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JERUSALEM — The Greek Orthodox Church on Wednesday accused Israeli police of infringing on the freedom of worshippers with “heavy-handed” restrictions on how many pilgrims can attend the “Holy Fire” ceremony amid soaring tensions. Israeli police said the limits are needed for safety during Saturday’s celebration at the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the 12th-century holy site where Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried and resurrected. Saturday’s “Holy Fire” celebration comes during an unusual spate of violence in the Old City, touched off by an Israeli police raid on Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site, the compound that’s...

Were you upset with the “You’re next” tweet of LeBron James, targeting police officer Nicholas Reardon? Did you find it irresponsible and potentially dangerous? Would you agree that a man of LeBron’s massive influence should be more careful in venting his frustration and anger? Is it possible that the tweet, which LeBron deleted (while blaming others for the hatred), could jeopardize Reardon’s safety, along with that of his loved ones? Could it potentially incite some unstable person to try to take “justice” into his own hands?If you answered “yes” to all these questions, then I’m with you, 100 percent. There...

While it may be appropriate to label Max Lucado “Christian-lite”, I don’t believe it’s fair to call him a Christian Leftist (at least not yet). His recent retraction and apology for his past sermons regarding same-sex marriage though have left many Christians wondering if the best selling author of over 100 faith titles folded to the pressures of progressive ideology this past week. Lucado, who claims to still personally affirm a biblical view of marriage and sexuality, faced backlash after being invited to speak at the Washington National Cathedral by the left-leaning Episcopal Church's Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and...

January 20th is past, and Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, is the President of the United States. To all those who prophesied that Trump would serve a second consecutive term and assured us that he would be inaugurated on the 20th, I appeal to you in the strongest possible terms: admit your error, take full responsibility, and do not, under any circumstances, continue to put a false hope into the hearts of God’s people. What you prophesied did not come to pass. There is not an alternative, spiritual reality in which Trump is still functioning as president. Nothing is going...

The leader of the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the country shocked many when he urged his members to declare "black lives matter" and denounced using "all lives matter." J.D. Greear, the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), made the comments during his annual address delivered on Facebook due to coronavirus orders limiting public gatherings. "Southern Baptists, we need to say it clearly as a gospel issue: Black lives matter," Greear said. "Of course black lives matter. Our black brothers and sisters are made in the image of God. Black lives matter because Jesus died for them."

A Southern California church flipped the lights on its outdoor manger scene Saturday evening to reveal Jesus, Mary and Joseph as border detainees, each figure isolated in its own chain-link cage with a barbed-wire top

A man who criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies in the name of progressive Christianity was killed last week by an undocumented immigrant who avoided deportation by hiding in a local “sanctuary church.” Sean Buchanan, a father of five from Colorado Springs, was driving his motorcycle on Highway 83 when Miguel Ramirez Valiente swerved into his lane and killed him. The immigrant was charged with reckless driving with a revoked license. Ramirez Valiente received national media coverage in January when he sought sanctuary in All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church in Buchanan’s hometown. Speaking from the pulpit, he told assembled reporters...

The question was about climate change. The answer soon turned to the Bible. And Pete Buttigieg knew the verses. “There’s a lot about the stewardship of creation that is in Scripture that I don’t see being honored by the administration right now, not to mention the stuff about loving your neighbor and taking care of the least among us and feeding the poor,” the South Bend, Indiana, mayor said. The crowd of about 250 at a Mississippi River park in southeastern Iowa this month erupted with cheers. Republicans for a half century have built a loyal following among white evangelical...

A German politician who is looking to become the next head of the EU Commission on Saturday said he wanted a bloc that rested on Christian values and did not include Turkey.Manfred Weber is the center-right European People’s Party candidate and frontrunner to replace Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission. “We are proud that this continent has a Christian influence… it is not only something for museums, and that should guide us for the future,” Weber said at a political meeting in Münster, western Germany. […] The European project should be “defended against nationalists and the selfish” he...

The editor-in-chief of Die Welt, one of Germany’s leading right-wing newspapers, triggered a social media meltdown on Christmas by complaining about supposed left-wing bias in Germany’s Christmas midnight masses. Ulf Poschardt wondered aloud on Twitter on Christmas Eve: “Who would voluntarily go to a midnight mass if at the end of the sermon he thinks he spent the evening with the Jusos or the Green Youth?” — referring to the youth organizations of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Green party, who both represent the left wing of their centrist parties. The statement came a few days after the...

Senior Minister Meg Barnhouse knows she’ll need beds, a dresser, chairs and a mirror to make the classroom at the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin feel more like a home for a mother and her young daughter who are still deciding whether they will become the latest immigrants seeking sanctuary from deportation by moving into a church. It would be the second time Barnhouse’s congregation had offered sanctuary. She was hesitant in 2015 because of the unknown legal and insurance risks, but this time she agreed immediately. There is growing fear in the city’s immigrant community as President Donald...

Shaken by confirmation that the new administration of its biggest contributor is proposing sweeping reductions to its funding, the United Nations on Thursday warned that “abrupt funding cuts” could harm long-term reform efforts. Meanwhile more than 100 Christian leaders — including two participants in President Trump’s inauguration ceremony — appealed to Congress to reject the administration’s proposals for significant cuts to foreign aid. […] More than 100 Christian leaders signed a letter to congressional leaders on Thursday, urging them to “support and protect” the international affairs budget. […] Among the signatories were New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan and National Hispanic...

The very liberal Catholic bishop of San Diego, Robert McElroy, who supports giving Communion to the divorced and remarried, contrary to Church teaching, and embracing “LGBT families,” said that social justice activists must become “disruptors” to counter the efforts of the federal government to apprehend illegal aliens. “Well now, we must all become disruptors,” said Bishop McElroy in a Feb. 18 speech at the U.S. Regional World Meeting of Popular Movements in Modesto, Calif. “We must disrupt those who would seek to send troops into our streets to deport the undocumented, to rip mothers and fathers from their families,” he...

Christian organizations in Norway plan to join a campaign to employ undocumented migrants, despite the threat of fines and imprisonment. Tor Berger Jørgensen, the former bishop of Sør-Hålogaland in northern Norway, launched the campaign last week, arguing that breaking the law in this way was not about saving money, but about providing a livelihood to people “in a hopeless situation”. The 71-year-old priest sent letters out to Christian organizations across Norway, asking them to give jobs to those who could neither return to their home countries nor get residency in Norway. He told the newspaper he was “optimistic” that his...

In a historic moment for the Archdiocese of Newark, Archbishop John J. Myers on Monday is expected to announce his successor, Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin, currently the archbishop of Indianapolis, NJ Advance Media has learned. Tobin, a moderate leader who has supported a greater role for women in the church, has also expressed the need for more dialogue over gay parishioners and has sparred with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence over the resettlement of Syrian refugees. Tobin has served as archbishop of Indianapolis since October 2012. Pope Francis named him a cardinal last month. The designation takes effect. Nov. 18. The appointment...

Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Kaine, a practicing Catholic, on Saturday described his evolution on same-sex marriage and predicted that his church would change its views as well. “My full, complete, unconditional support for marriage equality is at odds with the current doctrine of the church that I still attend,” Kaine said at a dinner celebrating gay rights. “But I think that’s going to change, too.” Kaine, a senator from Virginia, spoke to a crowd of about 3,700 attending the 20th Annual Human Rights Campaign National Dinner in Washington, at which he also touted reasons why his running mate, presidential nominee...

Why would anyone except a professional organist take the magazine The American Organist? A friend gave me a recent issue of this highly specialized publication. The stunning picture on the front cover got my attention. The foreground features a glorious pipe organ with five key boards, endless foot pedals and a hundred stops. In the background is the grandiose nave and the vaulted ceiling of the historic Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. To me, the church organ is a symbol of high Western Christian culture, made famous by the soaring oratorios of Johann Sebastian Bach and the stirring grandeur of...

At an interfaith gathering hosted by the Democratic National Convention Committee in Philadelphia, Rev. James A. Forbes, senior minister emeritus of the Riverside Church in New York City and president of the Healing of the Nations Foundation, said Sunday that the nation faces problems of bigotry, climate change, greed and the “demonic matter” of xenophobia. During the gathering titled, “Stronger Together: In Pursuit of Love and Kindness,” Forbes referenced the lyrics of the 1960s musical, The Music Man, “Ya got trouble, folks, right here in River City. Trouble with a capital ‘T’ and that rhymes with ‘P’ and that stands...

The top policy body for the United Methodist Church is struggling to avert a split over gay rights. The Methodist General Conference voted 428-405 to delay all discussion of church policy related to LGBT people during a meeting in Portland, Oregon. Delegates created a commission Wednesday to review all relevant church law on the subject over a period of at least two years, then hold a special meeting to discuss the way forward. …

A Methodist pastor who was told to resign from his Michigan church because of his sexuality visited the Bay Area to share his story. Rev. Benjamin Hutchinson spoke to the Twin Towers Methodist Church in Alameda on Friday and discussed the life-changing moment when he was told to resign because he is gay. He said he has decided to take his story on the road and change minds along the way. Hutchinson said he was forced to resign from Cassopolis United Methodist Church after he told the bishop about his gay partner. According to the United Methodist Church's guidelines, that...