Christian Newswire

Pastor Arrested—Free Speech Violated by Jackson Mississippi Police

JACKSON, Miss., -- A Pastor preaching on the public sidewalk at the corner in front of All Women's Health has just been arrested by Jackson Police while he was preaching. The preacher, Chet Gallagher (photo) from Las Vegas, was called over by police in the middle of his preaching. He asked that they come to him unless he was under arrest and at that time they said he was under arrest. When asked what the charges were the police refused to answer. Other pastors are now trying to discover why he was arrested and cannot even locate where police have taken him.

Hobby Lobby Increases Full-Time Hourly Employee Minimum Wage to $14 Per Hour

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., -- Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., a privately held retail chain with more than 500 arts and crafts stores in 45 states, today announced a minimum wage increase to $14 per hour for full-time hourly employees of Hobby Lobby and its affiliate Hemispheres, effective immediately. The company also announced a minimum wage increase for all part-time employees to $9.50 per hour.

China: Ten-Year-Old Girl Detained, Denied Food and Water

HEFEI CITY, ANHUI PROVINCE, China, -- February 27, 2013 began like any other school day for ten-year-old Zhang Anni. Little did she know that this day she would be ordered to the principal's office, whisked away by four unidentified men, and detained without food or water, and without knowing where her father was, for 20 hours. Anni's crime? Her father, activist Zhang Lin, had exposed government corruption.

A Message to President Obama and the United States Congress—Why Are You Silent?

WASHINGTON, -- What has been described as the Arab Spring has evolved into deadly seasons, especially for the original Christian inhabitants of these lands. The dictators who once ruled these countries are being replaced by militant Islamic regimes that are bent on cleansing their nations from all Christians.

Pro-Life Group Granted Rights as Official Student Club of Johns Hopkins University

ANN ARBOR, Mich., -- The Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan announced this morning that the Student Government Association (SGA) Judiciary Committee of Johns Hopkins University (JHU) issued a unanimous decision late yesterday evening overturning a SGA ruling that denied recognition to Voice for Life (VFL) as an official student club of the University.

Morsi Culpable in Unprecedented Attack on the Coptic Pope’s Seat

WASHINGTON, -- Coptic Solidarity condemns in the strongest terms the violent attacks over the past few days in Egypt against Coptic Christians and the outrageous attack against the seat of the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, at St. Mark's Cathedral in Cairo.

Pro-Life Group Denied Recognition by Johns Hopkins Student Gov’t Turns to Thomas More Law Center

ANN ARBOR, Mich., -- In a charged controversy over students' right to free speech at a private university, Voice for Life (VFL), a pro-life student organization seeking official recognition as a student club at Johns Hopkins University has turned to the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC) for help. TMLC is a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, whose mission includes defending the constitutional rights of pro-life groups and individuals.

China: Woman Dies After Forced Sterilization

DABANCHENG VILLAGE, Hubei Province, China, -- A mother of two died after a forced sterilization, which took place against a doctor's orders, Women's Rights in China reports. On March 19, a doctor at Tongshan County warned that sterilizing Shen Hongxia would be life-threatening. Nevertheless, local Family Planning Officers forcibly sterilized her, in order to avoid an "illegal pregnancy." Shen Hongxia, 42, died, leaving behind her husband and two children, one of whom is two years old. The Family Planning Bureau and the Village Committee attempted to cover up their criminal responsibility by making an agreement to compensate the family by installments, and to build them a house. Family members felt forced to sign the agreement, as they saw no other way to seek relief.

The Morning After Pill (AKA Plan B) Available to Children

FRONT ROYAL, Va., -- U.S. Federal District Judge, Edward Korman, ruled today that the Morning After Pill must be sold over the counter to all comers. This means any 13-year-old girl will be able to buy Plan B, and no one, including her parents, need ever know.

Focus on the Family Executive: Homeschool Asylum Case ‘Critical’

PURCELLVILLE, Va., -- Focus on the Family spokesman and Truth Project founder Dr. Del Tackett yesterday declared his support for HSLDA's efforts to defend the Romeike family. Tackett believes that the U.S. government is siding with the restrictive homeschooling laws in Germany and that this could have serious implications for American homeschoolers.

Online Apologetics Conference Confronts the Anti-Humanism of Earth Day

MILWAUKEE, Wis., -- Throughout the country, various organizations and media outlets are getting ready for that annual environmentalist bonanza known as Earth Day. Recycling programs, energy conservation, and other ostensibly noble initiatives will be front and center before the public's eyes, but proceeding quietly in the background, without fanfare, many environmentalists are pushing their main agenda: population control.

U.S. Government: Homeschooling Unworthy of Protection

PURCELLVILLE, Va., -- With only weeks before oral arguments in a potentially precedent-setting human rights case, Home School Legal Defense Association, the world's largest homeschool association, has launched a petition on the White House website insisting that the Obama Administration grant permanent legal status to the Romeikes, a family persecuted for homeschooling in Germany.

New Nationwide Campaign to Save Marriage Launches Today

SAN DIEGO, -- On the eve of two landmark Supreme Court decisions concerning the future of marriage and the family in America, the "Marriage Bow" campaign is being launched around the country as a way for citizens to demonstrate their support for the age-old definition of marriage as being between one man and one woman by writing postcards and wearing a white bow. Not content to take a "wait and see" approach to the imminent rulings by the Supreme Court on the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California's Proposition 8, the designers of the Marriage Bow Campaign are hoping to influence the justices by flooding their offices with postcards and wearing white bows as a symbol support.

Cao Ruyi, Whose Near-Forced Abortion Case Grabbed World Headlines

CHANGSHA, HUNAN, China, -- One of the pregnant Chinese women who made international headlines last summer when family planning officials tried to forcibly abort her at five months has given birth to a boy and written a thank-you letter to U.S. Congressman Chris Smith for his personal intervention that helped assure her safety.

5,000 Citizens Demand Late-Term Abortion Facility Shutdown

MANASSAS, Va., -- Students for Life of America, along with Operation Rescue, Live Action, JillStanek.com, LifeSiteNews.com, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, and Rock for Life, will deliver more than 5,000 citizen complaints to the Maryland Board of Physicians today asking the Board to revoke Germantown late-term abortionist LeRoy Carhart's Maryland Medical License. The citizens complaint (full text may be found on www.StopCarhart.com) is in support of the February 19, 2013 official complaint against Carhart, filed by Operation Rescue. The official complaint documents 13 violations of the Maryland Medical Practice Act and one violation of a criminal statute related to Second Degree Murder and can be read here.

Richard Viguerie: Election of Pope Francis Signals Strength of Traditional Catholic Moral Teachings

MANASSAS, Va., -- The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, regarding the election of Cardinal Jorge Maria Bergoglio of Argentina as the new pope, Francis, of the Catholic Church:

Urgent Statement to Condemn Attacks on Innocent Copts in Libya and Call for Actions

WASHINGTON, -- Coptic Solidarity condemns in the strongest terms the unlawful acts by the group Ansarul Sharia in Libya to arrest, torture and detain dozens of Copts; and the detention by Libya's Preventive Security department in Tripoli of the Coptic man Ezzat Hakim Atallah for ten days until he died on March 9 under torture, and the detention of his Coptic colleagues Imad Seddik Ibrahim, Issa Ibrahim Isaac, Emad Shaker, Sharif Ramses, and others who are still being subjected to torture inside the Preventive Security building.

The Supreme Court to Decide the Future Direction of Marriage in America

WASHINGTON, -- Organizer of the event, Jason Hershey, states:

Will Supreme Court Reverse Ban on ‘Graphic Photos’ of Aborted Babies?

WASHINGTON, -- This week, Chicago's Thomas More Society petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review and overturn a Colorado state court decree barring Denver pro-life advocates from "displaying large posters or similar displays, depicting gruesome images of mutilated fetuses or dead bodies in a manner reasonably likely to be viewed by children under 12 years of age attending worship services..." Pro-life advocates Ken Scott, Clifton Powell, and others led a pro-life witness outside Denver's Saint John's Church in the Wilderness (aka Saint John's Cathedral). The annual event took place concurrently with the church's outdoor Palm Sunday procession several years ago.

China - Baby Crushed to Death During One-Child Policy Enforcement

WENZHOU CITY, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, China, -- A thirteen month old baby was crushed to death under a car containing family planning officials in Dongshantou Village near Wenshou City on Monday. Eleven officials were attempting to collect a fine from a couple who had allegedly violated China's One Child Policy.