A Georgia school’s decision to reinstate paddling has sparked a nationwide debate over corporal punishment, which remains legal in 20 states despite the trend against it.

Students from the Georgia School of Innovation and the Classics (GSIC) – a K-through-9 school – were sent home with forms asking parents for consent to paddle their children. About a third of the parents consented, according to WRDW-TV. 

“There was a time where corporal punishment was kind of the norm in school and you didn’t have the problems that you have,” school superintendent Jody Boulineau told the TV station.

Boulineau called it “just one more tool that we have in our disciplinary toolbox.”

Paddling would happen only on the third offense, and only in front of another adult witness. According to the consent form, the paddle will be made of wood and won’t be bigger than 24 inches in length, six inches in width, and three-fourths of an inch thick. Students whose parents don’t consent to paddling will be punished via suspension. 

On social media, people were divided about the news – and passionate. A Fox News story elicited 3,000 comments in less than eight hours on Facebook.

“At one point in time in our society, we had decency in our schools and towns,” reader Lou Lawson wrote. “Guns were almost guaranteed to be in every home, but school…

Two leading German publications are saying a report on sexual abuse in Germany inside the Catholic Church has come to light detailing 3,677 abuse cases by Catholic clergy between 1946 and 2014.

Spiegel Online and Die Zeit are saying the report was commissioned by the German Bishops Conference and researched by three universities and concludes that more than half of the victims were 13 years old or younger. The majority of the victims were boys. 

According to Fox News, every sixth case involved rape and no less than 1,670 clergymen were involved in the abuses.

According to the news outlets, the report says that the number of victims is likely much higher than what was reported.

Die Zeit reported that researchers were not actually allowed to look at the original files but were asked to submit questionnaires to the dioceses.

Die Zeit’s researchers noted that there was evidence that some files were manipulated or destroyed, several cases were not brought to justice and some abuse suspects were moved to other dioceses without the congregations being informed of the accusations against them.

At this time the German Bishops Conference had no comment on the report but are currently preparing a response. 

In the last several months the Catholic Church has been under scrutiny for sexual abuse by clergy.

In August, an investigation in the United States found that…

Pastor and author Tim Challies of Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto has assured Christians worried they have committed the one unpardonable sin of the Bible.

Challies reflected in a video posted on Facebook on Tuesday that at one point, nearly all believers wonder “Have I committed the unpardonable sin? Have I broken God’s law in that way?”

He said that some people are “really concerned, racked with guilt, racked with worry” over this, but he assured them it is unlikely they have gone that far.

Defining the unpardonable sin in question, the pastor took to Matthew 12:31 in the Bible, where Jesus says: “Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.”

Similarly, Mark 3:29 reads: “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin.”

Challies said that such passages “sound terrifying,” adding that he has done a lot of research and study into the topic.

He said that the theological consensus defines blasphemy against the Holy Spirit as an act that involves “ascribing the work of the Holy Spirit accomplished through Jesus…

Four out of five primetime “family comedies” on television include explicit sexual dialogue used in front of children, according to a new Parents Television Council study that calls it a disturbing new trend.

A total of 81.5 percent of the so-called family comedies included situations where adults – or even children – make “explicit references to sex in front of teenage and even child characters.” Just as concerning, many of the comedies were rated TV-PG, and some did not contain the “D” descriptor designating sexual dialogue, according to the study.

“Furthermore, the networks are marketing this alarming content trend as being appropriate for children to watch,” said PTC President Tim Winter. “Our study reveals a fundamental problem with the way TV shows are rated. Each TV network assigns its own ratings, and oversight of the system is then handed to a group of the very same network executives who routinely rate programs inaccurately.”

Networks don’t want their programs to be rated TV-MA, Winter said, because “mainstream corporations won’t sponsor programming” with that rating. 

NBC’s A.P. Bio was the worst offender, followed by The Mick (Fox), American Housewife (ABC), Life in Pieces(CBS) and Family Guy(Fox).

A.P. Biospotlights a disgruntled high school teacher named “Jack.” According to the study,…

The Episcopal Church has approved a project to translate the Book of Common Prayer into the Native American language of Lakota.

The Episcopal Diocese of South Dakota recently received a United Thank Offering grant of $45,000 to translate the BCP into contemporary Lakota.

Archdeacon Paul Sneve of the South Dakota Diocese told The Christian Post in an interview on Tuesday that they were in the beginning stages of the translation project.

“Episcopal Congregants from our nine reservations are submitting names of fluent speakers [and] writers who are also familiar with the English BCP. We have decisions to make especially in regard to how best to accommodate the three dialects spoken here, as well as what to include in book,” explained Sneve.

“It has become evident early on that the finished book will be different than the English BCP in that we have liturgies that we use that aren’t included in the 1979 book.”

The $45,000 grant will be used to fund the work of the Translation and Editorial Committees, Formatting, as well as the printer preparation work and the eventual printing.

Before…

After the Chinese government shut down a church in Chengdu, members of the house church took the gospel message to the streets.

In a video shared earlier this week, Christopher Gregory, of the China Missions organization, showed members of the church gathering in a public park to sing, pray and share the gospel. Gregory was later arrested and then released.

Gregory told Christian News Network that the church hosted both morning and evening services earlier this week.

“The local authorities shut down a house church in Chengdu last week, so they thought that was the end of it— it wasn’t,” Gregory said on his social media account, adding that police “looked on in bewilderment not knowing what to do.”

“For the first time, people throughout China are saying, “NO!” to what the Communist party wants— control,” he said. “Control over what they can do, what they can believe, where they can go, what they can say.”

“It’s yet another sign something is beginning to take shape here in China, the call for democracy! The call for freedom!”

The video has more than 43,000 views.

According to the organization China Aid, churches must register with the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. The Movement is the only authorized Protestant Church in China. Any churches who do not register are considered illegal, and authorities can arrest or jail church members.

Officials can also…