Several Items of Interest

NFL Player Rejects White House Visit Over Obama's Support of Abortion

Retired Baltimore Ravens center Matt Birk, who won a Super Bowl with the team last year, skipped the team's visit to the White House due to President Obama's support for Planned Parenthood, the Washington Examiner reports.  "I have great respect for the office of the presidency but about five or six weeks ago, our president made a comment in a speech and he said, 'God bless Planned Parenthood,'" Birk, a former Minnesota Viking, told a local Minnesota sports blog.  "I'm very confused by [Obama's] statement," he explained.  "For God to bless a place where they're ending 330,000 lives a year?  I just chose not to attend.  Planned Parenthood performs about 330,000 abortions a year.  I couldn't endorse that in any way."  Obama spoke at the national Planned Parenthood conference this year, stating, "As long as we've got to fght to make sure women have access to quality, affordable health care, and as long as we've got to fight to protect a woman's right to make her own choices about her own health, I want you to know that you've also got a president who's going to be right there with you, fighting every step of the way.  Thank you, Planned Parenthood.  God bless you.  God bless America."

Anti-Religion Group Blasts Teen Valedictorian's Prayer

The Freedom From Religion Foundation blasted what it called the "open defiance" of a valedictorian who delivered the Lord's Prayer during a high school graduation ceremony last Saturday in SouthCarolina, Todd Starnes reports.  Roy Costner, a senior at Liberty High School in Pickens, created national attention when he ripped up his pre-approved graduation speech and instead led the crowd in a recitation of the Lord's Prayer.  A video of the speech was posted on YouTube and has since gone viral.  It shows the 18-year-old setting aside his speech and saying, "I think most of you will understand when I say, 'Our Father, who art in heaven...'" As the crowd cheered, he concluded his remarks by pointing to the sky and saying, "For thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen."  A school district spokesperson said the valedictorian will not be penalized for what he did, and Costner said he has absolutely no regrets.  "I'm happy with what I did," he said.  "I want this to glorify God.  I want to use this as a witnessing tool and I hope others will stand up for God in our nation." As for his critics,Costner quoted a passage of Scripture from the Gospel of Matthew.  "If you deny me among men, I will deny you to the Father,"  he said.  He also had a special message to the Freedom From Religion Foundation: "We are not in a country where we have freedom from religion.  We have freedom of religion."

USAID Sponsors Pro-Homosexual Events in Developing Countries

The U.S. Agency for International Aid (USAID) normally provides food, drugs and other essential items on behalf of the U.S. to poor countries around the world, but under the Obama administration, the agency has expanded its portfolio: it now ships homosexual activism around the world.  In April, with help from the Levi Strauss Foundation and millionaire and homosexual activist Tim Gill, USAID began spending $11 million to train homosexual activists in other countries, WORLD magazine reports.  The training began last week, in Columbia, which has recently affirmed traditional marriage.  "This partnership leverages the financial resources and skills of each partner to further inclusive development and increase respect for the human rights of LGBT people around the world," said Claire Lucas, senior adviser of the USAID Office of Innovation and Development Alliances during a panel at the Ronald Reagan Building in D.C.  "It can be a real game-changer in the advancementof LGBT human rights."

Homeschooling Skyrockets in the U.S.

The number of homeschooled children in the United States has increased by 75 percent since 1999, according to a new report published in Education News, CBN News reports. The study's findings serve as more proof that a growing number of parents are rejecting public schools.  According to the report, discrepancies in achievement between sexes, income level and ethnicity are nonexistent in homeshcooling.  "Recent studies laud homeshcooler's academic success, noting their significantly higher ACT-Composite scores as high schoolers and higher grade point averages as college students," the report said. Researchers also found the number of primary-aged homeschool kids is growing seven times faster than public school kids.  According to Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute, the increase is partly  because the large number of children homeschooled in the 1990s are now homeschooling their own children.  Currently, 4 percent of all school-age children are educated at home.
  (Above atticles from Religion Today Headlines, June 11 & 12, 2013, www.ReligionToday@crosswalkmail.com)