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A banner across the street from Franklin Graham’s event Tuesday featured a quote in large letters. “It’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict. It’s God’s job to judge. It’s my job to love.” The quote is attributed to Graham’s father, Billy Graham. The banner was among the signs held by about 30 people who said they wanted to show a more inclusive brand of Christianity than the one Franklin Graham represents. Graham’s “Decision America Tour” kicked off the first of eight North Carolina meetings…

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Christian Post Reporter | Monday, September 30, 2019 (Photo: Reuters) Indian authorities jailed church leaders and their families after Hindu extremists disrupted a worship service, beat individuals, and livestreamed the events on Facebook in efforts to make the area “free of Christianity.” According to persecution watchdog International Christian Concern, the attack took place on Sept. 8 in the Domchanch villa of Koderma District in Jharkhand state. Dozens of assailants from the youth militant group Bajrang Dal reportedly intruded on the…

I am responding to Pete Scobby’s letter that he wrote about Allen Marsh’s letter. Mr. Scobby mentions his Christ is a progressive socialist; certainly you are not inferring that Jesus is a communist are you? Progressive socialism is a dictatorial classless society where the state owns everything. I don’t believe this is what Jesus had in mind. You tell Mr. Marsh to love his neighbor as himself; this is Christianity not socialism. Socialism is coveting your neighbor’s property, which is what we’re not supposed…

Says Andy Rooney wrote a long commentary defending prayer and Christianity in the United States. — Viral image on Monday, September 9th, 2019 in a Facebook post By Ciara O’Rourke on Thursday, September 26th, 2019 at 1:41 p.m. Andy Rooney is back from the grave to “make 2019/2020 the year the silent majority is heard, and we put God back as the foundation of our families and institutions.” According to a Feb. 9 Facebook post, the deceased CBS commentator waxed about Christianity in “his…

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Tuesday, September 24, 2019 Christian apologist Andy Bannister answers three common questions he gets when witnessing to Muslims in the United Kingdom at Reboot, a youth event held Saturday, Sept. 21, 2019 in London, England. | YouTube/REBOOT Christian apologist Andy Bannister says there are three questions he commonly receives from Muslims when preaching to the growing Islamic community in the U.K. Bannister, the director of the Solas Centre for Public Christianity who holds a Ph.D. in Islamic…

This column explores the themes in Jim Wallis’ new book Christ in Crisis: Why We Need to Reclaim Jesus (HarperOne) available Sept. 24.  It’s always amazing to me how — somehow, apparently, mysteriously, and even miraculously — Jesus has survived all of us Christians. And yet, it’s undeniable that the election of Donald Trump and the presidency that has followed — and the Christian response to all of it — have revealed how disconnected many American Christians have become from Jesus. In particular, the uncritical support Trump…

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter | Tuesday, September 17, 2019 An Iranian flag flutters in front of the United Nations headquarters in Vienna, Austria, June 17, 2014. | (Photo: Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader) Iran has reportedly imprisoned a business owner for the crime of selling the Bible in his bookshop. Reports have indicated that Mustafa Rahimi, a bookseller from the Kurdish town of Bukan, was sentenced by the Bukan Public Revolutionary Court to months in prison on charges of selling the Bible.  However, reports are conflicting…

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Is there a difference between “churchianity” and Christianity? Can one be a devoted church member yet not a disciple of Christ? Is traditionalism killing the church? Or is theological liberalism to blame? Or both? David Young, senior minister for the North Boulevard Church of Christ in Murfreesboro, Tenn., speaks at the New Day Conference. We live in a time of rapid decline in Churches of Christ and many other Christian groups in the United States. Congregations are shrinking and dying. Children…

Recently, we have been hearing about some well-known professing Christians leaving the faith. What causes a seemingly solid Christian to walk away from the faith? In some cases, it could be temporary discouragement. In others, it could be a result of burnout. We all need breaks. Even Jesus took time for rest. God has even built into the week one day off—the Sabbath. If we burn the candle from both ends, we can suffer the consequences of burnout. In still other cases it can…

A rainbow flag, commonly known as the gay pride flag or LGBT pride flag, blows in the wind in Christopher Park outside the Stonewall Inn in New York in June. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters) By Jonathan Merritt September 6 at 1:27 PM For two decades, McKrae Game was a top-tier figure among ex-gay Christians and a leading advocate for conversion therapy, a counseling practice with the goal of helping LGBTQ people suppress their homosexuality and become “straight.” But Game, 51, now disavows the movement and acknowledges…

The original story can be found at http://www.bpnews.net/53552/hong-kong-christians-bills-removal-not-enough HONG KONG (BP) — The withdrawal of an extradition bill that threatened religious freedom in Hong Kong is not enough to satisfy Christians and others amid protests there, a Christian advocate told Baptist Press Wednesday (Sept. 4). “Their anger lies with the excessive use of police/force, police brutality, and prosecution of protestors or activists in the past few months,” International Christian Concern’s (ICC) Gina Goh told BP. “These are the direct results of (Hong Kong Chief…

Four years after a sex scandal prompted him to depart from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Tullian Tchividjian, grandson to Billy Graham, has again assumed the pulpit. Now, he is preaching an alternative approach to the faith that he calls “Upside Down Christianity.” Since I last wrote about him in 2015, Tchividjian’s life has taken many turns. He attempted to resurrect his Liberate Network parachurch ministry and found employment at Willow Creek Presbyterian Church in Winter Springs, Florida. Both endeavors fizzled in early 2016 after…

Christians in Hong Kong overwhelmingly support the mass protests that have disrupted the region for the last two months. Millions, including many Christians, have taken to the streets to protest a proposed extradition bill.  Hong Kong’s legal independence was a hallmark of the “one country, two systems” agreement made between Hong Kong’s former colony, Great Britain, and the People’s Republic of China in 1997. This principle allows Christians in Hong Kong to enjoy religious freedom. However, Hong Kong citizens fear that this extradition bill…

A Gallup poll published this year found that Americans’ trust in clergy is at an all-time low. Doctors, teachers, police officers, and even funeral directors all ranked as more trustworthy than pastors. While I’m not sure what shenanigans an undertaker would have to pull to lose this surprisingly lofty reputation, it’s clear that suspicion toward ministers isn’t merely an aftershock of recent scandals. It’s part of a much larger anti-institutional swing in American religion — one that’s left an unprecedented number of Christians convinced…

This piece is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. President Donald Trump’s base simultaneously cares deeply about defending Christianity and restraining immigration. It’s a stance we’ve come to expect, but there’s an irony to this. At a moment when more and more Americans are unaffiliated with religion, immigration is providing a counterbalance. In fact, nothing would do more to strengthen Christianity than embracing undocumented immigrants. Most undocumented immigrants come from Latin America, so 83 percent are Christian. If they were…

*Brief disclaimer: I have focussed on Christian worship music, because it is my own personal experience. I cannot speak for any other faith, but I would always be interested to listen. When you hear the words ‘Christian worship music,’ what’s the first thing that springs to mind? Maybe a modern Christian song with a repetitive tune and incessant choruses about how ‘Jesus loves us.’ Or a stereotypical village church where the congregation mumbles the hymns, out of time with the organ, and with varying…

Each year, Open Doors UK publishes a World Watch List of places around the world where it is the most dangerous to be a Christian. In these countries, Christian’s face detention, violence and abuse for their religion. The number one most dangerous country on the list is North Korea, which has held the top spot for 18 years. Related articles Christian crackdown: Man jailed in Nepal for handing out bibles Christianity crackdown: Wedding party attacked by mob ‘with rods’ There are estimated to be…

August 15 at 5:04 PM I have a confession to make. I am one of the five remaining Americans who is uncomfortable with vulgarity, put off by profanity and offended by blasphemy. Swearing is now generally taken as a sign of authenticity; it is more often the expression of anger and aggression. I don’t think political discourse is improved by language more appropriate to a bar fight. I do think the presidency is diminished by public scatology and sacrilege. And I really don’t give…

By Brandon Showalter, CP Reporter | Saturday, August 10, 2019 A footbridge leads from the Western Wall to the compound known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem’s Old City June 2, 2015. Picture taken June 2, 2015. | (Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad) The presence of foxes near the Western Wall of the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism in the Old City of Jerusalem, has some saying that fulfillment of biblical prophecy is materializing. Video footage posted…

BUDAPEST, Hungary (ChurchMilitant.com) – Christians must speak up for other Christians, says a Hungarian official in the wake of a speech he gave July 26 at the 2019 Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. In a newly tweeted summary of his speech, Tristan Azbej, Hungary’s state secretary for the aid of persecuted Christians, “sadly” reported that “Christianity is the most persecuted religion, all over the Earth.” Azbej reported that “[e]ighty percent of the people who are persecuted for their faith in the world are Christians,” calling the global persecution of…

IT IS A well-established fact among religion-watchers that charismatic forms of Christianity, including the Pentecostal churches, are the fastest-growing variety of the world’s largest monotheism. Another widely agreed statement: these churches’ success reflects their appeal to people in transit. That includes migrants from rural areas to big cities like São Paolo or Lagos, and travellers from the global south to the prosperous north. Perhaps 700m people, more than a quarter of the world’s Christians, attend charismatic churches. What this fluid religious reality generally encompasses…

Joshua Harris, well-known Christian author, ‘purity’ advocate, renounces faith The former pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Md., Joshua Harris, a short time after announcing the end of his marriage, is now saying goodbye to his faith as well. In an Instagram post, Harris revealed he is stepping back from his faith and no longer considers himself a Christian. In the post he recounted several things he has apologized for in the past, specifically apologizing for his previously held views on the LGBTQ…

Joshua Harris has abandoned his Christian faith, news that marks another blow to American conservative evangelicalism. Harris authored the best-selling I Kissed Dating Goodbye in his early twenties, unleashing unnecessary angst on a generation of evangelical teens. In his early thirties, he served as pastor of a Gaithersburg megachurch. He was also an influential figure in the Young, Restless, and Reformed Movement (YRR). Now, he has denounced his famous book, announced he and his wife are separating, and repudiated Christianity. While Harris seems to…

By Michael Gryboski, Christian Post Reporter | Monday, July 29, 2019 Joshua Harris gives a TED talk in 2017. | Screenshot: TEDx Talks The Maryland-based megachurch that I Kissed Dating Goodbye author Joshua Harris once led responded to the news of him leaving his faith and his wife, stating that it “hits home personally.” “These updates are hard to hear. We love Josh and Shannon. For most of us, Josh isn’t just some distant public figure,” wrote Covenant Life Interim Senior Pastor Kevin Rogers…

Mass baptism rituals took place across Russia on Sunday to recall the introduction of Christianity as a state religion in ancient Russia more than a thousand years ago. About 150 people from Yekaterinburg and neighbouring cities attended the traditional annual open-air rites on the Chusovaya River in the Sverdlovsk Region. The ritual was held in the village of Stantsionny-Polevskoy because of its church which bears the name of St Vladimir, after the 10th-century ruler who led the region’s conversion to Christianity. People taking part…

By Samuel Smith, CP Reporter | Thursday, July 25, 2019 Attendees watch on during the 2019 Evangelicals for Life conference at the McLean Bible Church in McLean, Virginia on Jan. 16, 2019. | PHOTO: ERLC A new Pew Research poll suggests that evangelical Christians are more knowledgeable about the Bible and Christianity than other American Christians, while American Jews are most knowledgeable about religion in general. While most polls tend to present data on public opinion, a new Pew Research Center survey titled “What…

The God of Christianity is a Spirit who works in history. These interventions include Moses bringing the Jews out of slavery in Egypt and Jesus bringing salvation to the world. God spoke through the prophets, apostles and the Church and also through us (Luke 12:11-12). Spirit intervenes in the world through human beings. While there is terrible evil in the world, when we examine history closely we can see Spirit’s handiwork. While God works through all people of all faiths, the story of Western…

(RNS) — A few weeks ago, I found myself at a goth garden party in Brooklyn, New York’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery with a few people I’d met on the fringe corners of what the internet often refers to as Weird Catholic Twitter (and its somewhat more sedate stepsister: Weird Anglican Twitter). The crowd was mixed. There were people involved in New York’s vintage clothing collecting subculture, some Brooklyn goths, and some of the organizers of the event, which was hosted by the Morbid Anatomy…

Christian belief has halved in Britain in 35 years with just one in three people now identifying as Christian – while atheism and Islam continue to rise. Figures published by the British Social Attitudes Survey reveal the widest ever margin between staunch atheists and believers who are certain that God exists. Of almost 4,000 people polled by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen), 38 per cent described themselves as Christian – a fall from 50 per cent in 2008 and 66 per cent…

JTA — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has made a point of reminding a conference of Christian Zionists that Israel permits conversions to Christianity, just weeks after his department reported on the difficulties converts face there. Pompeo, speaking Monday to the annual Washington summit of Christians United For Israel, drew a contrast between Israel and its neighbors. “Modern Israel is the only truly free nation throughout the entire Middle East,” he said. “No country is perfect, but Israel, like America, holds itself to an…

As many as 3,879 people have been polled for the British Social Attitudes report last year, highlighting how Britain’s spiritual identity has been reshaped since 1983. Among those surveyed, only 38 percent of Britons described themselves as Christian, down from 50 percent in 2008, just 11 years ago. This result is even more astonishing if compared to the one gathered in 1983, when this survey was first taken, with 66 percent of the Britons polled then describing themselves as Christian. On the other hand,…

Former Southern Baptist Convention President Jack Graham added the rise of the Democratic Party’s socialist left to a list of concerns like abortion and same-sex marriage on the line in “a battle for the soul of our nation.” “Socialism is fundamentally at odds with the Christian worldview and seeks to suppress all peoples in support of the state,” Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, said in a televised sermon on Sunday. “No one serious about their Christian faith can be serious…

There’s been a rash of stories lately suggesting Christianity is in steep decline and that atheism is rapidly becoming the largest “religion” in the United States. But is such news true? Is Christianity really going the way of the VHS tape? No. As President Ronald Reagan once said of liberals: “It isn’t so much that liberals are ignorant. It’s just that they know so many things that aren’t so.” MICHAEL MCAFEE AND LAUREN GREEN MCAFEE: IS THE BIBLE WORTH READING? Christianity is certainly not…

From Atlantic City (courtesy Circa Press) Atlantic City, New Jersey never really had a heyday, at least not one that lived up to the halcyon daydreams of its original architects. First conceived as the East Coast’s answer to Europe’s fashionable seaside resorts, its tawdry boardwalk attractions, backroom gambling establishments, and casual violence never approached the elegance of Cannes or Biarritz. Nevertheless, it held on for a while before taking a particularly American downturn. The legacy of the cut-and-run business which caused that downturn is…

It may seem like a stretch to look for a connection between the oil industry and Christianity. But a new book by Darren Dochuck says these two larger-than-life entities both played important roles in building the country. The book, titled “Anointed with Oil:  How Christianity and Crude Made Modern America,” draws connections between the independent oilmen and wildcat Christianity. Dochuck says a lot of migration inside the United States has historically been tied directly to where and how oil money could be found, and…

This summer marks 400 years since August 1619, when the first slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia.The four centuries have been to no small extent shaped by America’s tumultuous relationship with racial injustice, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement. One of the focal points for this relationship is the question of reparations for slavery, most recently made concrete in the shape of a proposal by Democrats to offer a type of compensation for descendants of the Atlantic Slave Trade. The idea…

When radical right-wing conspiracy theorist and so-called “firefighter prophet” Mark Taylor appeared on the “Daily Renegade” program last weekend, he warned that anyone who called him a false prophet was literally risking their lives because God does not take kindly to those who attack his prophets.  During that same program, Taylor struggled mightily to explain away the false prophecies he delivered prior to the 2018 midterm elections, when he repeatedly guaranteed that America would see “a red tsunami” sweep across the nation as Republicans…

In this new series, The Week looks at the ideas and innovations that permanently changed the way we see the world. This week, the focus is on Christianity. Christianity in 60 seconds See related  Christianity is based on the beliefs and teachings laid out in the Bible. The first part, the Old Testament, describes the creation of the world and the history of the Israelites. The first five books, which include the Ten Commandments, are the central scripture of Judaism, in which they are…

Recent studies from the General Social Survey found that atheists make up the largest religious group in America. Catholics and Evangelicals fall right behind. Those who identify with “no religion” now account for 23.1 percent, the majority of them under age 50. Americans are losing interest in attending religious institutions, as well as an overall loss of faith in the church. Yet still many identify as spiritual. These findings call for changes – our practice of Christianity needs to change in order to best…