A woman professor from Oxford University filed charges recently against the school, claiming she was discriminated against when she converted from Judaism to Christianity.

Dr. Tali Argov of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies told the Reading Employment Tribunal hearing that she was unfairly dismissed and discriminated against after she became an Anglican in 2008.

Argov said she was bypassed for promotion, lost her privileges and was treated coldly by her peers at social gatherings.

She said the staff wanted to check her lectures to ensure she does not criticize Israel. Eventually she was dismissed although she had offered to undertake new roles, the Telegraph said.  Read more... (619 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Some 3,000 angry Muslims, spurred by their imam, went on a rampage in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh in Egypt recently, completely destroying 18 homes, 23 shops, and 16 cars owned by Christians according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ).

The Muslims had just finished their Friday prayers when they were exhorted by the mosque’s imam to cleanse the city of its infidel Christians, whom they call Copts, the WSJ said.  Read more... (398 words, 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Moroccan palace gate

The government of Morocco has suddenly expelled large groups of Christians on the charge of “proselytizing” Muslims.

The sudden expulsion of more than twenty Christian house parents and workers from an orphanage has left thirty-three Moroccan children without the only parent figures they have ever known.

According to Australia’s Christian Today, the Village of Hope orphanage, registered with the Moroccan government since 2002, has always included workers from America, New Zealand and other countries who were open about their Christianity.

The house parents were not allowed to adopt the children, as only Muslims are allowed to adopt Moroccan children. So they acted as foster parents.  Read more... (405 words, 2 images, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

‘Porn for Porn’ says University atheist group as they misinterpret the Bible’s sexual stories

A group of atheists at the University of Texas San Antonio Campus renewed their yearly “smut for smut” exchange campaign this month. Porn for porn? No….

The Atheist Agenda group, formed on campus in 2005, encouraged students to turn in their Bibles in exchange for pornographic material.

This year, it caused quite the stir at numerous media outlets as diverse as Huffington Post and Fox News.

The atheists claim the Bible is full of sexual stories with mistreatment of women—no different than your average book of porn—and that it is a parallel trade-off.  Read more... (544 words, 2 images, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

A recent archaeological excavation outside Jerusalem has uncovered a gate, tower and wall that might have been part of Solomon’s Temple 3,000 years ago.

Pottery shards found by Eilat Mazar of Hebrew University and her team of archaeologists during excavation are purported to be from the 10th century B.C.

The dating of the ancient fortifications place the structures during the time of the first temple built by King David’s son Solomon as mentioned in 1 Kings 5 and indicates that a powerful centralized governing body existed in ancient Jerusalem, according to the Washington Post.  Read more... (467 words, 2 images, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

University of California at Irvine Library, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Tensions are growing on college campuses between Jewish and Muslim student groups.

An incident in early February at the  University of California- Irvine in Southern California was apparently just the latest in a string at that university.

Muslim students began heckling Israeli Ambassador Michael Orin when he came to speak at the University.

The disturbance continued for close to 20 minutes, until Orin could no longer wait for the group to subside, and left the pulpit.  Read more... (523 words, 2 images, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

A Jewish teenager, attempting to say his morning prayers, caused a terrorism alert on a US Airways airplane Thursday.

The plane had left New York and was going to Kentucky. Instead, it was redirected to Philadelphia, grounded, and surrounded by local and federal authorities, including dogs sniffing for bombs.

The boy had taken out his tefillin, as is stated in the Jewish Torah that every male thirteen and over is supposed to do daily as part of his prayer time.  Read more... (454 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Auschwitz buildings today. From Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

In 2005, the United Nations designated Jan. 27 as an annual International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Why Jan. 27? It was on this day in 1945 that the largest World War II concentration camp, Auschwitz, was liberated.

Auschwitz, a network of three camps, was operated in Poland under German occupation from 1940-1945. It probably accounted for the death of over one million Jews. Among other well-known “death camps” were Dachau, Treblinka and Bergen-Belsen.  Read more... (476 words, 2 images, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

When we left George in Part 1, he needed answers to ten questions as a way to improve his friendship with Simon. It’s just the tip of a huge iceberg of information, but it would be so helpful if Christians could know these things before springing the gospel message on their Jewish friends. 

How good is my knowledge of the Old Testament compared to the New? I can relate a helpful story. My friend Betsy was raised in a “New Testament Christian” family. They believed the New Testament “overcame” the Old. But when she met and married a pastor, she discovered many Old Testament prophecies by comparing them to New Testament scriptures. The New Covenant between God and his people doesn’t overcome the Old; it enhances it.  Read more... (874 words, 1 image, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

A Christian named George has become friends with Simon, a Jewish man. George hasn’t yet found a way to approach the subject of the gospel with Simon. One day, he invites Simon to a party. 

“I’m sorry, George, I can’t go that night,” Simon says. ”It’s the start of the Jewish New Year.”

“Jewish new year?” asks George. ”I knew you had a separate one, but I didn’t know when.”

“Yeah,  we sort of celebrate it for ten days leading up to Yom Kippur,” Simon replies.  Read more... (605 words, 1 image, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)