Your Faith is Now Intrinsically Offensive; Facebook reinstates offensive ‘Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted’ page; Location of missing Nigerian girls known...more

Your Faith is Now Intrinsically Offensive. Are You Ready for the Fallout?
...In 1907, Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, reading the signs most people didn’t noticed, published his dystopian End Times novel, Lord of the World. Set in the early twenty-first century, Benson foresaw a time when busy workers “had learned at least the primary lessons of the gospel that there was no God but man, no priest but the politician, no prophet but the schoolmaster.” He envisioned a world in which Christianity had all but vanished with little hope of resurgence, a world where the marginalization of Christians morphed into persecution and finally genocide.

In the novel, an elderly statesman explains the situation to an young priest: “First, you see, there was Materialism, pure and simple that failed more or less—it was too crude—until psychology came to the rescue. Now psychology claims all the rest of the ground; and the supernatural sense seems accounted for. That’s the claim. No, father, we are losing; and we shall go on losing, and I think we must ever be ready for a catastrophe at any moment.”...

Facebook reinstates offensive ‘Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted’ page; Christian activist plans protest
The head of a Christian ministry that succeeded in having an anti-Christian hate page removed from Facebook last year is taking action once again after discovering the page has been reinstated.

Cary Bogue, CEO of Project Wildfire and owner of the “Catholics & Protestants United Against Christian Discrimination” Facebook page, objects to a page called “Virgin Mary Should’ve Aborted,” (WARNING: obscene content) which depicts as its cover image the unborn Jesus as an abortion victim wearing a crown of thorns, while the Virgin Mary smokes a marijuana cigar with a satisfied smirk. The page’s profile image is similarly offensive, featuring a cartoon image of the Virgin looking down at her swollen belly and muttering an expletive.

The page’s description reads, “People have rights, ideas do not. No beliefs are above criticism. Organized religion is AIDS and we desperately need a cure.”...

Pope takes off shoes to enter Dome of the Rock
Pope Francis has entered the Dome of the Rock, the iconic shrine located at the third-holiest spot in Islam, on the third and final day of his Mideast pilgrimage.

Francis took off his shoes on Monday to step into the gold-topped dome, which enshrines the rock where Muslims believe the Prophet Mohammad ascended to heaven...

Location of missing Nigerian girls known, but use of force ruled out
Nigeria's military knows where the more than 200 girls abducted by Boko Haram are but has ruled out using force to rescue them, the state news agency quoted chief of defence staff Air Marshal Alex Badeh as saying on Monday.

Seven weeks since Boko Haram militants abducted more than 200 girls taking exams in a secondary school in the remote northeastern village of Chibok and little is known of their whereabouts or what exactly the military is doing to get them out...

Albert Mohler: Ten Books for Eager Reading — The 2014 Summer Reading List   G.K. Chesterton once wisely remarked that “there is a great deal of difference between an eager man who wants to read a book and a tired man who wants a book to read.” It may be true that readers can be divided into these two categories — those who are eager to read a book and those who just want a book to read. These two types of readers experience a book and the art of reading very differently. My summer reading list is for the first sort of reader. These are books that are both interesting and intelligent. They belong in an intelligent reader’s list of reading for the summer season.

This list reflects the kind of reading choices I make for a season like summer, when I can devote some time to reading that is not dedicated to some larger writing or research project. There is also an unapologetic tilt toward a reading list for men in this list. These are books that are likely to keep a man reading, and with Father’s Day close at hand, perhaps some readers will decide to honor dad with a book or two.

One last note: Several of these books are thoughtful accounts of battle, military history, and modern espionage. They will be profitably read through the lens of an intelligent Christian worldview, though the books themselves are often not written from such a worldview. The world needs more careful Christian readers, who can read honestly, reflectively, thoughtfully, eagerly, and well...