A Texas public school teacher is being criticized for teaching her children a Bible passage that urges people to love one another.

Parents of students at Brown Primary School in Smithville, Texas, contacted the Austin American Statesman when first-grade teacher Susan Schobel posted a video on Facebook showing her leading the students in reciting Romans 12:9-10. The passage in the NIV version says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.”

Schobel wrote in the video’s caption, “Start your day with a good Bible verse and life just seems better!! This is our daily Bible verse.”

Some parents were upset.

“This is not okay,” wrote Ashley Nicole, a parent, in a letter to the school district. “I am truly shocked. I am concerned about how this is getting handled.”

Charlie Lucko, another parent, called it unconstitutional and “religious indoctrination,” according to the newspaper.

Smithville schools Superintendent Cheryl Burns told the American Statesman that the matter was handled internally. 

“We are aware of it and have addressed it,” Burns said.

But many supported Schobel. The town’s local newspaper, The Smithville Times, posted a story about the controversy on its Facebook page.  

“I myself had Mrs. Schobel 25 years ago, and I…

A pro-life male member of Australia’s Senate discovered a unique way this week to rebut a common argument by pro-choice politicians: He declared himself to be a woman. 

Sen. Barry O’Sullivan had been asserting that it is wrong for pro-choicers to say pro-lifers shouldn’t protest near abortion clinics when those same pro-choicers protest at pro-life events. O’Sullivan made a motion on Monday that pro-choicers be banned from Day of the Unborn Child observations. (It failed.) 

That’s when Australian Greens’ Sen. Larissa Waters told O’Sullivan that he shouldn’t speak about abortion because he’s a man. 

“Senator O’Sullivan needs to get his hands and his rosaries off my ovaries and those of the 10,000 Queensland women who have an abortion each year,” Waters told the Senate, according to 9 News.

O’Sullivan, though, didn’t back down, and on Wednesday took to the floor to respond. 

“These people come and attack me for my religious basis the other day, using words like rosary beads, because I had the audacity to raise issues around late-term abortions where babies that are only minutes away from getting a smack on the arse and a name are being aborted under the policies of the Australian Greens,” he said, according to BuzzFeed. 

He then made his declaration.

“I’m going to declare my gender today as I can to be a woman, and then…

On Tuesday, worship leaders brought Jesus to the White House through praise and worship songs. 

In videos posted online, several prominent Christian artists and worship leaders are seen gathered in the White House singing popular worship songs like “What a Beautiful Name,” and “How Great Is Our God.” 

In one video clip posted to Twitter, worship leader and recording artist Tauren Wells is seen leading the group in worship as they all sang “What a Beautiful Name.” 

Wells captioned the video saying, “What a privilege to declare the name of Jesus in worship and in prayer today at the White House. I was challenged, informed, convicted, & inspired at the #faithbriefing w/ many peers in the CCM industry. The church has a great opportunity to rise with grace & truth in this hour.”

What a privilege to declare the name of Jesus in worship and in prayer today at the White House. I was challenged, informed, convicted, & inspired at the #faithbriefing w/ many peers in the CCM industry. The church has a great opportunity to rise with grace & truth in this hour. pic.twitter.com/xgZQiqh6XG

— Tauren Wells (@taurenwells) November 14, 2018

Contemporary Christian band Citizen Way was also present at the Faith Briefing, which according to Faithwire, aimed to update Faith leaders on faith-based initiatives that have been enacted under the Trump…

NEW DELHI, November 16, 2018 (Morning Star News) – High-caste Hindus who have been harassing a church in Nepal forced it to shut down last week, sources said.

For two months Brahmins, the highest caste from which Hindu priests and teachers are drawn, in western Nepal’s Palpa District had disrupted worship of the Pakhluwa Eternal Life Church in Palpa each week and accused pastor Tufani Bhar of converting villagers, the pastor said.

Church members had abandoned their building and resorted to meeting in homes, but the Brahmins issued threats to anyone found meeting anywhere, including in houses.

“It is shocking that we are not allowed to meet in homes and pray,” the 53-year-old Pastor Bhar told Morning Star News.

Having established the church about nine months ago, Pastor Bhar tried everything possible to preserve the fellowship but was unable to withstand the opposition, he said. Church attendance dwindled from 30 to 15-18 people before disbanding last weekend due to fear.

Pastor Bhar visited a few members secretly on Nov. 3, which was his last visit to Palpa.

“I was too disappointed to see the Christians scared and thus did not go last week, on Nov. 10 [Saturday, the scheduled worship day],” he said. “The Hindu-Brahmins are resorting to every method possible to scare us, threaten us and not let us meet.” 

Initially the Brahmins objected to the use of guitar and drums in the…

Dave Ramsey says pastors should not ask “broke people” to tithe until they first work on their debt and budgeting.

Ramsey, author of Financial Peace University, says those people need to become better stewards of their money before they can give to the church.

“Unless,” he said, “you’ve done two sermons on … debt — one on getting out of debt and one on getting on a budget.

“That’s the ratio for me instead of just tithe, tithe, tithe,” he said. But when pastors fail to address debt and setting a budget, he said, the reaction to a sermon about tithing is often “yeah right, I’ve got a light bill. That’s a great spiritual concept. Maybe someday I’ll get around to that.'”

He says that tithing will become natural once that person is out of debt, following a budget and committed to serving God.

“When you stand up in front of your congregation, you’re looking at a large number of people who do not have the ability to handle their money,” he said.

“Quit preaching tithe lessons to broke people,” he said. “Let’s teach them how to get on a budget. … The natural byproduct of a Jesus lover when they have money is giving.”

Earlier this year, Ramsey offered his Financial Peace University class for free to pastors at the Southern Baptist Convention’s meeting in June.

Not everyone agrees with Ramsey’s advice, however, Chuck Bentley, CEO of Crown Financial…

After coming under heavy criticism from members of the black community for meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss prison reform and urban job creation, Pastor John Gray continued his push for change Wednesday when he gathered with several high profile megachurch pastors to see how churches can lead the healing of the nation’s racial divide.

“My job is to drive the dialogue not only into the natural but the spiritual and to identify areas where the Church can be an agent of healing as opposed to a place of further division,” Gray told WYFF4 at his Relentless Church in Greenville, South Carolina.

Joining Gray for the conversation on building bridges were: Steven Furtick, pastor of the popular Elevation Church in North Carolina; the Rev. A.R. Bernard, leader of the 40,000-member Christian Cultural Center; Pastor Levi Lusko of Fresh Life Church in Montana, and Pastor Ken Claytor of Alive Church in Gainesville, Florida.

“The church needs to be able to speak about the moral high ground without dishonoring people from different backgrounds,” Gray said.

In August, Gray was criticized by some members of the black community after he and…

It has been seven years since Tamara Breeden and three other disabled adults were found locked in a Philadelphia basement, but she has not forgotten how her faith sustained her throughout the nearly decade-long experience. 

Linda Weston and four others kept the four in a variety of squalid conditions across several states before they were discovered by the Philadelphia Police Department in 2011. The trio gained control over the victims’ Social Security disability checks. When police arrested her, Weston possessed “at least 50 identification cards and documents.”

She recently told NBC Philadelphia of her horrid treatment at Weston’s hands but also told them how she maintained hope during the ordeal. She said, “I kept on praying to Jesus and praying to God, hope I get back home to my family.”

She detailed the pain she suffered. “She hit me with a pistol like, like a gun pistol.” Pointing to her left ear, she told the interviewers that “She hit me with a bat. She messed up my ear right here.”

Breeden, who was the only female among the captives, also gave birth to two children while Weston controlled her. 

Authorities believe Weston befriended the four adults, who were all developmentally disabled, and became the chief beneficiary of their Social Security checks. When a landlord discovered the victims, one was chained to a boiler in the…