Spiritual Warfare News

• Court Asked to Rule on Columbine Tiles - Family News in Focus
The Supreme Court has been asked to decide if the parents of children killed at Columbine High School should be allowed to include religious messages in a school memorial.
• Abortion clinic seeks new 'speech-free zone' - World Net Daily
A California abortion clinic is seeking to restore an old injunction against protesters, preventing pro-life activists from presenting evidence to defend themselves.
• Wiccans Offer Alternative to Boy Scouts - CNS News
Frustrated by an unsuccessful campaign to achieve religious recognition from the Boy Scouts of America, a Seattle-based Wicca church has launched its own youth program, which is based on tolerance for different beliefs, including differences in sexual orientation.
• Punishment includes Islam indoctrination - World Net Daily
An Ontario man convicted of promoting hatred against Muslims says his community-service sentence has included indoctrination into Islam.
• Carlos Santana Says We Can Beat The Demons of Baghdad With New Age Energy - Raiders News Update
Carlos Santana's migration from spiritual hunger to Christianity to New Age mysticism appears to be a microcosm of modern American culture.
• House Passes Abortion Waiver for Healthcare Providers - CNS News
The House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday to protect hospitals, doctors, nurses, insurers, and other "health care entities" from coerced involvement in abortions.
• Honolulu PD drops God from officers' oath - Washington Times
The oath that will be taken next week by the graduating class of the Honolulu police academy will not end with the phrase "So help me God" after the department acquiesced to a complaint from a group advocating the separation of church and state.
• 'Evil red eyes' haunt Goggaman trial witness - IOL News
Bizarre events surrounding three young children who allegedly fell prey to a group of Satanists have unfolded in the trial of a tattoo artist.
• Wizard school opens in Austria - BBC
A school for witchcraft and wizardry has opened in Austria.
Pupils of the school, which is located in the mountains of Klagenfurt, can take classes in potions and spell making.
• ACLJ Gets 9th Circuit Appeals Court Win Upholding Rights of School Bible Club - Worthy News
The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, said today a decision by a federal appeals court that a Washington State school district discriminated against a Bible club is a critical ruling that reinforces existing Supreme Court law and is a victory for those students who want to express a religious message in school.
• Attack of the clones - Ha'aretz
The Raelian Movement believes that aliens first created human beings in Jerusalem. Now this group, who have set up a worldwide human cloning service, is desperate to establish an `embassy' where it all began.
• Ky. prison suspends satanic services - Lexington Herald-Leader
The state Department of Corrections suspended formal satanic services by inmates at one Kentucky prison yesterday until officials can research and develop a statewide policy.
• Burning Man Festival Ends Week long Run in Nevada Desert - AP
Thousands of revelers headed home Sunday as the annual Burning Man counterculture festival ended a peaceful one-week run.
• Half of Catholic clergy sees a gay presence in priesthood - Chicago Tribune
Attempting to bring hard data to a persistent rumor in the Catholic Church, researchers said Friday in Chicago that more than half of U.S. priests say they perceive a gay subculture in their diocese or religious institute, with 19 percent saying it clearly exists.
• Horseback 'Jesus' gathers his flock - Sydney Morning Herald
Thousands of pilgrims have converged on the hamlet of Petropavlovka, deep in the Siberian tundra, to hear the annual sermon by a 41-year-old former traffic policeman whom they believe to be Jesus.
• Bush Signs 'Born-Alive Infants Protection Act' Into Law - CNS News
President Bush Monday signed legislation protecting infants "accidentally" born during abortion procedures from being killed or left to die.
• Witchcraft Taking Hold In Australia - CNS News
Buoyed by census figures suggesting that witchcraft is among the fastest-growing religious tendencies in Australia, an organization representing pagans voiced support Wednesday for the scrapping of legislation outlawing witchcraft and related practices.
• Study: Potter readers more occultic - World Net Daily
Teen-agers who have read Harry Potter books or have seen the Harry Potter movie were more likely to have experimented with psychic or occult activities than those teens who had not, a recent study found.
• Christianity Harmful to Animals, Says Animal Rights Godfather - CNS News
Princeton University Professor Peter Singer, dubbed the 'godfather' of animal rights, says Christianity is a "problem" for the animal rights movement.
• Half million turn out for SF gay pride parade - CNN
Thousands of rainbows appeared under the blue sky Sunday as an estimated half million people lined the streets to celebrate diversity and progress during the city's 32nd annual gay pride parade.
• 45,000 turn out for Tel Aviv's Gay Pride parade - Ha'aretz
At least 45,000 people participated in the Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv on Friday, surprising even the organizers, who had thought that many people would stay at home because of the security situation. The parade drew a crowd of 40,000 last year.
• Religion in Public Schools: "under God" Pledge Out; Prayer to Allah In? - Worthy News
In the same week that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional, a federal lawsuit was filed in San Francisco Monday after Christian students across California were forced to pretend they were Muslims for three weeks, praying in the name of Allah the Compassionate the Merciful, chanting Praise to Allah, picking a Muslim name from a list to replace their own name and to stage their own Jihad via a dice game.
• Bill Permitting Human Embryo Research Introduced in Australia - CNS News
Australian Prime Minister John Howard Thursday introduced a bill that would permit research on human embryos, an issue that has become one of the most contentious in the year's legislative program.
• Salvation Army to Lose Funding Over Domestic Partner Flap - CNS News
The Salvation Army of Portland, Maine, is about to lose $60,000 in annual local government funding for refusing to provide health care benefits to the domestic partners of its homosexual employees.
• Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Reintroduced - Family News in Focus
In the 1990s, former President Bill Clinton twice vetoed bills to ban partial-birth abortion. But President George W. Bush has said he will sign legislation that bans the gruesome practice if it reaches his desk. Yesterday, a new bill was introduced, and pro-lifers hope the third time is a charm.
• House Panel OKs Rewritten 'Virtual' Child-Porn Ban - Reuters
A House of Representatives committee voted on Wednesday to reinstate a recently rejected ban on Internet child pornography, hoping that a more narrowly tailored version would pass courtroom muster.
• Senate Considers Reintroducing Bill to Allow Abortions at Military Facilities - CNS News
Two pro-abortion senators are considering introducing legislation that would allow abortions to be performed at overseas military hospitals with private funds.
• Witchcraft looms over African soccer - Reuters
Burying part of an animal at midnight in a soccer field may seem to be a bizarre way to try to win a game, but it is one of the common practices African soccer officials are trying to stamp out.
• Religious Coalition Claims Most People of Faith Support Abortion Rights - CNS News
A "vast majority" of people of faith support a woman's right to get an abortion, according to a participant at the annual conference of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC).
• Woman sues over abortion 'trauma' - London Telegraph
A woman is to sue the NHS over the psychological trauma she claims to have suffered after having an abortion.
• Students Fight For Right to Express Pro-Life Message in Public Schools - Worthy News
Over twenty-five students around the country during the past school year have sought assistance from the Thomas More Law Center because they were prevented by school officials from wearing pro-life clothing.
• School Policies Promote Homosexuality, Legal Group Charges - CNS News
California parents are protesting school policies which they say allow teachers and school staff to talk about homosexuality with children and openly discuss their own homosexual lifestyles with students during classroom instructional time.
• Gay California teachers 'come out' in classroom - Washington Times
A California public school district is allowing homosexual school employees to "come out" in front of children in school without obtaining parents' permission.
• Human Clone's Birth Predicted - Washington Post
Infertility researcher Panos Zavos predicted yesterday that his Kentucky-based human cloning team will produce a pregnancy this year, with the delivery of a cloned human being coming in 2003.
• ACLU Sues Louisiana Over Abstinence Ed - Fox News
The head of Louisiana's abstinence-before-marriage program, Dan Richey, believes in the curriculum. But the question for some: Is he teaching or preaching?
• Planned Parenthood Abortions Outpace Adoptions - Family News in Focus
The most current Planned Parenthood annual numbers reveal 200,000 abortions, contrasted with 2,500 adoption referrals — an 80-to-1 ratio.
• ACLU Sues La. Over Abstinence Teaching - Washington Post
In the first legal challenge to federally funded programs that teach sexual abstinence, the American Civil Liberties Union plans to file suit today against the state of Louisiana for allegedly using tax dollars to promote religion.
• Italy Cloning Guru Says Babies on Their Way - Reuters
The Italian fertility expert whose avowed aim is to create the first human clone, said on Wednesday three women were pregnant with clones, but complained that the babies would be viewed as freaks by a hostile society.
• Sex Slaves in Europe flourishes - MSNBC
In Europe alone, officials estimate that more than 200,000 women and girls — one-quarter of all women trafficked globally — are smuggled out of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet republics each year, the bulk of whom end up working as enslaved prostitutes.
• Abortion Clinic Forced Out In San Diego, But Not Going Quietly - CNS News
A San Diego abortion provider has been ousted from its 6,700 square foot office building because it was "a detriment" to the area, according to The Abbey Company, which owns the property the abortion clinic was leasing.
• Networks Race to Capture Gay Audience - AP
Homosexual viewers have never had one devoted to their interests, but that's about to change. There's suddenly a race to reach that market.
• Witches say Christians violated their rights - CNN
Like any other church group they have their pot luck suppers, charity fundraisers and mid-week fellowship meetings.
• Cloning Doctor Claims Three Current Pregnancies Worldwide - CNS News
Claims by a rogue Italian scientist that three women are currently pregnant with cloned embryos should not be taken lightly, a leading British pro-life group said Thursday.
• Human Cloning: Do Americans Want It? - CNS News
This week's battle of the public opinion polls is the latest skirmish between advocates and foes of human cloning. One poll shows 63 percent of Americans support President Bush's opposition to human cloning for reproductive or research purposes. But another poll shows that 68 percent of Americans want the government to allow scientists to do cloning research.
• Siberian Potter fans drink poisonous potion - BBC
Harry Potter fans in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk are believed to have been poisoned after drinking a "magic potion" inspired by the series of books about a boy wizard.
• ACLJ: Supreme Court Decision on "Virtual" Porn Gives Pornographers Green Light for Internet Porn - Worthy News
The American Center for Law and Justice, an international public interest law firm, said today a ruling by U.S. Supreme Court striking down as unconstitutional provisions of the Child Pornography Prevention Act (CPPA) – a law that bans “virtual” child porn – gives pornographers the green light to engage in Internet porn and fails to close a legal loophole at the expense of our children.
• Raelians claim cloning first - AFP
Scientists from Clonaid, a firm linked to the Raelian movement, say they have implanted the first cloned human embryos in women in the hope of bringing the first human clone into the world.
• New York Kindergartner Allowed to Pray at Snack Time - CNS News
A public school kindergartner in New York will be able to pray out loud before snack time, at least temporarily, following a verdict by a U.S. District Court judge in Utica, N.Y. Friday.
• Cloned baby boy has world in uproar - Courier Mail
Australian research laboratories could face a new inspection regime to prevent the cloning of embryos as the world deals with the prospect of the first human clone.
• School Invites Planned Parenthood Without Parental Notice - Worthy News
As a freshman at Arcata High School, taking Health class is a requirement as part of the curriculum. Recently, as part of the course outline, school administrators invited guest speakers from Planned Parenthood to address the class of freshmen. The topic to be covered by Planned Parenthood was sexual education, but more specifically "homophobia" and homosexuality.
• Human cloning project claims progress - Gulf News
A woman taking part in a controversial human cloning programme for infertile couples is now eight weeks pregnant, revealed Dr Severino Antinori, the well known Italian doctor involved in the cloning project banned in his home country and the USA.
• Virginia Appeals Court to Decide Whether Grace at Naval Academy Is Legal - Fox News
The 150-year-old tradition of saying grace before meals at the U.S. Naval Academy may have to be swept aside if a recent ruling against the nearby Virginia Military Institute is upheld on appeal.
• Indian temple revives 'human sacrifice' - BBC
"A willing human being is difficult to find these days," as followers of a Hindu cult in India's north-eastern state of Assam have revived the ancient practice of human sacrifice.
• Mainstream Book Advocating Adult-Child Sex Draws Howls of Protest - Fox News
A book arguing that sex between a child and an adult can be a good thing is bringing an extraordinary amount of attention — little of it positive — upon the author and publisher a month before it has even been published.
• Major class action suit filed against Planned Parenthood - Worthy News
A major class action lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court in St. Louis, against the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and Planned Parenthood of St. Louis. The suit alleges medical malpractice, wrongful death, civil rights violations, mass fraud and genocide by specifically targeting minority women for abortions.
• Thomas More Law Center Wins Pro-Life Victory in Montana - Worthy News
In a ruling the Thomas More Law Center called a “sound victory” for the pro-life cause and free speech, a Montana federal judge signed an order this past week upholding the First Amendment right of pro-life demonstrators to carry graphic signs of aborted babies.
• Ohio Hears Evolution Alternatives - Fox News
Thousands of people, including parents, professors and preachers, from Ohio and elsewhere have sent the state letters, e-mails or petitions about what public schoolchildren should be taught about life's origins and diversity.
• Euthanasia Now Legal In Netherlands - CBS News
The Netherlands becomes the first country to legally allow mercy killings and assisted suicides when its euthanasia law takes effect Monday.
• Three members of Christian cult nailed to crosses in Philippines - Nando Times
Thousands of penitents scaled a hilltop in the Philippines where three members of a Christian cult were nailed to crosses in a Good Friday rite of sacrifice for peace in the country's war-weary south.
• ADL Opposes Teaching of 'Intelligent Design' in Schools - CNS News
Creationism, intelligent design and other religious theories that challenge scientific explanations about the origin of the universe have no place in the public school curriculum, asserts the Anti-Defamation League, a public policy group that describes itself as "a staunch defender of religious freedom in America."
• ‘Legal child porn’ under fire - MSNBC
The photos of 12-year-old “Amber” cavorting in a swimsuit and various skimpy outfits wouldn’t have raised so much as an eyebrow if they had been posted on a family home page.
• Study Confirms Link Between Pill, Breast Cancer - CNS News
Women who take the contraceptive pill face an increased risk of breast cancer, according to one of the largest studies yet on the links between lifestyle and cancer.
• Buddha's finger points way ahead - London Telegraph
Sealed inside a miniature golden pagoda and guarded by 40 kung fu experts, the remains of what is believed to be one of the Buddha's fingers is drawing vast crowds in Taiwan and moving many adults to tears.
• Abortion-cancer link goes on trial - World Net Daily
A false advertising lawsuit against an abortion clinic goes to trial today, possibly opening the door to a flood of medical malpractice claims against abortion providers.
Feature: Abortion, Baal Worship and Breast Cancer
• Researcher Says Media Distorted Adult Stem Cell Studies - CNS News
Recent scientific research presented by some news organizations as having sounded the death knell for adult stem cells had been "distorted" in media reports, according to one of the studies' authors.
• U.S. Sailor Ministers to Military Wiccans - Fox News
He's also the hospital's "pagan resource" person, the guy who's called on every month or so to offer spiritual aid to patients who describe themselves as witches, Wiccans, Odinists or followers of other Earth-centered belief systems.
• Talk Show Host Pushes for Homosexual Adoptions - CNS News
When talk-show host and activist Rosie O'Donnell declares her homosexuality publicly for the first time on "Primetime" Thursday, she will use the occasion to push for the abolition of laws that prevent homosexuals from adopting children in Florida.
• Uganda Police Make Cult Arrests - Newsday
Police have arrested 16 members of a suspected religious cult that forbids medical treatment, a senior police official said Tuesday.
• Beijing backs scientists in race to mass produce cloned organs - London Telegraph
Chinese scientists are to receive state backing for the mass production of human organs from sacrificial embryos, using controversial technology involving the fusion of human tissue with animal egg cells.
• Teaching the reality of gay life - San Fran Chronicle
The students at Park Day School in Oakland are probably the only elementary school kids in America whose spelling lists contain words such as "homosexual," "lesbian" and "transgender."
• Labour minister backs new 'gay Jesus' prayerbook - London Telegraph
A government minister has launched an outspoken attack on Church leaders in a new collection of prayers written for homosexuals.
• Human embryo cloned using cow eggs in S. Korea - Straits Times
South Korean scientists claimed they have succeeded in cloning a human embryo by fusing human tissue with cow eggs, a breakthrough that is expected to spark an uproar among religious and civic groups opposed to such experiments.
• 'Emergency Contraception' or 'Chemical Abortion?' - CNS News
A new Congressional initiative to promote so-called "emergency contraception" is under fire from pro-life advocates who say the drugs sometimes induce chemical abortions.
• NYC Housing Authority Sued for Denying Post 9/11 Prayer Meeting - CNS News
The New York City Housing Authority is being sued for refusing to allow a group to use a public housing facility for a prayer meeting after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
• Human-cloning debate goes global - World Net Daily
A United Nations ad hoc committee has opened discussions on the merits and morality of cloning human beings, addressing many new questions that arise when considering the impact of such practice.
• Subpoenas Yanked, But Crisis Pregnancy Centers Warn Battle Not Over - CNS News
There was no boasting Friday from the operators of pro-life crisis pregnancy centers in New York State, despite the fact that the state's attorney general had withdrawn subpoenas that were part of an investigation into whether the centers provided "deceptive" medical information to women.
• England: Go-ahead to clone human embryos - This is London
Scientists are today set to be given the legal go-ahead to clone human embryos.
• Condoms or Abstinence? Sex Education Debate Rages - CNS News
Are condoms the best way to cut down the nation's soaring numbers of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases? Or is abstinence the answer?
• States Providing the Lead on Cloning Bans - CNS News
While Congress continues to debate the costs and benefits of a ban on human cloning, some states are forging ahead with their own laws banning or restricting the practice.
• Hawaii: Assisted suicide bills get hearing - Honolulu Advertiser
Two "Death with Dignity" bills were still alive yesterday following an emotionally charged state House Committee on Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs hearing that lasted more than three hours and left speakers, audience members and those on the panel in tears.
• Artificial wombs could take pregnancy into laboratory - Mercury News
It might seem like something out of a science fiction novel: pregnancy without morning sickness, weight gain, stretch marks or labor pain.
• Research Group Warns Schools of Homosexual Propaganda - CNS News
Schools should let their students know that the differences between the homosexual and heterosexual cultures are many and profound, contrary to assertions by homosexual advocacy groups who seek to portray homosexuality as something innate and essentially without risk, a leading psychological group said.
• Ohio Wrestles with Creation, Evolution in the Classroom - CNS News
Conservative factions in Ohio are pushing the public schools to offer alternative theories to evolution, and the State Board of Education is expected to hold a moderated panel discussion on the request next month.
• Potter prompts course in witchcraft - BBC
A growing interest in sorcery and witchcraft generated by the Harry Potter stories has prompted an Australian university to launch a special course open to the public.
• Child Rape - A Cry From Africa - Worthy News
An appalling epidemic of child rape is emerging in sub-Saharan Africa. This region, roughly the lower one-third of the African continent, is all ready being decimated by AIDS. Now recent crime statistics reveal a growing epidemic of rape involving young children.
• Saudi Arabia Pushes Islam In America's Schools - Worthy News/ANS
According to a story in the Washington Post, the Saudi Embassy has mailed out more than 5,000 padded envelopes -- bulky with videos and books about Islam -- to schools nationwide in the last few weeks.
• Men redundant? Now we don't need women either - London Observer
Doctors are developing artificial wombs in which embryos can grow outside a woman's body. The work has been hailed as a breakthrough in treating the childless.
• Minnesota Pro-Lifers Aim To Topple Abortion - CNS News
Pro-life legislation with the capacity to change the Minnesota Constitution and nullify a state Supreme Court ruling that forced the legislature to pay for abortions could go before voters in the November election.
• Deadly Fantasy: Maryland Teen Tells Police Demons Gave Him Permission to Kill - Fox News
Police said a teen-ager with a history of mental illness confessed to the sword slaying of a prominent scientist, saying fantasy creatures gave him permission to kill the man in order to protect a friend.
• Experts to weigh in on science standards; Evolution vs. intelligent design? - Columbus Dispatch
Scientists from throughout the nation are being summoned to help the Ohio Board of Education decide whether students should be taught that life on Earth is the result of evolution or intelligent design.
• High School Faces Fight Over Satan Reference - KITV4
Kaimuki High School's dress code came under fire Tuesday from a member of the Church of Satan.
• Cal. School District Sued Over 'Pro-Homosexual' Presentation - CNS News
Some angry parents are suing a California school district for allegedly "authorizing pro-homosexual presentations" to be shown to elementary school students as young as eight.
• Murder Throws Spotlight on Rise in Satanism - Reuters
A bizarre murder by two Devil worshippers has highlighted a rise in Satanism in Germany, where one expert estimates there are up to 7,000 followers, many of them also adhering to Nazi ideology.
• Florida town casts out Satan - CNN
If he's thinking of visiting Florida's west coast, Satan might want to steer clear of Inglis.
• ACLU Fights 'Jesus Is Lord' Signs Outside Louisiana Town - Fox News
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday demanding the removal of signs outside a southeastern Louisiana town that proclaim: "Jesus is Lord over Franklinton."
• Top-Selling Bible to Be Issued in Gender-Neutral Version - Fox News
The International Bible Society said Monday that America's best-selling modern Bible is about to get an update using gender-neutral wording, despite past criticism of that idea from conservative Christians.
• Anti-abortion rally applauds parental notification law - Austin American-Statesman
Anti-abortion activists gathered around the south steps of the state Capitol on Saturday to applaud the shrinking number of abortions among Texas minors.
• Lawmakers 'sanction' use of district-approved 'porn' - World Net Daily
Instructions on homosexual sodomy and a glorified account of lesbian pedophilia are among the instructional materials approved by the Los Angeles Unified School District for use in "diversity" and "safety" programs being presented to elementary through high school students.
• ACLU Goes to Bat for Satan Against Florida Town's Edict Banning Evil One - Fox News
The American Civil Liberties Union has threatened a federal lawsuit against the mayor of a Florida town for her proclamation banning Satan within the town limits.
• Prayers at State-Run Military School Ruled Unconstitutional - Fox News
A judge ruled Thursday that saying grace before dinners at a state-supported military school is unconstitutional.
• No Sign of God at NYC High School - Fox News
The New York City Board of Education has banned the phrase "God bless you" in writing on school property, the New York Post has learned.
• Women Who Have Abortion More Likely To Be Depressed, Study Shows - CNS News
Women who abort their first unintended pregnancy are more prone to suicide, increased substance abuse and clinical depression than women who carry their unintended pregnancy to term, a new study suggests.
• Teen Pro-Lifers Protest Embryonic Stem Cell Research - CNS News
Pro-lifers, preparing for their annual March for Life to protest the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion, Monday directed their anger at embryonic stem cell research.