(RNS) — Weeks before Election Day, leaders of the National Association of Evangelicals have reaffirmed their call for Christian engagement in the public square, signing a statement about issues on which they agree.

Dozens of leaders highlighted their reaffirmation of a 2004 NAE public policy guide called “For the Health of the Nation” in a full-page ad in the print edition of The Washington Post on Tuesday (Oct. 6).

“As evangelical Christians, we are called by Jesus to love God and to love our neighbor. As citizens who follow this call, we must engage with humility, civility, intellectual rigor and honesty in the complex and contentious social issues that face our nation,” the ad reads. “We invite all followers of Jesus — whether Democrats, Republicans or Independents — to join us in seeking the health of the nation for the good of all people.”

The president of the NAE, the Rev. Walter Kim, said the statement’s goal “is not political in nature” but rather has been and should be used by evangelicals of a variety of political and denominational affiliations to address eight issues, including protecting religious freedom, safeguarding the sanctity of human life, pursuing racial justice and seeking compassion for the poor.

“Today evangelical faith is often being narrowly defined and easily misunderstood and we believe this has long-term ramifications…

Reality TV star Duane Chapman, who plays Dog the Bounty Hunter in the A&E series by the same name, recently opened up about his faith in God after his wife’s passing, saying he “never doubted.” He also talked about his role in the Christian film Hunter’s Creed, a story asking, as he puts it, “Why does God allow bad things to happen?”

The movie is directed by Justin Jackola and explores keeping faith in Jesus in the face of great personal loss. The director stated the movie was “based on my personal journey asking who God really is.”

Chapman, who lost his wife, plays himself in the film. And, in an interview with The Christian Post, opened up about what it was like. When asked when he doubted God during the loss of his wife, he responded “I never doubted, OK, I don’t doubt God at all! To be surprised or to say, ‘Why is this happening to me? Why didn’t this happen?’ Yeah, that’s a normal feeling. And then you go to Scripture, and you listen to the voice in your mind that’s in your head that says, ‘This has happened for a reason.'”

Hunter’s Creed is about a recent widower who reunites with his old church buddies to film a hunting show after his wife passes away. It is there that he is confronted with a supernatural presence that forces him to confront his beliefs and faith. The film was released October 6, 2020, and can be rented on Amazon Prime Video or purchased on Amazon.

In a separate interview with

A slight majority of evangelical churchgoers believe there is no moral absolute truth, while three-quarters think people are “basically good,” according to a new report that its authors call “alarming.”

The poll by the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University examined the views of attendees of evangelical, Pentecostal/charismatic, mainline Protestant and Catholic churches on 51 beliefs and behaviors.

Among the findings, the survey discovered that a majority of evangelicals (52 percent), Pentecostals/charismatics (69 percent), mainline Protestants (58) and Catholics (69 percent) say there is no absolute moral truth that applies to everyone, all the time.

On the question of sin, a large majority of evangelicals (75 percent), Pentecostals/charismatics (76 percent), mainline Protestants (81 percent) and Catholics (84 percent) disagree with the statement, “People are not basically good; we are sinners.”

“American Christianity is rapidly conforming to the values of the post-Christian secular culture,” the report’s authors wrote.

Significantly, the survey only examined the beliefs of church attendees, not limiting it to those who have professed certain beliefs or who say they have embraced Christ’s teachings. Still, its findings likely will disturb many within the Christian community.

The survey also found that among evangelical churchgoers:

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Former NFL tight end Benjamin Watson took issue with Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden for pledging that he will make Roe v. Wade “the law of the land” during an NBC News town hall event on Monday, Faithwire reports.

“Actually overturning Roe/Wade would CORRECTLY return the issue to the states where the people and their state govts will decide whether to deprive ANY person of life liberty and property. Truly INTERPRETING rights in the reconstruction era 14th amendment instead of CREATING them” Watson tweeted Tuesday morning.

Actually overturning Roe/Wade would CORRECTLY return the issue to the states where the people and their state govts will decide whether to deprive ANY person of life liberty and property. Truly INTERPRETING rights in the reconstruction era 14th amendment instead of CREATING them. https://t.co/unKQJGljyc

— Benjamin Watson (@BenjaminSWatson) October 6, 2020

Section 1 of the 14th Amendment states that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

During Monday’s town hall, as Christian Headlines previously reported, a woman asked Biden how he seeks to protect a woman’s…

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Wednesday, October 07, 2020

The Southern Baptist Convention’s publishing arm LifeWay Christian Resources and the organization’s former president Thom Rainer announced Tuesday that they have come to “an amicable resolution of their differences” heading off a potentially embarrassing breach of contract lawsuit.

“LifeWay Christian Resources and former CEO Thom Rainer have agreed to an amicable resolution of their differences after discussions on Monday, Oct. 5, 2020,” LifeWay and Rainer said in a joint statement to The Christian Post.

LifeWay alleged in a lawsuit filed Sept. 28 in Williamson County, Tennessee, that Rainer violated a transition agreement he signed with the SBC publisher upon his 2019 retirement to not do business with their competitors. The agreement under which he was reportedly paid in excess of $1 million, prevented him from doing business with LifeWay’s competitors until Oct. 31, 2021.

In August, however, Tyndale House Publishers, which is specifically listed as a LifeWay competitor in the…

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will close churches and synagogues in New York City if they do not “agree to follow the rules” concerning social distancing and masks.

“We know religious institutions have been a problem,” he said, pointing to photos of Christian and Jewish gatherings. “You don’t see masks. And you see clear violations of social distancing.”

“If you do not agree to follow the rules, then we will close the institutions down. I am prepared to do that,” Cuomo said, according to The Christian Post.

In a Twitter post, Satmar Headquarters, a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, corrected Cuomo, saying one of the pictures used in the press conference was more than 10 years old.

“This Picture is from the 2006 Funeral of the previous Satmar Grand Rebbe, 14 years ago!” a tweet said.

Cuomo said that he will keep churches open under two conditions.

“One, the community must agree, whether it’s the Jewish community, whether we’re talking about black churches, whether we’re talking about Roman Catholic churches, the religious community has to agree to the rules and they have to agree that they are going to follow the rules. And they have to agree that they are going to be a full partner in the enforcement of the rules,” he said.

The second condition is that churches have strict enforcement of social…

Chadwick Boseman, best known for his role as Marvel’s Black Panther, recently passed away of cancer, but there was so much more about his life that few ever knew until his friends and family began to speak out.

Now, in an interview with The New York Times, his family is speaking out about the aspects of his personal life that they loved most about him. Though many may have known Boseman grew up in Anderson, South Carolina, few may have known he always had his sights set on something more than the tight-knit community of 20,000.

According to his two older brothers, Chadwick was very talented, so becoming an actor just seemed to make a lot of sense. It wasn’t that Chadwick hated where he grew up, he just knew where he could use his talents. “He’s probably the most gifted person I’ve ever met,” his older brother Derick Boseman, a pastor at New Covenant Baptist Church in Murfreesburo, Tennessee, said. “Him being born there is an inspiration that you can come from there and become anything.”

Chadwick’s other older brother, Kevin, who is also an actor, writer, and dancer, said of his younger brother “I just knew that if Chad wanted to work in the arts, he would find a way and take care of himself.”

But Christianity was central to his childhood and career. Chadwick attended church regularly. He also bought hundreds of tickets for needy children so they…

Mitch McConnell took to Twitter to announce there will be a hearing on Judge Amy Coney Barrett this upcoming Monday. “We will not stop working for the American people because Democrats are afraid they may lose a vote,” he said in the tweet.

Before him, The Christian Post reports that Senator Lindsey Graham, Leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that the hearing would take place on October 12. It is expected the hearing will take between 3 to 4 days before the final vote.

There was some controversy surrounding the timing of the vote since three Republican Senators recently tested positive for Coronavirus.

Democrat Chuck Schumer said the vote should be postponed due to the President, multiple members of his cabinet, and the Senators all testing positive for Coronavirus. But President Trump was released from Walter Reed hospital on Monday and went immediately back to work. Further, all the senators who tested positive or came into contact with someone who had Coronavirus will finish their quarantine on October 12th, except for Republican Senator Ron Johnson, whose quarantine will finish on October 17th, GovTrack reports.

Amy Comey Barrett has long been on President Trump’s list of potential Supreme Court nominees and would have been chosen previously if it were not for her lack of service as a judge. It was for this reason President Trump originally went with Justice Kavanaugh instead of…

Planned Parenthood, in conjunction with the American Medical Association and other healthcare providers, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse the Trump administration’s ban on Title X programs receiving federal funding for abortions.

The petition emerged in light of conflicting decisions from the Fourth and Ninth Circuits. The Fourth Circuit determined that Title X programs should receive funding and that the Trump administration’s rule, called “Protect Life,” was illegal. The Ninth Court, however, upheld the rule.

When Trump signed the new restrictions into law in 2019, Planned Parenthood and several other nonprofits left the Title X program in order to continue providing abortions. Nearly 1,000 Title X sites shuttered their doors as a result, while Planned Parenthood saw a 21% decrease in annual patients, according to The Christian Post.

“Restricting the information that physicians can provide to their Title X patients blocks honest, informed conversations about all health care options—an unconscionable violation that is essentially a gag rule,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the AMA. “As physicians and leaders in medicine, we are fighting against the government’s intrusion in the exam room while protecting open communication between patients and physicians, which is the foundation of high-quality medical care.”

Planned…