Over 500 church leaders from across the UK have written to the government to say they are prepared to face criminal charges if a conversion therapy ban is introduced.
Progressive Democrats pressure Pelosi to discipline Boebert
A group of progressive Democrats on Wednesday ratcheted up pressure on Speaker Nancy Pelosi to punish firebrand conservative Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, whose recent comments likening a Muslim member of Congress to a bomb-carrying terrorist they decried as a…
Ilhan Omar named ‘American Muslim Public Servant of 2021’ by CAIR
The Council on American-Islamic Relations recognized U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., as its “American Muslim Public Servant of 2021“ during the organization’s annual banquet on Saturday (Dec. 4). The virtual event was attended by a number of Muslim activists and…
3 Kidnapped Missionaries Freed by Haiti Gang, 12 More Remain Hostage
A Christian aid group based in Ohio announced Monday that a violent gang in Haiti has released three more hostages, while another 12 remain abducted.
Rachael Denhollander named Calvin University’s 2021 Kuyper Prize recipient
Activist and abuse survivor Rachael Denhollander will be awarded the 2021 Abraham Kuyper Prize for Excellence in Reformed Theology and Public Life, Calvin University announced Tuesday (Dec. 7). Denhollander will receive the prize, which includes a $10,000 award, and deliver…
Ultra-Orthodox ‘in war for honor of God’ over gov’t religious reforms
Shas Party chairman MK Arye Deri said Monday that the ultra-Orthodox sector and political parties were embroiled in a “[religiously] obligatory war” against the government’s various bills, laws and proposals to reform aspects of Jewish religious life in Israel.
IRS Filing Offers New Insights into Patterson Nonprofit
Months after Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, accused its former president Paige Patterson of stealing from the school, a newly-released financial report offers more insights into the case. The 2019 990 form from the Sandy Creek Foundation, the personal…
Does religion make people more likely to welcome refugees? It’s complicated.
On Sunday (Dec. 5), Pope Francis, visiting the Greek island of Lesbos, made an emotional pitch for European states to be more welcoming to foreign migrants. The pontiff called on Europeans to stop ignoring their suffering, insisting that Jesus “is present in the…
This Supreme Court Case Could Take a ‘Wrecking Ball’ to Separation of Church and State
Amy and David Carson were high school sweethearts. They met at Bangor Christian Schools, a private religious K-12 school in Bangor, Maine, when they were in their early teens. Their siblings attended the school. Family members have taught there. “It’s…
Can Maine Cover the Cost of Christian School Tuition?
The latest Supreme Court case over public funding for religious schooling examines a policy in Maine, a state dotted with small towns too tiny to run their own public schools. Over half of the state’s school districts (officially called “school…
As COVID continues, church-run food pantries, ministries adapt and expand
On a cold, cloudy afternoon in late November, two dozen volunteers were busy unloading a truckload of food in the parking lot just south of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, setting out a table filled with produce, staples and other groceries…
$6.6M awarded to Tree of Life synagogue, site of massacre
The state of Pennsylvania is pledging $6.6 million toward redevelopment of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where a gunman killed 11 people in 2018 in the nation’s deadliest attack on Jews.