Religion

The Associated Press reports: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has issued a warning to members that coffee is prohibited no matter how fancy the name, that vaping is banned despite the alluring flavors and that marijuana is outlawed unless prescribed by “competent” doctors. The new guidance in the August issue of a church youth magazine does not …

ABC News reports: Hundreds of lawsuits are expected to be filed in New York today as the state’s window allowing alleged child sexual abuse survivors to seek civil recourse opens. Earlier this year, state lawmakers passed the Child Victims Act, which allows civil claims of child sexual abuse from any time period to be brought forth, in spite of existing …

The New York Daily News reports: The handwritten missives, many signed simply “Uncle T.,” were sent to aspiring young priests as part of defrocked cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s perverse wooing of his victims, according to a pair of abuse prevention experts. Several postcards and letters sent by McCarrick to his sexual targets were made public by The Associated Press, with experts …

The Christian Post reports: Former pastor and evangelical author Joshua Harris demonstrated his support for the LGBT community by marching in Vancouver’s annual Pride Parade less than a month after announcing he no longer considers himself a Christian. On August 4, Harris, former pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland, shared several Instagram photos of himself participating in the …

Reuters reports: Pope Francis on Sunday condemned attacks on “defenseless people” in a spate of gun violence in three American states, including one that killed 20 people in a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas. Speaking to thousands of pilgrims and tourists in St. Peter’s Square for his Sunday message and blessing, Francis said he was spiritually close to the …

Reuters reports: Poland’s Catholic Church has doubled down on the anti-gay rhetoric that has become the nationalist ruling party’s dominant theme in recent weeks, drawing a rebuke from liberal politicians who compared an archbishop’s remarks to incitement to genocide. In a sermon given to mark the 75th anniversary of the Warsaw uprising by Polish resistance fighters against Nazi occupation, the …

The New York Daily News reports: A Bronx pastor took money meant to help HIV-positive drug addicts and used it to jet off to the Caribbean and lavish himself with gifts, prosecutors said Wednesday. In his role as president and CEO of Addicts Rehabilitation Center Fund and the Addicts Rehabilitation Center Foundation, Rev. Reginald Williams, 67, scammed the nonprofits out …

Britain’s The Metro reports: A religious leader who said mums to be who enjoy anal sex are the reason why gay people exist has defended his comments. The Bishop of Morhpou Neophytos make the comments at a primary school in Akaki, Cyprus, saying the mother’s enjoyment transfers to the foetus, making the child gay. He faced an international backlash and …

The Associated Press reports: The visiting priests arrived discreetly, day and night. Stripped of their collars and cassocks, they went unnoticed in this tiny Midwestern town as they were escorted into a dingy warehouse across from an elementary school playground They had been brought to town by a small, nonprofit group called Opus Bono Sacerdotii. For nearly two decades, the …

Britain’s Metro reports: Church of Cyprus bishop Neophytos Masouras has claimed women enjoying anal sex while pregnant is the reason that gay people exist. Speaking at a primary school in Akaki, Cyprus, he claimed that the enjoyment the mother experiences transfers to the foetus, making the child gay. In a video translated by Metro.co.uk translators, he said: “It happens during …

Just in from Gallup Polls: Forty percent of U.S. adults ascribe to a strictly creationist view of human origins, believing that God created them in their present form within roughly the past 10,000 years. However, more Americans continue to think that humans evolved over millions of years — either with God’s guidance (33%) or, increasingly, without God’s involvement at all …

The Christian Post reports: The famed Crystal Cathedral in California, which was touted as the largest all-glass structure in the world when it was officially opened in 1980, was rededicated Wednesday by the Diocese of Orange after a $77 million makeover and the blessing of Bishop Kevin Vann and Pope Francis. Originally commissioned by late televangelist Rev. Robert H. Schuller, …

The Washington Post reports: The Vatican on Friday announced sanctions against retired West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield, but stopped short of defrocking him, after investigating accusations of sexual harassment and financial misconduct. The sanctions, ordered by Pope Francis and detailed in a letter posted to the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston’s website, prohibits Bransfield from public ministry and from residing in his …

The Christian Post reports: Leader of the 5 million-member Light of the World church Naason Joaquin Garcia was denied bail on child sex crime charges after a visibly angered Los Angeles Superior Court judge heard a witness describe video evidence that allegedly shows the pastor in a sexual threesome involving a minor. “ This is a man who preyed on …

The Times Of Israel reports: More than a dozen rabbis from the city of Elad near Tel Aviv issued an edict declaring all dogs bad and warning residents that keeping them will make them accursed. The edict, dated June 14, contains the signatures of all the Sephardic rabbis in Elad, a city of about 46,000 residents where most of the …

The Christian Post reports: The proportion of Brits who identify as Christian has reached its lowest point in over three decades of polling, as more than half of respondents said they no longer affiliate with a religion, a new study suggests. The National Centre for Social Research, which claims to be Britain’s largest independent social research agency, released its 36th …

Faithwire reports: Right before she hit “rock bottom” Billboard-topping country singer Jo Dee Messina said that Jesus visited her on her front porch. In 2017, Messina was diagnosed with cancer. She found herself uncertain of her future as medical bills mounted, and her career crumbled in front of her. The artist, who has six No. 1 country singles, not only …

Last month it was just higher prices. Now it’s a shortage. Publishers of religious books are warning that President Donald Trump’s latest proposed tariffs on Chinese imports could result in a Bible shortage in the U.S. Tens of millions of bibles are printed in China each year, with some estimates as high as 150 million. Publishers large and small testified …

Axios reports: Israel’s newly appointed minister of education, Rafi Peretz, said at a cabinet meeting on July 1 that the rate of intermarriage among U.S. Jews is “like a second Holocaust,” according to three people who were in the room. Peretz, a former chief rabbi of the Israeli army, is the leader of a bloc of ultra right-wing religious parties. …

Huntsville’s CBS News affiliate reports: The lead pastor of a Florence church has been arrested, accused of sexually abusing young boys in his congregation. John Martin was taken into custody Friday evening and booked into the Lauderdale County Detention Center on four counts of Sexual Abuse. Martin has been a pastor at Lighthouse Baptist Church on Sweetwater Avenue for nine …