The Judicial Branch

The Supreme Court goes through around 7,000 cases each year at which they choose about 100 to 150 of, but there are other steps you have to go through before you can appeal to the Supreme Court. The first court system and the most basic is the District Court. District Courts deals with both criminal civil matters, this is the court that most people are issued jury duty to. The next court system after the District Court is the Circuit Court. The Circuit Court deals with more important civil and criminal matters, on top of that this court system also deals with juvenile and other family law cases such as divorce, custody and child support. There are 13 circuit courts and in the number of judges can vary from 13 being the lowest and 26 being the highest. If your case loses in the circuit court you then can try and be appealed to the Supreme Court. This is the highest and final level of court systems if your case loses in the Supreme Court you are all done and that verdict is final. The Supreme Court is in Washington D.C and has 9 judges that have precedence over all the other court systems in the nation. That is the different systems of courts.


          Recently in the sixth Circuit Court, which deals with cases out of the states in Michigan Ohio Kentucky Tennessee, ruled against gay marriage rights which has been the first loss the gay right movement has suffered since it has recently picked up a lot of recognition. Most all same sex marriage cases have been won after the Supreme Court in June of 2013 ruled against the federal Defense of Marriage Act. This is why this particular case has caught so much attention.
Circuit Judge Jeffrey Sutton was saying that their hands are tied usually when it comes to cases concerning same sex marriage because of a statement made by the supreme court, "upheld the right of the people of a state to define marriage as they see it." That makes it hard for a judge to vote against gay marriage, but the sixth circuit stood up and said no and I hope that trends and sets an example for other court systems whether they are district, circuit, or supreme.  

Christianity without a Hell

Hell has always been a part of the reality of Christianity not as something to scare people into being a Christian but an alternate choice if you are not s Christian. John Shore said hell is not a real place it is made up and used as a tool for converting Christians. I agree some "Christians" change just because they don't want to go to hell, that is the wrong purpose. Its Christ's love  that should draw us to him not the fear oh hell. Why do people want to believe there is no hell?, to make a religion that they like. They want a Christianity with no consequences. They want to accept the loving side of God but refuse to acknowledge the power ands justifying side of God. At the end of John Shore's article he says, "I want this Christianity. I insist upon that Christianity. Tell me Im not alone". this clearly proves how messed up he is. This is the Christianity he wants? Is Christianity not a constant thing? This statements insist Christianity is always changing and in 100 years could be a completely different idea. Satan is a part of hell so does this mean that Satan is also not real? If he is said to also be fake then were is the distinction of wrong and write, darkness and light. What is the alternative for not being a Christian? where do the non believers go? This idea has so many flaws and so many unanswered questions. If there's no hell then there is no fear, and every Christian should fear God, it's a part of having a relationship with him. This is not a true Christianity but a made up one to make life easier or more comfortable for these "Christians" 

Churches required to provide abortion in medical care

The California government is forcing that all health care companies cover elective abortion. Elective abortion is the abortion everyone knows, just the correct title for it. As of August 22 every health care insurance company in California was ordered to cover elective abortion. The problem that arose with this announcement is the numerous churches that are insured under these companies. Real Christians disagree with abortion and should never want to support abortion. There has not been an issue yet where a women covered by a churches insurance wanted to have an abortion and couldn’t because the churches insurance didn’t cover it.  If a woman under the health care of a church wants to have an abortion in the first place she might want to reevaluate and think about what she’s doing in the first place. But in my opinion it’s not that big of a deal that churches now have coverage for abortion. They always could get an abortion now it’s just covered by their insurance. The thing that I think is wrong is that the Californian government is forcing businesses to change and form to what they want whether the companies are willing or opposed I think that’s wrong. Is it freedom that United States companies are being forced to change how they have been doing things not by the peoples out cries but by the government. For example Kaiser Permanente, one of the companies involved in this issue, say their customers were saying we want elective abortion covered by our health care, I would understand if they then changed their policies. But the government forcing them to change, that just isn’t right to me. The government should not be that much in control were they can just go in and change a company’s policies because they want to.

Houston mayor Annise Parker

Annise Parker is the first openly lesbian mayor of a major city, and upon becoming the mayor she wanted to make some changes for equal rights. She put into action a law that would make every public bathroom have to be transgender so that whether your a man or women the bathroom will be suitable for you. This would also mean that a man could use a women's bathroom and a women could use a men's bathroom. Just like on every matter some people agree and some don't, in this situation the Christian community disagreed with this law and tried to repeal it. they claimed to get 50,000 signatures saying they wanted to repeal this act but the city attorney said they did not have enough signatures, the required amount of signatures is 17,269. So the churches sued the city and then the city responded by issuing subpoenas for the sermons of five local pastors who were not even involved in the lawsuit of the people and the city over the signatures. This is where people said they line was crossed, they claim freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The city is saying the signatures are not legitimate and by issuing subpoenas for the sermons they can review the sermons and see if the pastors are directly encouraging the people to sign the ballot against the mayors new law. It is ok for a pastor to speak on a moral issue but it is illegal for a pastor to speak against a politician because of he or she's view on that moral issue. This is what I think the city is trying to accomplish by issuing subpoenas on the sermons. After saying that, I also think the mayor, because she is lesbian, probably isn't liking the church and wanting to hurt it in some way so she is taking them to court trying to get them in trouble. But I don't think it is necessarily a bad thing that the city issued subpoenas for the sermons to see if the signatures were legitimate, but being gay/lesbian is wrong that's where this whole debate has stemmed from, so don't be gay/lesbian.

Suicide and Depression

“Suicide is a permanent fix for a temporary problem" - Robin Williams. How ironic that Robin Williams, someone who killed himself, is the one who said this quote. Robin Williams had a wife and kids and left them, that was an extremely selfish thing to do. 800,000 to a million people commit suicide each year with another 10 to 20 million attempts. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the whole world. In the US someone kills themselves every 13.3 minutes that amounts to about 40,000 people making it again the 10th leading cause of death. Studies show that in 2012 the most common age people committed suicide at was 45-64. Also another interesting factor is the gender, 78.5% of the suicides in 2012 were males. That really surprised me and made me realize how much stress the American male must be under in today’s society. Making a living and being successful in today’s world is tough and when having to provide for a family theirs even more pressure, I'm not going to pretend like I know what that feels like but it must be tough. Also 50% of people who kill themselves do it with a firearm. The number one cause of suicide is something everyone could probably guess, depression. Depression is a disease that actually has a physical effect on the brain in some ways. It can impair the growth of nerve cells in the Hippocampus part of the brain. No matter the situation Suicide in my opinion is never the right thing to do. When you think about the people you leave behind and what they have to deal with after you’re gone. Like I said earlier the majority of people who kill themselves are men, fathers, husbands, and sons. Also the daughters and wife's and mother, who would want their kid to grow up with the thought that their mother father left them forever. Just because life's gets rough doesn't mean you should end it. People talk about someone having depression and that's the reason they did it. Although depression may be a factor it is the person themselves that makes the decision. Suicide is people acting irrationally about their life situation. Suicide is never an ok decision it should never even a choice. If someone is depressed they should seek help, better yet turn to God because he can definitely help with any problem you have.

Islamic state

On September 21, 2014 Isis said to all Muslims a disturbing and very threatening announcement. He called all Muslims to kill Europeans and American citizens and that if they did not have a knife to bash them over the head with a rock. He said to the people of the west, "You will not feel secure even in your bedrooms". In every religion there are extremist, Muslims are probably the most known extremist group especially in America for the 9/11 attack. Therefor they experience a lot of stereotypical oppression, and this new message from Isis leaders probably won’t be helping the stereotype for being extremists. Can a stereotypical view be someone just being cautious? Of course not every Muslim is an extremist, but after what the Isis leaders said is it wrong to think that any Muslim could potentially do these things? In my opinion its being cautious, not stereotypical, unless your abusing them. In some ways I don't think certain stereotypes are bad of course assumptions are not the best way to go about things but I would rather assume and be safe than be oblivious and possible get murdered. I think one of the reasons behind their rally cry is to just strike fear in the hearts of American's and Europeans. If you've watched the videos or heard about the airstrikes that America has been dishing out, they are brutal, so you bet that Isis is definitely taking a loss and having to go to extreme measures such as calling all Muslims to kill Americans and Europeans. Isis in Iraq has had a huge effect to the civilians in the area. Over 5,500 civilians have died and another 11,000 wounded. On top of the deaths and injuries 1.2 million have be driven out of their homes and forced to find a new one. Isis is devastating Iraq and they need to be stopped soon before they can influence more people and grow and I think the airstrikes are doing a great job.

Banning of christian groups

Recently many UC's in California have had their Christian groups derecognized, starting with Vanderbilt University and now spreading to many others. This is controversial because of Christian beliefs. Christians do not believe in homosexuality and In these colleges you are not aloud to be gay and be a leader of these Christian groups. Homosexuality is becoming more and more accepted, but that shouldn't change the Christian outlook on this sin. Like every club or group, there are requirements and rules to be the leader of that group. I admit some Christian can be very short minded and very aggressive towards homosexuals, But Christ says to love everyone. Homosexuality is a sin, but so is stealing, cheating, murder, and many others. Also it says in the bible that all sins are equal so to not let a gay person be a leader of a Christian group because of that sin should be the same as not letting a person who lies a lot also be the leader of that group. Instead of judging these people who are gay, as Christian we should try and help them with there sin and not just be judgmental Christians who live in the bubble of their own world. But on the other hand the colleges should not ban the Christian groups because of their leadership choices. These Christians believe something, they start a group on what they believe, why should they then change that belief to fit other peoples needs. They believe being gay is wrong,  I think a way homosexuality is slightly different from other sins is the fact that homosexuality is a life style other sins are can be lifestyles but are usually just temporary urges. So if you're life style is sin then I don't think it's a good idea to be leading other Christians to follow God and "not sin".