The recent barrage of attacks on Christians in Egypt, including on members and churches of the nation’s Coptic denomination, are of a scale unseen in modern times and being described as satanic, according to sources living in the country. The persecution watchdog group, Open Doors USA, says Egypt is LINK
“They surrounded us and started beating my father,” said the late Christian’s 15-year-old son, Arshad Masih in published remarks seen by BosNewsLife. “I and my brother cried for help but nobody was there to help us. They were laughing and raising slogans that this bleady Christian has a lot of land,” LINK
High-profile medical aid mission group gives up, citing unhelpful ‘civilian authorities’ and too many attacks and risks. Latest kidnapping was the ‘last straw.’ The international aid agency Doctors Without Borders is to permanently close its operations in Somalia because of repeated “extreme attacks” LINK
We’ve all seen those commercials from multinational companies like IBM touting the next tech breakthrough, and Monsanto promoting some new biotech development. But now that we’re entering the age of real commercial robotics, what would such a commercial look like if it were designed to promote humanoid machines as helpers of humanity?LINK
Imagine this: TSA agents with enhanced senses of smell, emergency responders that can hear sounds clearly from beneath rubble and dirt, and cab drivers always knowing the direction of true north. This might sound like an issue of popular comic book series The X-Men, but scientists at Duke University are LINK
A federal judge has backed a homosexual-rights group in its claim that members were injured by an American pastor’s biblical preaching in Uganda against homosexual behavior.But the ruling from Judge Michael Posner in a case brought by Sexual Minorities Uganda against Pastor Scott LINK
Bring guns to church? Pastor Ken Pagano provoked a firestorm when he invited members of Louisville, Kentucky’s New Bethel Church to celebrate the 4th of July and their Second Amendment rights by bringing their firearms to church. The national news media opened fire at the very idea. LINK
Then there have always been the god-kings, the rulers who were so completely full of themselves that they could brook no joke at their expense. Such is Barack Obama, and his supporters are exactly the sort of sycophantic, religio-terrorist mob that has left bloody trails littered with the corpses of free thinkers through history.LINK
A military chaplain whose essay about the origin of the phrase “there are no atheists in foxholes” was yanked from his base’s website last month after atheist complaints has apparently struck a blow for free speech. The essay “No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave All in World War II” by Lt. Col. Kenneth Reyes LINK
Being black or white is not a behavior. Sexual acts are, and there are lots of them that can’t be justified under the rubric of “that’s the way God made me.” Are we to sanction any and all sexual acts of heterosexuals by arguing that whatever a person does is God-made? LINK
(1. The Shahadah – A statement of belief: I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I further testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. (2. Salah – Compulsory prayers that are performed five times a day. (3. Zakat – The practice of giving, based on accumulated wealth, and is obligatory for all Muslims who can afford it. LINK
So what if you were to combine a baby with our canine companions? Wouldn’t you get the most adorable ball of heart mush of all time? In a word, no, at least not according to Baby-Pet, by RCA studentLingxizhu Meng. Baby-Pet is a conceptual peek into our future, to a time when scientists have the capability to bring cross-species embryos LINK
May 6 2013: Reuters is reporting Egypt, the most populous Arab state and flagship of the 2011 Arab Spring revolts where elected Islamists have replaced a Western-backed autocrat, has no love for Assad. But on Sunday it condemned Israel’s air strikes as a breach of international law that “made the situation more complicated”. LINK