(RNS) — Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention have called the reports by two Texas newspapers of hundreds of sex abuse cases in affiliated churches evidence of “pure evil” and “satanic” behavior within their ranks. Several vowed to improve the ways churches address such behavior. The Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News launched an “Abuse of Faith” investigative series over the weekend that reports about 220 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to sexual misconduct in the last two decades. Overall, they found about 380 Southern Baptists who faced allegations from more than 700 victims in that time period. “Nearly 100 are still held in prisons stretching from Sacramento County, Calif., to Hillsborough County, Fla., state and federal records show,” they reported. “Scores of others cut deals and served no time. More than 100 are registered sex offenders. Some still work in Southern Baptist churches today.” SBC … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (RNS) — President Trump began his remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast by renewing his commitment to the religious conservatives who helped lift him into office. “I will never let you down, I can say that — never,” Trump said as he approached the podium on Thursday morning (Feb. 7), speaking to a gathering of religious leaders, political figures and more than a few evangelical Christians. The event was organized by Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who currently co-chair both the national breakfast and the weekly Senate prayer breakfast on Capitol Hill. Lankford cited 1 Timothy while introducing the president, noting a passage that encourages the faithful to pray for those in authority. “From the earliest days — 2,000 years ago — Paul was writing to them and saying, ‘Don’t forget to pray for your leaders,’” Lankford said. Trump made numerous references to his State of the Union address from earlier in the week and celebrated … [Read more...]

(RNS) Like houses of worship across the U.S., Calvary Church in Santa Ana, Calif., typically hasn’t had to worry about filing a federal tax form. But an obscure provision in the corporate tax overhaul approved by the Republican-controlled Congress at the end of 2017 may change that. That provision imposes a 21 percent tax on employee parking benefits provided by thousands of congregations and nonprofits from coast to coast. To pay that tax, some churches may have to file form 990-T paperwork with the IRS if they provide parking for employees. “No one is ever excited to pay more taxes, especially on what used to be free parking for our employees, but we will comply with whatever the final guidance is on the new tax,” said Michael Welles, executive pastor of Calvary Church, a Southern California megachurch with 2,200 weekend attendees and a $5.5 million annual budget. “We would rather invest our funds into helping our community.” Many pastors contacted by Religion News … [Read more...]

(RNS) Imran Shahbaz, a 40-year-old Chicago native, grew up watching the Cubs play baseball. He and his father, a Pakistani immigrant, bonded by watching games on TV. His mother, a Mexican immigrant, used to get them standing-room tickets to games at Wrigley Field. “It was our thing growing up,” he told Religion News Service. “It was our American thing to do together.” So it felt a bit jarring for him to read Joe Ricketts’ emails. A series of leaked emails from the billionaire patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs revealed that he had been sharing racist, anti-Muslim jokes and conspiracy theories with friends and family for years. “It was a slap in the face,” Shahbaz, a Muslim, said. “We just want to watch the games without feeling alienated. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask for. But I guess this kind of Islamophobia and ignorance is just American life now.” The emails, which Splinter News published on Monday (Feb. 4) and include messages from 2009 to 2013, … [Read more...]

JERUSALEM (RNS) — When pieces of ancient pottery and never-before-seen scroll fragments began making their way to the antiquities black market a few years ago, archaeologists suspected that looters had found a new cache of Dead Sea Scrolls. Determined to discover and protect whatever scrolls might still be hidden in the parched Judean desert, a joint team of archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., began excavating some of the unexplored caves near Qumran, where all known Dead Sea Scrolls were found in the 1940s and 1950s. “The concern was that the caves were being ransacked by locals who were illegally selling them,” said Randall Price, a professor of biblical and Judaic studies at Liberty University and co-director of the excavation, which began three years ago. “The Geneva Convention permits salvage excavations to try to recover items before they’re lost to history.” If and when Price’s team unearths additional … [Read more...]

(RNS) — Every morning when Khadra Abdo wakes up, her mind turns to her children. “My first thought is that I hope they are safe today, and that stays on my mind throughout the whole day,” Abdo told Religion News Service through an interpreter provided by Church World Service. The 40-year-old Muslim mother of seven was separated from her five oldest children from a first marriage nearly 12 years ago when she and her second husband fled civil war twice — first in Somalia, then in Libya. When they arrived in Columbus, Ohio, as asylum seekers in 2012, she filed a request for her four teenaged daughters and one son, living with her 75-year-old mother in Ethiopia, to join her through World Relief. Seven years later, she is still waiting. And the World Relief office that once helped her has been closed. That closure in 2017 was a “direct result” of President Trump’s executive order to cut the number of refugees resettled that year in the United States, World Relief said at the … [Read more...]