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☆ After a gunman tried to shoot him, this Pennsylvania pastor wants to make his church safer
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-19 | by ( Christina Maxouris | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

Germany, a full-time bus driver and full-time pastor, knows how important this church is to its community. And now, it seems there’s another critical expense, though one this small church hardly could afford: security. Now, Germany wants to hire security experts to assess his church’s vulnerability and see how they can secure it. Pastor Glenn Germany in an undated image in his church in Pennsylvania. And it’s really dangerous.”In Tennessee, Lori Morrison has long been talking about the importance of church security, on both her website and her podcast.

Persons: Glenn Germany, It’s, ”, Chuck Schumer, Pastor Glenn Germany, Kevin Nelson’s, televangelist Joel Osteen, Nelson, I’m, ” Nelson, Schumer, Donell, what’s, “, Charlie Cytron, Walker, Beth Israel, Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, Christ, McKenzie, it’s, Schumer’s, ” Schumer, Pastor Kevin Nelson, Rico Reed, ” Reed, Lori Morrison, Morrison, there’s Organizations: CNN, Police, Kevin Nelson’s Calvary Baptist Church, Lakewood Church, Calvary Baptist, Baptist, Calvary, Training, Beth, National Council of, Jewish, FEMA, New, Calvary Baptist Church . Calvary Baptist Church, SecureTek Service, Inc Locations: Pennsylvania, Germany, North Braddock, Pittsburgh, Louisiana, Lakewood, Houston, ” Germany, San Antonio, Nelson’s, Sutherland Springs, Maryland, Baltimore, …, Texas, USA, New York, Calvary Baptist Church . Calvary Baptist Church Florida, In Tennessee, ”

☆ Pope Francis says his conservative critics in the church have a ‘suicidal attitude’
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Pope Francis has suggested that his conservative critics in the United States have a “suicidal attitude,” in an interview with CBS News. Asked about criticism from “conservative bishops” in the US who have opposed Francis’ more progressive papacy and efforts to reform the Catholic Church, the Pope paused on the word “conservative,” saying a conservative is “one who clings to something and does not want to see beyond that. It is a suicidal attitude.”There is an important difference between taking “tradition into account” and being “closed up inside a dogmatic box,” Francis emphasized. Francis has envisioned a merciful Catholic Church open to everyone, a “field hospital” ready to bind up the wounds of a suffering humanity. Those who oppose Francis say they want a pope instead who lays down the law and presents doctrine in black-and-white terms.

Persons: Pope Francis, ”, Francis ’, Pope, ” Francis, Francis, Cardinal Raymond Burke, Harrison Butker’s, Butker Organizations: CNN, CBS News, Catholic Church, Catholic, CBS, Kansas City Chiefs Locations: United States, Tyler , Texas

☆ Louisiana parishioners confront teen who entered church with a gun during children’s mass, police say
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-12 | by ( Chris Boyette | Elizabeth Wolfe | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A mass celebrating a group of children’s first communion at a church in southern Louisiana was interrupted Saturday when a 16-year-old boy armed with a gun walked in, the church and police said. The incident happened in Abbeville at the St. Mary Magdalen Church when a “suspicious person” opened the back door of the church while mass was underway, the church said in a statement. Parishioners immediately confronted the person, took him outside and called the police, the church said in a message to its community. Some parishioners in the front pews appeared concerned and were turning around to look toward the back of the church, the video shows. CNN also reached out to St. Mary Magdalen Church for more information.

Persons: Mary Magdalen, ”, Father Nicholas DuPré, DuPré, Go, He’s, Mike Hardy, “, “ Grant, Grant, Mary Magdalen Parish, CNN’s Rafael Romo, Yan Kaner Organizations: CNN, Mary Magdalen Church, Authorities, Abbeville Police Department, Mary Magdalen Catholic, Abbeville Police, FBI, Facebook, National Register of Historic Places Locations: Louisiana, Abbeville, St, ” St, Vermilion Parish, Lafayette

☆ Opinion | Why Conservative and Liberal Catholics Can’t Escape One Another
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-08 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A college of supposedly conservative cardinals elected a surprisingly liberal pope. It seemed as though liberal Catholicism had been merely hibernating, awaiting a new pope, a new spring. But lately, in both Rome and the United States, I’ve had conversations with well-informed Catholics in which the old conservative confidence has made a comeback. The fear that the next pope might be another liberalizer, younger and more ambitious than Francis, has largely receded. This new confidence reflects a specific reading of the waning years (or what are probably the waning years) of the Francis pontificate.

Persons: Pope Francis, Pope John Paul II, Pope Benedict XVI, I’ve, Francis Locations: Rome, United States

☆ United Methodist Church embraces the LGBTQ after decades of division
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Chelsea Bailey | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Courtesy Neighborhood Church AtlantaA church at war with itselfThe United Methodist Church has been at war with itself for decades over its stance on homosexuality. In 2019, the United Methodist Church’s governing body opened a temporary window for congregations to petition to leave over the issue. Andy Oliver reacts after the United Methodist Church removes a rule forbidding "self-avowed practicing homosexuals" from being ordained or appointed as ministers. And yet you stay, and you fight because you know, a better church is possible.”A sign outside the Allendale United Methodist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida. Andy OliverThe Real Work BeginsThe United Methodist Church, is one of the largest mainline Protestant Christian denominations in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center.

Persons: Andi Woodworth, Woodworth, Anjie, ”, “, that’s, ” Woodworth, Anjie Woodworth, Rev, Kristin Stoneking, “ We’ve, “ There’s, ” Anjie, she’s, …, Andy Oliver, Chris Carlson, Robert “ BJ ” Jackson, Oliver, Jackson, Tim, Tim’s, he’s, ” Oliver, Jackson’s, ‘, BJ, – John Wesley –, Billy Hester, Hester, disaffiliate, ” CNN’s Justin Gamble Organizations: CNN, Neighborhood Church, United Methodist Church, Methodist, Church, United Methodist, Christian, “, Conference, Network, Allendale United Methodist Church, Pew Research Center, Asbury Memorial Church Locations: Atlanta , Georgia, Atlanta, Church Atlanta, Allendale, St . Petersburg , Florida, United States, Savannah , Georgia, Savannah

☆ Winners and Losers of the Columbia Protests? History Will Tell.
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Ginia Bellafante | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Two years later, a plurality of Americans held the view that so-called outside agitators — in this instance, Communists — were behind the civil rights movement. If we think of attention as a prevailing measure of success, then the Columbia protests, inspiring so many others and consuming global headlines, have been triumphant. “I see very little talk this week about what is happening to Palestinians in Gaza,” Peter Staley, the celebrated AIDS activist, told me. He recalled a major ACT UP demonstration in December 1989 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral that is still debated among participants. The idea was to disrupt a Mass offered by Cardinal John O’Connor to condemn the church’s stance on condoms.

Persons: Eric Adams, ”, condescension, —, unmet, ” Peter Staley, Cardinal John O’Connor, ” Mr, Staley Organizations: Columbia University, Hamilton Hall, Gallup, Washington, Police Department, ACT Locations: Gaza, Columbia, Morningside Heights, St, Patrick’s

☆ Norman Kansfield, 83, Dies; Defrocked for His Daughter’s Same-Sex Wedding
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Alex Traub | More About Alex Traub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Dr. Norman Kansfield seemed to personify the Reformed Church in America. To an extraordinary extent, he had grown up in the world of his church’s 17th-century Dutch founders. So when his daughter, Ann Kansfield, was considering coming out of the closet to him, she was nervous. After she did, Dr. Kansfield went beyond responding with warm acceptance. Years later, in June 2004, he insisted that he officiate at her wedding, held in Massachusetts weeks after the state legalized same-sex marriage.

Persons: Norman Kansfield, Kansfield, Ann Kansfield Organizations: Reformed Church, Ill, New Brunswick Theological Seminary Locations: America, South Holland, New Jersey, United States, Massachusetts

☆ Rev. Cecil Murray, Leader Amid Los Angeles Riots, Dies at 94
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Clay Risen | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Cecil Murray, a minister who turned a struggling church in Los Angeles into one of the country’s largest congregations, then made it a base to combat the many ills facing the city’s Black population — most notably during and after the 1992 riots — died on Friday at his home in the View Park-Windsor Hills section of Los Angeles. The death was announced by the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at the University of Southern California, where he had taught after retiring from the church. When Mr. Murray arrived at First African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1977, it was both storied and troubled: It was the oldest Black church west of the Mississippi, but it was loaded in debt and attracted just a few hundred congregants. Mr. Murray, known as Chip, brought new life to the church. Within a decade he had retired the church’s debt and brought attendance up to about 7,000.

Persons: Cecil Murray, —, Murray Organizations: Center for Religion, University of Southern, First African Methodist Episcopal Church Locations: Los Angeles, Windsor, University of Southern California, Mississippi

☆ Four Takeaways From the Vatican’s Document on Human Dignity
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Jason Horowitz | Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The document issued on Monday by the Vatican puts human dignity at the center of Catholic life, but in doing so, it broaches some of the most difficult and sensitive social issues, those that Pope Francis has spent his papacy avoiding. On Monday, though, his church leaned hard into them in the document, called “Infinite Dignity.” It argued that the exploitation of the poor, the outcast and the vulnerable amounted to an erosion of human dignity. Catholics to receive blessings from priests and transgender people to be baptized and act as godparents, has a limit: Catholic doctrine. The pope’s conservative critics have for a decade argued that his tendency to speak off the cuff and in overly welcoming ways toward L.G.B.T.Q. people, the divorced and remarried, along with others who sin in the church’s eyes, had sent the wrong signal.

Persons: Pope Francis, Pope Francis ’ Organizations: Vatican

☆ Gender-affirming surgery threatens ‘unique dignity’ of a person, Vatican says
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“It follows that any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception,” it adds. The latest Vatican document identifies various “violations” to human dignity, including in the digital world, pointing to the trends where people’s personal lives are laid bare and “combed over” anonymously. “There is a widespread notion that euthanasia or assisted suicide is somehow consistent with respect for the dignity of the human person,” the document states. He also pointed out that church opposition to abortion is not down to “fanaticism” but a consistent defense of the human person. He pointed out that the new document lists violence against women before abortion in its list of violations against human dignity.

Persons: Pope Francis, ”, Francis, “, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández –, ” Francis DeBernardo, ” Pope Francis, Cardinal Fernández, Cardinal Fernández’s Organizations: CNN, New Ways Ministry Locations: Torvaianica, Rome, Vatican, Africa

☆ Vatican Document Casts Gender Change and Fluidity as Threat to Human Dignity
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Jason Horowitz | Elisabetta Povoledo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The Vatican on Monday issued a new document approved by Pope Francis stating that the church believes that gender fluidity and transition surgery, as well as surrogacy, amount to affronts to human dignity. The sex a person is assigned at birth, the document argued, was an “irrevocable gift” from God and “any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception.” People who desire “a personal self-determination, as gender theory prescribes,” risk succumbing “to the age-old temptation to make oneself God.”Regarding surrogacy, the document unequivocally stated the Roman Catholic Church’s opposition, whether the woman carrying a baby “is coerced into it or chooses to subject herself to it freely.” Surrogacy makes the child “a mere means subservient to the arbitrary gain or desire of others,” the Vatican said in the document, which also opposed in vitro fertilization. The document was intended as a broad statement of the church’s view on human dignity, including the exploitation of the poor, migrants, women and vulnerable people. The Vatican acknowledged that it was touching on difficult issues, but said that in a time of great tumult, it was essential, and it hoped beneficial, for the church to restate its teachings on the centrality of human dignity.

Persons: Pope Francis, ” Organizations: Catholic, Vatican

☆ Christians Shouldn’t Tolerate Cruelty - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( David French | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2007, I had a conversation about the culture war with the evangelical pastor Tim Keller that I’ve never forgotten. Keller, who was the founder of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, died last year, a devastating loss. “I’ve long seen friendships flourish across political differences,” he told me. He was seeing the change everywhere. Your political or theological positions were becoming the primary measure of your virtue, and your conduct was a distant second.

Persons: Tim Keller, I’ve, Keller, “, ”, Keller wasn’t, ” I’ve Organizations: Redeemer Presbyterian Church Locations: Manhattan

☆ Was Jesus a man of color? Why this question matters more than ever
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( John Blake | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +17 min

But the question over the color of Jesus’ skin is a serious one this Easter, for two reasons. But there are some who say Jesus’ color should stay the same, or that it doesn’t matter at all. He concedes that there are barriers to worshipping a White Jesus that he, a White man, may not understand. Jesus didn’t simply care about the poor, he was poor.”Cleveland tells CNN that people who say Jesus’ color wasn’t important ignore history. She says the experience taught her how much White Christian nationalism and the White Jesus have merged.

Persons: CNN — Christena Cleveland, Thomas ”, Jesus, —, Cleveland, Thor, ”, Jesus didn’t, Megyn Kelly, “, Trump, Donald Trump, Al Drago, Gentile, Warner, he’s, Sallman, Edward J, Blum, Jesus Christ, Mario Tama, Christina L, Barr, ” Barr, he’d, coon, ” Antony Pinol, Pinol, God, Jesus doesn’t, ” Pino, Jeff Hutchens, Albert Cleage, George Floyd, Black, Dante Stewart, ” “, ” Stewart, James Cone, Toni Morrison, White, ‘ ’ Blum, MAGA, White MAGA Jesus, Paul Weaver, Drew Angerer, Jesus ’, Frederick Buechner, John Blake Organizations: CNN, Cleveland, TSA, Fox News, Bloomberg, Getty, CARE, New York Times, Christ, America, Communist Party, Warner, Republican Party, Black Tea News, Pennsylvania State Capitol, Christianity Locations: Cleveland, Hollywood, barbershops, Santa Claus, America, White, Avoca , Pennsylvania, Israel, Port, Prince, Haiti, Africa, Dillon , South Carolina, Asia, Southern, Eastern Europe, Rome, Harrisburg , Pennsylvania, Gaza, New York City

☆ Trump’s Bible Misunderstands Christianity - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-31 | by ( Esau Mccaulley | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The presumptive Republican nominee for president of the United States, who weeks ago started selling shoes, is now peddling Bibles. For example, according to a promotional website, it’s the only Bible endorsed by Donald Trump. This God Bless the USA Bible, as it’s officially named, focuses on God’s blessing of one particular people. Whether this Bible is an example of Christian nationalism I will leave to others. It is at least an example of Christian syncretism, a linking of certain myths about American exceptionalism and the Christian faith.

Persons: Donald Trump, It’s, Lee Greenwood, James, —, it’s Organizations: Republican Locations: United States, Independence, American

☆ Pope Francis breaks with tradition in annual ritual by washing the feet of women only
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-28 | by ( Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Pope Francis on Thursday has washed the feet of 12 women at a prison in Rome during a ceremony emphasizing humility. It is the first time the pope has washed the feet of women only during the special annual service. Since his election, the pope has taken this ceremony out of Vatican territory and celebrated by washing the feet of prisoners, refugees and the disabled. Over the years, Francis has washed the feet of women and Muslims. His predecessor, Benedict XVI, only washed the feet of men, and later switched to washing only the feet of priests.

Persons: Pope Francis, Jesus, Francis, Michael Walsh, Fr Anthony Ruff, Nadia Fontana, Benedict XVI Organizations: CNN, Vatican Media, AP, Vatican Locations: Rome

☆ Former Deacon Excommunicated After His Son Is Sexually Abused by a Priest
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Emily Schmall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

A Catholic priest who sexually assaulted an altar boy in Louisiana is in prison, and a diocese has paid a settlement to the victim’s family. Now the diocese’s bishop has punished the victim’s father, a former deacon, with the Church’s highest censure: excommunication. It was the latest turn in a yearslong battle pitting the former deacon, Scott Peyton, and his family against the Diocese of Lafayette. The Peytons and the diocese have found themselves on opposing sides of a state law that gave childhood sexual abuse victims more time to file lawsuits. However, the law prompted new civil suits against Louisiana churches and clergy members who worked for them.

Persons: Scott Peyton Organizations: Diocese, Legislature Locations: Louisiana, Lafayette

☆ Pope Francis skips homily at Palm Sunday Mass in rare move
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-24 | by ( Christopher Lamb | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Pope Francis unexpectedly skipped delivering his homily during the Palm Sunday Mass service at the Vatican on Sunday, although was able to preside over the service and was later driven around in the popemobile. Crowds gather in St. Peter's Square during the Palm Sunday mass. Gregorio Borgia/APWhile the pope has occasionally skipped homilies on Easter Sunday, it is the first time he has not given a homily on Palm Sunday. Francis told the crowd at St. Peter’s Square that he was praying for the “victims of the vile terrorist attack,” the worst that Russia has suffered in recent decades. He is to travel to a prison outside of Rome on Thursday to celebrate the foot washing ritual with female prisoners, and on Good Friday be present at services in St Peter’s and the Colosseum.

Persons: Pope Francis, Francis, Gregorio Borgia, Angelus Organizations: CNN, Peter's, Sunday, RAI, Holy Locations: St, Ukraine, Moscow, Russia, Rome, St Peter’s

☆ France becomes world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in constitution
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Joshua Berlinger | Xiaofei Xu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Paris CNN —France became the world’s first country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution on Monday, the culmination of an effort that began in direct response to the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The amendment states that there is a “guaranteed freedom” to abortion in France. While abortion is a highly divisive issue in US politics that often falls along party lines, in France it is widely supported. The measure’s passage is a clear victory for the French left, which has been pushing for years to guarantee abortion rights in the constitution. The vote marks the 25th time the French government has amended its constitution since the founding of the Fifth Republic in 1958.

Persons: Roe, ”, Gabriel Attal, ” Attal, Emmanuel Macron, Simone Veil, Emmanuel Macron’s, —, Wade, Eric Dupond, Moretti, perviously, CNN’s Joseph Ataman, Christopher Lamb Organizations: Paris CNN —, Wade, French Senate, National Assembly, ” Lawmakers, France, Health, US, Fifth, Catholic, Pontifical Academy for Life Locations: Paris CNN — France, of Versailles, Paris, France, United States, Europe, Hungary, Fifth Republic

☆ Church of England urged to build a $1.3 billion fund to tackle its legacy of slavery
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-04 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

London CNN —The Church of England has welcomed a report that calls for it to spearhead the establishment of a £1 billion ($1.3 billion) fund to address its historical ties to slavery. The Church Commissioners group, which manages the church’s £10.3 billion ($13 billion) investments, has accepted the report “in full,” the church said in a statement. The report also calls for the Church Commissioners to build up the value of the fund by bringing in co-investors while also increasing its own allocation. The Church of England is the established church in the United Kingdom. It also urged the Church Commissioners to deliver the full sum committed to the fund sooner than over the nine years originally envisaged.

Persons: ”, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Bishop Rosemarie Mallett, Canterbury Justin Welby, Toby Melville, Welby, George Floyd Organizations: London CNN, of, “, for, Commissioners, South Sea Company, REUTERS, National Archives, Bank of Locations: of England, Black, United Kingdom, Barbados, London, REUTERS Britain, Historic England, Caribbean, Bank of England, United States

☆ Election 2024 As Trump heads to Michigan, the state G.O.P. is in disarray.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-17 | by ( Neil Vigdor | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

“We are the Michigan G.O.P.,” Mr. Hoekstra said in an interview on Friday. On Thursday night, Ms. Karamo sought to address her leadership status at a Republican gathering in Oakland County near Detroit. A video recorded by The Detroit News showed her being heckled as party leaders elected delegates for next month’s state convention. At the Karamo-aligned event, a projector displayed a logo for the county’s Republican Party. did not immediately respond to requests for comment about what would happen if rival slates of Michigan delegates showed up at the convention.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Pete Hoekstra, Kristina Karamo, Hoekstra, ” Mr, “ Kristina Karamo, Mr, ” “, ”, Karamo, “, Ole ’, we’ve, ” Ms, Patrick Van Katwijk, Fred Krymis, Rod Halcomb, Emily Elconin, Kelly Sackett, Matthew DePerno Organizations: Republicans, Trump, Republican National Committee, Republican, Democratic, Republican Party, Republican National, Agence France, Michigan, The Detroit News, Baptist Church, county’s Republican Party, Michigan Republicans, The New York Times, Kalamazoo, Republican National Convention Locations: Michigan, Waterford Township, Detroit, Western Michigan, Netherlands, Oakland County, Kalamazoo County, Scotts, Mich, Kalamazoo

Greece has become the first majority-Orthodox Christian nation to legalize same-sex marriage under civil law. Public opinion in majority Orthodox countries has mostly been opposed, too. Civil unions may become more common among Orthodox countries gravitating toward the European Union. Greek Orthodox showed relative tolerance, with half of Orthodox saying homosexuality should be accepted and a quarter favoring same-sex marriage. As head of the Russian Orthodox Church, he oversees the world's largest Orthodox flock.

Persons: ”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, “, George Demacopoulos, ” Demacopoulos, —, Vladimir Putin, “ perversions, Putin, Kirill, Moscow, Tiny Montenegro, Aleksandar Vucic, ″, ___ Smith, Yuras, Stephen McGrath, Illia Novikov, Veselin Toshkov Organizations: European Union, Pew Research Center, Orthodox Christian Studies Center, Fordham University, Ukrainian, of, of Human, Russian Orthodox Church, Kremlin, Russia’s, Levada, MONTENEGRO Serbia, Balkan, Serbian Orthodox Church, of Human Rights, Orthodox, Bulgarian Orthodox Church, Associated Press, Gec, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Greece, Montenegro, Cyprus, Russia, Eastern Europe, Washington, New York, European, UKRAINE, Ukraine, RUSSIA, Russian, BELARUS, Belarus, SERBIA, MONTENEGRO, Serbia, ROMANIA, MOLDOVA Romania, Romania, Bucharest, Moldova, BULGARIA, Bulgaria, Pittsburgh, Tallin, Estonia, Belgrade, Kyiv, Sofia

☆ Prominent Black Church Leaders Call for End of U.S. Aid to Israel
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-16 | by ( Audra D. S. Burch | Maya King | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Black churches and other faith groups have pushed for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war for months in advertisements, open letters and social media campaigns. Black faith leaders across denominations have amplified their calls as the number of dead rises. More than 28,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to health officials there, many of them women and children. But the A.M.E. council’s statement goes further than a cease-fire demand, insisting that the United States immediately stop its financial support of Israel. It came as Israeli forces pushed into southern Gaza and prepared for a ground assault on Rafah, where more than a million displaced Palestinians are trapped.

Persons: Bishop Stafford J Organizations: African Methodist Episcopal Church, church’s, of Bishops Locations: United States, Israel, Gaza, Rafah

☆ Greece legalizes same-sex marriage in a first for an Orthodox Christian country
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Sophie Tanno | Elinda Labropoulou | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Athens, Greece CNN —The Greek parliament on Thursday passed a law legalizing same-sex marriage, in a landmark victory for human rights in Greece and making it the first majority Orthodox Christian country to establish marriage equality for all. Now, same-sex parents can both be recognized as legal parents to their children. A recent poll carried out by Metron Analysis showed that although 62% of respondents said they were in favor of same-sex marriage, 69% were against same-sex parenthood. The same-sex marriage bill has drawn the wrath of the influential Greek Orthodox Church to which more than 80% of the population belong. All three voted against the same-sex marriage law, and the legislation could still push some angry voters to the right ahead of European elections in June.

Persons: Greece CNN —, Andrea Gilbert, “, ”, Katerina Trimmi, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Sergio Berezovski, Mitsotakis, Alexis Rafailides, Stefanos, ” Kasselakis, Tyler McBeth, Kasselakis, Elias …, ” Stelios Pandazopoulos, Angelo, – Organizations: Greece CNN, Athens Pride, CNN, Greek National Commission of Human Rights, Rainbow, Computer, EU, Metron, New Democracy Locations: Athens, Greece, surrogates, Thursdau, ”, Syriza, American, Karditsa

HOUSTON (AP) — A motive for why a woman in a trenchcoat opened fire in celebrity pastor Joel Osteen's megachurch in Texas remained unclear Monday after the shooting sent worshippers rushing for safety in between busy Sunday services. Police say two off-duty officers working security at Osteen's church, one of the largest megachurches in the U.S., shot and killed the suspect. Osteen said the violence could have been worse if the shooting had happened during the earlier and larger late Sunday morning service. Houston Police Chief Troy Finner did not identify the suspect at a news conference Sunday while standing near Osteen. The woman began shooting and was confronted by two off-duty officers, a Houston police officer and an agent with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, who returned fire.

Persons: Joel Osteen's megachurch, Osteen, Troy Finner, Finner, Alan Guity, “, ’ ”, Guity, JOEL OSTEEN, John Osteen, Joel Osteen, God, Hurricane Harvey, Paul J, Weber Organizations: HOUSTON, Police, Houston Rockets, . Houston Police, Houston, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, WHO, Authorities, Lakewood Church, Hartford Institute for Religion Research, Associated Press Locations: Texas, U.S, Osteen, Houston, Honduras, Lakewood

HOUSTON (AP) — Police in Texas said Sunday that they were responding to a possible shooting at the Houston megachurch run by prominent pastor Joel Osteen. In a tweet on X, formerly known as Twitter, Lakewood Church said there was “an active situation involving shots fired” at the church. “That is all the information we have at this time. Please pray for Lakewood and our community,” the church said. Jodi Silva, a Houston police spokeswoman, said officers were responding to the church but she did not have any additional information.

Persons: Joel Osteen, ”, Jodi Silva, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, “ Organizations: HOUSTON, — Police, Houston, Twitter, Lakewood, Harris County Sheriff Locations: Texas, Lakewood, Harris County

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