Religion

More than 6,000 pounds of food can go a long way toward helping those in need, says Marci Cox, director of the Christian Food Bank of Hopkins County. November’s Groceries for Good campaign brought in around 6,021 pounds of food for the food bank, and donations are still coming in, said Cox. The Groceries for Good and other canned food drives in the community has been a blessing to the food bank and the families they serve, she said. “What that did is, it…

I wonder whether Sen. Lora Reinbold wore her seatbelt during her recent Alaska Airlines flight? Or does she consider it tyranny when flight attendants direct passengers to buckle up? Even if she believes that freedom of choice is always and forever paramount, it is not weakness to care about others. Was there anyone elderly on Sen. Reinbold’s flight? Anyone with heart disease, diabetes or an immune system compromised by chemotherapy? Caring for your neighbor is a fundamental Christian value. Didn’t the good senator learn…

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Combatting anti-Semitism requires condemning hatred and working with people of faith to promote peace, respect and religious freedom, said Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state. “The Holy See considers that, along with a living memory of what happened in the past, interreligious dialogue is an indispensable tool to combat anti-Semitism,” he said Nov. 19, during an online symposium on the global rise of anti-Semitism. The aim of this dialogue, he added, is “to promote a commitment to peace, mutual…

From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham Dear Dr. Graham: I became a Christian a few years ago and I thought my troubles would go away. Now that I have learned more from the Bible, I realize that being a Christian can add to our problems. During COVID-19 I have seen how the church has come under attack. Why is this? Dear C.T.: It’s never easy to be a Christian; it can bring its own loneliness, unpopularity, and problems. It’s human nature to…

Pray.com, which offers a Christian faith app that has been downloaded over 1 million times, has been “leaking” user data, researchers from cybersecurity firm vpnMentor told Fox News. The Pray app is designed for daily prayer, Bible stories and Christian meditation, according to the app’s download page. “It has been incredibly popular since launching in 2016,” vpnMentor said in a research note. “Pray.com’s developers failed to properly secure vast amounts of data collected from the app,” vpnMentor said, potentially exposing users to fraud and online attacks.…

The messages in Christian houses of worship on the first weekend since the election have been as divided as the country’s electorate By LUIS ANDRES HENAO and DAVID CRARY Associated Press November 8, 2020, 10:10 PM NEW YORK — The messages in Christian houses of worship on the first weekend since the election were as divided as the country’s electorate, with religious leaders mostly calling for peace and unification even as some bemoaned the result and others celebrated. Hours after the news broke Saturday…

Kanye West released the first trailer showcasing his Yeezy Christian Academy (YCA) last week. The video features his daughter North, 7, and son Saint, 4, as well as his nephew Mason Disick, 10, and niece Penelope Disick, 8, wearing blue YCA T-shirts. In the trailer, the children said, “Dear Future, I still believe in you. We still believe in you. We believe in our families.” “In our future, we will heal. Our future has homes for everyone. Our future has food for everyone. Our…

An elderly blind woman in Rhode Island is no longer banned from a public park in Westerly for sharing her Christian faith, according to her lawyer.  Officials at the Memorial and Library Association, in charge of Westerly Library and Wilcox Park, banned and threatened Gail Blair, 63, with arrest if she did not stop having conversations with others in the park about Jesus, according to a discrimination complaint. The complaint was filed in June 2020 with the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights against the library association. Blair, represented by First Liberty…

It was one of those breathtaking late summer afternoons in Seattle, with sunlight splashing over a part of the city that, two months earlier, had been occupied by Black Lives Matter protesters. In Cal Anderson Park, part of the six-block stretch that became known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP), volunteers were setting up for very different kind of event. Pacing about doing sound checks on the sidewalk was a man with a generous mane of curly blond hair wearing Birkenstocks and a…

(RNS) — The divisions that the coronavirus pandemic has caused in the United States — with some viewing social distancing restrictions as sensible and altruistic while others decry them as infringements on our freedoms — have been blamed on everything from political parties to toxic masculinity. But a group of academics say there may be an even more powerful driver of the disagreement: Christian nationalism. “Christian nationalists have indicated over several studies that … they are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, more…

Devin Bryant had attended Covenant Christian Academy in Colleyville since prekindergarten. Four days before the start of his senior year, he and his family say he was expelled for being gay. His mother, Connie Bryant, said new headmaster Tony Jeffrey told her he was “doing what Jesus Christ would want me to do.” She also said the headmaster offered her parents’ counseling to help her “direct her child well” because her son had “chosen the devil’s ways.” Jeffrey declined to comment. He issued a…

In the days following Donald Trump’s shocking win four years ago, experts scoured exit polls to figure out what the hell had just happened. What they learned is that evangelicals were a major driving force behind the improbable political rise of a narcissistic and philandering reality TV star. White evangelical voters overwhelmingly broke for Trump. Dating back to Jerry Falwell Sr.’s Moral Majority, which ignited a political fire in the evangelical camp in the early ’80s, evangelicals have historically leaned Republican. And despite his…

ABC News is the latest news outlet to peddle the narrative associating a Christian group SCOTUS frontrunner Judge Amy Coney Barrett belongs to with “The Handmaid’s Tale.” During Thursday’s broadcast of “Good Morning America,” ABC News correspondent Tom Llamas noted how Barrett is a “devout Catholic” who is supported by “religious conservatives and anti-abortion activists” amid the contentious battle to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat following the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. “Also under the microscope- Barrett’s link to a small, charismatic Christian…

By Robin Gomes Amid the confusion of voices and messages that surround us, a Christian journalist is called to be a new witness to the truth, thus becoming a bearer of hope and confidence in the future. This was the message at the heart of  Pope Francis’ address to some 30 representatives of “Tertio”, a Belgian weekly magazine that analyses current events and interprets them from a Christian, and more specifically Catholic, perspective.  Established in 2000, the magazine takes its name from the 1994…

Jamie R. Grosshans, the last-minute choice of Gov. Ron DeSantis to the Florida Supreme Court, is an anti-abortion defender who has been active in a number of Christian legal groups, including a powerful national organization whose mission is to “spread the Gospel by transforming the legal system.” Grosshans, from the Orlando suburb of Winter Garden, was named Florida’s seventh justice Monday, filling the vacancy created last year when President Trump named two of DeSantis’ previous appointees, Barbara Lagoa and Robert Luck, to the U.S. Court…

Islamabad, Pakistan – A court in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has sentenced a Christian man to death for having committed “blasphemy”, his lawyer says, in the latest case of Pakistan’s strict religious laws being applied against minorities. Asif Pervaiz, 37, has been in custody since 2013 when he was accused of having sent “blasphemous” text messages to a former supervisor at work, lawyer Saif-ul-Malook told Al Jazeera. The court rejected his testimony wherein he denied the charges and sentenced him to death…

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – A 28-year-old man is is being charged with arson following the fire at Metro Christian Center Church on Wednesday night. An arrest has been made in connection to the arson of the church with 28-year-old Edward Jerome Wash being charged with three counts of arson on Friday night, according to the city of Rockford. On Wednesday, Sept. 2, the Rockford Fire Department were called to three separate fires that occurred within a relatively small geographical area. The Rockford Fire Department…

Archaeologists have uncovered the fragments of a lead Christian cup, or chalice, lightly etched with symbols of early Christian iconography, at the archaeological site of Vindolanda, an ancient Roman military fort and settlement on Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland, northern England. A fragment of the 1,400-year-old Christian chalice found at Vindolanda in Northumberland, northern England. Image credit: Vindolanda Trust. A total of 14 fragments from the ancient vessel were found hidden in the remains of a 6th century Christian church, inside the previously occupied Roman…

In January 2016, Donald J. Trump gave a campaign speech at a small Christian college in Sioux Center, Iowa. Standing in front of a three-story pipe organ, he said, “I have the most loyal people.” “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters, OK?” But he said something else that day. And his intended audience was listening. ‘Christianity Will Have Power’ Donald Trump made a promise to white evangelical Christians, whose support can seem…

Mosaics in Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia will be covered by curtains or lasers during the Muslim prayers, the spokesman for Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has said. The Christian icons would be uncovered and be open to all visitors at other times, and admission would be free of charge, the AK Party’s Omer Celik said on Monday, without explaining further. A Turkish court last week ruled that the conversion of the sixth-century Byzantine site into a museum in 1934 was unlawful.…

Mosaics in Istanbul’s iconic Hagia Sophia will be covered by curtains or lasers during the Muslim prayers, the spokesman for Turkey’s governing Justice and Development Party (AK Party) has said. The Christian icons would be uncovered and be open to all visitors at other times, and admission would be free of charge, the AK Party’s Omer Celik said on Monday, without explaining further. A Turkish court last week ruled that the conversion of the sixth-century Byzantine site into a museum in 1934 was unlawful.…

Raul Romero poses for a photo at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. International students like Romero will be barred from taking all their classes online even if an outbreak prompts their schools to shift classes online in the US. [File: Raul Romero/Reuters] Leaders of 12 Christian organisations on Friday urged the Trump administration to rescind a policy requiring international students in the United States to leave the country or transfer if their colleges hold classes entirely online this semester, saying it “falls short of…

WASHINGTON — Despite public statements promoting religious freedom, the Trump administration has failed to provide a lifeline to persecuted Christian refugees and other religious minorities around the world, according to a report by two Christian advocacy groups. The number of Christian refugees and other religious minorities allowed to enter the U.S. has dropped dramatically under President Donald Trump, according to the report by World Relief, a Christian humanitarian organization, and Open Doors USA, a non-profit that tracks religious freedom. “With religious persecution of Christians…

These two Christian men started a podcast to have the difficult conversations. FORT WALTON BEACH — Andre Harrell II, aka L.A., isn’t much of a football guy, but he understands what it means when a team hunkers down together before a big play. It’s why he and Austin Willis named their podcast “The Huddle.” In the podcast, which was released under Kingdom Over Castles ministry, the two chat about various topics of humanity with a ministerial twist. “One of the things we do poorly…

Bestselling Christian author Jen Hatmaker, with her lesbian daughter Sydney. (For The Love Podcast/ Jen Hatmaker) A best-selling Christian author has revealed that her daughter is a lesbian, and that she will always stand by her and celebrate her. Jen Hatmaker is the author of nine books, including one New York Times bestseller, and has been open about her support for the LGBT+ community since 2016. This has caused outrage among evangelical communities and one Christian bookstore even pulled her books from the shelves.…

A major Christian group is being sued by former customers in at least three states who claim it sold them an alternative to health insurance that misled them about protections against large medical bills. Numerous insurance regulators, including in New York, are trying to stop the group from offering the plans in their states. The most recent lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in Missouri, accuses Trinity Healthshare, the Christian group, and Aliera, the for-profit company that markets the plans, for having “sold…

Crisis is an opportunity. This is especially true for the “global right” and its racial authoritarians, along with other white neo-fascists, during the coronavirus pandemic. President Donald Trump is the de facto leader of that movement. They are using this crisis to engage in terrorism and other acts of political violence — along with other, deeper machinations — to advance their goal of undermining multiracial, pluralist democracy. Advertisement: Writing at Truthout, Ejeris Dixon summarizes this: Fascist and authoritarian governments often exploit, accelerate, or create crises to…

A federal judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday overturned a 2019 jury verdict that found pop singer Katy Perry’s song “Dark Horse” improperly copied a 2009 Christian rap song. Judge Christina A. Snyder wrote that the individual elements of the Christian rap song “Joyful Noise” were the kinds of commonplace elements that courts have routinely denied copyright protection. Snyder also wrote that even when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiffs, the signature elements of the eight-note ostinato in the…

Getty Images/nito100 An independent Christian journalist and the father of a trans-identifying teen girl are facing charges for speaking out against the experimental practices being performed on her body to gender-transition her to appear as male. The British Columbia dad, who is called “CD” in court documents and has been battling in court in an attempt to stop a hormonal gender transition of his daughter, along with broadcaster Laura Lynn Thompson could be charged with criminal contempt of court, Life Site News reported. The…

The church, the actual building that houses black bodies and souls, stands at the center of black life and culture. It is a fact hiding in plain sight that one of the first cooperative economic ventures former slaves undertook was the purchase and maintenance of churches. Without the cooperation of the church, many black colleges, universities and political organizations would not exist. To this day, American black Christians attend church at a higher rate than any other ethnic group. It is not then surprising…

On a sweaty September evening in Houston, John F. Kennedy stood at the lectern in a downtown hotel facing the gravest threat to his presidential campaign. Arrayed before Kennedy in the opulent ballroom were roughly 300 of the South’s most respected protestant ministers. They had invited the young senator from Massachusetts into their lair to do the nearly impossible: disprove their accusations that Kennedy’s Catholic faith, and his ostensible allegiance to the pope, would undermine religious freedom in the United States. Kennedy knew that…

A protester holds a placard during a rally by hundreds of Christians against recent attacks on churches nationwide, in Mumbai, February 9, 2015. | Reuters/Danish Siddiqui As Christian persecution continues to rise under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India, authorities in a southern state removed a statue of Jesus and 14 crosses from a Christian property after radical Hindu groups alleged the Christian center was being used for religious “conversions.” The 12-foot statue and crosses were taken down this week from…

On Saturday, an MSNBC panel discussed the possibility that certain groups of white evangelicals may be souring on President Donald Trump — and what it means that so many of them have not yet. “What you see in the Christianity Today article is a publication speaking to and for white evangelicals who have always been uncomfortable with Trump,” said Religion News Service national reporter Jack Jenkins. “The whole subset are, in fact, Democrats. But a lot could be described as centrists or moderates. Some…

When people ask Jeremy Chong about his Friday night plans, they don’t get the typical college sophomore response. He and his friends usually head to downtown Chicago. But the point isn’t to party—it’s to evangelize. And thanks to a federal judge, the group of Wheaton students can finally resume that without harassment. For months, students like Chong and Matthew Swart would pass out gospel tracts at Millennium Park. They were just simple threefold pamphlets telling people about faith in Jesus Christ. “[We were] passing…

President Trump championed faith and religious freedom in his State of the Union address to Congress Tuesday night, celebrated by prominent Christian leaders. The Rev. Johnnie Moore told Fox News Trump’s speech was a “great American moment. Though House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., literally ripped it apart, Moore adds even “the president’s enemies know that truth was on his side.” FRANKLIN GRAHAM SLAMS PELOSI FOR TEARING UP SPEECH: ‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?’ “The thread running through every aspect of the president’s speech was faith…

Students at Watkins College of Art in Nashville describe it as an oasis in the Bible Belt, a small supportive campus welcoming to all and committed to free expression. “This is truly a safe space for people,” Lucas Hames, 24, a film major, said on Saturday. “This is a safe place for L.G.B.T.Q. people who were ridiculed and ostracized from their small hometowns. Here, you have four years to hone in on yourself as an artist and a person.” But now, some students and…

A child militant affiliated with the Islamic State’s West Africa Province kills Ropvil Daciya Dalep in a video released by the Islamic State’s media arm in January 2020. | Amaq News Agency The Nigerian man who was executed by a child militant in a video released by a Boko Haram offshoot group aligned with the Islamic State days ago has been identified as a 22-year-old Christian college student. Ropvil Daciya Dalep hailed from the Pankshin Local Government Area of the Plateau state and attended…

The Supreme Court takes up the sensitive issue of religion in public life Wednesday, considering whether states violate the Constitution if they prevent religious groups from receiving some state benefits. The justices are asked to strike a balance between the desire of a state to keep government out of religion and the claims of residents that religious faith should not freeze them out of state programs intended to help everyone. The case comes from Montana, which established a program in 2015 to provide a…

There’s the crazy that people who don’t have a family member with an addiction just don’t understand, Henriët Schapelhouman said. “There’s high highs where it looks like, ‘Oh, they’re better,’ because they’re pretending really well,” she said. “Then, within hours there’s a crash because they’re using again; there was a fight; they’re slamming the door. And you’re just heartbroken.” Schapelhouman used to be a pastor at a big church outside Seattle, but when her son Harrison brought tequila to his Christian school in ninth grade and…

James MacDonald and Harvest Bible Chapel: In 2019 several prominent faith leaders were either removed from their leadership roles or chose to walk away from Christianity, publicly renouncing their faith. Among the most shocking of these were former Harvest Bible Chapel pastor, James MacDonald and author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, Joshua Harris. In February, after announcing his “indefinite sabbatical” in January, Harvest Bible Chapel announced that they had fired founder and lead pastor James MacDonald.  In a letter on the church website, the Elders…

By Jeannie Law, Christian Post Reporter | Saturday, January 04, 2020 “Messiah” season 1 coming to Netflix, Jan. 1, 2020. | Screenshot: Netflix The Netflix series “Messiah” produced by Mark Burnett and Roma Downey has perplexed Jesus followers who are left wondering what message the series creators were looking to share in this obscure show.  Will he “convert you or con you?” the 10 episode series trailer for “Messiah” asks. The series was released Jan. 1 and stars “Mission: Impossible” actress Michelle Monaghan. She…

The Islamic State group has released a video claiming to show the killing of 11 Christians in Nigeria. IS said it was part of its recently declared campaign to “avenge” the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi during a US raid in Syria in October. No details were given about the victims, who were all male, but IS says they were “captured in the past weeks” in Nigeria’s north-eastern Borno State. The 56-second video was produced by the IS “news agency” Amaq. It was released…

The resignation of Napp Nazworth from The Christian Post, announced on Twitter Monday, is the latest example of a recent heated debate among evangelicals about Trump, who enjoys overwhelming support from the community. Last week, another evangelical publication, Christianity Today, drew headlines after its outgoing editor, Mark Galli, authored an op-ed calling Trump morally unfit for office and calling for his removal. The op-ed drew fierce pushback from many in the evangelical community and from the President himself, and prompted nearly 200 evangelical leaders…

Even amid the holiday pressures to turn away from the news cycle, it was enough to capture public attention: On Thursday, the day after the House formally impeached Donald Trump, Christianity Today, the flagship publication of evangelical America, published an opinion piece by editor in chief Mark Galli, arguing that Trump should be removed from office. In an essay that bends over backward to accommodate Republican talking points, Galli nonetheless argued that Trump is “a near perfect example of a human being who is…

SPOKANE, Wash. — Matt Shea was 34 years old when he ran for the State Legislature in eastern Washington, but he had already established credentials that made him a promising Republican candidate. A lawyer trained at Gonzaga University who had served a tour in Iraq with Washington’s Army National Guard, Mr. Shea pitched voters in 2008 on a platform of limiting taxes and punishing criminals, opposing same-sex marriage and supporting gun rights. He went on to win with nearly 60 percent of the vote,…

By CP Staff | Saturday, December 21, 2019 Rapper Kanye West speaks with Pastor Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, on Sunday November 17, 2019. | Lakewood Church The Christian Post has continued to report many of the top stories it has covered for years, but 2019 also brought many surprises.  This ranking of CP’s top 10 news stories of 2019 was determined by CP’s editors in consultation with CP’s reporters. The amount of traffic each story generated was considered, but not…

Kristin Chenoweth is sharing her experience as a Christian in Hollywood. The actress sat down with “Fox & Friends” on Monday to discuss her upcoming Christmas special and also opened up about her faith. “I’m a Christian person and I never thought that was different or interesting at all until I moved to New York and started understanding that there are a lot of people with a lot of faiths,” said Chenoweth, 51. DARLENE LOVE TO APPEAR ON ‘THE VIEW’ AFTER NBC SPAT, TELLS FANS TO WATCH…

We are facing an existential moral crisis. That at least is the view of many Christians who have given their full-throated support to President Trump. Some of them will privately admit that he is deeply corrupt, but the justification for their support of him goes something like this: Mr. Trump may be unethical, unscrupulous and morally dissolute, but he is by far the lesser of two evils. After all, they insist, Mr. Trump may be personally immoral, but he is also a viciously effective…

Kanye West has agreed to headline a Christian youth conference next month in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., in replacement of John Crist, who was “removed due to a moral failure” back in November. The Strength to Stand Student Bible Conference leader, Scott Dawson, said he was floored when he picked up the phone and the “Jesus Walks” rapper was on the other end. KANYE WEST AND JOEL OSTEEN TO TEAM UP FOR MASSIVE STADIUM EVENT IN 2020 “I realized that, although this is a worldwide megastar, he was a…

(RNS) — Evangelical colleges, universities and seminaries have erupted in recent days with LGBTQ-related drama. At George Fox University in Oregon, student Reid Arthur made national news when he decided to come out as gay during the school’s annual lip sync tourney, electrifying his classmates, who offered their energetic support and applause. At Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, student Joanna Maxon is suing the school for using tax records to reveal her marriage to a person of the same sex and expel her…

Kanye West dropped his music video for “Closed on Sunday” — his Chick-fil-A-themed song about family values — on Thanksgiving Day, featuring Kim Kardashian and their kids. The 42-year-old rapper-turned-gospel singer opens the video alongside his wife and kids in the cleft of a rock on their ranch in Cody, Wyo., before holding hands and walking on the rocks, and his extended family, including his father and mother-in-law, Kris Jenner, are seen wearing Carhart’s in a large group. LAWRENCE JONES: KANYE BACKLASH FROM ATHEISTS IS ‘ANTI-CHRISTIAN RHETORIC’…