Faith News Network

The Senate confirmed noted human-rights champion Sam Brownback as the new Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom. Ambassador Brownback will head the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom that monitors religious freedom abuses throughout the world. He is the first ambassador under the revised Frank R. Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, the passage of which affirms continued congressional commitment to international religious freedom as a foreign relations priority.

Last week the Christian Medical Association, the nation’s largest faith-based association of physicians and other health professionals, said a new proposed rule announced today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (HHS OCR) will help protect patient access to healthcare.

Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced today it will establish a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Office for Civil Rights to specialize in enforcement of and compliance with laws that protect conscience and free exercise of religion, and that prohibit coercion and discrimination. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver and Director of Public Policy Jonathan Alexandre participated in today’s event in which HHS emphasized its commitment to faith-based organizations.

National Religious Broadcasters is drawing attention to the censorship of Christian and conservative speech online by tech companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google and Apple by launching a new initiative, Internet Freedom Watch, the association of Christian communicators announced Thursday.

Every year since the 1950s, San Jose has had a proud record of honoring Christmas with a grand display of Christmas trees. This year, however, a controversy has arisen over some trees.

Since 2010, Bless Friday® has provided an alternative to frenzied Christmas shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. Churches in Houston, The Woodlands and Trinity, Texas and Seattle, Washington are preparing service projects that honor Christ at Christmas on Friday, November 24 and this year also on Saturday the 25th. These churches encourage families and individuals to celebrate Bless Friday® as an alternative to Black Friday.