ReportWire

Tag: Christians

  • Why Pope Leo XIV’s Lebanon visit matters amid Israeli bombardment

    [ad_1]

    BEIRUT  — When Pope Leo XIV visits the Middle East this week, he comes to a conflict-weary region struggling to find peace even as the specter of war stalks it once again.

    In his first international trip since assuming the papacy in May, the Chicago-born pope will travel Thursday to Turkey, where he will celebrate the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, where the Nicene Creed — a foundational declaration of Christian belief and unity — was written in AD 325.

    But perhaps the real test of Leo’s international debut lies in Lebanon. His coming fulfills a promise to visit the country made by his boldly charismatic predecessor Pope Francis, who raised the papacy’s international profile with dozens visits abroad and a propensity for frankness in his commentary that endeared him to the faithful, especially in the Middle East.

    But Christians — estimated to be about 30% of Lebanon’s population — are not the only ones looking forward to Leo’s arrival.

    A view of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, which Pope Leo XIV will see during his visit to Turkey, which begins Nov. 27, 2025.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    Many here hope his visit will be a portent for peace, bringing attention to this tiny Mediterranean nation as it contends with a Job-like succession of crises: First the economy, which crashed in 2019, tanking the banking system and the currency with it; then the port explosion in 2020; and the war between the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah and Israel, which flared in 2023 before intensifying late last year and left thousands dead and wide swaths of Lebanon’s south and east pulverized.

    Despite a ceasefire brokered last November, Israel has launched near-daily attacks on its northern neighbor, justifying its strikes as a bid to stop Hezbollah from reconstituting itself, even as the United Nations tallied more than 10,000 air and ground violations in Lebanese territory and 127 civilians killed in the year since the ceasefire took effect.

    Israel’s attacks have also paralyzed reconstruction efforts, meaning most residents of Lebanese border towns — whether dominated by Christians, Muslims or Druze — have been unable to piece back their prewar lives. The U.N.’s human rights office says around 64,000 Lebanese remain displaced.

    The Israeli army violated the ceasefire by launching more than ten airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih

    The Israeli army launched more than 10 airstrikes on the town of al-Musaylih in southern Lebanon, causing extensive damage, on Oct. 11.

    (Houssam Shbaro/Anadolu via Getty Images)

    Safety concerns for the pope have been paramount in people’s minds for months. In October, in what appeared to be a hot mic moment, Jordan’s Queen Rania asked the pope during a photo-op at the Vatican whether it was safe to go to Lebanon. “Well, we’re going,” Leo gruffly replied.

    Alarms were raised again over the weekend when Israel bombed Beirut’s southern suburbs, barely two miles away from where the pope would be landing on Sunday. The attack, the first one in months near the capital, killed Hezbollah’s most senior military commander and coincided with a general uptick in Israeli strikes and drone activity in recent weeks — all indicators, observers say, of an impending all-out assault.

    Nevertheless, the trip is still on, Lebanese officials say.

    For Oumayma Farah, development director of the Order of Malta Lebanon, which aids communities of all religions and nationalities through humanitarian projects, that’s a “sign of courage and resilience to the Lebanese population and Christians in the region as a whole.”

    “Whatever happens, the pope will come,” Farah said.

    “The Church teaches us to not be afraid, so he’s the first example.”

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard displaying a picture of a man in white religious robes

    A woman walks her dog past a billboard in Beirut touting Pope Leo’s upcoming visit to Lebanon.

    (Anwar Amro / AFP/Getty Images)

    Like most of the countries where Christianity first took hold, wars and economic lethargy — not to mention a relatively easier path to emigration — have dwindled Lebanon’s Christian population over the decades.

    Across the Middle East, the number of Christians has gone from 20% of the population to a mere 5%; Lebanon remains the Arab country with the highest proportion, with Christians making up about 30% of the population, according to estimates from various research groups and the U.S. State Department.

    The pope’s insistence on coming to Lebanon, Farah said, was “re-centering the importance of this country” and a “wake-up call” for its politicians. After spending three days in Turkey, the pope will arrive in Lebanon on Sunday and depart Tuesday.

    In the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and other areas on the pope’s itinerary, signs abound of furious logistical activity and preparations: Police and security personnel have intensified their presence. A two-day holiday was announced to allow participation in public prayer events, even as parishes and schools across the country have been involved in bringing the faithful to attend Mass near the site of the Beirut port blast, which was deemed an accident caused by negligence, and elsewhere.

    Meanwhile, roadworks and maintenance, all but abrogated in recent years due to the government’s financial woes, have been in full swing. The joke around town is that people want another papal visit if only so the government finishes repaving all the country’s pothole-stricken streets. A bitter corollary is another joke that the refurbished roads will last only till the pope leaves — because they’ll be destroyed in a new Israeli campaign.

    People in dark clothes standing in the foreground of a grand white mosque with blue domed roofs

    Along with visiting the Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul, Pope Leo will travel to the Turkish city of Iznik, ancient Nicaea, to mark the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

    (Arif Hudaverdi Yaman / Anadolu / Getty Images)

    The gallows humor reflects the uncertainty of the moment, with the U.S. and Israel pushing the Lebanese army to fully disarm Hezbollah, even as the group insists it will disarm only in the country’s south.

    Lebanon’s government, in turn, says that it cannot persuade Hezbollah to give up its arms so long as Israel keeps occupying Lebanese territory, and that doing so by force would lead to civil war.

    The hope is that the pontiff can help break the logjam. But though few expect change to come so quickly, the visit is still important, said a Maronite parish priest, Father Tony Elias, from Rmeish, a village located just across the border from Israel.

    “When the pope visits a country that has been in pain for so long, this is truly enough to lift that pain,” Elias said.

    Rmeish, which maintained a resolutely neutral stance during the war, is relatively unscathed, an exception in the wasteland that has become Lebanon’s border area after years of Israeli bombardment.

    Elias said he would have wanted the pope to visit the south, but he wasn’t disappointed, as he and about 200 others from the village would travel to Beirut and join the pontiff.

    “If he can’t come to the south, we can come to him,” Elias said.

    [ad_2]

    Nabih Bulos

    Source link

  • Number of children abducted in Nigerian school attack raised to more than 300

    [ad_1]

    A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.“We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.

    ABUJA, Nigeria —

    A total of 303 schoolchildren and 12 teachers were abducted by gunmen during an attack on St. Mary’s School, a Catholic institution in north-central Nigeria’s Niger state, the Christian Association of Nigeria said Saturday, updating an earlier tally of 215 schoolchildren.

    The tally was changed “after a verification exercise and a final census was carried out,” according to a statement issued by the Most. Rev. Bulus Dauwa Yohanna, chairman of the Niger state chapter of CAN, who visited the school on Friday.

    He said 88 other students “were also captured after they tried to escape” during the attack. The students were both male and female and ranged in age from 10 to 18.

    The school kidnapping in Niger state’s remote Papiri community happened four days after 25 schoolchildren were seized in similar circumstances in neighboring Kebbi state’s Maga town, which is 170 kilometers (106 miles) away.

    No group has yet claimed responsibility for the abductions and authorities have said tactical squads have been deployed alongside local hunters to rescue the children.

    Yohanna described as false a claim from the state government that the school had reopened for studies despite an earlier directive for schools in that part of Niger state to close temporarily due to security threats.

    “We did not receive any circular. It must be an afterthought and a way to shift blame,” he said, calling on families “to remain calm and prayerful.”

    School kidnappings have come to define insecurity in Africa’s most populous nation, and armed gangs often see schools as “strategic” targets to draw more attention.

    UNICEF said last year that only 37% of schools across 10 of the conflict-hit states have early warning systems to detect threats.

    The kidnappings are happening amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims of targeted killings against Christians in the West African country. Attacks in Nigeria affect both Christians and Muslims. The school attack earlier this week in Kebbi state was in a Muslim-majority town.

    The attack also took place as Nigerian National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu was visiting the U.S. where he met Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Friday.

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • In the West Bank’s last Christian village, faith, fear and an uncertain future

    [ad_1]

    TAYBEH, West Bank — “Come visit Taybeh,” begins the brochure touting the touristic attractions here, the last entirely Palestinian Christian village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

    Though it counts Jesus among its many visitors over the years, said Khaldoon Hanna, Taybeh’s avuncular deputy mayor, these days “no one is coming.”

    He sighed as he looked around the restaurant he owns on the village’s Main Street. It felt abandoned, with little trace of activity in the kitchen and a layer of dust coating most tables. Only one faucet worked in the bathroom, but it didn’t feel worth it to repair the rest.

    “In the last two years, I haven’t had more than 20 tourists come in here,” Hanna said.

    How could they, Hanna said, when you have to negotiate a growing gantlet of Israeli roadblocks just to get here? Or face off emboldened settlers who make increasing forays into the village to burn cars or destroy property? In July, they even tried to set fire to the ruins of the Church of St. George, a 4th century Byzantine structure on Taybeh’s hilltop, Hanna and religious leaders said; the Israeli government says it’s unclear what started the blaze.

    “There’s a vicious attack on us at this point, and we as Christians, we can do nothing,” Hanna said. “If we don’t get support, be it social, political, economic, we’ll be extinct soon.”

    A man walks up the main road in Taybeh, a West Bank village of 1,200 residents that is proud of its heritage.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    Life as a Palestinian near the settlements has long been difficult in this bucolic portion of the West Bank, where the olive groves covering the hills are the sites of regular confrontations between Palestinian residents and Jewish settlers. The confrontations have become increasingly lethal, with more than 1,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and armed settlers since the Hamas-led onslaught in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the United Nations.

    But although the war in Gaza is abating, extremist settler groups such as the so-called Hilltop Youth have doubled down on their unprecedented — and increasingly effective — campaign of harassment and land-grabbing that has hit all Palestinians, regardless of religion or political affiliation.

    This year, the U.N.’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA, tallied more than 1,000 attacks in the West Bank through August, putting it on track to be the most violent on record.

    And the scope of the intimidation campaign is increasing: The olive harvest in October saw 126 attacks on Palestinians and their property in 70 West Bank towns and villages; it was almost three times the number of attacks and double the communities targeted during 2023’s harvest. More than 4,000 olive trees and saplings were vandalized, the highest number in six years, OCHA says.

    Almost half of those attacks have been in Ramallah governorate, which encompasses Taybeh and a slew of communities contending with intensifying violence from settlement outposts — that is, encampments set up by settlers in rural parts of the West Bank that are illegal under Israeli law but often protected by the authorities.

    People walking on the grounds of a white church with a lighted entryway

    Worshipers walk on the grounds of Christ the Redeemer Latin Church in Taybeh.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    Taybeh, which means “delicious” in Arabic and which relies on tourism along with olive and other harvests, has been particularly affected, if only because of sheer demographics: Christians account for roughly 1% to 2% of the 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank, down from about 10% when Israel was founded in 1948.

    Even within that tiny minority, Taybeh’s 1,200 residents are fiercely proud of their community and see it as unique. Tourists have long come here, whether to day-trip through hiking trails where prophets once trod or visit the village’s different churches. In years past, it was the site of an Oktoberfest celebration that would draw 16,000 people.

    Just as Christians in other parts of the Middle East have left because of war and instability, the constant lack of security, not to mention the economic strangulation that has accompanied it, have pushed 10 families to emigrate from the village in the last two years. It may sound like a small number, but it is a loss the village can ill afford, said Father Jack-Nobel Abed of Taybeh’s Greek Melkite Catholic Church.

    Abed, who sports an impressive beard and a baritone voice, passionately advocates for Christians to stay in the Holy Land. When U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee — an ardent supporter of the settler movement — visited Taybeh after the torching near the church, Abed asked him to not issue U.S. immigrant visas to Christians from the area.

    “I told him, ‘We have something to do in this land. This is our land, and our roots are deep enough to reach hell,’” Abed said. But he said he also understood if people leave for a time and return later.

    “If the circumstances and the situation is forcing someone [to leave] because they’re afraid their kids will be killed, imprisoned, or to have no proper future, then you can’t hold a stick and stop them from what they need to do,” Abed said.

    He has little patience for Christian Zionists such as Huckabee, who he said claim to care for Christians in the region while turning a blind eye to the persecution driving them away.

    “Who are you to speak in my name as a Christian? How would you have learned of Christianity if it weren’t for someone like me in this land?” Abed asked.

    A man with dark hair and mustache stands with hands clasped near empty tables in his restaurant

    Khaldoon Hanna, in the restaurant he owns in Taybeh, says few tourists visit the village anymore because of violence committed by Israeli settlers and increased security measures imposed by Israel in the West Bank.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    The Israeli military says it works to prevent settler attacks, and Palestinians must coordinate with Israeli authorities in advance to visit their lands if they’re near settlements or outposts. But even when Palestinians do that, settlers often come out to block them anyway, and they’ve commandeered areas that never required coordination in the past.

    When Palestinians fight back, the army prosecutes them under military law, while settlers, if they’re prosecuted at all, are subject to civil law. A report last year from the Israeli human rights group Yesh Din said more than 93% of investigations of settlers between 2005 and 2023 closed without an indictment. Only 3% led to a conviction.

    A store in a building sits empty next to another building, with a statue in front

    A butcher shop sits empty in Taybeh, a village in the central West Bank about 20 miles east of Jerusalem.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    In any case, Hanna and others say, the line between settlers and army has been blurred since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

    “It’s all the same,” Hanna said. “The entire aim is to make me forget anything called Palestine — to reach a point of desperation where I have nothing here. I have no future here.”

    On that point, Hanna and hard-line settlers agree.

    “Look at how much territory we’ve conquered in the last two years, in how many places the wheel has turned and despair has seeped into the enemy,” wrote settler leader Elisha Yered on X in a post exhorting Jews to deny Palestinians employment opportunities.

    A woman in a dark T-shirt and jeans is seated, with equipment behind her

    Madees Khoury, general manager of the Taybeh Brewing Co., at the family-run brewery in Taybeh.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    But some Palestinians refuse to give up. Madees Khoury, the general manager of Taybeh Brewing Co., is one of those who choose to stay in town, though she knows at least one family gearing up to emigrate in the coming weeks.

    “Khalas, you can’t blame them,” she said, using the Arabic word for “enough.” “It’s sad. These are the good people, the ones you want to stay, to build, to educate their kids, to resist.”

    That was the ethos driving her family, which opened the microbrewery in the optimistic days after the 1993 Oslo Accords, when peace and a Palestinian state seemed within reach. Instead of starting a brewery in Boston, Khoury’s father, Nadeem Khoury, and his brother gave up their business in Brookline, Mass., and moved back with their kids to Taybeh.

    Khoury started hanging out in the brewery when she was 7, folding cartons “and generally staying in other people’s way.” She remembers her childhood during the second intifada, or uprising, when she couldn’t attend birthday parties because of Israeli checkpoint closures, and driving through mountain passes permeated by the smell of tear gas.

    “It’s not normal. But I’m a stronger Palestinian for having gone through it. I’m not afraid of a settler in the checkpoint with an M-16; he’s more terrified of me,” she said. She added that pressure from the U.S. is the only way to reduce the wave of violence engulfing her village.

    “If Americans want peace, if they really care about the Christians in Palestine, they wouldn’t allow settlers to stay on Taybeh land and causing problems.”

    An image of a man with a crown of thorns and other religious pictures hang on a wall

    Iconography is displayed inside the ruins of the 4th century Church of St. George in Taybeh.

    (Maya Alleruzzo / For The Times)

    Although Israel portrays itself as a model of religious freedom, there has been a rise in anti-Christian behavior in recent years. A 2024 report by the Jerusalem-based Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue counted 111 reported cases of attacks against Christians in Israel and the West Bank, including 46 physical assaults, 35 attacks against church properties and 13 cases of harassment.

    “We think that as Christians, nothing will happen to us. But this is empty talk. As long as you’re Palestinian, they’ll attack you,” Khoury said.

    After earning a college degree in Boston, she came back in 2007 and has been working at the brewery since. She acknowledges that the last two years have been the most difficult yet, with business down 70% and Israeli security procedures turning a 90-minute drive to the port of Haifa into a three-day odyssey. Still, the company used the lull to build a new brewery — an expression of faith despite the almost daily settler attacks.

    “My brother jokes around and says we’re building this for the settlers to take,” she said, walking through the new brewery wing.

    She paused for a moment, her face turning serious.

    “We’re not going anywhere. We’re building. We’re growing. We’re investing. And we’re staying,” she said.

    “Because this is home.”

    [ad_2]

    Nabih Bulos

    Source link

  • President Trump threatens possible military action in Nigeria

    [ad_1]

    President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is directing the Pentagon to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria, as he accused the country’s government of failing to stop the killing of Christians. “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom the Trump administration is now referring to as the Secretary of War, responded soon after with his own post, saying, “Yes sir.” “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth wrote.On Friday, Trump also said he would designate Nigeria “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians. Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu responded on social media Saturday, saying his administration is open to deepening cooperation with the United States and the international community to protect people of all faiths. He also acknowledged the country’s security challenges but rejected Trump’s framing of his government’s response. “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said. More from the Washington Bureau:

    WASHINGTON —

    President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he is directing the Pentagon to prepare for possible military action in Nigeria, as he accused the country’s government of failing to stop the killing of Christians.

    “If the Nigerian Government continues to allow the killing of Christians, the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria, and may very well go into that now disgraced country, ‘guns-a-blazing,’ to completely wipe out the Islamic Terrorists who are committing these horrible atrocities,” Trump wrote on social media.

    Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, whom the Trump administration is now referring to as the Secretary of War, responded soon after with his own post, saying, “Yes sir.”

    “The killing of innocent Christians in Nigeria — and anywhere — must end immediately,” Hegseth wrote.

    On Friday, Trump also said he would designate Nigeria “a country of particular concern” for allegedly failing to rein in the persecution of Christians.

    Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu responded on social media Saturday, saying his administration is open to deepening cooperation with the United States and the international community to protect people of all faiths. He also acknowledged the country’s security challenges but rejected Trump’s framing of his government’s response.

    “The characterisation of Nigeria as religiously intolerant does not reflect our national reality, nor does it take into consideration the consistent and sincere efforts of the government to safeguard freedom of religion and beliefs for all Nigerians,” Tinubu said.

    More from the Washington Bureau:

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The Politics of Faith After Charlie Kirk

    [ad_1]

    In the fourteenth verse of the first chapter of the Gospel of John, the text explains Jesus Christ’s entry into the world in two brief sentences: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” It is this duality within Jesus—of not exactly opposing principles but of ones that exist in a kind of equipoise—that is the conundrum at the heart of the Christian message: God’s grace comes in the form of his unconditional love, but he also judges based on his truth. Followers of Jesus are meant to emulate him by loving their enemies, but also, as the apostle Paul exhorts in Ephesians, to “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground.”

    Last year, George Janko, a comedian and social-media influencer, hosted the conservative activist Charlie Kirk on his podcast. Kirk had been building his reputation as an imperious, right-wing avenger on college campuses, debating anyone willing to step up to the microphone to challenge him. Janko asked Kirk if he ever felt guilty about “annihilating some child” during those appearances. Kirk admitted that he did feel badly, on occasion, if it seemed as if he was “being unjust.” He did not elaborate on what he meant by this, and Janko failed to press him on the matter or his incendiary statements concerning Black people, the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and other groups, but, as Kirk saw it, the problem on college campuses was that “the entire institution”—he seemed to be speaking generally—was “in contradiction with God’s law.” Kirk said that it was important to remember that “Christ is all grace and all truth,” gesturing with his hands to his left and right, as if to emphasize their two-way relationship. As a result, Kirk said, if he was “contesting in the public arena for truth,” and his words angered someone, he wasn’t being disobedient to the teachings of Christ. He maintained that it was his responsibility, as a Christian, to “correct error with truth.”

    Kirk did appear to be reflective about what his pugnaciousness might say about his personal character as a Christian. At one point on the podcast, he rattled off, from memory, the fruit of the Spirit, the qualities that Paul listed in his letter to the Galatians as evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives. Kirk mentioned love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. He said that he had the most difficulty with self-control. Nevertheless, Kirk believed that his calling from God was to be a fighter, a combatant in the culture wars. “Some people are called to heal the sick,” he said. “Some people are called to mend broken marriages.” Kirk declared that his call was “to fight evil and proclaim truth. That’s it.”

    It is this martial spirit that has suffused much of the MAGA world’s reaction to Kirk’s death. Two days after his murder, his wife, Erika, released an emotional video on Instagram, in which she thanked the first responders who tried to save her husband’s life, and President Trump, Vice-President J. D. Vance, and his wife, Usha, for their support, among others, but she ended on a defiant note. “If you thought that my husband’s mission was powerful before, you have no idea,” she said. “You have no idea what you just have unleashed across this entire country, and this world. You have no idea. You have no idea the fire that you have ignited within this wife. The cries of this widow will echo around the world like a battle cry.” The following Sunday, in Plano, Texas, at Prestonwood Baptist Church, one of the largest megachurches in the country, the Reverend Jack Graham, referred to Kirk as a warrior and a martyr and then played an A.I.-generated video of Kirk, speaking from beyond the grave. “Don’t waste one second mourning me,” he says. “Double down on truth, double down on courage, double down on your faith and on your families.” Kirk’s cloned voice picks up speed and urgency, as he compels listeners to “dry your tears, pick up your cross, and get back in the fight.” As if answering an altar call, congregants in the cavernous auditorium at Prestonwood rose to their feet for an extended ovation.

    Then, last week, during a memorial service for Kirk at State Farm Stadium, in Glendale, Arizona, his widow struck a notably different tone, summoning the Gospel of Luke, in which Jesus on the Cross says, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” In that spirit, Erika Kirk said that she forgave her husband’s shooter. “The answer to hate is not hate,” she said. “The answer, we know from the Gospel, is love and always love: love for our enemies, and love for those who persecute us.” Many who took the stage before and after her, however, spoke the language not of forgiveness but of girding for battle. The result was a startling spectacle of religious and political triumphalism. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, said, “The day that Charlie died, the angels wept, but those tears have been turned into fire in our hearts. And that fire burns with a righteous fury that our enemies cannot comprehend or understand.” President Trump, the final speaker of the day, noted that Kirk was a “martyr now for American freedom” and denounced his killer as a “radicalized, cold-blooded monster.” Trump praised Kirk as a man who “wanted the best” for his opponents. But Trump said this is where he and Kirk parted ways. “I hate my opponents,” he said. “I don’t want the best for them.”

    The overwhelming sensation at this moment in American politics is one of precarity. It remains to be seen how evangelicals mourning Kirk’s death will respond. Will they see it as their duty to don the armor of God, as soldiers, or will they feel called to a different approach? Dallas Willard was an influential evangelical thinker and philosophy professor at the University of Southern California, who died in 2013. His ability to range across metaphysics and theology with a popular audience made him a kind of modern-day C. S. Lewis. Two years after Willard’s death, his daughter, Rebecca, published a collection of his lectures and writings titled “The Allure of Gentleness: Defending the Faith in the Manner of Jesus.” Willard believed that the ministry of apologetics in the Church—the work of defending the Christian faith against its critics—had become overly focussed on “intellectual debates and arguments,” and he cautioned believers against adopting “an antagonizing, arrogant spirit” when engaging with challengers. He wrote that the Christian apologetic should be characterized by its gentleness, because “what we are seeking to defend or explain is Jesus himself, who is a gentle, loving shepherd. If we are not gentle in how we present the good news, how will people encounter the gentle and loving Messiah we want to point to?”

    [ad_2]

    Michael Luo

    Source link

  • The Power of Humility

    [ad_1]

    I guess it’s all in the interpretation. I went to church intent on hearing a particular preacher, only to find him absent from the pulpit. The guest minister’s sermon on humility was a stark reminder that it’s all about the message and not necessarily the messenger. Fortunately for me, that was one of the spiritual lessons I learned from the minister who saved my life, coincidentally, the one I would hear on that Sunday. As the guest pastor was trying to clarify and explain, humility should be viewed from Philippians 2. That entire chapter is devoted to Paul’s message to the Church at Philippi regarding “imitating Christ’s humility. “As I listened, humility went from a concept of docile behavior to a fact of faith and strength of conduct. By that, I mean it was made clear that Christ chose to consider Himself at best equal to, if not lesser than, his fellow man. Remember, we’re talking about God here. He consciously chose to make himself human to serve His divine purpose. The text says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others are better than you. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” Now, my recollection of Christ says that a pretty good description of how He looked upon His duty is what got Him killed. I mean, isn’t it interesting that the most dangerous, therefore the most powerful and important, thing you can do in life is to care about someone else more than you care about yourself? This humility does indeed have teeth.

    Paul teaches us that as Christians, it is our fundamental responsibility to be united to emulate Jesus’ denunciation of status, pride, ego, and self. Surely, if anyone had a right to be arrogant, it was the living Son of God. You try being the walking, talking Word and deliberately transform yourself into a mortal human. If you can grasp that thought, please don’t let it blow your mind because you know you couldn’t do it. Become Christ and die willingly on the cross by the hands of mere men. Fortunately, the minister clarified that Paul is not asking us to do the impossible. He lets us know that our goal is to serve men. Put a lid on what we think of ourselves and prideful independence in favor of our collective interdependence upon each other and the Almighty. Christ died to save us all here in Philippi. Paul tells us that our conduct must be rooted in the following truth: out of this thing called humility, Christ saved the world.  Are we better than him? Think it through. If you looked down your nose at anyone for any reason, if you truly think you’re better than anyone else, then you think you’re better than Jesus, who thought himself no better and even less than you. He died in service to us, you and me. Do something good for someone else today simply because you can. If you don’t get this…

    May God bless and keep you always.

    [ad_2]

    James Washington

    Source link

  • Faith As In Homework

    [ad_1]

    From time to time, you read here in this space, my quest, goal, or challenge to define the work that accompanies the faith of a saved Christian. I believe that faith is a verb of a saved Christian. Faith is a verb, and action is the next logical step of a professed follower of Jesus Christ. My dilemma sometimes has been to determine just what it is that I’ve been called to do. What church should I join? What ministry should I participate in? What pastor should I follow? Invariably, when I have prayed on this for guidance, the Lord has a way of reminding me that these are my issues and not His. What church I attend, what pastor I listen to, and what so-called ministry I participate in do not matter to the Almighty. What does matter, He constantly reminds me, is service to my fellow man in His name.  Instead of focusing on what to do and which way to go, I should ask God for the opportunity to serve, witness, and expand the knowledge of Him through me.

    I am now convinced that whenever I struggle in the real world, trying to determine if I’m doing this thing right, I am falling prey to, allowing, if you will, the devil to do his thing. His thing is confusion. The more confused I am, the less I’ll do in God’s name, afraid to do the wrong thing. You see, Satan wins if nothing gets done. Each and every time I allow myself to take over, I lose. The prayer to God must first submit all things to His will and respond accordingly to what comes next.  What comes next is the work. What comes next is what God would have you do. The answer is understanding that the job of being a Christian is to let go and let God. The hard part is letting go. The easy part, once you’ve done that, is then and only then to recognize that God will give you something to do. Not only will He give you something to do, He will also give you the means to accomplish it. 

    Every time I get lost in my walk, I, by now, have enough sense to stop and ask directions from the Creator. I generally get what I’ve asked for each time I do this. Like Christ turning over tables in the temple, the point is doing God’s work, not getting hung up on the definition, parameters, or the name of the work. You know, Jesus spent a lifetime trying to get people to relate to the spirit of the law, rather than the rule of the law. Bingo! That’s it. The spirit of God’s law demands that we remain open to the possibility that we can, will be, and must be used in His service. We must give Him all the honor and all the glory. Faith prepares you for this. Faith molds you for this. Faith gives purpose and intent. Through this faith, God provides circumstances and opportunity. The rest is up to us. Just remember there is a way out when you get confused, lost, or overwhelmed. Treat the next person you meet, and deal with the next circumstance you encounter as sent by God to allow you to put your faith in His hands. Christ has already guaranteed the outcome. Let go and let God. The rest is given.

    May God bless and keep you always.

    [ad_2]

    James Washington

    Source link

  • Condition Critical

    Condition Critical

    [ad_1]

    You know they say an alcoholic has to admit he or she has a problem before he or she can begin any type of real rehabilitation.  How many times have we heard the affected person say over and over again that they really don’t have a problem? They can, in essence, stop any time they want to. It’s just that the ‘want to’ never supersedes the ‘don’t want to. And the ‘I can’t do this by myself’ never seems to surface until that person is face down in the dirt.

    Sometimes, I tend to think that coming to the Lord is much the same. People like me, and maybe you, are sick from the ignorance of the gospel and don’t understand the illness is killing us day by day. We don’t have the knowledge or the faith required to diagnose our problems and like the alcoholic or the addict, we don’t think we have one. We continue to engage in morally destructive behavior and, while ruining our own lives, take a few loved ones along for the nightmare. Unfortunately, many of us can not and will not testify, even after salvation, that we are sick. Not until we are face down in the dirt of life are we able to see the light and recognize that being born again is the only road to health, in this case, spiritual health. My point is simply this. Just like the road to recovery from an addiction is a long and arduous one, so is the road to following Christ. It is neither easy nor straight. Relapse can come from any direction at any time. This ain’t the yellow brick road. My bible says that the cost of following Jesus is an all-or-nothing proposition: once an addict, always an addict, once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic, once a Christian, always a Christian, once saved, always saved.

    “Jesus replied, ‘Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” Luke 9:58.Those who follow God don’t have it easy. On the contrary, life is extremely hard. Persecution from those haters who refuse to accept you as a Christian is the same as the person who offers the alcoholic a drink and can’t understand why he or she says no. One gets it. One doesn’t.

    [ad_2]

    James Washington

    Source link

  • Ready Aim Fire

    Ready Aim Fire

    [ad_1]

    I ask you just how hard is it to be a card-carrying Christian these days?  I mean we’ve got card carrying Democrats and Republicans.  You can get a membership card for every organization from the NAACP to the ACLU.  The more I study the more I’m moved to realize that being a professed, in the spirit card-carrying man or woman of faith, is tantamount to putting a bullseye on your back and inviting a artillery barrage on your location.  Scripture tells us that accepting Jesus Christ as a way of life was no easy task for early practitioners of faith.  Being criticized,thrown to the lions for fun and games, beheaded or ostracized were all very real possibilities for those who believed and then lived according to  the Word of God.  Is today so different?  Once you take up the standard of revolutionary thinking, once you commit your life to Christ, once you decide to live humbly in mercy and love and forgiveness isn’t it interesting the kind of attention you attract.  “Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout  the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” 1 Peter 5:8-9

    Looking around the world today, it is ludicrous not to recognize that religious persecution is still the number one cause of war and man’s inhumanity to man.  CNN will attest to the fact that people all over the planet are being systematically annihilated.  We sometimes take for granted the religious freedom we have in this country and I believe it has lulled us into a sense of being a Christian is somehow easy.  Well it’s not and it never has been.  It’s empowering.  It’s enlightening.  

    It’s eternal but it is not easy.  The good news is we are not alone and never have been.  Living for God is probably the quintessential reality of human existence.  Its reward is an inner understanding of the working of the universe that affords us to take physical life for granted in favor of life everlasting.  Many of us believe in life after physical death.  Christians have some insight into what to expect.  Life as we know it is imperfect and cruel.  Eternal life as we have come to believe is just the opposite.  Rationalizing the difference is where faith resides.  Is it any wonder then that belief in a deity that invites humility, demands love and recognizes mercy is cause for ruthless and radical reaction among those who would live otherwise?  Is it any wonder that love for Christ Jesus invites the wrath of Lucifer in all of his forms?  That target, that bullseye  on your back should indeed be worn like a red badge of courage, because courage is what it’s going to take to withstand first the ridicule of the world and next the scorn of those who would tempt you with the weakness of your passions.  And lastly, courage is the prerequisite for the certain death that will befall us all.  If life after death is a fact that most of us agree upon, then I belive it stands to reason that that badge Christians wear is most certainly a ticket into a kingdom blood bought and faith preserved for believers; the same believers who are shunned and persecuted and murdered today and yesterday in the name of God.


    A 2019 National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) Legacy Award winner, Washington is a communications practitioner in all forms of media for over four decades. He has served on numerous boards in…
    More by James Washington

    [ad_2]

    James Washington

    Source link

  • Rob Reiner Launches Disturbing Attack On Conservative Christians – ‘Antithetical To The Teachings Of Jesus’

    Rob Reiner Launches Disturbing Attack On Conservative Christians – ‘Antithetical To The Teachings Of Jesus’

    [ad_1]

    Opinion

    Source: MSNBC YouTube

    The radically liberal Hollywood star Rob Reiner launched a vile attack on conservative Christians, saying that they are “antithetical to the teachings of Jesus.”

    Reiner Attacks Christians

    Reiner is currently promoting his new documentary God & Country, which “looks at the implications of Christian Nationalism and how it distorts not only the constitutional republic, but Christianity itself,” according to IMDB.

    “This movement that they have here seems completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus,” Reiner, 76, told Newsweek.

    “Jesus was about peace and love and helping thy neighbor and those less fortunate than ourselves,” he continued. “And I thought that was something that we should all aspire to. So to me this movement is going totally opposite the teachings of Jesus.”

    Reiner went on to blame “Christian nationalism” for the January 6 Capitol riot. .

    “The Christian nationalist movement… it says that it’s my way or the highway and will resort to violence if we don’t get our way, which is what we saw happening on January 6,” he said.

    Reiner unsurprisingly also used this interview to attack the former President Donald Trump.

     “I can criticize [Donald] Trump because he’s the one who’s roping these people into this thinking,” he said. “Trump is a cult, and people who follow the cult are vulnerable. They’re looking for meaning, they’re looking for a direction, and you can get swept up in something [like that].”

    Related: Rob Reiner Launches Vile Attack On Christian Trump Supporters

    Reiner’s Previous Attack On Christians

    Reiner launched a similar attack on Christians last month.

    “Jesus told us to do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” Reiner wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “How in God’s name can anyone who believes in the teachings of Jesus support Donald Trump?”

    Unfortunately for Reiner, however, this immediately backfired on him big time when Christians hit back.

    “If you believed in Jesus you would know,” the Oscar-nominated Hollywood star Randy Quaid wrote in response.

    “You support Joe Biden You have no right to speak about Jesus or the Bible,” another X user commented, with a third writing, “President Trump brought prosperity to the US. He also brought peace. Biden has brought war, a crumbling economy, and an invaded border. It’s clear to anyone being honest that Trump is better for our country than Biden. That’s why Biden’s approval is so low. We need Trump now!”

    Related: Rob Reiner Calls Trump ‘New Leader Of The Confederacy’ Who Must Be Convicted

    Reiner Weighs In On Biden And Trump

    This comes one day after Reiner, who is fiercely loyal to Joe Biden, weighed in on the presidential election.

    “Okay. Here’s the truth. Biden is old,” he wrote on X. “But he is a decent moral person who is incredibly effective at governing. Trump is old. But he’s a pathologically lying criminal who is incapable of governing and will destroy American Democracy.”

    Reiner frequently uses his X profile to rant against Trump, who lives rent-free in his head.

    “Trump not only wants to destroy American Democracy, his alliance with Vladimir Putin will destroy Democracy around the world,” he wrote earlier this week.

    Reiner has long been one of the most shameless liberals in Hollywood, and he’s only become more fanatical as he’s gotten older. It’s both disturbing and despicable that Hollywood is giving him a platform to launch such vile attacks on conservative Christians.

    What do you think about Reiner’s latest comments? Let us know in the comments section.

    Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
    The Political Insider ranks #3 on Feedspot’s “100 Best Political Blogs and Websites.”

    An Ivy leaguer, proud conservative millennial, history lover, writer, and lifelong New Englander, James specializes in the intersection of… More about James Conrad

    [ad_2]

    James Conrad

    Source link

  • Thousands sign Christian petition condemning MAGA GOP’s “cruel policies”

    Thousands sign Christian petition condemning MAGA GOP’s “cruel policies”

    [ad_1]

    A Christian group’s petition slamming the “cruel policies” of Republicans aligned with former President Donald Trump‘s MAGA movement has been signed by thousands.

    Faithful America, a Christian group that backs social justice causes and opposes “Christian nationalism,” recently launched an online petition denouncing “far-right politicians” for using migrants as “political footballs” in negotiations. The petition, titled “Asylum Seekers Are Not Bargaining Chips,” had received over 7,700 signatures as of Friday morning.

    The petition comes as GOP demands to change immigration policies have helped put funding for unrelated issues like military aid to Ukraine and Israel on ice. Faithful America offered the petition while expressing concerns that some Democratic lawmakers might be willing to “hurt asylum seekers” to pass the legislation.

    Supporters of former President Donald Trump are pictured holding “Make America Great Again” signs during a rally in Henderson, Nevada, on September 1, 2020. A Christian group’s recent online petition condemns “MAGA Republicans” for pushing “cruel” immigration policies into congressional budget negotiations.
    Ethan Miller

    “Right now in Congress, far-right politicians are turning migrant families into political footballs by demanding permanent, drastic changes to our asylum system in exchange for funding once-bipartisan budget priorities,” the group said on a page sharing the petition.

    “MAGA Republicans are pushing for cruel policies that would be devastating to families seeking safety from disasters, violence, and economic crisis,” it continued. “Alarmingly, some Senate Democrats are actually indicating they might make a deal to hurt asylum seekers before the Christmas break.”

    Faithful America went on to note that “Congress could vote on this issue soon,” while urging supporters to “show them that the religious right doesn’t speak for us, and that a nationwide movement of Christians opposes this holiday-season attack on migrant families.”

    On Wednesday, Senate Republicans blocked a $110 billion supplemental national security funding bill amid a dispute over asylum and border policies. The package, which had been requested by President Joe Biden, included aid for Ukraine and Israel, alongside funding for humanitarian causes and border security.

    In a Senate floor speech on Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer denounced Republicans for throwing “an unnecessary wrench into Ukraine funding by tying it to the extraneous issue of the border,” arguing that it “defies credulity” for the GOP to attempt to inject “Donald Trump’s border policies” into foreign aid.

    Newsweek reached out for comment to the Republican National Committee and the office of Schumer via email on Friday.

    The Faithful America petition is being sent to the offices of Democratic senators, demanding that they “reject any funding bill that includes cuts to our asylum system.”

    “I am alarmed to hear that some senators are considering helping far-right House Republicans dismantle our asylum system as part of budget negotiations,” the text of the petition states. “I believe that migrant families are precious in the eyes of God, and should never be used as bargaining chips in a partisan negotiation.”

    Faithful America petitions often promote left-of-center political causes through a Christian lens, while denouncing Trump, the MAGA movement and the religious right.

    Petitions over the last few months have included denouncements of “immoral” MAGA budget goals, a “frighteningly real” right-wing threat to amend the U.S. Constitution and a description of new GOP Speaker of the House Mike Johnson as a “false prophet.”