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The day after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the February 2012 fatal shooting of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Fla., President Barack Obama on Sunday urged “calm reflection” and efforts to curb gun violence.

“I know this case has elicited strong passions. And in the wake of the verdict, I know those passions may be running even higher,” Obama said in a statement on Sunday.

On Saturday night, a jury of six women acquitted neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman of second-degree murder and manslaughter. In February 2012, Zimmerman, whose parents are white and Hispanic, shot 17-year-old Martin. Many believed the killing was racially motivated, but Zimmerman said the shooting was in self-defense.

After the shooting, Obama said, “If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon Martin.”

“The death of Trayvon Martin was a tragedy. Not just for his family, or for any one community, but for America,” Obama said Sunday. “But we are a nation of laws, and a jury has spoken. I now ask every American to respect the call for calm reflection from two parents who lost their young son.”

The president went on to say that the nation should think “if we’re doing all we can to widen the circle of compassion and understanding in our own communities.”

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“We should ask ourselves if we’re doing all we can to stem the tide of gun violence that claims too many lives across this country on a daily basis. We should ask ourselves, as individuals and as a society, how we can prevent future tragedies like this. As citizens, that’s a job for all of us. That’s the way to honor Trayvon Martin,” Obama said.

However, some Republicans blamed Obama for politicizing the case.

“The evidence didn’t support prosecution, and the Justice Department engaged in this, the president engaged in this and turned it into a political issue that should have been handled exclusively with law-and-order,” Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) said on “Fox News Sunday.”

In the same show, Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.), who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said the case was an “American tragedy.” “No matter where you stand, this was a tragedy,” he said. “What we need to do is come together as a nation of laws, of courts and of civil rights.”

The Justice Department also issued a statement on the verdict, saying its Criminal Section of the Civil Rights Division, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the FBI continue to evaluate the evidence generated during the federal investigation, as well as the evidence and testimony from the state trial.

“Experienced federal prosecutors will determine whether the evidence reveals a prosecutable violation of any of the limited federal criminal civil rights statutes within our jurisdiction, and whether federal prosecution is appropriate in accordance with the Department’s policy governing successive federal prosecution following a state trial,” the statement said.

Many churches and Christians responded to Martin’s death last year by going to church wearing hooded sweatshirts, showing solidarity with Martin, who wore one when he was killed.

On Sunday, a group of churches from Florida’s Seminole County called Sanford Pastors Connecting announced noon prayers on Monday in response to the verdict, according to USA Today.

“Our call is to pray for our community for the long-term unity, peace and strength of relationships,” the Rev. Charlie Holt of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Lake Mary, Fla., was quoted as saying. “Our churches welcome any and all to come and offer prayer to the Lord for ourselves, for all involved and for our community.”

As Texas moves a bill forward that would ban late-term abortions and could put some abortion facilities out of business that can’t follow basic health and safety laws, abortion activists are lamenting how states are passing so many pro-life laws.

A pro-abortion group that is a former Planned Parenthood affiliate and still receives funding for the abortion business, says the number of laws approved this year by state legislatures is ahead of 2012 and could break the record number of pro-life laws set in 2011.

From the Washington Times:

In a report released Monday, the Guttmacher Institute said that states’ efforts to restrict abortion — including clinic regulations — were on pace to exceed those enacted in 2012. The institute also reported that there were nearly 3,000 U.S. abortion providers in the early 1990s and fewer than 1,800 providers since 2008.

Abortion rights supporters say regulations, many passed in states where Republicans dominate the legislatures, are not-too-subtle efforts to drive clinics out of business and deny women their rights to abortion, even while allowing abortion to remain nominally legal on the books. Techniques include raising treatment standards clinics must meet, blocking relationships with public hospitals and banning online technology that enables abortion doctors to treat patients in remote locations.

“Extremist politicians” made “a blatant attempt to shutter the Red River Women’s Clinic, the sole abortion provider in North Dakota, with a law that would require the clinic’s doctors to unnecessarily have admitting privileges at a local hospital,” said the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is planning to block the law in state court this summer. Pro-choice activists call these measures targeted restriction of abortion providers (TRAP) laws.

Pro-life groups counter that in the wake of the May murder conviction of abortionist Kermit Gosnell — his inner-city Philadelphia “house of horrors” clinic operated for years under lax state rules and oversight — it is imperative that state officials step up their oversight of the abortion industry and leading practitioners such as Planned Parenthood.
“The taxpayer-funded abortion Goliath, Planned Parenthood, is trying to take over with its extreme agenda that is out of touch with Texas — and American — values. We are in Austin to tell them the eyes of Texas, and America, are upon you. You won’t get away with subverting the democratic process to protect Gosnells in Texas — or anywhere,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said Monday.

Every U.S. state still has at least one abortion provider, according to the Guttmacher Institute, but in 87 percent of U.S. counties, there are no doctors, hospitals or clinics that offer abortion services. Lone clinics in Mississippi and North Dakota are fighting to survive TRAP laws, pro-choice advocates say.

The Guttmacher Institute reports that 83 pro-life laws were passed in 2011, than double the previous record of 34, enacted in 2005, and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010.

YouVersion Bible App hit the 100 million downloads mark Sunday evening. The ministry organization released a series of infographics to help commemorate the milestone.

The free Bible App was among the first 200 apps available on iTunes. Today, there are over 900,000 available on iTunes, which celebrates its five-year anniversary on Wednesday. For three consecutive years, Apple has ranked the Bible App among the top 100 free apps. Currently, it’s available for virtually every mobile device. Pastor Bobby Gruenewald of LifeChurch.tv in Oklahoma, the pastor, who came up with the idea of using technology to make the Bible more accessible on smart phones and tablets, said he hopes the app will surpass the popularity of those rated the highest in the field today.

“We’re excited to see the Bible rising in the ranks, because it means God’s Word is becoming more widely known,” Gruenewald told The Christian Post on Monday. “One day we hope it would far exceed the popularity of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

The ministry organization released a series of infographics to help commemorate the milestone that can be seen by clicking here.

The Obama administration announced on Thursday that it is giving businesses an extra year to provide the required health insurance coverage to their full-time employees without risk of incurring tax penalties.

“During this 2014 transition period, we strongly encourage employers to maintain or expand health coverage,” the Treasury Department blogged.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, noted that the Obama administration is delaying the “job-killing requirement” for businesses, but not for individuals and families, who are required by law to purchase health insurance in 2014, either through their employers or on the new health care exchanges. Individuals who go without health insurance will face tax penalties, dubbed “shared responsibility payments” by the Obama administration.

“While a delay of this mandate is welcome news since it shows the challenges the employers are facing complying with it, a delay — conveniently past the 2014 election — only adds to the uncertainty these job creators face because of ObamaCare,” Hatch said.

“And I certainly hope this action isn’t a back door attempt at getting more Americans into the exchanges, which have been plagued by problems.”

Hatch said the only “reasonable recourse” is to fully repeal the law.

“This delay, on top of the skyrocketing cost of insurance premiums, significant challenges with the exchanges and taxes administered by a scandal-plagued IRS demonstrate why this law is more unpopular with the American people than the day the president signed it into law.”

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, employers with 50 or more full-time employees are required to provide health insurance for them, beginning in 2014, or face a massive tax penalty. The requirement, which caused many employers to keep their full-time staffs below 50, will now take effect in 2015.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Obamacare already is raising costs and costing jobs:

“This announcement means even the Obama administration knows the ‘train wreck’ will only get worse. I hope the administration recognizes the need to release American families from the mandates of this law as well. This is a clear acknowledgment that the law is unworkable, and it underscores the need to repeal the law and replace it with effective, patient-centered reforms.”

Rep. John Kline (R-Minn.), chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, said the employer mandate will destroy jobs, regardless of when it’s implemented.

“If anything, this decision exacerbates the confusion and uncertainty employers face, and serves as further confirmation this flawed law is a ‘train wreck.’ In fact, jobs are already being lost and workers’ hours slashed because of the president’s health care law. No amount of bureaucratic tinkering can ease the pain ObamaCare is inflicting on our nation’s workplaces. America’s workers, families, and job creators deserve permanent relief from ObamaCare, not a one year reprieve.

Mark J. Mazur, the assistant treasury secretary for tax policy, said the administration — in announcing the year-long delay for businesses — is responding to “concerns about the complexity” of Obamacare’s requirements and “the need for more time to implement them effectively.”

“We have listened to your feedback. And we are taking action,” Mazur blogged. He said the delay “will allow us to consider ways to simplify the new reporting requirements consistent with the law, and it will “provide time to adapt health coverage and reporting systems while employers are moving toward making health coverage affordable and accessible for their employees.”

The administration plan to publish “formal guidance” describing the change Within the next week. “Just like the Administration’s effort to turn the initial 21-page application for health insurance into a three-page application, we are working hard to adapt and to be flexible about reporting requirements as we implement the law.”

In a June 2013 report, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged that major elements of Obamacare “be rolled out in a more incremental way.”

“Without a more modest transition, the goals of the law will be undercut. By phasing in certain insurance reform requirements, the impending significant rate increases that will otherwise begin in 2014 can be mitigated. However, without such a phase-in, new insurance rating requirements will substantially increase health insurance premiums in 2014 and significantly disrupt access to coverage and care for millions of employees and individuals.”

The New Yorker magazine has revealed the controversial cover of its upcoming issue on two groundbreaking rulings favoring same-sex marriage made by the Supreme Court this week. The cover image is controversial because it portrays an intimate moment between popular “Sesame Street” characters Bert and Ernie, who have been dogged for years with suggestions that the two male puppets were much more than just roommates and buddies.

In a post on its website Friday, The New Yorker shared the July 8 & 15, 2013, cover image with a headline reading “Cover Story: Bert and Ernie’s ‘Moment of Joy.” The venerable NYC publication explained that the unsolicited artwork was submitted to a Tumblr account by Jack Hunter.

“It’s amazing to witness how attitudes on gay rights have evolved in my lifetime,” The New Yorker quoted Hunter as saying. “This is great for our kids, a moment we can all celebrate.”

Tim Wildmon, president of the conservative American Family Association, wholeheartedly disagrees.

“It is beneath contempt for a magazine of The New Yorker’s stature to use Bert and Ernie, characters from a children’s program, to celebrate behavior which is immoral, unnatural and unhealthy,” Wildmon said in a statement emailed Friday to The Christian Post.

Wildmon called Hunter “dead wrong” for saying the Supreme Court marriage rulings “great for our kids” and “a moment we can all celebrate.”

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“This is a tragic day for kids who will wind up in same-sex households,” added the AFA president, who went on to reference a controversial and highly-criticized study by Mark Regnerus, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, that looked at the lives of adults raised by gay and lesbian parents.

Wildmon added, “The Bible has had it right from the beginning: marriage is between a man and a woman, and it’s the optimal nurturing environment for children. The New Yorker magazine ought to be ashamed of itself.”

Among the handful of comments in response to The New Yorker’s “Moment of Joy” cover was a suggestion that the publication made an “inappropriate” decision by choosing to use Hunter’s Bert and Ernie image.

“Why is this inappropriate? Because CTW (the Children’s Television Workshop) has taken the effort to comment that Bert and Ernie, although quite eloquent, are muppets. They have no gender and are thus not gay,” the commenter wrote. “So much for an intellectual approach from The New Yorker.”

The comment was rebuffed, however, by another reader who suggested that one simply had to consider the popular puppets’ “gender” to get the point.

Another visitor to The New Yorker’s website, put off by the “troll fest” the image was attracting in the comments section, remarked, “The sexuality of Bert and Ernie has been a punchline for decades, in case you haven’t been paying attention, and what the cover does, in a masterful way, is reference that in the context of a historic ruling by the Supreme Court. End of story. Everything else is bluster and bombast.”

In 2011, when an online petition called for Bert and Ernie to get married to help teach children about “the tolerance of those that are different,” Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit educational organization that produces “Sesame Street,” attempted to set the record straight on the puppet’s sexuality.

“Bert and Ernie are best friends. They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves,” Sesame Workshop said at the time in a statement shared with The Christian Post. “Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets™ do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”

The Christian Post’s request to the Sesame Workshop for a comment on The New Yorker cover image was not met by press time. The popular children’s television program has been broadcast for more than 40 years.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court justices voted 5-4 twice in two cases touching on the institution of marriage, with the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 amendment directly affected.

With regard to the Defense of Marriage Act (United States v. Windsor), signed into law in 1996 by then-President Bill Clinton, the justices found it unconstitutional for marriage to be defined in heterosexual terms when dealing with federal laws and programs. California’s Proposition 8 voter-approved amendment defining marriage in traditional terms was suspended after a 2010 ruling by a lower court found the law unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s refusal this week to rule on a challenge to the case (Hollingsworth v. Perry) effectively leaves the lower court’s decision in place, and leaves room for California to resume performing same-sex marriages.