Colorado

A Christian university in Colorado has been sued by a former employee who claims she was fired because the institution did not want to grant her sick leave for a serious condition. She also believes her former employer took her lifestyle into account, as she had been living with her boyfriend at the time.

Ashlie Simpson, 31, was removed from her position as a student service adviser at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, Colo., in January, and filed a lawsuit against the school last week.

"I was shocked to learn that CCU was concerned about my personal life, and even more distressed when they chose to fire me because of it," Simpson shared with ABC News. She is suing for lost back pay, front pay, future benefits, personal humiliation, and mental anguish. more >>

The father of JonBenet Ramsey, the 6-year-old beauty pageant queen whose 1996 murder has yet to be solved, shares in a new book that it was faith in God that helped him overcome the tremendous ordeal and suffering he has endured throughout the case. 

John and Patsy Ramsey lost not only JonBenet, the young beauty queen found in their basement the day after Christmas, but also lost in 1992 their eldest daughter, Elizabeth, who died in a car accident.

During JonBenet's murder investigation, the Ramseys were declared "persons of interest" until they were officially cleared of any suspicions in 2008. But two years prior, in 2006, Patsy Ramsey died of ovarian cancer. more >>

A Presbyterian Church (USA) congregation in Colorado with an estimated 4,000 members is one step closer to breaking ties with its mainline denomination.

First Presbyterian Church of Colorado Springs put its decision concerning breaking away from PC(USA) to a vote Sunday, and 88 percent of its members voted to leave the denomination.

Alison Murray, leader of staff for First Presbyterian Church, told The Christian Post that the church members voted to leave for many reasons that are connected to "the decline in the PC(USA)." more >>

A church in Colorado Springs, Colo., that has 4,000 members and was established in 1872 will informally vote Sunday to decide whether the congregation should leave their denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), over same-sex marriage.

First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs will vote Sunday afternoon and later may seek to join the conservative Evangelical Covenant Order of Presbyterians (ECO), launched by conservative Presbyterians in January over the denomination's vote last year to lift its longtime ban on gay clergy, The Gazette reported.

After PC(USA) removed the constitutional requirement for clergy to live "in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness" last May, dozens of congregations left the denomination. Covenant Presbyterian Church of Ligonier, Pa., parted ways late last year. In Ohio, four churches that were once part of the Miami Valley Presbytery also voted overwhelmingly to leave PC(USA). Churches in Washington, Wisconsin and California have also voted to cut ties. more >>

Colorado Christian University became the first interdenominational Christian college to challenge in federal court the Obamacare mandate of abortifacients – drugs that induce abortions.

On Wednesday, CCU joined Belmont Abbey College, a Catholic college in North Carolina in filing a lawsuit over the regulation that requires employers' health insurance plans to provide free contraception and sterilization under their group health plan.

As a Christian college, CCU teaches the sanctity of life at all stages, and that abortions are against God’s law. more >>

The United States Air Force Academy has worship spaces for most of the world’s major religions. But until last year, cadets who followed Earth-based religions – including Pagans and Wiccans – were lacking a proper area to practice rituals in.

Now, about four to seven of the 4,300 USAFA cadets gather each week at the academy’s new pagan ritual site, called the Cadet Chapel Falcon Circle, to participate in what the academy says are “smudging ceremonies, meditation and ceremonial magic.”

Meade Warthen, chief of the Media Relations Division for the academy, told The Christian Post in an email, “Three cadets have formerly identified themselves as Pagan. Currently, there are no self-identified Gardnerian Wicca, Dianic Wicca, Seax Wicca, Wicca, Druid, or Shaman cadets.” more >>