(upbeat electronic music)
- [Jenna] Tonight.
(siren wails)
A shooting massacre.
Terrorist attacks targettwo mosques in New Zealand,
leaving at least 49 people dead.
(sirens wail)
- [John] And after blaring raid sirens
signaling terrorist rocketattacks on Israeli citizens,
Israel strikes back,hitting 100 military targets
inside Hamas-controlled Gaza.
- It makes a difference.
- [Jenna] Back in Washington,
Democrats are pushing a federal bill
to ban widely-defined discrimination
against LGBTQ Americans.
- [John] And a new law in Kentucky marks
a major pro-life victory.
- All this and moretonight on Faith Nation.
(upbeat electronic music)
- Targeting Muslims in New Zealand.
Welcome to Faith Nation, I'm John Jessup.
- And I'm Jenna Browder.
- We begin tonight with the tragedy
on the other side of the globe.
49 people are dead,and at least 48 injured
after the shootingmassacre in New Zealand.
- The two separate shootingstargeted two mosques
where hundreds of Muslims were praying
in the city of Christchurch.
At least three suspectsare in custody tonight.
CBN News White Housecorrespondents Ben Kennedy
has the latest on thedeadliest terror attack
in New Zealand history.
- Well, John and Jen, NewZealand's prime minister calls it
one of the nation's darkest days.
This was a well-planned strike,
and the first terroristattack on New Zealand soil.
(siren wails)
Worshipers at midday prayers gunned down
at two mosques in thecity of Christchurch.
- They just came in, they were shooting,
and I'm thinking that, "Oh no,
"if I get out, I'll get shoot,"
so I'm just keeping my fingers cross.
- [Ben] In addition to those killed,
nearly 50 others wounded.
Multiple IEDs were alsodiscovered attached to vehicles.
- Clearly, what has happened here
is an extraordinary andunprecedented act of violence.
- [Ben] Behind that violence, police say,
is a man in his late 20snow charged with murder.
Two others are also in custody.
Faith leaders like Russell Moore Tweeted
that we should pray and work
for swift justice against these murderers.
- We're obviously greatly disturbed
by what seems to be a terror attack,
this hate crime in New Zealand.
- [Ben] President Trump Tweeted,
"My warmest sympathyand best wishes goes out
"to the people of New Zealand,"
adding that the US stands by New Zealand
for anything we can do, God bless all.
As for the motive, it's reported
the man claiming responsibility posted
an anti-immigrant manifesto online.
The suspect even livestreamedthe attack on social media.
- I'm 66.
Never thought, in my life,
I'd live to see something like this.
- To put things into perspective,
the sheer magnitude of this attack,
the National Police Statistics report
that more people weremurdered in this one attack
than are usually killed in anentire year in New Zealand.
Officers are now warningpeople to stay away
from mosques in the event of violence.
Ben Kennedy, CBN News, Washington.
- Senseless violence.
Thanks, Ben.
World leaders have been quick
to express condemnation for the attacks,
expressing sympathy for andsolidarity with New Zealand.
- Gordon Robertson, the CEO here
at the Christian Broadcasting Network,
offered his heartfelt condolences
and a strong condemnation of his own.
Here's Gordon.
- We have freedom of religion.
We have freedom of assembly,
and we're not going to let this kind
of terror attack deter us.
We need to have a free and open society.
What we're running intois a bizarre dialectic
where the rise of Muslim extremism,
the terrorism that comes with that
has now led to a rise inwhite nationalism and fascism.
Here's what this gunman said.
He said, "For once, the personthat will be called a fascist
"is an actual fascist."
It's just bizarre to me
anyone would ever wantto claim to be that.
How did fascism arise?
Well, it arose from the NationalSocialist Party in Germany.
It was originally a political movement,
and it rose in response towhat communism was doing
on the other side of the Russian border.
They became virulently anti-communist,
and in that, somehow, struck a chord,
and got enough supportto get elected to office.
It's absolutely bizarre to me
that anyone would want to go back there.
The terror that they unleashed,
the murder that they unleashed,
let's not go there.
- In political news tonight,
religious freedom advocatesare sounding an alarm
on the new Equality Act.
Democrats introduced this version,
touting it would be a ban, rather,
discrimination basedon sexual orientation,
but as CBN's Abigail Robertson explains,
opponents say the billis anything but equal.
- Males identifying as females
using the women's locker room,
faith-based adoption andfoster agencies required
to place children with same sex couples,
and florists forced to fillorders for same sex weddings.
Critics tell me these are just a few
of the potential results
if the Equality Act becomes law.
- Every American should be treated
with dignity and respect,but our laws need to protect
the constitutionally-guaranteedrights that we have.
- [Abigail] Greg Baylor andthe Alliance Defending Freedom
handled numerous religious liberty cases
in states where laws like theEquality Act already exist.
- Now, under the Equality Act,
we will have a nationwide law,
so we will see aproliferation of instances
where Christians andothers are being coerced
to violate their beliefsin order to comply
with such a law.
- [Abigail] While introducing the bill,
Democrat lawmakers talkedabout making the protection
of same sex individuals a priority
over other constitutional freedoms.
- We cannot allow claimsof religious freedom
to be used to discriminateagainst an LGBT individual.
- It makes a difference when any level
of government or any corporation says
that this sort of discriminatory behavior
and action is wrong.
It makes a difference,
and it provides thoseof us in our community,
the LGBT community, with the tools
that we need to fight back.
- [Abigail] Baylor maintains the bill does
much more than that.
- One of the interestingthings about the Equality Act,
compared to the last version,
is that it actually strips us of our--
- The bill is expected
to pass the Democrat-controlled house,
and even has a few Republican supporters,
but as of now, the Senate is not expected
to bring it to the floor this session.
Reporting from Capitol Hill,
Abigail Robertson, CBN News.
- Thanks, Abby.
Monica Burke is areligious liberty expert,
the Heritage Foundation.
I sat down with her earlier
to discuss a piece she just wrote titled
Seven Reasons Why TheEquality Act Is Anything But.
Monica, when people hear aphrase like The Equality Act,
they think that's somethingwe all can get be--
- Yeah, the Equality Actreally is anything but.
It's kind of a misnomer.
The Equality Act wouldactually further inequality
by hurting everyday Americans.
It could be used to imposea nationwide bathroom bill.
It could be used to impose
a national preferred pronoun policy,
and yet another healthcare mandate.
- The Equality Act raises the profile
of cases like Jack Phillips,
the Colorado baker whorefused to bake a cake
for a same sex wedding whose case went
all the way to the Supreme Court,
so we know how thisaffects business owners.
How does it affect average Americans?
- It could affect the average American
in a lot of different ways.
It could affect not only businesses,
but it could be usedto shut down charities.
There's a center for women
who have experiencedsexual abuse and trauma,
and been sex trafficked allthe way in Anchorage, Alaska,
and they've actually been sued
on the basis of gender identity
because someone who is a biological male
wanted access to their shelter.
It could affect thoseaffected populations.
It could be used to coercemedical professionals
to perform transition-affirming therapies
against their best medical judgment,
which, in turn, would politicize medicine,
which would create an expectation
that all physicians pursuethose courses of therapy,
and they can potentially affect families
and parental rights forparents who don't want
to pursue that course oftherapy for their children,
so it has a ripple affectthroughout society.
- You wrote an article about the ways
that this could affect people.
One of the ways that you also mention
was compelling speech.
Can you talk a little bit more about that?
- The problem with theEquality Act is that,
by the law speaking and saying,
"This is what we're going to accept now
"as the new cultural norm,"
it actually precludesany kind of compromise.
It precludes people coming up
with local solutions thatrespect everyone's freedoms,
that ensure we treateveryone with respect.
Absolutely, we want to furtherdignity for all people,
including LGBT individuals,
but this bill is not the solution.
It would actually further inequality.
- How should people respond?
- The way that we always want to respond
to any of these sensitive topics of debate
is always first andforemost with compassion.
We want to make sure thatwe're speaking with respect
and with plenty ofdeference to our opponents,
and understanding that, typically,
they're operating withthe best of intentions.
We all want to live in a country
where the dignity and respectof everyone is recognized,
but we need to also be very clear
about why this bill is problematic.
Become familiar with the status
of sexual orientationand gender identity laws
and policies in theirlocal school district,
at the state level, and then, from there,
they should speak articulately and clearly
about the legitimate concerns that we have
about the Equality Act.
- The president is welcoming Jewish exiles
from the Democratic Party.
In a Tweet, President Trump said,
"The Jexodus movementencourages Jewish people
"to leave the Democrat party,"
and that Republicans arewaiting with open arms.
The president and other Republicans
have criticized Democrats forcontroversial comments made
by freshman congresswoman Ilhan Omar
criticizing the US-Israel relationship
and engaging in antisemitic tropes.
- Well, for more on all things politics,
we bring in our chiefpolitical analyst David Brody.
David, thanks for joining us.
- Thank you, great to be back again.
- Always.
- David, to President Trump's Tweet,
what is he talking aboutexactly with this Jexodus?
- Well, look, I don't want to call it,
it's all made up.
It's not because there'sa few millennials,
Jewish millennials, whokind of started this
on a website that'sfledgling, if you will.
It's just starting out, but he saw
a Fox and Friends segment.
Then he went ahead andTweeted about this Jexodus,
so look, I think that'swhat he's trying to do,
kind of gin up some controversy here,
and basically say, "Cometo the Republican Party.
"We're for American Jews," butthe truth of the matter is,
American Jews prettymuch have a home already
in the Democrat Party.
We have some figures, I wantto put them up real quick
'cause I don't come to this show prepared.
I mean, I do come to the show prepared.
What am I talking about?
52%, take a look, ofAmerican Jews are Democrat,
31% independent, 15% only Republican.
As we continue on, you can see that,
in the disapproval of President Trump
among American Jews, very high, 71%.
26% approve of the president.
Then look at what Donald Trump did
in terms of the Jewishsupport in the election.
Mitt Romney had the highestJewish support, 30%,
Donald Trump at 24%, tied George W. Bush,
and then John McCain at 22%.
There's some work to be done.
He wants to make some strides there.
- David, we've seen this is really
a bipartisan issue, antisemitism.
Does the president look political here,
you know, making a Tweet like that?
- Sure, he definitely--
Look, I think this is
the kitchen sink strategyfor Donald Trump.
Let's try to get a percentage or two
of American Jews here,
let's try to get some folks
that are really against socialism here,
and you just kinda mix andmatch all of it together,
and I think, at thatpoint, you cobble together
what you hope to beelectoral victory in 2020.
I think that's the plan.
That's why he can go after,as he calls Bernie Sanders,
the nutty professor, and callsElizabeth Warren Pocahontas,
he's trying to just muddy the field,
so it's all political, for sure.
- Some people might ask,
what does he have to gainwith a Tweet like this,
but maybe the question is,what does he have to lose
with a Tweet like this?
- Yeah, I think it doesn'tmake any sense, personally.
I mean, look, AmericanJews are not gonna go
for Donald Trump or theRepublican Party much more
than they're alreadygoing for the Republicans.
- Maybe the thing to splicehere is the difference
between the support for Christians
who support the Zionist movement
versus liberal Jews whoare typically encamped
with the Democratic Party.
- That's a good point.
35% of American Jews are Reform.
Those are the liberal Jews.
Then there are conservative Jews,
that's about 25% or so,
and then you have 10% are,they're Orthodox Jews.
Those are kind of the Zionist Jews.
Evangelicals and the OrthodoxJews really get together,
so there is a schism between the two.
I don't know, we'll see.
- What about hisson-in-law, Jared Kushner?
Is he Orthodox?
Is he conservative?
Where does he fall?
- Well, he keeps kosher,
so it's either conservative or Orthodox.
I think it's conservative,I don't think it's Orthodox.
Having said that, theydo keep a kosher home.
They put the phone away onSaturday, believe it or not.
Jared Kushner and IvankaTrump both do that.
- David, switching gearshere to this whole,
the southern border, thepresident's declaration
that, basically, Congress voted against,
well, this resolution, they voted for it,
the president just vetoed it.
What does this signal about the president
and a split with him andsome of the Republicans?
- First of all, to the base,
it signals that he's gonnago to the wall for the wall,
so this is politically veryastute by the president.
It'll help him in 2020.
As it relates to Republicans, look,
I think, personally and politically,
this is great for the president.
He has outed these Republicans
who say they're for border security
and then went ahead andpretty much voted against it.
I know they said constitutional reasons,
but look, Ted Cruz cameout, and he was for it,
and he said because this vote was not
about the constitution, thisvote was on border security,
and there's a law in place already.
- All right, David Brody.
- That's it, that's all I have.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.- Thanks, David.
(soft electronic music)
Coming up, who wrote thefirst books of the Bible?
How a new film tries tosettle an ancient question
when we come back.
- Tonight, a ceasefirebetween Israel and Hamas.
Israel warplanes overnighthit 100 Hamas military targets
in the Gaza Strip, strikingHamas terrorist headquarters
and an undergroundrocket-making installation.
The retaliation came afterair raid sirens Thursday,
signally terrorist rocketattacks on Israeli citizens
who took cover in bomb shelters.
The two Iranian-made rockets fired
into southern Israel andTel Aviv by Hamas mark
the first such incident since 2014.
- Well, across America--
As some schools and univers--
As Chris Mitchell reports,
a new movie offers strong evidence
for the authority of the Bible
and one of its best known authors.
- [Chris] The new film
Patterns of Evidence: TheMoses Controversy looks
at a debate enteringtoday's college classrooms.
- The Moses Controversyis really the question of,
did Moses write thefirst books of the Bible?
From a lot of Christians,it's not a controversy at all,
but as soon as you send your son
or daughter off to college or university,
they're gonna hear a different story.
- [Chris] Film producerTimothy Mahoney says
this lack of understanding is rampant
in today's higher learning.
- It's huge, the number of people
in mainstream scholarshipthat don't believe
that Moses was the author ofthe first books of the Bible,
so they're basically saying,
"This is just a beautifulpiece of literature,
"but it's not real history."
- [Chris] Mahoney says that's the issue.
- The problem with thatis that Jesus believes
that Moses wrote thefirst books of the Bible.
In fact, Jesus says, "Forif you believe Moses,
"you would believe me, for he wrote of me,
"but if you do not believe his writings,
"how will you believe my words?"
- [Chris] Mahoney traveledthousands of miles
and spent years investigatingthe Moses question.
- What I realized is that,if Moses doesn't exist,
and Moses didn't write thesefirst books of the Bible,
this impacts the rest of the Bible.
- [Chris] While manymainstream scholars cast doubt
on the history and archeology of Moses,
Mahoney says he canshow why they're wrong.
- In fact, this film is going to show you
Bible-affirming evidencethat Moses had the ability
to write the first books of the Bible.
- [Chris] With Biblicalvalues under assault
in today's culture, Mahoneysays his project can speak
to both believer and skeptic.
- Now, if you have a family member
that doesn't believe,and you've been looking
for an opportunity tobring them to something,
or to talk to them about the Bible,
this film is a perfect tool for that
because it's done very scientifically.
- [Chris] Mahoney says today'sgenerations have doubts,
and ask tough questions.
- But there are answersfor these questions.
We don't have to lose our sonsand daughters to skepticism.
- [Chris] Mahoney says,in order to know God,
people need to know his word,
and he hopes his film will tiethat understanding together.
- It shows that this ability
to do exactly what wascommanded in the Bible
fits the history and thearcheology, matches the Bible.
The pattern of evidence fits.
- [Chris] Chris Mitchell,CBN News, Jerusalem.
- [John] For more news and analysis
on the latest developments in Israel,
tune into Jerusalem Datelinewith Chris Mitchell tonight
and every Friday evening at 9:30 eastern
on the CBN News Channel.
- [Jen] When we comeback, the conversion story
of a woman who says she murderedmore people than Ted Bundy.
- A newly-passed pro-life measure
in Kentucky is the target of a lawsuit
from the American Civil Liberties Union.
The state legislature approved a bill
banning most abortions once afetal heartbeat is detected,
sending it to the deskof governor Matt Bevin
late Thursday night, butthe ACLU has filed a suit
saying the measure is unconstitutional.
That prompted a response fromKentucky's pro-life governor.
Bevin Tweeted at the ACLU, saying, quote,
"Bring it, Kentucky willalways fight for life, always."
- After performing hundreds of abortions,
something changed for Dr. Kathi Aultman.
- Charlene Aaron brings us the story
of how a spiritual revelation transformed
the former pro-choice practitioner.
- [Charlene] Kathi Aultmanwanted to be a doctor
so she could help women.
After receiving herlicense, she took a job
at a Florida women's clinicto perform abortions.
- There was no question in my mind
that a woman shouldhave the right to choose
whether she wanted to be pregnant or not,
and that was the most important thing.
I didn't consider the fetusin the equation at all.
- [Charlene] Aultman wenton to become director
of a local Planned Parenthood,
where she says examining the parts
of aborted babies fascinated her.
- I was looking at it completely
from a scientific standpoint,
totally devoid of any emotion.
It was amazing, and I used to send
the different parts down to pathology,
and then, on our pathology rotation,
we would look at those slides.
It fascinated me.
- [Charlene] She even performedabortions while pregnant.
- I didn't see any problem with that.
My baby was wanted.
Their baby wasn't.
It didn't seem to bother the women
that I was aborting, but yeah,
I saw no contradiction inthat, no problem with it.
- Dr. Aultman said the only time
she had qualms aboutwhat she was doing was
when she worked in the intensivecare unit for newborns.
That's where Aultman found herself trying
to save babies who were the same age
as those she killed, thoughtsshe quickly dismissed.
- If she wanted the baby,
then I did everything I could
to give her a happy, healthy baby.
If she miscarried, I wouldbe distraught with her,
and upset about losing that baby.
- [Charlene] After having her first child,
the doctor came face toface with three cases
that changed her thinking.
One involved a young girlwho had three abortions,
all performed by Aultman.
- I went to the clinicmanager, and I said,
"I don't want to do this.
"She's just using abortionas birth control."
They said I didn't have the right
to make that decision.
It wasn't a judgmentthat I should be making,
and I needed to do the procedure.
- [Aultman] In 1983, afterattending a church service
and a private meeting with the pastor,
Aultman became a Christian.
- He gave me Josh McDowell's
Evidence That Demands A Verdict.
It was that point thatI finally understood
who Jesus was, and at that point, really,
I committed my life to him.
Then he just started the long,hard work of transforming me.
- [Charlene] Part of thattransformation included
no longer doing abortions.
Still, Aultman held onto her belief
that a woman had the right
to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
Two years later, after reading an article
comparing abortion withthe Nazi Holocaust,
she saw herself as a mass murderer.
- I probably murdered more people
than Ted Bundy or anyof the mass murderers,
if you consider all theabortions that I did.
- [Charlene] After talkingwith a Christian counselor,
Aultman received much-neededpeace and healing.
- During that time, in my mind,
I could see Jesus's gown and his feet,
and I was at his feet, crying.
He said to me, "Are youmore powerful than I am?
"Are you more important than I am?
"Are you stronger than I am,
"that I can forgive you, butyou cannot forgive yourself?"
At that point, I understoodthat he had forgiven me,
and that I needed to forgive myself.
That was where I really had my healing.
- [Charlene] Autlman is now retired,
and has dedicated theremainder of her life
to fighting for the unborn.
As a board-certified Ob/Gyn and a fellow
of the American College ofObstetricians and Gynecologists,
she recently urged lawmakers to pass
the Heartbeat Protection Act,
a measure that would ban abortionsat six weeks of pregnancy
after an unborn baby'sheartbeat is detected.
- I support the Heartbeat Protection Act
because it uses the heartbeat,
a very concrete sign of life
that people can identify with,
to define when the fetusshould be protected.
- [Charlene] She is grateful every day
for the opportunity to speakfor those she once silenced.
- I'm so thankful that he's using me
to save babies now when, once,
I used to kill them,and that's very healing
and restorative in itself.
- [Charlene] Charlene Aaron,
CBN News, Jacksonville, Florida.
- Thanks for joining us forthis edition of Faith Nation.
- Have a great weekend.
