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Twitter is locking the accounts of users who display the Star of David in their profile image or header, deeming it "hateful imagery." The London-based nonprofit Campaign Against Antisemitism said several Twitter users have contacted them recently to report that their accounts had been locked because various images of the Star of David violated the social media platform's "rules against posting hateful imagery," the Jerusalem Post reported. "You may not use hateful images or symbols in your profile image or profile header. As a result, we have locked your account," Twitter wrote to the users. The Post reported the offending...

Imagine you’re the president of a European country. You’re slated to take in 50,000 refugees from the Middle East this year. Most of them are very religious, while most of your population is very secular. You want to integrate the newcomers seamlessly, minimizing the risk of economic malaise or violence, but you have limited resources ... What do you do? Well, you make your best guess and hope the policy you chose works out. But it might not. ... You can, however, experiment like that with virtual people. And that’s exactly what the Modeling Religion Project does. An international team...

‘It is about Xi as the leader of the world’: Former detainees recount abuse in Chinese re-education centres Authorities in China’s far western Xinjiang province have made loyalty to President Xi Jinping a central part of an extensive political re-education campaign that requires detainees to swear allegiance to the Communist Party while forswearing a Muslim faith that they are told to repeat is “stupid.”Large numbers – researchers estimate the total in the hundreds of thousands – of people have been placed in Chinese facilities known as re-education centres, where they are forcibly indoctrinated. Many of those detained are Muslim Uyghurs...

A gay veterans group said Wednesday it has been denied permission to march in this year’s Boston St. Patrick’s Day parade just two years after organizers made the groundbreaking decision to allow gay groups to participate for the first time. OutVets, which marched in Boston’s 2015 St. Patrick’s Day parade after decades of resistance from organizers, said on its Facebook page that the reason for the denial to this year’s parade is unclear, but “one can only assume it’s because we are LGBTQ.”

At the March 29th rally in Janesville Wisconsin, outlined several ideas one of which was do away with 501C3 status of churches which he says contributed to the pulpit being silenced in the political world and infringe upon free speech.

Pyror Moore II-compressedCHARLESTON, S.C. — During Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate in South Carolina, Donald Trump said that if he were to nominate a judge to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, he would consider Diane Sykes or Bill Pryor, the latter of which prosecuted “Ten Commandments Judge” Roy Moore.

Police have identified the gunman who killed 10 people at an Umpqua Community College in Oregon on Thursday as Chris Harper-Mercer. […] An online dating profile, linked to Harper-Mercer’s e-mail address and featuring another photo of him, says the 26-year-old was living with his parents and searching for the “yin to my yang.” It identifies his views as “conservative, republican,” and lists “organized religion” as one of his “dislikes.” According to a student at Umpqua, Mercer demanded to know his victims’ religions before killing them. The MySpace page features a photo of Harper-Mercer holding a gun and smiling into the...

Barronelle Stutzman, owner of Arlene's Flowers, poses for a photo outside of her Richland, Washington, floral shop. Putting florist, grandmother and devout Southern Baptist Barronelle Stutzman out of business was not enough for some Washington state officials. She could lose her home and life savings as well after a Washington superior court judge ruled that she violated the state's anti-discrimination law because she declined to provide flowers for a same-sex couple's wedding due to her religious convictions.After Benton County Superior Court Judge ruled on Wednesday that Stutzman violated the law when she refused to provide floral arrangements for the wedding...

Powerful gods and demi-gods impregnating human women—it’s a common theme in the history of religion, and it’s more than a little rapey. Zeus comes to Danae in the form of a golden shower, cutting “the knot of intact virginity” and leaving her pregnant with the Greek hero, Perseus. Jupiter forcibly overcomes Europa by transforming himself into a white bull and abducting her. He imprisons her on the Isle of Crete, over time fathering three children. Pan copulates with a shepherdess to produce Hermes. The legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus are conceived when the Roman god Mars impregnates Rea...

Last May, one of the most influential conservative and religious intellectual leader in America gave a somber speech in Washington, declaring it to be “Good Friday in America for Christians.” In this exclusive two part video interview, Princeton’s Robert P. George admitted, “that was a hard speech to give.” “Christians, and those rejecting the me-generation liberal dogma of ‘if it feels good do it,’ are no longer tolerable by the intellectual and cultural elite,” says George, 59, director of the James Madison program at Princeton University. Citing the political witch hunt....

ORLANDO – A federal judge has given a secular organization the green light to distribute more atheistic and anti-Christian materials to Florida public school students, in spite of the materials’ graphic content and offensive language. As previously reported, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) learned last year that a Christian ministry had made Bibles available to Orlando high school students on “Religious Freedom Day.” To counter the Bible distribution, FFRF sought permission from the school district to give students a variety of atheistic and anti-Christian materials. According to reports, the Orange County School Board permitted FFRF to distribute several books...

The owner of a bakery in Lakewood said he will no longer sell wedding cakes after the Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled he did discriminate against a gay couple when he refused to sell them a cake. "We would close down the bakery before we would complicate our beliefs," Phillips said after the hearing, according to CBS Denver. Phillips also admitted he had refused service to other same-sex couples. The commission also ordered the baker to submit quarterly reports about the customers he refuses to serve and retrain employees to serve everyone.

Christians are less likely than atheists to be promoted to top jobs, official figures show. Nearly a quarter of people with no religious belief live in homes headed by someone with a senior executive position or a job in one of the professions. However, well under a fifth of Christians work in the best-paid and most influential jobs or are married to someone who does. … Barrister Andrea Minichiello Williams, a member of the Church of England’s General Synod, said: “If you hold views that are contrary to the prevailing orthodoxy, you are seen as potential trouble. This is a...

Over the last two months, hundreds of protesters have walked out of North Carolina’s capitol in handcuffs to show their opposition to policies by the GOP-controlled Legislature. While a broader coalition of supporters is building around the “Moral Mondays” started by the state chapter of the NAACP, the inspiration behind the protests is a throwback to the biblical message of civil rights leaders fighting segregation in the Jim Crow era. They argue that cutting benefit programs and cutting tax breaks for low- and middle-income families violates Jesus Christ’s teaching to care for those with the least. It’s running into another...

The archbishop of Washington says that while the church is welcoming of everyone, including gay people, he fears the possibility of the church’s position that marriage is only for a man and a woman will be seen as bigotry or hate speech. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, appearing on Fox News Sunday, said the church can be welcoming of gay people who are legally married without recognizing those marriages within the church itself. …

Erica Loberg doesn’t come right out and say it, but the author of “Inside the Insane” believes that those of us who are very religious – or “hyper religious,” as she describes us – are mentally ill. “Are there are lot of hyper religio(us) people walking around with schizophrenia or hypo mania and not even know it?,” she asks. “Can religion be a springboard to help discover a mental illness?” Loberg doesn’t answer her own questions, but it’s pretty obvious what she thinks: Religiosity is a marker for mental illness, if not insanity. When I checked Loberg’s biography, I discovred...

Six years ago, about 300 Amish bishops gathered in Pennsylvania to discuss the group's leader, Sam Mullet Sr., who had ordered the shunning of families that left his settlement near the West Virginia panhandle. Mullet had come to the attention of the bishops because, according to witnesses at his trial, there were concerns he was brainwashing community members. Prosecutors would later say he forced men to sleep in chicken coops as punishment, and one woman testified that Mullet coerced women at his settlement into having sex with him so he could turn them into better wives. The bishops eventually vetoed...

A law to allow same-sex marriages will force Christians to conduct gay weddings in church, it was claimed yesterday. An analysis of equality law by Church of England lawyers suggests assurances from David Cameron and his ministers that no church will be compelled to provide such ceremonies are worthless. Ministers have repeatedly said since the plan for same-sex marriage was announced five months ago that it would apply in civil law only and that gay wedding ceremonies would not be imposed on churches. But lawyers working at the CofE’s Church House headquarters have said equality laws will mean churches have...

The federal government will no longer forgive student loans in exchange for public service if that service is related to religion, according to a new Education Department rule from the Obama administration. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program announced the change Jan. 31 with little fanfare, while most of Washington was focused on the new ObamaCare rule requiring religious organizations to provide free birth control through health insurance. “Generally, the type or nature of employment with the organization does not matter for PSLF purposes,” reads the new language. “However, if you work for a nonprofit organization, your employment will...

  Politically Correct Carols And Thoughts on “Happy Holidays” David C. Stolinsky Dec. 22, 2011 http://texasscribbler.com/images/Say-No-Christmas_Tree2.jpg No Christmas Tree Colleges order Christmas trees removed after a few students complain of feeling “excluded.” O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree Though pretty are your leaves, O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree Your presence here me grieves. You make me feel excluded Though I'm quite deluded, O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree You'll wind up in a Dumpster. O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree Your boughs are always green, O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree You irritate the dean. Atheists will all...