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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Marvin Olasky Officially Named Editor in Chief

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Wonderology

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As Shutdown Strains Incomes, Church Ramps Up to Feed the Hungry

In suburban Detroit, a $50,000 ministry grant helps families keep food on the tables during furloughs.

News

Kenyan Churches Struggle to Support Childless Couples

One Christian woman hopes to destigmatize infertility.

The Just Life with Benjamin Watson

Lecrae Moore: Why Lecrae Won’t Be Silent

Exploring faith that acts, how the gospel grounds justice, why silence wounds, and what hopeful, everyday courage looks like.

Review

‘Roe v. Wade’ Eroded the Church’s Historic Pro-Life Consensus

It was already unraveling by 1973. Repairing it today won’t be easy.

Taylor Swift Makes Showgirls of Us All

Something compels us to perform our relationship with the pop star’s music. Maybe that’s her secret to success.

Public Theology Project

The Loss of One Forgotten Virtue Could Destroy the Country

We’ve all become numb to this unserious, trivializing age.

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