In Depth:  Christianheadlines.com

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro made a surprise visit to The Send, a worship event in Sao Paulo, saying he ‘believes in Jesus as his Saviour and that Brazil belongs to God,’ it was reported in March.

Bolsonaro hasn’t been quiet about his faith. He considers himself a God-fearing man. His faith was strengthened during his presidential campaign and after he was nearly killed in an assassination attempt.

A group of radical feminists took credit for a shocking string of attacks on pro-life advocates in late 2019.

Two churches (one an evangelical meeting place) and a car belonging to a pro-life journalist were attacked. A group called the Feminist Autonomous Cell accused the church of harbouring anti-feminist attitudes by supporting pro-life causes. March for Life champions were accused by the group of being ‘fundamentalist, anti-trans, homophobic, anti-Semitic, misogynist, patriarchal and right-wing conservative’ speakers. This was denied by March for Life.

HART, a UK-based organisation, released a report estimating that over 1,000 Nigerian Christians were killed in 2019 in attacks led by Fulani extremists.

The report said Islamist Fulani militia continue to engage in an aggressive and strategic land-grabbing policy in Plateau, Benue, Taraba, Southern Kaduna and parts of Bauchi state. HART said: ‘They attack rural villages, force villagers off their lands and settle in their place – a strategy that is epitomised by the phrase “Your land or your blood”.’

After widespread public complaint, author-ities removed billboards at bus stops that quoted the Qur’an’s declaration that Muslims should not befriend Christians or Jews.

The quote was accompanied by images of a cross and Star of David dripping with blood.

A biological male runner who identifies as a female was named ‘women’s cross-country athlete of the week’, in October.

The University of Montana’s June Eastwood won the honour after finishing second in a field of 204 runners. In 2018, Eastwood was known as Jonathan Eastwood and competed on the Montana men’s cross country and track teams. Eastwood finished seventh in May 2018 in the men’s 1,500-metre run at the conference’s outdoor championship.

A 134-page report released in September, shows that some 35 million youths raised in Christian families in the USA will give up on Christianity by the year 2050.

Greg Stier – founder of the youth ministry Dare 2 Share – says the report, called The Great Opportunity, is a chance for Christians to ‘flip the switch’. ‘How about not just slowing down the bleeding, what if there was a revival that flipped those stats? That is what we are praying for. How do we flip the switch?’

Two journalists who uncovered the sale of baby parts are being taken to court, charged with 14 counts of eavesdropping and one count of conspiracy.

Four years ago, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt recorded conversations with top executives and clinicians from Planned Parenthood about selling aborted baby parts. StemExpress was one of the alleged brokers.

According to a study undertaken by Barna research group and published in August, just a tiny fraction of the American church feels obliged to repent of the country’s racist past.

In Where Do We Go from Here? just over 1,500 practicing Christians were asked what they believe should be done to make amends for the decades of racist history that plagued the United States.

Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem said in August that they had uncovered ‘clear’ archaeological evidence affirming the account as described in 2 Kings 25 of the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem more than 2,500 years ago.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC) uncovered Babylonian-style arrowheads and layers of ash alongside lamps, potsherds, and gold & silver jewellery they believe is either a tassel or earring. The items were unearthed at the geographical location the siege would have occurred.

Nearly a dozen religious leaders representing faiths including Christianity and Judaism gathered at a Texas abortion clinic on 9 July to ‘bless’ it and declare their support.

The gathering was sponsored by the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, Texas Freedom Network and Whole Woman’s Health.

After a civic Borough Assembly meeting in Alaska was forced to change its policy about who could offer invocations or prayers at the start of a meeting, a member of the Satanic Temple began a meeting with a call to ‘Hail Satan’.

The invocation in May led to walkouts from attendees and officials, as well as protests outside the meeting.

Pro-lifers accused the New York Times of ignoring science by labelling an unborn baby’s heartbeat ‘embryonic pulsing’. This language wasn’t used in earlier stories, but appeared in a 29 May report on abortion.

The story referenced a Louisiana law that bans abortion after a foetal heartbeat can be detected. The bill was sponsored by a Democratic state senator and signed by the state’s Democratic governor.

Parents of students who were banned from handing out Bibles during lunch at a Pennsylvania high school reached an agreement with the school district on 28 April that changes language in the student handbook and overturns the ban.

The students had reported that the principal was preventing them from handing out Bibles at any time, including during the lunch break. The Independence Law Center then filed suit on behalf of the parents of the students, claiming the school’s policy was a violation of constitutionally protected free speech. The students are part of a group called the Christians in Action Club.

Dr Martin Luther King’s niece stated in January, on Martin Luther King day, that Planned Parenthood (PP), the US abortion provider, targets African-Americans.

Dr Alveda King, the Director of Civil Rights for the Unborn said: ‘The leading cause of death in the African-American community is not gang violence … it’s abortion. [With] 60 million-plus abortions legal in America since 1973 [and] about a third of those in the African-American community [who make up] 13% or less of America’s population, that means we are having more abortions.’

Florida state legislators introduced a Bill that will require school districts to offer classes on religion and the Bible in state high schools, it was reported in February.

House Bill 195 requires ‘each school district to offer specified courses relating to religion, Hebrew Scriptures and the Bible to certain students as elective courses’.