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LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Pick any road in Redding, Calif., and community members will tell you they aren’t surprised to see handmade thank-you signs lining the streets.

Typically the signs consist of block letters, hearts and firefighter figures meant to convey Californians' gratitude for emergency helpers following one of the state’s worst fires.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Of all the horrific details contained in the Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, one sentence stands out: "The main thing was not to help children, but to avoid 'scandal.'"

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — On Aug. 16, Mormon church President Russell M. Nelson said he wants people to stop using "Mormon," or "LDS" as substitutes for the full name of the religion: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (BP) -- A group from The Satanic Temple temporarily erected a goat-headed, winged statue on the Arkansas State Capitol grounds on Aug. 16 to protest the Ten Commandments monument already placed there.

(RNS) — Aretha Franklin, a singer who began her career with gospel music and was later crowned the “Queen of Soul,” died Thursday (Aug. 16) after battling a range of health issues. She was 76.

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Earthquakes that shook the Indonesian island of Lombok over the past week have resulted in at least 430 deaths, and the government is estimating economic losses in excess of several hundred million dollars.

(RNS) — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has released a more than 1,300-page grand jury report detailing allegations of widespread sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by Catholic priests in the state, naming hundreds of clerics accused of misconduct over 70 years and accusing church officials of a “systemic” cover-up.

IZMIR, Turkey (RNS) — As Turkish prosecutors prepare for the high-profile trial of American pastor Andrew Brunson on terrorism-related charges, their case points directly to his small evangelical church and the internal strife stemming from his outreach to Syrian refugees.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — The Thursday evening service at Manna Church packs a punch that more than rivals large Sunday morning services elsewhere.

This dynamic megachurch is similar to many others across the country, except for this: 70 percent of church members are military families based at Fort Bragg, the nation’s largest military installation. And despite a rapid turnover of members, due to deployments, retirements and transfers to other bases, the evangelical church has not only held steady, but grown.

SOUTH BARRINGTON, Ill. (RNS) — The Global Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church began Thursday (Aug. 9) morning by addressing the elephant in the room: Its opening speaker was not the event’s accustomed headliner for 26 years, church founder Bill Hybels.