Latest Christianity News
Tennessee man pleads guilty in series of church fires
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee man pleaded guilty Wednesday to civil rights violations for setting fires at four churches, prosecutors said. Alan Douglas Fox, 28, of Nashville, admitted during the plea hearing that he intentionally set the fires because of the...
Efforts drag on to free 17 missionaries kidnapped in Haiti
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Efforts to win the return of 17 members of a U.S.-based missionary group and a local driver stretched into a fourth day Wednesday, with a violent gang demanding $1 million ransom per person. The group seized includes five children aged from...
Across Africa, major churches strongly oppose LGBTQ rights
In Ghana, home to a diverse array of religions, leaders of major churches have united in denouncing homosexuality as a “perversion” and endorsing legislation that would, if enacted, impose some of the harshest anti-LGBTQ policies in Africa. In Nigeria, the umbrella...
Lincoln bishop reassigns priests accused of misconduct
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — The Lincoln Diocese has reassigned and placed restrictions on a pair of priests after an investigation into misconduct claims. The reassigned priests are Scott Courtney, who faced allegations that he had sexual contact with a woman, and Thomas...
Retired pope hopes to soon join friends in 'the afterlife'
ROME (AP) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI has said he hopes to soon join a beloved professor friend in “the afterlife,” in a sign that the 94-year-old pontiff is not only accepting his eventual death but welcoming it. Benedict penned an Oct. 2 letter to a German priest,...
Pope praises freedom of children after boy gets a skullcap
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Wednesday praised the “spontaneity and freedom” of children after a young boy approached him during his weekly general audience and motioned that he wanted the pope’s white skullcap. A good-humored Francis kept the boy by his...
Beirut clash fires up sectarian anger in echo of civil war
BEIRUT (AP) — He was only a year old when his panicked father picked him up and they fled with his mother from the gunfire rattling their neighborhood. It was the day Lebanon’s civil war started 46 years ago. His family’s apartment building in Beirut was on the frontline. ...
Hezbollah brag of 100,000-strong force aimed at foes at home
BEIRUT (AP) — A boast by the leader of Hezbollah that he commands 100,000 fighters came as a surprise to many Lebanese, not least because it was addressed to a domestic audience rather than the militia's archenemy Israel. Experts say the figure, which exceeds the size...
Court: Judge erred mentioning race, faith to possible jurors
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A Black judge went too far discouraging Black residents from avoiding jury duty when one of them cited religion as a reason he should be excused from serving in a trial, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. A majority on the...
Pima board appoints Stahl Hamilton to fill Senate vacancy
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The Pima County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday voted 4-0 to appoint state Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton to fill a midterm vacancy in the Arizona Senate. Stahl Hamilton will fill the Legislative District 10 seat vacated by fellow Tucson Democrat...
