PYONGYANG, North Korea — Speaking to reporters at a press conference in Pyongyang on Monday, an American missionary sentenced to 15 years hard labor in North Korea pleaded for U.S. intervention to secure his release. “I would like to plead with the U.S. government, press and my family to stop worsening my situation by making […]
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A public school Bible distribution went forward in Florida on Thursday despite a lawsuit against the district for prohibiting the distribution of certain atheist publications last year, while allowing religious materials to go uncensored. The Florida Family Policy Council, World Changers of Florida and several area churches collaborated for the effort, […]
HOUSTON – A young evolutionist activist is demanding that Texas lawmakers defund charter schools which teach weaknesses in evolutionary theory and mention biblical creation. Zack Kopplin is a 20-year-old political activist who believes evolution should be the only scientific theory taught in government-funded schools. Originally a Louisiana resident, Kopplin supported a failed effort to repeal […]
DENVER — A Republican representative in Colorado has introduced a bill that would make abortion a class 3 felony in the state. Rep. Steve Humphrey introduced House Bill 1133 on Thursday, a proposal similar to a measure he penned last year. The bill defines life as beginning at conception, and thus bars abortion for any […]
MESA, Ariz. — A school board in Arizona has voted unanimously to reinstate prayers at public meetings after voting just two months ago to replace the invocations with a moment of silence. The five-member Mesa school board agreed without dissent to invite clergy from all religions to participate in a new pre-meeting program, according to […]
GREENVILLE, S.C. — A leader of a South Carolina atheist organization has discontinued her online offer to attend the church of the highest bidder after the popular auction site eBay repeatedly removed her ad—and then apologized for the mistake. As previously reported, Eve Brannon, the president of Upstate Atheists, posted the offer on Ebay earlier this month in […]
TULSA — An Illinois man who plotted to bomb dozens of churches in Oklahoma two years ago has been found not guilty in federal court by reason of insanity. As previously reported, in October 2012, then 24-year-old Gregory Weiler II of Oak Village, Illinois was reported to police after staff at a motel in Miami, […]
STANFORD, Conn. — A retired United Methodist minister and former Yale Divinity School Dean is set to face a church trial in March for officiating his son’s same-sex “wedding” in 2012. Thomas Ogletree, 80, will stand trial on March 12 at First United Methodist Church of Stanford following complaints filed by fellow clergy who accuse […]
FLORENCE, Colo. — A California-based Christian legal organization has proposed a new policy to Colorado school district officials in an effort to sufficiently protect girls in one school district who state that they feel uncomfortable with a boy that has been using their restroom. As previously reported, according to the Sacrament0-based Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), […]
GREENSBORO, N.C. — A federal judge appointed by Barack Obama has struck down North Carolina’s ultrasound law as unconstitutional and potentially harmful to pregnant women. U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagle issued her opinion on Friday, asserting that the regulation was “an impermissible attempt to compel [abortion] providers to deliver the state’s message in favor of […]