|
|
|
|
|
Good afternoon! It's Thursday, April 13, and today's headlines include a report on church attacks in 2023, a Christian astronaut who is set to pilot NASA's first crewed trip around the moon in more than a half-century, and details from the National Action Network Convention.
|
There were 69 acts of vandalism against churches during the first three months of 2023, according to the Family Research Council's " Hostility Against Churches" report. Forty-three incidents were documented in January, while there were fourteen acts of vandalism in February and 12 in March. The total figure marks a significant increase in the number of attacks compared to previous years. FRC recorded 15 attacks
against churches in the first quarter of 2018, 12 in the same period in 2019, 14 in the first quarter of 2021, and 22 in the first four months of 2022. 2020 saw no attacks on churches in its first three months. Attacks were reported in 29 states, with the highest number of incidents occurring in North Carolina (7), followed by Ohio and Tennessee at five each, and Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania at four each. To learn more about the attacks, which including incidents of vandalism and theft, click here. |
Details of the report come as Konnarock Baptist Church of Washington County in Virginia revealed that vandals smashed windows and spray-painted profanity and vulgar images on the exterior and interior of the church on Easter Sunday. Some of the offensive messages and images spray-painted were "Believe in Satan, "I'm not sorry," a pentagram, the number 666, phallic images and a stick figure hanging from a noose. Continue reading. |
P.S. Get rewarded for sharing our newsletters! Sign-up for the CP referral program—the more you share, the more you earn. Scroll to the bottom of this newsletter to get started today!
|
|
Listen to the CP Daily Podcast   
|
|
|
|
|
Devout Christian astronaut Victor Glover has been announced as the pilot of NASA's first manned trip around the moon in more than 50 years. Glover will be one of four people from two countries to make the trip next November. The former U.S. Navy commander flew combat missions in Iraq and served as a legislative fellow to the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., before he joined NASA in 2013. Glover will be joined by astronauts Christina Hammock Koch, Reid Wiseman and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen on the 10-day flight test of NASA's Orion spacecraft. Read more. |
|
|
A report from Pew Research Center shows that 30% of Hispanics in the United States identify as "religiously unaffiliated." The figure marks a sharp increase compared to 2010 when just 10% of Hispanics identified as religiously unaffiliated, a number that jumped to 18% in 2013. Researchers also found that the percentage of Hispanics who identified as Catholic dropped from 67% in 2010 to 43% in 2022. Read more. |
|
|
During the National Action Network Convention on Wednesday, RowVaughn Wells, the grieving mother of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old black man who died three days after he received a brutal beating from five black officers during a Jan. 7 traffic stop gone awry, said she is inspired to keep living by the "power of prayer" and the belief that her son completed his "mission from God" on Earth. Her comments at the "From Grief to Action: The
Fight for Social Justice Continues" session came shortly after Memphis city council passed an "Achieving Driving Equality" ordinance Tuesday that advocates are now pushing to have renamed in honor of her son. Read more. |
|
|
|
|
"At an airport recently where we were experiencing bad weather and subsequent flight delays, I overheard a first-class passenger haranguing the customer service representative about his need for a plane," writes Bob Burckle. "She patiently explained that all the other passengers were in the same situation and there was nothing she could do. He responded that he was in first class and had an important meeting to get to. When she continued to explain that she couldn’t help him, he repeatedly asked 'do you know who I am?!' as if his renown would make all the difference." Continue reading. |
|
|
"Russia is not the bastion of traditionalism and religious freedom that the Putin regime claims it to be," writes the International Republican Insitute's Justin Roy. In this editorial, Roy calls out Russian propaganda that he says has prompted many conservatives and religious individuals to be "receptive" to Russia's claims, writing, "In reality, Vladimir Putin uses religion to manipulate foreign and domestic audiences while engaging in religious persecution." Read more. |
|
|
|
|
The #1 downloaded Christian dating app.
|
Find love today...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In this interview with CP, author Laine Lawson Craft opens up about past struggles she and her husband faced while raising their children and how her kids made it through spiritual battles that included depression, addiction and struggles with pornography. Craft explains she felt compelled to write her latest book, The Parent's Battle Plan: Warfare Strategies
To Win Back Your Prodigal, to help other parents "[b]ecause today, there is an all-out assault on our young children and adults." Read the full interview here. |
|
|
|
|
Award-winning Christian artist Tauren Wells took to Instagram over the weekend to reveal that he and his wife, Lorna, are relocating to Georgetown, Texas, where they will open a new church next spring. The website for the upcoming Church of White Stone describes the location as a place where people will discover their "God-authored identity through the wholehearted relationship with Jesus." Read more. |
|
|
Renowned actress, producer and activist Kerry Washington said during the National Action Network Convention on Wednesday that she sees "proof of God" in her marriage, husband and three children. Washington, who currently stars in the Hulu series "Unprisoned," shared her comments in response to civil rights activist Al Sharpton asking her how marriage and motherhood had changed her and how she was able to manage those roles while still maintaining a career. "I know that God loves me to have put those people in my life. ... That, to me, is so much of how I make the decisions about the activism that I do and the content that I make," she shared. Read more. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you for spending part of your day with us. We look forward to seeing you again tomorrow! -- CP Editors
|
|
|
|
