th century.

The view runs counter to thousands of years of Christian tradition, as it’s rejected by the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and many Protestant denominations, yet it has significant influence on US foreign policy. During a speech to the crowd of pastors at the Shiloh archeological site in the West Bank, Evans addressed recent remarks from Vice President JD Vance and President Trump about not supporting the Israeli annexation of the Palestinian territory, which he calls Judea and Samaria.

“You said that the policy of the administration is that the West Bank will not be annexed by Israel. Mr. Vice President, we love you, and we love America, but the policy of the God who birthed America and the policy of the God who gave these people this land is in fact that Judea and Samaria is Bible land,” Evans said.

“Eighty percent of Bible stories come out of Judea and Samaria. So don’t pressure Israel to give illegal, radical Islam Jew-haters Judea and Samaria,” he said, adding that the MAGA movement is based on the Bible and “upon the God of this book, the God of Israel.”

While American evangelicals have always comprised a solid base of support for Israel, that support has been declining, part of an overall trend among Americans due to Israel’s brutal campaign in Gaza.

“There is a growing cancer within the evangelical movement in America, where people are thinking Israel doesn’t matter and there’s nothing biblical about our relationship with Israel. This is very dangerous,” US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told CBN News during the summit.

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Texas AG Paxton sues EPIC City developers after probe finds alleged fraud, misleading Muslim-only marketing

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit on Friday against the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), Community Capital Partners (CCP) and several associated leaders, accusing them of running an illegal securities and land development scheme tied to a proposed 400-acre community known as “EPIC City.”

The lawsuit, filed in Collin County, follows a monthslong investigation and a referral from the Texas State Securities Board. The state alleges the defendants raised tens of millions of dollars while violating securities laws, misleading investors about the project’s nature and location, and misrepresenting how funds would be used.

“The leaders behind EPIC City have engaged in a radical plot to destroy hundreds of acres of beautiful Texas land and line their own pockets,” Paxton said. “I will relentlessly bring the full force of the law against anyone who thinks they can ignore the rules and hurt Texans.”

According to the Verified Petition, CCP sold investment interests for $40,000 to $80,000, despite failing to register the securities or qualify for federal exemptions. 

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Canadian pastor arrested for refusing to write apology to librarian who hosted ‘drag queen story hour’

A Canadian pastor has been arrested for refusing to apologize to a librarian who hosted a “drag queen story hour” for children.

In the afternoon of December 3, Calgary police arrested Christian pastor Derek Reimer for refusing to comply with a court order mandating that he pen a formal apology to a Calgary Public Library manager who he criticized for promoting a children’s “drag queen story hour” in 2023.

“Do you know why you’re arresting him? He won’t say sorry for his beliefs,” an independent Canadian journalist under the handle Dacey Media asked police during the arrest.

Present at the arrest was pro-freedom pastor Artur Pawlowski and Reimer’s son. Videos of the arrest quickly circulated on social media, with many Canadian activists condemning it as targeting Christian and pro-family values.

“Canadian pastor arrested for refusing COURT ORDERED LGBTQ APOLOGY,” former Ontario teacher turned pro-family advocate Matt Alexander wrote on X.

“Derek Reimer is taken away,” he continued. “He protested a drag queen story hour and has faced legal repercussions for years. Religious freedom is gone.”

“Welcome to Canada, where freedom of religion and expression are no more,” another Canadian wrote. “A pastor who would not apologize for opposing drag queen story hour has been arrested and could receive up to 2 years in prison. Pray for pastor Derek Reimer.”

At the time of his arrest, Reimer was serving a one-year house arrest, which he had previously appealed, as reported by LifeSiteNews. Last Wednesday, he was in court to go over his sentence conditions.

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Colorado Medical School Will Pay $10.3 Million After Denying Religious Exemptions for COVID Vaccine

The University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine will pay more than $10.3 million to 18 faculty and students whose religious exemptions to the school’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy were denied, a group representing the plaintiffs announced Monday.

The lawsuit challenged the university’s refusal to accommodate sincerely held religious objections to the COVID-19 vaccine. The plaintiffs, who sued anonymously, included physicians, medical students, nurses and administrative staff.

The Thomas More Society, which filed the lawsuit and represents clients in religious liberty cases nationwide, stated that the settlement is a rare instance in which plaintiffs recovered monetary damages under the First Amendment for a government COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

Michael McHale, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, said the resolution cannot undo the harm inflicted on the plaintiffs.

“No amount of compensation or course-correction” can make up for the damage caused by the university’s vaccine mandate, McHale said. “At great, and sometimes career-ending, costs, our heroic clients fought for the First Amendment freedoms of all Americans who were put to the unconscionable choice of their livelihoods or their faith.”

Details of the settlement, which followed more than a year of negotiations, were not released. According to the Thomas More Society, the school agreed to cover damages, tuition and attorneys’ fees.

The settlement ends nearly five years of related litigation in state and federal courts.

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Pregnancy Center Lawfare: Will the Supremes End This?

Tuesday, Dec. 2, will determine whether America’s crisis pregnancy centers can operate freely or whether politicians in pro-abortion states can continue to harass them with lawfare. Tuesday the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, Inc. v. Platkin. 

At stake is “the future of pregnancy centers in America” said David Bereit, executive director of Life Leadership Conference. 

How the case started

In November 2023, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin sent subpoenas to the First Choice Women’s Resource Centers, demanding 10 years’ worth of records. The material requested included all solicitations and ads, statements on abortion pill reversal, information given to women, information about outside organizations First Choice worked with, and, most worrisome, staff information and identities of their donors.

There were “no allegations of wrongdoing…. It was a fishing expedition,” said Aimee Huber, executive director of First Choice Women’s Resource Centers. “The idea of compiling this… was daunting,” she said during an emergency webcast briefing scheduled by the Life Leadership Conference. 

Thousands of people nationwide and 40 different pro-life organizations attended the briefing Monday night, said David Bereit, executive director of the Life Leadership Conference. He called it “a pivotal case…weaponizing government power to intimidate, investigate and shut down centers.”

First Choice has served over 36,000 women over the last 40 years through its five locations. “New Jersey has the fifth highest abortion rate,” Huber said. “Since do not refer for abortions, we are a target.”

Critics of pregnancy centers such as First Choice smear them as ‘fake clinics” just for that reason.

Erin Hawley, senior counsel and vice president of the Center for Life, Alliance Defending Freedom, will be arguing for First Choice Tuesday in front of the Supreme Court.  ADF filed a suit in federal court asking the district court to enjoin the subpoena. 

Hawley explained that the district court dismissed the subpoena, saying that federal courts were not a remedy because First Choice first had to go to state court. “Once the state court rules, then there are a couple of legal doctrines that basically say, once one court has decided it, another court can’t,” she said. This is even through Congress expressly provided legislative relief allowing this. 

Numerous organizations not ideologically aligned with First Choice filed amicus briefs supporting First Choice. “They all agree the right to present first amendment claims in federal court when you have been harassed by a hostile official is something that is guaranteed,” said Hawley.

Since the Dobbs decision reversed Roe v. Wade in 2022, pregnancy centers have been busier than ever supporting women and children. Last week the Charlotte Lozier Institute released their 2025 report stating that pregnancy centers had helped over one million women in 2024, and that material support (everything from diapers to car seats) skyrocketed 48%. 

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Oklahoma U student files discrimination report after flunking gender essay for psych class with trans instructor

A graduate assistant was removed from her position amid investigations into a contested discrimination report filed by a disgruntled student who repeatedly referenced the Bible in an essay response to an article about gender stereotypes — for a course taught by a transgender instructor.

In her essay, which was supposed to cover “how people are perceived based on societal expectations of gender,” University of Oklahoma student Samantha Fulnecky presented a biblically fueled tirade against the notion that there are multiple genders.

The psychology course’s professor, graduate student Mel Curth, who uses “she/they” pronouns, failed Fulnecky on the grounds that she neglected to address the prompt and relied more on “personal ideology” than “empirical evidence,” according to a bombshell thread shared by the university’s Turning Point USA chapter.

In the essay, Fulnecky repeats ad nauseam that she doesn’t take issue with gender stereotypes because “that is how God made us.” However, she neglected to cite the article she was responding to, save for a vague reference to “teasing as a way to enforce gender norms.”

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NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Links to Pakistani Marxist, Islamist, and CCP-Aligned Networks

Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s victory in the New York City mayoral race was driven by a coordinated South Asian political machine with extensive links to Pakistani Marxist organizations, Islamist-aligned extremist networks, CCP-funded activist structures, and foreign influence operations that collectively shaped the election’s outcome.

The central engine of this operation was Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM) and its political arm, DRUM Beats, two entities sharing the same address, leadership, and personnel, and which received roughly $20,000 from Mamdani’s campaign.

Behind DRUM’s organizing stood a tightly woven network of activists tied to Pakistan’s Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (HKP), a radical socialist movement founded by Cambridge-educated historian Ammar Ali Jan and veteran leftist Farooq Tariq. The party is formally registered with Pakistan’s Election Commission and seeks to unify workers, peasants, students, and ethnic minorities under a socialist revolutionary program. HKP operates within the same global far-left ecosystem as The People’s Forum, the Tricontinental Institute, and other institutions funded by China-linked billionaire Neville Roy Singham.

Jan himself is a council member of the Progressive International, participates in programs with CCP-aligned groups, and maintains visible ties to U.S. activist institutions in Singham’s network.

HKP’s leadership worked directly with U.S.-based activists involved in Mamdani’s campaign. In January 2023, Ammar Ali Jan announced plans to build a “solidarity network for Pakistani activists in the U.S.” and identified three DRUM organizers, Raza Gillani, Mohiba Ahmed, and Zahid Ali, as key members. All three played active roles in DRUM’s pro-Mamdani efforts. Gillani, a Pakistani journalist and HKP co-founder, joined DRUM as a communications specialist and led campaign rallies with Mamdani standing behind him.

Mohiba Ahmed, an NYU graduate student and longtime HKP member, worked full time on the primary before returning to Pakistan to speak at HKP rallies. Zahid Ali, an HKP founding member and Rice University doctoral student, was praised by Jan as a “struggle partner” who helped secure Mamdani’s win. DRUM executive director Fahd Ahmed publicly highlighted his meetings with Jan, Gillani, and Ahmed, calling their exchanges “encouraging and impressive.”

DRUM’s director of organizing, Kazi Fouzia, oversaw the ground mobilization across immigrant neighborhoods. A Bangladeshi immigrant who entered the U.S. undocumented and later received asylum through a State Department exchange program, Fouzia described DRUM’s influence bluntly: “We’re like a gang. When we go to any shop, people move aside and say, ‘Oh my God. The DRUM leaders are here.’” Her dual role raises legal questions, as 501(c)(3) nonprofits like DRUM are barred from political campaigning, yet she publicly identifies herself as DRUM’s organizing director while directing political mobilization for Mamdani.

These networks did not operate alone. DRUM and DRUM Beats co-hosted events with The People’s Forum, a militant Marxist organization in New York that received more than $20 million from Neville Roy Singham between 2017 and 2022 through shell companies and donor-advised funds.

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