By Christy Barritt

Christians in North Korea Facing More Danger

David Curry, the CEO of Open Doors USA, an organization that aids persecuted Christians throughout the world, wrote in an editorial that Christians in North Korea are living under extreme persecution. According to Curry, there are between 50,000 and 70,000 Christians imprisoned in labor camps in the communist country. 

He believes the heat was turned up on Christians in the country after the controversy between Sony Pictures and North Korea about the movie The Interview. According to Curry, if someone is discovered as a Christian in the country, they can be subject to arrest, torture, and even public execution. He also explained that family members of Christians, even if they don’t share the same faith, can be punished by the government.

Despite the heavy persecution, Christianity continues to grow in the nation.

Planned Parenthood Aborted 327,653 Babies in 2013

Planned Parenthood recently released its 2013 annual report, and it showed that the organization aborted 327,653 babies and received more than $528 million in federal tax dollars—that’s roughly $1.4 million per day in taxpayer funds.

Even though the abortion industry as a whole has seen a decrease in recent years with many locations closing, Planned Parenthood seems to be unaffected by the trend. They took in $127.1 million profit in 2013. 

Many believe the sole reason Planned Parenthood is surviving and thriving is because of these federal tax dollars. Though the law forbids the government from giving money to fund elective abortions, Planned Parenthood receives money thanks to other services it offers like adoption and cancer screenings.

The organization’s annual report, however, said that abortions make up 94 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services and that for every one adoption referral they made in 2013, the organization performed 174 abortions.

Majority of Americans Dissatisfied with Direction of Country 

According to a poll by Pew Research Center at the end of 2014, 71 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction the country is headed. Less than half of those polled believed 2015 would be any better—42 percent believed 2015 would actually be worse.

“The public remains deeply dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country,” Pew said. “Just 26 percent are satisfied with national conditions, while 71 percent are dissatisfied. The current ratings are more pessimistic than in recent years, as the public generally takes an optimistic view of the year to come.”

More than 80 percent said that the country is more politically divided now than in the past, and 78 percent believe Americans will remain so over the next five years or become even more divided.

Atheists Demand University Apologize

A national group of atheists is demanding that Troy University in Alabama apologize for sending a video to students saying that democracy works in America because people know they’re “accountable to God.”

The 98-second video sent to students featured a Harvard Business School professor who stated that American democracy worked because of the strong religious component in society. The video can be found on YouTube.

American Atheists president David Silverman sent a letter to Jack Hawkins Jr., the chancellor of Troy, and said that atheists are overwhelmingly ethical and upstanding people and that religion is not necessary to keep people from becoming criminals. He went on to quote statistics which showed that states with the highest percentages of atheists had lower murder rates than average, while the most religious states had murder rates higher than average.

As of press time, Troy University had not apologized for sending the video.

Christy Barritt is an award-winning author in Chesapeake, Virginia (christybarritt.com). She and her husband, Scott, have two sons.