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London’s Saint Martin-in-the-Fields is famed not only as a great work of architecture, but as the prototype for hundreds of churches throughout the world and especially in the United States. Designed by the Anglo-Palladian architect James Gibbs (1682–1754) and completed in 1726, Saint Martin was one of the first parish churches in England specifically planned to accommodate the Protestant worship style of eighteenth-century Anglicans.1 This is ironic since Gibbs himself was raised and remained a Roman Catholic, albeit discreet in the practice of his faith. Gibbs’s original proposal called for a circular church, inspired by Sir Christopher Wren’s first scheme...

In the lead-up to a major summit on religion, the Chinese Communist party is preparing intensified restrictions on Christian churches, according to the Party’s official newspaper on religious issues, Zhongguo Mingzu Bao. This latest announcement follows on a series of government measures meant to intimidate Chinese Christians, such as arbitrary detention of Christian clergy and the closing of churches. According to a Reuters report, under President Xi Jinping, China is conducting the worst domestic crackdown on human rights in two decades and much of this is against Christians. Nearly 1,000 rights activists were detained last year alone—almost as many as...

Around the world, Christians are targeted for persecution and martyrdom, something that is developing even in the United States. But even as church leaders increasingly are on guard against threats of murderous violence, experts warn they may be ignoring a far more common threat – sexual assault against congregants. “Sexual assaults taking place on church property is an epidemic in our nation,” Carl Gallups told WND. “The reasons for it are numerous (and sometimes complex), but the main problem is that most churches have an abysmal lack of adequate security measures. While many churches are concerned about the growing trend...

Work will begin in the coming days in Minya on a church that was planned to honour the deaths of 20 Egyptian Coptic Christians who died in a brutal sectarian attack by militants in Libya earlier this year. Plans and licences for the ‘Church of the Martyrs’ have been finalised to begin the work, head of the Samalout municipality in Minya said, as reported by MENA state news. Major General Gamal Mubaral Qinawy confirmed that the church will be built in the village of Al-Awar, in the district of Samalout. Qinawy said that work on the construction of the church...

In Congress and at a parish school, at the United Nations and a city jail, Pope Francis spent a whirlwind U.S. visit bridging the realms of the disadvantaged and elite, trying to turn the attention of the mightiest nation on earth away from ideological battles and toward a world he said desperately needs help.

Orthodox Christians often find themselves answering the following question: why is Orthodoxy divided along ethnic lines into different churches? At least officially, the answer to that question has been quite clear: we are not divided; we are one Church, united in faith and worship, with an administrative structure that organizes itself along local lines, in accordance with the ancient traditions and canon law of the first millennium of Christian history. In recent years, however, there’s been a problem: while the answer given above is true in theory, it’s often not implemented in practice. Starting in the late 19th century, and in increasing...

Democrats literally booed God at their 2012 national convention. When the left showers praise on him it has NOTHING to do with his purpose of being a man of God and everything to do with the hypocrisy of their rhetoric on the separation of church and state.

As widely reported on secular media Pope Francis met yesterday (Sunday, September 20) with the retired ex-dictator of Cuba, Fidel Castro. It is reported on good authority that it was Francis, not Mr. Castro, who sought this meeting; it was not on the official calendar of the visit. Francis had expressed his "sentiments of particular respect and consideration" specifically for Fidel Castro during his first speech in Cuba on Saturday evening and their actual meeting was, in Fr. Federico Lombardi's words, "'familiar and informal," with the two speaking about "protecting the environment and the great problems of the contemporary world."...

An Alabama prosecutor says a suspect has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly shooting a woman, an infant and a pastor inside a church in Alabama. Dallas County District Attorney Michael Jackson says James Minter was arrested after the shooting Sunday at the Oasis Church in East Selma, Alabama. Neither Minter's age or hometown were immediately available.

Over 50 percent of Americans raised in the Catholic Church say they've left the faith at some point in their lives, according to a Pew Research survey on religion and public life. The data further revealed that among the 52 percent who left the Church, about six out of 10 have returned at some point. Two-thirds of the group that left the Church now consider themselves ex-Catholics and no-longer identify with the faith. Around 13 percent, however, still identify as Catholic, but no longer practice the religion. For those who are still practicing, around 73 percent said they've been in...

Full Title: ‘They Are Satan’s Church’: Famed Pastor’s Tough Message for Christian Denominations Condoning Homosexuality Famed pastor John MacArthur of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, recently reacted to denominations that have taken more liberal approaches to gay marriage, among other issues, telling TheBlaze that “they have no allegiance to the Bible.” MacArthur, author of “Being a Dad Who Leads,” said that these denominations — like Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which recently voted to allow same-sex nuptials — and their associated seminaries have been skirting scriptural tenets for decades. He patently described them as “false churches” that fail to teach...

Speaking from a Methodist pulpit on Sunday morning, Hillary Clinton explained her political vision with a reference to the classic Sunday school song “This Little Light of Mine.” “Too many people,” she said, “want to let their light shine, but they can’t get out from under that bushel basket. It is way too heavy to lift alone. And that’s where the community comes in.” It is the 200th anniversary of Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, where the Clintons worshiped regularly when Bill Clinton was president. Hillary Clinton spoke during the bicentennial celebration Sunday about how her faith and faith...

Columbus, Ohio -- An Ohio church has sued a strip club and its scantily clad staff for protesting topless outside the house of worship during the past five years. [Snip] The lawsuit is the latest round in a nine-year battle that began when church members protested at the Foxhole [Strip Club] on weekends, posting patrons’ license plate numbers online and urging them to repent. [The club owner] sued the church in federal court and lost in 2009.

This week, our beloved leader, no doubt in an effort to hide from the realities of his race-baiting policies, went to Alaska to lecture us about global warming…again. Carrying on with his usual doomsday rhetoric, President Obama warned of rising seas, more intense storms, abandoned towns, and climate refugees spread across the globe. Never mind that there has been no warming for the last nineteen years. That didn’t stop the president from making his trip as dramatic as possible as he climbed Exit Glacier in an effort to draw attention to the melting ice. At least the ice is melting...

Coeur d‘Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines. The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.

Please excuse the provocative title, and do not misunderstand. Obviously, neither the Pope nor anyone else can change Church doctrine normatively. That is, Church doctrine remains true and unchangeable whatever people--without or within the Church--believe or say. In the same way the teachings of Christ or the Commandments themselves remain true and unchanging. What the Pope can do, however, is to say that Church doctrine has changed or, more to the point, imply by his words or actions that it has. Or he can say or imply that Church doctrine wasn't what most people--including most people in the Church itself...

On a sunny morning earlier this year, a camera crew entered a well-appointed apartment just outside the 9th-century gates of Vatican City. Pristinely dressed in the black robes and scarlet sash of the princes of the Roman Catholic Church, the Wisconsin-born Cardinal Raymond Burke sat in his elaborately upholstered armchair and appeared to issue a warning to Pope Francis. A staunch conservative and Vatican bureaucrat, Burke had been demoted by the pope a few months earlier, but it did not take the fight out of him. Francis had been backing a more inclusive era, giving space to progressive voices on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aPXNsGw3ps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKu1K-O_TLI

Over the past few years as a minister there has been a growing narrative that, for many reasons, I haven’t been able to escape. It would seem that the statistics and facts all say that “church” is in decline. Don’t take my word for it either… there are plenty of other Huffington Post authors chiming in about this apparent trend too. Some say that it’s all about the lack of religion in our schools, laws and culture as if the country is devolving. Some say that the “immediacy” of God, also described as an apocalyptic culture, has been lost. You...

Dear Mr. Trump, Like millions of Americans, I am intrigued with your meteoric rise to the top of the polls. You have truly captured the imagination of this nation. Because I would love to see you succeed, I’ve got some unsolicited advice for you. And you’re going to love this. It’s free! If you’ll allow me to introduce myself, I’m a Jewish follower of Jesus (just like Peter and Paul and John and the rest of the apostles), an author, professor, minister, and national talk radio host. My wife, Nancy, and I have been married for almost 40 years, and...