District of Columbia | September 23, 2021
Christian leaders meet with White House to advocate for social programs, voting rights
District of Columbia | September 23, 2021
Faith leaders representing a broad spectrum of Christian groups will meet with White House officials on Wednesday (Sept. 22) to advocate for voting rights and social programs they say protect the poor and vulnerable.
The group, which is organized by the advocacy organization Circle of Protection, includes influential Catholics, leaders of major Black church groups, prominent mainline Christian officials and the heads of evangelical Protestant organizations. The leaders also plan to release a letter signed by 20 religious officials addressed to President Joe Biden and lawmakers on Capitol Hill, urging them to finalize and pass a slate of bills working their way through Congress.
“Three big bills coming before the House and Senate have captured our attention — the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the family support budget bill, and voting rights legislation,” the letter reads. “If passed and signed into law they would strengthen the physical and social infrastructure of our society, cut family and child poverty more than any time in our lives, and ensure the precious right to vote for all people made in God’s image.”… (Excerpts from the Religion News Service)
District of Columbia | September 9, 2021
Sean Feucht Invites Americans To 9/11 ‘Miracle’ Gathering
District of Columbia | September 9, 2021
On 9/11 – the 20-year commemoration of Muslim terrorists’ attack on America – a worship movement set on revival is inviting Americans to Washington D.C. to remember the deceased, and the next day to lift high the name of Jesus at a historic gathering on the National Mall.
#letusworship will return to the National Mall where 400,000 gathered last year for “the largest church service in America,” led by Sean Feucht. He called 9/11 permitting for the upcoming event a miracle.
“I don’t know of any other organizations that have gotten a permit this year,” said Feucht, who joined thousands of intercessors praying for revival… (Excerpts from My Christian Daily)
District of Columbia | August 20, 2021
MSNBC Host Says Conservative Americans are a Bigger Threat Than Al-Qaeda
District of Columbia | August 20, 2021
As President Biden epically fails in trying to clean up his Afghanistan debacle, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace has responded in kind by turning her show into state-run TV. Wallace spent a good deal of her show Thursday deflecting blame from the president and talking about anything else besides Afghanistan. A man arrested outside the Library of Congress today, ranting about Biden and falsely threatening to have a bomb in his car, provided Wallace with the much needed fodder to fret that right-wing extremists were “the gravest” national security threat this country faced.
After a report from Garrett Haake on the bomb threat, MSNBC contributor and former FBI Assistant Director for Counterintelligence Frank Figliuzzi warned Wallace that there was a “perfect storm” brewing of right-wing grievances (including criticizing Biden’s Afghansistan pull-out) that would lead to terrorism. Figliuzzi even claimed, “All of this is causing a kind of online radicalization that, quite frankly, I have not seen since my days working Al Qaeda/ISIS:”..
(Excerpts from LIFENEWS)
District of Columbia | August 13, 2021
Passing the Baton on Data and Evidence
District of Columbia | August 13, 2021
Since the founding of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 1961, scholars, practitioners, and politicians have debated how much, if any, foreign assistance the United States should provide in low- and middle-income countries. While we do not claim to have a definitive answer, we do believe there is a straightforward, bipartisan consensus that the foreign aid the United States provides should be spent in the most effective way possible. Regardless of political stripe, everyone can agree that, for the good of the taxpayer— and the world’s most vulnerable people the Agency strives to help— USAID should focus on maximizing the impact per dollar of its funding.[1]
We firmly believe that better use of data and evidence, in every sector, is the key to making foreign aid as effective as possible. We were pleased, therefore, to hear Administrator Samantha Power emphasize this idea in her confirmation hearing before the U.S. Senate, “I will work tirelessly with Members on both sides of the aisle to ensure that taxpayer dollars are well spent. Guided by evidence, I will work with you to adapt or replace programs that are not delivering.” This clear commitment to evidence and effectiveness echoes similar statements from former USAID Administrators on both sides of the aisle: Mark Green[2], Gayle Smith[3], and Raj Shah[4]. The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018, the result of a bipartisan commission on the use of evidence, and the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016 put wind in the sails of efforts to use data and evidence to improve the value for money of U.S. foreign-assistance spending. While it is clear therefore that maximizing the value for money of foreign assistance is a bipartisan, even a non-partisan aim, it is also clear that much work remains to translate these pledges into reality. .. (Excerpts from the Wilson Center)
District of Columbia | July 8, 2021
IRS Reverses Decision, Grants Tax-Exempt Status to Christian Nonprofit
District of Columbia | July 8, 2021
The Internal Revenue Services has reversed an earlier decision and has decided to grant a Christian group tax exempt status, according to the Washington Examiner.
The action came after numerous Republican members of Congress rebuked the IRS for overt political bias last month after it had first denied tax-exempt status to Christians Engaged, a Texas-based nonprofit.
“The IRS has granted tax exempt status to Christians Engaged, a nonprofit organization that educates and empowers Christians to pray for our nation and elected officials, vote, and be civically engaged,” the conservative legal group First Liberty Institute announced in a statement. The reversal comes after a national backlash against the IRS’s initial rejection of Christians Engaged’s nonprofit status because, the IRS claimed, “[B]ible teachings are typically affiliated with the [Republican] party and candidates.”..
(Excerpts from Newsmax)
District of Columbia | June 4, 2021
‘You don’t negotiate with evil’: Former ambassador hopes Vatican reconsiders deal with China
District of Columbia | June 4, 2021
The former U.S. religious freedom ambassador hopes that a new report documenting abuses by the Chinese Communist Party will prompt the Vatican to rethink its agreement with China on the ordination of bishops.
“We really pressed the Vatican not to enter in to extending their agreement with the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops, and I hope they would look at this report and say ‘this is not a regime we should be negotiating with’,” Sam Brownback, who served as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom from 2018 to 2021, told CNA on Wednesday.
Brownback spoke with CNA on the release of the U.S. State Department’s annual report on international religious freedom. The former religious freedom ambassador said he hoped the section on China’s persecution of religion would reach the attention of the Vatican…
(Excerpts from CNA News)