A group of evangelical Christian leaders challenged claims on Wednesday that a recent bill filed by a bipartisan group of senators on immigration reform constitutes amnesty for illegal immigrants.

The bipartisan group of four Republican and four Democrat senators formally filed the bill that if accepted into law would constitute the most significant overhaul of immigration laws in at least 26 years. The bill's hallmark feature is the inclusion of a 13-year pathway to citizenship for almost 11 million undocumented immigrants in America.

Critics of the bill, cited mainly as Republicans, have argued that the pathway to citizenship in the bill is its "fatal flaw" and constituted amnesty. more >>

Pastor Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, have started a petition on the Saddleback Church's website to raise awareness and lower the stigma of mental illness. Their 27-year-old son took his own life about two weeks ago after a lifelong struggle with depression and mental illness.

"Join Kay and I, and the Saddleback Family, in our effort to urge educators, lawmakers, healthcare professionals, and church congregations to raise the awareness and lower the stigma of mental illness… and support the families that deal with mental illness on a daily basis," says the petition, which carries a picture of Matthew Warren, who shot himself on April 5.

"Matthew was just one of about 11.4 million American adults that suffered from severe mental illness in the past year," the petition says. "In fact, one in five Americans experiences some sort of mental illness." more >>

WASHINGTON – Over 300 evangelicals representing 25 states gathered in the nation's capitol Wednesday for worship, prayer and meetings with members of Congress in an effort to bring about comprehensive immigration reform.

The events, organized by the Evangelical Immigration Table (EIT), began with a press conference in front of the Capitol, followed by a praise and worship service a few blocks away at Church of the Reformation, a prayer walk, and over 80 meetings with senators and representatives.

"We're here to say that immigration reform has strong evangelical support," said the Rev. Gabriel Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition. more >>

Warning: A graphic wartime picture is included in this post.

Though law enforcement officials have yet to find the culprit or culprits responsible for Monday's Boston Marathon bombing it was quickly certified a "terrorist attack." Whether the work of Al Qaeda, Hamas, the Red Brigade or some white power group no one knows. What we do know is that three were killed and scores injured.

Overreaction was swift and certain. On Twitter NY Times columnist Nick Kristof both overstepped good decorum and stepped back within moments. I was called out by Daily Beast and Newsweek columnist Alex Klein. more >>

Last week, I wrote a column entitled "Brutality in the Brave New World" discussing an appalling movement within the scientific community in which researchers are exploring the "therapeutic" potential of the eggs of aborted baby girls. In a similar vein, a bioethicist writing for the Huffington Post in 2009 famously suggested that pregnant women wanting abortions be paid to remain pregnant longer so that their aborted babies yield more "useful" body parts. In the face of such moral depravity, the only conclusion to be drawn was that mankind has given itself over utterly to the appetites of ambition and avarice, and Heaven help those who find themselves the object of these appetites unchecked by moral standards.

As if to emphasize the point, the nation is currently bearing witness to one of the most horrifying cases of slaughterhouse medicine in recent memory. Dr. Kermit Gosnell has been charged with the murder of seven newborn babies and one young woman after law enforcement raided his "clinic" on a hunt for illegal prescription drugs. The chamber of horrors they discovered is almost too gruesome for words, yet an excruciating account of Gosnell's butchery is exactly what the grand jury in this case had to produce. The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf featured some of the testimony in his article "Why Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial Should Be a Front-Page Story":

"Public health officials inspected the surgery rooms. 'Instruments were not sterile,' the grand jury states. 'Equipment was rusty and outdated. Oxygen equipment was covered with dust, and had not been inspected. The same corroded suction tubing used for abortions was the only tubing available for oral airways if assistance for breathing was needed. There was no functioning resuscitation or even monitoring equipment, except for a single blood pressure cuff.' Upon further inspection, 'the search team discovered fetal remains haphazardly stored throughout the clinic - in bags, milk jugs, orange juice cartons, and even in cat-food containers.' and 'Gosnell admitted to Detective Wood that at least 10 to 20 percent of the fetuses were probably older than 24 weeks in gestation - even though Pennsylvania law prohibits abortions after 24 weeks. In some instances, surgical incisions had been made at the base of the fetal skulls.'" more >>

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida appeared on a series of talk shows this Sunday to promote the new immigration reform bill, which took months of crafting among bipartisan politicians and will be presented on Tuesday at the earliest.

Rubio has persistently stressed that this upcoming immigration reform bill will not simply "award" citizenship to those who have lived in the U.S. illegally, but rather provide a fair opportunity for them to pursue a path to citizenship.

"This bill does three things that are fundamentally important for our country," Rubio, a Republican, told CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. more >>