Faith nights at MLB ballparks across the nation feature Christian music, player testimonials and prayers. The theme events are part of marketing efforts to boost baseball’s ticket sales.
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According to the International Labor Organization of the United Nations, 27.6 million people worldwide were victims of forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, sexual servitude and involuntary servitude in 2022. One of the largest and most well-known agencies fighting these forms of modern-day slavery in the world is the International Justice Mission, founded in 1997 by human rights lawyer Gary Haugen.
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(OPINION) The bishops of Aleppo, Syria — Metropolitan Paul Yazigi and Metropolitan Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Church — disappeared 10 years ago while seeking the release of two kidnapped priests. Their car was surrounded by a pack of armed men as they maneuvered through risky checkpoints west of Aleppo. Their driver died in the gunfire, but a survivor later testified that the kidnappers were not speaking Arabic and appeared to be from Chechnya.
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Religious leaders in Uganda have condemned the Allied Democratic Forces rebels June 16 attack and massacre of 42 students in a secondary school in southwestern Uganda.
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According to the latest figures given in the Parliament, the region with a population of 14 million has almost 1 million drug addicts. The consequence of such a massive upswing in drug addiction has taken a heavy toll on a society pounded by conflict and political uncertainty.
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The gangsterism style of rape dwindled when South Africa gained its freedom on April 27, 1994. Yet, rape is coming to a rise in a different dimension. Many homes are affected by fathers and brothers who are victimizing and raping their own wives, mothers, daughters and sisters. What is now appalling is the reported recurring incidents of rapes that women and children suffer at the hands of some of the clergy.
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Steven Spainhouer arrived before most first responders to the scene of the nation’s latest mass shooting. The massacre lasted less than four minutes but left eight dead, including three children, and seven wounded.
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Clashing messages about God and guns came a day after an assailant opened fire at a Dallas-area outlet mall, killing eight people — including three children — and wounding seven.
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A Texas congregation responds to nation’s latest mass shooting with prayer, tears — and discussion of solutions.
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Now the woman, known as Betty, is among the 98 people who fasted to death in the doomsday cult headed by Pastor Paul Mackenzie which has left Kenyans — and the world — shocked. With the Kenya Red Cross reporting more than 100 people still missing, the toll could reach 200 and beyond. From President William Ruto to church leaders and the public, Kenyans are now calling on the government to tighten laws governing the opening and operation of churches.
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(OPINION) The future journalist was both shocked and inspired by her contact with Christians caught in that land's toxic climate of paramilitary warfare, drug trafficking and kidnappings. She struggled to grasp how someone like pilot Russell Martin Stendal, after years held for ransom, could forgive his kidnappers and then start a missionary effort to convert them.
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Supporters of legalizing recreational marijuana in Oklahoma outspent opponents by millions of dollars. Yet when the votes were counted Tuesday, the anti-marijuana side — backed by prominent faith leaders and law enforcement officials — prevailed.
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Nearly five years after approving medical marijuana, voters in the Bible Belt state will decide whether to expand cannabis sales and create a legal framework to expunge pot-related criminal offenses. People of faith are divided in a referendum that is drawing national attention.
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For a fraction of the cost of a comparable hotel in relatively expensive Bollywood, all Jews are welcome in the air-conditioned kosher guesthouse that operates thanks to the perpetual generosity of the Sir Jacob Sassoon Trusts. And the impact of the Sassoon family traces forward to 2023, when a valuable Hebrew Bible from 1,000 years ago, the Sassoon Codex, goes to auction at Sotheby’s this spring as previously reported by ReligionUnplugged.com.
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The Securities and Exchange Commission announced Ensign Peak Advisers Inc. and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints agreed to pay $5 million in penalties to settle charges against the investment fund operating inside the nonprofit entity of the church.
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(ANALYSIS) Taha A.-J. “purchased” and enslaved a five-year-old Yazidi girl named Reda and her mother. Taha’s wife was implicated as well. Taha and his wife held Reda and her mother as captives at their residence in Fallujah and forced them to practice Islam, work as slaves and deprived them of sufficient food.
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Cardinal Joseph Zen, a humanitarian and the outspoken critic of China’s Communist Party, was found guilty on charges relating to his role in a relief fund used by members of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protest movement. The 90-year-old and five others were found guilty for failing to register the now-defunct 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund” used to pay protesters’ legal fees.
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In a midterm election highlighted by issues such as inflation, crime, abortion and threats to democracy, it turned out that recreational marijuana use has emerged as a new hot-button issue in the culture wars following staunch opposition by Catholic bishops.
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There has been an increase in crimes committed against houses of worship across North America, predominantly aimed at Catholic churches, since last year. Many of these incidents have taken place in the weeks prior and after the Supreme Court decision to roll back federal abortion rights.
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Some critics suggest that soft-on-crime policies have gone too far in recent years and perhaps even damaged efforts to help the homeless, drug addicts and prostitutes. The tensions around rising murder rates in major cities around the United States in recent years are also creating hurdles for the loose coalition of conservative, Christian and libertarian nonprofits and billionaires who have collaborated with progressive left activists in the cause of prison reform and deincarceration.
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