A North Carolina pastor was relieved of his duties as an honorary chaplain of the state house of representatives after he closed a prayer by invoking the name of Jesus.
“I got fired,” said Ron Baity, pastor of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem. He had been invited to lead prayer for an entire week but his tenure was cut short when he refused to remove the name Jesus from his invocation.
Baity’s troubles began during the week of May 31. He said a House clerk asked to see his prayer. The invocation including prayers for our military, state lawmakers and a petition to God asking him to bless North Carolina.”
“When I handed it to the lady, I watched her eyes and they immediately went right to the bottom of the page and the word Jesus,” he told FOX News Radio. “She said ‘We would prefer that you not use the name Jesus. We have some people here that can be offended.’”
Dearborn, MI, police persecute Christians for handing out Gospel of John on public sidewalk
Written by Editor
Tuesday, 22 June 2010 13:45
Police confiscate camera & cellphone of Christians standing on public sidewalk outside of muslim festival.
A group of Christians discovered that they cannot distribute free Gospels of John booklets on a public sidewalk in Dearborn, MI. Watch the video and see the rapid and heavy-handed response.
Vietnamese officials are purchasing phone snooping gear so they can listen in on Christians' phone calls, reports persecution watchdog International Christian Concern.
ICC Regional Manager Jeremy Shull reports that the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's security apparatus has purchased phone eavesdropping software and are able to monitor all cell phone calls. This allows them to directly interfere with communications.
"Whenever an international conversation turns to human rights and religious freedom, the call is disconnected," Shull explained. "This is a very recent development that has severely impacted the amount of information we get out of the country."
UK Preacher arrested after saying homosexuality is sin
Written by Editor
Sunday, 02 May 2010 14:04
A Christian street preacher has been arrested and charged with a public-order offence after saying that homosexuality was sinful.
Dale Mcalpine was handing out leaflets to shoppers when he told a passer-by and a gay police community support officer that, as a Christian, he believed homosexuality was one of a number of sins that go against the word of God.
Mr Mcalpine said that he did not repeat his remarks on homosexuality when he preached from the top of a stepladder after his leafleting.
But he has been told that police officers are alleging they heard him making his remarks to a member of the public in a loud voice that could be overheard by others.
New acquittals for people who attacked Christians in India
Written by Editor
Saturday, 24 April 2010 11:26
Kandhamal (AsiaNews) – A court in Orissa acquitted five Hindu extremists charged with attacking Christians in Orissa and ordered the release of 17 more for lack of evidence. Speaking to AsiaNews, Verbite priest Edward Sequeira said, “Kandhamal is still simmering with communal tension and hostilities. Many of our people have not gone back as they are afraid that they will inevitably be forced to go back to Hinduism.” However, the clergyman, who experienced firsthand the violent pogrom when he was almost burnt alive (see Nirmala Carvalho, “Fr Edward, survivor of arson in Orissa: the Hindu radicals are terrorists,” in AsiaNews, 4 September 2009), said that he was “going back to his lepers” because “they need the love of the Church.” Currently, the priest lives in a parish on the outer edge of the district.
“Thousands of people are still displaced, living in shanties outside the district,” he said. “Many people have had to go to other states. Getting back to normal appears difficult. Housing is a priority but construction is rather slow. Churches or other facilities are not being rebuilt, and security remains a big issue for Christians.”
Crusade Against God
