The pastor of a powerful Chicago-area megachurch has resigned after a series of sexual misconduct claims he described as “flat-out lies.”

In a new document, The National Rifle Association revised its previous statement about receiving one Russian donation to correct that number to more than 20 Russia linked contributions.

The Austrian government has announced that it will seek to ban the hijab for girls in kindergarten and primary school in the latest measure targeting Muslims in the country.
Education Minister Heinz Fassmann said on Wednesday that the draft law on the hijab - a headscarf worn by many Muslim women who feel it is part of their religion - would be ready by summer, describing the measure as "symbolic".

Fifty years ago, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to Memphis, Tennessee on a unique mission.
It was, only in a narrow and nuanced sense, a mission of civil rights.
Dr. King understood intersectionality: between the rights of black people, and the rights of workers, and the rights of poor people – and especially, the rights of poor, black, working people, especially the sanitation workers, who were striking after years of mistreatment and poor wages, and for whom Dr. King had come to Memphis.
Several years ago, I had the honor of being at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for the commemoration of Dr. King’s birthday.
Dr. King had served as the pastor at Ebenezer. His father, “Daddy” King, had served as its pastor.

They began marching just after dawn from the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, 50 years to the day after the civil rights leader was assassinated.
They silenced their voices and, walking to the beat of a drum, traveled halfway down the National Mall. Some in sneakers and some in clerical stoles, they then prayed a spectrum of prayers — from Anglican to Zoroastrian — before they settled in for a set of speeches with a lofty subject: ending racism.
The A.C.T. to End Racism Rally, seeking to “awaken, confront and transform” society about racism, drew thousands of people on Wednesday (April 4). It was one of the largest events ever planned by the National Council of Churches, an ecumenical network of 38 groups including mainline, Orthodox, black Protestant and Quaker churches.

Social media has been going crazy with reports that Pope Francis has denied the existence of hell. Even some mainstream media have picked up the story supposedly based on an interview by an Italian journalist.
Anyone who has followed the pope’s talks and sermons would immediately know that something does not smell right here. The pope has in fact spoken of hell in the past in a way that clearly indicates that he believes in it.

As we celebrate Easter Sunday, nearly 18 months after Mr. Trump won the presidency with about 80 percent of the white evangelical vote, surveys show him retaining nearly all of that support.....

You could open a publishing press devoted to the theological and sociological explanations for this phenomenon — from the unlikely belief that Mr. Trump found Jesus on the campaign trail to the idea that his presidency is all part of God’s plan to the role persecution narratives and Christian nationalism play in the evangelical worldview.