April 17, 2009 - Washington, DC

White House orders religious symbols hidden at Catholic university / White House attacks civil liberties as lawmen told to beware of those who are anti-abortion / Obama opens arms to Cuba as that nation refuses religious liberty / Gays winning in courts against faithful / College punished girls who prayed / Saudi Cleric tells kids why to hate Jews / WE SHIP MORE SUPPLIES TO IRAQI CHRISTIANS! / Help with Clinton petition drive

PETITION TO HILLARY CLINTON ON IRAQI CHRISTIANS - Read and sign the new Internet petition to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The petition urges Clinton to direct our embassies to assist Christians who have fled Islamic terror in Iraq. The petition is located at www.iraqichristianrefugees.org.

THE PRESIDENCY

WHITE HOUSE ORDERS RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS HIDDEN - The White House has admitted they ordered religious symbols to be covered during an Obama teleprompter event at Georgetown University. President Obama read from teleprompters at the Catholic school on Tuesday. It was obvious that tarps had been placed to hide something behind President Obama. University spokesman Andy Pino said, "In coordinating the logistical arrangements for the event, Georgetown honored the White House staff's request to cover all of the Georgetown University signage and symbols behind the Gaston Hall stage." The White House has been forced to confirm the University's account of events. Read more

WHITE HOUSE ATTACK ON CIVIL LIBERTIES - When President George W. Bush conceived the idea of a Department of Homeland Security with control of all law enforcement agencies, many of us feared what would happen if it fell into the hands of a radical Administration. Now, our fears have been realized. Not even 100 days into the Obama Administration, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano issued a directive to law enforcement agencies nationwide to watch for "rightwing extremists" and then defined these "extremists" as those concerned with illegal immigration, abortion, increasing federal power and restrictions on firearms. She later apologized for singling out veterans who have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq as possible "violent" recruits. Read more

OBAMA,CUBA AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM - The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) canceled a trip to Cuba just hours after the White House announced that President Barack Obama had eased restrictions on money transfers and travel to Cuba. Why? Because the island dictatorship canceled their visas! The USCIRF is an official body of the government of the United States, but apparently the Obama Administration sees nothing wrong with Cuba denying entry to the group, which investigates violations of religious freedom. Read more

THE CONGRESS

CONGRESS IN RECESS - There is no mention of the "Easter Recess" at Speaker Pelosi's Internet site. There is also no mention of the break at the site of the Majority Leader nor the Majority Whip. Congress is just sort of not there, and no reason is given at all. The Whip site does not even have a return date; the calendar page is just blank. Minority Whip Eric Cantor's Internet calendar shows the two week absence as a "District Work Period, but does show the Passover and Easter dates. The recess ends on April 20th.

CULTURE AND RELIGION

GAYS WINNING AGAINST THE FAITHFUL IN COURT - The Washington Post gleefully reported that homosexuals are winning more and more legal battles against "faith groups." An article by Jacqueline L. Salmon reports on a punitive award against photographers for refusing to participate in a homosexual wedding, and another award against a doctor who refused to artificially inseminate a lesbian. Read article

COLLEGE PUNISHES STUDENTS FOR PRAYING - A California college has been sued by two students because they were reprimanded when one prayed and the other happened to be there with her. The College of Alameda made it clear to both students that no prayers were allowed on campus, not even those by students on their free time. A lawsuit has been filed in the case. Read more

NEW April CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - The all new April 2, 2009 Chairman's Report is now available to read in PDF format. This issue contains more information about our work on Capitol Hill with the new 111th Congress, and also about our work on international issues. Help your Sunday School class understand these issues better. Print out and distribute to your class or fellowship this Sunday! Click here to view

INTERNATIONAL

SAUDI CLERIC: OK TO HATE AND KILL JEWS - Saudi cleric Khaled Al-Khlewi believes that Mohammad set a good example by killing Jews, and teaches children they should hate Jews also. These are the teachings of our "Saudi allies." The United States has supplied Saudi Arabia with our most advanced weapons including tanks, fighter jets and missiles. Take a peek at what these nuts in Saudi Arabia actually believe: View video here

RFC SHIPS MORE SUPPLIES TO IRAQI CHRISTIAN REFUGEES - New Shipment of Medical Supplies! This week we have ordered a full consignment of medical supplies to be shipped to our ministry associates in Jordan for the needs of Iraqi Christian refugees. The shipment has a value of $14,000 and includes antibiotics, antihistamines, analgesics, antipyretics, anti-invectives, anthelmintics, antitussives and anti-inflammatory drugs. There are also GI medications such as Famotidine and local anesthetics such as Lidocaine. The shipment will also contain general supplies such as latex gloves, bandages and gauze.

The standard shipment contains some vitamins, but not enough. Today our ministry associate in Amman requested 10,000 more tablets of multivitamins for adults as well as 10,000 chewable animal shaped tablets for children. 10,000 tablets is enough for 333 people for 30 days.

All the supplies have been paid for except the extra vitamins which came to us as a last minute request. One bottle of 1,000 tablets of vitamins is just $14.00. We need just $280.00 to ship the extra vitamins, 10,000 for adults and 10,000 for children. To let me know that you want to specifically be responsible for one bottle of 1,000 vitamin tablets, make a donation for exactly $14.00 at http://www.rfcnet.org/donate.html

CLINTON PETITION DRIVE - The Religious Freedom Coalition is conducting a petition drive asking Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to formulate a policy to stop the persecution of Christians in Iraq and to aid those Iraqi Christians who have been forced to flee. More than 100,000 paper copies of the petition have been distributed, and an online version is now available. Click here to see petition! NOTE: This is part of a large petition drive and you may receive a copy in the mail.

FACEBOOK FOR IRAQI CHRISTIANS - The Religious Freedom Coalition has a new Facebook page to expose the crisis faced by Iraqi Christians. If you have a Facebook account, please become our friend at this link. You can help Iraqi Christians directly by making a donation at the Facebook cause page!

CHRISTIAN INTERNET SUPER STORE

ALL OCCASION GIFTS FROM A CHRISTIAN STORE How about birthday or anniversary gifts with a Christian theme? Our Internet Christian Super Store has tens of thousands of books, CD's DVD's, jewelry, food and more. AND ... Our store does not sell the atheist and satanist books that you will find on Amazon.com. When you buy from our store, you help our work. Please take a look at our store today at www.rfcstore.com

Contributions to the work of the Religious Freedom Coalition can be made at www.rfcnet.org.