New school year at Israel Christian schools in doubt

Roman Catholic clergymen hold candles at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City on April 2, 2015 (AFP Photo/Gali Tibbon)

 Israel's academic year starts Tuesday, but if tough financing talks with the government bear no fruit, the doors of the country's 47 Christian schools will remain closed, a church official said.

Some 33,000 children, mostly Muslim Arabs, attend the schools, which have a history predating Israel's foundation in 1948 and are run primarily by the Roman Catholic church.

Nigeria shuts down churches over noisy worship

View photo

Lagos has seen more than 6,000 traditional and alternative places of worship spring up in recent years (AFP Photo/Pius Utomi Ekpei)

Authorities in Nigeria's financial capital Lagos have shut down churches across the city after a glut of complaints over noisy worship.

 

The chaotic megacity's environmental protection department said it had sealed off 22 premises on Wednesday after receiving dozens of calls a day, according to local newspaper reports.

 

Neighbours of one church -- Jesus Our Lord Divine Catholic Prayer Ministry -- said they were constantly disturbed by a congregation of mainly pregnant women, young mothers and their children.

 

"On my phone alone, I get 20 SMS on a daily basis," said Adebola Shabi, head of the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency, according to the national daily New Telegraph.

 

"In the next five years, if there is no stringent policy on the siting of religious houses, there will be problem."

Jimmy Carter Says Jesus Would Approve Of Gay Marriage

HuffPost Live | By Ryan Buxton

Faith is important to former President Jimmy Carter, and he writes about it extensively in his new memoir A Full Life: Reflections at Ninety. But his religious beliefs don't keep him from supporting every American's right to marry the person they love.

God Hates Divorce but He Gave Us a Remedy, Says 'When Divorce Is Right' Author, Pastor J. Bruce Sofia

By Emma Koonse , Christian Post Reporter

The author of the book When Divorce Is Right, Pastor J. Bruce Sofia, offered honest, practical remarks on divorce, including Scriptural reasons to end a marriage and what God thinks of the decision.

When Divorce Is Right is Sofia's latest book in the Hijacked Life – Rescue Your Dream series, in which the pastor lists three reasons found in the Bible as grounds for divorce: adultery, abandonment, and the hijacking of God's call. Explaining more about the three reasons for divorce, Sofia pointed out that both infidelity and abandonment cause disruption to an individual's calling and/or their walk with God.

(Photo: Courtesy of Gloucester County Community Church)
"When Divorce Is Right" author J. Bruce Sofia.

Pope Francis canonizes two Palestinian nuns

Reuters,

Pope Francis named two Palestinian women as saints on Sunday, in a ceremony in Saint Peter’s Square just days after the Vatican formalised its de facto recognition of the State of Palestine.

The canonisation of Sister Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas, founder of the Sisters of the Most Holy Rosary of Jerusalem, and Maryam Baouardy, who founded a Carmelite convent in Bethlehem, was not directly connected with the Vatican’s Wednesday announcement of a new accord with the State of Palestine.

How One Former American Idol Hopeful Is Drawing Millennials to Church

Madaline Donnelly



Kurtis Parks sits outside of Le Pain Quotidien in SE Washington, DC. (Photo: Madaline Donnelly/The Daily Signal)

It’s a bright, warm morning in late April, and Kurtis Parks is full of ideas.

The 33-year-old is so positively positive that it’s neither surprising nor disarming when his voice springs from spoken word into song and back again. He exudes happy energy. Everything from his near-full sleeves of tattoos to his 5 o’clock shadow to his hipster-meets-preppy wardrobe quietly affirms a comfortable confidence.

US appeals court orders release of nuclear-activist nun

Reuters

The three were convicted of cutting fences to get into the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the night of July 28, 2012.

 

A US appellate court on Friday ordered the immediate release of an elderly nun and two other peace activists a week after overturning their sabotage convictions for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear defense facility in 2012, their lawyer said.

 
Reuters

In a 2-1 decision last Friday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed sabotage convictions against Megan Rice, 85, and US Army veterans, Michael Walli, 66, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 59.

 

The panel majority found that the three lacked the necessary intent for a violation of the federal Sabotage Act for the break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, an incident that embarrassed US officials and prompted security changes.