Columnist.
The Washington state football coach defied the Bremerton School District on Oct. 16 by dropping to a knee and praying at midfield after the Friday night football game. "I'm going to be bold in my faith, and fight the good fight," he told the Kitsap Sun. "It's beyond humbling to have so much support. Whatever happens, happens."
There's a scene in the great football film "Facing the Giants" when the coach decides to implement a new coaching philosophy — to praise God no matter what the result. Joe Kennedy, a football coach at Bremerton High School in Washington, was so inspired by the film he decided to embrace that philosophy — knowing that to do so could cost him his job. I'll explain why in just a few more paragraphs.
It was known as the wild blue blunder. A Texas school district has decided to reverse a controversial ban on large military logos. The reversal came 12 hours after I told you the story of two girls who were ordered to remove jackets that were emblazoned with large Air Force logos.
A Texas school district threatened to punish two patriotic sisters who refused to remove hoodie-style jackets emblazoned with the U.S. Air Force logo. "It's political correctness run amuck," said Phillip Rolen. His twin daughters were told that the Air Force logo violated the dress code policy of the Aubrey Independent School District. The 11-year-old girls were told they could face disciplinary action if they wore the jackets on school property.
You would think the anti-Christmas crowd would wait until there's frost on the pumpkin patch before pillaging and plundering our long-cherished yuletide traditions. But the Freedom From Religion Foundation has been chomping at the bit to bully those who celebrate the birth of Jesus.
A decision to make a university's chapel "faith neutral" to accommodate Muslim students has created great angst in the nation's Heartland after critics were accused of being Islamophobic. Last May, Wichita State University ordered workers to remove all the pews and an altar inside the Harvey D. Grace Memorial Chapel. The pews were ripped from the floor and replaced with portable chairs to make room for Muslim prayer rugs.
Patriotic teenagers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, showed up to class Wednesday waving American flags in defiance of educators who canceled "America Day" over fears it might upset students who don't consider themselves to be American. Administrators at Jackson Hole High School pulled the plug on "America Day," citing concerns that celebrating the USA would alienate some of their young people, the Jackson Hole Daily reported.
Life or death was determined by the answer to a single question: Are you a Christian? That was the question asked by an anti-Christian gunman who stormed into a classroom at Oregon's Umpqua Community College. Eyewitnesses say the shooter targeted Christians. Kortney Moore was inside the classroom. She told the Roseburg News-Review that the shooter ordered students to get on the ground — and then told them to stand up and state their religion.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana has launched a full-scale assault on Airline High School after the principal wrote the words "May God Bless You All" in a message posted on the school's website. "The Future Starts Today – May God Bless You All," wrote Principal Jason Rowland in September. The ACLU also complained about plans by the school's Fellowship of Christian Athletes to place prayer request boxes around the campus.
President Obama threw a big shin-dig for Pope Francis and the guest list caused all sorts of controversy. A gaggle of gay activists were invited to scarf down cocktail weenies at the White House — along with an openly gay Episcopal bishop and some pro-abortion Catholics. Catholic Online accused the president of setting up an LGBT ambush.
Federal prisoner Kim Davis walked into the Kentucky jail cell wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a Bible. "When I went back into that holding cell I hit my knees and just prayed, just cried out for God to give me some peace and assurance that all was going to be well — and I prayed and I sang," she told me in her first digital interview. It was September 3 — the day Mrs. Davis became the first Christian jailed as a result of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage. Federal Judge David Bunning ordered her jailed for contempt of court after she defied a federal court order to issue marriage licenses to gay couples. He denied her request to accommodate her religious beliefs by simply removing her name from the marriage form.
The mainstream media is waging a journalistic jihad on Republicans. While the rest of the country is concerned about the economy and border security and the war on terror, reporters have been lobbing gotcha bombs at Republican candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Dr. Carson is under fire because he doesn't believe a Muslim should be president. "I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation," Carson told NBC's "Meet the Press." He told The Hill that the next president should be "sworn in on a stack of Bibles, not a Koran."
The other day I hopped off the R Train underneath the Fox News Corner of the World and came face to face with a poster promoting ABC's new interpretation of "The Muppets." There, in all his glory, was Kermit the Frog — touting an "adult" version of the beloved children's show. "Finally. A network tv show with full frontal nudity," the poster read. Technically, the advertisement is correct, seeing how Kermit doesn't wear pants. I mean, what self-respecting frog would wear Chinos?
A 13-year-old Maryland boy is facing an assault charge after he planted an unwanted kiss on a female classmate. The criminal kiss happened at Pikesville Middle School between the eighth grade boy and an eighth grade girl. The young Casanova told police he stole the kiss on a dare, the Baltimore Sun reports.
Maury County, Tennessee, is in the heart of the Bible Belt. So it's understandable why the local church ladies got all shook up when they discovered that school children had been forced to declare, "There is no God but Allah." Seventh graders at Spring Hill Middle School spent three weeks covering Islam in a Social Studies class — enraging some parents who say the lessons crossed the line into indoctrination and proselytization. "I am not pleased that my 12-year-old was taught the Islamic conversion prayer," parent Brandee Porterfield told me.
The owners of a small Georgia farm took a tractor, a global positioning system and seven acres of corn and created a masterpiece made of maize last month honoring American sniper Chris Kyle. "I felt like we needed to do something patriotic," Misty Duren told me. "It hit me one day that it would be great to honor Chris Kyle." Misty and Lamar Duren are the owners and operators of Corn Dawgs, an adventure park that includes a pumpkin patch, a petting zoo and a corn cannon that can blast an ear of corn at least 100 yards. And they also have a giant corn maze.
It was quite a spectacle over the weekend in New Hampshire, when followers of Hillary Clinton sang praise songs to their Lord and Savior. "I woke up this morning with my heart stayed on Hillary," crooned the Voices of the Heart, a "women's alternative chorus." The ladies desecrated an old gospel song at an official campaign stop, replacing the word Jesus with the word Hillary. This is just plain creepy — and not just because a bunch of women are waking up thinking about Hillary Clinton
A Navy chaplain accused of failing to show "tolerance and respect" toward gay sailors has been cleared of all wrongdoing and will not be removed from the military. "I am relieved the Navy sided with me," Lt. Cmdr. Wes Modder told me. Modder, a highly decorated veteran who once ministered to an elite Navy SEAL unit, had been given a "detachment for cause" letter in February. He was removed from his job after his commander accused him of being intolerant and unable to "function in the diverse and pluralistic environment" of the Naval Nuclear Power Training Command in Goose Creek, S.C.
Pastor Rick Warren once told me the fight for religious liberty would become the civil rights issue of our generation. On Thursday Pastor Warren's prophetic words were fulfilled at the hands of the United States Government. It happened in the Commonwealth of Kentucky where Judge David Bunning ordered U.S. Marshalls to arrest Kim Davis, the clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky. Mrs. Davis is a devout Christian who refused to issue gay marriage licenses. She claimed that doing so would violate her religious beliefs.
Asking a Baptist preacher to baptize is like asking Colonel Sanders if he wants a bucket of chicken. Somebody's going to get dunked. So when a football coach in Villa Rica, Georgia asked to be baptized on the high school football field, the local First Baptist Church obliged. At the end of the school day somebody hauled out an old feeding trough, plopped it in the end zone near the field house and filled it with water.
