US
President Obama reduced the sentences of 46 non-violent drug offenders on Monday, July 13, as a part of his plan to decrease prison population and to change the policies that disproportionately affect African Americans and Latinos. This doubles the number of clemencies he has granted, with the total now at 89, the largest number since President Johnson’s 226. READ MORE
Church
The Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), a non-profit legal organization that specializes in defending religious freedom, held a seminar at LA Full Gospel Church on Monday to discuss the ramifications that the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay marriage will have on churches and Christians. Brad Dacus, president and founder of PJI, discussed the potential impacts that will be felt by Christian colleges, churches, families, and businesses. He also discussed the ways in which church bylaws should be amended for greater legal protection in case of litigation.READ MORE
US
Anonymous donors have raised more than $3 million to create a scholarship fund in honor of Reverend Clementa C. Pinckney, the senior pastor of Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the nine people killed by a gunman in the basement of the Charleston church last month in June. The scholarship was announced by the mayor of Charleston, Joseph Riley, on Thursday at a news conference in Charleston.READ MORE
US
Major credit card companies, like MasterCard and Visa, have cut ties with Backpage, withdrawing their services so that their cards can no longer be used to process payments to purchase adult ads. This occurred at Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s request for the companies to cease services with the website. Dart criticizes Backpage as fueling the sex trade and wrote in a letter to Talking Points Memo that “the use of credit cards in this violent industry implies an underserved credibility and sense of normalcy to such illicit transactions and only serves to increase demand.”READ MORE
Society
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) held an All Faith Network Meeting for service area 4 on Thursday, July 9, during which leaders from the mental health field and leaders from various faith-based institutions were presented with the ways in which current agencies are serving the mental health community and the initiatives that have been implemented to better address the health and well-being of its community members.READ MORE
World
After months of intensive effort by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, the Afghanistan delegation met with Taliban officials in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad on Tuesday. This meeting, mediated by Pakistani officials, is the first official face-to-face discussion that has been acknowledged by the Afghan government after years of attempts to bring the two sides together. This first meeting follows several informal meetings that had taken place this past year and is meant to end more than 13 years of war in Afghanistan where the Taliban have been fighting against the government.READ MORE
The Sunday Assembly, also known as the “Atheist Church”, based in the United Kingdom is scheduled to have its first global assembly. The “church” is also known to have a branch and ...
World May 06, 2014 02:34 AM EDTThe leaders of the DPRK have been making very strong statements regarding human rights. A representative from the North Korean government has stated in a speech that the U.S. is a ‘living ...
World May 08, 2014 03:08 AM EDT
