A New Perspective on Constantine

(Worthy News) – Bernice Snyder was spiritual, but she wasn’t what you’d call a religious woman, her grandson recalls. When she and other mothers sought a memorial to commemorate their sons who died on Europe’s battlefields in World War I, they settled on a Latin cross because it looked like the markers that sat on top of their sons’ graves.

Thus was born the Bladensburg Peace Cross, which today stands on public park land at the center of two major roads in the Maryland suburbs of Washington — and also stands at the center of a raging national controversy over the limits of public memorials, religious freedom, the separation of church and state — and who wins and loses in debates over tolerance.

On Wednesday, the case goes to the Supreme Court, where the justices hear oral arguments and, within a few months, will deliver a verdict on whether a cross is inherently an exclusionary Christian symbol and must be taken down. [ Source: Washington Times (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – International Christian Concern (ICC) has learned that on Sunday, February 23, 2019, threatening graffiti messages were found on the main entrance door of the Armenian Church of the Holy Mother of God (Balat Surp Hreshdagabet) in Istanbul, Turkey. According to a statement issued by the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople, “There were written racist and hate speeches in both English and Arabic [saying] you are finished!”

The church’s security cameras obtained footage of the incident and the church administration filed a criminal complaint at the Fatih District Police Department. The statement continued, “It is our greatest wish that such events do not happen again and the criminals are punished.”

The incident has drawn widespread condemnation from across Turkey’s Armenian community, who are frequently harassed and targeted through hate crimes. The Armenian Genocide from 1915-1917 continues to haunt those few who remain in Turkey, as both nationalists and Islamists view Armenians as an inherent threat to the constitutionally protected status of Turkishness. [ Source: International Christian Concern (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Israel announced it will discontinue the ‘Government Christian Forum,’ an initiative created in 2013 aimed at strengthening the relationship between Israel’s Christian community and the Israeli government.

“I have been informed that the Forum does not fall within the scope of the Public Security Ministry. Therefore, I have no choice but to discontinue the activity of the Forum as part of that ministry,” said Dr. Mordechai (Moti) Zaken, head of Israel’s Desk of Minorities Affairs.

Zaken vowed to do his best to continue to work with “Christian leaders in Israel and abroad to foster Israeli-Christian friendship.” [ Source: CBN News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The House approved a bipartisan public lands package Tuesday evening that permanently reauthorizes the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund, which Congress let expire in September.

Supporters say the bill, which passed 363-62, is the largest public lands bill considered by Congress in a decade, packaging 100 separate bills into one. The Senate passed it earlier this month on a 92-8 vote. The legislation now moves to the desk of President Trump, who is expected to sign it into law.

The measure won the support of a broad swath of interest groups, including the oil and gas industry, conservationists, and public lands advocates. [ Source: Washington Examiner (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – In perhaps the worst flare of tensions between India and Pakistan in two decades, Indian fighter jets bombed Pakistani-controlled territory on Tuesday in a dispute over the contested region of Kashmir.

The attack came 12 days after 40 Indian paramilitary police were killed in a suicide bombing on Feb. 14 in the Pulwama district of Kashmir. It was the deadliest attack in the insurgency that has raged for 30 years in the contested Himalayan region that borders the two countries.

With Indian elections approaching this spring, India’s retaliation threatens to escalate tensions which are already at boiling point. India and Pakistan already went to war over Kashmir back in 1999, and now, each is ready to point nuclear missiles at the other. [ Source:TIME (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – Syrian President Bashar al Assad made his first public visit to his closest regional ally Iran since the start of Syria’s war in 2011, meeting Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Monday and championing their alliance, state media reported.

Syrian and Iranian state television showed Assad and Khamenei smiling and embracing. Syrian television said the two leaders agreed “to continue cooperation at all levels for the interests of the two friendly nations”.

Khamenei was quoted as saying the two countries’ military victories in Syria had dealt “a harsh blow” to U.S plans in the region. [ Source: Gulf News (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – US Vice President Mike Pence and Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido agreed on a strategy to tighten the noose around President Nicolas Maduro following a meeting with regional allies in Colombia on Monday.

Maduro hit back in an interview broadcast the same day, saying the meeting was aimed at setting up a parallel government and accusing the US of coveting his country’s oil and being willing to go to war to get it.

“We hope for a peaceful transition to democracy but President Trump has made it clear: all options are on the table,” said Pence, who passed on Trump’s “100 percent” support to Guaido. [ Source: AFP (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – A man volunteered to have a chip inserted under his skin live on stage at a trade fair in Barcelona on Monday, and another man who had already undergone the procedure showed off how he could make a payment with it using his smartphone.

Edgar Pons said he decided to have the radio frequency identification (RFID) chip implanted because it contained credentials to open the door to his house.

“It is super, for me, very useful, because I have an automatic house,” he said, adding he was further motivated by the fact he could “withdraw it very easily, simply making a little cut and pressing it”. [ Source: CNBC (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The Palestinian Authority and its ruling Fatah faction have begun organizing rallies throughout the West Bank in support of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. The move came in response to recent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip during which protesters condemned Abbas and called for his removal from power.

On Monday, hundreds of Abbas loyalists took to the streets in various parts of the West Bank to voice their support for the 83-year-old PA president. The protesters denounced the demonstrations in the Gaza Strip and accused Hamas and Islamic Jihad of launching a campaign of incitement against Abbas.

The West Bank protesters also expressed support for Abbas’s rejection of the US administration’s yet-to-be-unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East, also referred to as the “Deal of the Century.” [ Source: Jerusalem Post (Read More…) ]

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(Worthy News) – The Agriculture and Rural Development Ministry is gearing up for the arrival of locust swarms in Israel, although chances of that are relatively low.

As part of the preparations, the Plant Protection and Inspection Services of the Ministry of Agriculture are in constant contact with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in order to receive updates about the locust movement in Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Meanwhile, the ministry has begun doing inventories on pesticides—which do not pose risk to human health—in order to use against the short-horned grasshoppers if the need arises. [ Source: Ynet News (Read More…) ]

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