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General Discusssion (Religion)

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  • Adventist Membership Tops 23 Million with Surge in Africa and PNG

    05/15/2025 1:28:12 PM PDT · by vespa300 · 72 replies
    Spectrum Magazine ^ | 05/14/2025 | Stanton Witherspoon
    The Seventh-day Adventist Church has released the advance edition of its 2025 Annual Statistical Report, detailing 2024 membership reports. Published by the General Conference’s (GC) Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research, the report presents division-level data on baptisms, attendance, and overall membership. As of December 31, 2024, global church membership reached 23,684,237—an increase from 22,785,195 in 2023, representing a net gain of 899,042 members. The East-Central Africa Division reported the greatest increase with over 446,000 baptisms and professions of faith, pushing its membership to more than 5.7 million. The Southern Asia Division and Inter-American Division also posted strong numbers, with...
  • Charges dropped against pro-life advocate arrested for preaching outside abortion facility

    05/15/2025 10:01:08 AM PDT · by Morgana · 6 replies
    Catholic Vote ^ | May 14, 2025 | Hannah Hiester
    CV NEWS FEED // Prosecutors dropped charges May 9 against an Ohio pro-life advocate who was arrested in December for providing a Christian witness with a megaphone outside an abortion facility. CatholicVote previously reported that Zack Knotts was on a public sidewalk outside a Cuyahoga Falls abortion facility and using a megaphone to advocate for the unborn and to tell women entering the facility, “There’s hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for all of you.” Police then approached Knotts and ordered him to go with them, later telling him that they had received complaints of “disorderly conduct” that caused...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 15-May-2025

    05/15/2025 4:39:39 AM PDT · by annalex · 12 replies
    15 May 2025Thursday of the 4th week of EastertideSt. Isidore Church, Grand Rapids, MichiganReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 13:13-25God has raised up one of David's descendants, Jesus, as SaviourPaul and his friends went by sea from Paphos to Perga in Pamphylia where John left them to go back to Jerusalem. The others carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. After the lessons from the Law and the Prophets had been read, the presidents of the synagogue sent them a message: ‘Brothers,...
  • Kelsey Grammer Says His Ex's Abortion When They Were Together Still 'Eats at His Soul'

    05/14/2025 2:23:18 PM PDT · by Cronos · 29 replies
    People ^ | 6th may 2025 | Hannah Sacks
    Kelsey Grammer is revealing that he had complicated feelings after his ex had an abortion when they were together. "I know that many people do not have a problem with abortion, and though I have supported it in the past, the abortion of my son eats away at my soul," Grammer writes The star explains that in 1974, his girlfriend became pregnant and did not want to keep the baby. Although Grammer says he was "willing" the keep the baby, he "did not plead with her to save his life." "I supported the idea that a woman has the right...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 14-May-2025

    05/14/2025 4:28:47 AM PDT · by annalex · 11 replies
    Wednesday 14 May 2025 Saint Matthias, Apostle Feast St. Matthias Catholic Church - Bala Cynwyd, PA Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Red. Year: C(I).First readingActs 1:15-17,20-26'Let someone else take his office'One day Peter stood up to speak to the brothers – there were about a hundred and twenty persons in the congregation: ‘Brothers, the passage of scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit, speaking through David, foretells the fate of Judas, who offered himself as a guide to the men who arrested Jesus – after having been one of our number and actually sharing this ministry of...
  • Conclave Secrets — Why Prevost Won, Parolin Lost

    05/13/2025 7:54:40 AM PDT · by NKP_Vet · 38 replies
    https://www.newsmax.com/ ^ | May 12, 2025 | John Gizzi
    This may have been one of the most tumultuous papal conclaves in recent memory, with the cardinals of the Roman Church settling on what appears to be a unifying Pope, Leo XIV. It is remarkable that Robert Prevost, an American, became Pope. It long had been held that an American could never become Pope. But Vatican sources, who are impeccable, tell Newsmax he was the man to beat from the minute the conclave began. Here's what unfolded. This conclave started last Wednesday with secret meetings in the Sistine Chapel. But the discussions about replacing Francis began almost immediately after his...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 13-May-2025

    05/13/2025 4:45:22 AM PDT · by annalex · 9 replies
    13 May 2025 Tuesday of the 4th week of Eastertide St. Robert Bellarmine Parish, Chicago, IllinoisReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 11:19-26They started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Lord JesusThose who had escaped during the persecution that happened because of Stephen travelled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, but they usually proclaimed the message only to Jews. Some of them, however, who came from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch where they started preaching to the Greeks, proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus to them as well. The Lord helped them, and...
  • Why Are So Many Young Adults Becoming Catholic? {Ecumenical}

    05/13/2025 2:58:15 AM PDT · by Cronos · 75 replies
    Word on Fire ^ | May 7th, 2025 | Christopher Kaczor
    This Easter, the University of Notre Dame saw a record number of students enter the Catholic Church. This trend is happening not just at Notre Dame but around the country. Los Angeles welcomed more than 5,500 new Catholics. The New York Post ran an essay entitled “Young people are converting to Catholicism en masse [. . .]” As reporter Matthew McDonald wrote in another article, “Dioceses are reporting increases of 30%, 40%, 50% and even more than 70%.” Not just in the United States but around the world, a growing number of adults—mostly young adults—joined the Church. In Austria, there...
  • ‘Huge Suffering’: South African Faith Leaders Condemn Cutoff of U.S. Humanitarian Aid

    05/12/2025 4:40:56 PM PDT · by Morgana · 62 replies
    The Roys Report ^ | May 6, 2025 | Vicky Abraham
    President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw aid relief funding from South Africa has been described by local faith leaders as a slap to God’s face. The Evangelical Alliance of South Africa based in Johannesburg — representing approximately four million Christians in South Africa — stated that the sanctions against the country, which include termination of funding for Anti-Retroviral Treatment, are a punishment on the sick and those dying from HIV/Aids-related illnesses. According to Foster Mohale, a spokesperson for the national department of health, roughly 7.8 million people in South Africa (SA) are living with HIV and 5.5 million are on...
  • Appeals court partially overturns ruling in Southwest religious discrimination suit

    05/12/2025 3:04:13 PM PDT · by Morgana · 6 replies
    Live Action News ^ | May 12, 2025 | Nancy Flanders
    On Thursday, a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals partially overturned a previous ruling that found Southwest Airlines acted with religious discrimination when it fired a flight attendant who shared pro-life messages on Facebook. In 2017, Charlene Carter filed a lawsuit against Southwest, arguing that she was unfairly fired from her flight attendant position because of her pro-life stance. When the flight attendant union, TWU Local 556, decided to participate in the 2017 Women’s March, Carter shared her criticism of the decision on Facebook because of the March’s connection to pro-abortion messaging and Planned Parenthood. She sent a...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 12-May-2025

    05/12/2025 4:16:06 AM PDT · by annalex · 11 replies
    12 May 2025 Monday of the 4th week of Eastertide St Pancras Old Church, LondonReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 11:1-18God can grant even the pagans the repentance that leads to lifeThe apostles and the brothers in Judaea heard that the pagans too had accepted the word of God, and when Peter came up to Jerusalem the Jews criticised him and said, ‘So you have been visiting the uncircumcised and eating with them, have you?’ Peter in reply gave them the details point by point: ‘One day, when I was in the town of Jaffa,’ he began,...
  • Couple Wanted to Adopt Three Sisters. Minnesota Said No Because They’re Christians

    05/11/2025 10:14:54 PM PDT · by Morgana · 29 replies
    Life News ^ | May 9, 2025 | Daily Caller
    The institutions created to protect and build better lives for American children who have suffered abuse and neglect have made it much harder for religious families to adopt. In fact, the state nearly thwarted one Christian foster family’s sacrifice to build a better life for innocent kids, all because their beliefs did not align with radical gender ideology. In a new docuseries available now, Separated: When The State Takes Your Kids, the Daily Caller Original Series highlights the stories of three families who paid an awful price for refusing to participate in left-wing gender madness. The third and final episode...
  • The Universe as a Thought of God

    05/11/2025 6:23:12 AM PDT · by nancyvideo · 34 replies
    Rightbias.com ^ | April 29, 2025 | Mark Morgan
    I ask you to look up. Look past the ceiling. Past the clouds. Past the stars that twinkle in the silence of night. And ask this question — not with your eyes, but with your soul: What is this universe?...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 11-May-2025

    05/11/2025 6:12:41 AM PDT · by annalex · 12 replies
    11 May 2025 4th Sunday of Easter Church of St. Gangulphus, Heinsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, GermanyReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 13:14,43-52'We must turn to the pagans'Paul and his friends carried on from Perga till they reached Antioch in Pisidia. Here they went to synagogue on the sabbath and took their seats. When the meeting broke up many Jews and devout converts joined Paul and Barnabas, and in their talks with them Paul and Barnabas urged them to remain faithful to the grace God had given them. The next sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the...
  • Dear Effeminate Pastor, Here’s Why You’re Bleeding Men

    05/10/2025 6:42:09 PM PDT · by Morgana · 25 replies
    Disntr ^ | May 7, 2025 | staff
    Dear Effeminate Pastor, Here’s Why You’re Bleeding Men by Publisher | May 7, 2025 | News ✪ Read this article ad-free and leave comments here on Substack Dear Effeminate Pastor, You stand on a stage, not a pulpit. Beneath theatrical lights, not the burning fire of truth. Draped in pastel rebellion and accessorized like a department store mannequin on discount, you glide across the platform like a self-help seminar host with a theology degree from Instagram. And you wonder, out loud, why men won’t darken your doorway. You scratch your head while lamenting from your acrylic barstool why your pews...
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 10-May-2025

    05/10/2025 10:19:55 AM PDT · by annalex · 11 replies
    10 May 2025 Saturday of the 3rd week of Eastertide Montilla – Basilica of San Juan de ÁvilaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 9:31-42The churches grew and were filled with the consolation of the Holy SpiritThe churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit. Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight...
  • FIRST-PERSON: Do we still need the ERLC?

    05/09/2025 9:09:37 PM PDT · by Morgana · 9 replies
    Baptist Press ^ | May 7, 2025 | Richard D. Land
    Forty years ago, the idea of seeing Roe v. Wade overturned in our lifetime was little more than a dream and a prayer. Those of us in the pro-life movement – including and especially Southern Baptists, through the work of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission – worked tirelessly to that end, but we did so without any assurance of seeing it come to fruition. I had the privilege of serving as the head of the ERLC for 25 years (1988-2013), and I know from personal experience the critical difference the ERLC has made not just on the vital issue...
  • US Men’s Magazine Awarded Pulitzer for Article Memorializing “Transgender” Mayor Who Posted Photos of Local Women to Porn Sites

    05/09/2025 3:13:52 PM PDT · by Morgana · 24 replies
    Reduxx ^ | May 8, 2025 | Genevieve Gluck
    American men’s interest magazine Esquire has been honored with its first-ever Pulitzer Prize for the publication of an article mourning the death of a “transgender” mayor who had been posting photos of local women to porn sites. The now-deceased Smiths station Mayor, F.L. “Bubba” Copeland committed suicide in late 2023 after a damning expose was released by 1819 News which published the sick details of his secret online “transgender” double-life — one that included penning erotic fantasies of murdering a local woman. Announcing the reception of the prestigious award on May 5, Esquire described their article, written by Mark Warren,...
  • The Darker Side (Podcast)

    05/09/2025 2:03:48 PM PDT · by metmom · 2 replies
    Join us as we explore the topic of spirituality, specifically when it comes to demons and the Devil. Lucifer, an archangel created by God, also known as Satan, possesses remarkable power, yet it pales in comparison to the infinite power of his Creator God. Join Pastor Jack as he gives Biblical insights and opinions on the demonic spiritual realm, as well as what some denominations choose to talk and not talk about regarding this important topic. Video is 30:34 minutes long
  • Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings 9-May-2025

    05/09/2025 6:34:11 AM PDT · by annalex · 11 replies
    9 May 2025 Friday of the 3rd week of Eastertide The Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, Blata l‑Bajda, MaltaMass on the feast of St George PrecaReadings at MassLiturgical Colour: White. Year: C(I).First readingActs 9:1-20This man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before the pagansSaul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he could find. Suddenly, while...