A Christian billionaire and philanthropist accused of inflating a business portfolio to $36 billion was convicted Wednesday on several counts of financial fraud. Sung Kook “Bill” Hwang, founder and co-CEO of Archegos Capital Management, was convicted by a federal jury on 10 criminal counts,
Read More(OPINION) There is a new challenge for pro-life voters as we approach the 2024 elections. On the one hand, it’s impossible for a truly pro-life voter to vote for a Democratic presidential candidate given the radical, pro-abortion stance of that party. That holds true as well for the positions of President Biden, which continue to lurch farther to the left. But now that the RNC has embraced the watered down platform crafted by the Trump team, do we acquiesce and vote GOP?
Read MoreSouthern Baptist Disaster Relief units have deployed in and around Houston up into Texarkana in response to Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early Monday morning, July 8. Units with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), Texans on Mission, Arkansas and Alabama are providing meals, showers and chainsaw work to survivors.
Read More(ANALYSIS) After he decided to kick heroin, the young Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to think about daily life in a totally different way. Rather than trusting his willpower to do the right thing for a whole day, he began dividing each day into 40 or more decisions. After 14 years of addiction, Kennedy said he tried to act as if each decision was a moral test. This was a leap of faith, since his addiction attacked the Catholic faith of his childhood.
Read More(OPINION) I’ve long argued it’s difficult — really, next to impossible — to practice Christianity effectively without becoming (and staying) an active member of a local church congregation. Not only Christianity but the other major faiths are, by intention and maybe by definition, communal pursuits rather than solitary ones.
Read MoreA release of the Republican National Convention’s (RNC) platform reveals a potential shift in the party’s focus on a federal abortion ban. The announcement came hours after the RNC’s platform committee met on Monday.
Read MoreWhen Brad Graves began pastoring Cross Church San Diego in 2007, wildfires forced his evacuation before his moving truck arrived. Afterwards, Graves led the church in disaster relief as San Diego County recovered from a series of wildfires that killed two people. And the adversity he has faced doesn’t end there.
Read MoreThe Vatican on Friday excommunicated the outspoken Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, its former ambassador to Washington, finding him guilty of promoting schism after repeatedly questioning Pope Francis’ authority. The Italian prelate had in recent years become one of Francis’ harshest critics.
Read MoreDid everyone in the religious congregation of your choice have a good “Fidelity Month”? That’s a joke, of course. There were probably more churches in America that celebrated Pride Month than those that were aware that “Fidelity Month” even exists. And pride is where it’s at, when it comes to the principalities and powers of corporate America, Big Tech, Hollywood, mainstream newsrooms and the vast majority of our elected officials from sea to shining sea.
Read MoreThe Alliance of Christians in Cuba (ACC) denounced the country’s human rights and religious freedom violations at its 2024 meeting, the third time it has done so since its 2022 founding and the latest in a string of such statements internationally. The ACC, a multi-denominational group of about 60 Christian leaders, called for the immediate release of religious prisoners and prisoners of conscience, the protected legal right for new churches to organize and function, and other rights included in Article 18 of the International Bill of Human Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Read MoreIt was the fourth of a hot, dry July day nearly 150 years after the fact at Camp Sturgis, a frontier Army post in the 1870s, decommissioned in 1944. Today it’s known as Fort Meade and is used as an Army training ground. Officer candidates from across the nation could have taken the holiday to visit the nearby patriotic Mount Rushmore. Instead they stayed on base to play war games — Civil War-era war games.
Read MoreMinistries continue to distance themselves from Robert Morris, founder of Gateway Church in Texas, in the wake of accusations that he sexually abused a girl for several years, starting when she was 12.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Two of the Founding Fathers shaped American views on religious freedom and the separation of church and state more than any other: Jefferson and James Madison. Yet their views have also become lightning rods for controversy as the “wall” between church and state comes under scrutiny.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Tragedy seldom unifies Americans today. Well into the 20th century, tragedies were mostly explained differently than now. Explanations often referenced forces such as God, fate, bad luck, blameless accidents or, in line with the U.S. liberal political tradition, individual responsibility.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When it comes to hot dogs, there’s always a nagging question in the back of my mind (and possibly yours): What are they made of, exactly? That’s why, even though I don’t keep kosher, on the rare occasion that I do eat a hot dog, I prefer a kosher brand. But now, thanks to Joey Chestnut’s endorsement of Impossible Foods’ vegan hot dog, I’m wondering if I should forsake my usual go-to, Hebrew National, for meatless.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I guess there is a question that motivates this post but it’s about as simple as it’s going to get: How is Joe Biden doing among a bunch of different religious groups? Asking about presidential approval is about as straightforward as it gets, and the question was posed in the Fall of 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Read More(OPINION) Since 2016, in private conversations and in responses from newspaper readers, the question I’ve probably been asked more consistently than any other is: “How do you account for White evangelicals’ devotion to Donald Trump?” So I’ve taken stabs at answering that question. But more often than not I’ve ended up shrugging and saying, “I don’t know. I don’t get it, either.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) A Louisiana bill signed into law on June 19 requires displays of the Bible’s revered Ten Commandments in all public classrooms, even at the university level. Religious and nonreligious citizens immediately joined national lobbies in a federal court complaint that the law must be overturned for violating the U.S. Constitution’s ban on “establishment of religion” by the government.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from former reality TV star and Christian activist Josh Duggar regarding his conviction for downloading child sex abuse material. The nation’s highest court made no comment or notes on its decision to decline. Instead, the court just listed Duggar’s case as one in several petitions that were denied.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Christian colleges and universities are in a tough spot. Spiraling costs and shrinking demographics, plus technological and other cultural concerns, are putting unprecedented pressure on them. That’s why the news from Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Mich., caught my attention. John Fea, writing for Current, broke the news that “Cornerstone University fires tenured professors and terminates all humanities and arts programs.”
Read More
