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Shopping catalogs and glossy magazines are "tools of Satan" because they create envy, said Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren. "Envy is no longer one of the Seven Deadly Sins. Envy is a marketing tool," he said.

What do chess, conviction and religion have in common? The thread among these three aspects will be explained in a new Walt Disney movie about missionaries in Uganda. Entitled "Queen of Katwe," the new movie was inspired by a true story about the bond between missionary Robert Katende and Phiona Mutesi, a girl growing up in the slum area of Kampala. The film is slated to debut in theaters Sept. 23, 2016.

When evangelist Rev. Billy Graham recently was asked what he thought was the biggest problem of today's world, he had three words: "the human heart." Then he explained the Bible puts it bluntly and he quoted Jeremiah 17:9, which states "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

Vancouver School of Theology professor Jason Byassee believes Christians can find messages and analogies in movies that even may be perceived as "flagrantly irreligious or hostile to morality." This former North Carolina church minister insists morality can be seen in its own right, especially in superhero movies.

George Mason University professor Lincoln Mullen's new computer-based software, which he called America's Public Bible, became a tool that tracks the use of Bible verses, and he just found Bible verses were once everywhere in the print of 11 million pages of old newspapers.

Eight months after Paulette Leaphart's double mastectomy, she said God spoke to her and told her to remove her shirt. She was at the beach over Labor Day weekend at the time, and as strangers saw her scars, they started to cry but also applauded. Those unplanned minutes launched Leaphart's new personal purpose to help other survivors find beauty in their bodies - to free them.

For the last 25 years, an annual prayer event entitled "See You at the Pole" encouraged students to unite to ask God to intercede for their generation. This year's global prayer observation will be Sept. 28 at 7 a.m. local times. "We Cry Out" is the 2016 theme.

On Wednesday, September 28, millions of students across the country and globally will gather at their flagpoles, praying for their school, friends, families, churches, and communities.

Russell Moore, president of Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said it's straight-forward for how local church pastors can address political or social issues with their flocks.

Bill Nye "The Science Guy" spoke out this weekend after his July 8 visit to Kentucky's Ark Encounter, the life-sized Noah's ark theme park built by creationist Ken Ham, calling the new Christian attraction "disturbing." Nye also argued every science exhibit on the Ark's third deck is "absolutely wrong."

Ken Ham, president/founder of Answers in Genesis and head of the newly-opened Christian attraction The Ark Encounter in Kentucky, had his second public debate with celebrity scientist Bill Nye during a personal tour of the ark Friday. In 2014, Nye said the ark's plans represented an "extraordinary and outlandish, unscientific point of view."

For 42 years, Garrison Keillor's soothing voice slid a slice of Americana into many lives through his popular radio show "A Prairie Home Companion." Keillor, who concluded his role as host on July 2 in an episode taped at the Hollywood Bowl, also injected a vigorous dose of religion into the show. For "church people," the stories and songs had a familiar, humorous ring.

Adolescents between the ages of 13 to 24 who are attending religious services tend to view less pornography, compared to others of the same age who are not going to church, finds a new paper published in the Journal of Adolescence.

This is Amy Bleuel, and she is a superhero. She might not wear a costume, but her works through her organization Project Semicolon is saving lives. I had a chance to interview her, and this founder of Project Semicolon is doing her part, and inspiring others to fight depression, addiction, suicide, and self-injury.

Pastor Mark Driscoll, who recently planted The Trinity Church in Phoenix, Arizona, a year and a half after resigning from well-known megachurch Mars Hill amid controversy, recently shared his thoughts on whether parents should homeschool their children, or send them to private or public school.

A movie about the struggles of Jesus' childhood and the issues that surfaced for his family will be available for home viewing through a movie entitled The Young Messiah. Released by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, the movie will be available for purchases on digital HD as of May 24, and on DVD and Blu-Ray as of June 14.

It may surprise some people to learn Vincent Furnier - also known as the singer of bizarre lyrics and macabre stage theatrics, Alice Cooper - was born the son of a minister, especially given the rocker used to simulate animal sacrifice, and even his own execution, on stage. However, these days, Furnier called on his religious faith to found Solid Rock, a teen ministry in Phoenix, Az., aimed to keep kids out of trouble during non-school hours.

While not all Christians will recognize the Pentecost religious holiday as a holy day on May 15 this year, it generally is honored in liturgical churches whose congregations are Protestant, Roman Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox and Charismatic -- and of course, Pentecostal. Pentecost may not as well-known, or as popular as Christmas and Easter, though it commemorates a watershed event in Christian history typically marked as the birthday of the church.

During the 26th annual "Just Pray NO!" to drugs Worldwide Weekend of Prayer and Fasting April 2-3, Christians around the world will join in intercessory prayer on behalf of those who are addicted to drugs, as well as pray for the families affected. Abuse of tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs costs the United States more than $700 billion annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care, according to National Institute of Health current statistics.

Televangelist Jerry Falwell Sr.'s former chief of staff, Mark DeMoss, broke his silence Tuesday about disagreeing with Jerry Falwell Jr.'s endorsement of GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Not only did DeMoss indicate that Falwell's endorsement was a mistake, he also claimed it was a "concern" for Liberty University, the Virginia Christian college founded by the elder Falwell and now led by his son.

As an upcoming movie starring actress and director Melissa Joan Hart as a Christian teacher who is forced before a judge for answering a question about Jesus in the classroom, "God's Not Dead 2: He's Surely Alive" tackles several ethical and freedom of religion dilemmas facing society today. In the movie, the principal and superintendent join forces with a zealous civil liberties group, and the teacher faces an epic court case that could cost her a career she loves and expel God from the classroom.

Debates about exactly how to teach religion to Tennessee public school students are rocking the state's school districts to their cores, with activists and concerned parents saying they worry middle school students are being "indoctrinated" with a sanitized version of Islam. Tennessee legislators got involved, and determined that educators could still teach students about religion, but not in any way that proselytizes, under a bill that passed the state House on Monday night.

Student religious expression is being explored from various perspectives in America's Midwest. Conversations about holding scriptural belief and Darwinian evolution concepts as equally valid within a scientific classroom continues on the University of Cincinnati campus. House Bill 425, known as the Ohio Student Religious Liberties Act of 2016, passed the Ohio Legislature last week, drawing many responses, from campus ministers to anthropology professors to the campus' Secular Student Alliance.

"World Religions Through Their Scriptures," Harvard Divinity School's newest online course, launches March 1, with a goals of opening dialogues and changing the world. Religious literacy, in modern terms, now requires acknowledging that faith communities are internally diverse and always evolving, said Diane Moore, lead organizer of the online course and director of Harvard Divinity School's Religious Literacy Project.

An increasing number of students from China who are attending American colleges are finding solace in Christianity. It's also clear the number of Chinese converts to Christianity among those students is growing rapidly.