Christianity - Page 30

The Hungarian government is donating $30,000 for the repair of Christian churches vandalized by migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos.

Italy’s Catholic bishops’ conference (CEI) announced this week that an accord has been reached with the government for the re-initiation of public worship, with a series of restrictions.

The United Kingdom’s Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) argued before the High Court that Christian groups should not allow their religious beliefs to influence their professional activities.

China’s state-run Global Times newspaper accused Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday of “betray[ing] Christianity” and bringing “shame to the evangelical Christians” of America for saying that “enormous evidence” exists linking the current pandemic to a biological laboratory in Wuhan, where it originated.

Pope Francis urged Christians Sunday to discern carefully between God’s voice and the devil’s voice in their lives, insisting that Satan “seduces” while God “consoles.”

Muslim Fulani raiders in northwest Nigeria slaughtered 12 Christians and kidnapped a couple from their church wedding ceremony in recent days, Christian Today reports.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has reopened businesses throughout the country while suspending all Christian church activities, from worship services to pilgrimages.

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he would watch Sunday Mass celebrated online at St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

TEL AVIV – In a first, a multi-faith gathering of religious leaders including Chief Rabbis, archbishops, patriarchs, imams, and sheikhs joined together in prayer in Jerusalem Wednesday afternoon, in a united call to God to ease the suffering experienced around the world by the coronavirus pandemic.

The human rights website Bitter Winter highlighted on Thursday the growing trend of Chinese Communist persecution against members of the Three-Self Patriotic Church, the legal Protestant church in China. Officials reportedly demolished one of these churches on Easter.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock thanked Muslims for their Ramadan “sacrifice” on St George’s Day, but made no mention of the English national day itself.

Cuban Christians are using the need to wear sanitary masks in public to spread their faith, printing Bible verses on the front of them, the Christian aid group World Help revealed this week.

Islamic radicals severely beat 23-year-old Lydia Nabirye in Eastern Uganda, after the woman shared her Christian faith with a Muslim woman who subsequently converted to Christianity.

Harvard Magazine published an interview with a law professor who released a paper that calls for a “presumptive ban” on homeschooling.

CAIRO (AP) — Pope Tawadros II, the spiritual leader of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Christians, has held Easter services in an empty monastery in the desert amid coronavirus restrictions which kept the faithful from gathering at churches and monasteries across the country.

President Donald Trump criticized Democrats for their recent turn toward the anti-Israel left on Saturday, during a White House press briefing on the coronavirus pandemic.

Chinese police raided the homes of members of the Early Rain Covenant Church on Easter Sunday, arresting six church leaders for participating in an online religious service.

JERUSALEM (AP) – A small group of Christian clerics celebrated the Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem on Saturday as the coronavirus pandemic prevented worshippers from taking part in the ancient and mysterious ritual.

All suffering is a “mystery,” writes the newly acquitted and released Cardinal George Pell in an Easter message, but Christianity offers tools to embrace it and make it fruitful.

Jerusalem — A handful of priests celebrated Easter on Sunday at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was crucified and resurrected.

Queen Elizabeth II has delivered what is believed to be the first-ever Easter message of her 68-year reign, offering a message of hope to people confined to their homes throughout the holiday by the coronavirus pandemic.

Jack Phillips, the baker who was sued for refusing to make a cake for a same-sex wedding because of his religious conscience, was back in court on Thursday, this time for turning down a request for a “gender transition” cake.

Just before noon on Friday four friars processed down Jerusalem’s Via Dolorosa to commemorate the “Way of the Cross” walked by Jesus before being crucified on Good Friday.

The city of San Fernando, Philippines, canceled its annual Good Friday crucifixions for the first time in decades this year, abiding by Chinese coronavirus quarantine measures. Some towns and cities did mark the holiday with socially distanced processions and acts of flagellation.

Eggs on the table and a toy rabbit on the dresser — with a few decorations, Palestinian Christian Sawsan Bitar attempts to salvage some normality from an Easter overshadowed by coronavirus.

“I think we’re in the greatest revival in history,” said Mike Lindell, describing adversity as an opportunity for spiritual development.

JERUSALEM — Israel is working with foreign governments and Orthodox Christian leaders in the Holy Land to make sure that one of their most ancient and mysterious rituals — the Holy Fire ceremony — is not extinguished by the coronavirus outbreak, officials said Friday.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has continued its crackdown on Christian house churches as the world reels under the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic, according to a report Wednesday from Bitter Winter.

The New York Times is “mainstreaming paranoia” by blaming evangelical Christians for the coronavirus pandemic, Catholic League President Bill Donohue said on Friday.

Religious freedom watchdog groups are accusing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of using the Wuhan coronavirus epidemic as an opportunity to intensify their crackdown on religion, bulldozing some churches and placing others under heavy surveillance.

Several Christian groups and religious leaders have expressed concerns that sweeping government actions to combat the spread of coronavirus endanger religious liberty.

Pop star Miley Cyrus hosted the latest episode of her coronavirus quarantine talk show Bright Minded on Saturday, alongside Hailey Beiber, and opened up about her relationship with God.

Indonesian government authorities successfully halted a planned gathering of almost 9,000 Muslim pilgrims late Wednesday, amid fears it would spread Chinese coronavirus.

Pastor Robert Jeffress shared a prayer for God to grant wisdom to President Donald Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in addressing the coronavirus outbreak.

Celebrated evangelical pastor Franklin Graham publicly thanked President Trump Sunday for designating the day as a National Day of Prayer.

Every year around the time of Purim, churches and synagogues around the world dive back into the book of Esther, where we hear of a courageous young Jewish woman in exile saving her people, who were put in danger because of her uncle’s unbending integrity in the face of pagan tyranny. But is that story really what we read–or merely what we’ve read *into* this unique book of the Bible?