News

Franklin Graham

Franklin Graham has defended Samaritan’s Purse after LGBT activists criticised the ministry’s Christian-based response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Under his leadership, Samaritan’s Purseis running an emergency field hospital in New York’s Central Park.

But LGBT activists have criticised the ministry for requiring its members hold Christian views.

“It’s true, for 50 years, we have asked our paid staff to subscribe to a Statement of Faith—but we have never asked any of the millions of people we have served to subscribe to anything,” Graham said in a statement.

“In other words, as a religious charity, while we lawfully hire staff who share our Christian beliefs, we do not discriminate in who we serve.

“We have provided billions of dollars of medical care and supplies, food and water, and emergency shelter without any conditions whatsoever,” he said.

“Our Christian faith compels us—like the biblical Good Samaritan—to love and serve everyone in need, regardless of their faith or background.”

Graham said he did not mind opposition or criticism, but objected to harassment that diverted personnel from serving COVID-19 victims due to demands for documents and other information.

ducktales

In the latest attempt to normalise same-sex parent arrangement, Disney has featured a ‘gay’ dad duo on their animated XD series, DuckTales.

The animated show had previously hinted about character Violet’s gay dads, but the season three opener made it very clear. 

In the latest episode, it's revealed that Violet’s friend Lena has been adopted by Violet's two dads. The two gay characters are seen wearing shirts that read, "I'm With Dad" with arrows pointing at each other.

In one scene, Lena excitedly cheers for Violet, yelling, "That's my sister from a couple misters!" while their dads proudly clap at her side.  

The show’s co-executive producer Frank Angones lamented that the homosexual characters are not more prominent.

“Violet’s dads are present and show up but do not play a huge role in the story thus far.”

“…we had a lot of conversations about who Violet was and what her background was and came up with this fun notion of her too enthusiastic, overly supportive dads who love being dads.”

Writing on Tumblr earlier this month, Agones made it clear that the introduction of the characters was a step at breaking down “heteronormative” stereotypes and indicated more LGTBQ themes were on the way.

“We’ve done pretty well on racial diversity and representation of people with limb differences, but we really have not done enough relevant LGBTQ+ rep. We do have some themes and ideas coming up that address relevant LGBTQ+ narratives,” Agones said.

prostitution

Workers at a brothel in Melbourne have been charged with employing a child as a prostitute.

Police visited the premises in September 2019, located in Heidelberg West, and discovered that a minor was allegedly being paid as a prostitute.

The Daily Mail reported:

Two male workers, aged 32 and 60, and a woman, 50, from the brothel were arrested in October last year by the Victoria Police Sex Industry Coordination Unit.

The trio face a string of charges, including having a child over 18 months in a brothel, obtaining payment for sexual services provided by a child and allowing a child to take part in sex work.

The case will be next before the Melbourne Magistrates Court on April 22. 

williambarr

US Attorney-General Bill Barr has warned state and local governments about unjustly burdening churches during the coronavirus crisis.

“The United States Department of Justice will continue to ensure that religious freedom remains protected if any state or local government, in their response to COVID-19, singles out, targets, or discriminates against any house of worship for special restrictions,” said Barr.

“Even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers.

“Government may not impose special restrictions on religious activity that do not also apply to similar nonreligious activity.

“For example, if a government allows movie theaters, restaurants, concert halls, and other comparable places of assembly to remain open and unrestricted, it may not order houses of worship to close, limit their congregation size, or otherwise impede religious gatherings.  Religious institutions must not be singled out for special burdens,” he added.

Barr said that the Department of Justice has filed a Statement of Interest in support of a church in Mississippi that held parking lot worship services. 

“The City of Greenville fined congregants $500 per person for attending these parking lot services – while permitting citizens to attend nearby drive-in restaurants, even with their windows open. The City appears to have thereby singled churches out as the only essential service (as designated by the state of Mississippi) that may not operate despite following all CDC and state recommendations regarding social distancing,” said Barr.

“As we explain in the Statement of Interest, where a state has not acted even-handedly, it must have a compelling reason to impose restrictions on places of worship and must ensure that those restrictions are narrowly tailored to advance its compelling interest.  While we believe that during this period there is a sufficient basis for the social distancing rules that have been put in place, the scope and justification of restrictions beyond that will have to be assessed based on the circumstances as they evolve.”

Barr said that religion and religious worship continue to be central to the lives of millions of Americans. 

“Religious communities have rallied to the critical need to protect the community from the spread of this disease by making services available online and in ways that otherwise comply with social distancing guidelines.”

abortion tools 1

A doctor in Korea has been sentenced to three and a half years in jail for killing a baby who survived an abortion procedure.

“Medical staff who participated in the operation have consistently said they heard the baby crying,” judges wrote in their decision.

“It is clear that the doctor killed the baby, who was born alive,” they added.

The doctor aged 65 years was convicted last Friday by the Seoul District Court for killing a 34 week old baby.

He reportedly placed the live baby in a bucket of water.

In Australia, a question on notice put by pro-life MP Mark Robinson revealed that 27 babies in Queensland had survived abortions in 2015 and were left to die.

In Western Australia, pro-life MPs have directed questions to the WA Minister of Health, the Ombudsman and the Coroner, revealing that at least 27 babies have survived abortions and were left to die between July 1999 and December 2016.

This means that at least one baby survives an abortion in Western Australia every year. In WA, The neglect of any human who is born alive is a crime according to the WA Criminal Code s290.

Answers to parliamentary questions have revealed that late-term abortions in WA are performed in two different ways.

Firstly, if there is expectation that the baby will survive the abortion, an injection of potassium chloride is administered into the foetal blood stream which causes the unborn baby to die from a heart attack prior to induced labour.

Secondly, if the baby is not expected to survive birth, potassium chloride is not administered and instead labour is induced through prostaglandin administered to the mother.

In 2017, FamilyVoice WA supported a 7000-strong petition calling on the WA Government to instruct the WA coroner to investigate these deaths. The WA Department of Health was not reporting these deaths to the WA Coroner, which resulted in the Ombudsman reporting he had no jurisdiction to investigate, and the Department of Child Protection was not alerted about these children