Members of a boys 4 X 100 meter relay high school track team in Texas were left in tears last weekend after the University Interscholastic League of Texas disqualified them from competing in the state championships because the team's anchor runner made a "religious gesture" as he crossed the finish line to win their regional title.

The runner, Derrick Hayes reportedly lifted a finger to the sky in celebration, as he wrapped up the win for Columbus High School. According to his father, K.C. Hayes, he was simply pointing to God. But UIL officials disagreed and slapped the team with an "unsporting conduct" charge, disqualifying them from participating in the state championships.

"It's a sad deal. I think it's a travesty. Those kids work hard," K.C. Hayes told My FOX Houston. more >>

Under fire for publicly declaring that practicing homosexuality isn't supported by biblical scripture, ESPN sports analyst Chris Broussard told a national group of Christian men on Thursday that God was being glorified in the firestorm.

"Even though I'm getting a lot of hate God is being glorified," said Broussard during a national prayer teleconference hosted by the K.I.N.G Movement. Broussard is the president of the organization that aims to uplift men through biblical teachings.

The group offered up prayers for Broussard who gay rights advocates are calling to be fired or suspended from his position with ESPN for saying NBA player Jason Collins' homosexual lifestyle was inconsistent with biblical scripture. ESPN, however, has not bowed to the pressure so far. more >>

The mainstream media and critics of historic Christianity are at it again-Christians who have done nothing but articulate what the Bible says about homosexuality are being vitrified.

Chris Broussard, an ESPN commentator who stated what he as a Christian believes about homosexuality, has received nothing but vitriol from critics. ESPN apologized for his comments, but Broussard has not. In fact, Broussard hoped that people would express tolerance for his beliefs. He said, " In talking to some people around the league, there's a lot [of] Christians in the NBA and just because they disagree with that lifestyle, they don't want to be called bigoted and intolerant and things like that. That's what LZ [Granderson] was getting at. Just like I may tolerate someone whose lifestyle I disagree with, he can tolerate my beliefs. He disagrees with my beliefs and my lifestyle but true tolerance and acceptance is being able to handle that as mature adults and not criticize each other and call each other names…" Unfortunately, his critics have not expressed any tolerance towards him.

Greg Laurie, the Senior Pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., who led the May 2 National Day of Prayer, was also criticized for his position on homosexuality and found himself under pressure to step down. He didn't. He said, "We're in a time in our country now where I'm attacked because I believe what the Bible teaches." And he's not alone. more >>

Faithful America refused on Thursday to verify a claim that it had collected signatures from more than 20,000 Christians petitioning ESPN to suspend sports analyst Chris Broussard for what they feel are "hateful" comments towards NBA player Jason Collins who recently revealed he is gay.

Collins announced in a Sports Illustrated article on Monday that he was a gay man who took his faith in Jesus Christ seriously.

In a later interview on ESPN's "Outside the Lines"show, however, Broussard – who is a practicing Christian – said Collins' position was inconsistent with biblical teachings. more >>

More than 1,000 active hate groups are operating across America and California has more of them than any other state, according to a controversial list produced by the Alabama-based Southern Poverty Law Center.

From church groups opposing homosexuality, to groups that promote racial superiority, the SPLC's hate map has identified and included 1,007 organizations on their hate list based on beliefs or practices they conclude "attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

With 82 such organizations identified by the SPLC based on news reports, law enforcement data and literature produced by the groups, California has emerged as the state with the most organized hate in America. Alaska, Vermont and Wyoming are at the bottom of that list with two hate organizations apiece. more >>

President Obama's new "religious tolerance" consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.

By employing his consulting services, and as Commander-in-Chief, President Obama is effectively endorsing Weinstein's recently voiced and written views such as: "Today, we face incredibly well-funded gangs of fundamentalist Christian monsters who terrorize their fellow Americans by forcing their weaponized [sic] and twisted version of Christianity upon their helpless subordinates in our nation's armed forces."

Weinstein's inflamed word picture helps the rest of us understand what the world looks like to those who live with their eyes wide shut and sort of sounds like that old cereal commercial… except this time Mikey doesn't like it – Christianity, that is, so no one else should. And Mikey's giving the rest of us an object lesson in intolerance by showing us what liberal secularists are about: "It's our way, or we shut you down." In this case, Obama's anti-Christian hit man, Weinstein, proposes that honorable men and women in the military who speak about their faith should be charged with a crime worthy of capital punishment. Smells like bull to me. more >>