Innocent Man Freed

A Texas man is out of prison after 27 years behind bars for a crime he didn’t commit. Both the district attorney’s office and the Innocence Project of Texas said DNA testing proves Johnny Pinchback was wrongly convicted in 1984. He was serving a 99 year sentence for the sexual assault of two teenage girls. Pinchback said he never doubted he would be freed one day because he held on to hope and God during his 27 years behind bars. He told the media when he was released, “It was pretty hard. But I trusted in God.”

Gay Clergy Decision

The Presbyterian Church, USA is dropping its ban on gay clergy. The measure takes effect July 10 and allows each congregation to decide whether to ordain pastors in same-sex relationships. Similar amendments to the denomination's constitutional were rejected three times since 1997.

Graham Hospitalized

Billy Graham is in an Asheville, NC hospital. The 92-year-old evangelist is being treated for a pulmonary ailment at Mission Hospital after a problem developed Tuesday night. Doctors say he is resting comfortably.

Rapture Prediction

Radio evangelist Harold Camping explains why he is predicting the rapture will take place May 21st in an interview here.

Church & Lawyers: An Uneasy Mix

A church defies its insurance company in handling abuse cases. Read the story here.

Lady GaGa's Judas

In her new single, Judas, Lady GaGa sings about being in love with the wrong guy, symbolized by Judas. In the song's video, she singer holding a gun to Judas’ head. In the video, Jesus wears a leather jacket and a crown of thorns on his head. She has told interviewers, “I don’t view the video as a religious statement. I view it as a social statement. I view it as a cultural statement. It’s a metaphor. It’s not meant to be a biblical lesson.” She sings in the song:

Jesus is my virtue
Judas is the demon I cling to
I'm just a holy fool, oh baby he's so cruel
But I'm still in love with Judas, baby

May 21st Rapture Prediction

May 21 is the date picked by a radio evangelist as the day of the Rapture. Oakland, California-based Family Radio has put up billboards that say "Judgment Day May 21." Harold Camping, who leads the network, arrived at the date this way, according to an interview he did with the San Francisco Weekly Magazine, "If we substitute 1,000 years for each of the seven days, 2011 is exactly 7,000 years from the Flood." To mock the prediction, an atheist group is throwing four "rapture parties" on May 21 and 22 across the country.

The 1st Mother's Day

Anna Jarvis organized the first official Mother's Day service one hundred years ago at a church in Grafton, West Virginia. Jarvis handed out hundreds of white carnations at St. Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church. Her mother had taught Sunday school there until her death three years before. Jarvis never married or had children herself. The church eventually became a shrine to mothers. President Woodrow Wilson made Mother's Day a national holiday in 1914.