As students and parents prepare for a new school year in Richland County, South Carolina, they’ll be greeted by a sign different than usual: one inviting them to pray.

The “School Prayer Zone” signs look similar to regular road signs but feature green male and female stick figures praying. 2 Chronicles 7:14, a verse that tells God’s people to pray, repent and seek Him, is also included in the bottom right corner, according to CBN News.

Vanessa Frazier, founder and director of Christ Teens, brainstormed the idea after working behind the attendance desk in a local high school. Christ Teens is a nonprofit outreach intended to “train ‘soldiers’ to possess the land around public schools — all within the law!”

Frazier worked with the South Carolina Department of Transportation for three years and hopes the signs will “create a wall of prayer around the schools.”

The signs are placed on privately owned properties of churches near schools in order to maintain church and state boundaries, making the signs legal.

Jane Jorgenson, wife of the pastor at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, was immediately interested in the idea of putting up a sign on their property. “God brings peace to hearts and lives if we ask,” she said. “If high school kids see this sign as they go to school, if they could get into the habit of praying for their problems, it could help…

Vice President Mike Pence, who has been routinely criticized for his faith, said he handles such attacks by praying for his critics—which garnered him a few more.

“No. 1 is, spend more time on your knees than on the internet,” Pence said during an Aug. 6 Q & A session with Michael Farris, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom. The gathering included ADF staff.

The vice president went on to talk about the power of forgiveness.

“As a Christian believer, we’re charged to pray for our loved ones but also pray for our enemies,” Pence said.

“You have lots of opportunities in politics to do that,” he said. “But I would say that forgiveness is a great gift, and my wife and I literally try to work through forgiving people who might speak woefully against us or might mischaracterize who we are and what our family’s all about,” he said.

Since taking office Pence has been targeted numerous times for his biblical approach to living.

As covered by Christian Headlines early in the Trump administration, the vice president was ripped on social media for saying he protects his marriage by avoiding situations where he is alone with a woman.

Earlier this year, 2020 Democrat presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, who served as mayor of South Bend, Indiana while Pence was governor of the state, challenged the vice president’s biblical view of…

The Chinese government’s opposition to the Ten Commandments has led to bloody confrontations between government leaders and Christians – and in at least a few churches, the Ten Commandments being replaced with portraits of Communist leaders.

Government officials across China last year began forcing churches either to take down the Ten Commandments or to erase the First Commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me.”

The policy has sparked shocking violations of human rights and religious liberty.

The Ten Commandments in many churches have been replaced with portraits of communist revolution leader Mao Zedong and current Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to Bitter Winter, a religious liberty watchdog. Officials often tell the churches “things will be tough” if they don’t cooperate.

A local government official told Bitter Winter that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is opposed to the First Commandment. In China, only the government and its leaders are to be worshipped. 

“Christianity claims that no other goods should be worshiped,” the official said.

Still, some churches – even government-approved Three-Self congregations – are pushing back. Members of a Three-Self church in Zhengzhou city in the province of Henan tried stopping the forced removal of a Ten Commandments sign and poster Jan. 4. Three church…

NEW DELHI, Aug. 8, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A Christian from South Korea arrested in Nepal on charges of “attempting to convert” was released on bail on Wednesday (Aug. 7), sources said.

Cho Yusang, a 73-year-old evangelical Christian, posted bail of 150,000 Nepalese rupees (US$1,330) after being arrested on July 23. His health deteriorated after he was incarcerated, and he had been hospitalized, said Tanka Subedi, chair of the Religious Liberty Forum Nepal (RLFN).

On Monday (Aug. 5), Subedi told Morning Star News that Cho had been released from hospital care.

“Though he was out of hospital, he was feeling dizzy this morning also,” Subedi said. “His health is still not good. He does not want to go back to the hospital, because he does not have much money left. He does not have insurance cover to pay his bills.”

In Nepal on a business visa, Cho was also charged with misuse of visa.

The charge of “attempting to convert” under Section 158 (1) of the Nepal Penal Code of 2017 calls for as much five years in jail and/or a fine of up to 50,000 Nepalese Rupees (US$445), according to Subedi.

Cho and two other foreigners working separately from him were found involved in conversion activity in Pokhara, in central Nepal, Raj Kumar KC, spokesperson of the District Police Office in Kaski, reportedly said.

Police arrested Cho for allegedly distributing…

President Donald Trump made trips to Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas this week to talk with the victims of the recent shootings.

According to CBN News, Trump and the first lady visited a hospital in Dayton where victims of Sunday’s shooting were taken after the attack. He also thanked first responders and the hospital staff for their work following the shooting.

He also said better background checks are needed for people wanting to buy guns.

“I think background checks are important,” he said. “I don’t want to put guns into the hands of mentally unstable people, or people with rage or hate. Sick people.”

As Christian Headlines previously reported, the shooter in Dayton, Connor Betts, killed nine people after he opened fire at a nightlife district in Dayton. He allegedly had a long history of mental illness. Police do not have a motive yet for his attack.

“He was interested in what makes terrible people do terrible things,” Adelia Johnson, a woman who once reportedly dated Betts said. She added that he was “fascinated” with mass shootings and “he wanted to know what led a person to do those things.”

Trump also visited El Paso where he was met with protestors gathered to rally against Trump’s visit.

Director of Border Network of Human Rights, Fernando Garcia, said, “It is the narrative that is coming from the presidency of the United States, from…

A Nigerian pastor has been killed in cold blood while traveling along a dangerous stretch of highway with his wife and child. Kaduna pastor Jeremiah Omolara of Living Faith Church was gunned down and his wife was abducted when militants stopped the family’s car on the notorious Abuja-Kaduna Highway Sunday evening.

According to Nigerian outlet The Punch, the pastor’s son was miraculously able to escape the brutal assault. The captors, however, are demanding a staggering $137,500 ransom for the release of Omolara’s wife, whose life is currently in grave danger.

The chairperson of the Christian Association of Nigeria’s Kaduna chapter, Joseph Hayab, confirmed the details of the horrific incident and urged security forces to do more to protect the Christian population in light of a spree of additional attacks.

“Now the Living Faith Church pastor was killed along Kaduna-Abuja in the presence of his wife, who was later abducted,” Hayab explained, according to the Daily Post Nigeria. “That tells you that the new trend is to attack us in our homes or in our churches or on the roads. We are just not safe anywhere and we are asking the same question we have been asking: ‘where are our security agencies?'”

Hayab continued to plead with security agencies to help the Christian population, which remains under siege from militants,…