12 Christians in Iran await verdicts after Easter Sunday apostasy trial
By Lisa Daftari, April 11, 2012, Foxnews
Twelve Christians stood trial Easter Sunday in Iran, where they were called "apostates" in a courtroom and tried on multiple charges, according to sources close to Iran's Christian community. The Christians had been acquitted on the same charges, including "crimes against the order," a year ago in Bandar Anzali, a city on the Caspian Sea. The group was first arrested when authorities found them drinking wine while taking communion, according to sources. "It ultimately illustrates that being a Christian is illegal in Iran. No matter how clear or how open a pastor and a church may be, Christians are being brought to trial just for being Christian," said Jason DeMars, director of the Present Truth Ministries advocacy group who is in daily contact with the Evangelical Christian community in Iran. No verdict has yet been issued in the case. The attorney for the group, prominent human rights advocate Mohammad Ali Dadkhah -- who also represents Youcef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian pastor charged with apostasy and sentenced to death for leaving Islam and converting to Christianity -- was not able to attend Sunday's court appearance, according to sources who said his flight from Tehran was fogged in. The 12 represented themselves to the judge. "Their defense was that they were performing religious rituals that are protected by law," DeMars said. Though the Iranian constitution grants protection to religious minorities born into religions, such as Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews, over the last year and a half individuals in these minority communities have reported increased pressure and clashes with government officials and Revolutionary Guards as their influence continues to mount throughout the country. But converting, or more specifically, the act of turning from Islam, can be punishable by death. To leave the Islamic faith or to attempt to convert others away from the faith warrants capital punishment under Shariah Law. Among the 12 are community leader the Rev. Matthias Haghnejad and his wife, Anahita Khadeimi. The others are Mahmoud Khosh-Hal and his wife, Hava Saadetmend, Amir Goldoust, Mina Goldoust, Zhaina Bahremand, Fatemah Modir-Nouri, Mehrdad Habibzade, Milad Radef, Behzad Taalipasand and Amin Pishkar. They stood trial in a court in Rasht, the same province where Nadarkhani was charged and has been held for more than two years. This latest crackdown comes as a surprise since Iran's regime had scaled back after coming under international pressure regarding the case of Nadarkhani over the last few months. Nadarkhani, now 34, converted to Christianity at 19 and came under the regime's radar a few times as a result of his participation in his church and Christian community. He was arrested once and released and then arrested again in 2009 and found guilty of apostasy. The court gave Nadarkhani a chance to recant and return to Islam, but he refused. In February, he was sentenced to death, and the news of this verdict brought about heavy international backlash against the regime. As advocacy groups across the globe continue to petition for his release, Nadarkhani is being held in prison and the execution order still remains. This most recent probe on Iran's Christian community and subsequent trial on the Easter holiday come as the Christian community, particularly those converted from Islam, reports a surge in government retaliation coinciding with a growing popularity in conversions to Christianity. "There are a lot of people who are disgruntled with the government and many for comfort and peace in their lives are turning to Christianity. That's a threat to the regime," DeMars said. "The more people who turn from Islam, the fewer people the regime has on its side." Presently, there are more than 100,000 Evangelical Christians in Iran, according to conservative estimates. Many believe that number is significantly higher, as there is no accurate way to account for underground churches. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/04/11/12-christians-stand-trial-on-easter-sunday-in-iran/?test=latestnews#ixzz1rn7Vy7NU
The Hunger Games: An Attack on the War Effort
The media has been telling people to go watch "The Hunger Games." At the same time, the media has told people not the go watch the movie "John Carter." The Hunger Games is a mediocre movie. John Carter was a good movie, much better than the anti-war, anti-American "Avatar." The Hunger Games has made a lot of money-John Carter was not a hit but did okay (But lost money-because of its huge budget.) I have a problem with "The Hunger Games." It is based on a children's book. The author, Suzanne Collins, wrote it as an attack on the Iraq War and the media promoting and sensationalizing the war. It was first published on September 14, 2008, by Scholastic, in hardcover. It is written in the voice of sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives in a post-apocalyptic world in the country of Panem where the countries of North America once existed. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, holds hegemony over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged 12 to 18 from each of the 12 districts surrounding the Capitol are selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle in which only one person can survive. Collins says that the inspiration to write The Hunger Games came from channel surfing on television. On one channel she observed people competing on a reality show and on another she saw footage of the invasion of Iraq. The two "began to blur in this very unsettling way" and the idea for the book was formed. The Greek myth of Theseus served as the basis for the story, with Collins describing Katniss as a futuristic Theseus, and that Roman gladiatorial games formed the framework. The images of children killing each other-and bashing brains out with bricks for instance, can be seen in the movie and are very disturbing and unsuitable viewing for children-but the media is really pushing the Hunger Games hard. (I don't know why they had it out for "John Carter." They want every one to watch a movie showing children brutally killing each other, but don't want people to see the entertaining movie John Carter, that has a good story and amazing special effects.) The idea of the War on Terror as children dying senselessly is absurd. There is a real threat from Islamist terror and our soldiers are gallant heroes protecting us and making the world a safer place. This is a necessary war. Collins would have us believe that the Government is sending children to die needlessly. (The idea is that there is no real enemy. The true enemy is the government which is sending children to their deaths for no real reason.) The "Hunger Games" is ridiculous and viciously anti-American, anti-Military heroes propaganda. Also, the News Media and Hollywood have done everything in their power to undermine the war effort and turn the public against the war. Hollywood made many crappy anti-war movies-during the war-in my opinion sedition and treason. I think that during the war-the government has the right to stop such sedition. Movies such as Rendition, Lions for Lambs, Stop Loss, the Green Zone, on and on, all flops but Hollywood kept on churning them out. Collins premise that the media is behind the war and promoting it is also ridiculous. This woman has a weak grasp on reality and is brainwashing children with anti-war propaganda and entertaining children with images of small children stabbing and hacking each other to death. It is troubling and disturbing. Especially the scene of children using bricks to bash each others brains out-which is shown in the film. The media did want us to go to Somalia and into Bosnia and to Kosovo (in Bosnia and Kosovo-driving Christians from their land and giving Christian territory to Islamic control). But the media doesn't want us fighting against Islamic terror. Collins is part of the Media-Government Complex. As a veteran who served in Iraq twice-I find Collins transparent mischaracterization of the war effort and her distortions of the historical reality (although she does it in fiction) deeply offensive.
North Korea
North Korea is launching an inter-continental ballistic missile ostensibly to launch a satellite. Experts say that the missile could reach the United States. North Korea says that its missile program is for peaceful purposes and not military. I saw the newscaster say that "we will have to wait and see." Wait and see for what-a mushroom cloud over the United States? Obviously, MacArthur was right and Truman was wrong. Let us pray for peace. (The missile exploded two minutes after the launch, praise God.)
The Agenda: Grinding America Down
When Idaho Legislator Curtis Bowers wrote a "letter to the editor" about the drastic changes in America's culture, it became the feature story on the evening news, people protested at the Capitol, and for weeks the local newspapers were filled with responses. He realized then... he'd hit on something. Ask almost anyone and you'll hear, "Communism is dead! The Berlin Wall came down." Thought the word communism isn't used anymore, this film will show the ideas behind it are alive and well. Join Bowers for a fascinating look at the people and groups that have successfully targeted America's morality and freedom in their effort to grind America down. It's a well documented AGENDA. http://agendadocumentary.com/
This film shows how the left has worked to undermine traditional American values and our culture by taking control of our education system and dumbing down our children. They're taught a false history of our country and combined with a sewer culture and a lying, left dominated media, when they reach voting age, they're primed for a malignant megalomaniac narcissist like O to step into their lives. Their first objective is to take GOD out of our lives and the movie clearly shows how it has been done. This is a movie every American needs to see. The country is clearly at a fork in the road. Do we continue down the 1960's road or go back to what the Founding Fathers were trying to do.
Objection to mural sparks political correctness debate School censors students "objectionable" art
The theme of the offensive painting was the journey of a man's life from elementary school to graduation to marriage to a woman and fatherhood. The mural was offensive because it depicted the man married. The seventeen year old artist (Liz Bierenday at Pilgrim High School LA) was forced to paint over the offensive images. (Actually the janitor painted over the image.) What the school found particularly offensive was the religious overtones. (Seen in the"Wedding Rings"!) The "traditional family" was determined to be offensive. The offensive theme was the wedding ring implying wedding in the Christian or Catholic tradition. Democrats force Christians to pay for art depicting the Virgin Mary made up of pornographic images and covered with manure, Jesus being eaten by ants on the cross, Jesus engaging in homosexual sex acts with his Twelve Apostles, and a crucifix submerged in urine (all supported by the tax payer financed National Endowment of the Arts) and accuse Christians of "censorship" when they complain about being forced to pay for such "art"-but they censor an "offensive" image of the traditional "nuclear" family. The Liberal's Attack on Christianity Marines fight to protect crosses at Camp Pendleton as atheist groups seek removal By Adam Housley
Published April 12, 2012 FoxNews.com
Planted atop a remote hill in the middle of California's Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base rests two 13-foot crosses. Originally erected back in 2003 by seven Marines grieving over lives lost in the war on terror, this site originally established for reflection has now become grounds for controversy. "It's not a religious spot at all, it's a place for the Marines to grieve and to grow to let go of their burdens of what they had in their soul, so they can go back down that hill and back into battle and put their own lives on the line," says Marine widow Karen Mendoza. Her husband Ray was one of those original seven who climbed the hill that day, three of whom have since been killed in action, including Ray. "It's a symbol of sacrifice regardless of what you think, pray, like or don't like," says Karen. Over time the site has become a bit more permanent. A wildfire destroyed the original cross a few years back, so Marines and widows carried these two new versions up the hill. Now two symbols are at the end of a brutal 3,000-foot hike that begins at an area of the base called Camp Horno and ends at the top of a ridge line that overlooks vast openness in one direction and the glistening Pacific Ocean in the other. Here the crosses are blanketed in symbols of valor, sorrow and festivity. You'll see Purple Heart medals, pictures, books, messages, mementos from deployments around the globe and even a bottle or can of the fallen's favorite liquor...all left in remembrance. But the area has become controversial and more known after a newspaper report last fall detailed the location and posted a picture. In response, several groups filed complaints with Marines arguing the site violated the Constitutional mandate of separation of church and state, including the Military Association of Atheists and Freethinkers or MAAF. They want the crosses moved to a church on private land and flags or some other symbol used instead to mark the site. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/04/12/marines-fight-to-protect-crosses-at-camp-pendleton-as-atheist-groups-seek/#ixzz1rrfkee7T I have no doubt that, unless we have a change of administration this year-we will see a full scale attack on Christianity by the United States Government. It has already begun. We have already seen it at the Veteran's Cemetery in Houston. Obama appointee Arleen Ocasio reportedly told volunteers with the National Memorial Ladies that they had to stop telling families "God bless you" at funerals and that they had to remove the words "God bless" from condolence cards. Ocasio ordered Pastor Rainey who was officiating at a private funeral from using the words "Jesus Christ" in his invocation. At the VA cemetery the Obama administration censors sermons and tells people how they can pray and tells them that it is forbidden to use "religious language." So much for religious freedom! Sadly, this is what is going on in America now…Liberals declare war on motherhood and the home Democratic strategist and CNN contributor Hilary Rosen attacked Ann Romney, wife of presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, for her choice to be a stay-at-home mother. " Rosen sparked a firestorm of criticism by suggesting Wednesday evening on CNN that Romney was not qualified to help her husband on the campaign trail address women's issues. "Guess what, (Romney's) wife has actually never worked a day in her life," said Rosen, who has twins with ex-partner Elizabeth Birch. "I made a choice to stay home and raise five boys," tweeted Romney, a 64-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 16. "Believe me, it was hard work." While raising her children, Mrs. Romney battled her breast cancer and her being afflicted with Multiple Sclerosis. I DO NOT endorse Romney for President of the United States. I think he is a left-wing extremist. However, I believe it is deplorable to see spokespeople for the Democrat Party attacking the family and the home. Once the radical Democrats oppress American Christians, especially Evangelicals, there will be no one to help defend the persecuted Christians around the world. Where are the moderate Democrats? Why don't they fight for their party to take it back from the Left Wing Extremists who now run it? I am not a Republican. The Republican Party has become a worthless and pathetic political party. The two party system is failing America. I love my country and I feel that it is so sad to see what this country is coming to. I want to leave this country. I may go to Malta which is a devout Semitic Christian nation. I don't want to have any part in what this country is becoming. The choice for America this year seems to be between a Left-winger and a Marxist. It is sad that we don't really have any good choices and are stuck with supporting the lesser of two evils.
Juliana the Assyrian faces criticism!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qto-g8mGBTw
I want to continue some of my observations about culture studies
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