Women Bishops coming ot Church of England

The Church of England leaders will allow women to become bishops. The church's General Synod voted for the change today. The first female bishop could be on the job by the end of the year. Woman have been ordained in the church for a decade.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

The first trailer is out for the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings which stars Christian Bale. It's Ridley Scott's take on the story of Moses leading his people to freedom from their Egyptian oppressors. Scott already has sweeping epics under his belt like Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. So it's expected that Exodus will be filled with visual effects. Exodus is due to reach the big screen December 12.

Katy Perry Sued by Christian Musicians

Christian hip-hop musicians are suing Katy Perry, claiming her song “Dark Horse” borrowed too much from a 2008 Christian song “Joyful Noise." The suit was filed by Flame (Marcus Gray), Chike Ojukwu, Lecrae Moore, and Emanuel Lambert. Read more in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Pope Meet Sex Abuse Victims

Pope Francis asked victims of clergy sex abuse for forgiveness. The Pontiff held his first meeting with several abuse survivors today. He told them he would "not to tolerate harm done to a minor by any individual, whether a cleric or not...I beg your forgiveness, too, for the sins of omission on the part of Church leaders who did not respond adequately to reports of abuse made by family members, as well as by abuse victims themselves. He said those responsible would be held accountable.

Publisher Affirms support for Driscoll

Tyndale House Publishers says reports that it had cut ties with megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll are wrong. Read more here.

God moments of the World Cup

Christianity Today offers a list of moments when players acknowledged God's role in their lives at World Cup in a post here.

Belief in Satan is on the rise

Deliver Us From Evil is on the big screen this week. Vox takes a look at it and believe in Satan here.

Publisher severs ties with Megachurch Pastor

Mark Driscoll has lost his publisher. The Seattle megachurch pastor has been in hot water lately over charges of ethical breaches and poor leadership at his Mars Hill Church, which has some 14,000 members. Tyndale House was to publish Driscoll’s next book The Problem with Christianity but won't be doing so anytime soon--and will not reprint last year's A Call to Resurgence. Driscoll has apologized for using ResultsSource, Inc. to buy up copies of the book so it appeared to have more sales than it actually did. Driscoll also faces allegations that a significant part of the book was plagiarized. You can read Driscoll's apology here. Read more about the controversy at the Daily Beast here.

Hobby Lobby: the Bible verses behind the battle

The man leading Hobby Lobby says his company's stand on contraception that led to the steps of the Supreme Court, is informed by Scripture. CNN takes a look at those verses here.

Shift on Same-Sex Marriage by Largest Presbyterian Denomination

The Presbyterian Church, USA, has voted to allow clergy to perform same-sex marriages. The vote of 371-238 took place at the group's annual meeting in Detroit. The decision by the General Assembly now goes to the regional presbyteries. The amendment will need a majority of the 172 presbyteries to go into effect.

Baptists oppose gender reassignment

The Southern Baptists Convention has come out against gender reassignment--both surgery and hormone therapies. At the denomination's annual meeting, messengers adopted a statement affirming the creation of "two distinct and complementary sexes" and "God's good design that gender identity is determined by biological sex and not by one's self-perception which is often influenced by fallen human nature in ways contrary to God’s design." The resolution also condemned “acts of abuse or bullying committed against" what it called “image-bearers of Almighty God.” Read the entire resolution here.

Baptists Pick new President

The Southern Baptist Convention elected Ronnie Floyd of Arkansas' Cross Church as president while meeting in Baltimore. Floyd has chaired the Executive Committee and served on the denomination's Program and Structure Task Force member. Floyd takes over for New Orleans pastor Fred Luter, Jr. Second place went to Dennis Kim of Global Mission Church in Silver Spring, Maryland, followed by Jared Moore of New Salem Baptist Church in Kentucky. Clint Pressley of Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina was picked first vice president.

Bieber Reportedly Baptized

Justin Bieber was baptized just a few days ago in a Manhattan bathtub, according to TMZ. Following criticism of some racists comments he made several years ago (which we told you about last week here) Bieber posted some Bible verses on Instagram. Now, there are reports of his baptism by Hillsong Pastor Carl Lentz.

Journey from the Brady Bunch to Faith

Many fans did not know that Ann B. Davis, who played the wisecracking housekeeper on "The Brady Bunch" by the name of Alice, became a Christian.

"It was hard for outsiders to grasp the spiritual changes that caused this tough-willed and very private woman to put her career on the back burner and, in 1976, join a commune of evangelical Episcopalians led by Colorado Bishop William C. Frey and his wife, Barbara. She stayed with the household as it moved to an Anglican seminary in western Pennsylvania steel country and, finally, to the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, where she died June 1 at age 88.

Read more about her journey here.

N Korea Holds American

North Korea says it is detaining a U.S. citizen who it says entered the secretive country as a tourist in April and broke the law. What did the man do? He allegedly left a Bible in a hotel where he had been staying. More from CNN.

What Americans think of the Bible

The number of Americans who say the Bible as "the actual word of God, to be taken literally, word for word," is falling. A new Gallup poll puts the percentage at 28%. It was at 30% two years ago. In the 1970s the figure was closer to 37%. However, three-fourths of Americans still say the Bible is "in some way connected to God." Read more here.

Justin Bieber's Bible verse post

Justin Bieber is apologizing for racist comments he made in two videos--recorded five years ago. The videos were recently made public. Bieber blames his young age and posted a picture of a book showing several Bible verses related to forgiveness. The Instagram image has more than half-of-a-million likes. The verses include:

• John chapter 8 verse 12: "Whoever follows me [Jesus] will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
• Isaiah 61:10: "For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness." 
• 1 John 1:7: "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."

Southern Baptist Church switches view on Homosexuality

The New Heart Community Church voted to change its official stance on homosexuality after the pastor's son "came out" as gay. The Southern Baptist church in La Mirada, California also voted to keep Danny Cortez as pastor, who said he would support his son. The congregation considers itself a 'Third Way' church. You can read more at the Huffington Post here.

Missionary sentenced to life

North Korea says missionary Kim Jung-wook must serve a life sentence of hard labor for "allegedly spying and trying to set up underground churches." The Associated Press reports on the South Korean's situation here.

Baptists Losing Members

Membership in the Southern Baptist church is still falling--seven years straight. LifeWay Christian Resources says there are now 15.7 million members, down .2 million from the previous year. Weekly church attendance also fell--more than 2 percent, putting the weekly average at 5.8 million. The number of baptisms is down as well--more than 300,000. The consistently falling membership is sure to be a topic at the denomination's annual convention, which gets underway week from Tuesday in Baltimore.