Kayne West’s recent concert at a Houston jail, which featured a choir and used songs from his new album, “Jesus is King,” was an “egregious” violation of the separation of church and state, a national atheist group alleges in a complaint filed with the local sheriff.

“This was about a superstar using his notoriety to pressure a captive audience into accepting his particular brand of religion,” said Andrew L. Seidel, director of Strategic Response for the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF).

In a four-page letter to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, Seidel also requested that public records related to all correspondence, emails and concert notices between West’s team and officials from the jail or sheriff’s department be provided to FFRF within 10 days.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, West performed surprise concerts at both the men’s and women’s facilities on Nov. 15. West was in Houston that weekend as part of his national “Sunday Service” tour and spoke at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church.

During the jail concerts, several officials, including Gonzalez, tweeted out photos of the performances.

“[email protected] and his choir brought some light and #churchservice to people who needed it today at the Harris County Jail. #HouNews,” Gonzalez posted with a link to a short YouTube clip.

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Gallup’s newest survey on abortion is challenging the conventional wisdom that women are overwhelmingly pro-choice.

In fact, the latest Gallup data shows that most women are pro-life – and even are more pro-life than men.

Fifty-one percent of women consider themselves pro-life, according to the poll, while 46 percent of men do. Meanwhile, 43 percent of women and 48 percent of men call themselves pro-choice. 

Women are more pro-life on Gallup’s other abortion-related topics, too:

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  24 percent of women but 18 percent of men say abortion should be illegal in “all circumstances.” 
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  24 percent of women and 25 percent of men say it should be legal in all circumstances. 
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  50 percent of women but 56 percent of men say it should be “legal under certain circumstances.”

To be fair, the 2019 Gallup survey – conducted in May – may be a slight anomaly, and future surveys will determine if the current trend holds.

But historically, a significant percentage of women are pro-life in Gallup’s polling. In each survey since 2004, at least 43 percent of women have called themselves pro-life. And since 1979, the percentage of women who support legal abortion with no restrictions has never topped 34 percent – and in most years, hovers in the 20s. 

“Many U.S. political leaders may think of abortion as a key ‘women’s issue,’ but it is…

NEW DELHI, November 22, 2019 (Morning Star News) – A pastor and his family in eastern India are facing police charges after Hindu extremists with an axe, bamboo rods and wooden sticks attacked them in their home, leaving the pastor for dead, sources said.

The eight assailants, including a policeman, who attacked pastor Basant Kumar Paul as he prayed in his home at 6 a.m. on Nov. 12 in Parihara, Garhwa District, Jharkhand state, also seriously injured his mother, son, wife and brother.

Pastor Paul, 45, fell unconscious from blows from wooden clubs, and members of his family were assaulted as they came to rescue each other one after the other, sources said.

“Because he fell unconscious, he was saved, otherwise he would have been killed,” said pastor Gautam Kumar, presbyter of Indian Pentecostal Church in Nalanda Patna in Bihar.

Pastor Paul said he sustained serious injuries to his head and the rest of his body.

“I cannot even lift my finger without pain,” Pastor Paul told Morning Star News. “If I touch my head, it pains severely and feels swelled.”

The pastor’s mother, Lakhpati Devi, sustained a head injury from an axe blow, as did his brother, Uday Ram. Pastor Paul’s wife, Shila Devi, sustained several internal injuries, and his 20-year-old son, Anugrah Raj, suffered injuries that required him to undergo knee replacement surgery on…

The world knew him as “Mister Rogers.” To Bill Isler, though, Fred Rogers was a co-worker and most importantly, a friend.

Isler was president and CEO of the Fred Rogers Company from 1987 until his retirement in 2016. He worked on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and also helped spearhead the making of a new legacy series, Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood,following Rogers’ death. 

This month, though, Isler is promoting the new theatrical film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (PG), which stars Tom Hanks as Rogers and tells the story of a magazine reporter who was changed for the better by meeting the famous children’s television show host. It opens this weekend.

Fred Rogers was the same person in private that he was in public, Isler said, referencing Rogers’ kind and compassionate qualities.  

“What you see is what you got,” Isler told Christian Headlines. “The consistency was unbelievable. He treated everybody with an incredible amount of respect and dignity no matter who they were. I was always amazed at how consistent he was with people no matter who that person was.”

The faith-driven movie portrays Rogers as a patient man who wanted to teach children and adults how to love and forgive. It also puts Rogers’ Christian faith on display, showing him kneeling beside his bed and praying for individuals, by name….

Some 30 percent of American adults have a “positive” perception of evangelicals, according to a new study from Barna Group.

Evangelicals make up about 6 percent of the U.S., but according to the Christian Post, the Barna group says evangelicals hold a “unique place in national discourse.”

“Based on a nationwide study of U.S. adults, we found that, though many people still view evangelicals as a committed group of believers who put their faith first, their political connotation puts the future of American evangelicalism in a precarious spot,” a summary of the new report, “The Brand of Evangelicals,” reads. 

Barna President David Kinnaman says the research also points to a “clear indication of the divided nature of the U.S. population” where “evangelicals are at the epicenter of many of those differences of opinion, worldview, and practice.”

“On the one side, there are evangelicals and those favorable toward evangelicals; the other side includes those who hold unfavorable views of evangelicals,” Kinnaman wrote in the report’s conclusion. “It appears never the two shall meet.”

The study found that 15 percent of the more than 1,000 participants said their opinion of evangelicals is “very positive.” Another 15 percent said their perception of evangelicals is “somewhat positive.”

Fifteen percent said…