Posts in News
Israeli Earthquake Rescue Team Returns 200-year-old Scrolls of Esther to Turkey

The goodwill Israel earned when she sent a team of nearly 700 emergency medical responders to Turkey following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that devastated Hatay province on Feb. 6 evaporated after the revelation that the search and rescue team secretly exported two 200-year-old Scrolls of Esther from Antakya at the end of its six-day mission there.

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5 Prayers For Ukraine A Year After The First Russian Bombs Fell

Christians from around the world gathered online Feb. 23 to pray for Ukraine — just hours before the grim anniversary of the Russian invasion. But the ‘rough year’ has also been a year of growth and opportunity.

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Why Businessman Peter Chung Is Key Player In The Future Of The King’s College

(ANALYSIS) It would be smart for religion reporters, business reporters and education reporters to dig more into Canadian businessman Peter Chung and his involvement with King’s in the past two years as well as his other business ventures through Primacorp Ventures Inc. and the Emanata Group.

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Sotheby’s To Auction Off 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible For Up To $50 Million

The Codex Sassoon has 24 books divided into the Pentateuch, the Prophets, and the Writings, abbreviated as TaNaKH in Hebrew. About 15 chapters are missing, including 10 from Genesis, but it is far more complete than the Aleppo Codex. Another medieval Bible text, the Leningrad Codex, is “entirely complete,” but is more than a century younger than Sassoon 1053, Sotheby’s said.

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Persistent CEO Leads Christian Care Centers Through Bankruptcy And Sale

Sabrina Porter, now 59, relates her personal childhood trauma as she reflects on why her latest challenge — leading Texas-based Christian Care Centers Inc. through bankruptcy and a sale to new owners — does not faze her.

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Two Asbury Students Reflect on What The Revival Means for Gen Z’s Faith

Over the span of two weeks, Asbury University, a small evangelical college in Wilmore, Kentucky, has been the center of a revival attracting thousands of believers from across the country for 24-hour prayer and worship. 

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LDS Church And Investment Fund To Pay $5 Million To SEC For Failing To Disclose Equity Investments

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Ensign Peak Advisers Inc. and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to pay $5 million in penalties to settle charges against the investment fund operating inside the nonprofit entity of the church.

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University Students Challenge Ban on BBC Documentary on Indian PM Narendra Modi

The documentary, titled “India: The Modi Question,” was initially aired in the U.K,  but soon after, video clips started spreading on social media platforms in India, which led the Indian government to ban the documentary. But student organizations in India have been organizing screenings of the BBC documentary in numerous campuses across the nation to protest the censorship imposed by the government.

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Closure Of Amazon Smile Program Impacting Christian Ministries

Nearly a decade ago, Amazon created its Smile program as a way for its customers to support their favorite charities. Now it has decided to shutter the program. According to an email, Amazon claimed its philanthropic efforts were “spread too thin” to have a meaningful impact.

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A Test Of Faith: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Finally Wins NASCAR’s Great American Race

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. had been tested more than once during his often-difficult first decade on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit, the top level of stock car racing. Now he’s known as the winner of NASCAR’s biggest race, the Daytona 500. Stenhouse edged defending Cup Series champion Joey Logano on Sunday night in dramatic fashion.

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The King’s College In New York City Notifies Parents Of $2.6 Million Shortfall

In an email to parents on Feb. 6, The King’s College announced it was experiencing a “funding shortfall of approximately $2.6 million for the spring semester, due primarily to the timing of pending income.”

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Eastern European Mission Sees Growth Of Relief Work In Ukraine

Eastern European Mission, a ministry founded in 1961 by seven young couples from Abilene Christian University in Texas to distribute Bibles, is expanding its first-ever relief efforts, which were launched after Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago.

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Devastated By Earthquake, Turkish Christians Are Still Serving Their Neighbors

Days after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake devastated communities in Turkey and Syria, Christians gathered at the Antalya Bible Church for an evening of prayer. The official death toll in Turkey topped 35,000 and was expected to keep rising, the Turkish government reported on Feb 14. Deaths in Syria had climbed to about 3,700. 

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For Christians In Memphis, Tyre Nichols’ Death A Cause For Concern and Action

A picture of Tyre Nichols in his hospital bed greeted a recent assembly of the Coleman Avenue Church of Christ. The same big screen displayed photos of five Memphis police officers charged with murder in the 29-year-old Black man’s death.

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An Indonesian Tradition Of Digging Up Dead Relatives For A Spirited Afterlife Ritual

In the unusual tradition of Ma’nene in South Sulawesi of Indonesia's Toraja region, families lovingly clean, dress up and even put cigarettes in the mouths of the exhumed bodies of their dead relatives. This photo essay and video offers ReligionUnplugged.com readers a glimpse of this unique religious and cultural ceremony.

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Whistleblower Details New Allegations About $100 Billion LDS Fund

A former employee of a $100 billion investment fund owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has submitted a memorandum to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee about the operations of the Salt Lake City, Utah, based Ensign Peak Advisors Inc. The 90-page memorandum obtained by ReligionUnplugged.com “summarizes evidence of false statements, systematic accounting fraud, private inurement violations of the Internal Revenue Code and other federal statutes and a ‘Klein conspiracy’ by Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. (‘EPA’) and others.”

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Maradona Cedes His Throne To Messi

In a country as economically and socially unstable as Argentina, with almost 47 million people, 100% annual inflation in 2022 and 40% of the population below the poverty line, when a messianic figure capable of changing daily frustrations for joy appears, he is charged with that responsibility: He gives the right not to suffer during the hour and a half that a soccer match lasts.

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Super Bowl Quarterbacks Jalen Hurts And Patrick Mahomes Both Playing For Christ

There will be more prayers at the Super Bowl on Feb. 12 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. Patrick Mahomes taking on Jalen Hurts will mark the first time that the starting quarterbacks for both teams are Black. It is also a milestone because both men are practicing Christians not afraid to publicly talk about their faith and how it helps them succeed in the NFL.

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South African Ministers Face Poverty Without Secular Jobs

For South African preachers, salary often comes with stigma. Many of the country’s first Churches of Christ were planted by missionaries — who also served as their first ministers, supported only by sponsoring churches in the U.S. As these churches transitioned from mission work to independent congregations, missionaries were hesitant to stress the importance of financially supporting future ministers.

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Battle Continues Between Iowa Church And IRS Over Use Of Hallucinogenic Drugs

An Iowa church that uses a hallucinogenic drug as part of its religious ceremonies is engaged in an ongoing fight to win tax-exempt status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. The Iowaska Church of Healing of Des Moines sued the IRS in U.S. District Court last year for denying its request to be recognized as a nonprofit organization.

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