Tag: religion

China Expels Missionaries, Treating Christianity As Existential Threat To Totalitarianism

This week is significant for Christians worldwide, including myself, as we commemorate Jesus Christ’s death and sacrifice on Good Friday and celebrate his resurrection on Easter Sunday. However, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has announced new regulations that will severely restrict foreign missionaries in China starting May 1. Citing the need to combat “extremism” and protect national security, these measures threaten religious freedoms.

Under the new regulation, foreign missionaries must obtain government approval for lectures, sermons, and group activities, facing a burdensome application process that details the date, time, location, and attendees.

Additionally, the regulation includes a comprehensive set of restrictions that prohibit foreign missionaries from engaging in activities such as “Recruiting religious believers among Chinese citizens and appointing religious clergy,” “Organizing and carrying out religious education and training,” “accepting religious donations from Chinese organizations and citizens,” and producing, distributing, and selling religious materials. Violators of these restrictions may face criminal charges depending on the severity of the offense. According to Breitbart, this new regulation is designed to formally end foreign missionary activities in China.

The new regulation is the latest example of the CCP’s deep-seated animosity toward all religions, especially Christianity. Between the 1980s and early 2000s, China’s Christian population surged significantly, with estimates in 2018 indicating it may range from 100 to 200 million — outnumbering the nearly 100 million members of the CCP itself. The CCP, an atheist organization, is alarmed by the rapid growth of Christians. One of the CCP’s worst fears is that the devotion to God could erode loyalty to the party and thus threaten its very legitimacy. As a result, the CCP sees Christianity as an existential threat.

Since assuming leadership of the CCP in 2013, Xi Jinping has implemented a three-pronged strategy against all religions, particularly Christianity. This strategy involves the sinicization of religion, which entails aligning religion with Chinese culture and communism, and ensuring loyalty to the CCP. It also includes the ruthless persecution of religious believers who refuse to conform to the sinicization of religion and instead remain steadfast in their actual religious beliefs and practices. The third leg of this strategy is using laws and regulations to curb the future growth and expansion of religion.

A well-known instance of the sinicization of Christianity is the CCP’s insistence on selecting Catholic bishops. This practice clearly violates the Catholic Church’s principle that only the pope has the authority to appoint bishops. Other examples of Sinicization include authorities’ instruction that both Catholic and Protestant congregations must prioritize patriotism over religion. In some impoverished areas, local officials compelled villagers to replace posters of Jesus with portraits of Xi Jinping and Chairman Mao, despite Mao in particular being responsible for the worst mass murders in human history. Additionally, the CCP reportedly has plans to “retranslate and annotate the Bible to align with socialism and establish a correct understanding of the text.”

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Raphael Warnock Slapped With Ethics Complaint for Living in Free $1 Million Luxury Home

When it comes to the lavish $1 million Atlanta home where Sen. Raphael Warnock has lived rent-free since 2023, the Georgia Democrat can’t expect to have his cake and eat it too, an ethics watchdog alleged in a complaint filed Monday.

Warnock’s lavish DeKalb County home came equipped with a plethora of luxury accommodations, including a 100-bottle wine fridge, a bluetooth-enabled cooking range, and remote-controlled privacy curtains. The senator hasn’t paid a penny out of his own pocket to live there because the church where he serves as a part-time pastor is footing the bill, the Washington Free Beacon reported. It’s a great deal for Warnock, but it may violate Senate ethics rules that limit how much lawmakers can accept from outside employment, the ethics watchdog Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT) alleged in a complaint to the Senate Ethics Committee.

“This is a matter of plain common sense,” FACT executive director Kendra Arnold said in the complaint. “It is difficult to fathom [how] any citizen could look at this situation (a U.S. Senator being a part-time employee of an organization that happens to buy him a million-dollar house to live in for free after he was elected to Congress, and after which he sells his own house) and not think something potentially very wrong is afoot.”

In her complaint, Arnold said Warnock’s free luxury housing arrangement likely violates the Ethics in Government Act, which could carry a range of sanctions for the Georgia Democrat including public reprimand, fines, or censure. She said Senate ethics rules only allow for Warnock’s free housing deal if it’s customary for Ebenezer Baptist Church to provide free luxury homes to its part-time pastors and if it’s something the church provided to Warnock independently from his position as a senator.

Those requirements “have not been met,” Arnold said in her complaint, noting that the value of Warnock’s housing benefit appears to far exceed the part-time nature of his work with the church.

“Especially given the limited amount of time Senator Warnock has for outside employment and the $31,815.12 annual salary he receives from the church in addition to the housing, it appears clear that the housing is excessive and unreasonable for the services he is actually performing,” Arnold wrote.

Arnold’s belief that Warnock’s housing benefit is excessive is shared by Dr. Albert Paul Brinson, a former associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was ordained at Ebenezer Baptist Church by the civil rights icon in 1965. Brinson said during an interview with a local activist in March that King “would have never endorsed” church funds being used to facilitate luxury living for its pastor. Brinson said Ebenezer Baptist Church’s housing allowance was designed to provide modest accommodations for its pastors.

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Catholic hospital drops legal argument that a fetus is not a person

Catholic Health Initiatives-Iowa has dropped its argument in a medical malpractice case that the loss of an unborn child does not equate to the death of a “person” for the purpose of calculating damage awards.

The nonprofit, tax-exempt entity is one of several defendants in a Polk County malpractice case involving the death of an unborn child.

Last month, attorneys for CHI and MercyOne Des Moines Medical Center argued an unborn child should not be considered a “patient” for purposes of calculating damages in the case. They also argued that “finding an unborn child to be a ‘person’ would lead to serious implications in other areas of the law.”

That position appeared to clash with CHI’s mission statement and ethics guidelines, both of which are based on the concept that human life begins at the moment of conception.

In Iowa, court-ordered awards for noneconomic losses stemming from medical malpractice are capped at $250,000, except in cases that entail the “loss or impairment of mind or body.” Initially, CHI and MercyOne argued the cap on damages applied in cases where the “loss” was that of a fetus or an unborn child.

However, during a court hearing on Friday, an attorney for CHI and MercyOne, Christine Conover, informed the court it was withdrawing from the motion to cap damages in the case on that basis.

“We are a Catholic hospital and obviously the Catholic faith believes that life begins at conception,” Conover told Polk County District Judge Scott J. Beattie.

“To be honest, I had wondered about that stance,” Beattie told Conover, referring to the hospital’s previously filed motion seeking to cap damages. “It seemed like kind of an odd stance,” he added, noting that it seemed to contradict the position that CHI had taken in other legal matters.

In a written statement issued Friday, Bob Ritz, president and CEO of MercyOne, stated “we are heartbroken that our belief that human personhood begins at conception would ever be called into question. As a Catholic health system, the sanctity of life is not just a belief we hold; it is the foundation of every action we take.

“While the motion (to limit damages) was accurate from a purely legal standpoint, it has caused confusion and concern. That is why we have asked our counsel to withdraw the motion with respect to MercyOne. No courtroom argument should ever cast doubt on the deeply held Catholic values that guide MercyOne.

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The Persecution of Nigeria’s Christians by Muslims is Medieval in its Horror

The persecution of Nigeria’s Christians by Islamising Muslims is medieval in its horror, says Tom Goodenough in the Spectator. “Villages are surrounded in the dead of night by bandits who rape and kill the inhabitants. No one is spared: women and children are among those butchered.” Here’s an excerpt.

The Makurdi Diocese, in Nigeria’s Middle Belt Benue state, has been hit badly by this savage violence. In 2024, 549 locals in this diocese alone were murdered and dozens more kidnapped. Over 3,700 people in Makurdi have been killed since 2015. Villages have been effectively wiped off the map. Over a million Nigerians, terrified of what might await them, have chosen instead to live in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps.

Wilfred Anagbe, the Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Makurdi, home to about a million people, says the massacres are a systematic attempt to kill Christians and Islamise the region – and that the authorities are turning a blind eye to the killing of Christians:

The quest to Islamise the land is high on the agenda of some of the most powerful and influential Muslims in Nigeria. There is a campaign to take land to spread Islam. Militant Fulani herdsmen are destroying society. They steal and vandalise. They kill and boast about it. They kidnap and rape – and they enjoy total impunity from the elected authorities.

The militiamen responsible for these attacks often target non-Muslims in isolated communities who are far from help. Anagbe says that these jihadists are, as with Isis, motivated by the spoils of war, and use their religion as an excuse. The rewards are certainly rich: Benue is Nigeria’s bread basket. The farms are fertile and well-tended. For years, Christian farmers have looked after these lands. But many now face an impossible choice: stay put and risk their lives, or flee – abandoning their farmland to the herdsmen.

“When they attack, they destroy churches and burn houses and schools,” Anagbe tells the Spectator. Several of the priests he is responsible for have been gunned down – so, too, have dozens of worshippers at churches in his diocese. …

“The experience of the Nigerian Christians today can be summed up as that of a Church under sustained Islamic emasculation and persecution,” [Anagbe] told a reception in [the UK] Parliament last month. ‘We must mobilise to ensure that we roll back this dark cloud of rabid religious intolerance and accompanying violence by radical Islam in Nigeria.”

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Russia announces Easter ceasefire

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary Easter pause in hostilities with Ukraine, which is slated to begin at 18:00 Moscow time on Saturday and last until midnight on April 21.

The announcement came during his meeting with Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov in Moscow. Putin expressed hope that Kiev would demonstrate goodwill and adhere to the ceasefire.

”At the same time, our troops must be prepared to respond to any violations or provocations by the adversary, to any aggressive actions,” he said.

Putin stated that Ukraine’s reaction to the ceasefire would be a clear indicator of whether Kiev is sincerely willing to engage in negotiations to end the conflict.

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Army soldier’s long-time quest for religious exemption from mandated flu shot

Though the COVID-19 pandemic brought widespread resistance to the Biden-era military’s vaccine mandate, COVID isn’t the only mandated shot being resisted by some service members for religious reasons.

Army Sergeant Dan McGriff (a pseudonym) spoke to WorldNetDaily on the condition of anonymity, anticipating reprisals. He emphasized that his views do not reflect those of the Department of Defense or the Department of the Army.

In the summer of 2021 during the thick of the pandemic, the non-commissioned officer “saw the writing on the wall,” suspecting a COVID-19 shot mandate was on the way for military service members. So, in August 2021, he was not surprised to see the rollout of former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s now-rescinded mandate.

After conferring with his wife, he made the decision to seek exemption, not only from the COVID-19 shot, but for all future vaccines as well.

“Some people were getting responses back within 30 to 90 days at most, but mine took about six months, going all the way up to the Army surgeon general to be denied or accepted,” McGriff told WND. “And in March 2022, I received my initial denial.”

While the decision could be appealed, the Army sergeant said there was no guidance available. “I sent my appeal within seven days, and from that moment on I was a ghost.” He explained that even though he had approved orders for a new duty station, he was not allowed to move because he was “unvaccinated.”

During this period, he was also barred from attending schools or trainings that could have advanced his career.

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Resolution wants Indiana House of Representatives to ‘submit’ to Jesus Christ

A resolution put forth by an Indiana legislator this week asks the state’s House of Representatives to “humbly submit its ways to the Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Written by Republican Rep. Joanna King and co-authored by 20 others, House Resolution 53 – “recognizing the importance of repentance” – invokes the Founding Fathers and their supposed reliance on “almighty God” when establishing the eventual U.S. government. It then calls for the House to “individually and corporately” uphold “biblical principles.”

King submitted the resolution on Tuesday, when it was referred to the committee on courts and criminal code. As of Thursday, it hadn’t been scheduled for a hearing.

No Evansville-area lawmakers signed on as co-authors. The 21 listed included 20 Republicans and one Democrat.

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution specifically bars legislators from passing any law “respecting an establishment of religion.” Indiana’s own constitution follows suit.

“No preference shall be given, by law, to any creed, religious society, or mode of worship,” Article 1, Section 4 reads in part.

In this case it’s not a law, but a resolution, which wouldn’t carry the same weight. Resolutions are largely symbolic and don’t alter existing code.

Kylie Glatfelter, a spokeswoman for King, said she’d pass on questions from the Courier & Press. As of Thursday morning, she hadn’t responded.

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Muslims Threaten to Sue Spain in Strasbourg Over Holy Week Processions, Claim They “Offend Islam.”

A group of British Muslims of Iranian origin, led by Anjem Choudary, is threatening to file a lawsuit before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

They allege that Spain’s traditional Holy Week processions are an “offense to Islam” and to the Prophet Muhammad, demanding their immediate ban.

The Muslim group intends to sue Spain in Strasbourg over these Catholic processions, with Choudary arguing that these religious events, rooted in Catholic tradition since 1978, are a “provocation” against Muslims.

“It’s an offense to the thousands of Muslims forced to live in secrecy ,” declared the leader, known for his history of radical statements. The legal challenge seeks to have Spain suspend these centuries-old celebrations, triggering a strong backlash throughout the country.

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Archaeologists May Have Just Found the Site of Jesus’s Tomb

As a literary device, this description of the burial place of Jesus Christ is effective; it offers a contrast between the site of Jesus’s death at the crucifixion site of Calvary (also called Golgotha, both derived from the Latin for “place of the skull”) and a fertile garden, brimming with life. It also provides a cyclical shape to the final chapter of the Christ narrative, which begins with his arrest in the garden of Gethsemane.

So, as storytelling, this single sentence from the Gospel of John (the most recently written of the four canonical gospels, most scholars agree) has a substantial power to its brevity. But, as a historical record of where, exactly, one of the most famous men who ever lived was laid to rest, you’d be forgiven for finding it sorely lacking in detail.

Yet, thanks to a new discovery reported in the Times of Israel, that sentence might be key to confirming where the real man at the center of the Christian faith was placed after his famous crucifixion.

As the Times notes, the site that now hosts the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is held in the Christian tradition to encompass both the crucifixion site and the tomb in which Christ was buried. As such, it is beset upon at all times by Christ-following pilgrims from across the planet, determined to worship at the site where they believe the Messiah lay dead for three days before his resurrection on Easter Sunday.

But this popularity is only part of the problem for archaeologists hoping to examine the purportedly holy site.

There was also, as the Times describes, “decades of in-fighting” between the three religious communities charged with managing the church: the Orthodox Patriarchate, the Custody of the Holy Land, and the Armenian Patriarchate. When these groups finally came to a consensus in 2019 that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre required renovations to replace the site’s 19th-century floor, a team of Italian architects with La Sapienza University saw their opportunity.

“With the renovation works, the religious communities decided to also allow archaeological excavations under the floor,” Francesca Romana Stasolla from the Sapienza University of Rome noted to the Times of Israel. The excavations have been under Stasolla’s direction since they commenced in 2022.

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‘I became like a slave’: why 43 women are suing the secretive Opus Dei Catholic group in Argentina

The first item Opus Dei gave 12-year-old Andrea Martínez was a pink dress. The second was a schedule that detailed every task for every minute of her day. Then, when she was 16, she was given a cilice – a spiked metal chain to wear around her thigh – and a whip.

In the late 1980s, Opus Dei, a secretive and ultra-conservative Catholic organisation, promised Martínez an escape from a life of poverty in rural Argentina. By attending one of their schools, they said, she would receive an education and opportunities.

“They told me I would study and progress. I thought with an education that later I would be able to help my family,” says Martínez, 50.

“But I became like a slave. They treated me like a slave, without any capacity to think or act or do.”

Martínez, along with dozens of other women in Argentina, has accused Opus Dei – which has a presence in more than 70 countries but is strongest in Spain, Italy and Latin America – of coercing them as children and adolescents into a life of domestic servitude.

They say they were forced into working up to 12-hour days, cooking and cleaning for the elite members, without pay.

The women also say they faced extreme control, their letters were censored, and they were banned from reading anything but children’s books or religious texts. When they eventually escaped, the women say they were left without money, clothes or qualifications.

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