Undercover Homosexual Methodist 'Pastors' Exposed

More than a hundred male and female American leaders in the United Methodist Church joined together this week to formally admit they've been falsely serving in local churches by concealing their claims to deviant sexuality.  Their announcement comes as the UMC quadrennial global General Conference begins in Portland, Oregon where these renegades will attempt to force their personal predilections upon the world-wide traditionally Christian denomination that believes homosexual behavior is incompatible with church teaching.

". . . this public relations campaign is designed to overwhelm our denomination’s infrastructure until traditionalists abandon their theological moorings."
-- Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Vice President and General Manager of Good News (representing UMC Christians who hold to Scriptural Authority)

For background, read how renegade UMC leaders recommend taking over the denomination by force.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

New York Methodist Bishop Allows Same-sex Marriages

UMC Bishop Talbert Breaks UMC Covenant via 'Gay Marriage'

Renegade Methodist Clergy for Same-sex 'Marriage'

Methodists Ignore Own Rules re: Lesbian Pastor

African Methodists' Votes Halt Homosexualists' Rebellion

Also read Methodist Seminaries Train Pluralistic Clergy

And read Methodists Wonder Why Members Leave in Droves



-- From "Defying church ban, dozens of Methodist clergy come out as gay and lesbian" by Daniel Burke, CNN Religion Editor 5/9/16

Dozens of United Methodist clergy members came out as lesbian, gay or bisexual on Monday, defying their church's ban on "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" serving in ministry and essentially daring their supervisors to discipline them.

In a public letter posted online, 111 pastors, deacons, elders and candidates for ministry said church rules require "that we not bring our full selves to ministry, that we hide from view our sexual orientations and gender identities."

A spokesman for Reconciling Ministries Network, [a renegade UMC] LGBT advocacy group that organized the letter, said that about 80% of the 111 signatories are coming out to their supervisors for the first time. In addition to gay and lesbian clergy, the letter was also signed by intersex and transgender pastors, who are not technically excluded from ministry.

Monday's missive follows a similar letter issued by 15 Methodist ministers in New York, who also openly acknowledged that they are gay or lesbian.

A council of African bishops issued a statement last September urging Methodists to "submit to the teachings of Scripture that God designed marriage to be between man and woman."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "As United Methodists meet, 111 clergy come out as gay, defy church ban" by Greg Garrison, The Birmingham News 5/11/16

The United Methodist Church, the nation's second-largest Protestant denomination with 7.4 million members [in the U.S.], has debated homosexuality at its General Conference every four years for four decades.

While the U.S. membership in the denomination has declined, membership in Africa has expanded, and those members have an increasingly important voice in the General Conference debates. While the U.S. leadership has become more accepting of homosexuality, the newer African members have held the conservative line.

While the number of United Methodists in Africa grows by about 250,000 members a year, the number of U.S. United Methodists shrinks every year, by more than 50,000.

Africans will constitute about 30 percent of the 864 delegates to this year's General Conference.

Without the church's growing global membership, the United Methodists would very likely have taken a turn towards acceptance of gay marriage, like several other mainline Protestant denominations . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodist lawmaking body to weigh LGBT issues" by Holly Meyer, The Tennessean 5/10/16

The United Methodist Church does not permit its clergy to officiate same-sex marriages, but that divisive issue and others regarding full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members are up for debate as the denomination convenes its top policy-making body this week in Portland, Ore.

Delegates from across the globe will consider more than 100 pieces of legislation regarding human sexuality at the General Conference, which meets every four years to decide the future direction of the second-largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It counts about 12.8 million members worldwide.

The 864 delegates gathering at the Oregon Convention Center have the power to revise church law, pass resolutions on social and public policy and adopt churchwide budgets and plans. While LGBT concerns are in the spotlight, the General Conference is considering a plethora of issues. The gathering started Tuesday afternoon with a worship celebration and concludes May 20.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Good News responds to clergy coming out letter" by Jay Voorhees, Executive Editor, United Methodist Reporter 5/9/16

The Rev. Tom Lambrecht, Vice President and General Manager of Good News, an organization that has advocated for the retention of the current United Methodist teaching on homosexuality, released a statement this afternoon in response to the letter from 111 UM clergy identifying themselves as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer/Questioning, and Intersex (LGBTQI).

“Unfortunately, the statement comes across more like a manifesto for an orchestrated campaign to influence General Conference than a ‘Love Letter to the Church,’” Lambrecht wrote.

Lambrecht addressed the concerns raised by the letter writers about their need to hide parts of themselves as they carry out  the work of ministry:

The letter talks about LGBTQI persons being forced to hide parts of themselves in order to engage in ministry. No one is forcing LGBTQI persons to hide their identities. That is a choice that they are making. The church has always been straightforward about what is acceptable behavior for clergy. Having same-sex attractions or being LGBTQI is not a bar to ordained ministry. Engaging in sexual relationships outside monogamous heterosexual marriage is a bar to ordained ministry. The line is clear. It is LGBTQI persons who have chosen to cross that line and yet pretend to fulfill their ordination vows. Such an action constitutes a fundamental lack of integrity that undermines the doctrine, discipline, and unity of the church.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "United Methodists may never agree on LGBT issues. Can they stay together anyway?" by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post 5/9/16

Disputes over human sexuality appear to many to be most pressing [for the UMC General Conference]. This is in part because United Methodists have not changed their stance on homosexuality, whereas much of mainline Protestantism has in some way. The United Methodist Book of Discipline – the group’s book of law and doctrine – calls homosexuality “incompatible with Christian teaching.” The church has also seen huge controversy in recent years as pastors have begun openly bucking the ban on officiating at same-sex weddings, and high-profile disciplinary trials have embarrassed many Methodists.

According to the United Methodist News Service, the conference will weigh more than 100 pieces of legislation on human sexuality. Delegates from dozens of countries will consider the possibility of full inclusion of LGBT people, the “agree to disagree” option, whether gay people can be ordained, the question of officiating at same-sex weddings, whether such weddings can be held in Methodist churches and whether the current Book of Discipline wording should remain.

The United Methodist News Service lists “church structure and powers” as the first of top, broad issues to be voted upon this month. The most broad is a measure asking whether Methodists “can create a global Book of Discipline that says: ‘Here’s what we agree upon worldwide,’ and then one for each area of the world to help us deal with our own cultures,” said the Rev. Tom Berlin, a delegate from the Floris United Methodist Church in Herndon, Va. “The issue is: What questions belong to the whole, and what questions belong to the parts?”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Charlotte gay wedding defies United Methodist Church rules" by Tim Funk, The Charlotte Observer 4/24/16

. . . [Rev. Val Rosenquist, 59,] the pastor of Charlotte’s First United Methodist Church and a retired bishop [Melvin Talbert] who once did jail time with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. decided to go ahead over the weekend and preside at the wedding of John Romano and Jim Wilborne.

The two Charlotte men became the first same-sex couple in North Carolina to get married – at least publicly – in a United Methodist church.

They said the Saturday wedding was attended by more than 250 people – including about 30 supportive United Methodist clergy. Also in attendance: Charlotte Mayor Jennifer Roberts, who is a friend of the couple’s.

Last August, [Rosenquist] said, the leadership board at First United Methodist voted that any member of the church could get married in the sanctuary, even if that defied the [UMC] Book of Discipline.

The 81-year-old Talbert, a retired United Methodist bishop based in Nashville and a one-time leader of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, spent three days and three nights in a jail cell with King in 1960. He called his disobedience of Methodist rules against same-sex marriage an act of “biblical obedience.”

On Sunday, Talbert delivered the sermon at First United Methodist Church, telling about 150 people in the pews that, like African-Americans, women and other past victims of discrimination, LGBT persons are being ridiculed and ostracized “simply because of the way God created them.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Methodists call themselves the ‘church of the big tent.’ Why one minister is camping outside." by Julie Zauzmer, Washington Post 4/5/16

[His daughter Sarah] was the inspiration for [UMC Rev. Michael Tupper's] activism – and the first lesbian bride he married.

[Sarah] and her wife met at the preeminent evangelical university Wheaton College — despite the fact that Tupper, suspecting that his teenage daughter was lesbian, told her that if she were lesbian she should not go to Wheaton.

Tupper reached a sort of out-of-court settlement in the United Methodist Church’s judicial system. He knew when he agreed to officiate [the same-sex wedding] that he might be defrocked for it . . . But Tupper was cleared to continue ministry at his church near Kalamazoo, Mich.

Then he performed his second gay wedding, that of a fellow United Methodist minister who was banned from his pulpit when he came out as gay. Tupper expected, after he helped officiate Benjamin Hutchison’s wedding, that he would face a church trial.

But the trial never came.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Female Methodist pastor admits she's gay during church service, stunning worshippers" by Czarina Ong, Christian Today 1/19/16

Nobody was prepared for Pastor Cynthia Meyer's coming out declaration during the Edgerton United Methodist Church's first sermon this 2016, but the 53-year-old Kansas pastor decided then that it was the best time for her to serve "with full authenticity and as my genuine self—as a woman who loves and shares my life with another woman."

Meyer risks being sacked because of her pronouncement, but she insists that her conscience is clear because she keeps "faith with the church by challenging it to keep faith with the Gospel."

Conservative Methodists, on the other hand, are not condoning Meyer's vocal support of same-sex relationships and marriages.

They wrote: "We simply cannot abandon the Bible's teachings on the practice of homosexuality and same-sex marriage. Your proposal would put us, who believe that same-sex relations are sinful, in the position of having to deny our consciences. This new policy is simply asking us to do something we cannot do."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "New York United Methodist Body Says It Will Ignore Church's Rules on Gay Clergy" by Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter 3/3/16

The New York Annual Conference's Board of Ordained Ministry released a statement Tuesday noting that they will no longer consider the sexual orientation or gender identity of an ordination candidate.

The Rev. William B. Pfohl, chair of the NYAC BOOM and chief signatory of the statement, told The Christian Post that the . . . final vote on the released statement took place on Feb. 20, with a supermajority of the New York board approving the standards via secret ballot.

NYAC is not the only conference in the UMC that has recently announced its decision to ignore the denomination's ordination rules regarding homosexual practice.

Last month the Board of Ordained Ministry of the Baltimore-Washington Conference announced that they recommended a married lesbian to a provisional deacon position.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Liberal 'Churches' Continue to Wither as well as Liberal 'Churches' Conforming to Decadent Culture

In addition, read President Obama's National Cathedral is the Seat of Apostasy

For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates

Churches Sue Calif. ObamaCare: Forced Abortion $$

Three churches are suing Michelle Rouillard, the director of the California Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC), in federal court for First Amendment violations of requiring churches to pay for surgical abortions via the ObamaCare-forced employer health insurance.  Last year, the DMHC reclassified abortion as a “basic health service,” thus mandating all heath insurance coverage to include elective abortion as if it's a medical ailment.

“Because Obamacare requires health insurance coverage, and the California mandate requires abortion coverage in any health plan, these churches are truly left with no way to opt out of paying for abortions.  What’s absurd, though, is that the same government that rightfully does not require California churches to pay for contraceptive coverage requires them to pay for elective abortion coverage.”
-- Jeremiah Galus, Litigation Staff Counsel (for the churches) of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

California Law Forces Abortion Business on Pro-lifers

ACLU Forces California Catholic Hospital To Sterilize Woman

Judge Orders California Citizens pay for Prisoner Sex Change

ObamaCare Loses to Christians in High Court, Again

Catholics Defeat ObamaCare: Appeals Court Ruling

Christians Oppose ObamaCare, Support Hobby Lobby

Also read President Obama Edicts More Transgender Rights via ObamaCare

-- From "California Churches File Lawsuit to Fight Mandatory Abortion Funding in Health Plans" by Lauretta Brown, CNSNews.com 10/19/15

The California DMHC stated in an August 2014 letter to seven insurance companies that they were required to include elective abortions in their health plans with no exceptions. The letter came in response to complaints after Santa Clara University and Loyola Marymount University excluded elective abortion from their employee insurance policies on religious grounds.

The letter cites California’s Constitution and the 1975 Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act, which “requires the provision of basic health care services” in justification of their abortion mandate.

The lawsuit states that the churches have been searching for a way to “provide health insurance coverage to their employees in a way that does not also cause them to pay for abortions,” as they believe that “abortion kills an innocent human life.”

The lawsuit also charges that the DMHC “realizing that Plaintiffs and others have sincerely held religious beliefs against paying for or providing coverage for abortion,” still “encouraged the insurers to hide these changes by informing them that they may ‘omit any mention of coverage for abortion services in health plan documents.’”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "California Forces Churches to Fund Abortions, Churches Refuse to Comply and File Lawsuit" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 10/16/15

ADF filed the lawsuit, Foothill Church v. Rouillard, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California on behalf of Foothill Church in Glendora, Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in Chino, and The Shepherd of the Hills Church in Porter Ranch.

Last year, ADF and Life Legal Defense Foundation filed formal complaints with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services against DMHC regarding California’s mandate and its violation of federal conscience law. Those came on the heels of a complaint filed directly with DMHC, which responded by affirming its decision to force all plans to cover all abortions without any explanation as to how that decision squares with the Constitution and contrasting federal law.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Churches forced to cover abortion file federal complaint against Calif. agency" posted at Alliance Defending Freedom 10/9/14 (last year)

The complaint explains, “DMHC is an arm of the State of California and purports to be interpreting and applying the law of California, a state that receives billions of taxpayer dollars…. California accepted those funds with full knowledge of the requirements of the Weldon Amendment, but it has chosen to ignore this law. The need to remedy this discrimination is urgent because it is immediately depriving Complainants of a health plan that omits elective abortions.”

“The DMHC created this abortion mandate in response to political pressure from the abortion lobby,” said LLDF Legal Director Catherine Short. “DMHC would have us believe that, while the Legislature exempted these churches from the state’s contraceptive coverage mandate, it nonetheless intended to force them to cover all abortions under the rubric of ‘basic health care.’ This move was a pure power play, and we trust that the Department of Health and Human Services will take the necessary steps to bring the state into compliance with federal law.”

“Forcing a church to be party to elective abortion is one of the utmost-imaginable assaults on our most fundamental American freedoms,” said ADF Senior Counsel Casey Mattox. “California is flagrantly violating the federal law that protects employers from being forced into having abortion in their health insurance plans. No state can blatantly ignore federal law and think that it should continue to receive taxpayer money.”

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Churches war with state over religious freedom" by Bob Unruh, World Net Daily 10/19/15

Evidence that Rouillard was specifically targeting churches, the complaint says, was demonstrated by the fact that the mandate “does not apply to health benefit plans offered by the California Public Employees Retirement System and other policies.”

“Defendant imposed the mandate with full knowledge that it would coerce religious employers and churches like plaintiffs to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

[The complaint] cites violations of the First Amendment and creates a pages-long list of damages, including chilling religious exercise, a government-imposed coercion regarding religious beliefs and exposing the plaintiffs them to damages and penalties.

“Defendant issued the mandate to suppress the religious exercise of plaintiffs and other similarly situated churches and religious employers,” it states.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read ObamaCare Funnels $1 Million to Planned Parenthood

And read ObamaCare Lies: Taxpayers Now Fund Abortions, Says Government Study

Gay Agenda Destroys Everything it Contacts

Let's review the effects of the Gay Agenda:  sharp rise in STDs (not only HIV/AIDS) mostly associated with anal sex; exploding rates of transgender delusion (even among children) resulting in more suicides; lower marriage rates and kids raised without their mother or father; the demise of (gay-affirming) mainline church denominations; weakening of the once-strongest force for good in the world (U.S. military); public education transformed to indoctrination and social experimentation; demise of the Girl Scouts (after lesbian leaders took over) . . .

and now, the end of the Boy Scouts of America.

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Federal Gov't Says HIV/AIDS is Mostly a Gay Disease (and other anal sex diseases)

Transgenderism is a 'Delusion' According to Victims and Professionals

The Demise of Family Causes Violence, Poverty, and More

Liberal Mainline 'Churches' Continue to Wither as they Conform to the Decadent Culture

Sexual Assaults in Pres. Obama's Military Mostly Homosexual

Homosexuals Weaken Military, Proved in 1990s: U.S. General

Transgender/Gay Agenda Mandated in Virginia School (and across America)

Bishops Investigate Girl Scouts' Sexualization

Homosexuality Caused Fall of Roman Empire

Vatican Says Gay Agenda is 'a Defeat for Humanity'

Pope Francis Says Gay Agenda is Work of the Devil

-- From "Boy Scouts OK gay leaders; Mormon church may quit" by Erik Eckholm, The New York Times 7/28/15

The Boy Scouts of America on Monday ended its nationwide ban on openly gay adult leaders. But despite a compromise allowing conservative church-sponsored units to pick their own volunteer leaders, the Mormon church, the country’s largest sponsor of Scout units, said it might leave the organization.

To avoid the wholesale defection of conservative religious groups, the Boy Scouts said church-based local units would remain free to exclude gay adults from voluntary leadership roles like scoutmasters and Cub Scout den and pack leaders.

Mormons use the Boy Scouts as their main nonreligious activity for boys, and the Cub Scout and Boy Scout units they sponsor accounted for 17 percent of all youths in Scouting in 2013, the last year for which data have been published.

Under the Boy Scout policy adopted Monday, discrimination based on sexual orientation will also be barred in all Boy Scout offices and for all paid jobs — a step that could head off looming lawsuits in New York, Colorado and other states that prohibit such discrimination in employment.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Are lawsuits ahead for church-based Boy Scout troops?" by Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service (Washington Post) 7/27/15

. . . Scout officials say religious groups — which make up some 70 percent of chartered organizations — would still have the option to exclude gays even [with the new policy as] adopted.

“What they’re not taking into account is the new frontier that we’re on, where judges are being social change agents,” said John Stemberger, chairman of Trail Life USA, which bills itself as a Christian alternative to the Boy Scouts.

Trail Life issued its own eight-page legal memo, written by a former BSA lawyer who is now Trail Life’s general counsel.

“The church-chartered troop will likely be sued the moment it tries to revoke the membership of the homosexual member who wears his uniform to the Gay Pride Parade, revokes or denies membership to an adult who publicly gets married to someone of the same sex, or denies membership to the girl who believes she is actually a male,” the Trail Life memo reads.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Why Boy Scouts stance on gay leaders leaves it in limbo" by Amanda Paulson, Staff Writer, Christian Science Monitor 7/27/15

“You’ve got a highly divided organization,” says Richard Ellis, a political science professor at Willamette University in Salem, Ore., and the author of “Judging the Boy Scouts of America.” “Now it’s not clear that even this solution, which is an attempt to get the [gay rights] issue out of the way, can do it, because nobody is happy with it.”

. . . Some 70 percent of Boy Scout troops are now run by faith-based groups. By the time the BSA considered changing its ban on gay Scout leaders in 2013, it polled its membership and got incredible pushback, Ellis says. Nearly all the councils in the Northeast wanted the anti-gay policy changed, while 80 percent of the Southern councils wanted it to stay the same. The organization worried about an exodus of members. In the end, it decided to go with lifting the ban on gay youths, but not gay adults.

A BSA decision to lift the ban on gay adults but still leave hiring decisions to the discretion of local religious-based organizations affiliated with troops might have seemed progressive if the Scouts had taken that stance 25 years ago, when many first urged it. But coming in 2015, it now seems to critics like too little, too late – a decision that will still allow for discrimination on religious grounds.

“Our position has been and remains clear – we continue to urge the Boy Scouts of America to embrace full LGBT inclusion, without exception,” says Liz Halloran, a spokeswoman for the Human Rights Campaign, which fights for gay rights, via an e-mail.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "LDS Church relationship with Boy Scouts in doubt, may create new international program" by Ben Lockhart, Deseret News 7/27/15

"The church has always welcomed all boys to its Scouting units regardless of sexual orientation," church spokesman Eric Hawkins said in a prepared statement. "However, the admission of openly gay leaders is inconsistent with the doctrines of the church and what have traditionally been the values of the Boy Scouts of America.”

Hawkins also confirmed the church is considering the possibility of creating an international program similar to Scouting and also made for young men ages 12 to 18.

"As a global organization with members in 170 countries, the church has long been evaluating the limitations that fully one-half of its youth face where Scouting is not available," he said. "Those worldwide needs combined with this vote by the BSA National Executive Board will be carefully reviewed by the leaders of the church in the weeks ahead."

The Catholic Church, another large charter organization with the Boy Scouts, did not offer a formal response to the vote Monday.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Boy Scouts Go Gay, Church Sponsors Say 'Goodbye'

Boy Scouts Reinforce Rules Denying Homosexual Leaders (just a couple of years ago)

Most Americans Say Gay Men Untrustworthy with Boys

Also read the homosexualist who says: We Recruit Kids for Sexual Deviancy

Vatican Says Gay Agenda is 'a Defeat for Humanity'

Much to the chagrin of the mainstream media that consider Francis I their liberal "pet pope," the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, a champion of Cuban diplomatic restoration and global warming, characterized the successful Irish same-sex "marriage" referendum as "a defeat for humanity."  Parolin admitted that the Church has lost its authority with young adults in that country of 88% Catholics.

"You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is [then] of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet."
-- Jesus Christ (Matthew 5:13 & Luke 14:35 ESV)

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Pope Said the Gay Agenda is the Work of the Devil

Pope Refutes Homosexualists: Kids Need Mom & Dad

Pope Cracks Down on American Liberal Nuns, Priests

Pope Blasts Liberal 'christians' as Pagans

Likewise, Rev. Franklin Graham says Pastors Avoiding Gay Agenda Deserve Hell

Also read what's next in the Gay Agenda societal revolution and how it is being accomplished via American public schools.

-- From "Vatican No. 2: Irish vote to legalize gay marriage a 'defeat for humanity'" by Nicole Winfield, Associated Press 5/27/15

In comments to reporters Tuesday evening, Parolin referred to remarks by the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, that the results showed the church needed to do a "reality check" since it clearly wasn't reaching young people with its message.

The Catholic Church in Ireland has lost much of its moral authority following widespread sex abuse scandals and a general secularization of society. Martin himself called the vote part of a "social revolution" that required the church to look at whether it had "drifted completely away from young people."

Pope Francis hasn't commented directly on the Irish results, but on Wednesday he stressed traditional church teaching on marriage as being between man and woman. Francis has dedicated his weekly general audience catechism lessons to family issues, so Wednesday's remarks about the importance of the period of engagement before a marriage were perfectly in line with the themes he has been stressing for months.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Cardinal calls Irish vote on same-sex marriage a 'defeat for humanity'" by Tom Kington, Los Angeles Times (reporting from Rome) 5/26/15

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s secretary of state, told reporters he was “deeply saddened” by the outcome of the Friday referendum in Ireland, in which many voters defied the Roman Catholic Church by favoring marriage for same-sex couples.

"The church must take account of this reality, but in the sense that it must strengthen its commitment to evangelization,” Parolin was quoted as saying by Italian wire agency Ansa. “I think that you cannot just talk of a defeat for Christian principles, but of a defeat for humanity."

Church officials often see any moves to legitimize gay unions as automatically weakening of the status of the traditional family. The Vatican views homosexual acts as unnatural.

. . . the Irish vote has galvanized the Italian government, led by prime minister Matteo Renzi, to push ahead with its own planned legislation on civil unions, which would allow couples of the same sex to be recognized by law.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Vatican says Ireland gay marriage vote is 'defeat for humanity'" by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Rome, UK Guardian 5/26/15

The remarks by the Vatican’s top diplomat, who is seen as second only to the pope in the church’s hierarchy, represent the most damning assessment of the Irish vote by a senior church official to date.

Ireland became the first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote after a referendum found that 62% of voters were in favour of changing the constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

While the results were celebrated by advocates of gay rights in Ireland and around the world, it was also seen as a stark symbol of how wide the chasm has grown between young people in what has traditionally been a staunchly Catholic country and the church itself, which says that homosexual acts are a sin and vehemently opposes gay marriage.

Parolin’s comments are sure to revive the debate about the church’s attitude to gay rights and equality under the papacy of Pope Francis, who once famously said “who am I to judge?” when asked about the existence of a “gay lobby” within the Vatican. That remark spurred hope among progressive Catholics that the church was entering a new era of tolerance and acceptance of homosexuality.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "On Same-Sex Marriage, Catholics Are Leading the Way" by Frank Bruni, New York Times 5/27/15

Take a look at this list of countries: Belgium, Canada, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, France, Uruguay, Luxembourg and Ireland. . . . in all of them, the Roman Catholic Church has more adherents, at least nominally, than any other religious denomination does.

And all of them belong to the vanguard of 20 nations that have decided to make same-sex marriage legal.

. . . But in falling out of line with the Vatican, Irish people are actually falling in line with their Catholic counterparts in other Western countries, including the United States.

They aren’t sloughing off their Catholicism — not exactly, not entirely. An overwhelming majority of them still identify as Catholic. But they’re incorporating religion into their lives in a manner less rooted in Rome.

Catholics in the United States appear to be more, not less, progressive about gay rights than Americans in general are.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Vatican Says Media Distort Pope's Words

And read Media Filter Pope's Procreation Declarations

Fewer Americans Claim Christian, Media Cheer: Poll

Don't believe the media headline spin . . .

In an effort to make President Obama's claim true (that America is NOT a Christian nation), the mainstream media have incorrectly hyped results of a new Pew Research survey — a poll which actually shows that MORE Americans claim to be devout Christians while formerly nominal Catholics and mainline churchgoers now more honestly report no religious affiliation.

Separately, read academic report:  Christians Will Flourish Demographically

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

20% in U.S. Have No Religion, yet ARE Spiritual

Secularists Revel in Aspirations of an Atheist America

Media, Secularists Revel in Reporting Failure of Christian Religion

However, Atheists & Liberals Lament Recent Supreme Court Religious Liberty Rulings

Also read Liberal Media Ignore 40,000 National Day of Prayer Events

So what is this ObamaNation?  It's a 'Fake Church,' Says Catholic Cardinal



For myriad attacks on the Bible and Christian faith, read CBS Gives Voice to Atheists, Heretics, & Apostates



From "Big Drop in Share of Americans Calling Themselves Christian" by Nate Cohn, New York Times 5/12/15

The Christian share of adults in the United States has declined sharply since 2007, affecting nearly all major Christian traditions and denominations, and crossing age, race and region, according to an extensive survey by the Pew Research Center.

The Christian share of adults fell to 70.6 percent from 78.4 percent between 2007 and 2014, with declines among all major Christian denominations.

The decline has been propelled in part by generational change, as relatively non-Christian millennials reach adulthood and gradually replace the oldest and most Christian adults. But it is also because many former Christians, of all ages, have joined the rapidly growing ranks of the religiously unaffiliated or “nones”: a broad category including atheists, agnostics and those who adhere to “nothing in particular.”

Not all religions or even Christian traditions declined so markedly. The number of evangelical Protestants dipped only slightly as a share of the population, by 1 percentage point, and actually increased in raw numbers [to 62.2 million].

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Study: Americans becoming less Christian, more secular" by Rachel Zoll, Associated Press 5/11/15

The number of Americans who don’t affiliate with a particular religion has grown to 56 million in recent years, making the faith group researchers call “nones” the second-largest in total numbers behind evangelicals, according to a Pew Research Center study released Tuesday.

Researchers have long debated whether people with no religion should be defined as secular since the category includes those who believe in God or consider themselves “spiritual.” But the new Pew study found increasing signs of secularism.

Last year, 31 percent of “nones” said they were atheist or agnostic, compared to 25 percent in 2007, and the percentage who said religion was important to them dropped.

Pew researchers said Christian losses were driven by decreases among mainline, or liberal, Protestants and Roman Catholics.

Mainline Protestants declined by about 5 million to 36 million between 2007 and 2014. Pew found 13 percent of U.S. adults are former Catholics. The study put the number of Catholic adults at 51 million, or just over one-fifth of the U.S. population, a drop of about 3 percent over seven years. In 2007, Catholics made up about one-quarter of Americans.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "American Religion: Complicated, Not Dead" by Emma Green, The Atlantic 5/12/15

. . . the survey actually reveals something more complex than a slow and steady march toward secularization. Those who didn’t identify with any particular religion were asked a follow-up question: “How important is religion in your life?” The answers reveal that this group might be churchless, but it’s not wholly faithless: 44 percent said religion is “very” or “somewhat” important to them, while 56 percent said religion isn't important to them, according to Greg Smith, Pew’s associate director of research. . . .

The survey gives at least a partial look at what the researchers call “religious switching”: People converting to other faiths, joining new kinds of churches, or ditching religion altogether. If you count switches among the major traditions in Protestantism (mainline, evangelical, and historically black congregations), roughly 42 percent of Americans no longer consider themselves part of the religion in which they were raised. . . .

This [survey] may make it sound like Christianity has entered a tailspin, but given its continued prominence in American life, that’s probably overdramatic. America is still a Christian nation, just by a somewhat smaller margin. . . .

The most important caveat to keep in mind in reading this survey is that religion, and particularly Christianity, is not losing its overall influence in American culture. Culture-war rhetoric often implies an epic battle between Christian conservatives and the creep of secularity; in general, that narrative is an oversimplification of American religion. . . .

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Nominals to Nones: 3 Key Takeaways From Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey" by Ed Stetzer, Christianity Today 5/12/15

The percentage of convictional [devout] Christians remains rather steady, but because the nominal Christians now are unaffiliated the overall percentage of self-identified Christians is decline. . . .

1. Convictional Christianity is rather steady.

Evangelicals now make up a clear majority (55%) of all U.S. Protestants. In 2007, 51% of U.S. Protestants identified with evangelical churches.

One of the primary reasons it appears as though “American Christianity” is experiencing a sharp decline is because the nominals that once made up (disproportionately) Mainline Protestantism and Catholicism are now checking “none” on religious affiliation surveys.

Nominal Christians make up a higher percentage of Mainline Protestants and Catholics than any other denomination of Christian, and this is why their numbers continue to sharply decline.

2. There have been significant shifts within American Christianity.

One of the most notable shifts in American Christianity is the evangelicalization of church in America. Fifty percent of all Christians now self-identify as “evangelical” or “born again,” up from 44 percent in 2007. In 2007, 44% of American Christians, who made up 78% of the U.S. population identified as evangelical. In 2014, 50% of American Christians, who make up 70% of the U.S. population identify as evangelical.

3. Mainline Protestantism continues to hemorrhage.

Only 45% of those raised in the Mainline Protestant tradition remain in Mainline churches. . . . If Mainline Protestantism continues its trajectory it is only a couple of generations from virtual extinction.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

From "The New Pew Survey on Religion & Lament for Nominal Christianity" by Mark D. Tooley, Christian Post Contributor 5/13/15

Evangelicals are the one Christian group to have grown numerically and almost retained their population percentage, now at 25%. A growing majority of Protestants are now Evangelical, and half of all Christians now identify as Evangelical or born-again. Liberal Mainline Protestantism unsurprisingly continues its fast decline, dropping from 18 to under 15%. Catholics dropped from about 24% to 21%.

The ongoing trend seems to be that nominal, mostly non-practicing Mainline Protestants and Catholics increasingly identify as unaffiliated. Most of this group still professes belief in God, many pray and some attend church. But they no longer claim ties to a specific tradition. Less than a third, about 7%, are atheist or agnostic.

. . . Active Christianity remains robust in America. Orthodox Christian expressions are displacing declining liberal forms. But there is cause for concern and sadness, as Mainline Protestantism, once central to American life, and a unifying spiritual and civil force, recedes ever more dramatically. An America more and more torn between secularists and the spiritually ambiguous on one side, against Evangelicals and believing Catholics on the other, will be even more polarized, missing the common language that Mainline Protestants offered so effectively for centuries.

To read the entire opinion column above, CLICK HERE.

From "5 key findings about the changing U.S. religious landscape" by Michael Lipka, Pew Research Center 5/12/15

1.  Christians are declining, both as a share of the U.S. population and in total number.  . . .

2.  Within Christianity, the biggest declines have been in the mainline Protestant tradition and among Catholics. . . .

3.  The growth of the “nones” has been powered in part by religious switching. Nearly one-in-five U.S. adults (18%) were raised as Christians or members of some other religion, but now say they have no religious affiliation.

4.  . . . the decline of Christians and rise of the “nones” – have occurred in some form across many demographic groups, including men and women, older and younger Americans, and people with different levels of education and different races and ethnicities.

5.  The share of Americans who identify with non-Christian faiths, such as Islam and Hinduism, has grown modestly in recent years, from 4.7% in 2007 to 5.9% in 2014. Muslims now account for 0.9% of the U.S. adult population (up from 0.4% in the 2007 Landscape Study), while Hindus make up 0.7% of U.S. adults (up from 0.4% in 2007).

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "America’s Changing Religious Landscape" posted at Pew Research Center 5/12/15

To be sure, the United States remains home to more Christians than any other country in the world . . .

Because the U.S. census does not ask Americans about their religion, there are no official government statistics on the religious composition of the U.S. public. . . .

While many U.S. religious groups are aging, the unaffiliated are comparatively young – and getting younger, on average, over time. As a rising cohort of highly unaffiliated Millennials reaches adulthood, the median age of unaffiliated adults has dropped to 36, down from 38 in 2007 and far lower than the general (adult) population’s median age of 46.4 By contrast, the median age of mainline Protestant adults in the new survey is 52 (up from 50 in 2007), and the median age of Catholic adults is 49 (up from 45 seven years earlier).

. . . the size of the historically black Protestant tradition – which includes the National Baptist Convention, the Church of God in Christ, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Progressive Baptist Convention and others – has remained relatively stable in recent years, at nearly 16 million adults. And evangelical Protestants, while declining slightly as a percentage of the U.S. public, probably have grown in absolute numbers as the overall U.S. population has continued to expand.

The new survey indicates that churches in the evangelical Protestant tradition – including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, Churches of Christ, the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, the Presbyterian Church in America, 0ther evangelical denominations and many nondenominational congregations – now have a total of about 62 million adult adherents. That is an increase of roughly 2 million since 2007 . . .

. . . people in older generations are increasingly disavowing association with organized religion. About a third of older Millennials (adults currently in their late 20s and early 30s) now say they have no religion, up nine percentage points among this cohort since 2007, when the same group was between ages 18 and 26. Nearly a quarter of Generation Xers now say they have no particular religion or describe themselves as atheists or agnostics, up four points in seven years. Baby Boomers also have become slightly but noticeably more likely to identify as religious “nones” in recent years.

. . . The evangelical Protestant tradition is the only major Christian group in the survey that has gained more members than it has lost through religious switching. Roughly 10% of U.S. adults now identify with evangelical Protestantism after having been raised in another tradition, which more than offsets the roughly 8% of adults who were raised as evangelicals but have left for another religious tradition or who no longer identify with any organized faith.

. . . Whites continue to be more likely than both blacks and Hispanics to identify as religiously unaffiliated; 24% of whites say they have no religion, compared with 20% of Hispanics and 18% of blacks. But the religiously unaffiliated have grown (and Christians have declined) as a share of the population within all three of these racial and ethnic groups.

. . . The percentage of college graduates who identify with Christianity has declined by nine percentage points since 2007 (from 73% to 64%). The Christian share of the population has declined by a similar amount among those with less than a college education (from 81% to 73%). Religious “nones” now constitute 24% of all college graduates (up from 17%) and 22% of those with less than a college degree (up from 16%).

. . . Since 2007, the share of evangelical Protestants who identify with Baptist denominations has shrunk from 41% to 36%. Meanwhile, the share of evangelicals identifying with nondenominational churches has grown from 13% to 19%.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Click headlines below to read previous articles:

Liberal Mainline 'Churches' Continue to Wither as they Conform to the Decadent Culture

New Atheist 'Churches' in America Give Competition to Mainlines

Colleges Hire Humanist & Atheist Chaplains for the Nonbelievers

Congress: America No Longer a Christian Nation

Jesus' Virgin Birth NOT Worth Celebrating: Poll

America Going to Hell; Christians Lose Convictions

President Obama Provokes Second 'In God We Trust' Movement

Florida Underground Churches Exposed in City Sting

The City of Lake Worth, Florida has dispatched undercover agents to attend gatherings of citizens suspected of engaging in unlicensed Christian worship services.

“I walked back to the Coffee Bar and was able to visualize, in my opinion what appeared to be a ministry in progress. . . . People holding what appeared to be bibles or religious books as one had a cross on it. . . . I was approached by an unknown man with a cross around his neck.”
-- Gerard A. Coscia, city code enforcement officer, wrote in his narrative of a covert videotape.

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Florida City Finds Family Guilty of Home Bible Studies

Phoenix Christian Jailed for Home Worship Gatherings

Pastor's Wife Fined for Praying Too Loud in North Dakota

City Permit Required for Bible Study in California

Bible Study Limit in Homes in Texas City Rescinded

Also read 'God Bless America' Banned from Florida School

In addition, read Atheists Commandeer City Council Invocations in Lake Worth, FL



-- From "War on religion? Lake Worth orders churches to have license to pray" by Kathleen Walter, WPEC-CBS12TV (West Palm Beach, FL) 2/26/15

At the Common Ground Coffee Bar in Lake Worth, Pastor Mike Olive--the owner--holds two religious services on Sundays that he says city officials are trying to stop.

He says a notice was sent to his landlord that the coffee bar doesn't have the permits to operate as a religious institution. Pastor Mike Olive said, “We had one gentleman come in from the city wearing a hoodie, and he was hiding the camera in the pockets of his hoodie.”

The nearby First Baptist Church paid the almost $500 inspection and use of occupancy fees. CBS12 asked city councilmember Christopher McVoy if this is a business tax? McVoy responded, “I can't tell you the exact answer on that. It's not a business tax, but there will be a fee involved.” CBS12 investigated if this is in line with other municipalities. In the Village of North Palm Beach, churches are exempt from a business tax and are subjected to a $50-to-$75 fire inspection fee.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Liberty Counsel: City Can’t Make Churches Pay to Pray" by Margaret Menge, The Lake Worth Tribune 2/28/15

In the letter [to City Manager Michael Bornstein] from Liberty Counsel, attorney Richard Mast refers to the city’s “egregious treatment” of Common Ground Church.

“The City has inexplicably targeted CG Church for investigation, despite the fact that CG Church has made no secret of its weekly worship and other meetings since the Coffee Bar opened in November 2014 (and prior thereto, when CG Church met for six months at the same location run by the previous secular coffee bar).”

The letter [from the City to the property owner], Mast writes, cites the church’s lack of a “license,” requests that the “violation” be corrected by March 2 or a hearing would be held April 30 before the Special Magistrate and also threatens the property owner with fines of $200-$500 a day and potential foreclosure action if the property owner does not “correct” the violation.

The [Liberty Counsel] letter specifically refers to Commissioner Andy Amoroso, who owns a newsstand and gay pornography shop on Lake Avenue, and his conversation a few weeks back with Pastor Mike Olive, in which Olive says Amoroso pointed at him and said, of the coffee bar: “You better not have a church there. That better not be a church.”

Mark Woods, the manager of the city’s Code Compliance Department, told the Tribune last week that the code action regarding Common Grounds Coffee Bar was the result of an anonymous complaint. William Waters [who oversees the building and code compliance departments] told the Tribune last week that the code compliance officer was sent to investigate the coffee shop because of “several” anonymous complaints. E-mails obtained by the Tribune in a public records request show that William Waters was alerting staff about the church in September, well before the coffee shop opened, writing, “We need to look into the church that is growing down the street along the east side of the South J Street between Lake and 1st” and stating that “a lot of downtown people” are concerned about it.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Florida city wages soviet-style crackdown on churches" by Todd Starnes, FoxNews.com 3/5/15

Pastor Mike Olive told me there had not been any problems until early last month, when he had an encounter with Andy Amoroso, a city commissioner.

“After we opened up the coffee bar and started doing services, I heard that he told people we were anti-gay,” Olive said. “So I went to his shop to ask him about that. . . . He pointed at me and said, ‘Listen, you better not have a church down there.”

“Government employees are public servants and prohibited by the Constitution from inhibiting religious freedom,” said Mat Staver, founder of the religious liberty law firm Liberty Counsel. “That is a far cry from sneaking around and into a church and acting like KGB agents.”

Staver is calling on city leaders to immediately rescind the business license mandate on churches. He is also representing Common Ground Church, the congregation that was targeted by the city’s investigator.

Staver said the city’s actions violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the Florida Constitution, the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the federal Religious Land Uses and Institutionalized Persons Act.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Lake Worth denies targeting churches, but paper trail says it did" by Vanessa Garcia Rodriguez, Christian Examiner 3/6/15

Lake Worth officials are denying claims they threatened local churches with fines and foreclosures if they did not possess business licenses.

A letter to City Manager Michael Bornstein by the Orlando-based non-profit Liberty Counsel on behalf of Common Ground Church referenced the city's request for a business license "by March 2, 2015, or a hearing would be held April 30, 2015 before the Special Magistrate."


Now the city says Common Ground Church does not require a "business license" -- which requires payment of a business tax from which churches are exempt -- and that the congregation only needs a use and occupancy (U&O) certificate (for "safety purposes") apart from that of the 2,500 square foot coffee bar.

City Manager, Mike Bornstein, told Raw Story the dispute apparently was a misunderstanding and produced a letter from the city to Olive relaying that information.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Homosexualists Admit Goal to End Religious Liberty

And read Vice President Biden Says 'Gay Rights' Trump Religious Beliefs but Pastors Lead Local Battles Against 'Gay Rights'

Pastors Coerced to Preach Environmentalism in MD

A new "rain tax" imposed in Maryland was intended to reign over tax-exempt churches, but government officials are instead giving the pastors a choice:  If church leaders will trade their Christian teaching for pagan environmental worship, then the tax will be reduced or even waived entirely.

For background, click headlines below to read previous articles:

Global Warming a Religion, Say Climate Scientists

Environmentalism is the Greatest Threat to Civilization

Federal Judge Says Atheists Right on New Clergy Tax

Houston Lesbian Mayor Subpoenas Pastors' Sermons

Pastors Face Fines, Jail for Refusing 'Gay Wedding'

However, Pastors Defeat IRS, Endorse Political Candidates

Environmentalists Say Trade Babies For Climate Change

Also read about the environmentally-friendly burning of aborted babies in Oregon.

-- From "Churches receive stormwater fee discounts by starting ‘green’ ministries, sermons" by Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post 11/16/14

Maryland’s stormwater remediation fee has been criticized ever since it became law in 2013. One of its main detractors is Gov.-elect Larry Hogan (R), who derisively calls the fee a “rain tax” and has promised to try to repeal it.

The fee applies to public and private properties, commercial and residential, and is assessed according to the size of each property’s impervious surface — solid material that blocks stormwater from being absorbed and filtered by the underlying soil.

In Prince George’s, churches are some of the largest properties in the county, with sprawling parking lots and generous acreage.

Churches, synagogues, mosques and other houses of worship are an “untapped resource” to help inspire the larger community to “do what is right,” Jon Capacasa of the Environmental Protection Agency said.

[Dozens of pastors have] agreed to start “green” ministries . . . and to preach environmentally focused sermons to educate their congregations.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read Obama's John Kerry Quotes Allah: We Must Fight Climate Change

What's next in this ObamaNation?  It's a 'Fake Church,' Says Catholic Cardinal

Study: Pastors Hide Culture Truth to be Successful

Researcher George Barna says that after years of survey and study, The Barna Group has found that the vast majority of theologically conservative American pastors intentionally conceal information that is critical to the well being of their flock and the nation, and do so in order to enhance the "success" of their church.

"Well, that's not part of my mission; my mission is to bring in more people and to get them to understand certain things that I feel they should know."
-- Common response by clergy

For background, read Pastors Who Avoid Gay Agenda Deserve Hell, Says Franklin Graham

-- From "Barna: Many pastors wary of raising 'controversy'" by Chris Woodward, OneNewsNow.com 8/1/14

"What we're finding is that when we ask them about all the key issues of the day, [90 percent of them are] telling us, Yes, the Bible speaks to every one of these issues. Then we ask them: Well, are you teaching your people what the Bible says about those issues? – and the numbers drop ... to less than 10 percent of pastors who say they will speak to it."

When researchers ask those pastors what else they are willing to do to get their people active in the political process, Barna said "it's almost nothing."

"There are five factors that the vast majority of pastors turn to [when asked the question of what defines success]," [Barna] explained. "Attendance, giving, number of programs, number of staff, and square footage.

"What I'm suggesting is [those pastors] won't probably get involved in politics because it's very controversial. Controversy keeps people from being in the seats, controversy keeps people from giving money, from attending programs.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read America Going to Hell; Christians Lose Convictions

Poll: Most Americans Religious, Homosexuals Aren't

A recent nationwide Gallup poll found that the vast majority of self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans rarely, if ever, go to church and most say that religion is not important to them or even a part of their lives.

For background, click headlines below to read previous article:

Poll: Gay Agenda Complete when Christians Muzzled

'Gay Churches' Decline as Mainlines Embrace Homosexuality

Pro-gay 'Church' Sues to Overturn God's Decree

Detroit Black Pastors Denounce 'Gay Rights'

Pope Francis Says Gay Agenda is Work of the Devil

-- From "LGBT Americans Are Less Religious Than Non-LGBT Americans, But Not Across The Board: Report" by Antonia Blumberg, The Huffington Post 8/12/14

LGBT adults in the U.S. are considerably more likely to identify as non-religious than their non-LGBT counterparts, Gallup found in an August 2014 survey. Forty-seven percent of LGBT adults say they are non-religious, compared to 30 percent of non-LGBT adults, and the difference only increases between LGBT women and non-LGBT women -- 46 percent to 25 percent, respectively.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Gallup: 62% of LGBT Americans ‘Seldom/Never’ Go to Church" by Michael W. Chapman, CNSNews.com 8/11/14

A new poll shows that 62% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT)  Americans “seldom/never” attend a religious service; 51% say religion is not important in their daily lives; and 47% say they are “not religious” at all.

When asked about their religiosity, only 24% of LGBT Americans said they were “highly religious” compared with 41% of non-LGBT people, and 47% of the LGBT’s said they were “not religious,” compared to 30% of non-LGBT Americans.

When asked about religious service attendance, only 26% of LGBT’s said they attended “at least once a week/almost every week”; 11% said “about once a month”; and 62% said “seldom/never.”

For contrast, 42% of non-LGBT’s said they went to church “at least once a week/almost every week.” In addition, only 44% of non-LGBT’s said they “seldom/never” attend a religious service.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "LGBT Population in U.S. Significantly Less Religious" by Frank Newport, Gallup 8/11/14

These results are based on more than 104,000 Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted between Jan. 2 and July 31, 2014, including 3,242 adults who identified themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.

There are a number of possible explanations for the lower level of religiosity among the U.S. LGBT population. LGBT individuals may feel less welcome in many congregations whose church doctrine, church policy, or ministers or parishioners condemn same-sex relations, and for the same reasons may be less likely to adopt religion into their own daily lives and beliefs.

Other possible explanations have to do less with church doctrine and more with the demographics of the LGBT population. LGBT individuals may be more likely to live in areas and cities where religion and religious service attendance are less common, and may adopt the practices of those with whom they share geography.

To read the entire survey above, CLICK HERE.

Also read President Obama's Homosexual Easter at the White House as well as American Decline: Obama's Gay Agenda vs. Christians

Church Defeats Abortion in Colorado, Dems Concede

In Colorado, the first state to legalize abortion (1967), the Democrat-held legislature planned a covert preemptive strike against unborn children with the NARAL-supported Senate Bill 175, titled the Reproductive Health Freedom Act -- an all-encompassing, yet vaguely-worded bill intended to stop any future pro-life legislation. However, once Denver Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila brought the attack to light, and led Christians across the state in opposition, including a thousand-strong march at the statehouse, Democrats were forced to scuttle the mission.

“Too many times we have taken a back seat. Catholics, Christians and people of good will can no longer take a back seat. We are called to work for the good and for the true.”
-- Rev. Samuel J. Aquila, Archbishop of Denver

You see, when the Church leads the flock, God blesses America! (2 Chron. 7:14) For example, read Illinois Black Churches, Catholic Diocese Block 'Gay Marriage'

For background, read Abortion Rate Declines, Democrats Want More Access and also read Democrats' Life Mission is to Kill the Unborn, Says Governor as well as Pope Decries Abortion, so Media Distorts Him

-- From "Senate Bill 175 withdrawn by Senate Democrats avoiding abortion debate" posted at KMGH-TV7 ABC (Denver, CO) 4/16/14

At least one Democrat had public concerns about the measure and all Republicans planned to vote against it. Democrats hold a slim one-seat majority in the Senate, so passage of the measure wasn't a sure thing.

Republicans and religious conservatives watching the debate applauded when Democrats abandoned the proposal. Opponents including the Catholic Archbishop of Denver feared the bill could threaten even basic health regulations on reproductive care.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Colorado Senate Democrats spike abortion bill" by Kurtis Lee, The Denver Post 4/16/14

All Senate Republicans, alongside the Archdiocese of Denver, denounced the legislation as "overreaching" and "ambiguous," saying the measure was not needed.

"It's a solution in search of a problem," said Sen. Bernie Herpin, R-Colorado Springs. "There is no one, no evidence, that has said there's a denial of things like contraception to women in Colorado."

Some GOP lawmakers criticized [Democrat Sen. Andy] Kerr's bill as political theater in an election year where the Jefferson County Democrat faces a tough re-election.

The proposal, written more like a resolution, offered limited details. For example, a section of the bill reads that the "state, its agencies, institutions, political subdivisions and units of local government shall not enact a policy regarding reproductive health care that is inconsistent with or interferes with access to information based on current evidence based scientific data and medical consensus."

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Senate Democrats kill anti-Personhood proposal" by Eli Stokols, KDVR-TV31 (Denver, CO) 4/16/14

The abortion issue has long been a winner for Colorado Democrats . . .

Their proposal, the “Reproductive Health Freedom Act,” ostensibly sought to prevent any future challenges to abortion rights in the state — to do something impossible — in an effort to protect Colorado women from the kind of restrictive laws that have passed in other states: mandatory ultrasound requirements and impossible-to-meet clinic requirements.

On Wednesday night, with all 18 Democrats in the chamber, the bill was postponed indefinitely — killed, in a word — by the sponsor, who avoided what would have been a lengthy floor debate and blamed the decision on Republicans promising to filibuster the measure and bog down the Senate calendar.

Democrats also had to realize that politically this effort had backfired, riling up conservatives across the state at the end of a session that has been the opposite of last year’s, a session in which hardly any bill debated inside the Capitol drew much of a reaction outside the building.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "CO Dems Abandon Abortion Bill After Archbishop Leads Rally at Statehouse" by Lauretta Brown, CNSNews.com 4/18/14

Although Democrats have a one-seat majority in the state Senate, fears arose that the bill would not pass after Senator John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins) - who had initially cast the deciding vote for the legislation in committee - expressed his misgivings, citing the huge public outcry.

Kefalas, a Catholic, says that he supports “a woman's right to make a decision,” but that he “had concerns about the outpouring that I heard from folks.”

“I'm not sure if it's the best tool for conveying the message which we wish to convey, which is that as Democrats, as with many people, [think] government should stay out of these things," Kefalas said in an interview with a local news station adding, “I'm also listening to folks that are reaching out to me.”

. . . after passing by just a one-vote margin (4-3) in the Senate Health and Human Services Committee, the bill stirred enormous opposition from pro-lifers, who said that it would block any future attempts to regulate abortion clinics, require parental notification before abortions were performed on minors, or force abortionists to show women ultrasound images of their babies so they could make an informed decision on whether to abort.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Radical abortion bill dies in Colo. Senate after call to prayer, action" posted at Catholic News Agency 4/16/14

Pro-abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, which backed the bill, had said that if it became law, it would have been the first of its kind in the country.

The legislation would have created a “fundamental right” to anything defined as “reproductive health care.” It would have barred state agencies and local government from having any policy that “denies or interferes with an individual’s reproductive health care decisions.”

Opponents had argued that the bill was vaguely worded and could have had far-reaching effects. They said it could have affected laws requiring parental involvement or notification for a minor who is seeking an abortion, as well as conscience protection laws and requirements that only licensed physicians can perform abortions.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

From "Archbishop Aquila Leads Rally Against Colorado Abortion Bill" by Wayne Laugesen, National Catholic Register 4/16/14

Bill opponents crammed public areas of the Senate chambers and believe the outside protest, phone calls and high volume of visible opposition may have played a role in the delay.

And sources at the State Capitol indicated after the April 15 rally that at least two Democratic senators are now reconsidering their support for the bill.

Archbishop Aquila told protesters that senators were receiving so many calls they turned off their phones. Calls to a variety of senators April 15 went straight to voicemail boxes that were full.

Colorado Attorney General John Suthers, a devout Catholic, concurs with critics who say the law is so vague it would cause an assortment of unintended consequences — including legal challenges to laws that mandate health-care providers report suspected sexual abuse of children.

To read the entire article above, CLICK HERE.

Also read America Going to Hell; Christians Lose Convictions