August 21, 2009 - Washington, DC

How Obama defends marriage - NOT / Obama's payoff to George Soros / Money to Brazilian oil giant for drilling offshore? / Congress in recess / Ohio teen faces death by Sharia / More Christians die in India

THE PRESIDENCY

DEFENDING DOMA? - It is the duty of the President and the Justice Department to defend the laws passed by the Congress and signed by a president. It is the duty of the Justice Department to defend lawsuits against DOMA, the Defense of Marriage Act, that was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. President Obama and his Justice Department have a funny way of defending the law.

A legal brief filed in "support" of DOMA declared that the administration "does not support DOMA as a matter of policy" and "believes that the Act is discriminatory and should be repealed by Congress." President Obama in a written statement then said that he has "long held that DOMA prevents LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered] couples from being granted equal rights and benefits." This is just one of many instances in which the Obama Administration refuses to abide by the law. The Justice Department also dismissed cases against Black Panthers who had threatened voters at the polls. Apparently the Obama Justice Department believes that threatening voters with baseball bats is part of the Democratic process.

REWARDING GEORGE SOROS - Left-wing nutcase billionaire George Soros plunked down many millions of dollars to help Barack Obama win the Democratic primary. The same George Soros owned a huge stake in the Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. Since Barack Obama was sworn into office Soros has bought hundreds of millions of dollars more of Petrobras stock. President Obama, who says he is against drilling for oil offshore in the United States, then ordered the US Export - Import Bank to guarantee $2 billion in loans to Petrobras to drill offshore in Brazil. The loan guarantees by the Obama Administration caused the stock to jump 10% in a day making George Soros more millions of dollars to spend on far left-wing causes. I highly recommend Petrobras stock (PDR). The company is under the wing of the Obama Administration and has huge offshore oil reserves that Obama will help develop. NOTE: some liberal media outlets are reporting that Soros had sold his Petrobras stock. This is NOT true. Just before the US loan guarantee Soros traded some of his common stock for preferred stock which then shot up in value.

THE CONGRESS

THE AUGUST RECESS - Both the House and Senate have now gone into August recess and will not return until after Labor Day, which falls on September 7th this year.

CULTURE AND RELIGION

TEEN FACES DEATH BY SHARIA - Honor killings by Muslims are now not uncommon in London as the number of Muslims in the UK continues to grow. Hundreds of honor killings occur in formerly Christian European nations each year. But there have been only about 50 honor killings of women in North America in total, although some are wrongly attributed just to domestic violence. One of the highest profile killings was the recent beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan
Now, a 17-year-old Ohio girl who has faced abuse from her Muslim father has become a Christian. Having been told by him that she must die because she "dishonored" the family, she fled to Florida. Today a Florida Court will decide if she should be sent back to near certain death. Hear her first hand story at YouTube.

ALL NEW AUGUST CHAIRMAN'S REPORT - The all new August 5, 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 the Chairman's Report to your class or fellowship this Sunday! Click here to review.

INTERNATIONAL

MORE KILLINGS IN INDIA - Last August, I wrote extensively in weekly updates and in the Chairman's Report about the violence against Christians in Orissa, India. Hindu nationalists wrongfully blamed Christians for the assassination of a Hindu extremist in August, 2008. Although many Christians were killed at the end of August and early September, 2008 the violence did not stop then. Since that time, at least 120 people have been murdered, 250 churches destroyed and over 50,000 individuals have become refugees in their own country.

There are now eight states in India that have passed anti-conversion laws, the same kind of laws that are used to persecute Christians in Muslim nations. However, these are laws being passed by Hindu extremists because millions of Indians each year are turning to Christ. There are now over twenty-five million Christians in India. Although the Prime Minister of India is a Sikh, there are now more Christians in India that Sikhs. Still, Christians are under represented in government offices. The persecution in Orissa continues and the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, says nothing. As long as America looks the other way and says nothing the persecution will continue, and will probably get worse.

PETITION TO HILLARY CLINTON ON IRAQI CHRISTIANS - Read and sign the 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.

CHRISTIAN INTERNET SUPER STORE

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.