Thousands of Marchers Keep 'The Dream' Alive on 50th Anniversary of MLK Speech

As the nation commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Movement’s March on Washington Wednesday, thousands gathered in Washington, D.C. to remember the historic event. Some attendees told The Christian Post they hoped their children and grandchildren would carry on the tradition 50 years from now.

“It was important for me to be here to keep ‘the dream’ alive. To let people know – Martin Luther King, everything he did, he didn’t do in vain,” Shirley Poindexter, 65, told CP.

Poindexter was with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Her group of about 50 traveled by bus from Roanoke, Va., to attend the event.

Fifty years ago, Poindexter was traveling through D.C. on a train to Connecticut. She recalled the pride she felt at the large crowds who were also on the train for the March. In another 50 years, she added, she does not expect to be there but wants her children and grandchildren to be there in her place.

The day’s events began with a march from Union Station, down the National Mall to the event stage in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Crowds gathered throughout the rainy day on both sides of the reflecting pool. No tickets were required, but attendees stood in line for 30 minutes to about an hour to get through the security checkpoints.

Speakers included Jamie Foxx, Oprah Winfrey, U.S. Ambassador Andrew Young, and “Kid President” Robby Novak. Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey, of the group Peter, Paul and Mary, sang “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
Jim Reeb, 58, from Illinois, told CP that he was looking forward to seeing three presidents – Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – together for the event. The reasons for the original March on Washington still exist today, Reeb noted.

“We do get to see Barack Obama,” he added, “who, to an extent, is the culmination of ‘the dream,’ but we still have a long way to go.”

Charetta McNeill, of West River, Md., was delighted to bring her 25 and 17 year-old nephews with her to experience the event. She was so excited to share the moment with them that she woke at 2 a.m. because she was unable to sleep.

She wanted them there “so they can see all the people, all races and all nationalities, and it’s just a beautiful sight,” she said. “I knew it was going to be something spectacular.”

McNeill traveled with a group of about 100 representing the American Federation of Government Employees.

“When I look at it from a historical perspective, and I look at the situation now, I’m very excited about the possibilities,” McNeill added.

Martin Luther King Jr's 'I Have a Dream' Speech Turns 50; Surprising Facts About MLK's Historic Remarks

The speech, calling for equality among the races and fair treatment of the nation’s African Americans, only later came to be dubbed the “I Have a Dream” speech. In fact, according to Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter for Dr. King, that well-known phrase was never included in the written remarks.

Jones also served as MLK’s attorney and close confidant. He released in 2011 a book titled Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation. According to Jones, “I have a dream” was a phrase previously used by King during other public speaking engagements, and it had never quite caught on.

Follow us

It was during the March on Washington that King was apparently compelled by gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, who had performed “How I Got Over” at the event, to re-introduce the phrase.

“Tell ’em about the dream, Martin, tell ’em about the dream!” Jackson yelled, according to Jones, who helped write the “I Have a Dream” speech.

That was when King reportedly nodded in Jackson’s direction and moved the papers with this speech to the side, and began to ad lib…and began to preach.

“He moves the text of the speech to the left side of the lectern, grabs the lectern, looks out on those more than 250,000 people assembled and thereafter begins to speak completely spontaneously and extemporaneously,” Jones told Reuters. “Everything thereafter was spontaneous,” he said. “That was the ‘I have a dream’ speech.”

MLK began several of his statements during the speech with “I have a dream,” as an excerpt of the speech shows (parenthetical words were made by others picked up in the recording).

I have a dream that one day (Yes) this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.” (Yes) [applause]

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice (Well), sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream (Well) [applause] that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. (My Lord) I have a dream today. [applause]

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of “interposition” and “nullification” (Yes), one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. [applause]

I have a dream that one day “every valley shall be exalted (Yes), every hill and mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight (Yes) and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” (Yes)

In addition to referencing Scripture (such as Psalm 30:5 and Isaiah 40:4-5), King opened his remarks by pointing to Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and went on to allude to the Emancipation Proclamation, Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. The well-read orator was said to have even adapted a phrase from William Shakespeare’s Richard III for his historic speech.

Although “I Have a Dream” was celebrated by the public and covered widely by the press the day following the March on Washington, The Washington Post’s Robert G. Kaiser recalled that the publication embarrassed itself by severely underestimating the speech’s impact. In fact, the publication’s lead story the day following the March on Washington neither noted King’s name nor his speech.

Kaiser, who previously served as the Post’s managing editor and was a summer intern at the time of King’s historic speech, lamented in a recent op-ed, “I’ve never seen anyone call us on this bit of journalistic malpractice. Perhaps this anniversary provides a good moment to cop a plea. We blew it.”

King, who was assassinated five years after the March on Washington at the age of 39, concluded his “I Have a Dream” speech with a call to “let freedom ring.”

“And when this happens, and when we allow freedom to ring,” said King, “when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last.”

Medical Examiner May Not Bury Bodies of Babies Gosnell Killed for 10 Years

A coalition of pro-life groups gathered in Philadelphia Sunday evening to call on the Philadelphia Medical Examiner’s office to release to them the remains of 47 aborted babies found at Kermit Gosnell’s squalid abortion clinic so that the babies can have the dignity of a proper funeral and burial.

Gosnell was convicted earlier this year of three counts of first degree murder for intentionally severing the spinal cords of late-term babies that had been born alive during abortions. The remains of the babies were discovered in a filthy freezer in the rat-and-flea-infested basement of a brick building on Lancaster Avenue that became known as the “House of Horrors.” He was also convicted of hundreds of lesser charges related to illegal late-term abortions. He is serving three life sentences without possibility of parole.

Led by Rev. Patrick Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition, a group of about 60 people gathered at Drexel University and marched with police escort to Gosnell’s now-shuttered and deteriorating abortion clinic where a moving candlelight prayer vigil was held. Participants prayed for the closure of every abortion clinic as well as for the babies that die at them.

“These children need to be treated with dignity and respect,” noted Rev. Mahoney, “and like any other member of the human family, they need to have a proper burial and funeral.”

The medical examiner has refused to release the remains to any third party saying that the remains will eventually receive “a respectful disposition.”

However, that could take as long as ten years, which is unacceptable to the groups.

As of this writing, the pro-life groups are holding a press conference and public witness this morning outside the Medical Examiner’s office in Philadelphia to once again demand that Gosnell’s victims be release for proper burial.

Rev. Mahoney released the following statement:

The official guidelines and regulations set forth by the Medical Examiner make it clear that any “interested” party can put in a request asking for any unidentified person to be released into their care.

Numerous national and local faith and community organizations have put in written formal requests for these children.

The conviction of Kermit Gosnell on murder charges makes it clear that these babies are “persons” and must be afforded the same equal rights as anyone else under the law.

It is tragic and barbaric that government officials are playing ‘abortion politics’ with these innocent babies. These children were brutalized once by Kermit Gosnell. We are now demanding that they are not brutalized again by the City of Philadelphia.

The coalition of pro-life groups include the Christian Defense Coalition, CEC for Life, Priests for Life, Stand True, Students for Life in America, Alliance Defending Freedom, Operation Rescue, and others.

Planned Parenthood Abortion Business Has Closed 24 Clinics in 2013

Planned Parenthood offices across the nation have closed this year at a record rate, according to data compiled by Operation Rescue. At least 24 Planned Parenthood sites have closed in so far in 2013. This number includes 3 surgical abortion clinics, 3 clinics that dispensed abortion pills, and 19 offices that referred for abortions.

“Abortion numbers are down so there is less demand for Planned Parenthood. Couple that with recent scandals involving Planned Parenthood that have resulted increased disapproval of their abortion business and it’s easy to see why these clinics are closing on such a large scale,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “While Planned Parenthood officials like to portray these closings as the end of the world for women, in reality, there are plenty of other competent health care providers who are not in business to sell them abortions that stand at the ready to assist women.”

Operation Rescue documented the stated reasons for many of the closures.

In February, five clinics in New York severed ties with Planned Parenthood rather than include the practice of abortion after the national organization mandated that all affiliates provide abortions in at least one of their facilities.

In Texas, at least one Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Midland has closed due to its inability to meet new health and safety standards for abortion clinics.

Other clinic closed due to the defunding of Planned Parenthood organizations by states, general funding cuts, decline in business, and a lack of physicians willing to do abortions.

Planned Parenthood scandals have taken a public relations toll and have led to efforts to defund the abortion giant. Recently, the Planned Parenthood has been placed under investigation by the Governmental Accounting Office, which is looking into widespread allegations of financial malfeasance.

Other abuse-related problems have been exposed in recent months, including:

  • Thirty-one documented medical emergencies requiring emergency transport to hospitals from Planned Parenthood clinics since 2012.
  • Ohio Right to Life’s documentation of 42 serious complications to the abortion pill since 2011, 32 of which occurred at Ohio Planned Parenthood clinics.
  • The death of abortion patient Tonya Reaves at a Chicago Planned Parenthood clinic, which allowed to hemorrhage for 5½ hours before calling for emergency help.
  • Planned Parenthood agreed to pay $4.3 million to settle a federal civil suit charging that it fraudulently billed Medicaid for women’s health services provided by some of its Texas clinics from 2003 to 2009.
  • Planned Parenthood of Illinois settled a case of Medicaid fraud committed its medical director, abortionist Caroline Hoke, for $367,000.
  • Whistleblower suits filed by former Planned Parenthood employees remain pending in California, Texas, and Iowa that allege massive billing fraud.
  • Closure of the entire Planned Parenthood Golden Gate affiliate for financial malfeasance.
  • The widespread non-reporting of child sex abuse.
  • The webcam abortion pill scam in Iowa that has prompted Federal legislation as well as new laws banning the dangerous practice in at least 11 states. The Iowa Board of Medicine is currently revamping regulations to disallow the process.
  • The documentation by Life Dynamics, Inc. that Planned Parenthood specifically targets minority communities, especially African-Americans, for abortion.

In spite of all Planned Parenthood’s scandalous behavior, the abortion-promoting Obama Administration announced last week that it has awarded over $655,000 in taxpayer grants to three Planned Parenthood affiliates to act as “navigators,” assisting the public in subscribing to Obamacare. This has created even greater resistance to Obama’s socialized medicine program among people of faith.

“These ‘navigator’ grants are undoubtedly meant to bolster a struggling Planned Parenthood, and may slow the closures for the time being,” said Newman. “But the reality is that Planned Parenthood is only able to continue its vast abortion enterprise with the aid of tax-payer funds. Yet tax-funded abortions are something the majority of Americans adamantly oppose. An Election Day showdown on the subject is becoming more likely.”

In the meantime, the record number of Planned Parenthood office closures is encouraging to those who work to protect innocent life and end abortion, especially in light of a nationwide trend. So far in 2013, 43 surgical abortion clinics have closed around the country, compared to 24 closures in 2012.

“We will work through legal avenues to make sure this trend of abortion clinic closures continues until there are none left to inflict human misery upon vulnerable women and their children,” said Newman.

Obamacare’s Pro-Abortion HHS Mandate Will be Headed to the Supreme Court

It’s only a matter of time until the Supreme Court holds hearings on a lawsuit related to the Obamacare HHS mandate that compels religious groups and businesses to pay for birth control and abortion-causing drugs.

The mandate has been the subject of dozens of lawsuits and appeals and lower federal courts have already weighed in in many of the cases — with most of the plaintiffs winning their bids to halt the enforcement of the mandate against them.

Now, a report in The Hill says attorneys on both sides are expecting the Supreme Court to get involved.

Two federal appeals courts have come down with opposite rulings on an important question related to the policy: whether for-profit businesses and their owners have the right to challenge in court the requirement that businesses provide contraception as part of their insurance coverage.

“I think it’s likely the Supreme Court is going to end up deciding this thing, and the question is when,” said Mark Rienzi, senior counsel at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which has organized many of the 60-plus lawsuits challenging the contraception mandate.

The different rulings by the two federal appeals courts significantly increase the likelihood the mandate will end up with the Supreme Court — possibly with a ruling just two years after the justices ruled ObamaCare’s insurance mandate was constitutional.

Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union, which supports the contraception mandate, said it’s “likely” the Supreme Court could hear oral arguments in its next term, depending on the timing of appeals.

“I would anticipate, when there’s this much activity … that the court will hear one of these,” Melling said.

Alliance Defending Freedom, the group representing Conestoga and the Hahns, has vowed to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. Matt Bowman, the alliance’s legal director, said the group will file its appeal as soon as possible.

“We are hopeful that the court will take this, because whether families can exercise religion in their daily lives is an extremely important issue, and it can’t be an issue that has a different answer based on what part of the country you live in,” Bowman said in an interview.

The mandate went into effect last year on August 1 and the very minimal religious protections were set to go into effect August 1, but they will be implemented and enforcement will take place starting on January 1.

Earlier this month, a federal court granted Hobby Lobby a preliminary injunction against the HHS abortion-drug mandate. The injunction prevents the Obama administration from enforcing the mandate against the Christian company, which does not want to be compelled to pay for birth control or drugs that may cause abortions.

“The tide has turned against the HHS mandate,” said Kyle Duncan, General Counsel with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, and lead attorney for Hobby Lobby. “This is a major victory for not only Hobby Lobby, but the religious liberty of all for-profit businesses.”

Duncan says there are now 63 separate lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate. The Becket Fund led the charge against the unconstitutional HHS mandate. The Becket Fund currently represents: Hobby Lobby, Wheaton College, East Texas Baptist University, Houston Baptist University, Colorado Christian University, the Eternal Word Television Network, Ave Maria University, and Belmont Abbey College.

The most recent polling data from December 2012 shows Americans support a religious exemption to the mandate.

Obama Must Demand Christian Protection in Exchange for Foreign Aid to Egypt, Petition Urges

A petition started by the American Center for Law and Justice is urging President Barack Obama to make sure foreign aid given to Egypt comes with the condition that Christians are protected from the escalating attacks they are suffering at the hands of Muslim-Brotherhood backed Islamists.

“Seventy churches shouldn’t be burned down throughout Egypt. That’s happening because the military is not yet willing to stand in the way,” Jordan Sekulow, ACLJ executive director, said in a phone interview with The Christian Post on Tuesday.

“Words are not enough. Yes, the United States – when we speak, it’s powerful, but what also makes us powerful is the amount of funding we provide to the world and I think this is one of the opportunities we have to at least give this Muslim majority population and military, which we’ve had a pretty good relationship with, the opportunity to do the right thing.”

The U.S. government sends a substantial amount of aid to Egypt every year – close to $1.3 billion, which it says goes into stabilizing the region and helping the decades-long American ally in the Middle East.

With the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood to power, however, and with the current protests following the ousting of president Mohamed Morsi that have led to hundreds of deaths in clashes between activists and government forces, many are questioning the allocation of that aid money.

Following the deadly clashes last week that claimed over 600 lives, the U.S. condemned the actions of the interim government and said that it is halting planned military exercises with Egypt. Reports circled earlier this week claiming that the $1.3 billion annual aid to Egypt has also been cut, but National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said that such stories are “incorrect.”

Follow us

“As the president has said, we are reviewing all of our assistance to Egypt. No policy decisions have been made at this point regarding the remaining assistance,” Hayden added.

The ACLJ petition, which has already been signed by over 37,000 people, calls on Obama to comply with human rights requirements and to stand on the side of religious freedom against the Muslim Brotherhood.

“American aid must be conditioned on the protection of Christians, and it must be used to oppose our jihadist enemy, the Muslim Brotherhood,” the petition states, and lists the growing number of attacks against Christians in the North African country.

Christians pray in the Basilica of our Lady of Fatima in Cairo in Cairo August 18, 2013.
(Photo: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh)
Christians pray in the Basilica of our Lady of Fatima in Cairo in Cairo August 18, 2013.

Islamist mobs have burned down a number of churches, monasteries and Christian schools, and there have been reports of Christians who have been killed, as Islamists are turning their anger toward Egypt’s minority Coptic population for backing the protests that brought down Morsi.

Sekulow told CP that one of the main reasons Islamists are targeting Christians is because it gives them a sense of unity.

“On one hand you have the Muslim Brotherhood, who in the past has seen that targeting Christians has unified Muslims. I think that says more about the entire Muslim community than it does just the Muslim Brotherhood, and this gives Muslims that are not part of the Muslim Brotherhood an opportunity to stand up and say ‘No, this will not unite us – in fact, this will divide us.'”

He noted that the Egyptian military is one of the largest in the world, supplied substantially by the U.S., and that it has the ability to defend churches – but that would mean it would have to put its soldiers, many of them Muslims, on the line to defend Christians – something it is unlikely to do without a specific condition on the aid money.

The ACLJ executive director said that the Muslim Brotherhood’s claims that Christians are responsible for the overthrow of Morsi are “absurd.”

“Sure, they were supportive of the Muslim Brotherhood president going down. But they make up at most 10-12 percent of the Egyptian population of 84 million, they are 8 million,” Sekulow said.

“I don’t believe the Muslim Brotherhood wants to acknowledge that it was Muslims that decided they had enough of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

Egypt’s Copts found themselves in a similar situation in the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, where scores were killed in attacks by Islamists, and by government forces when they were protesting against those very same attacks.

Sekulow noted that in Egypt, Christians are not really able to defend themselves.

“When Christians fight back and defend church property, and a Muslim gets killed, then the military has shown in the last couple of years that they will roll in tanks into the Christian neighborhoods. The Muslim Brotherhood and their Islamist allies are now arming themselves and they are following a very similar plan to what the Nazis did in Europe, by labeling the homes of Christians.”

The ACLJ petition, he says, seeks to get the U.S. government to create conditions so that Egypt’s government shows that it is ready to protect churches and its minority population from the ongoing human rights abuses.

“A lot of the finances do go toward peace in the region, which historically has been a good country,” Sekulow continued.

“But we supported the overthrow of the leader who was behind that, Hosni Mubarak. It (Mubarak’s reign) wasn’t a great place for Christians, but Christian churches were not regularly being destroyed. It was a sense where the government had shut down or imprisoned the Muslim Brotherhood and made them go underground, though they stayed very much alive and organized – but they knew that if they had done something like that, then that military would crack down.”

Other human rights groups, such as Amnesty International, have also joined the call for the Egyptian government to start protecting Christians from the “unprecedented rise” in violence against them.

“It is a shocking dereliction of duty that security forces failed to prevent these sectarian attacks and protect Coptic Christians,” said Hassiba Hadja Sahraoui, deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International.

“The backlash against Coptic Christians should have been anticipated following the dramatic rise in similar incidents since Mohamed Morsi was ousted. Attacks against Coptic Christians must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.”

The petition to Obama can be found on ACLJ’s website.

New Web Site Tracks Girl Scouts’ Ties to Planned Parenthood, Abortion

The pro-life movement has been concerned for a number of years about the ties between the Girl Scouts and the Planned Parenthood abortion business. Now, another web site has been launched to track the Girl Scouts’ ties to the abortion agenda.

Those ties prompted the launch of MyGirlScoutCouncil.com, that documents specific concerns on a council-by-council basis with a comprehensive approach.

Although the Girl Scout organization maintains that it takes “no position” on the issue of abortion, parents, churches, and pro-life activists have long complained of the pro-abortion slant of the Girl Scouts’ resources, role models, and affiliations. The new parent-driven website is the creation of Ann Saladin, who was a featured presenter on this topic at the June 2013 National Right to Life Convention.

Saladin pulled her own daughter, a 4th generation Girl Scout, out of her parish troop after discovering financial and ideological links between the Girl Scouts and organizations and individuals who advocate for reproductive rights.

“I wish a resource like this had been available when I was first contemplating my own daughter’s Girl Scout membership,” Saladin explained to LifeNews. “I had no idea that her membership, and the financial contributions solicited through her council, were supporting the international scouting organization, WAGGGS, which aggressively pushes for sexual and reproductive health and rights for girls around the world while representing its 10 million members.”

Saladin hopes the website will spur greater accountability and transparency by Girl Scouts USA.

“Parents have a right to know where their money goes and what messages the Girl Scouts are sending to, and on behalf of, their daughters,” she says.

Pam Fichter, president of Missouri Right to Life, which recently released their own policy statement of concern about the Girl Scouts, welcomes this new resource.

“We have found that providing specific, documented examples of the numerous pro-life concerns about the Girl Scouts to be an effective means to inform our local community. MyGirlScoutCouncil.com highlights current and verifiable pro-life concerns that apply directly to families and communities across the country,” she told LifeNews.

MyGirlScoutCouncil.com provides a valuable tool for parents, clergy, and pro-lifers by meticulously documenting how local councils specifically connect girl members throughout the United States to concerning activities, resources, funding, and affiliations.

The web site documents the Girl Scouts’ involvement in the May, 2013 Women Deliver Conference, an international event that included “safe and legal abortion” among its overarching themes. It documents its role in the planning and facilitating of the December, 2012 Bali Global Youth Forum and the outcome declaration, which demands youth access to abortion.

It notes how GSUSA’s Journey curriculum series promotes women (Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, and Dolores Huerta among others) and organizations (such as WAGGGS, Amnesty International, Population Council, and the ACLU) that publically advocate for abortion. Every local council uses and sells the Journeys series to their girl members.

The web site also chronicles how local councils honor women politicians and activists who advocate for abortion rights, and promote additional concerning organizations and content to girl members.

President of PA Pastors’ Network Urging Pastors in PA and Nationwide to Speak Out Against Tyranny of HHS Mandate

Sam Rohrer States: First Amendment Rights of Bible-Believing Christians Utterly Disregarded–Why Not Respect Christians’ Beliefs?

Aug 20, 2013

PHILADELPHIA – Sam Rohrer, president of the Pennsylvania Pastor’s Network (PPN,http://www.papastors.net ), is urging pastors to be bold and courageous and to speak out against the tyranny of President Obama’s administration. The looming employer mandate that the Health and Human Services Department has issued across the board to corporations, ignores the religious beliefs of millions of Americans who claim to be Christians and hold fast to the tenets of the Bible. These millions believe that abortion, or anything that supports or makes abortion easier, is forbidden. The mandate causes grave concern for many faith-based employers and Rohrer is calling on the Church to step up and actively oppose what the government is trying to impose.

Rohrer reminds pastors, “In I Kings 18, King Ahab accused Elijah the Prophet of being the source of trouble for Israel. Elijah boldly confronted the King with the Truth when he declared that it was not him or God that was the problem, rather it was the wickedness and the evil of the King and his administration that was troubling the nation. So it is today when the Obama administration seeks to advance laws that directly attack the commands of God and then attacks those who oppose these laws. The HHS mandate that forces all employer-based insurance plans, including religious businesses and universities, charities, and non-profits, to provide abortion-inducing drug coverage in their group health insurance plans, regardless of their own religious convictions on the issue of the sanctity of human life is one such egregious law that not only fits the definition of tyranny but demands a response from those who trust in God and believe that no man or government can usurp the moral Law of God.” 

Rohrer continues, “There are a lot of issues in policy-making that can be classified as gray areas, where people can simply disagree about what is best or right for themselves and each other. The sanctity of life is not one of them. Life is from God the Creator. It is a gift and a leading purpose of government is to protect life – all life. When any government rejects their God-given duty and uses their power to take life, they have crossed the line. When they use their power to force Christians and others to violate God’s commands this is tyranny and must be opposed. By forcing what Christians believe to be an evil on all Christians who fear God and hold to a Biblical worldview, and especially to Christian employers, by trying to force them to provide something that violates God’s commands and their very conscience, President Obama is guilty of calling ‘evil good, and good evil.’ The fact that few people in the mainstream media or this administration seem to care about the severity of this issue in the mind and heart of Christians with Biblical worldviews is creating trouble in our land. They may as well be telling us to kill a full-grown adult – that would be unthinkable to anyone and that is how offensive abortion is to us. To be coerced to violate God’s law and our Constitutionally-guaranteed First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution cannot be taken lightly.”

Rohrer urges pastors to not shy away from this issue. “The insurgence of tyranny and the stripping away of our religious freedoms and rights in this country is not going to stop unless Christians, and in particular, pastors, stand up and start demanding moral duty to God and Constitutional accountability from our Congressional leaders. Too many of us have been sitting back and quietly watching the steady encroachment of tyrannical evil upon us, and then we wonder why our culture is unraveling at the seams. It’s unraveling because those who call themselves Bible-believing pastors are not leading with boldness and courage on these issues.”

A growing number of activists and policy-makers are joining forces in an attempt to defund President Obama’s signature law, Obamacare, which would force taxpayers to fund abortion coverage across the board. However, even if those efforts are successful, the HHS mandate would not be affected because it is part of an executive order administered under the department of Health and Human Services, and is not a direct part of Obamacare.

The Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network is a group of biblically faithful clergy and church liaisons whose objective is to build a permanent infrastructure of like-minded clergy who affirm the authority of Scripture, take seriously Jesus’ command to be the “salt and light” to the culture, encourage informed Christian thinking about contemporary social issues; examine public policy issues without politicizing their pulpits and engage their congregations in taking part in our political process on a non-partisan basis.

The Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network website continues to offer a wealth of resources to pastors to help them equip their congregations to live a Christian life, from sermon notes to corporate prayers for our nation, to resources for laypeople, covering everything from preparation to finances.

The Pennsylvania Pastors’ Network is a state chapter affiliate of the American Pastors’ Network. The American Pastors’ Network is a Ministry Program Affiliate of Capstone Legacy Foundation (a 501 C3 non-profit organization). To contact them visit.http://www.papastors.net or call 610-584.1225.

Ahead of Supreme Court Case, Obama Admin Backs Christian Prayers at NY Town's Meetings

In an upcoming Supreme Court case, the Obama administration is supporting the right of a municipal government to begin their meetings in prayer, even if most of those prayers are specifically Christian.

In Town of Greece vs. Galloway, which the Court will hear in its next term, a small New York town, Town of Greece, was sued by residents for beginning their town council meeting in prayer, arguing that the prayers violated the Constitutional requirement that government may not respect an establishment of religion. A district court sided with Town of Greece, which the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit later overturned.

In an Amicus brief filed this week, the Department of Justice backed Town of Greece in the dispute, arguing that it is that the government does not have the authority to regulate the content of the prayers.

The Supreme Court has previously upheld, the brief notes, prayers at legislative sessions. The Justice Department points out that as far back as the Continental Congress in 1774, chaplains have opened legislative sessions in prayer. The practice continues today in Congress and other legislative bodies across the country.

The Second Circuit declared the Town of Greece prayers unconstitutional, though, because they were mostly Christian prayers, making specific references to Jesus or the Trinity. This type of prayer is not allowed, it argued, because the Supreme Court has said that such government sponsored prayers may not advance a single religious sect.

The Justice Department’s brief argues that the appeals court decision was wrong because it requires the government to police the content of prayers.

“The unbroken history of the offering of prayer in Congress, for example, has included a large majority of Christian prayer-givers and a substantial number of prayers with identifiably sectarian references,” the brief states. “Neither federal courts nor legislative bodies are well suited to police the content of such prayers, and this Court has consistently disapproved of government interference in dictating the substance of prayers.”

Abortion Clinic Offering $50 Off Sunday Abortions Now Offers $100 Off

The Orlando, Florida abortion clinic that made national headlines for giving away coupons to poor women in a crisis pregnancy so they can save money on their abortions is taking its scheme even further.

The Orlando Women’s Clinic became the subject of criticism for offering a coupon for saving $50 on abortions on “Sundays only.” Now, the abortion business has posted a video advertisement on YouTube with a coupon for $100 off of abortions.

At its YouTube video page, the abortion business explains more about the new coupon and defends it.

“There are those that say that the Women’s Center are offering women of low income a coupon to have their abortion procedure performed. There are others that say we are targeting the poor and the vulnerable by offering our $100.00 off abortion clinic coupon in the State of Florida. First and foremost, any out of State woman is able to use our coupon. The $100.00 off abortion clinic coupon is not just available to the poor or indigent. It is available to all women who wish to use our services for first trimester abortions performed either surgically or by the Abortion Pill process. Our Abortion Pill Procedures are performed from 3 to 24 weeks gestation and are completed in 24 hours or less. Please read about the second trimester or late term abortion completed in 24 hours or less by going to http://womenscenter.com/medical_abort…

Please call and ask questions and schedule your appointment today. Please bring in your $100.00 off Abortion Clinic Coupon at the time of your appointment to receive the discount.”

The abortion clinic is owned and operated by James Scott Pendergraft, who has a long history of botching abortions and violating the law and his clinic reopened this summer after police initially raided it and shut it down.

Pendergraft was hit with a massive In 2011, Pendergraft was hit with a whopping civil medical malpractice judgment of $36,737,660.16 in compensatory and punitive damages in a case involving a botched 20 week abortion that resulted in the live birth of a child physically damaged by Pendergraft’s incompetent abortion process amid what was described as “third world conditions” with virtually no counseling. He has refused to pay the judgment.

In April, the Florida Board of Medicine took action to suspend the medical license of the late-term abortionist after he failed to pay the Board fines from a previous disciplinary action that totaled over $120,000.

The settlement agreement reached between the Board and Pendergraft orders that his medical license “shall be indefinitely suspended until such time as [Pendergraft] complies” with the order to pay his fines.

This is the fifth time that Pendergraft’s medical license has been suspended by the Florida Board of Medicine. He continues to operate five abortion clinics in Florida, primarily in the Orlando area.

The fines resulted from a 2010 case where Pendergraft was heavily fined and placed on suspension related to a 2006 botched elective 19-week abortion.

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

Patient S.B went to Pendergraft for the second trimester abortion on Feb. 3, 2006. He prescribed doses of Cytotec, a drug that is known to cause severe and unpredictable uterine contractions and sent her home for three days to take the medication on her own. Pendergraft did not have a valid DEA number at the time.

When S.B. returned to the clinic, he further illegally administered doses of Cytotec, Demerol, and Phenergan. He attempted the abortion before the patient was adequately dilated, lacerating her cervix and sending her to the hospital where she underwent an emergency hysterectomy.

At the hospital, staff delivered the remains of S.B.’s baby and found that it was missing a lower limb. Efforts were made to locate the limb in the abdominal cavity to no avail. There were no indications on the patient’s chart. Later, it was discovered that the limb had been removed at the clinic. This lack of documentation caused issues in providing the patient with proper emergency care.

Pendergraft was suspended and ordered to pay fines in excess of $122,000. Pendergraft failed to pay, resulting in another disciplinary case attempting to seek payment.