United States
Apology for false claims of stolen election
Salem Media Group, the company behind thousands of Christian radio stations, apologized to a Georgia man who was falsely accused of “ballot harvesting” in 2000 Mules,the debunked documentary it distributed. The film made by former Christian college president Dinesh D’Souza and a group called True the Vote grossed $1.5 million in theaters promoting the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump. True the Vote acknowledged in court that it couldn’t back up the claims made in the film. Salem settled the defamation suit for an undisclosed amount.
Businesses commit to religious diversity
More than 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies now name religious diversity as a company value, more than double the number that included faith in their diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in 2022.
Puerto Rico
Church of the Brethren split
All six Church of the Brethren congregations in Puerto Rico separated from their Anabaptist denomination, historically known as “Dunkers.” They then joined the Covenant Brethren Church, which is made up of congregations that split away in 2020 in a dispute over how a tradition opposed to all coercion should exercise authority over those who deviate from official teaching on homosexuality. Forty of the Church of the Brethren’s roughly 1,000 congregations are affirming. Denomination leaders said they were disappointed not to be included in the Puerto Rico churches’ discernment process.
Italy
Roman church is not a place of worship, court rules
Italy’s supreme court has ruled that an evangelical church in Rome is not a place of worship. The church’s pastor, Leonardo De Chirico, says this is an example of the struggle evangelicals face in Catholic-majority countries. Tax officials, reviewing an application for a religious exemption for Breccia di Roma (Breach of Rome), noted the storefront did not have the “intrinsic characteristics” of a religious building, such as an altar or icons. It is in fact a multifunctional space, with offices, a library, and a missions training center. The church successfully argued in two lower courts that the “intrinsic characteristic” standards were not objective before losing at the supreme court. De Chirico plans to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights.
United Kingdom
C. S. Lewis poem found
A previously unknown C. S. Lewis poem has been discovered. It celebrates hospitality, whiskey, warm blankets, and Beowulf and reveals developments in Lewis’s understanding of Old English poetry. The work was written under the pen name “Nat Whilk,” which is a sly reference to the Old English word for “anonymous.” It was given to medievalists Ida and E. V. Gordon after Lewis visited them in 1935. The Gordons left a note with the poem that said, “Another unusual thank you from C. S. Lewis.” Their daughter sold their papers to the University of Leeds archives in 2014.
Algeria
Pastor in prison for illegal worship
An appeals court upheld the conviction of Youssef Ourahmane, a pastor found guilty of “illegal worshipping.” Police have kept all 43 Église Protestante d’Algérie (Protestant Church of Algeria) congregations in the country closed since 2019. Alliance Defending Freedom International hopes to convince the country’s supreme court to hear an appeal of the case.
Kenya
Evangelical alliance wants politicians out of pulpits
Kenya’s evangelical alliance called for churches to stop allowing politicians to campaign during worship services. Philip Kitoto, chairman and Assemblies of God bishop, said Christians need to maintain “sanctity in the pulpit.” The statement came after supporters of the United Democratic Alliance clashed with supporters of the Orange Democratic Movement when leaders from both parties spoke in a Pentecostal church in the southwestern city of Kisii. Police broke up the fight with tear gas.
Ivory Coast
1 million Methodists leave the UMC
Ivory Coast Methodists convened a special session and voted to leave the United Methodist Church (UMC) after the denomination lifted its ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriages. The Église Méthodiste Unie Côte d’Ivoire (United Methodist Church of Ivory Coast), which joined with the UMC in 2004, said the denomination now “distances itself from the Holy Scripture” and is “based on sociocultural and contextual values that have consumed its doctrinal and disciplinary integrity.” The Ivorian church has more than one million members and was the largest jurisdiction of the UMC outside the US. The church has not yet decided on a new name or whether or not it will affiliate with another denomination.
Israel
Christians flee war
As many as half of the Christians who lived in Gaza before the Israel-Hamas war have fled, according to International Christian Concern. Exact numbers are impossible to determine because many have been displaced from their homes but remain in the territory. To leave Gaza completely, the only option is Egypt. The border, however, is tightly controlled, and crossing is facilitated by one tourism company, which charges about $5,000 per adult, more than 10 times the monthly minimum wage. The Christian community in the territory was already beleaguered. In 2006, churches were attacked by mobs angry at comments Pope Benedict XVI made about Islam. The manager of the only Christian bookstore was murdered in 2007. A Catholic school was bombed in 2008. Now, Israel Defense Forces occupy Gaza’s only Baptist church and Palestinian Christians say they are not sure what will be left when the fighting ends. One Baptist said those who remain are “too tired to suffer.”
Bahrain
Evidence of early Christian community excavated
The first physical evidence of historic Christianity in Bahrain was uncovered in an archaeological dig on the northern coast. The identity of the building is unmistakable: It is marked by three crosses and the Chi-Rho symbol for “Christ.” The building appears to have been used from the fourth to eighth centuries before it was abandoned at a time of widespread Islamic conversion.
Pakistan
Christian woman first to be named general
Helen Mary Roberts was promoted to general in the Pakistani military, becoming the first Christian and the first woman from a religious minority to earn that rank. Roberts is a doctor who has served in the army’s medical corps for more than 25 years. She worked to improve medical protocols and build pathology labs to bolster the army’s diagnostic abilities. Her promotion is seen by some commentators as fulfillment of a promise of pluralism in Pakistan.
South Korea
Pastor faces charges in handbag scandal
A pastor is being prosecuted after he secretly filmed himself giving a luxury handbag to the first lady. Choi Jae-young said he was doing undercover journalism to show the public that President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, are corrupt. Now Choi faces charges of graft, defamation, and trespassing. In the video published online, Choi and Kim talk about their common hometown and Choi asks for advice on political advocacy before giving Kim a Christian Dior purse worth 3 million won (about $2,200 USD). No charges have been filed against the first lady.
This article appeared in the September/October 2024 issue of Christianity Today as "Briefings".
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