Religion

The Christian Post reports: Only 6% of people in the United Kingdom identify as Christians while 42% say they are non-practicing Christians, but one in three non-Christians say they want to know more about Jesus Christ, according to the report of a new survey, Talking Jesus. As many as 70% of those who identify as Christians are white Brits, who …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis gave a new mandate to his sex abuse advisory commission Friday, telling its members to work with bishops around the world to establish special welcome centers for victims and to audit the church’s progress on fighting abuse from its new perch within the Vatican. Francis warned that without more accountability from the church, the …

Jacksonville’s NBC News affiliate reports: A judge on Wednesday denied a request for bond for a Jacksonville pastor accused of abusing children for decades. Paul Dyal, 78, pastor of the Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ on Old Kings Road, is charged with two counts of capital sexual battery on a child. The defense wanted him released on his …

CBS News reports: Toyota is again contributing to lawmakers who resisted certifying the official results of the 2020 presidential election, despite the Japanese automaker’s pledge last summer to halt such financial support. The company said at the time, “We are actively listening to our stakeholders and, at this time, we have decided to stop contributing to those members of Congress …

The Christian Post reports: Pastor David E. Taylor of Joshua Media Ministries International, who was once deposed for corruption, has purchased an $8.3 million mansion in Tampa, Florida, from Tampa Bay Buccaneers co-owner Darcie Glazer Kassewitz and her husband. The mansion, which has a 28,893-square-foot main house and a 2,620-square-foot guest house, was purchased with a $4.9 million mortgage from …

The Washington Post reports: In 2020, 56 percent of Americans who died were cremated, more than double the figure of 27 percent two decades earlier, according to the Cremation Association of North America (CANA). By 2040, 4 out of 5 Americans are projected to choose cremation over casket burial, according to both CANA and the National Funeral Directors Association. Other …

The Miami New Times reports: Since July of 2021, more than 200 books have been banned in various school districts across Florida, the state with the third-highest number of school book banning incidents in the U.S. With that in mind, local political stunt activist Chaz Stevens of Deerfield Beach has taken it upon himself to add another book to the …

The New York Daily News reports: New York City does not abide. A city worker can’t use his belief in the religion of Dudeism — born of the movie “The Big Lebowski” — as a legitimate reason for exemption from the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for municipal employees, according to internal Law Department emails. An unidentified staffer had their religious accommodation …

The Associated Press reports: A New Jersey Catholic diocese has agreed to pay $87.5 million to settle claims involving clergy sex abuse with some 300 alleged victims in one of the largest cash settlements involving the Catholic church in the United States. The agreement between the Diocese of Camden, which encompasses six counties in southern New Jersey on the outskirts …

The Dallas Morning News reports: A 32-year-old youth pastor was arrested on charges related to the sexual assault of a child, Mesquite police said Monday. Conner “Jesse” Penny, a Mesquite resident, was arrested April 5 after police received a report the day before regarding the sexual assault of a child. He faces one count each of continuous sexual abuse of …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis opened Holy Week Sunday with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.” Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Pope Francis …

Reuters reports: The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church called on people on Sunday to rally around the authorities as Moscow pursues its military intervention in Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill has previously made statements defending Moscow’s actions in Ukraine and views the war as a bulwark against a Western liberal culture that he considers decadent. “Let the Lord help us unite during …

The Christian Post reports: There has been an “unprecedented drop” in the number of Bible users in the United States since last year, according to a report released by the American Bible Society. The American Bible Society defines Bible users as “those who use the Bible at least 3-4 times each year on their own, outside of a church setting.” …

The Daily Mail reports: A family of four are dead and a teenage boy is fighting for life in hospital after appearing to jump from their apartment building in the Swiss resort of Montreux on Lake Geneva, police said. The French family were found at the bottom of a seven storey building in Montreux on Thursday and are believed to …

The Christian Post reports: A new report released Thursday by the American Enterprise Institute shows that despite the proven benefits of belonging to a faith community, Americans are increasingly leaving organized religion with each subsequent generation and the majority aren’t coming back. Generation Z, born in the late 1990s and early 2000s, is now the least religious generation yet, with …

The Associated Press reports: Pope Francis released his long-awaited reform program of the Holy See bureaucracy on Saturday that envisages greater decision-making roles for the laity and gives new institutional weight to efforts to fight clerical sex abuse. The document was released Saturday, the ninth anniversary of Francis’ installation as pope and the feast of St. Joseph, an important figure …

The Christian Post reports: Founders of the 12,000-member Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, Stovall Weems and his wife, Kerri, have filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction that would force the megachurch to recognize Weems as their chief executive officer and settle dueling claims of financial fraud involving hundreds of thousands of dollars. Celebration Church filed a motion to dismiss Weems’ …

The National Catholic Register reports: Cardinal George Pell has called on the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to publicly reprimand two of Europe’s most senior bishops for what he said was their “wholesale and explicit rejection” of the Church’s teaching on sexual ethics. In a statement released March 15, Cardinal Pell asked the Vatican’s doctrinal congregation to …

First Coast News reports: Worship services were interrupted by a police raid Wednesday night at the Jacksonville Assembly of the Body of Christ on Old Kings Road. The raid was the result of a long-term investigation that started with a tip regarding possible sexual abuse in 2020. The investigation uncovered sexual and physical abuse of minors in the church that …

The Vermont Digger reports: The Vermont Roman Catholic Diocese has removed a Windsor County pastor who fought calls by the state’s largest religious denomination for Covid-19 vaccinations, masks and other pandemic precautions. Rev. Peter Williams is no longer head of Holy Family Parish of Springfield and neighboring Chester, Bishop Christopher Coyne informed church members in a public letter this week. …