WHEN PRO-CHOICE activists showed up at New York City's Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood early on Saturday April 1, it was immediately clear that something wasn't right.
Members of NYC for Abortion Rights called a counterprotest that morning to oppose a vigil by the "40 Days for Life," part of a series of actions around the country organized by religious opponents of women right to choose.....

Planned Parenthood escorts in official pink Planned Parenthood escort vests stood in front of the clinic and on the street corner opposite. But there was another person immediately in front of the clinic doors--a middle-aged white male who also wore a pink vest but one that didn't sport the official Planned Parenthood escort logo.
As he spoke with a young woman of color who looked confused, it became clear that he wasn't an official escort--he was an anti-choicer deliberately attempting to confuse patients by dressing as an escort and give them false information about abortion.

We’ve written before about hateful acts of anti-Jewish bigotry being on the rise. News of bomb threats, vandalism, even desecration of Jewish cemeteries is reported daily. Just yesterday, near Washington, D.C., a Jewish Community Center was tagged with swastikas and the phrase “Hitler was right.” The incident was all the more painful as it occurred on the first full day of the Jewish holy week of Passover. ........

Vandalizing a synagogue and saying something insensitive on national television are not the same thing—but they both indicate something disturbing about our national understanding about the Holocaust and genocide. People who think the Holocaust was “an atrocity” but don’t understand the nuances have a looser grip on their position than they think they do. And they have a much looser grip on their position than people who think “Hitler was right.”

The naming of the celebration as “Easter” seems to go back to the name of a pre-Christian goddess in England, Eostre, who was celebrated at beginning of spring. The only reference to this goddess comes from the writings of the Venerable Bede, a British monk who lived in the late seventh and early eighth century.

Democrats need to do two things, Chris.

Number one, a 50-state agenda. Do not surrender parts of the country to right-wing Republicans.

Number two, a progressive agenda that makes it clear that the Democrats are going to stand with working families, they are prepared to take on Wall Street and the one percent. We do those things, I think you’re going to see fundamental changes in the way politics works in America.

Less than two months after his firing from ACT for America—the largest grassroots anti-Muslim organization in the country—Lt. Col. Roy White continues his demonization of Muslims under a new banner: The Patriots of San Antonio....

Whatever the name of White’s new organization may be, his speech in March clearly indicates that he intends to be even more radical than he was with his previous organization, which is quite disturbing considering the hateful rhetoric and actions ACT for America has pushed for the last decade. And if Wednesday’s invited guest speaker Amil Imani is any indication, White’s crusade against Islam shows no signs of letting up.
“What aspects of Islam do you find most problematic and disturbing?” Imani asked on a post to his website in 2013. “To answer this question properly, volumes can be written. Just a few keywords should cue you for now. Intolerance, fatalism, institutionalized slavery, injustice, jihadism, oppression of women and non-Muslims, celebration of death, lack of respect for individualism, rejection of freedom and democracy … ”

Sikhs in the United States are launching a million-dollar awareness campaign that aims to stop hate-fueled attacks by explaining more about who they are and what they believe...

The ads, which will air on CNN, Fox News and on TV stations in Fresno, California, home to a large Sikh community, make no mention of the more than 300 hate crimes reported by Sikhs in the U.S. since the 2001 terrorist attacks. Rather, they feature Sikh families explaining how the world's fifth-largest religion, founded in India, aligns with American values.

The Copts are the largest Christian community in North Africa and the Middle East, and one of the oldest Christian sects in the world. The church is officially known as the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and was founded by the Apostle Mark in the year 42.........

As with their Eastern Orthodox counterparts, married men can be ordained as priests. Coptic priests often have other professions before they enter the priesthood......

The Copts have their own patriarch, Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria, who took office in 2012 after having his name picked from a glass chalice by a blindfolded boy. Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church has been very vocal in his support of the Copts and is scheduled to meet with his counterpart in Egypt later this month.

How could it have been otherwise? Frida Berrigan—the daughter of Philip Berrigan and Elizabeth McAlister and the niece of the peace activist Daniel J. Berrigan, S.J.—grew up in a community devoted to peacemaking and nonviolence. She, now 30-something, has followed in the family footsteps.......

As Frida grew up, she said she was “happy at some demonstrations simply to be part of something—not in stopping the war, but standing among people who felt they had a role and were not a number only.” Eventually she realized, “This is where I want my life to be”—in opposing war and working for peace at all levels. As a young adult, she became increasingly active in planning the demonstrations. “You realize you’ll never organize the one demonstration that will change the world, but it’s important to be part of a movement that will raise the issues involved and provide a space for outrage at the destructiveness of war.”

“‘Make me an instrument of your peace’ is cycling through my head constantly,” said Frida, referring to the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, “especially when I feel scattered or nervous.”

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As governor, Robert Bentley would quote the Bible before the Alabama Legislature and say that God had elevated him to the State Capitol. In his dermatology practice, in the city where he was a Baptist deacon, he sometimes witnessed to patients. And when he was a first-time candidate for statewide office, his campaign headquarters were often filled with volunteers from local churches.
This is a state that knows well how mixing faith and politics can lead to disappointment. When Mr. Bentley on Monday resigned from office and pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors in the wake of the sex scandal that ended his 50-year marriage, his downfall reflected both enduring and contemporary challenges for evangelical voters.......

“The idea that moral hypocrisy hurts you among evangelical voters is not true, if you’re sound on all of the fundamentals,” said Wayne Flynt, an ordained Baptist minister and one of Alabama’s pre-eminent historians. “Being sound on the fundamentals depends on what the evangelical community has decided the fundamentals have become. At this time, what is fundamental is hating liberals, hating Obama, hating abortion and hating same-sex marriage.”

About Democrats For Life of America

Democrats: We believe in the core values and principles of the Democratic Party. We are committed to freedom and justice, security and prosperity, equality and community, and hope and progress. We are proud to be members of the party that created the New Deal, Fair Deal, and New Frontier. We share the party's commitment to the Four Freedoms: freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from fear and want. We look to continue and perfect the party's commitment to the most vulnerable members of our society.
Pro-life Democrats: We believe in the legal protection of unborn life and a comprehensive, bipartisan approach to reducing the number of abortions in America and around the world. We believe in supporting women and children, strengthening families and communities, and protecting the environment. We favor eliminating unfair discrimination, improving education, and preserving the American dream for all Americans. We believe in the elimination of the death penalty, euthanasia, and embryonic stem cell research.