Latest Christianity News

As wars rage around them, Armenian Christians in Jerusalem's Old City feel the walls closing in

Dec. 18, 2024 01:09 AM EST

JERUSALEM (AP) — As the war in Gaza rages, Syria's government transforms, and the Israeli-occupied West Bank seethes, Armenian residents of the Old City of Jerusalem fight a different battle — one that is quieter, they say, but no less existential. One of the oldest communities...

Things to know about the shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin

Dec. 17, 2024 16:49 PM EST

Police in Madison, Wisconsin, are trying to determine what prompted a 15-year-old student to open fire at a private Christian school. The shooting Monday was just days before the winter break. A fellow student and a teacher were killed. The shooter also died. Here are some things to...

Teacher and a teenage student killed in a shooting at a Christian school in Wisconsin

Dec. 16, 2024 23:12 PM EST

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A 15-year-old student killed a teacher and another teenager with a handgun Monday at a Christian school in Wisconsin, terrifying classmates including a second grader who made the 911 call that sent dozens of police officers rushing to the small school just a week before its...

Texas Association of Basketball Coaches high school rankings

Dec. 16, 2024 13:05 PM EST

SUGAR LAND, Texas (AP) — Texas Association of Basketball Coaches high school rankings for the week of Dec. 16: BOYS PUBLIC Class 6A 1. SA Northside Brennan, 12-2; 2. Allen, 13-1; 3. Alvin Shadow Creek, 13-1; 4. Duncanville, 5-4; 5. Round Rock Stony...

Takeaways from AP's reporting on a child sex abuse crisis inside a secretive Christian sect

Dec. 16, 2024 00:22 AM EST

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — For decades, a little-known Christian sect has dealt with its abusive ministers and spiritual elders mostly in secret, shunning legal action in favor of urging victims to forgive the predators in their midst. Forgiveness, however, was far from a cure: The...

Survivors seek a reckoning as FBI investigates child sex abuse in little-known Christian sect

Dec. 16, 2024 00:22 AM EST

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nearly every detail about the religious group Lisa Webb’s family belonged to was hidden from the outside world. Its followers met in homes rather than churches. Its leadership structure was hard to discern, its finances opaque. It didn’t even have an official name. ...

Christians in Syria mark country's transformation with tears as UN envoy urges an end to sanctions

Dec. 15, 2024 15:23 PM EST

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — In churches across long-stifled Syria, Christians marked the first Sunday services since the collapse of Bashar Assad 's government in an air of transformation. Some were in tears. Others clasped their hands in prayer. “They are promising us that government...

US military flies American released from Syrian prison to Jordan, officials say

Dec. 13, 2024 18:24 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military has transported out of Syria an American who had disappeared seven months ago into former President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system and was among the thousands released this week by rebels, U.S. officials said Friday. Travis Timmerman,...

'Crown of Thorns' returns to Notre Dame Cathedral for public veneration

Dec. 13, 2024 13:05 PM EST

PARIS (AP) — An ancient relic that many Christians revere as Jesus Christ’s “Crown of Thorns” returned Friday to Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, five years after it was saved from the flames of the medieval monument's devastating 2019 fire. The crown — a circular band of...

American pilgrim imprisoned in Assad's Syria calls his release from prison a 'blessing'

Dec. 12, 2024 22:39 PM EST

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An American who disappeared seven months ago into former Syrian President Bashar Assad’s notorious prison system said early Friday he was released by the “liberators” who arrived in Damascus a day after the longtime ruler fled the capital. Travis...