When Air Force veteran Ed Roshitsh decided to use a business networking site to offer up five free airline tickets to military members hoping to get home for Christmas, he had no idea how “linked in” he was.

“Active duty US armed forces member who can’t afford to fly home for holidays? I will personally pay for five random service member’s airfare home,” Roshitsh, the CEO of a North Carolina software company, wrote on LinkedIn. “Share and have the hero DM me. I will pull five names out of a hat on Dec. 3rd.”

For 18 hours all he heard was crickets.

But then the silence gave way to persistent rounds of “You’ve got mail.”

“An email comes in. Another email comes in. Another email comes in,” he told WBTV.

By the time the Holidays for Heroes deadline rolled around, Roshitsh said he received 60 requests for tickets, representing each branch of the military. In a video live-streamed on YouTube, the veteran said his LinkedIn post generated 250,000 views, 3,000 comments and about 1,000 shares.

“I thought it would be a really nice way to do something for Christmas for some folks. Little did I know,” the CEO of Dude Solutions said on the video, his voice breaking.

Among those commenting were others wishing to help so, when the official drawing took place on Dec. 3, Roshitsh was able to draw 26 names, the original five he committed to and an additional 21 offered by…

The executive producers of the CBS series Evil want to start a conversation among Americans about religion and the supernatural, and they’re using a scared-out-of-your-wits plot to do it.

Evil follows a priest-in-training named David and a forensic psychologist named Kristen as they investigate the Catholic Church’s backlog of unexplained mysteries. David represents the Christian community, while Kristen represents the skeptic – although both characters, at times, have their doubts. The show airs on Thursday nights. 

It was created by the husband-and-wife team of Robert and Michelle King, who also serve as executive producers and writers. The series is still in its first season but already has been renewed by CBS for a second season. 

“Most TV shows these days preach to the choir … They seem to only want to address an audience that already agrees with them,” Robert told Christian Headlines. 

But Evil, he says, is pulling in viewers who otherwise wouldn’t watch a show about God and religion, including fans of horror and supernatural thrillers. 

“It’s one of the advantages of doing a genre show,” Robert said.

The series is an outgrowth of their relationship. Robert is Catholic, while Michelle is a self-described secular Jew. They disagree about religion – but they still love one another. 

In each episode, the viewer learns of an unexplained mystery – such as a prophecy or…

A large group of evangelicals has called on their respective governors to agree to resettle refugees in their home state. The move comes after President Trump signed an executive order which requires approval from state and local officials before refugees can be resettled.

“World Relief and the Evangelical Immigration Table,” a combined group of evangelical organizations lobbying for extensive immigration reform, sent joint letters to 15 state governors this week, according to the Christian Post.

The group’s demands center around the continued resettlement of refugees under the U.S. refugee admissions program and in line with Trump’s Sept. 26 executive order which permits states and localities the power to block refugee resettlement. Thus far, 17 of the country’s 50 governors have agreed to the resettlement plan.

The letter cautioned that a lack of action on the resettlement program could result in delays to the “reunification of many families who have been waiting years to be reunited.”

The plea added that if states expressly block the resettlements, many refugees will be forced to wait until they are officially resettled by the federal immigration services, which could take years. Once they are granted residency in the United States, immigrants are likely to relocate to their desired state. However, if states block the immediate resettlements, they will…

A New York school district violated both the U.S. Constitution and federal law when it repeatedly denied a freshman student the right to form a Christian club at her high school, according to a religious liberty legal group.

First Liberty Institute is representing Ketcham High School freshman Daniela Barca, who says she was denied by the principal and the district’s assistant superintendent the right to form an officially recognized Christian club – even though the high school has multiple clubs, including the Pride Club (GSA) and the Masque & Mime Society. 

The principal allegedly told her such a religious club would be “seen as exclusive.” The school is located in Wappingers Falls, N.Y.

“I am a Christian. But sometimes it seems like I’m the only one,” Barca wrote in a September letter to the assistant superintendent. “I want to start this club for other students like me so we can support each other in our beliefs. The school district celebrates diversity and the right to express who you are. All I want is to be allowed to express who I am. Everyone deserves as much. Please get back to me as soon as you can.”

After multiple requests were denied – including one from her father to a district official – Liberty Legal Institute sent a letter to the district Dec. 11, saying it was in violation of the First Amendment and the federal Equal Access Act. Barca had been…

A shooting at a New Jersey kosher market Tuesday afternoon left six dead including one police detective and both suspects. According to a statement released by Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop on Wednesday, the attack “should be viewed as a hate crime.”

According to NBC New York, Tuesday afternoon, Detective Joseph Seals, who has served for 15 years on the force, identified a U-Haul truck believed to be tied to a murder of a livery driver over the weekend. Upon approaching the vehicle, a suspect reportedly got out of the truck and began firing at the officer. 

The shooters then drove the truck up to the JK Kosher market where surveillance cameras show them immediately open fire on shoppers.

Police engaged in gun fire with the suspects, who were later found dead inside of the store along with other victims.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal later shared that a pipe bomb was recovered at the scene.

USA Today reports that officials were initially hesitant to classify the act as a hate crime. 

Then, on Wednesday, several media outlets, including the New York Times, uncovered that one of the suspects had shared anti-Semitic posts on social media. The Associated Press also reportedly spoke with an unidentified law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly on the shooting. The official identified the suspects as Black Hebrew Israelites – a group…