Tag Archives: religion

Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate reports: A Luzerne County woman drove into the path of an oncoming vehicle as a way to test her faith, then exhibited no concern about the people who were injured in the crash, state police said. Bail was revoked this week for Nadejda Reilly, 31, of Drums, who is charged with aggravated assault and other offenses over …

Yahoo News reports: A scene in The New Pope, an HBO mini-series starring Jude Law and John Malkovich, in which sexy young nuns dance in their nighties beneath a giant fluorescent crucifix, has incurred the wrath of the Catholic Church. The provocative scene, which was filmed in a former monastery in Venice, was denounced as “offensive” by the archbishop of …

The New York Times reports: Several Israeli school districts held impromptu tolerance classes on Sunday after the country’s education minister, an Orthodox rabbi, angered LGBT campaigners by implying homosexuality was unnatural. The furor over the remarks by Education Minister Rafael Peretz – who last year spoke favorably about gay “conversion therapy”, a widely discredited method – reached into the Israeli …

The BBC reports: A judge in Brazil has ruled that a film depicting Jesus as gay must be removed from the TV streaming service Netflix. The film, The First Temptation of Christ, infuriated fervent Christians in the country. Two million people signed a petition calling for it to be axed, and the production company was attacked with Molotov cocktails last …

Oregon’s Statesman Journal reports: A Turner woman is suing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for $9.54 million after her husband’s confession to church leaders led to his arrest, conviction and imprisonment on child sexual abuse charges. The lawsuit, which accuses local church leaders of violating confidentiality and the “priest-penitent privilege,” contrasts sharply with other cases accusing the …

The New York Times reports: Leaders of the United Methodist Church, the second-largest Protestant domination in the nation, announced on Friday a plan that would formally split the church after years of division over same-sex marriage. Under the plan, which would sunder a denomination with 13 million members worldwide, a new “traditionalist Methodist” denomination would be created, and would continue …

Duncan Osborne reports at Gay City News: An evangelical ministry that was dedicated to supporting church groups that have the eradication of homosexuality as part of their mission shut down on December 31 after operating for roughly a decade. “It’s time to say goodbye to Redemption Group Network, the non-profit organization founded to support the training and development of Redemption …

“We often lose patience. So do I. And I apologize for yesterday’s bad example. Every form of violence inflicted upon a woman is a blasphemy against God, who was born of a woman. Humanity’s salvation came forth from the body of a woman: we can understand our degree of humanity by how we treat a woman’s body.” – Pope Francis, …

The New Straits Times reports: Saudi Arabia has arrested more than 200 people for violating “public decency” – including by wearing immodest clothing – and “harassment“, police said, in the first such crackdown since the ultra-conservative kingdom began easing social norms. Some 120 men and women have been arrested over the past week for offending public morals, including wearing “inappropriate …

CNN reports: The man accused of barging into a rabbi’s Monsey, New York, home and stabbing five people at a Hanukkah party has a “long history of mental illness and hospitalizations,” according to a family statement issued by his attorney. “We believe the actions of which he is accused, if committed by him, tragically reflect profound mental illness for which …

The BBC reports: The Pope has prayed for a softening of “stony and self-centred hearts” to help end injustice in the world, in his Christmas Day message. From the Vatican balcony, Pope Francis spoke of “walls of indifference” being put up to people fleeing hardship in the hope of finding a better life. For change to happen for the better, …

The Montgomery News reports: Alabama evangelist Paul Acton Bowen has been sentenced to 1,008 years in prison – the maximum on all counts – for his guilty pleas to sexually abusing a half dozen teenagers. In addition, he was ordered to pay $840,000 in fines for all counts, also the maximum. Bowen served for 12 years in a local church, …

CNBC reports: The Christian magazine that published a blistering editorial calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office over his “blackened moral record” has received a boost in subscribers despite a public backlash among leading evangelicals, according to the publication’s editor in chief. “A stereotypical response is ‘thank you, thank you, thank you’ with a string of a hundred exclamation …

From the editor of Christianity Today: We have reserved judgment on Mr. Trump for years now. Some have criticized us for our reserve. But when it comes to condemning the behavior of another, patient charity must come first. So we have done our best to give evangelical Trump supporters their due, to try to understand their point of view, to …

The Christian Post reports: Christian children around the world are about twice as likely to live in a single-parent home, according to a recent report by the Pew Research Center. In a report released last week by Pew’s Religion & Public Life, the research organization found that 23 percent of children under 18 in the U.S. lived in a single-parent …

The Washington Post reports: A former investment manager alleges in a whistleblower complaint to the Internal Revenue Service that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has amassed about $100 billion in accounts intended for charitable purposes, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by The Washington Post. The confidential document, received by the IRS on Nov. 21, …

The New York Times reports: Furious protests against a new citizenship law continued to erupt across India on Monday, provoking a harsh security response and presenting the most widespread challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi since he came to power five years ago. On Sunday, police officers stormed a predominantly Muslim university in New Delhi, the capital, firing tear gas …

Reuters reports: Demonstrators in eastern India set fire to more than a dozen buses and vandalized at least six railway stations on Saturday, as violent protests against a new citizenship law continued for a fourth straight day. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government says the new law will save religious minorities such as Hindus and Christians from persecution in neighboring Bangladesh, …

The Washington Post reports: Numerous Jewish groups castigated President Trump this weekend over his speech on Saturday to the Israeli American Council, accusing him of using anti-Semitic tropes while trying to appeal to Jewish voters. In a 45-minute speech in Hollywood, Fla., Trump sought to convince a Jewish audience that they had “no choice” but to vote for him or …

The Tallahassee Democrat reports: Eric Dudley, the founder of St. Peter’s Anglican Church in Tallahassee and an outspoken opponent of homosexuality, subjected aspiring priests and other young men to sexual misconduct and harassment and abused his power as long-time rector before he finally was forced to resign. That’s according to a report by Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian …