Pakistani Christian boy dies after being set on fire by Muslim extremists...more

Pakistani Christian boy dies after being set on fire by young extremists ...Nauman died last night and his funeral service was held today at 1pm (local time) in Gulshan Ravi, Shera Kot, in Lahore, CLAAS said.

In Nauman’s statement to the Superintendent of Police he said that two Muslims approached him on a motorbike and asked him about his religion. When he said he was Christian they started to beat him up and after he ran away, folllowed him and subsequently threw kerosene over him and set him alight...

Redefining Marriage Redefines Parenthood ...Indeed, Faust recounts how she felt the pressure to go along. “I remember how many times,” she wrote, “I repeated my speech: ‘I’m so happy that my parents got divorced so that I could know all of you wonderful women’,” Then she continues, “I cringe when I think of it now, because it was a lie. My parents’ divorce has been the most traumatic event in my thirty-eight years of life. While I did love my mother’s partner and her friends, I would have traded every one of them to have my mom and my dad loving me under the same roof.”...

"Conservative" Judicial Activism for Gay Marriage: With Amici Like These, Who Needs Enemies?  A group of distinguished conservative public servants, policy makers, and political operatives has signed an amicus brief saying the US Constitution requires the states to redefine marriage. They argue that this is the truly conservative position—but it takes quite a bit of logical contortion to accept their argument...

An education is a terrible thing to waste
...Having taught college students for some 36 years of my life, I cannot refrain from offering a few bromides. They emerge from a realization that grew increasing toward the end of my teaching career. So many students were wasting precious years of their lives and vast amounts of dollars attending college. They were drifting, mechanically taking courses that were of little personal interest. Few were taking advantage of the huge opportunities their colleges were offering. So many seemed unhappy and disengaged...

The federal debt is worse than you think-America's unsustainable debt path ...Of all the failures of recent Congresses and Presidents, none is more important than their failure to deal with the nation's long-term debt. Although Congress tied itself in knots trying to address the problem, the growth of debt remains, in the words of the Congressional Budget Office, "unsustainable."

Debt figures tell part of the story. When the Great Recession hit, the federal debt was equal to about 40 percent of GDP. But to fight the recession, Congress enacted an $800 billion dollar stimulus bill. Stimulus spending, combined with already enacted spending and tax policy, resulted in four years of trillion dollar deficits. As a result, the debt ballooned to 78 percent of GDP in 2013, almost twice the pre-recession level. The annual deficit is now declining at a stately pace, but by 2016 it will begin increasing again, and by 2020 under CBO's alternative fiscal scenario, we will once again return to annual deficits above a trillion dollars, thereby once again greatly increasing the national debt...

American Christians wear orange in solidarity with those persecuted for faith A number of campaigns to get American Christians to wear orange in solidarity with persecuted Christians are gradually gathering momentum.

In February, Islamic State (IS) released footage showing the beheadings of 21 Coptic Christians captured in Libya. The group were lined up, wearing the orange jumpsuits which have become a characteristic feature of their brutal videos.

Now, Christians across America are calling on the church to use the colour orange to identify with those who are suffering, to pray for them, and to donate to initiatives which support the persecuted...