Russian authorities have arrested a pastor for preaching that Christians should not fight in the invasion against Ukraine “on the basis of Holy Scripture,” according to a recent report from a Norwegian human rights organization.
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A father is suing the prominent Texas megachurch First Baptist Church Dallas for allegedly mishandling his son’s sexual abuse in 2022. The father alleges in the lawsuit that his now 16-year-old son was sexually abused by an older student on a church youth mission trip in 2022. The family said church leaders bullied, shamed, and intimidated their son in response.
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First Baptist Dallas revealed plans on Sunday to rebuild its 134-year-old historic sanctuary, which was largely destroyed by fire this summer. The church also launched a $95 million giving campaign to help pay for it.
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Gordon College, a Christian school in Wenham, Massachusetts, could be required to pay back more than $7 million of COVID-19 relief funds. The school contested, arguing that its request for loan forgiveness was denied because of religious discrimination.
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The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from former reality TV star and Christian activist Josh Duggar regarding his conviction for downloading child sex abuse material. The nation’s highest court made no comment or notes on its decision to decline. Instead, the court just listed Duggar’s case as one in several petitions that were denied.
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More than $130,000 has been raised on GoFundMe for Natalie and Davy Lloyd, American missionaries who were shot and killed while serving in Haiti. Natalie Lloyd, 21, daughter of Missouri state Rep. Ben Baker, and her husband, Davy Lloyd, 23, were ambushed by gang members in Port-au-Prince while returning from a youth event on May 23.
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Salem Media Group, the largest U.S. radio company providing Christian and conservative programming, is removing the book and film “2,000 Mules” from all its platforms. The group also apologized to a Georgia man who filed a defamation suit, claiming the film falsely accused him of ballot fraud during the 2020 presidential election.
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Megachurch pastor John Lindell apologized to his congregation on Sunday for inviting sword-swallower Alex Magala and disgraced pastor Mark Driscoll to the Stronger Men’s Conference two weekends ago in Missouri. The apology follows a week of controversy sparked by Driscoll’s sharp condemnation of Magala’s “strip” act.
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Beverly LaHaye, a prominent conservative Christian activist who founded Concerned Women for America, passed away Sunday at the age of 94, CWA announced. LaHaye formed CWA 45 years ago to advocate for biblical principles at all levels of public policy. Since then, it has become the “nation’s largest public policy women’s organization,” with chapters in nearly every state, CWA said on its website.
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A conservative legal group based in Arizona is suing the U.S. Department of Education over the $37.7 million fine it issued against Grand Canyon University. The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit against the federal agency in order to obtain documents explaining the reason behind the fine.
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Every morning, Will Speer leads prayer and worship in his state prison. He is the first death row prisoner to help lead a death row ministry in Texas’s Allan B. Polunsky Unit. Speer was scheduled to be executed Thursday — but less than five hours before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed his death pending further review of his case, Christianity Today reported.
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Survivalist and author Bear Grylls got baptized in the Jordan River, he posted on social media this Monday. “It had always been a dream of mine to get in the water that Jesus was baptized in by my hero John the Baptist,” the 49-year-old shared on X, formerly Twitter.
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Liberty University reportedly failed to keep its campus safe and repeatedly violated federal law specifying how to do so for years, according to a U.S. Department of Education preliminary report. It shows the university underreported campus crime and deterred people from reporting crimes in the first place. That’s even as Liberty claims to be “one of the safest campuses in the state — and in the nation.”
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Disgraced Hillsong founder Brian Houston has announced plans to write a new book sharing his story. Houston resigned from the global megachurch last year for alleged sexual misconduct, but has complained that he was “betrayed,” “lied about” and “defrauded.”
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Authorities arrested Robert Dell, 56, and four other associates for stealing merchandise worth more than $1.4 million from several of The Home Depot stores and then selling the merchandise on eBay under the name “Anointed Liquidator.” The virtual store has 100% approval rating and has registered more than 35,000 items sold over the past decade, according to its page on the online retailer’s website.
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