A community college professor in Tennessee who required her students to wear rainbow-colored ribbons in a show of support for the gay rights movement during a class assignment, also said the views of students who were against the display because of their faith was "ignorant and uneducated," according to a religious liberty legal group.

Alliance Defending Freedom lawyers say that the students were in Linda Brunton's general psychology class at Columbia State Community College when they were directed to wear "Rainbow Coalition" ribbons for an entire day and express their support for the homosexual community.

When several students objected to being forced to support conduct that violates their faith convictions, Brunton brushed aside their concerns, described their views as "ignorant and uneducated," and explained that she hoped this assignment would cause them to change their beliefs, ADF stated. Regardless of their convictions, students had to express the views in a paper about the assignment she mandated in order to receive class credit. more >>

A Gary, Ind., pastor speaking out against what he believes is the country's unjust war on drugs not only says drugs should be decriminalized, but also believes that "God is not that petty" to care if Christians, or anyone else, smokes marijuana.

The Rev. John Jackson, who leads Trinity United Church of Christ, told The Tennessean that he thinks there should be options other than incarceration for those convicted of drug use, and that God has other concerns beyond marijuana use.

"I've had several members who have shared with me privately (and) said, 'Reverend, you know, I smoke weed. I know I shouldn't.' Let me stop you right there. The God we serve, I don't believe, is that small or petty to be concerned about you smoking weed or cigarette," Jackson told the publication. "I don't think God cares about that. Just to let them know, our God is too big to be concerned about somebody smoking a joint, smoking a cigarette or even drinking a glass of beer." more >>

Edward Snowden, the ex-CIA whistleblower responsible for "the biggest intelligence leak in the National Security Agency's (NSA) history," denied allegations that he was a Chinese spy.

During a Monday question-and-answer session with Britain's newspaper The Guardian, Snowden said, "No. I have had no contact with the Chinese government. Just like with the Guardian and the Washington Post, I only work with journalists."

Last week, members of the United States House of Representatives Intelligence Committee questioned Snowden's connection with China. "We need to ask a lot more questions about his motives, his connections, where he ended up, why he is there, how he is sustaining himself while he is there and is the Chinese government fully cooperating," said Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.). more >>

HOUSTON – The torch for defending biblical truth and practice represented by the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has been passed from its leader of 25 years, Richard Land, to evangelical theologian Russell Moore. The occasion was marked with a special tribute to Land and an address by Moore to more than 4,400 members attending the SBC's annual meeting this week in Houston.

On Wednesday, the day after the ERLC gave its report, Land told The Christian Post that the advocacy group should now focus on the same theme as this year's SBC meeting: revival.

"Our problems in America are only God-sized problems and only God can solve them," said Land, who is retiring from the ERLC president position. "2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us that 'if my people, which are called by my name (Christians), shall humble themselves and pray and seek my (Jesus') face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land.' more >>

Belgium might become the first country in the world to allow seriously ill children the right to choose to die if lawmakers in the Federal Parliament decide to expand on the already controversial euthanasia laws.

"We all know that euthanasia is already practiced on children," Peter Deconinck, president of the Belgian medical ethics organization Reflectiegroep Biomedische Ethiek, said before the Belgian Senate committee. "Yes, active euthanasia."

While the Netherlands has also stopped prosecuting doctors who perform euthanasia on minors, as long as strong medical guidelines are followed, Belgium could become the first country in the developed world to openly embrace the practice, according to a report in Belgian daily newspaper Der Morgen, translated by French news agency Presseurop. more >>

Governor Andrew Cuomo is vigorously pushing to legalize third-trimester abortion in New York. New York already leads the nation in abortion rates; 40 percent of all pregnancies in New York City end in abortion. Worse still, more New York City black babies are aborted than born. Pro-abortion extremists are still not satisfied and are working overtime to deregulate the industry throughout the state. If New Yorkers do not take a stand now, third-trimester abortion will become a reality in our communities, put our daughters' health in jeopardy and rob innocent human beings of their lives just weeks from birth.

Cuomo's abortion expansion bill, the "Women's Equality Act," is anything but protection for women. The key provision of the bill waters down the exception for third-trimester abortion to include the "health" of the mother, which has been broadly interpreted by the courts to encompass age, economic, social, and emotional factors – in other words, justifying any reason to have a late-term abortion. The bill also allows unqualified individuals to preform dangerous third-trimester abortions on vulnerable women. Furthermore, the law does not define what conditions constitute "viability" of the baby. Instead, determining the viability of the baby will be left entirely up to the abortionist -- who need not be a physician.

To understand what late-term abortion entails, one need only look at the practices of the Philadelphia abortionist Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted killing babies after they were born by snipping their spinal cords. He was also convicted for the involuntary manslaughter of Karnamaya Mongar, who died from the anesthethics necessary to preform an abortion. It was not just the heartless treatment of Mongar and her needless death that horrified Americans. The brutal nature of late-term abortion brought to light in graphic detail horrified Americans. more >>