Christian speaker Ted DiBiase — a former World Wrestling Federation fighter whose character, The Million Dollar Man, was all about wealth and greed — along with his sons and former NFL quarterback Brett Favre, fraudulently collected more than $6 million from the state of Mississippi to deliver speeches and presentations that never happened.
Read MoreIn an overwhelming show of support, U.S. Catholic bishops voted Wednesday in favor of issuing a new document regarding the importance of Holy Communion — although the text did not single out President Joe Biden or other Catholic politicians as being unworthy of receiving the sacrament because they favor abortion rights.
Read MoreJustices will hear oral arguments Dec. 1 in the latest challenge of state regulation of abortions, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which legal scholars say will give a more conservative court a renewed opportunity to revisit the constitutional right of abortion that has been recognized for a half-century.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Catholic bishops will once again address the issue regarding who should receive Holy Communion, part of a larger effort by many in the church’s hierarchy to reiterate the importance the sacrament has to the faithful. It is also part of an ongoing political debate that involves President Biden and his abortion rights stances.
Read MoreThe Rev. Gary Mason spent decades ministering to Protestant loyalists and Catholic nationalists during Northern Ireland’s bloody conflict. He then helped establish Skainos, the largest faith-based redevelopment project in Western Europe, as a model of coexistence that he believes can help heal other nations, including the U.S., Israel and Palestine.
Read MoreMembers of a church in Michigan protest abortion outside a women’s center as part of their “Metro for Life” ministry. The anti-abortion demonstrators say the gospel, not politics, motivates them to gather at clinics and urge women not to end pregnancies.
Read MoreFaithTech is tapping into an underutilized population, people of faith who work in the tech industry, bringing those people together to brainstorm tech projects to help ministries and charities. One, for example, involved buying out website domains like “howtokillyourself.org” and redirecting them to support networks — and there are dozens more.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Veterans Day, people across America thank veterans and active-duty military personnel for their service. But many members of the public don’t have a clear understanding of what service means to people in the military. How do they honor their own? What kind of spaces and activities help them reflect and remember?
Read MoreKen Beck of Alexandria, Tennessee, had made over 2,000 carrot cakes since 2005. He gifts them to a wide variety of people, ranging from friends on their birthdays to families mourning the death of a loved one to charities for fundraising events.
Read MoreBible app YouVersion has been installed 500 million times worldwide, marking a milestone in the app’s development. The app contains over 2,600 Bible versions including translations in 1,760 languages, and its users read or listened to about 64 billion chapters of the Bible this year.
Read MoreDuring the coronavirus pandemic, the Promised Land Covenant Church in the Bronx lost 13 members to COVID-19 in six weeks, lost their building to a fire, and then months later, lost their new space to Hurricane Ida. Still, the church continues streaming worship online from temporary spaces and delivering food and resources in its community.
Read MoreA Crimean court jailed 49-year-old Jehovah's Witness Igor Schmidt for six years on extremism-related charges, to be followed by six years of restrictions, although the prosecution presented no victims of any wrongdoing in court. Schmidt is the fourth Crimean Jehovah's Witness handed a long jail term. At least 12 more face criminal cases.
Read MoreDisposing of unwanted dolls and toys in Japan is not so easy. Throughout the year temples across Japan hold a “ningyo kuyo” (人形供養), a funeral ritual for unwanted dolls, especially traditional dolls. Held in both Buddhist and Shinto temples alike, the ceremony is a spiritual send-off to thank dolls for their service and properly put them to rest.
Read MoreAs Hondurans deal with COVID-19 deaths and lockdowns and recover from two hurricanes, Christian Relief Fund delivers bags of rice, beans, coffee and sugar — by truck, bike or donkey — to hungry families of the children it sponsors.
Read MoreThe vast Amazon basin has long drawn missionaries seeking to reach people who haven’t yet heard the gospel of Christ. But now, missionaries working with New Tribes Mission Brazil and other groups are facing a formidable foe: Indigenous groups backed by laws that protect small isolated tribes from both pandemics and proselytizing.
Read MoreMike Schmitz has become an unlikely podcast star. He isn’t only a Catholic priest, but Schmitz’s chart-topping daily podcast has become a huge hit since debuting on New Year’s Day. In January, the podcast debuted at No. 1 on Apple iTunes in all categories and over the past 10 months has become the greatest Catholic podcast ever.
Read MoreThe Kenya Film Classification Board recently banned the documentary film “I am Samuel” about a religious gay man’s struggle for acceptance from his family and country, sparking debate on the rights of the LGBTQ community as well as interpretations of the Bible on same-sex relationships.
Read MoreAs millions of South Africans visited the polls this week, the South African Council of Churches prayed that the local municipal elections would not trigger more spread of COVID-19. The nation has been one of the world’s hardest hit during the pandemic in terms of coronavirus infections and death rate, with 2.92 million cases and 89,179 deaths.
Read MoreDuring the pandemic this summer, 29-year-old Iris Ferreira became the first female rabbi ordained in France in the Reform tradition. A growing number of Jewish women in France are seeking to reform long-standing Jewish traditions, often going against the dominant Orthodox majority.
Read MorePresident Joe Biden said Pope Francis told him on Friday that he’s “a good Catholic” who should continue to receive Holy Communion. The comments widen the rift between the pope and a group of U.S. bishops because of the president’s support for abortion rights. The Vatican declined to comment on the veracity of Biden’s statement.
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