Updates

Court Allows Student Prayers

A federal appellate court says a recent Supreme Court ruling on school prayer does not prevent Alabama students from praying in school in student-initiated settings.

“So long as the prayer is genuinely student-initiated, and not the product of any school policy which actively or surreptitiously encourages it, the speech is private and it is protected,” the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in mid-October.

The Supreme Court asked the appellate court to reconsider its ruling in a DeKalb County, Alabama, case after the high court deemed unconstitutional a Santa Fe, Texas, school policy allowing student prayers before football games. The appellate court ruled that permitting student prayers in the Alabama case does not conflict with the Santa Fe decision, upholding its previous ruling.

Religion News Service

Sex-Trafficking Bill Passes U.S. House

The House has approved a bill that will provide $95 million to fight international sex trafficking, raising the penalties for those who are found guilty.

The House approved the Trafficking and Violence Victims Protection Act and reauthorized the $3.3 billion Violence Against Women Act in a 371–1 vote.

The bill provides funding to prosecute international sex trafficking and imposes possible life sentences on people convicted of sex trafficking within the United States. The fate of the bill is uncertain because it passed in the closing weeks of this year’s Congressional session.

Religion News Service

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Also in this issue

Anonymous Are the Peacemakers: The Nobel Peace Prize has brought fame to many peacemakers, but many unsung Christians have thwarted warfare by quiet, prayerful work.

Cover Story

Anonymous Are the Peacemakers

Briefs: North America

Quotations to Contemplate

Readers' Forum: Get Thou Over It!

Guest Columnist: Andy Crouch Crunching the Numbers

What Is Truth (About Pilate)?

Humility's Many Faces

Southern Baptists: Cracks in the Convention

Georgia: Can Jimmy Carter Say 'Farewell'?

Sexual Politics: InterVarsity Group on Probation

Bitter Pills

Intelligent Design: Design Interference

Outreach: More than 12 Steps

Chile: Leveling the Playing Field

Philippines: Hostage Drama Exposes Christians' Vulnerability

Briefs: The World

Uganda: Ebola Strikes Again

India: Christians Scorn 'China Model'

Messianic Ethiopians Face Discrimination

Not Just Another Megachurch

Wire Story

Jubilee 2000: Grassroots Activism Delivers Debt Relief

Review

The New/Old CCM

100 Years of Beatitude

Fellowship Without Borders

Reclaiming Santa

The Evolution of St. Nick

The Kinkade Crusade

The Making of an Original

Wire Story

Ariel Sharon: Mideast Peace Process Is Dead

Between the Temple Mount and a Hard Place

Brazil's Surging Spirituality

Kingdom Prodigy

The Business of Resurrection

Using Wesley's Old Playbook

From the CEO: Who's Who on the CTI Masthead

Real Political Realism

The Artist as Prophet

View issue

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A Third Presidential Term, South American Boat Strikes, and ChatGPT Erotica

Trump hints at running in 2028, US strikes more alleged drug boats, ChatGPT produces erotica.

Review

Finding God on the Margins of American Universities

A new account of faith in higher education adds some neglected themes to more familiar story lines.

From Prohibition to Pornography

In 1958, CT pushed evangelicals to engage important moral issues even when they seemed old-fashioned.

Indian Churches Encourage Couples to Leave and Cleave

For many couples, in-laws are a major source of marital strife.

Tackling Unemployment

The head of The T.D. Jakes foundation on job assistance and economic empowerment.

Review

First Comes Sex, Then Comes Gender

A new book acknowledges both categories as biblically valid—but insists on ordering them properly.

In Politics, Contempt Is a Common Tongue

Antisemitic, racist texts show the need for spiritual and character renewal.

The Just Life with Benjamin Watson

Stephen Enada: Exposing a Silent Slaughter

Unpacking the crisis facing Nigeria’s persecuted Church

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