Faith News Network

In a victory for Christians, a Florida town will not interfere with a National Day of Prayer rally.

Pastor Greg Laurie, the honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer, believes America faces a spiritual crisis. So he has issued a call to pastors and churches across the country to participate in the 62nd annual National Day of Prayer on May 2.

Millions across the nation have woken up this morning to headlines featuring a tragic accident that occurred in West, Texas, a small town of 2,600 about 20 miles north of Waco.

Churches in Boston are responding to provide support for victims of the Boston Marathon bombing through a website called BostonMarathonSamaritans.org. The website is set up as a partnership of TechMission, the Emmanuel Gospel Center and the Black Ministerial Alliance of Greater Boston, all of which partner with hundreds of churches in the Boston area.

As smoke cleared from the deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon finish line Monday, horrified runners were comforted by acts of kindness carried out by city residents offering aid. Gestures as small as offering a drink of orange juice and use of a home bathroom were recounted on Twitter in an ongoing online recollection of the fellowship that emerged in the wake of Monday’s devastation.

Abortion rights groups say they plan to challenge a new Arkansas law adopted on Wednesday that will prohibit most abortions after about 12 weeks of pregnancy and is the most restrictive abortion law in the United States.

A bill expected to be debated on the floor of the House of Representatives today seeks to put houses of worship—many of which were damaged by Superstorm Sandy but went on to serve ravaged coastal communities—on a level playing field with other non-profit organizations seeking disaster assistance.

The Evangelical Immigration Table has launched the “I was a  stranger” prayer challenge to encourage Christians to spend 40 days reflecting  on scripture passages dealing with immigration and pray about what they  read.

Craft chain Hobby Lobby said it  has found a way to delay compliance with the Obamacare mandate, which requires  companies to cover contraception in their employees’ health  care. Pastor Rick  Warren has warned that religious  freedom, at the heart of the company’s battle, might become this decade’s  civil rights movement.

As the nation mourns and asks how could something like the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting happen, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has an idea: It’s because God is absent from our schools.

The city of New York continues to seek eviction of churches meeting for worship services in public school buildings on weekends, even after many of the congregations have ministered to the communities in which they meet in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose administration has also come under fire for banning food donations to homeless shelters, has not intervened to stop his Board of Education’s ongoing efforts to oust the churches.

“Churches that have been helping communities for years should be allowed to continue to offer the hope that empty buildings can’t,” said Alliance Defending Freedom Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence, who will argue the churches’ case on Monday. “The Constitution requires New York City to allow churches and other religious groups to meet for worship services in vacant school buildings on weekends on the same terms as other groups. It is tragic that the city continues its efforts to evict the very groups that are selflessly helping the city’s communities, including the public schools themselves.”

Churches meeting in New York City public schools for worship services have fed the poor and needy, assisted in rehabilitating drug addicts and gang members, helped rebuild marriages and families, and provided for the disabled. The churches have also helped the public schools themselves by volunteering to paint the interiors of inner-city schools; donating computers, musical instruments, and air conditioners; and providing effective after-school programs to help all students with their studies. The help to communities has only continued in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, especially on hard-hit Staten Island.

In June, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a permanent injunction that allows churches, synagogues, and other religious groups to conduct worship services in school buildings. The city appealed the order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit.

The injunction is part of a nearly 18-year legal battle in Bronx Household of Faith v. Board of Education of the City of New York. The city has been trying to eject worship services from their public school meeting places under the claim that their presence violates the U.S. Constitution.

Alliance Defending Freedom (formerly Alliance Defense Fund) is an alliance-building legal ministry that advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith.

(Source: Charisma Media)

Evangelical congregations on storm-damaged Staten Island are outshining federal agencies in the arduous task of helping residents recover from the devastating effects of super storm Sandy. Almost immediately after the weather abated, Staten Island evangelical clergy organized and began deploying aid. The same response from federal agencies took days and are still woefully inadequate to the recovery effort.

In a surprise letter sent to all churches, temples and centers of faith in the greater Charlottesville, Virginia area, Mayor Satyendra Singh Huja has called for prayers of thanksgiving to mark the 250th Anniversary of Charlottesville, Virginia this weekend.

Having grown up in Cape May, N.J., Rapid Response Team Director Jack Munday has seen his share of hurricanes and fierce storms.

“You learn to deal with it when you live near the eastern seaboard,” he explained.

Now living in North Carolina, Munday directs teams of volunteer chaplains who respond with the love of Christ in the aftermath of all kinds of natural disasters, often traveling with the teams to offer direction and encouragement.

Alliance Defending Freedom filed a federal lawsuit Monday against Utah’s Snow College on behalf of a Christian student group banned from including religious speech as part of a homecoming event. The college, located in the town of Ephraim, also denied the club benefits that it extended to other groups.

Atlanta, GA–The suspected gunman in Wednesday’s shooting at World Changers Church International was taken into custody at a shopping mall later that afternoon.

A court has just ruled that high school cheerleaders who were banned by their school from holding banners with Bible verses have a constitutional free speech right to display those signs at football games.

By Todd Starnes

It’s football time in Tennessee where longtime gridiron traditions are cherished – from Rocky Top to the Pride of the Southland Marching Band. At the start of every game inside the colossal Neyland Stadium, thousands of the football faithful rise to their feet, remove their hats and pause for the pre-game prayer.

But in recent days the University of Tennessee Knoxville’s pre-game prayer has come under attack. The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a cease and desist letter to the public university calling for them to abandon the long-time tradition.

Last night, amid boos and screams of no, the Democratic National Convention chair, Antonio Villaraigosa, passed an amendment to the party’s platform that stated God was central to Democrats’ beliefs and recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Christians all over the country are realizing how important the upcoming presidential elections are to the fate of our country, and are gathering together for prayer and fasting.