Breaking Christian News on The Gospel Herald

Pastor Mark Mackey was arrested for reading the Bible aloud in front of the California Department of Motor Vehicles office in Hemet, Calif., in 2011. But on Wednesday, three federal appellate judges in the Ninth Circuit issued a final ruling in favor of the Christian, rebuking the officer's original claims and finding him not guilty.

Backpage.com, a website notorious for its facilitation of prostitution and sex trafficking shut down the "adult" sexual services advertising section of its website. The website, which Polaris Project calls "the world's top online brothel," removed the prostitution ads' section hours after a scathing U.S. Senate report concluded the website was the "largest commercial sex services advertising platform in the United States."

Missouri State University officials just agreed to pay $25,000 to a former student who sued the school after he was removed from a master's degree counseling program, because he said he wouldn't counsel gay couples. Andrew Cash sued the university last April, claiming in the lawsuit he was "targeted and punished for expressing his Christian worldview." However, his personal religious stance presented professional issues, given the national counselors' code of ethics.

Muslims in Pakistan have filed a blasphemy charge against a Christian in retaliation for refusing their demand that he and others cede church land to them, sources said.

A Texas federal judge issued a temporary injunction on Saturday blocking the Obama administration’s mandate not to discriminate against abortion and gender identity in healthcare services just one day before the regulations were to take effect.

Northern California county officials recently reversed their decision to ban a Christian congregation from meeting in a barn. Located just outside of Oroville, Calif. in Butte County, a group of Christians had been holding meetings in a barn, but county officials informed the owners of the barn and property they could no longer use the space to host church services. The same officials later even banned church gatherings in an open pasture on the property.

The North Jakarta District Court rejected the defense statement of Jakarta Gov. Basuki Tjahaja Purnama or Ahok when the hearing resumed on Tuesday.

A young Catholic immigrant who was fired from her job in healthcare for being unwilling to promote contraception may finally receive justice, thanks to the efforts of First Liberty Institute.

After an emotional appearance on the first day of trial for blasphemy charges last week, Jakarta’s controversial Christian governor Ahok went back to court Tuesday.

Two of the country's leading law firms have filed a brief on behalf of Mary Anne Sause, a Louisburg, Kansas, woman who says she was ordered by local police to stop praying in her home and told that a copy of the Constitution she showed them was "just a piece of paper".

The American Center for Law and Justice launched a global petition campaign asking for the release of US pastor Andrew Brunson, who had been falsely charged with terrorism in Turkey. Brunson was detained at a local police station in Izmir on October 7 under the pretense that he will be receiving his permanent residence card. He was informed at the station that he was to be detained until deported stating that he was a "threat to national security."

The Arkansas Supreme Court ruled last week that the names of same-sex adoptive parents can’t be in the birth certificate of the child they are adopting in order to “acknowledge basic biological truths.”

The case of a missing human rights lawyer Li Heping has been moved out of the investigation stage and transferred to a court in China's northern Tianjin Municipality for prosecution.

Here’s a major victory for religious freedom: In response to a lawsuit filed by four churches, the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination revised the language of an “anti-discrimination” law that could have put pastors in jail for preaching about the biblical definition of gender.

Christian Sudanese pastors are currently under threat of facing the death penalty in Sudan after being persecuted and imprisoned a year ago along with a Christian Sudanese leader and an aid worker. A global petition is currently underway to save the pastors along with the other condemned individuals

More and more details of Dylann Roof's plans unfold as his trial continues.

The mother of the Emanuel AME Church shooter, Dylann Roof, suffered a heart attack after hearing the testimony of one survivor, who recalled how the white supremacist entered the Bible study session and waited for worshipers to stand and close their eyes in prayer before opening fire, killing nine.

Two Christian artists who create hand-painted invitations and cards could be facing jail time and heavy penalties for refusing to make invitations for same-sex weddings.

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Friday agreed to hear future appeals from three Christian-affiliated hospital systems about previous court rulings that supported employee lawsuits accusing the hospitals' representatives of wrongly claiming religious exemptions from federal pension law. The effected employees allege the hospital systems actually are big businesses posing as church organizations to avoid minimum funding and reporting requirements on employee pension plans mandated by the federal Employee Retirement Income Security Act, or ERISA.

Multiple counts of murder, child abuse and several sexual assault charges against underage girls were also charged against the accused for the hot car death of his son.

Whatever your view on the subject, it would seem clear that the benefits are of a national caliber. According to Dakota Access Pipeline Facts, the controversial construction "...will enable domestically produced light sweet crude oil from North Dakota to reach major refining markets in a more direct, cost-effective, safer and environmentally responsible manner."

Jakarta’s Christian governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, popularly known as Ahok, was emotional and spoke softly as he asked people to pray for him while he goes on trial for blasphemy.

Brentley Vinson will not be charged with the death of Keith Lamont Scott, as stated by the police officer's attorney. District Attorney Andre Murray declared that there was nothing wrong with what Vinson did in the September 20 incident which resulted in the death of Scott.

Having concluded their investigations, Indonesian police have now named Jakarta's ethnic Chinese Christian Gov. Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama a suspect in a blasphemy case. The case that has produced virulent protests will now to go trial.

U.S. District Court officials for the Northern District of Ohio on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit against the federal government that demanded the removal of the national motto, "In God We Trust," from U.S. currency. The plaintiffs, which are a "group of atheists, humanists, and religious persons who find the use of God's name on currency to be sinful," claim this national motto on currency breaches their rights to free exercise, free speech and equal protection. Attorneys from the largest U.S. legal organization dedicated to defending religious freedom for all Americans stepped into the case as well.