(ANALYSIS) With Lighten Group and RZIM shut down, important questions remain unanswered. First, how much money went from RZIM to Lighten Group? How was that money spent? How much remains? Meanwhile, American Bible Society has been plagued with turmoil for years. The organization has had five presidents in the past 10 years.
Read MoreAlliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal defense group, sent a letter on behalf of 2,000 “pastors, ministers of faith, and leaders of religious nonprofit organizations” asking the U.S. Senate to oppose the Respect for Marriage Act, H.R. 8404, which it said puts churches and ministries in danger of injustice.
Read MoreFormer California pastor of Imperial Valley Ministries Victor Gonzalez, alleged to have locked participants inside IVM “restoration” homes and used their government benefits for personal financial gain, entered his guilty plea along with three others to one count of conspiracy to commit benefits fraud.
Read MoreThe majority of Americans live with less than half of the legal protections of religious freedom available in other states, according to new research by the conservative think tank Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy. CRCD is part of First Liberty Institute, the largest nonprofit law firm in the country solely focused on religious freedom.
Read MoreMary Keitany is one of the finest athletes in the history of the world, with seven major marathon wins. She’s also a Catholic, mother, business owner and nonprofit board member who as a teen in poverty, dropped out of school to work as a housemaid. “God did amazing things for me,” she said.
Read MoreCatholic motivational speaker Chris Slattery opened EMC Frontline in 1984 as New York City’s first pregnancy center. The center aims to save unborn babies and offer free services to pregnant women and girls, especially those in poverty. But critics say organizations like EMC deceive pregnant women searching for all options, including abortion, and these clinics became the latest targets of vandalism, harassment and threats in the fight over abortion rights.
Read MoreBorn in a refugee camp in eastern Sudan to a Muslim father and a Christian mother, Mariam Ibraheem says “danger lurked in every dark corner.” Disease, abuse and poverty plagued her life. In 2013, a Sharia court sentenced Ibraheem to death for marrying a Christian man. She was pregnant with her second child at the time and gave birth to Maya while shackled in prison. Her story since then has sparked international outcry and admiration.
Read MoreYelp announced last week that it would add a notice stating that pregnancy resource centers “provide limited medical services and may not have licensed medical professionals onsite.” Google has also joined the move, announcing that it would add labels to search and map functions to identify those clinics that provide abortions and those that don’t.
Read MoreThe Nairobi Hebrew Congregation was founded in 1912 to serve the Jewish diaspora doing business in Kenya. Today, most of the two dozen congregants gathered for Shabbat on Saturday mornings are Kenyan-born converts to Judaism.
Read MoreClimate scientists increasingly promote “collective efficacy,” which is how people involved in a broader social or communal movement can bring about positive change. Such social movements include churches and faith groups. Churches, like commercial and industrial buildings, waste 30% of the energy consumed according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Read MoreFour former employees of Midland Christian School in Texas and a current employee who says he was demoted from his assistant principal role filed a federal lawsuit against the City of Midland and three police officers.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Religions and cultures across the globe are rife with dragon lore. In fact, across the vast majority of religions, there is mythic trope some scholars call “Chaoskampf.” This term, used by mythologists, refers to a pervasive motif involving a heroic character who slays a primordial chaos “monster.”
Read MoreNFTs. Online gaming. Cryptocurrency. Compassion International is exploring these and other innovations as it connects with new supporters and prepares itself for Web 3.0, the Metaverse, and beyond. With fewer Americans donating to charity, the 70-year-old, $1 billion ministry is working to find new ways to engage younger believers.
Read MoreOn Tuesday, the director of Christian ministry World Vision’s work in Gaza was sentenced to 12 years in prison for allegedly transferring ministry funds to the terrorist organization Hamas. Mohammad el-Halabi, who has already spent six years in prison as his trial waged on, plans to appeal the decision.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A scholar visited Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to document the lives and stories of everyday Afghans. What he found is that the Taliban have less authority on the ground than they project to the media, fostering uncertainty about the government’s stability and longevity.
Read MoreZannah Mustapha quit his job as a Shariah court lawyer in the mid-2000s to establish an orphanage for kids whose lives have been tragically altered by Boko Haram attacks. Today, he oversees the education of more than 2,000 orphaned students.
Read MoreRecently Wycliffe USA announced it would be joining with eight other groups to work on a Bible translation effort in Southeast Asia. The project involves seven of the region’s language communities.
Read MoreA desire to fulfill the Great Commission drove a minister to West Africa’s fertile fields of souls. Three decades ago, the first Church of Christ opened its doors in this town of less than 20,000, a few hours northeast of Ghana’s coastal capital, Accra. Today, Greater Dzodze has expanded to more than 30 congregations with an estimated 5,000 members.
Read MoreDesperate to save a beloved older Christian, a North Carolina church ran an ad asking for a volunteer. A young woman hundreds of miles away responded.
Read MoreWith each new megachurch leader flashed across national news for financial scandals, abuses and promiscuity, it is easy to become skeptical of evangelicalism entirely. But what causes dynamic pastors to abuse their power? And what can churches do to hold them accountable? On a recent episode of the Biblical Mind podcast hosted by Dr. Dru Johnson and the Center for Hebraic Thought, Katelyn Beaty, author of “Celebrities for Jesus: How Personas, Platforms, and Profits Are Hurting the Church” answers these questions. Johnson and Beaty discuss the dangers of American celebrity pastors leading large corporations with unquestioned authority.
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