In an effort to reach more people for Christ, a British church in Kent plans to implement a most unusual plan.

Although everyone is welcome at the 900-year-old Rochester Cathedral, the church wants to emphasize this point by facilitating several activities you wouldn’t often find in a church, including a mini-golf course, a fifty-foot tall helter-skelter, and a gin and prosecco festival in a neighboring city.

“We hope that when people come in, they will know that they’re welcome and they will have an enjoyable experience,” Reverend Rachel Phillips told Premier News. “So while people are here, having fun and playing crazy gold, they will take the opportunity to reflect on the wider theme of building bridges that they might find that they would like to pray, light a candle. Maybe talk to somebody.”

Paid for by a local charity, the carnival-type activities are intended to get the local community’s attention and introduce them to Christ. The Church of England, according to Kent Online, said it was “very supportive of any initiative which makes buildings more accessible,” especially in light of the 20 percent decline the Rochester Cathedral has experienced in the past decade.

“This is about welcoming everyone into the cathedral, letting people know that we’re here,” Phillip said. “We’re open. It’s free to come in and…

A California case that began with police raiding a private Christian boarding school could have major implications for religious education in the state, attorneys for the school are warning.

River View Christian Academy in rural Northern California was raided in January by 16-armed law enforcement officials who were accompanied by two canine units and 17 social workers. Internet rumors had surfaced accusing the school of housing illegal drugs and weapons prompting the search. Despite law enforcement finding nothing, the legal case continued, attorneys say.

The Pacific Justice Institute is representing the school, which is run by the non-profit Teen Rescue and assists troubled teens. The school receives no government money. 

At issue is the state’s contention that River View is not a private Christian school but instead an “unlicensed community care facility,” a category that would warrant further regulations. 

“Some of those regulations stand at odds with the mission and goals of a Christian school,” Kevin Snider of the Pacific Justice Institute said on The Dacus Report podcast, which is hosted by Pacific Justice president Brad Dacus.

River View has operated as a private Christian school for the past 25 years and files an annual affidavit with the state Department of Education. 

The state wants to bring River View under supervision of…

University of Alabama trustees voted Friday to return a $21.5 million gift to a donor after he called for a boycott due to a new state abortion law, although the disagreement between the two sides apparently preceded his comments.

Hugh Culverhouse Jr. was the largest donor to the university, which had named the law school after him. His name was removed from the School of Law’s outdoor sign Friday.

Culverhouse had urged companies not to do business in Alabama and had said out-of-state students should not attend the university until the abortion law was rescinded. That law would ban most abortions, as Christian Headlines previously reported.

“All foreign and U.S. international firms that do business in Alabama should boycott,” Culverhouse told AL.com in May. “It would get the law changed quickly.”

Trustees voted Friday to return the money and remove his name, but a spokesman told AL.com the controversy was “never about the abortion issue” but instead about the “continued outside interference” by Culverhouse. Emails showed he belittled the dean and wanted to control the hiring and firing of professors. He also wanted to observe classes.  

Culverhouse contended in a June 7 Washington Post op-ed the university’s action was due to his abortion comments. He also said he donated to the ACLU to fight the law.

“The ban on abortion…

HYDERABAD, India, June 10, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Christians in various villages of Chhattisgarh state, India are going hungry as members of tribal religions deprive them of work and refuse to sell food to them, sources said.

In the southern tip of Chhattisgarh state, villagers who practice tribal religion of ancestor and nature worship attacked the homes of three Christian families in Bodiguda village, Sukma District on May 23, leaving 25 people homeless, including four infants.

“Their homes are in ruins,” area pastor Philip Veeti told Morning Star News. “They dumped food grains sufficient to feed the Christians for the entire year in the drain. The families are hardly able to fill their stomachs with the limited provisions they have.”

The villagers on that day warned the Christians to abandon their faith or face death, he said. When the three families refused, a mob of about 150 people tore down the tiled roofs of the three houses of the tribal Christians, throwing out their clothes and other belongings.

The only breadwinners of the families, Sariam Virma, Kurram Desa and Panda Suba, fled to Injaram village 22 miles away, fearing for their lives, Pastor Veeti said. Their families in Bodiguda are living under the scanty shade of a Tamarind tree in temperatures that have hit more than 109 degrees Fahrenheit. The women have also set up a shed…