Pastor Charged in Fake Kidnapping, Intended as Lesson in Religious Persecution

From: The Washington Post

PITTSBURGH — A southeastern Pennsylvania church and a youth pastor are facing criminal charges for a mock kidnapping of a youth group that was meant to be a lesson in religious persecution.

The Glad Tidings Assembly of God in Middletown and 28-year-old Andrew David Jordan of Elizabethtown were charged Friday with false imprisonment and simple assault, said Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico.

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Theater Massacre Shatters Sense of Security

From: USA Today

Shortly before she died in a darkened Colorado movie theater at the hand of a merciless gunman, Jessica Redfield witnessed the aftermath of another mass shooting in Toronto that left two dead.

The odds that a 24-year-old woman's life of promise would be scarred by one tragedy and taken a few days later in another are incalculable. But the haunting question she posted on her blog after the Toronto shooting — "Is this the world we live in?" — is unavoidable.

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Quote from Carl Chinn (from article)

"There has been a slip in moral values that once held certain areas as somewhat sacred," said Carl Chinn, a security expert who since 1999 has documented 562 violent attacks on houses of worship, including one that killed two at the New Life Church in Colorado Springs where Chinn helps with security operations.

Court upholds Georgia Ban on Guns in Church

From: The Washington Post

A federal appeals court has upheld Georgia’s ban on bringing guns into places of worship.

The Rev. Jonathan Wilkins, a Baptist pastor, and a gun-rights group had argued that church members should have the right to carry guns into worship services to protect the congregation.

But the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday (July 20) that a Georgia law adopted in 2010 does not violate the Thomaston congregation’s First and Second Amendment rights.

Gun-rights advocates might want a weapon for self-defense, but that is a “personal preference, motivated by a secular purpose,” the court ruled.

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Fire Destroys 108-year-old Church in Georgia

From: The Sacramento Bee

WINDER, Ga. -- Officials say they suspect lightning sparked a fire that destroyed a 108-year-old church in the northeast Georgia city of Winder.

Fire Chief Matt Whiting says the blaze at the historic Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit flared during a thunderstorm late Thursday.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/28/4669072/fire-destroys-108-year-old-church.html#storylink=cpy

Vandals paint 'There is no God'

RMO, SC (WACH) - Vandals are writing messages of hate on houses of worship, and Richland County deputies hope you can help track them down.

The congregation of Shady Grove United Methodist Church in Irmo is stunned after vandals spray painted anti-religious messages on church property.

Read More: http://www.midlandsconnect.com/news/story.aspx?id=775095#.T_879I4q9Sk

God, Guns and the Church: The Darkest Valley

From: Huffington Post - Religion

This reflection on Psalm 23 and gun violence in the United States was delivered at both N. Portland's University Park Church and SE Portland's Sunnyside Church by the Rev. Chuck Currie on July 22.

Our schools and churches and movie theaters are places we should expect to be safe. In these places we worship, we learn and we are entertained. But in recent years all these places -- along with shopping malls and restaurants and public parks -- have in moments of terror become killing fields as people with often-great mental instability who have access to weapons meant for battlefields open fire on innocent crowds causing mass deaths.

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County Churches Partner to Combat Neighborhood Crime

From: Bradenton Times

PALMETTO -- The First Baptist Church of Palmetto joined in local efforts to reduce crime throughout the community’s poorer areas by implementing Adopt A Block mission programs. After successfully hosting its first outreach event in the spring, First Baptist now works in solidarity with four additional churches toward a common goal of safer Manatee County neighborhoods.

Retaining strong support from law enforcement, two First Baptist bible studies groups and members of North River, Sarasota Baptist, Bayside Community and Mt. Carmel churches distribute donated pancake breakfasts, form cleanup teams and entertain youth and senior residents among participating block locations.

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Philadelphia Church Official Sentenced to at Least 3 Years in Prison

From: New York Times

PHILADELPHIA — Msgr. William J. Lynn, the first Roman Catholic official in the United States to be convicted of covering up sexual abuses by priests under his supervision, was sentenced to three to six years in prison on Tuesday.

“You knew full well what was right, Monsignor Lynn, but you chose wrong,” said Common Pleas Judge M. Teresa Sarmina as she imposed the sentence, which was just short of the maximum of three and a half to seven years.

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