News

WASHINGTON (AP) — Freed American pastor Andrew Brunson fell to one knee in the Oval Office and placed his hand on President Donald Trump’s shoulder in prayer on Saturday, asking God to provide the president “supernatural wisdom to accomplish all the plans you have for this country and for him.”

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) – Dr. Evan Atar Adaha knows that faith matters to many of his patients at the Maban Referral Hospital in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.

So, before administering the anesthetic for surgery, he recites verses from the Bible or the Quran with patients. Then the 52-year-old surgeon, who is Roman Catholic, follows with a short prayer — according to the patient’s faith — before taking up his surgical knife.

MANSFIELD, Ohio (RNS) — At the BibleWalk wax museum in Mansfield, Ohio, visitors will find Jesus, Moses, Paul and other biblical figures.

They also may find Tom Cruise.

(RNS) — How is Hurricane Florence different from past storms along the Eastern Seaboard?

For some houses of worship, it may have brought the potential of government help.

LONGS, S.C. (BP) -- It didn't take disaster relief volunteer Ronnie Register long to describe the situation where he is serving.

"The situation here is pretty rough. There are a lot of hurting people," Register said as he looked across the church parking lot at a flooded subdivision in Longs, S.C.

(RNS) — The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a singing phenomenon for more than 150 years, is changing its name at the request of its sponsor, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

Thus, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will now be called “The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.”

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) — A pulpit is often regarded as a sacred and in many ways exclusive space. Most religions allow only the ordained to speak to congregants from this place. Ordinary voices seldom have access to the power of the pulpit.

Steve Norman wants to change that.

The Indonesian island of Sulawesi was rocked by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake and subsequent 20-foot-high tsunami on September 28, followed by a volcanic eruption on the same island just days later. The current death toll is reportedly 1,407 and is expected to climb, with hundreds more reported injured.

NASHVILLE (BP)-- By the time churches have fully embraced Facebook, many of their members and those they are trying to reach may have left it behind.

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) — A Christian TV network is entering the crowded world of 24-hour news broadcasting at a time when the mainstream news media are under increasing attack by President Trump and some of his supporters, many of them evangelicals.