As the United States continues to grapple with racial issues both past and present, a few Christian schools in the South have found themselves at the center of debates regarding their history.

Baylor University garnered headlines in late June when its leadership passed a “Resolution on Racial Healing and Justice,” acknowledging its ties to slavery and the Confederate States.

The resolution also called for the examination of all buildings, monuments, and statues on campus for their historical context and to advance racial reconciliation.

Meanwhile, Harding University, a Church of Christ-affiliated school in Arkansas,  garnered attention for rejecting a petition to change the name of an auditorium.

Many students wanted to change the name of an auditorium named after George S. Benson, a former university president known for his support for racial segregation.

“Rather than remove his name, the University needs to tell the more complete story of Dr. Benson,” stated the university in June, citing Benson’s mission work in China, establishment of the Canton Bible School, eventual integration of Harding in 1963,…

By Leonardo Blair, Christian Post Reporter Follow | Saturday, September 12, 2020

A majority of American adults believe religious belief is a matter of personal opinion, according to new data from the 2020 biennial State of Theology survey, but fewer people are expressing that view.

The survey, commissioned by Ligonier Ministries and conducted by LifeWay Research on March 10-18, involved a sample of 3,002 participants. The results show that while 60% of U.S. adults held the view that religious belief is a matter of personal opinion in 2018, that number dropped to 54% in 2020.

“More than half of respondents to the State of Theology survey say that religious belief is not about objective reality. However, fewer people expressed this view in 2020 than in 2018. It isn’t clear why this is the case, but it may be that our chaotic cultural moment has prompted more people to turn to religion for objective truth,” LifeWay researchers said.

Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research explained that what the results of the survey reveal is that Americans hold a complex set of conflicting religious beliefs.

“Many Americans treat theology like a choose-your-own adventure book,” he said in a recent report. “It’s clear from certain…

A congregation in Illinois raised money to pay off more than $19 million in medical debt for residents living in the Chicago metropolitan area.

VIVE Chicago, a nondenominational church that is one of many VIVE campuses across the country, raised $100,000 to pay off area residents’ medical debt, according to an announcement shared with The Christian Post.

The church partnered with the New York-based nonprofit RIP Medical Debt, which was able to use the donation to pay off $19 million in medical debt.

VIVE Lead Pastor Adam Smallcombe said in a statement shared with CP that for many people, financial debt “is a type of modern-day slavery imprisoning whole families and even generations into a cycle of poverty.”

“As the church and as Christians our mandate is to liberate people from all kinds of oppression because only free people can truly free people,” Smallcombe said.

“That’s why we felt as leaders it was necessary to bring this initiative to our church and they responded with bold faith and generosity.”

The church’s donation was part of the overall “For Chicago” campaign, which aims to abolish $78 million in medical debt for approximately…

Christianity is a faith with a long and detailed history, with numerous events of lasting significance occurring throughout the ages.

Each week brings the anniversaries of great milestones, horrid tragedies, amazing triumphs, and everything in between.

Here are three things that happened this week, Sept. 13-19, in Church history. They include the arrival of a missionary to a region in China, the birth of a pioneer in the Sunday School movement, and a violent secularization law being passed in France.

A new study has revealed that 22% of U.S. evangelicals appear to reject the Bible’s teaching that the gender of a person as male or female is given by God, the Creator, and instead believe in “gender fluidity.”

While 73% of American evangelicals disagree that “gender identity is a matter of choice,” 22% say they believe in that statement, according to the LifeWay Research “State of Theology” poll released Sept. 8.

The survey, sponsored by Orlando-based Ligonier Ministries, and conducted by surveying more than 3,000 Americans in March, also showed that Americans with evangelical beliefs (73%) are more likely to disagree that “gender identity is a matter of choice” than those without evangelical beliefs (47%).

The survey found that Americans in the Northeast are the most likely to agree with gender fluidity, at 44%, and so are those in the age group of 18 to 34, at 50%. However, Americans age 50-64 are the most likely to disagree (64%).

Further, the poll reveals that Americans in a rural area (56%) are more likely to disagree with gender fluidity than those in a large city (45%).

Attending…