Employee by employee, project by project, the U.S. Agency for International Development is inching closer and closer to extinction in all but name. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 28 announced a massive reorganization of USAID to drastically reduce…
Authoritarian rule is ‘common denominator’ in religious persecution, USCIRF says
Authoritarian rule is the “common denominator” in the worsening of religious persecution around the world, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said in its 2025 annual report. Last year, totalitarian regimes widened the direct oppression of minority faiths in…
Sojourners names Tyler among ‘revolutionary women’
Amanda Tyler is one of a dozen women highlighted by Sojourners as “revolutionary women shaping the church” in 2025. Tyler leads BJC, also known as Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, based in Washington, D.C. She also leads the advocacy…
Trump codifies ‘brazen attack on immigrant children’ as groups sue to stop him
More than a dozen nonprofit legal organizations have sued the federal government to reinstate a legal services program that provides attorneys and other assistance for thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children. The White House cut $200 million from the Unaccompanied Children…
Today, vaccine hesitancy is growing and celebrated
In the five years since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Republicans and Christians have seen a complete shift in their perspective on vaccines that is changing federal policy and affecting global charity efforts — potentially sparking a measles epidemic…
With 42% of Project 2025 enacted, Heritage Foundation turns toward Europe
The ideologues behind the blueprint for President Trump to “dismantle the administrative state” in the U.S. are working to shake up Europe, and they hope to dismantle the European Commission and the European Court of Justice. The conservative Heritage Foundation…
BWA calls for ‘urgent help’ to replace lifesaving foreign aid
The Baptist World Alliance is calling for “urgent help” in the form of prayer, advocacy and donations in response to cuts in U.S. overseas assistance already driving up hunger and disease around the world. “It is really a call to…
Huckabee says he’ll do Trump’s bidding as ambassador to Israel
If confirmed as U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee will represent the views of President Donald Trump, not his own views, the former Southern Baptist pastor told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee March 25. Protestors interrupted Huckabee’s confirmation hearing at…
Seven religion-influenced cases pending before US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court soon will hear arguments about tax breaks for charities, school policies on LGBTQ material, Medicaid payments to Planned Parenthood, and Oklahoma’s proposed Catholic charter school. The high court also agreed to hear a case on gay conversion…
In Kentucky, a Confederate statue sparks protest and spawns podcast
A Kentucky history professor has launched a new podcast exploring how issues of race, religion and community are symbolized by a Confederate memorial in a rural town near Lexington. “Rebel on Main” also presents a historical and sociological inquiry into…
Josh Hawley pressured evangelical lawyer to exit Trump administration
Hilary K. Perkins, an evangelical Christian who recently was named the Food and Drug Administration’s top lawyer, already has resigned following a pressure campaign by Sen. Josh Hawley, a fellow believer, and husband to lawyer Erin Hawley, who has battled…
Focus on the Family bashes DEI, praises rocky economy, promotes Bible in schools
Conservative Christian “pro-family” groups that support President Donald Trump are promoting his attacks on DEI, praising his management of the economy, sending mixed messages about whether women should be leaders, and backing efforts to require Bible reading in public schools….