1. Waitress Fired After Refusing to Serve Transphobic Customers
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2721226467964195
Location: Wisconsin, USA
2. Teacher sacked 'after gas chamber joke to Jewish pupils'
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2718815344871974
Location: Hertfordshire, England
3. Melbourne May Put Signs Near Lawbreaking Churches Warning Kids of Danger Inside
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2712465318840310
Location: Melbourne, Australia
4. Disaster is unfolding in Syria as videos emerge of US allies being slaughtered and hundreds of ISIS prisoners escape during airstrikes
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2711891675564341
Location: Syria
5. High School Rejects Free Chick-fil-A Lunch “Out of Respect to Our LGBTQ Staff”
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2714145002005675
Location: Louisiana, USA
6. Rejected By Parents, India's First Transgender Pilot Gets Funding From Kerala Govt For Training
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2718537181566457
Location: Kerala, India
7. Pat Robertson: The Death Penalty Is “Absolutely Biblical”
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2712696615483847
Location: USA
8. Tim Wildmon: Liberals Want to “Close Down Every Christian Church in America”
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2720013311418844
Location: USA
9. Western Standards on Human Rights Can't Be Blindly Applied to India: Amit Shah
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2718702338216608
Location: India
10. FL Lawmaker Files Repeat Bill Forcing Public High Schools to Offer Bible Classes
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2713193912100784
Location: USA
1. Brittany Spencer was working at Fat Joe’s Bar and Grill in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Saturday night when she overheard two customers making transphobic comments about another customer. When she arrived at their table, the customers asked her if she agreed that other person was “disgusting.” She said no. Then she asked her boss Whitney Wallander if she could switch with someone else so she wouldn’t have to serve those bigots. The boss gave her an option: Serve them or leave. She left. Spencer said she plans to file a report on the incident with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
2. A primary school teacher has been sacked after allegedly “joking” to pupils about “sending them to the gas chamber” if they failed to finish their work. The teacher at Newberries Primary School, Hertfordshire, allegedly made the antisemitic remark to a class of 28 pupils, including 11 who are Jewish. According to the Mail Online, she said: “You better finish off your work quick, or I’ll ship you all off to the gas chambers.” Afterwards, the teacher reportedly apologised, said she was joking and asked the students not to say anything. The pupils reported the antisemitic comment to parents who then shared their outrage on school WhatsApp groups.
3. The Australian state of Victoria recently passed the Children Legislation Amendment Bill 2019. Before that, the law required teachers and social workers and others who work with children to report allegations of child abuse to local authorities. However, religious leaders were exempt from that law, in part because they claimed secrets told to them in the confession booth were sacred and, therefore, private. The Amendment Bill fixed that problem by telling church leaders their beliefs didn’t grant them immunity. If, for example, someone confesses to a local priest that he abused a child, the priest will now be legally obligated to report the confession. Failure to do so could lead to a three-year prison sentence. Now a Melbourne City Council member wants to take the law a step further. Nic Frances Gilley has proposed a motion that would directly ask churches if they plan to abide by the new law, since some have publicly threatened refusal. If they say no, Gilley says the city could put up signs in front of those churches saying the safety of children cannot be guaranteed inside.
4. A US official told CNN on Sunday that the campaign to defeat the terrorist group ISIS in Syria was “over for now” and that ISIS “has a second lease on life with nearly 100,000 [people] who will rejoin their jihad.” The official added that “US policy has failed.” The US State Department has acknowledged reports that Havrin Khalaf, the civilian secretary-general of the Future Syria Party, the Kurdish movement, was captured and killed by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters and that other Kurdish fighters were killed by Turkish proxies. Videos have surfaced showing Turkish-backed rebel forces slaughtering Kurdish fighters. In one video published by The New York Times on Saturday, two Syrian Arab fighters repeatedly shoot a Kurdish prisoner on the ground with his hands tied behind his back.
5. A Louisiana high school turned down a free teacher lunch from Chick-fil-A, a company that has donated millions to anti-gay causes, citing “respect” for LGBTQ+ staff members. The decision was made by Dr. Steven Corbett, principal of Lusher High School in New Orleans, who said the values of the school didn’t align with those of the restaurant’s owners. The food was coming the College Football Playoff Foundation (CFPF), which already promised a different meal, and not from the infamous chain itself. “Out of respect to our LGBTQ staff, we have chosen to not serve Chick-Fil-A at an employee lunch. The #1 rule at Lusher is to ‘Be Kind’ and we live this motto every day,” Corbett said. “Chick-Fil-A has been politically outspoken about its views, and we feel it is not part of Lusher’s culture of kindness and community.”
6. Adam Harry, who hails from Kerala, came out of the closet to share with his family that he is a transgender, however, it did not go as he had hoped. Harry, who hails from Thrissur, owns a private pilot license and aspires to become a commercial pilot, however, he met obstacles in pursuing his dream as he had no support from his family, including financial aid. In an awesome piece of new development, the Kerala government has announced that it will pay for the training of 20-year-old Harry to help him become the country's first transgender airline pilot. The social justice department has sanctioned Rs 23.34 lakh to help Harry pursue a three-year course at the Rajiv Gandhi Academy for Aviation Technology in Thiruvananthapuram and secure a commercial pilot's license.
7. Pat Robertson was asked if there was a scriptural basis for the death penalty. He answered, "Are you kidding? Read the Bible. Read the Old Testament. I tell you, if a son is ungovernable and will not listen to his parents, the parents can bring the son before the authorities and the son will be executed. That’s not punished, but…Jesus said, you know, I don’t condemn you, neither should anybody else condemn you. But I think the whole idea of forgiveness is absolutely there, but in terms of — the Apostle Paul said, “He that wields the sword wields it not in vain but he’s a minister of God to execute judgment on the unbeliever” — those who are disobedient. He’s a minister of god wielding judgment. And I do think the death penalty — you got Charles Manson! I mean, the death penalty is certainly biblical. Absolutely biblical!"
8. Tim Wildmon, president of the Christian group American Family Association, said on Monday’s episode of WallBuilders Live that liberals are on a quest to destroy every church in the country. He was referencing a sloppy answer given by Beto O’Rourke during a recent Town Hall during which he said anti-gay churches would lose their tax exemptions. He said, "… the secular progressives in this country will not be satisfied until they close down every Christian church in America and any organization that does not bow their knee to homosexuality. That’s basically what it comes down to. There are some other issues that they’re big on that they want to force their way onto the American people, but that’s their number one thing right now."
9. Addressing the National Human Rights Commission, Union home minister Amit Shah said on Saturday that “Western” standards of human rights cannot be “blindly” applied to India. He also argued that India’s human rights policy must take into account those killed by militants or Naxals in the same way that it does victims of police atrocities and custodial deaths. “There is no bigger violation of human rights than those affected by militants in Kashmir or Naxals. We must look at these issues with an Indian outlook,” Shah said, according to Indian Express. He was speaking at the NHRC’s 26th foundation day. Human rights, Shah argued, are intrinsic to traditional Indian values. “India has an inbuilt framework of human rights. Our family values have special protection of women and children, and villages look after the poor believing it to be part of their dharma.”
10. Earlier this year, Florida State Rep. Kimberly Daniels, a Democrat, introduced a bill that would have required public schools to offer an elective Bible class to students. In March, that bill passed through the State House’s PreK-12 Quality Subcommittee on an 11-3 vote. When asked about opposition to the bill, Daniels said the only reason people opposed it was that “people hate Christianity so much that they don’t even want people to study the Bible historically or culturally.” She added that the bill revealed “there’s a lot of persecution going on in America against people of faith.” The bill eventually made it to the PreK-12 Appropriations Subcommittee… where it was “indefinitely postponed and withdrawn from consideration.” But Daniels has now re-filed the exact same bill — it’s now HB 341 — for the next legislative session. The bill’s text is identical to the previous version, except it would go into effect on July 1, 2020, if passed.
