Christianity Today Gleanings

Voucher Victory Streak for Religious Schools Broken by 'Important' Court Decision

Students in New Hampshire may continue to receive taxpayer-funded scholarships to attend private schools, but only if those schools are not religious, according to a "precedent-setting" court decision that breaks from recent rulings by other states.

Will the World's First Deaf Bible Come from Japan?

Wycliffe Bible Translators is known for dispatching translators to remote locations in order to help indigenous people groups hear the gospel in their native languages. But what about those who cannot hear?

"There is still no full translation of the Bible in any sign language," reports Wycliffe. Yet the Japan Deaf Evangel Mission (JDEM) aims to change that, creating the world's only full-text sign language Bible using video-recorded Scriptures.

Sales Surge at Christian Bookstores Masks Mixed Results

This year's health report of Christian bookstores finds noteworthy changes in industry sales, Black Friday vs. Christmas performance, and just how many stores expect to close next year.

One-Child-Policy Activist Says China Coerced University to Force Him Out

At New York University for the past year, human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng, a leading opponent of China’s brutal enforcement of its one-child policy, had found a safe haven from the Chinese government, which held him under house arrest for years.

But late Sunday evening, Chen confirmed a New York Post report that China pressured the university to end its relationship with the activist, blind from birth.

In a statement, Chen, who arrived in New York in May 2012 with his wife and two children, said, “It is true that New York University has asked us to leave before the end of June. In fact, as early as last August and September, the Chinese Communists had already begun to apply great, unrelenting pressure on New York University, so much so that after we had been in the United States just three to four months, NYU was already starting to discuss our departure with us.

“The work of the Chinese Communists within academic circles in the United States is far greater than what people imagine, and some scholars have no option but to hold themselves back. Academic independence and academic freedom in the United States are being greatly threatened by a totalitarian regime.

In Case You Missed It: Blogs We've Updated Lately

In addition to reporting fresh religion news daily, CT updates stories we previously noted.

We tweet the updates; but in case you're not one of our more than 117,000 Twitter followers (and really, why aren't you?), here's what you missed this week:

Megachurch Restores Founding Pastor Removed for Adultery

Five years ago, "inappropriate sexual behavior" led Jim Bolin to resign from the Georgia megachurch he founded and led with his wife Robin, also a pastor, for 30 years.

Now Trinity Chapel Church of God in Powder Springs has re-installed Bolin as senior pastor, though the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that "it will probably take months if not years to determine whether the multicultural congregation that grew from five families to 7,000 members over 25 years will ever fully recover."

Pastor Indicted for Plotting To Poison Wife on Honduras Mission Trip

Local church members in Union City, Tennessee, may be standing behind their former pastor—even though he is accused of plotting to kill his wife while on a short-term missions trip.

Local news sources report that Eddie Mallonee, who served as pastor at Second Baptist Church for 15 years, has been indicted for conspiracy and attempt to commit first-degree murder. Shelley Moran, Mallonee's alleged mistress and a Second Baptist Church member, also has been indicted in the same plot. Their target? Mallonee's wife.

Will Derrick Rose Help Hometown Church Fight Adidas over Tithing Trademark?

Why is a small Chicago-area church preparing to go to trial against the world's second-largest sporting-goods company next month?

It's the latest phase of a long-running trademark dispute over a tithing slogan claimed by the church as a “prophetic word spoken” more than a decade ago.

Sojourners' Jim Wallis Reveals 'Unexpected' Cancer Diagnosis

Sojourners CEO Jim Wallis revealed today that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last December and underwent major surgery last week.

Mayor 'Gives Away' Mexico's Wealthiest City to Jesus, Prompting Church-State Debate

Evangelicals are well acquainted with the practice of dedicating children to Christ, but some pastors in Mexico are taking the practice a few steps further: They're getting entire cities dedicated.

But not everyone is happy about it. After Margarita Arellanes, mayor of Monterrey—the wealthiest and third-largest city in the country—"gave" her city "to our Lord Jesus Christ, so that his kingdom of peace and blessings may be established," critics began pointing out that her weekend speech may have violated the country's rigidly established separation of church and state.

Record Baptisms in Iran Overshadowed by Church Closure as Presidential Election Looms

When authorities arrested Robert Asserian, a pastor at Central Assemblies of God Church in Tehran, they also posted a sign outside saying Iran’s largest Protestant church was "closed for repairs."

But “given that the building has no need of any repairs,” according to Elam Ministries, “it seems that the church has been closed by the authorities.”

And as Iran’s presidential elections begin tomorrow, Asserian and his Assemblies of God church aren’t the only victims of increasingly restrictive conditions. World Watch Monitor (WWM) reports that Iranian authorities are clamping down on religious minorities and anyone else they perceive as a threat.

Wycliffe No Longer Faces Boycott by 12,700 Churches

After threatening to withdraw support from Wycliffe Bible Translators last year over its "Son of God" translation policies, the World Missions committee of the 3-million-member Assemblies of God (AG) has announced that it will continue working with Wycliffe after all.

Three Interesting Decisions Made Today by Southern Baptist Leaders

Within an hour, leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) approved three interesting resolutions today at the denomination's annual meeting in Houston, Texas.

Egypt Finally Permits Another Church Building (But 149 More Still Pending)

(WWM) Seventeen years have elapsed since the Coptic Church first requested permission to build a church in the town of Nubaria, Northern Egypt.

Last Friday, their wish was granted. But not all Egyptian Christians are lining up to thank President Mohamed Morsi for passing the first decree of its kind during his tenure.

Despite Census Decline, British Evangelicals Are Surprisingly Optimistic

Despite recent reports that Christianity is "declining 50 percent faster than previously thought" in the United Kingdom, a major survey suggests that British evangelicals are quite optimistic about the future.