Rise Of Hispanic Evangelical Church

TIME magazine takes a look at the influence Of Latinos In America's Religion here.

Protest over Jesus’-Stomping Exercise

More than 50 demonstrators showed up at Florida Atlantic University to support professor Deandre Poole. He is on leave after telling students to stomp on a piece of paper after writing Jesus on it. Protestors say administrators should not have apologized or gotten involved with the what they deem to be a classroom issue. They called it an issue of academic freedom. The group of protestors went so far as to mimic the original exercise itself. The Faculty Senate plans to debate the issue with the administration on April 19.

Lawsuit over flowers at gay wedding

The state of Washington is suing Arlene's Flowers owner Barronelle Stutzman for refusing to provide flowers for a gay wedding. The Richland, Washington florist say she couldn't do it because of her "relationship with Jesus." The state attorney general wrote in the lawsuit that this is a violation of the Washington anti-discrimination law. It's rarity for the government to file a discrimination suit on its own. Stutzman could have signed a document promising to provide flowers for gay wedding in the future but her own lawyers say this is not an issue of discrimination but an instance of the government infringing on her First Amendment right to free speech and that Stutzman is entitled to exercise her religious conscience and arranging flowers is an act of personal expression.

Warren Makes Plans following Son's Death

Rick Warren and his wife are planning private funeral services for their son who shot and killed himself this last week. Matthew suffering from depression his entire life. The Warren's also plan to established the Matthew Warren Fund for Mental Illness and set up a blog site to accept contributions to "others affected by mental illness." Since news of his suicide became public, Warren has been attacked for his political stands against same-sex marriage and for his preaching. Here's a video from the church's Sunday morning service.

False Rumor about Joel Osteen

A fake website proclaimed that Megachurch pastor Joel Osteen was resigning from the pulpit due to a lack of faith. You can see it here. It was only a hoax. The Texas pastor's name is even misspelled in the web address. The site includes a fake CNN story with the headline Pastor of mega church resigns, rejects Christ. A statement alledgedly from Osteen reads, "I believe now that the Bible is a fallible, flawed, highly inconsistent history book that has been altered hundreds of times. There is zero evidence the Bible is the holy word of God. In fact, there is zero evidence 'God' even exists." There are more details at the Houston Chronicle here.

Rick Warren's Son Commits Suicide

Matthew Warren, the youngest son of megachurch Pastor Rick Warren, is dead. The 27 year old committed suicide yesterday after a lifetime of battling mental illness. Rick Warren wrote The Purpose-Driven Life and founded Saddleback Valley Community Church. He sent members of his church a letter that read in part:

“At 27 years of age, Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many. Unfortunately, he also suffered from mental illness resulting in deep depression and suicidal thoughts. No words can express the anguished grief we feel right now. He had a brilliant intellect and a gift for sensing who was most in pain or most uncomfortable in a room. He’d then make a bee-line to that person to engage and encourage them. In spite of America’s best doctors, meds, counselors, and prayers for healing, the torture of mental illness never subsided. Today, after a fun evening together with Kay and me, in a momentary wave of despair at his home, he took his life.

Read the whole letter here.

How ‘The Bible’ Broke Through

The final episode of the History Channel’s The Bible pulled in more than 11 million viewers.  Read the story of how the show broke through at Wall Street Journal here.

Baptist Leader on Gays and Korea

Southern Baptist Convention president Fred Luter went on CNN to defend his comments linking the North Korea's military threats to the debate over gay marriage.

President's pastor attacks 'religious right' on Easter

President Obama attend Easter worship at St. John’s Church where Luis Leon called conservatives bigots and racists from the pulpit. Here's a video report from Fox News.

Edith Schaeffer

Edith Schaeffer died over the weekend. She was 98 years old. She co-founded L'Abri along with her husband Francis Schaeffer and wrote more than a dozen books.

Arrested for soliciting a prostitute

Bob Jones University's "Chief Brand Officer" was suspended for allegedly soliciting a prostitute. Read the story here.

The money man behind atheism’s activism

"He wants to see the atheism movement expand its footprint." Read the story from CNN here.

student says he was suspended for not 'stepping on Jesus'

A Florida Atlantic University's instructor told everyone in his class to take out a piece of paper, write the word JESUS on it in bold letters, and then put the paper on the floor and stomp on it.  Watch a video report from Florida's WPEC-TV here.

TV Series: Who Does Satan Look Like?

The History Channel is catching some flack for the way Satan looks on The Bible special. Many people took to social media to say Satan looks like President Barack Obama. Even Glenn Beck tweeted "Anyone else think the Devil in #TheBible Sunday on History Channel looks exactly like That Guy?" Actor Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni plays the role of Satan. Series creator Mark Burnett gave a couple of thousand dollars to Obama's campaign during the 2008 election.

Baptist Appointed by White House

The White House has tapped Melissa Rogers to chair an advisory panel of faith leaders. Rogers replaces Joshua DuBois at the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, which was formed by President George W. Bush in 2001 to create partnerships between public and private organizations. She is a Baptist and former general counsel for the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. Read a blog post on the White House website from Rogers here.

Bible College Student Arrested

Police in Flagstaff, Arizona arrested a Bible college student when the dean of his school escorted him to the police station to tell them he was having sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend--also a student at the school. The unnamed 21 year old says the relationship was consensual and that they had been together for about five months. He now faces felony charges for sexual contact with a minor, which could earn him a year in prison.

Half of Evangelicals says Same-Sex Marriage is inevitable

"A majority of Americans categorize homosexuality as a civil rights issue like age, race and gender, and almost two-thirds think legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. is inevitable," says Ed Stetzer, the president of LifeWay Research. A new poll on gay issues from the Southern Baptist affiliated organization discovered:

64% of Americans say same-sex marriage will become legal in the U.S.
50% of those calling themselves "born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist Christian" agree

Read more here.

Bibles in the Classroom

CNBC interview explores why the couple behind the Bible mini-series believes public schools Should teach the Bible in classrooms.

Fuller Seminary announces new President

Fuller Theological Seminary has a man at the helm. Mark Labberton takes over as president beginning July first. Richard Mouw is retiring from the position at the largest Evangelical Christian seminary in the world. Labberton graduated from Fuller’s Master of Divinity program and spent a quarter of a century pastoring in Presbyterian churches. Fuller is located in Pasadena, California,

Do Atheists Really Believe in God?

Asking God to harm them or others is just as upsetting to atheists as religious folks. That's the finding of a new study out of Finland. Details are in the International Journal for the Psychology of Religion. Researchers asked their subjects to decide whether statements like daring God to drown parents or visit friends with disease. The researchers found that even when atheists said such utterances were meaningless, they nevertheless showed discomfort when hooked up to monitors. The study authors say their findings show, at the very least, the idea of God is powerful, even in very secular societies like Finland.