Posts in News
Taliban’s New ‘Vice And Virtue’ Law Erases Women

(ANALYSIS) Afghanistan’s new “vice and viture” law seeks to completely silence women in public. They are prohibited from speaking, singing or praying aloud. The law also attempts to literally erase them from view, ordering women to cover every part of their body and face in public.

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In Fight Against Leprosy, A Catholic Center In Zimbabwe Offers Help

Zimbabwe’s Mutemwa Leprosy Care Centre is home to 34 patients living with deadly diseases, such as AIDS, as well as mental and physical disabilities. The center is supported by the John Bradburne Memorial Society, founded in memory of the British-born missionary. Bradburne's legacy lives on in this embattled community to this day.

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At Kibbutz Hardest Hit On Oct. 7, A Debate Over How To Rebuild

Israel’s plan to rebuild is focused on returning residents to the Gaza border region, so one group has been trying to fundraise $25 million for the move together to a new location, a plan that relies on American Jewish donors who have so far been wary of funding an unconventional project that some other Nir Oz residents have denounced as a betrayal.

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What American History Can Teach Us About Religious Freedom And Democracy

(ANALYSIS) I have studied the complex and ever-evolving role of religion in American politics. I argue that this election year, while the Christian character of each candidate is discussed everywhere, religious freedom, one of the core freedoms of American democracy, is not.

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To Be An Israeli Jew Means Living With Danger Every Day

(OPINION) When I moved to Israel, I couldn’t have foreseen the horror that would unfold less than two months later, when Hamas terrorists stormed the southern border, massacred 1,200 citizens, and took 251 others hostage on Oct. 7. In all the years I spent dreaming of my aliyah — the return to the homeland described in Jewish texts — I never accounted for the country being thrust into national disarray. 

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Cooperative Effort Needed To Reach ‘Revival Generation’ On College Campuses

The effectiveness of collegiate ministry depends on how you play the long game. And that doesn’t happen without support. “The Cooperative Program is vital for our work,” said Michael Ball, director of the Baptist Student Union at Mississippi State. “When BSU was formed, it was a cooperative effort of churches coming together to have a presence on the campus.”

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Vatican’s Doctrinal Chief Says Now Not The Time For Female Deacons

The Vatican’s doctrinal summit opened this week with one issue deemed to be out of bounds: female deacons. Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernandez, the Vatican’s prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, said that the church was not “rushing” on the issue.

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Samaritan’s Purse Deals With Hurricane Helene Recovery In Its Own Backyard

The Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse, no stranger to reducing tremendous suffering and damage in communities all over the world, has had to find a way to help others as well as themselves. In fact, once Hurricane Helene robbed millions of Americans of their electricity and running water, the focus had to become more local.

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Film Highlights Legendary Football Coach’s Faith And Mission To ‘Do Right’

(REVIEW) “Do Right: The Stallings Standard” is a heartfelt documentary that focuses on the life of former football coach Gene Stallings. The film primarily shows his time as head coach with Texas A&M University (1965-1971) and the University of Alabama (1990-1996). However, the film goes deeper than just football.

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What Happens When Christianity and Buddhism Are Forced To Compete?

(REVIEW) Many of us might be acquainted with conventional narratives that combine 19th century colonialism and Christianity with cultural suppression and forced conversion in Asian territories where local inhabitants fought back intruders and crushed evangelical missions. Thailand, however, has a different history.

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On Religion: Sadly, Churches Divided By Doctrine Are Going To Split

(ANALYSIS) After decades of progressive dissent, the leaders of the Christian Reformed Church in America finally took a firm stand against the Sexual Revolution. Not only did the 2022 CRC Synod, voting 123-53, condemn “adultery, premarital sex, extra-marital sex, polyamory, pornography and homosexual sex,” it added the small, but influential, denomination's long-standing teachings on these moral issues to its declaration of faith.

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Georgia Judge Strikes Down State’s 6-Week Abortion Ban, Cites ‘Liberty Of Privacy’

A Fulton County judge struck down Georgia’s six-week abortion ban Sept. 30, declaring it an unconstitutional violation of a woman’s rights to “liberty of privacy” and the control of her body. “When a fetus growing inside a woman reaches viability, when society can assume care and responsibility for that separate life, then ... may society intervene,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert C.I. McBurney wrote.

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Meet The Man Who Brought Down Tel Aviv Shooter After Surviving Oct. 7 Attack

Lev Kreitman has seen plenty of trauma. He was at the Nova festival on Oct. 7, when it was attacked by Hamas. Then, as a reserve soldier, he was sent into Gaza. On Tuesday, when two gunmen opened fire in Tel Aviv near his home, Kreitman leapt into action, shooting one of them. At least seven people were killed in the attack, which took place at a light rail station in Jaffa, in the south of the city. 

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How The Feds Can Stop ‘Churches’ From Abusing The Tax Code

(ANALYSIS) As a professor of nonprofit law, I believe some groups that aren’t churches or associations of churches want to be designated that way to avoid the scrutiny being a charitable organization otherwise requires. At the same time, some other groups that should qualify as churches may have difficulty doing so because of the IRS’ outdated test for that status.

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Christian Educator Teaches Displaced Israeli Children

A Reddit forum led Tabitha Barnes to the Israel Program for Excellence in English, known by its Hebrew acronym TALMA. The organization was recruiting licensed educators for its summer fellowship to teach English to Israeli school children displaced by the Israel-Hamas war.

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Churches Working With Relief Organizations To Help Areas Hit By Hurricane Helene

The storm, which made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane, left a wide swath of destruction from storm surge, wind, landslides and flooding through Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and Tennessee. There have been at least 121 reported deaths. Churches are sending aid throughout the Southeast as damage and needs are assessed.

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‘The After Party’ Offers Christians An Escape From Divisive Politics

Spearheading one of a growing number of attempts among evangelicals to empower clergy and laypeople to reframe the political divide, the creators of “The After Party” hope to foster conversations that will not only promote healing but enable those engaged to participate in public life in ways that are constructive, rather than chronically divisive.

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