The production company and creator behind Sesame Street’s Bert and Ernie said Tuesday, the couple is not gay, refuting a comment by a show writer that suggested the characters are homosexual.

“As we have always said, Bert and Ernie are best friends,” Sesame Workshop said in a statement. “They were created to teach preschoolers that people can be good friends with those who are very different from themselves. Even though they are identified as male characters and possess many human traits and characteristics (as most Sesame Street Muppets do), they remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.”

The confusion began when Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman – who is homosexual — said he viewed Bert and Ernie as gay when he wrote scripts. 

“I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked ‘are Bert & Ernie lovers?,’” Saltzman told a gay new website. “And that, coming from a preschooler was fun. And that got passed around, and everyone had their chuckle and went back to it. And I always felt that without a huge agenda, when I was writing Bert & Ernie, they were. I didn’t have any other way to contextualize them.”

Saltzman said he viewed he and his boyfriend as Bert and Ernie. 

But Frank Oz, the famous puppeteer who helped create the duo and voiced Bert, said the duo are not…

Citing the growing global nature of the church, Brian Houston, global senior pastor of the popular Hillsong Church, has announced a split from Australia’s largest Pentecostal denomination to become a denomination of its own.

Since their inception, Hillsong Church has been a part of the Australian Christian Churches, a branch of the World Assemblies of God Fellowship, which is the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world. In a recent letter to the ACC, Houston said Hillsong’s operation as a church had outgrown the capacity of the ACC.

“As Hillsong Church has continued to grow, we no longer see ourselves as an Australian Church with a global footprint, but rather a Global church with an Australian base — our global office now resides in the USA. Two thirds of the people attending Hillsong Church each weekend live in countries beyond Australia. We have pastoral staff in twenty-four nations around the world, representing 123 campuses and locations, with 263 different church services on any given weekend. We consider it to be ‘One House, with many rooms,'” Houston explained in the letter.

“So with that growing footprint in mind — it has become clear to us that we…

Christian and evangelical leaders Tuesday said allegations of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh should be taken seriously, although some said the timing of it makes them skeptical.

“The timing makes it all very suspect,” Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said on his radio program, Washington Watch with Tony Perkins.

If accuser Christine Blasey Ford “refuses to show” up for Monday’s Senate committee hearing to which she had been invited, “that is even more revealing than the fact that [Democrats] sat on this for six weeks,” Perkins said.

“[They] met with [Kavanaugh], did not bring it up, did not bring it up in the closed-door sessions,” Perkins said. “… [They] waited until the last moment to drop this … to keep him off the court.”

Republicans previously had scheduled a Thursday vote on Kavanaugh’s nomination. But when Ford alleged that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her in high school, GOP leaders delayed the vote and invited Ford and Kavanaugh to testify before the Judiciary Committee Monday. Ford’s attorney now says she wants an FBI investigation into the allegation before she speaks to the committee.

Russell Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, appeared on CNN Tuesday prior to Ford’s attorney saying she wanted FBI…

Bill Hayden, a former Governor-General of Australia and lifelong atheist, has found God and gotten baptized in a Roman Catholic Church at 85 years of age.

According to The Australian, Hayden “said it was witnessing so many selfless acts of compassion by Christians over his lifetime, and deep contemplation while recovering from a stroke, that prompted his decision.” 

Australia’s The Catholic Leader reported that Hayden, who during his political career identified as a humanist, was baptized on September 9 at St. Mary’s Church in Ipswich.

Hayden revealed that he had been experiencing “a gnawing pain in my heart and soul about what is the meaning of life.”

“What’s my role in it?” he stated of the questions that bothered him.

He said that although in a declining health, he is hoping his new-found faith will inspire others.

“This took too long, and now I am going to be devoted,” Hayden noted.

“From this day forward I’m going to vouch for God,” he pledged.

The California professor Christine Blasey Ford who recently accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her at a high school party, has called for a “full investigation” by the FBI before she goes to any congressional hearing or “interrogation” into her accusations.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, responded to this call saying, Ford has been and still is invited to speak with the committee, but the FBI he said, would not have “any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay.”

According to CNN, Lisa Banks, one of Ford’s lawyers, said in a letter to Grassley, that Ford “will talk to the committee,” but is not prepared for the hearing on Monday. 

Banks goes on to say that Ford has been dealing with the receipt of threats since her name was publicly tied to the accusations.

“There should be no rush to a hearing,” Banks continued.

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, said he wanted to hear from Ford before voting on Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but he along with other top Republicans who wished to hear from the accuser, have expressed that they will move forward with a vote if Ford decides not to testify.

 Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., took to Twitter on Tuesday saying, “After learning of the allegation, Chairman @ChuckGrassleytook immediate action to ensure both Dr. Ford and…

Willow Creek Community Church has announced that the heads of two top denominational groups will lead the investigation into sex abuse claims against Bill Hybels.

Willow Creek made the announcement on Tuesday along with the Willow Creek Association, revealing that the investigative advisory group will be led by Jo Anne Lyon, general superintendent emerita of The Wesleyan Church, and Leith Anderson, president of the National Association of Evangelicals.

The statement explained that the group will “consider allegations related to Bill Hybels as founder and pastor of the church and founder and spokesperson of the association.”

It will also “review organizational culture of the church and association” and “make recommendations to the church and association for future actions.”

The evangelical megachurch first announced in August that it will be commissioning a new investigation into Hybels, who retired prematurely in April after several women accused him of decades-old sex misconduct and abuse.