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ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS) — Reinhard Bonnke, the German evangelist known as “The Billy Graham of Africa,” was lauded at a Saturday (Jan. 4) memorial service as “a giant and a general in the army of God.”

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi appeared at Coptic Christmas Eve Mass on Monday and praised the links between the country’s Christian and Muslim faithful, saying they have prevented the country from descending into sectarian strife like its neighbors.

(RNS) — Democratic presidential hopefuls ramped up the God-talk while criss-crossing Iowa over the weekend, invoking the Bible and meeting with religious leaders while their Republican opponent President Trump worked to bolster support among evangelical Christians.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) — Thousands of Orthodox Christian worshippers plunged into the icy waters of rivers and lakes across Bulgaria on Monday to retrieve crucifixes tossed by priests in Epiphany ceremonies commemorating the baptism of Jesus Christ.

A majority of U.S. adults don’t want religion influencing government policy, with few exceptions, according to a new report from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research published on Jan. 2.

Few faith leaders appear in Gallup’s annual most admired people list for 2019, released on Dec. 30.

[caption id="attachment_62483" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Gallaudet University student Abdulrahman Alshehri, front, along with other students during Muslim prayer at Gallaudet University in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019. Gallaudet University is an institution of learning, teaching and research for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)[/caption] WASHINGTON (RNS) — When a student stood to read from the Bible during a Catholic service at Gallaudet University earlier this year, she conveyed the sacred words in a language the group would understand: American Sign Language. The psalm — often chanted or sung — was signed as well. And when the priest addressed the worshippers, he signed: “The Lord be with you." A flurry of hands signed back: “And with your spirit.” For many, vocalized hymns, homilies, and prayers make up much of the experience of a typical religious service. Yet worshipping silently — in ASL — is standard fare at Gallaudet, the world’s premier college for the deaf and hard of hearing. And religious students say the language shift is but a small window into the subtle ways their communities intertwine deaf culture with the divine to produce uncommon expressions of faith and activism. Christina DiSalvo, a hearing Catholic who serves as a lay chaplain to Gallaudet’s Catholic community and often works as an interpreter during services, explained that her team uses a lectionary that adapts phrases such as “hear the gospel” to be signed “pay attention,” or “hear our prayer” to “accept our prayer.” [caption id="attachment_62484" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Gallaudet University in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)[/caption] Other changes would be striking to anyone used to a Mass where the hearing are in the majority. DiSalvo said that unlike services at hearing parishes, where the priest may remain up front during scripture readings, the priest at Gallaudet sits down with the community to avoid being a visual distraction. “Having information is the most important thing," said DiSalvo, who works for the Archdiocese of Washington's Department of Special Needs Ministries. "If the pastor is up at the front, they can't see what's going on.” Equal access to information is not just a practical matter; it's also a fundamental value in deaf culture. For faith groups at Gallaudet, it doubles as a religious principle. [caption id="attachment_62486" align="alignright" width="300"] Student Abdulrahman Alshehri washes his feet before Muslim prayer at Gallaudet University in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)[/caption] “That comes from oppression,” DiSalvo said. She offered an example: “If something goes on in church, (a deaf person) asks, ‘Oh, what did they say? What are we praying for?’ Then someone responds, ‘Oh, I’ll tell you later. It doesn't matter.’” Lack of information in worship was a childhood struggle for Abdulrahman Alshehri, a student who belongs to Gallaudet’s sizable Muslim population — around 20 of whom, like Alshehri, hail from Saudi Arabia. Until he came to the U.S., he didn't realize how much he had been missing at Friday prayer services. “I came to America, and there was this person who said, ‘Do you understand anything about what they're saying (during worship)?’ And I answered honestly that I didn’t,” Alshehri said through an interpreter. Back home in Saudi Arabia, Alshehri now attends services where a live video feed shows an interpreter signing the imam's words in Arabic Sign Language. But at Gallaudet, the ritual Islamic daily prayers often make an interpreter unnecessary: He simply mouths the words silently to himself. “There's no need to hear what's said,” he explained, adding that he long ago memorized sections of Friday prayer services as well. “I know that passage of the prayers by heart.” [caption id="attachment_62488" align="alignleft" width="300"] Student Abdulrahman Alshehri speaks to the Associated Press using American Sign Language at Gallaudet University in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)[/caption] When asked how communicating in ASL alters his experience with scripture, Gideon Firl instructed an interpreter who had been vocalizing Firl's signs to stop. Then Firl, a Christian who is deaf, began to sign theatrically, adding dramatic flourishes and gestures to his words. His exact phrasing was unclear to those unschooled in ASL, but his meaning was easy to parse: In the midst of darkness, a tiny ball of light burned; then a figure emerged to lead others away. “Jesus came to show us the way,” Firl said, permitting the interpreter to speak again. He smiled as he appeared to paraphrase a quote from the Gospel of John: “(He is) the light, and the light in our lives.” He added: “I feel like sign language is in a way universal — there’s something there that everyone can understand.” Religion is closely tied to the history of Gallaudet, which Congress authorized to confer college degrees in 1864. One of the school’s oldest and most prominent buildings is Chapel Hall, where students were once required to attend services. Among its celebrated graduates is Andrew Foster, the first African American to receive a bachelor's degree at the school, who worked as a missionary to establish schools for the deaf throughout Africa. "Gallaudet is, at its core, deaf — but (also) at its core are our beliefs and our faiths," Firl said. For the most part, Gallaudet students describe a campus religious life similar to that at virtually any small liberal arts college. Sunni and Shiite Muslims, who use a common prayer room that can accommodate an array of Islamic traditions, casually discuss their religious differences. Jews and Christians belong to various on- and off-campus organizations and support groups that host worship services and Bible studies. [caption id="attachment_62485" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] A sculpture of hands signing the alphabet is seen at Gallaudet University museum in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)[/caption] Students of all faiths report occasionally being asked about their beliefs by more secular peers, sometimes to dramatic effect: Firl recounted an incident where he fell asleep reading the Bible at a party, only to be awakened by astonished friends who joked with him about his reading material. As at other American campuses, religious students say they can sometimes feel isolated. But Abigael Mercurio, a Christian graduate student who is not deaf but signed throughout her interview

SICHUAN, China (BP) -- The United States and the European Union are urging China to free pastor Wang Yi, sentenced to nine years in prison in what religious liberty advocates call Christian persecution.

HOT SPRINGS, Ark., (BP) -- A lawsuit filed Dec. 16, 2019 alleges former Millcreek Baptist Church pastor Teddy Leon Hill engaged in sexual assault, battery, felonious conduct and the tort of outrage/intentional infliction emotional distress of a minor -- referred to as John Doe in the suit. Hill retired in 2018.

The Baptist Home board of trustees has announced that Dr. Rodney Harrison has agreed to serve as The Baptist Home’s transitional president when current Baptist Home President Steven Jones retires on January 3, 2020, after serving 28 years in the ministry.