Mc DONALDS HEIR'S PLAN FOR DOZEN'S OF SALVATION ARMY CENTRES FALTERS

At her death in 2003, Joan B. Kroc, the widow of the founder of the McDonald’s Corporation, left a grand idea and $1.8 billion to make it happen. She wanted the Salvation Army to build some 30 lavish community centers around the nation, like the $87 million complex she paid for in San Diego, with three swimming pools, an indoor ice skating arena and a 600-seat theater.

But more than five years later, her plan is sputtering
The gift has always rested uncomfortably with some Salvation Army officials, who have a hard time reconciling the elaborate centers with the Army’s image as a frugal church that serves the needy.
Now, the plan is also proving difficult to finance. The Kroc fortune has been battered by the economic downturn, and raising additional money to make sure the centers can sustain themselves in the future has been challenging.
So far, just four centers have been completed. Two are scheduled to open this year, and at least five more next year. Plans for two complexes, in Detroit and Massena, N.Y., have recently been scuttled.
“The Salvation Army is not immune to the economic climate in which we find ourselves,” said Lt. Col. Ken Johnson, the Salvation Army’s secretary for business administration in the southern territory, one of four regional units. “When Mrs. Kroc gave her gift, it was a different economic world.”

Mrs. Kroc left enough money for each center to have an endowment equal to the cost of construction. It was a formula set by her financial advisers and was intended to cover any shortfall between a center’s operating revenues and its overall budget.
The Army, though, believed that was not enough, so it required each community to raise additional money — a total of $628 million nationally.
To date, the Army has received pledges and commitments of 34 percent of that amount, or $214 million, a spokesman said.
At the same time, Mrs. Kroc’s gift has shrunk. The half reserved for endowments has declined by 14 percent, or about $126 million, to $774 million, according to the Army.
“It’s one thing to build,” said Col. Steve Hedgren, chief secretary in the eastern territory, “but we’ve got to have the assurance that everyone understands the importance of these endowments and partnerships in the communities to sustain these centers.”
In some locales, deep-pocketed donors have stepped in to help. In Omaha, for example, a nonprofit fund-raising organization led by the community’s most prominent business leaders pledged to raise the necessary $15 million, while in Grand Rapids, Mich., Amway and the two families who own it have been major contributors.
But in other regions fund-raising has stalled. Long Beach, Calif., is struggling to raise $25 million. Chicago must raise $50 million.
New York City will have to raise $200 million for the Kroc Center scheduled for Staten Island, in part because the community has expanded the project.
In Massena, the cancellation of the Kroc Center was prompted by the closure of a General Motor plant, as well as other signs of economic deterioration.
“We’ll be going back to communicate with donors that have given for Kroc to let them know that we’re backing away from a Kroc center but will put up something else instead,” Colonel Hedgren said.
In Detroit, Salvation Army officials decided to cancel plans for a $40 million Kroc Center, a move that has incited outrage there and raised questions about how they have handled Mrs. Kroc’s gift. Army officials said they were simply unable to raise the needed money.
Supporters of the center disagree. Lt. Col. Clarence Harvey, a retired Salvation Army fund-raiser who was hired part-time to help raise money for the Detroit Kroc Center, said there was a financing plan in place in 2007 that local Army officials sidelined.
“There wasn’t any part of any program or future plan for Kroc that was not an example of the Salvation Army’s mission, but it made some people uncomfortable,” Colonel Harvey said. “There was fear that the Army is incapable of running such a plant, fear that the aquatics programs would be problematic — many concerns.”
The plan proposed by Colonel Harvey and a fund-raiser who was not a Salvation Army member, Russ Russell, included using a loan to give the community more time to raise the $48 million the Army was requiring.
Additionally, a major donor had pledged to line up 18 other large donors to pay down most of the loan, with the remainder coming from a grass-roots fund-raising effort.

But the plan was rejected by the leadership of the central territory. “There was never any offer on the table and never any viable deal to pursue,” said Col. Carol Seiler, the territory’s coordinator for strategic mission planning.

She said the “legal and practical” obstacles were too high.
In the end, she said, only $2 million was raised for the Detroit center, and donors in Detroit were telling Army officials there that they preferred to support the Army’s more traditional mission of serving basic needs.
Wayne Doran, a retired Ford Motor Company executive who led the Kroc fund-raising committee in Detroit, said he was confident the fund-raising goals could have been met and blamed internal Army squabbling for the cancellation of the center.
“I have great respect for the Salvation Army, but this couldn’t survive the political bickering that was going on among Army members,” Mr. Doran said. “People who give a lot of money do not want to give into a situation that is fraught with those kinds of problems.”
The Army recently turned down an offer of $250,000 from the Detroit Black McDonald’s Owners to support fund-raising and now plans to put a much smaller non-Kroc facility on the site. Community groups and others involved in the project have signed up more than 150 people to protest at the Salvation Army’s central territory headquarters in Chicago this month.
Meanwhile, other Kroc Centers are progressing. The Salem, Ore., center is scheduled to open in September, and the Omaha center in November; and at least five others are expected to open next year.
In some places, the Salvation Army has shown greater flexibility toward fund-raising goals. The central territory, for example, has allowed fund-raisers in Chicago to split their campaign into three phases.
Similarly, fund-raisers for the Kroc Center in Philadelphia say they believe that starting construction will help spur donations, so a 12-acre site there has been cleared and the holes have been dug for the pools.
“Some folks are less capable of giving because of investment returns and asset values being less, but they still want to hear from us,” said Raymond Welsh, a senior vice president at UBS Financial Services and chairman of the Philadelphia fund-raising committee. “Some are saying not now, but that’s not no forever.”

COLEMAN MURDER CASE BRINGS UP QUESTION OF EVANGELICAL DIVORCE

Police involved in the Coleman triple-murder case hit on a thorny theological question this week that goes back to the time of Jesus: Under what circumstances can Christians divorce?

It's an important question in the case because divorce, or more specifically, an evangelical organization's prohibition of divorce among its employees may be one reason behind the murders.

That question, of course, leads to others: When, and why, do religious organizations forbid their employees to divorce?Police have charged Christopher Coleman, a former employee of Joyce Meyer Ministries, with killing his wife and two children last month in their Columbia, Ill., home. A week after the murders, the Post-Dispatch disclosed that Coleman was having an affair. Soon after that, he resigned from his position working security with Joyce Meyer Ministries, a nonprofit evangelical organization based in Jefferson County. Coleman, 32, has pleaded not guilty.
Parents disclosed Wednesday that on the day of the murders, Coleman told his girlfriend that his wife, Sheri Coleman, would be served with divorce papers. In sworn testimony Wednesday, Columbia Police Chief Joe Edwards said: "Joyce Meyer Ministry does not employ people who get divorced." He said if the Colemans had divorced, Christopher Coleman "would end up losing his job." Calls to the ministry's headquarters were not returned, and an attorney for the ministry refused to speak on the record about the ministry's policy about divorce. Last month, however, a ministry spokesman said "a violation of moral conduct" led to Coleman's resignation.

Three former employees of the ministry described the no-divorce policy for the Post-Dispatch, though they couldn't say whether it was a written rule, or just an ingrained part of the Joyce Meyer Ministries culture. They said that people who have already gone through a divorce can be hired to work at the ministry, but that anyone divorced while working at the ministry is let go.

The ministry "hires people who have broken lives, who are divorced, who've been drug addicts," said George Wise, who said he worked for Joyce Meyer Ministries from 2001 to 2003 as a video specialist. The ministry uses testimonials from believers to attract others to the organization, including one from a woman whose relationship "ended in a painful divorce."

"I started to watch Joyce Meyer every chance I got," she writes. "God started to transform me and heal my broken heart."Wise said he'd been divorced twice by the time he was hired by Meyer and then married a colleague at the ministry. When that marriage didn't work out, he said, he was fired three days after his divorce was finalized."Everyone I ever knew that worked there and got divorced ... was fired," Wise said.

Professor Bradford Wilcox, a sociology professor at the University of Virginia who has written about religion and marriage, said a no-divorce policy is not unusual in Christian organizations whose employment guidelines are structured according to their faith."Some more traditional, typically evangelical Protestant or fundamentalist Protestant institutions ... have a policy relating to an employee's personal conduct," Wilcox said.

"For some of those institutions that conduct can encompass marital infidelity or divorce, and you could be sanctioned as a consequence."All of which is completely legal. "There is no law in Missouri that forbids discrimination on the basis of marital status," said Mary Anne Sedey, an employment attorney at Sedey Harper.

Eric Sowers, an employment attorney at Sowers & Wolf, said he'd never heard of anyone at a secular organization fired over marital status. He said religious organizations are exempt from the Missouri Human Rights Act. Wilcox said the First Amendment gives religious institutions wide latitude "to shape their employment policies so they're consistent with their religious teachings.

"Church leaders use a handful of passages from the Old and New Testaments as the Scriptural basis for such policies, including verses from the Gospels in which Jesus, referencing Genesis, said married people "are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."Most Christian scholars believe that after taking into account all the relevant biblical passages, Jesus said divorce was acceptable only in cases of adultery.

Christian leaders have struggled ever since with putting that message into practice, especially in clear cases of marital abuse.

"The big issues are the permitted grounds for divorce and whether or not one can remarry while the former spouse is alive," David Instone-Brewer, author of "Divorce And Remarriage in the Church," said in an e-mail message. "There are a few Christian teachers who would say that no believer may ever divorce, even if their spouse was committing constant adultery."Edwards, the Columbia police chief, testified Wednesday that Christopher Coleman has told authorities he had a good marriage, with a difficult period a year ago that was resolved with marriage counseling.

Despite the concentrated effort to keep Christian marriages together, a 2008 study from the Barna Research Group shows evangelical, or "born again" Christians divorce at the same rate as the rest of the American population — about 33 percent of all marriages.

Joyce Meyer said in her book she divorced her first husband, a part-time car salesman who cheated on her, in 1966 when she was 23. She calls it an "emotionally abusive first marriage" on her website. In an article on her ministry's website, Meyer wonders, "How many marriages could have been saved from divorce if husbands and wives had been willing to show love by serving one another."

GREENWICH NATIVE'S CALL 'CHINMOY'S MINISTRY' A " CULT "

When the late guru Sri Chinmoy came to Greenwich to lift an elephant in a circus-like street spectacle in 1984, former resident Jayanti Tamm, then 14, knew her secret was out.
"The next day, the newspaper had these breathless quotes from my parents, praising their spiritual leader (Chinmoy) for this feat (of strength)," Tamm said. "I was outed to the entire town."
A graduate of Greenwich Academy, Tamm says she spent many years in Greenwich leading a double life. By day, she was a typical teenager, she said, attending class and playing sports at the all-girls private school.
At home, however, she led a secret life as Chinmoy's so-called chosen disciple, along with her brother and parents, who were assigned by the guru to recruit disciples for his Queens-based spiritual ministry.
Growing more disillusioned with Chinmoy's teachings as a teenager, Tamm eventually rebelled against him and, at age 25, was kicked out of his ministry for disobedience.
Now a professor in Toms River, N.J., Tamm, 39, has chronicled her life growing up as a Chinmoy devotee in her book, "Cartwheels in a Sari: A Memoir of Growing Up Cult," released in April.
Unlike many other accounts, Tamm's book casts a sharply critical eye on Chinmoy.
An India native who emigrated to New York City in 1964, Chinmoy founded a popular ministry that would eventually attract thousands of current and former members, including celebrities Carlos Santana and Roberta Flack. Prior to suffering a fatal heart attack at age 76 in 2007, he also set up hundreds of meditation centers nationwide to spread his message of enlightenment through practices like celibacy and vegetarianism.
Today, his ministry remains active, promoting cultural and athletic initiatives that he founded, such as the annual World Harmony Run USA, an 11,000-mile race that, in 2005, passed through Greenwich.
But while Chinmoy has drawn praise across the globe for such efforts, Tamm reveals in her book a far darker side to his ministry -- which she calls a cult, led by a charismatic con man.
"He had this amazing capacity to work a room and to change people's minds," Tamm said in a recent interview. "Oftentimes, the whole thing was a sham."
Proclaiming himself "the last avatar" and "God's direct representative on earth" after forming his spiritual group in the 1970s, Chinmoy began dictating his followers' lives, she said, deciding everything from what they could eat to what time they slept.
While dating and marriage were prohibited, the guru made occasional exceptions, such as when he commanded her parents to wed shortly after they had met at a meditation session in Manhattan in the late 1960s.
When the couple violated his decree of abstaining from sex, and conceived Jayanti, Chinmoy was at first enraged -- only later approving the pregnancy after claiming that he had contacted a divine spirit who had given its blessing to the unborn child, according to Tamm.
Upon Tamm's birth in fall 1970, Chinmoy named her "Jayanti," meaning "the absolute victory of the highest Supreme," before declaring her as his "chosen" or "greatest" disciple, she said.
The family soon became loyal servants to Chinmoy, who ordered them in the early 1970s to move to Norwalk to serve as missionaries, recruiting "seekers" from across Connecticut.
Despite their desire to live closer to Chinmoy in Queens, the Tamms obeyed -- spending the next decade in Norwalk before moving to Wilton in 1981 and, a year later, to Greenwich. There, the family bought a home near the Port Chester border in hopes of being as close as possible, geographically, to New York.
"For my parents, Greenwich was always a disappointing substitute for Jamaica, (Queens)," said Tamm, whose father worked as Chinmoy's personal lawyer in town during the mid-1980s.
Once the family was settled here, Chinmoy soon ordered Tamm to enroll at Greenwich Academy, she said, because he wanted to "keep me away from boys," who would "poison your inner life, your spiritual life."
By that point, however, Tamm said she had reason to doubt Chinmoy. For years, she had seen him tour the country performing concerts and strongman feats. However, it became increasingly clear to her that these acts were a charade, the author recalled.
For one, she said, Chinmoy was embarrassingly inept as a musician, sometimes prompting audience members to walk out of his shows midway. And his seemingly super-human feats of strength -- on display, for instance, when he "lifted" an elephant in Greenwich during a promotional stunt -- were achieved by sleight of hand, she said, through a special apparatus designed to boost his leverage.
Having been forbidden from attending college, Tamm moved to Queens to worship at Chinmoy's side after graduating from Greenwich Academy. However, the doubts that had begun to take hold during her teenage years in town continued to mount during her early 20's in Queens, said Tamm, who was eventually expelled from Chinmoy's group after she attempted suicide.
Her parents left the group five years later, and got separated. Her mother still lives in Greenwich. Her brother, Ketan, 42, however, remains an active member of the group to this day.
Since then, the emotional recovery has required many hours of therapy, she said.
Still, Tamm does not blame her parents for choosing their former lifestyle, nor does she begrudge her brother for staying in Chinmoy's group following his death.
"They were doing what they believe was the best," she said. "If you've indeed invested 30 years of your life, it's hard to leave and finally admit that what you put your whole life into is something that isn't really true."
"That is so immense," she continued, "you can either make a huge break, or just keep plodding along."

CHRISTIANS IN INDIA " REJOICING " UNDER NEW GOVERNMENT

India - Hopeful excitement is building in India as the new government, which has already taken steps to protect Christians from persecution, begins its administration.
"Everyone is now anticipating five years not only of political stability, but also 5 years of having a government that wants to protect minorities," said Dave Stravers, president of Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Mission India.
Parliament passed new directives for law enforcement about a week ago for the protection of minorities, Stravers said.
"You can substitute the word 'Christians' there for 'minorities,' because it was a direct response to what happened last year in the state of Orissa and other places where Christians are being attacked," he explained. "So this is really a very significant transition."
Many believe the transition is occurring not only in the political world but also among the people of India.
"Even the secular and Hindu pundits in India are saying that this election shows a cultural shift happening," Stravers said. "People are tired of the politics of hate; they're tired of the religious extremism; they're tired of what they call 'casteism.' They don't want this kind of politics anymore. So this is very good news for the Gospel."
The Gospel has been spreading rapidly throughout India, and religious tolerance could open even more doors.
"India is so responsive to the Gospel right now," Stravers said. "We are hearing from virtually all the corners of India about openness, response, people being baptized by the thousands, even the tens of thousands...It just appears to us that all the conditions are right for a wonderful, massive, movement to Christ in India.
"Keep your eyes open, because you're going to be reading and hearing a lot more stories of what's happening in India."
On his last trip to India, Stravers learned one such story from a young man who had grown up as a very devout Hindu. A Christian had brought Scripture for his family, but later his family moved away.
"He said that from the age of 9, he felt the Lord had been pursuing him, and he had been resisting it," Stravers said. "Finally, God started giving him dreams, and these dreams in the night directed him to talk to certain people that he knew; he didn't know they were Christians."
Stravers met the man a few weeks after he and his wife were baptized.
"Even though the result was he lost his job and his family is opposing him, he's just very happy and telling everyone his story," Stravers said. He compared the way God pursued this young man to the way God is working in the nation of India.
"In this case He decided to pursue this man...for 20 years, till he came to Christ through a dream and a witnessing friend," he said. "From my perspective, God has decided to pursue India. And when God is pursuing you, something remarkable is going to happen."
The election could also benefit the lowest, most oppressed caste in Indian society -- the Dalits. Many Christians are Dalits, and Mission India is working hard to provide support and training for them.
"The Christians in India are among the poorest people in the country...the kind of people you saw in Slumdog Millionaire" Stravers said. "Those are the people who are coming to Christ in great numbers."
Stravers encouraged Christians to pray that God will provide for poor Christians, and that the government will continue to protect minority populations.
"Pray that it's really true that there will be some peace, some stability, and the doors will stay open," he said. "Also pray that extremists, whether they're Hindus or Muslims, will not be successful in intimidating or creating fear among believers."

A FIFTH GRADER BRINGS AN ENTIRE FAMILY TO FAITH

Nicaragua ― One night Chema Lopez, a JESUS Film team leader, was sitting outside his home in Nicaragua with his daughter. A young man approached them, introducing himself as Gabriel Antonio Madrigal. Gabriel explained that he was a Christian because of a presentation Chema did at his school seven years ago when he was in fifth grade.
Gabriel and his class watched "Jesus for Children," and then Gabriel prayed to become a Christian. When he got home, he told his parents that he had seen the presentation, that he'd become a Christian, and brought home the small book that Chema had given each student.
Gabriel was the oldest of four boys. His father drank very heavily and abused his mother very badly. After hearing of Gabriel's commitment to Christ, his father did not change. However, a month later, in 2002, Gabriel found his father in their living room reading the small book and crying. He became a Christian that day, and life changed drastically for Gabriel's family. The drinking and abuse stopped, and his father began conversing with and giving advice to his sons. Today, every member of his family is a believer.
JESUS Film has been considered one of the most successful evangelistic projects ever. However, they believe that the true success isn't the number of people who have already seen it, but the number who will follow Christ after seeing it. They seek to share the Gospel with people in their heart language via media.
Praise God for the courage of young Gabriel and the change that he initiated in his family. Praise God for His perfect timing and the impact that JESUS Film Project is having around the world.

CHURCH OF ENGLAND TRIES TO BROADEN APPEAL WITH SONGS BY U2 AND PRAYERS FOR GOOGLE

The ideas for alternative-style worship are part of an initiative launched by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, to appeal to the younger generation.
They are set out in a new book compiled by the Church's Fresh Expressions programme, which aims to boost church attendance with more relevant and exciting services.

However, traditionalists have criticised the unorthodox services as "pointless" and "shallow", and have warned that experimenting with Church tradition would do more harm than good.
One Holy Communion service promoted in the book, called Ancient Faith, Future Mission, begins with the congregation being shown a video clip from the YouTube website about a United Nations anti-poverty campaign.
Worshippers are told that "our planet is messed up" and that "things are not right".
They are then asked to approach the altar and rub sea salt on their fingers to represent tears, before walking around and meditating at eight "prayer stations" representing themes such as "gender equality" and "environmental sustainability".
A psalm is recited in "beat poetry" style to the accompaniment of African Djembe drums, and prayers are said "for the corporate world, for influential CEOs who oversee billion-dollar industries".
The prayers continue: "We pray for John Chambers of Cisco Systems, Bill Gates of Microsoft, Dr Eric Schmidt of Google Inc, H Lee Scott Jr of Wal-Mart Stores and others who have already made commitments to justice."
Among the alternative services explored in the book, which is co-edited by the Rt Rev Steven Croft, the new Bishop of Sheffield, are so-called "U2charists", services in which the congregation receives communion but sings the songs of the Irish rock band U2 instead of traditional hymns.
The services, which include such songs as "Mysterious Ways", "One", and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For", have been pioneered at St Swithin's church in Lincoln.
The book also features Transcendence, an event held in York Minister in which traditional Latin chant is set by DJs to hip hop or ambient dance music and video images are projected onto the walls.
The Rev Sue Wallace, who has pioneered the event by blending modern technology with ancient prayers, says that the response has been overwhelmingly positive.
Many of the services promoted in the book feature physical activity and symbols alongside traditional sermons.
In chapter of the book, Archbishop Williams says: "The Bible is full of stories about God communicating through act and sign as well as language ... Far from being bound to communication through clear information economically expressed in words, our society is still deeply sensitive to symbols and inclined to express important feelings and perceptions in this way."
The Fresh Expressions initiative was launched by the Archbishop in 2004 to combat the significant drop in churchgoing that has been seen in Britian over recent decades. In the past few years the decline appears to have steadied.
Church leaders are particularly concerned about the loss of younger people, who are abandoning the pews at a greater rate than their older counterparts.
The Rt Rev Graham Cray, who heads the Fresh Expressions initiative, said that it was vital that the Church explored new ways of engaging with modern culture.
"We have to reconnect with a very large percentage of the population that has no contact or interest in traditional church," he said.
"It is important to offer spirituality to people who are offered a multi-choice lifestyle and who think that the last place they'll find it is in church."
He said that the new services were carefully designed for specific communities and stressed they was not supposed to challenge traditional worship.
However, the Rev David Houlding, prebendary at St Paul's Cathedral, bemoaned the Church's attempt to widen its appeal.
"All this is tosh. It's just a passing fad, irrelevant, shallow and pointless," he said.
"There's no depth to it and it's embarrassing because it'll make people think that we're eccentric and silly."
The Fresh Expressions initiative has spawned churches for surfers as well as commissioning priests to work in night clubs and skateboard parks.

NASA BACKS MONTH LONG HOMOSEXUAL PRIDE CELEBRATION MONTH

NASA is celebrating homosexual pride month.
After a presidential proclamation declaring June homosexual pride month, NASA is drawing some reaction for its support. Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel tells OneNewsNow NASA has obviously gone off course and they need to get back on track.

"NASA needs to focus on what it's good at and that is sending people to the moon, not celebrating sexual perversity," he believes. "NASA has clearly misfired here. It's off track. It's out of step with the American people, and I think it goes back to the president of the United States who is left of every social issue."

Staver does not believe people will tolerate Obama lifting up perversity. "When he simply ignores the Day of Prayer, he apologizes for America, says that America is not a Christian or a Jewish nation, and lauds Islam and apologizes to the Islamic leaders and bows down to them," he points out. Celebrating homosexuality will be part of America's downfall if its people do not change course, Staver concludes.

CHRISTIAN MURDERED FOR DRINKING TEA FROM A MUSLIM CUP IN PAKISTAN

International Christian Concern (www.persecution.org) has learned that radical Muslims running a tea stall beat a Christian man to death for using a cup designated for Muslims on May 9.

The young man, Ishtiaq Masih, had ordered tea at a roadside stall in Machharkay village, Punjab, Pakistan, after his bus made a rest stop. When Ishtiaq went to pay for his tea, the owner noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a cross and grabbed him, calling for his employees to bring anything available to beat him for violating a sign posted on the stall warning non-Muslims to declare their religion before being served. Ishtiaq had not noticed the warning sign before ordering his tea.

The owner and 14 of his employees beat Ishtiaq with stones, iron rods and clubs, and stabbed him multiple times with kitchen knives as Ishtiaq pleaded for mercy.The other bus passengers and other passers-by finally intervened and took Ishtiaq to the Rural Health Center in the village.

The doctor who took Ishtiaq's case told ICC that Ishtiaq had died due to excessive internal and external bleeding, a fractured skull, and brain injuries.Makah Tea Stall is located on the Sukheki-Lahore highway and is owned by Mubarak Ali, a 42-year-old radical Muslim.

ICC's correspondent visited the tea stall and observed that a large red warning sign with a death's head symbol was posted which read, "All non-Muslims should introduce their faith prior to ordering tea. This tea stall serves Muslims only." The warning also threatened anyone who violated the rule with "dire consequences."

A neighboring shopkeeper told ICC on condition of anonymity that all Ali's employees are former students of radical Muslim madrassas (seminaries). Ishtiaq's family said that they immediately reported the incident to the police and filed a case against Ali. However, the murderers are still freely operating the tea stall.

When ICC asked the Pindi Bhatian Saddar police station about the murder, the police chief said that investigations were underway and they are treating it as a faith-based murder by biased Muslims. When asked about Ali's warning sign, police chief Muhammad Iftikhar Bajwa claimed that he could not take it down. However, the constitution of Pakistan explicitly prohibits such discrimination.

BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY REQUIRES PERMIT TO HANDOUT BIBLES

Giving away Bibles on the campus of Bucknell University is at your own peril, since the school requires a permit for such an activity, according to a new dispute that arose involving the school's Conservatives Club.
The organization has attempted to make several political statements on campus, and has been shut down by officials with the university repeatedly, said a complaint letter assembled by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
The revelation of other permit demand for giving away Bibles came as part of an e-mail exchange over the dispute, in which school administrator Judy Mickanis told the leader of the Bucknell University Conservatives Club that its members needed a "sales and solicitation" permit to give away anything.
"The policy is in place to protect the entire BU community and I said that consistently permission was needed to hand out anything from Bibles to other matter. You just can't hand things out without approval," Mickanis' e-mail said.
According to the report from FIRE, the school in Lewisburg, Pa., is staging an assault on student rights.

The Conservatives there have had "three events censored in two months" in their attempts to make political statements by a university "using flimsy or patently false excuses," the report said.
"Bucknell promises free speech, but it delivers selective censorship," said FIRE President Greg Lukianoff. "Bucknell administrators have gone out of their way to abuse and even invent policies in attempts to silence these students, all the while professing to respect free speech."
He said the student group in March tried to hand out fake dollar bills with President Obama's face on the front and the sentence "Obama's stimulus plan makes your money as worthless as monopoly money" on the back. Mickanis told the students they were "busted" and they needed a special permit for their "solicitation." She told the students their offense was the equivalent of handing out Bibles, FIRE said.
"Distributing protest literature is an American free-speech tradition that dates to before the founding of the United States," said Adam Kissel, director of FIRE's Individual Rights Defense Program. "And why is Bucknell so afraid of students handing out 'Bibles [or] other matter' that might provide challenging perspectives?"
Another incident happened in April, when students were staging an "affirmative action bake sale" protest. FIRE said affirmative action bake sales are a widely used form of satirical protest against affirmative action policies that treat people of different races differently. Organizers typically display suggested pricing in which African-American and Hispanic students are asked to pay lower prices than Asian and white students for the same items. The protests are thus intended to satirize and spark debate about affirmative action policies, not to raise revenue.
But Associate Dean of Students Gerald W. Commerford shut down the event, with orders to the students to obtain another permit. When students applied for one, they were refused permission.
FIRE said by shutting down events by Conservatives Club members, "Bucknell sends the message to its students that speech is to be feared, monitored, and ultimately restrained if it is deemed sufficiently controversial."
Bucknell declined to comment to WND on the issues, but delivered a statement from General Counsel Wayne Bromfield that challenged FIRE's description of the events. He explained the "dollar bills" were disallowed because students must register to participate in that activity.
The second instance, "disparate racial pricing for doughnut sales – was prohibited because we cannot and do not permit facially discriminatory practices," the lawyer said.
The school declined to comment or expand on the statements from Mickanis that giving away Bibles would require a permit.
Fire said the school's version of events didn't align with what it had been told by participants.

MORE THAN 30 HOUSE CHURCH LEADERS ARRESTED IN SICHUAN PROVINCE OF CHINA; PRAY & MAKE A DIFFERENCE

SICHUAN -- On June 9 more than 30 house church leaders were arrested while gathering in a house church in Langzhong city, Sichuan province. Thirteen leaders were given 15 days of administrative detention, and five of the leaders were placed under criminal detention. The other leaders were released.
The Christian leaders were gathered in Pastor Li Ming's house church at 5:30 p.m., in Lanzhou city, when several dozen officials in six to seven police vehicles from the local Domestic Security Protection Squad surrounded the site, then arrested all of the Christians and searched the house. The 13 leaders who received 15 days of administrative detention are: Wang Fang, Ma Zhongqiong, Wang Huaying, Pang Kaizhen, Chen Deying, Hu Xiuying, Li Daxiu, Deng Shuhua, Chen Jingfang, Wang Yulan, Song Liangqing, Wang Shixiu and Li Shufeng.
The five leaders who received criminal detention are likely to face a formal criminal indictment or up to three years of re-education through labor. They are: Pastors Gao Guofu, Pastor Li Ming, Zhang Guofen, Gu Lianpeng and Yu Zhipeng. Pastor Li Ming was sentenced to three years of re-education through labor in recent years because of his Christian faith.
ChinaAid calls on Christians around the world to pray for the imprisoned Christians and their families. ChinaAid also strongly denounces the Langzhong authorities in Sichuan for their reprehensible conduct which violates both Chinese and international laws guaranteeing freedom of religion.

WHO DECLARES SWINE FLU " PANDEMIC "

GENEVA: The World Health Organization told its member nations it was declaring a swine flu pandemic on Thursday - the first global flu epidemic in 41 years - as infections climbed in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere.
In a statement sent to member countries, WHO said it decided to raise the pandemic warning level from phase 5 to 6 - its highest alert - after holding an emergency meeting on swine flu with its experts.
The long-awaited pandemic decision is scientific confirmation that a new flu virus has emerged and is quickly circling the globe. It will trigger drugmakers to speed up production of a swine flu vaccine and prompt governments to devote more money toward efforts to contain the virus.
"At this early stage, the pandemic can be characterized globally as being moderate in severity," WHO said in the statement, urging nations not to close borders or restrict travel and trade. "(We) remain in close dialogue with influenza vaccine manufacturers."
On Wednesday, WHO said 74 countries had reported nearly 27,737 cases of swine flu, including 141 deaths.
The agency has stressed that most cases are mild and require no treatment, but the fear is that a rash of new infections could overwhelm hospitals and health authorities - especially in poorer countries.
Still, about half of the people who have died from swine flu were previously young and healthy - people who are not usually susceptible to flu.
Swine flu is also continuing to spread during the start of summer in the northern hemisphere. Normally, flu viruses disappear with warm weather, but swine flu is proving to be resilient.
The last pandemic - the Hong Kong flu of 1968 - killed about 1 million people. Ordinary flu kills about 250,000 to 500,000 people each year.
Many health experts say WHO's pandemic declaration could have come weeks earlier but the agency became bogged down by politics. In May, several countries urged WHO not to declare a pandemic, fearing it would cause social and economic turmoil.
"This is WHO finally catching up with the facts," said Michael Osterholm, a flu expert at the University of Minnesota who has advised the US government on pandemic preparations.
Despite WHO's hopes, raising the epidemic alert to the highest level will almost certainly spark some panic about spread of swine flu.
Fear has already gripped Argentina, where thousands of people worried about swine flu flooded into hospitals this week, bringing emergency health services in the capital of Buenos Aires to the brink of collapse. Last month, a bus arriving in Argentina from Chile was stoned by people who thought a passenger on it had swine flu. Chile has the most swine flu cases in South America.
In Hong Kong on Thursday, the government ordered all kindergartens and primary schools closed for two weeks after a dozen students tested positive for swine flu - a move that some flu experts would consider an overreaction.
In the United States, where there have been more than 13,000 cases and at least 27 deaths from swine flu, officials at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the move would not change how the US tackled swine flu.
"Our actions in the past month have been as if there was a pandemic in this country," Glen Nowak, a CDC spokesman, said on Thursday.
The US government has already taken steps like increasing availability of flu-fighting medicines and authorizing $1 billion for the development of a new vaccine against the novel virus. In addition, new cases seem to be declining in many parts of the country, U.S. health officials say, as North America moves out of its traditional winter flu season.
Still, Osterholm said the declaration was a wake-up call for the world.
"I think a lot of people think we're done with swine flu, but you can't fall asleep at the wheel," he said. "We don't know what's going to happen in the next 6 to 12 months."

CHINESE BOOKSTORE OWNER GETS THREE YEARS IN JAIL FOR PRINTING BIBLES TO GIVE TO LOCAL CHURCHES

A Chinese bookstore owner who was taken into custody and accused of printing Bibles to give to local house church congregations has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined nearly $22,000, according to a report from Compass Direct.
The report said a Beijing court today delivered the guilty verdict in the trial of Shi Weihan on allegations he ran an "illegal business operation."
WND has reported on the case since the businessman's original arrest, including when a report came out last year that even his friends hardly recognized him because of the deterioration of his health while in jail awaiting court proceedings.
WND first reported when the house church leader became one of the Christians in China who simply "disappeared" in 2007.
He later was tracked to prison, and although in January of 2008 he was cleared of allegations made against him, he was taken into custody again in March and has been held there since.
Officials with China Aid Association said then his life was at risk.
"According to personal acquaintances who have visited Mr. Shi, his health has degenerated to the point that he is hardly recognizable to his closest friends," China Aid said at the time.
Now, Compass Direct reports that the bookstore operated legally and sold only books for which he held government permission. But the conviction said he printed Bibles and other literature to give to churches.
Ray Sharpe, a friend of the bookstore owner, told Compass Direct a written judgment is expected within about two weeks to allow an appeal to be filed.
The report said friends and business acquaintances of Shi described him as a model citizen of China. He was known, the report said, for his work among the poor in his nation.
His wife, Zhang Jing, and their two daughters, have been under surveillance for much of his time in jail, the report said.
Shi owns a bookstore near where last year's Olympics complex was built in Beijing.
Sharpe told WND at the time of Shi's first arrest that Shi is a businessman who also works as a travel agent.
In the runup to the Olympics, WND reported on a "blacklist" of people and groups of people China was targeting specifically because of the games last August. Those targeted included religious leaders.
The case involving Shi has gotten considerable attention at least partly because he is the father of a U.S. citizen.
Grace Shi, 9, was born during the family's visit to the U.S. in 2000.

SWINE FLU TALLY REACHES 25,288 : 139 DEAD : WHO, PRAY & MAKE A DIFFERENCE

GENEVA: The UN health agency says at least 25,288 people around the world have contracted swine flu, and that 139 of those people have died.
Monday's tally by the World Health Organization includes 3,348 new cases, mostly in the United States. It also adds 14 deaths as a result of the disease, 10 in the US, three in Mexico and a first in the Dominican Republic. WHO says people in 73 countries have now been infected with swine flu

AN ADVISER OF UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA ,LOS ANGELES TOLD A STUDENT THAT SHE CAN'T SAY ' JESUS ' DUE TO DEPARTMENTAL POLICY

An adviser on the campus of UCLA has edited a student's personal graduation statement to remove her reference to "my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," citing policy in the Department of Molecular, Cell & Development Biology.
Word of the situation came from an Internet posting by Gordon Klingenschmitt, the former Navy chaplain who was removed from the military in a dispute over the use of Jesus' name in his prayers.
"This is another example of the improper application of separation of church and state," he told WND. "As a government school, UCLA cannot prohibit religious expression. They're the ones crossing the line here."
The school, in a later statement, confirmed it had reviewed its procedures and would read the statements as submitted by students, after "making clear" that it was understood that it is not a university statement.
The posting revealed an e-mail exchange for a submission by student Christina Popa to faculty adviser Pamela Hurley of her "personal statement" for graduation.The statements are submitted by students, but eventually are read by faculty.

Popa wrote she wanted to say: "'I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I also want to thank my father who passed away 3 years ago, for teaching me to always do my best and thus motivating me to pursue the sciences. I want to thank my mother for supporting me in school as well as my sisters and brother for encouraging me and my friends for making college fun.' I plan to work in a research lab or become a dietician."
Klingenschmitt said he'd talked with Popa and she was not making any further public statements on the dispute at this time. WND messages left via telephone and sent via e-mail to Hurley were not returned.
The university, however, did release a statement explaining the reading of the "words of wisdom" is done by a member of the school administration.
"Because the reading is by the university, not the students, to avoid the appearance that the university was advocating one religion over the other, guidelines were established so that messages would not include references to particular religions," the school stated. "The department and the university support the First Amendment and in no way intended to impinge upon any students' rights.
"Thus, upon review, and recognizing that the intent of the ceremony is for all students to have a chance to say something at graduation, the department will continue to make clear to the audience that the statements are the personal statements of each student and will read statements as originally submitted by the students," the school said.
Hurley's e-mail response to Popa had said, "UCLA is a public university where the doctrine of separation of church and state is observed, in order to respect the sheer diversity of religious beliefs among the people who come here. Since that is so, we do permit MCDB graduates to thank God in their words of wisdom, but we also ask that they refrain from making more specific religious references of any kind."
She continued: "In this setting, even I would not personally be comfortable reading: 'I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.' Therefore, I need to let you know that I will read your Words of Wisdom as follows: First, I want to thank God….
"I hope that you can be okay with the above, given all the circumstances that exist," the e-mail said.
Klingenschmitt, who had assembled a petition on his website on the issue, faced punishment over the use of the name of Jesus in prayers and still is pursuing a court action seeking reinstatement.
His petition on Popa's behalf said: "We the undersigned, respectfully express our shock and dismay, at the anti-Christian discrimination by UCLA Biology Professor Pamela Hurley, who has directly refused the rights of graduating student Christina Popa, who wants to say 'I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,' in her own pre-graduation speech…
"We pray that UCLA will stop censoring students' right to freedom of religious expression. … We pray that Christina Popa will be allowed the right she earned, to give thanks to Jesus Christ at her own graduation."
Popa had responded with a follow-up e-mail that since her thanks to Jesus were being censored, she has learned "UCLA officials do not understand what diversity and respect really means."
"I am not offended because it's 'my faith' but because UCLA is censoring my freedom of speech, which is unconstitutional in the United States," she wrote.
The adviser responded with an implied threat.
"If you prefer, Christina, I can read none of what you wrote."
"UCLA is not censoring your freedom of speech. This is not UCLA policy, or College policy … this is Department of Molecular, Cell & Developmental Biology policy," she continued. "I have already stated to you directly already (sic) that I would not be comfortable reading specific religious references, such as the ones you submitted … or to any other avatar…"
Since being removed from the military, Klingenschmitt has fought repeatedly for the right to pray in Jesus name, including a battle in Virginia over a state regulation that state trooper chaplains there no longer can pray in Jesus' name.

FAITH ORGANIZATION TO DISPLAY A 16 FOOT CROSS,THE STAR OF DAVID & A SACRED SYMBOL IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE

WASHINGTON, -- A faith organization plans to display a 16 foot cross, the Star of David and a sacred symbol for the name of Jesus in front of the White House on Sunday, June 7.
This public witness is taking place to call upon President Obama to respect and protect public expressions of faith after he covered up a cross and a symbol for the name of Jesus at a Georgetown University speech.Located in Washington, D.C., Georgetown is the oldest Catholic university in the United States.
Faith leaders are asking that the White House issue a written policy saying they will not cover up any religious or sacred symbols during appearances and speeches by President Obama.
The Christian Defense Coalition is sponsoring the event which will be held Sunday, June 7, at 7:00 P.M. in front of the White House. The activities will also include a prayer vigil.
The exact location is Pennsylvania Ave. NW across from Lafayette Park.
The group is troubled and finds hypocritical that President Obama would highlight religious liberty and freedom at his recent speech in Cairo, yet here in America he chooses to cover up Christian religious symbols and trample on religious liberty.
The coalition wonders out loud if President Obama is being "selective" when it comes to protected religious freedom. In his speech, he talked about protecting the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and using the courts to punish those who would deny it. Yet the President shows no respect for the Christian tradition by covering the cross and a symbol for the name of Jesus.
At the Cairo speech President Obama said:
"Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it."
"Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion."
"That is why the US government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it."
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states:
"We applaud President Obama for making religious freedom and liberty a central part of his Cairo speech. However, it is both hypocritical and troubling to highlight protecting religious liberty in Egypt while disrespecting and crushing it here in America.

"It is stunning that the President of the United States would ask a Catholic university to cover up the cross and a symbol for the name of Jesus 'to provide a consistent background of American flags for a televised speech' according to the White House. These are not the actions of a President that respects and is sensitive toward public expressions of faith.
"We admire President Obama for using the courts to protect the right of Muslim women and girls to wear the hijab. This is a very significant step in safeguarding religious liberty. However, the commitment to secure freedom of religion should extend to all faith traditions not a select few. President Obama should be as committed to protecting Christian public expressions of faith as he is toward protecting Muslim public expressions of faith.
"The simplest way to clear up this controversy is for the White House to apologize and issue a written policy saying they will not cover up any religious or sacred symbols during an appearance or speech by the President. That policy must include all faith traditions."

4OO STUDENTS DEFY ACLU ( American Civil Liberties Union ) AND STAND TO RECITE LORD'S PRAYER AT GRADUATION IN PACE HIGH SCHOOL, SANTA ROSA COUNTY

SANTA ROSA COUNTY, – Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord’s Prayer during their graduation ceremony last Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith.
The prayerful protest by the students comes on the heels of a lawsuit the ACLU filed against the Santa Rosa County School District, claiming some of the teachers and administration endorsed religion. The suit was filed on behalf of two students, who said that the teachers were promoting their views of religion.

The two teachers at Pace High School were Principal Frank Lay and school teacher Michelle Winkler. The ACLU alleges that during a dinner event held at the school, Principal Lay asked the athletic director to bless the meal. In another incident, the ACLU alleges that Michelle Winkler’s husband, who is not a school board employee, offered prayer at an awards ceremony
According to the ACLU lawsuit, graduation ceremonies during the past five years at Central, Jay, Milton, Navarre and Pace High Schools in the Santa Rosa District have included prayers by students – often members of groups like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes or the Christian World Order. The graduation ceremonies at Santa Rosa Adult School and Santa Rosa Learning Academy also have included prayers.
Leading up to the graduation ceremony, the ACLU demanded that Pace High School censor students from offering prayers or saying anything religious. In the end, members of the student body were not permitted to speak at the graduation.
The graduating class at the school, however, decided to react against the ACLU bullying by taking a stand at graduation. As soon as Principal Lay asked everyone to be seated at the ceremony, the graduating class remained standing and recited the Lord’s Prayer.
ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson told ABC Channel Three after the event: "Our feeling is that it's regrettable that the students took over the ceremony to impose their religious views on the audience who may not have shared the same religious views.
"School officials have a responsibility to protect the silently held religious views of others."
Stevenson said that something should have been done to stop the recitation of the Lord's Prayer and that it is too early to know whether the ACLU will pursue further legal action.
Mathew D. Staver, Founder of Liberty Counsel and Dean of Liberty University School of Law, commented: “Neither students nor teachers shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate. The students at Pace High School refused to remain silent and were not about to be bullied by the ACLU.
“We have decided to represent faculty, staff and students of Pace High School,” he said, “because the ACLU is clearly violating their First Amendment rights. Schools are not religion-free zones, and any attempt to make them so is unconstitutional.”

PAKISTAN : MUSLIM GUY FORCES 12 YEAR OLD GIRL TO CONVERT AND MARRY HIM

LAHORE, Pakistan – The Christian mother of a 12-year-old girl in Punjab Province who was kidnapped, coerced into converting to Islam and forcibly married to a 37-year-old Muslim hopes to recover her daughter at a court hearing next week.
The reaction of Pakistani law enforcement authorities to Sajida Masih’s complaint so far – ridiculing her and asserting that there is nothing she can do because her daughter is now a Muslim – does not encourage her hopes of recovering her daughter Huma at next Thursday’s (June 11) hearing.
Masih said that Muhammad Imran abducted Huma at gunpoint on Feb. 23 from Hanif Kot village in Gujranwala district, forcibly converted her and then married her. Imran has since disappeared along with his first wife, three children and new child-bride.
Masih, who worked alongside Imran as a farmhand, said the kidnapping occurred on her son’s wedding day. Masih said that when she sent Huma and the child’s aunt out of their home to see if transportation had arrived for the wedding party, Imran – who had helped in preparing for the ceremony – was waiting and told her to sit on his motorbike.
Huma did not understand and, with her concerned aunt tightly holding her hand, she refused.
Masih’s attorney, who requested anonymity for security reasons, said Imran took out a pistol and told Huma that he would shoot her as well as her parents if she did not obey; he also pointed the weapon at her aunt and said that he would kill her. Huma got onto the bike with him; her family has not seen her since.
Masih immediately ran to the owner of the farm where she and Imran work, Khan Buhadur, who told her to first finish the wedding and then see him in the evening. Masih’s attorney said that when she and relatives went to Buhadur after the ceremony, however, he said only that Imran had fled with his family along with the girl, and that he did not know where they were.
Suspecting that Buhadur was complicit in the kidnapping, Masih went to Sadar police station in Gujranwala. Police officers first ridiculed her, the attorney said, and then told her to go back to Buhadur because “only he could do something.” For several days officers and Buhadur shuttled her back and forth between them.
Unable to get police to register the case, Masih submitted a report with the help of a lawyer and took it to the police station, where officers consigned it to the dustbin.
Three days after the kidnapping, police finally registered a First Information Report (FIR) on Feb. 26 – but changed the age of the kidnapped girl from 12, as her mother reported, to 16. Moreover, Investigating Officer Niaz Khan told Masih that the FIR was useless since she was too poor to hire a lawyer, and that she should try to reach an out-of-court agreement with Buhadur – implying that he knew of the child’s whereabouts.
The Masih family learned from a friend of Imran, identified only as Javed, that Huma had converted to Islam and had married the fugitive father of three. Javed further said that Imran had told him police would do nothing as he had paid them 50,000 rupees (US$620).
The family subsequently received a court notice, the attorney said, stating that Imran had requested nullification of the FIR on Huma’s abduction, claiming she was an “adult” and had “willfully” converted to Islam and married him.
According to Huma’s birth certificate, issued by St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Gujranwala, she was born on Oct. 22, 1996. The attorney said that Imran had submitted a fake birth certificate stating she was born on Dec. 23, 1990, which would make her 18 years old. The legal marriage age for girls in Pakistan is 16.
Only then did Masih obtain the services of the lawyer now handling the case, who is supported by the American Center for Law & Justice.
A hearing on the case had been scheduled for May 6, but because of a change of judge a new date was set for June 11. Unwilling to wait, the family and their lawyer went with a court bailiff to a factory owned by Buhadur in Gujranwala on May 14, hoping to get help in recovering Huma, but Buhadur did not cooperate.
Buhadur had been demanding that Masih pay him 100,000 rupees (US$1,240) that she had supposedly borrowed from him, but this demand only surfaced after the kidnapping – an implied attempt to extort money from her in exchange for information on the whereabouts of her daughter, according to the lawyer. Buhadur withdrew this pressure on Masih after the visit from the court bailiff and efforts by the attorney.
At a meeting of villagers on May 16 at the Sadar police station, Buhadur said that Imran owed him money and that he would inform officers if he learned anything of his whereabouts.
Another land owner, Karamat Ali Saroyya, subsequently called Masih saying that Huma was in Muridke, near Lahore, but when Masih and her lawyer set out again and met with Muridke police, they were unable to find her.
Saroyya later demanded that Masih work his fields for one year in order to get her daughter back.
Masih’s lawyer and other legal representatives said police and officials at the Municipal Corporation’s office, which keeps birth and death records, have been reluctant to help, saying that Huma had converted and that therefore there was no reason that she should be returned to non-Muslim parents.

OBAMA WOOS MUSLIMS IN HIS CAIRO SPEECH, BUT FAILS TO ADDRESS PERSECUTION IN CAIRO AGAINST THE CHRISTIANS

WASHINGTON: In a landmark speech reaching out to the Islamic world, US President Barack Obama on Thursday called for a new beginning between the United States and Muslims, saying both sides should overcome the cycle of suspicion and discord, and religious beliefs across the world were not inimical or exclusive to each other.
Obama’s eloquent address in Cairo, Egypt, home to the historic Al Azhar and Cairo University, contained quotations from the Koran, rich references to Islam’s contribution to civilization, and his own personal connection to the faith. Beyond that, he also outlined the source of the fear and mistrust between the two sides, including 9/11, while warning that violent extremists have exploited these tensions ''in a small but potent minority of Muslims.''
Among the key contentious issues and geography identified by Obama were the festering Israeli-Palestinian dispute, Iraq (which he suggested was needlessly invaded), US differences with Iran and indeed much of the world over possession of nuclear weapons, Af-Pak (home to the perpetrators of 9/11), and differing perceptions between the west and the Islamic world on democracy and women's rights.
But he conspicuously excluded any reference to the Kashmir issue in the Indian sub-continent, home of the largest concentration of Muslims in the world, likely to the dismay of Pakistan and its separatist proxies who have made it a cause, and the delight of Indian nationalists who believe it is a domestic or regional concern.
Outlining the more recent events that led to the growing rift between the US and the Islamic world, Obama reminded the world that the perpetrators of 9/11 were hiding in the Af-Pak region, forcing U.S to come after them. Al Qaeda was not only unrepentant but was even now planning to expand their reach and kill on a mass scale. ''Make no mistake: we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan.
It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case,'' Obama said, echoing the general Indian sentiment about lowering its guard against acts of terrorism. The US President said ''America is not - and never will be - at war with Islam.
We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security.'' The US President also touched on the revived debate about nuclear weapons, saying he understood those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. ''No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons,'' he said, indicating that he would push ahead with advancing the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Earlier, in reaching out to the Islamic world, Obama proffered his own personal experience, relating ''I am a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.'' ''So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed,'' he said. ''That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't.''
Obama said he considered it part of his responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear, but that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. ''Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire,'' he said, offering a thesis that is seldom accepted in the Islamic world.

FOUL - MOUTHED HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISTS AND ANT-CHRISTIAN BIGOT KEVIN JENNINGS APPOINTED TO OBAMA'S ADMINISTRATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Although President Barack Obama has advocated speaking "fair minded words" in debating differences on major ethical issues, his recent nominee to the Department of Education's Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools is a homosexual activist with a history of using foul and abusive language against those who have opposed his homosexualist agenda.

Kevin Jennings, the founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network (GLSEN), was recently appointed to the Obama Administration as Assistant Deputy Secretary for the Office of Safe & Drug Free Schools, which is under the Department of Education led by Education Secretary Arne Duncan.

During Jennings's tenure as the Executive director of GLSEN, the organization sponsored a Tufts University conference called "TeachOut" in March 2000. The conference was co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Education; but the event has been described by pro-family organizations familiar with the conference as "fistgate" for its extremely graphic and detailed workshops to teenagers about the mechanics and variations of homosexual intercourse.

The Massachusetts watchdog group, MassResistance, includes on its website a number of graphic quotations from homosexual presenters, who instigated equally graphic conversations on homosexual sex with youth there. MassResistance says they will be releasing a tape of the event to the public later this week.

Around the same time, Jennings was quoted in Marble Collegiate Church as saying members of the "religious right" were "hard core bigots" who comprised about 20 percent of the electorate. "We have to quit being afraid of the religious right. We also have to quit - I'm trying to find a way to say this. I'm trying not to say, 'F**k 'em!' which is what I want to say, because I don't care what they think!" Jennings told his audience, which pealed with laughter. "Drop dead!" According to Americans for Truth, Jennings and GLSEN never repudiated the actions of homosexual activists at the "Teach Out" conference, but instead attacked Scott Whiteman, the Massachusetts parent who video-recorded the proceedings, for violating students' privacy. "Anti-religious bigots should not be setting policy for schools - and promoting dangerous sex and gender identities to youth is the antithesis of 'safety,'" stated Peter LaBarbera, president of Americans for Truth.

"Jennings should have been drummed out of public policy years ago for GLSEN's role in the awful Fistgate scandal that corrupted Boston youth," LaBarbera stated. "But instead the GLSEN founder is now being elevated to one of the most important roles in U.S. education policy." LaBarbera continued, "Americans For Truth will educate Americans on Jennings' and GLSEN's dangerous agenda, and we will work with other pro-family and parental rights groups across the country - and Obama voters who oppose pro-homosexual indoctrination in schools - to urge that the Jennings appointment be withdrawn."

EVANGELICALS FRUSTRATED BY OBAMA'S "LGBT PRIDE MONTH" ( LESBIAN,GAY,BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER )

WASHINGTON --President Obama Monday named June as "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month" issuing a proclamation that goes even further than those of former President Clinton in its pro-homosexuality slant.

Clinton was the last president to issue such a proclamation, first doing so in 1999 and then in 2000 before he left office. Obama's 572-word proclamation calls for ending the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy -- which was put in place under Clinton -- and also includes the phrase "transgender" for a first time. Clinton's proclamations never referenced transgenderism, a category that includes cross-dressers and people undergoing sex change operations.

Another first: Obama's proclamation reiterates his support for same-sex civil union laws.President George W. Bush never issued a proclamation commemorating Gay Pride Month. Clinton's proclamations differed from Obama's in calling June "Gay and Lesbian Pride Month," leaving out "bisexual" and "transgender."

"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done," Obama's proclamation reads. "During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

"The proclamation is posted on the White House website but is difficult to find and as of Tuesday afternoon was not listed under the website's category of proclamations -- a fact that some homosexual activists were criticizing. (The link is available at the end of this story.)Evangelicals voiced strong disagreement with Obama's proclamation, much like they did in 1999 when Clinton issued his proclamation and Southern Baptist Convention messengers responded by passing a resolution rebuking Clinton for doing so.

"For a president who pledged to bring us together, Mr. Obama persists in doing the exact opposite on all things homosexual," Bob Stith, the Southern Baptist national strategist for gender issues and representative of the denomination's Task Force on Ministry to Homosexuals, told Baptist Press. "This issue for most evangelical Christians is not bias or prejudice. It is simply maintaining the freedom to speak the truth about Scripture. It is one thing to be loving and tolerant. It is something else altogether to encourage pride in what God clearly says is sin.

"The bottom line," Stith added, "is that if God defines something as sin, we do no one any favors by attempting to blur those lines. Nor will we be doing future generations any favors by obliterating barriers God has put up for our protection. On several occasions the Bible uses the phrase 'every man did that which was right in his own eyes.' In every case it turned out badly.

"Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, criticized Obama for once again calling for the repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," which prevents homosexuals from serving openly in the military."This, according to people in the military, would have catastrophic consequences for our nation in a time of war," Land told BP.

"Some surveys of military personnel indicate that perhaps as high as 10 percent of the all-volunteer forces will resign from the military if 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is rescinded," he said, quoting a December Military Times poll. "And it would hit heaviest in the non-commissioned officer ranks -- the sergeants and the chiefs and the people who make it go at the operational level. It would seriously impact our military's ability to do the job that we've asked them to do in keeping us safe.

"The homosexual community traditionally has called June "Gay Pride Month" to commemorate the 1969 Stonewall Inn riots, which took place in New York City and are viewed as helping launch the modern "gay rights" movement. In his proclamation Obama says he is proud to be the first president to "appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an administration." He also calls for passage of a hate crimes bill and for "ensuring adoption rights" for homosexuals. Noting the stark contrast between the previous administration and the current administration, Land said, "Elections have consequences." Underscoring how far the "gay rights community" has come in less than two decades, Land recalled how he and other religious leaders met with former President George H.W. Bush and complained about Bush becoming the first president to invite representatives of homosexual organizations to the White House. "We've come a long way," Land said, emphasizing it has not been for the better."Those of us who believe in the continuing truth of God's revealed Word in Scripture," Land said, "would not consider the distance traveled between the issue in our meeting with President George H.W. Bush and President Obama's proclamation as progress, but a further sign of the moral and spiritual deterioration of our culture."Said Stith: "God has not just issued a laundry list of arbitrary rules for His creation. He has made it clear that He desires for us to experience His joy and peace. As the creator He also understands what will make that possible -- and what will impede His plan for us. Clearly the true loving thing to do is to hold up God's standard and encourage all people to strive for that. To declare pride in anything that God says is sin is not love. It is no different than removing a sign that says 'Road closed. Bridge out.'

"Following is the full text of Obama's proclamation:

"Forty years ago, patrons and supporters of the Stonewall Inn in New York City resisted police harassment that had become all too common for members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community. Out of this resistance, the LGBT rights movement in America was born.

During LGBT Pride Month, we commemorate the events of June 1969 and commit to achieving equal justice under law for LGBT Americans."LGBT Americans have made, and continue to make, great and lasting contributions that continue to strengthen the fabric of American society. There are many well-respected LGBT leaders in all professional fields, including the arts and business communities.

LGBT Americans also mobilized the Nation to respond to the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic and have played a vital role in broadening this country's response to the HIV pandemic."Due in no small part to the determination and dedication of the LGBT rights movement, more LGBT Americans are living their lives openly today than ever before.

I am proud to be the first President to appoint openly LGBT candidates to Senate-confirmed positions in the first 100 days of an Administration. These individuals embody the best qualities we seek in public servants, and across my Administration -- in both the White House and the Federal agencies -- openly LGBT employees are doing their jobs with distinction and professionalism.

"The LGBT rights movement has achieved great progress, but there is more work to be done. LGBT youth should feel safe to learn without the fear of harassment, and LGBT families and seniors should be allowed to live their lives with dignity and respect."My Administration has partnered with the LGBT community to advance a wide range of initiatives. At the international level, I have joined efforts at the United Nations to decriminalize homosexuality around the world.

Here at home, I continue to support measures to bring the full spectrum of equal rights to LGBT Americans. These measures include enhancing hate crimes laws, supporting civil unions and Federal rights for LGBT couples, outlawing discrimination in the workplace, ensuring adoption rights, and ending the existing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy in a way that strengthens our Armed Forces and our national security. We must also commit ourselves to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by both reducing the number of HIV infections and providing care and support services to people living with HIV/AIDS across the United States.

"These issues affect not only the LGBT community, but also our entire Nation. As long as the promise of equality for all remains unfulfilled, all Americans are affected. If we can work together to advance the principles upon which our Nation was founded, every American will benefit. During LGBT Pride Month, I call upon the LGBT community, the Congress, and the American people to work together to promote equal rights for all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

"NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2009 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to turn back discrimination and prejudice everywhere it exists."IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of June, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third."--30--Michael Foust is an assistant editor of Baptist Press. Obama's proclamation also can be found on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-LGBT-Pride-Month. For more information about the SBC's outreach to homosexuals, visit www.sbcthewayout.com.

' ABORTION DOCTOR ' GEORGE TILLER SHOT TO DEATH AT CHURCH

With one bullet, a gunman ended the life and the controversial career of abortion doctor George Tiller, killing him as he stood in the foyer of his church Sunday.
Today, a 51-year-old Johnson County man could be charged with murder and aggravated assault in the shooting of Tiller, who had been shot before by an anti-abortion foe.
The crime has drawn condemnation and outrage from the president and stirred strong emotions across the nation.
Tiller, 67, was shot once just after 10 a.m. Sunday as he stood in the lobby of Reformation Lutheran Church, 7601 E. 13th St., where he was serving as an usher. The gunman threatened to shoot two men who tried to apprehend him.
Wichita police said that the suspect was arrested without incident on I-35 in Johnson County about three hours after the shooting, following a statewide broadcast describing the suspect and his car.
Although Wichita police would not name the suspect, the Johnson County Sheriff's Office identified him as Scott P. Roeder, according to the Associated Press.
Wichita police said it appeared that the suspect had acted alone but that they are investigating whether he had any connection to anti-abortion groups.
Police on Sunday said they expected the man to be charged with murder and two counts of aggravated assault.
In a news conference at Wichita City Hall, Deputy Police Chief Tom Stolz said police will "investigate this suspect to the Nth degree, his history, his family, his associates, and we're just in the beginning stages of that."
Tiller had long been a focal point of protests by abortion opponents because his clinic, Women's Health Care Services, 5107 E. Kellogg, is one of a few in the country where late-term abortions are performed.

He was shot and wounded in both arms at his clinic in 1993.
Sunday's shooting stoked emotional debate on the Internet between supporters of abortion rights and abortion opponents.
Without elaborating, Stolz said investigators will look into the Internet comments because the discussion could bear on public safety.
Tiller's family issued a statement through Wichita lawyers Dan Monnat and Lee Thompson:
"Today we mourn the loss of our husband, father and grandfather. Today's event is an unspeakable tragedy for all of us and for George's friends and patients.
"This is particularly heart wrenching because George was shot down in his house of worship, a place of peace."
A timeline
Police and other sources described what happened in the church.
For the 10 a.m. service, Tiller was serving as an usher, one of six ushers listed in the church bulletin. He was handing out bulletins to people going into the sanctuary minutes before being shot.
At 10:03, Tiller was one of six to 12 people in the foyer, outside the sanctuary. His wife, Jeanne, was at the church.
A man armed with a handgun shot Tiller once, according to the preliminary investigation. Three to four people saw the shooting.
Two men confronted the suspect and exchanged words with him, but police would not say what was said.
"They were both threatened, and the gun was pointed at them," Stolz said.
That is why the suspect could face the aggravated assault charges, Stolz said.
Within minutes, paramedics arrived and pronounced Tiller dead at the scene.
Officers arrived and immediately started interviewing witnesses.
Police obtained the suspect's description and vehicle description -- a powder-blue 1993 Ford Taurus -- from witnesses at the church and broadcast it and the tag number to law enforcement agencies throughout the state. The car was registered to Scott Roeder of Merriam, in Johnson County.
Police also obtained a photo of the suspect, who had a prior conviction for criminal use of explosives, which was overturned on appeal, according to court records.
Officers began checking motels and other places for the suspect.
Before the shooting, the church was packed, said Shirley King, one of the parishioners. New members were joining. A baptism was on the agenda.
When King heard a "pop" sound, she thought it was special effects from the percussionist. Some people glanced toward the rear of the church, curious.
Tiller's wife, Jeanne, was sitting with the choir downstairs, King said. An usher came, and motioned for Jeanne Tiller to come with him.
"The rest of us were listening to the prelude, but then came the piercing screams of a woman who obviously had witnessed a horrible sight," King wrote in an e-mail.
"A few people immediately jumped up, but quickly one of our church leaders said, 'Everyone please be seated. Please remain calm. We have had an incident and we are taking care of it. Remain in your seat.' "
Adam Watkins, 20, who said he has attended the church his entire life, said he was sitting in the middle of the congregation when he heard the "pop."
"We just thought a child had come in with a balloon and it... had gone up and hit the ceiling and popped," Watkins said.
Once they learned of the shooting, Watkins said:
"We were just really shocked. We were kind of dumbfounded. We couldn't really believe it had happened."
The suspect's car was spotted shortly before 2 p.m. just south of Gardner by two Johnson County sheriff's deputies -- Andy Lento and Tyson Kilbey. The Sheriff's Office had suspected that the man would be coming back on I-35 to his home, and Kilbey and Lento waited for him.
As the car went north, Lento and Kilbey followed and were joined by three other sheriff's patrol cars.
Lt. Mike Pfannenstiel of the Sheriff's Office said officers pulled the car over just south of the main Gardner exit and got out with guns drawn. The man got out of his car with his hands up.
"We took him down without incident," Pfannenstiel said, adding that the man appeared to be driving the speed limit and made no attempt to elude the deputies.
At the 4 p.m. news conference, Stolz said authorities were bringing the suspect to Wichita.
He said that police expect to present the case to the Sedgwick County District Attorney's Office today.
At 7 p.m., a private vigil service was held at Reformation Lutheran Church. Tiller's wife, his children and grandchildren attended. Two police officers stood in the back of the sanctuary.
The Rev. Lowell Michelson, senior pastor of Reformation, said that part of the message of the vigil focused on the message that "love is stronger than hate."
That was clear, he said, in the congregation's response to one another.
"I think the way that folks gathered around Jeanne tonight in large numbers speaks volumes not only about the support and encouragement we get from Jesus Christ," he said, "but also the way the Holy Spirit works."
Reaction to shooting
President Obama released a statement on the shooting.
"I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."
Mickey Cohlmia, a member of the neighboring St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral, said: "It is absolutely disheartening.... I think it shows where our world is today.... There is no safe place."
The anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, in a statement on its Web site, said:
"We are shocked at (Sunday) morning's disturbing news that Mr. Tiller was gunned down. Operation Rescue has worked for years through peaceful, legal means, and through the proper channels to see him brought to justice. We denounce vigilantism and the cowardly act that took place this morning. We pray for Mr. Tiller's family that they will find comfort and healing that can only be found in Jesus Christ."
Former Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline, who conducted an investigation into Tiller, said in a statement that he was "stunned by this lawless and violent act which must be condemned and should be met with the full force of law. We join in lifting prayer that God's grace and presence rest with Dr. Tiller's family and friends."
Warren Hern, a Colorado physician and close friend of Tiller's -- who described himself now as "the only doctor in the world" who performs very-late-term abortions -- said Tiller's death was predictable.
"I think it's the inevitable consequence of more than 35 years of constant anti-abortion terrorism, harassment and violence," he said.
When Obama was elected last fall, Hern predicted that anti-abortion violence would increase, he said. Because Obama supports legalized abortion, Hern said, its foes "have lost ground.... They want the doctors dead, and they invite people to assassinate us. No wonder that this happens.
"I am next on the list."
Ongoing threats
Tiller and his clinic have faced continuous threats and legal action.
A Wichita jury ruled in March that he was not guilty of illegal abortion on 19 criminal charges he faced for allegedly violating a state law requiring an independent second physician's concurring opinion before performing late-term abortions.
Immediately following the ruling in the criminal case, the Kansas Board of Healing Arts made public a similar complaint against Tiller that was originally filed in December 2008.
Protesters blockaded Tiller's clinic during Operation Rescue's "Summer of Mercy" protests during the summer of 1991, and Tiller was shot by Rachelle Shannon at his clinic in 1993. Tiller was wounded in both arms. Shannon remains in prison.
The clinic was bombed in June 1986 and was severely vandalized last month. His lawyer said wires to security cameras and outdoor lights were cut and that the vandals also cut through the roof and plugged the buildings' downspouts. Rain poured through the roof and caused thousands of dollars of damage in the clinic. Tiller reportedly asked the FBI to investigate the incident.