Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark., and its present and former leaders are named defendants in two lawsuits filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court Dec. 3. The Southern Baptist church has made headlines for more than a year now,…
Trump administration will export Christian nationalist views globally, abortion rights advocate warns
The Trump administration is expected to export worldwide its Christian nationalist views on abortion, gender inequity and sexual rights, a reproductive health care expert said during a recent Brookings Institution podcast. Transforming U.S. foreign policy into an instrument for global…
Falun Gong’s Shen Yun sued and investigated for child labor violations
Shen Yun Performing Arts, the traveling dance troupe behind elaborate performances that show “China before Communism,” has been sued by a former dancer and also is being investigated over its allegedly abusive child labor practices, which were previously reported by…
Larnelle Harris is still making music
After 50 years in ministry, Larnelle Harris still feels called to make music. Harris has garnered accolades for his music, including four Grammy Awards, 11 Dove Awards (three for Male Vocalist of the Year) and a Stellar Award for Best…
ABHMS gets $1.25 million Lilly grant
American Baptist Home Mission Societies has received a $1.25 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Nurturing Children Through Worship and Prayer Initiative. Over five years, grant funds will help ABHMS establish and execute its Nurturing Children Initiative, a…
City Elders declare themselves God’s anointed for government
Tulsa, Okla., is the home base of a relatively new organization that wants evangelical Christians to take over all levels of government and reign as “elders” anointed by God. City Elders, which now is a trademarked name, describes itself as…
‘Pro-family’ groups believe Trump 2.0 will advance their agenda
“Pro-family” activists worked hard to elect Donald Trump and other GOP candidates this fall. The nonprofit Family Policy Alliance, which partners with Focus on the Family, says it mobilized voters through 12 million emails in swing states and brought 850,000…
Younger adults driving decreased support for death penalty
Overall support for the death penalty has dropped to 1970s levels due in large part to disapproving younger adults, Gallup reported in a new study. Fewer than half the Millennial and Gen Z generations — namely all those born after…
Conservative Christians do not have sole ownership of religion, Jewish scholar says
Now as much as ever, people across the spectrum of faith must proclaim religious freedom to push back against conservative Christians claiming sole ownership of religion in America, rabbi and author Jill Jacobs said. “It’s really important that progressive religious…
Metaxas calls Bonhoeffer’s relatives ‘Jew-hating lunatics’
Relatives of Dietrich Bonhoeffer who have criticized Eric Metaxas are “Jew-hating lunatics,” Metaxas told Glenn Beck Nov. 23. On his podcast, Beck asked Metaxas about criticism of his portrayal of Bonhoeffer — a German pastor who resisted Hitler and was…
North Carolina pastor abruptly forced out of prominent pulpit
Two weeks after he preached a sermon calling for action to oppose the worst impulses of the incoming Trump administration, a North Carolina pastor was forced out of his prominent pulpit. Ben Boswell, who had been senior minister at Myers…
Trump is nominating Project 2025 leaders to key posts
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump emphatically denied any connection to or knowledge of Project 2025, the Christian nationalist game plan for transforming the U.S. into a conservative theocracy. “I know nothing about Project 2025,” he said in a July…