Posts in News
‘Sound of Hope’ A Refreshingly Decent Drama Highlighted By A Worthy Faith Message

(REVIEW) “Sound of Hope” highlights an important issue and improves on many of the problems in the typical faith-based film industry. But the problems it does retain from the genre heavily weakens what could have been a truly wonderful theatrical experience. For those of us who’ve been waiting on faith-based films to match their secular counterparts for a long time, “Sound of Freedom” definitely gives us something to hope for.

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Mexican Jews Love Their Country, But How Do They Feel About Sheinbaum?

Jews are a tiny minority in Mexico’s population of 130 million: 60,000, according to the latest national census. Those connected to the tight-knit Jewish community clustered in suburbs around Mexico City are estimated to be around 45,000.  On the face of it, those small numbers make it remarkable that a Jewish woman, Claudia Sheinbaum, won the recent presidential election in a landslide.

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Head Coach Joe Mazzulla’s Faith Helped Guide The Boston Celtics To An NBA Title

Joe Mazzulla woke up on Tuesday morning an NBA champion. It has been a very long and unlikely success story rooted in faith. Mazzulla — whose only head coaching experience before taking over the Boston Celtics in the fall of 2022 was at the NCAA Division II level — guided the team to a record 18th NBA championship after defeating the Dallas Mavericks in five games.

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Former Catholic Nun Opens School For Students With Disabilities

A former nun has founded a not-for-profit organization, Girls Way of Life Charitable Trust, to help parents in these situations. The trust has established an inclusive school in Victoria Falls named Mother of all Humanity Private School to provide education solely for children with disabilities.

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The Growth Of Spirituality: How Unaffiliated Americans Are Finding Faith

(ANALYSIS) Live seasonally. Inhabit the rhythms and cycles of nature. Find the Sacred in the shifts of the year. These themes have become prominent across sacred traditions and spiritual paths in the last few years.

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Do Southern Baptists Now Qualify As Neo-Fundamentalists?

(ANALYSIS) The annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention was as newsworthy as usual, but unusually significant. The Tennessean depicted the deliberations as “a turning point for the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.” If so, will this turning turn out to be Southern Baptists’ migration toward neo-fundamentalism, a growing force within America’s complex evangelical movement?

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$1 Billion Crypto Scam Targeted Christian Immigrants

Appealing to their Christian faith, Cynthia Petion promised investors returns of up to 200% in just one year through her cryptocurrency investment platform, NovaTechFX (Novatech). Four years later, in May 2023, NovaTechFX collapsed. Now New York Attorney General Letitia James is suing Petion, her husband Eddy and the defunct company for allegedly defrauding tens of thousands of investors.

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On A Wing And A Prayer: How Soaring Cathedral Spires Became Home To Falcons

The soaring spires and towers of cathedrals across the U.K. have become homes to countless pairs of breeding falcons. Each spring, the patter of tiny claws is eagerly awaited by millions of people watching the activities of parent birds and their offspring via webcams set up for such situations.  

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Over $130K Raised for Missionary Couple Killed in Haiti

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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What Idaho’s Republican Primary Tells Us About The Culture Wars

Idaho Republicans have increasingly disagreed over how far to take these efforts. Capitol police in Boise had to intervene in a 2022 fight over proposed “parental freedom” legislation that would have created a $1,000 fine if a school didn’t give parents what they want. This year, two prominent far-right Republicans were recorded quarreling over the party’s direction that illustrates “a fracture among key far-right figures in Idaho politics, in a state where many races turn on contests of conservative purity.”

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New Wave of Violence Erupts Against Christians In The Indian State Of Manipur

Manipur is witnessing renewed violence, with the latest escalations being reported from Jiribam district, an area that borders Assam’s Cachar district, after a Meitei farmer’s death was attributed to a Kuki-Zo armed group. Two people from the Hmar-Mizo tribal communities, which are part of the larger Zo tribe, were killed, and 48 houses and a church owned by tribals were destroyed.

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Crossroads Podcast: Are Southern Baptists ‘Normal Evangelicals’ These Days?

The big news was politics, of course, as in a convention speech by Vice President Mike Pence. The journalism establishment was not amused, as illustrated in this CNN headline: “Pence accused of ‘hijacking’ evangelical meeting.” Various types of Southern Baptist conservatives welcomed him.

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Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Ban Abortion Pill Mifepristone

The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously reversed the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals and told opponents of the Food and Drug Administration their argument over the safety of mifepristone, commonly known as the abortion pill, should be taken up with the Biden Administration rather than the courts.

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North Carolina Pastor Clint Pressley Elected SBC President Following Runoff

Southern Baptists, voting at their annual meeting, winnowed their list of candidates for convention president Tuesday evening from six to three. The candidates in the run-off election are Clint Pressley, senior pastor, Hickory Grove Baptist Church, Charlotte, NC; David Allen, professor and dean at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Cordova, Tenn.; and Dan Spencer, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Sevierville, Tenn.

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On Religion: New Threat To Alaska’s Historic Orthodox Cathedral

(ANALYSIS) After the 1966 fire, St. Michael's was rebuilt with concrete, steel and other fire-resistant materials, using 1961 drawings from the Historic American Buildings Survey for reference. Today, there are leaks along joints in the church's domes, and the wooden floors squeak from water damage.

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Salem Media Pulls Election Conspiracy Film ‘2,000 Mules’ from All Platforms

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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Books To Read This Summer On The Church And Public Life

(ANALYSIS) According to a recent Pew study, the vast molarity of U.S. adults agree that religion’s influence is shrinking, yet they continue to hold a positive view of it. This disparity highlights the challenge facing the church today: How can people of faith navigate a world that is increasingly losing faith? With the looming election cycle ahead and the opportunity for a little summer reading, now is an ideal time to consider a few insightful books on the church’s role in society.

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From NFL And NASCAR To A Boxing Gym, How A Couple Is Forging Friendships

The Watsons serve with the IMB in Germany. They host people in their homes and provide a safe space for frank questions and vulnerability in conversation. Fredrik attended a Bible study in their home. He asked direct and complex questions, but Asa didn’t balk and took the time to answer thoughtfully. Fredrik told them he wasn’t encouraged to ask questions about faith when he was younger. Asa’s willingness to address his questions made him excited and willing to hear more.

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Netanyahu Loses Centrist Partner: Will Anything Change In The Israel-Hamas War?

The Israeli government and the Biden administration on Sunday lost a key moderating and unifying figure with the resignation of senior war cabinet minister Benny Gantz. This development could complicate the Biden administration’s efforts to broker a possible hostage-and-ceasefire deal, and might also lead to early elections in Israel later this year.

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