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Showing posts with the label ATLANTA

Religious Freedom and the homosexual agenda

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Barely five days after  The New York Times  ran a major news article on the firing of Atlanta ’s fire chief for his views on homosexuality, a major  Times  opinion writer declared that religious liberty is a fine thing, so long as it is restricted to “pews, homes, and hearts” — far from public consequence. The firing of Kelvin Cochran as chief of Atlanta’s Fire Rescue Department came after the city’s mayor, Kasim Reed , determined that the chief could not effectively manage the department after he had written a book in which he cited Scripture in defining homosexuality as a sin. The most crucial portion of the  Times  story includes the mayor’s rationale: “At a news conference, Mr. Reed said that Mr. Cochran’s ‘personal religious beliefs are not the issue.’ But Atlanta’s nondiscrimination policy, the mayor added, is ‘nonnegotiable.’ ‘Despite my respect for Chief Cochran’s service, I believe his actions and decision-making undermine his ability to effectively manage a large,

Atlanta mayor sacks city’s fire chief over book expressing Christian beliefs

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English: Kasim Reed (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) The City of Atlanta has sacked its fire chief for expressing his personal religious beliefs in a Bible study publication. The city’s mayor accused Kelvin Cochran, an African- American Baptist church deacon, of “discrimination” and questioned his judgment and management capabilities after gay activists complained about the book. While announcing Cochran’s January 6 dismissal, Mayor Kasim Reed strove to quash any claims that the issue was about Cochran’s First Amendment rights . “This is not about religious freedom,” Reed declared. “This is not about free speech. Judgment is the basis of the problem.” Reed suspended Cochran in November because of what he wrote in two brief passages of his 160-page Bible-study, “Who Told You That You Were Naked?” which was published in 2013. In defining "uncleanness" Cochran wrote, “whatever is opposite of purity; including sodomy, homosexuality, lesbianism, pederasty, bestiality,

Responding to the LGBT movement’s southern strategy

If you were trying to expand acceptance for “ LGBT rights” where would you launch a public relations blitz? Well, the Human Rights Campaign , which calls itself “the largest national LGBT organizer in the South,” has decided the answer is Mississippi. Yes, deeply conservative Mississippi, where just 22 percent of the voters believe that so-called same-sex marriage should be legal. It’s the focus of a $310,000 PR campaign called “All God ’s Children” and it’s promoting tolerance for lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgendered people, as well as their lifestyle decisions. The initiative includes television commercials, phone calls, door-to-door canvassing, and online advertising. It sounds a lot like the work that goes into an evangelistic campaign, as does the language being used: “We are all God’s children,” the campaign says. “It is only for God to judge, not us. We need to treat everyone with respect.” The campaign in the Magnolia State is part of a larger, $8.5 million effor

Atlanta fire chief suspended for publishing Christian views of homosexuality

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Atlanta Fire Rescue Chief Kelvin Cochran has been suspended for one month without pay, ordered to undergo sensitivity training, and told by government officials to check his beliefs “at the door” for publishing a book affirming that homosexuality and other forms of sex outside marriage violate the Bible's teachings. Last November Cochran, a former Obama administration appointee, published the book  Who Told You You Were Naked? Cochran, a Baptist deacon, says to be “naked” in the Biblical sense means to suffer “condemnation and deprivation.” But Christians “have been clothed with Christ! Redeemed men who carry the curse of condemnation and deprivation cannot fulfill their purpose as husbands, fathers, community and business leaders — world changers!” Certain behaviors, he warned, lead to a life that inherently contradicts God's blessings. “ Sexual acts pursued for purposes other than procreation and marital pleasure in holy matrimony is the sex life of a naked m

Chick-fil-A CEO: I still oppose gay ‘marriage’ but won’t be too vocal about it

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ATLANTA, GA , March 20, 2014 ( LifeSiteNews.com ) – After two years of battering by homosexual activists and the mainstream media over his opposition to same-sex “marriage,” Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy says he remains committed to the Christian definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman, but has decided not to be vocal about it. “I think the time of truths and principles are captured and codified in God’s word and I’m just personally committed to that,” Cathy told the  Atlanta Journal-Constitution . “I know others feel very different from that and I respect their opinion and I hope that they would be respectful of mine.” Cathy, 61, set off a firestorm of controversy in 2012 with remarks to a Baptist publication in which he said he was “guilty as charged” for supporting the traditional family. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit,” Cathy  told  the  Baptist Press . “We are a family-owned business , a fam

Pro-family pastor withdraws from Obama inauguration after backlash from gay activists

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Rev. Louie Giglio , the pro-family pastor picked by President Obama to deliver the benediction at his Jan. 21st inauguration, has backed out after a pressure campaign by homosexual activists. Rev. Giglio, who heads Atlanta ’s Passion City Church, said he did not want the inauguration to “be dwarfed by those seeking to make their agenda the focal point.” Rev. Louie Giglio Immediately after Giglio announced his withdrawal, Fox News political analyst Kirsten Powers   tweeted : “The intolerant Left claims another scalp.” Obama’s choice of Giglio on Tuesday quickly came under attack by activists who highlighted a sermon the pastor delivered in the 1990s offering a “Christian response to homosexuality.” In the sermon, the pastor expressed Christian teaching that homosexuality is a sin and that it is possible to leave the homosexual lifestyle “through the healing power of Jesus.” He said Christians must “lovingly but firmly respond” to an “aggressive agenda” by some in the hom

Giglio's homosexual views forbids Obama's benediction prayer

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Linking you to the top Christian blog posts of the week—posts that provide robust, rich, and  relevant insights for living. This week several posts related to the uproar over Pastor Lou Giglio ’s invitation to offer the benediction at President Obama’s second inaugural ceremony.   Giglio is Pastor of Atlanta ’s  Passion City Church . He is also founder of the  Passion movement  that brings tens of thousands of Christian young people together, urging a rising generation of young Christians to make a passionate commitment to Christ. In recent years, the movement has also sought to raise awareness and activism among young Christians on the issue of sex trafficking. It was that activism that caught the attention of both President Obama and the Presidential Inaugural Committee . In a statement released to the White House and the Presidential Inaugural Committee, Giglio said that he withdrew because of the furor that emerged after a liberal watchdog group revealed that almost twent