Breaking Christian News on The Gospel Herald

Upon the release of U.S. Supreme Court’s majority ruling on Proposition 8 and federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), conservative Christian leaders and traditional marriage proponents have expressed deep disappointments; however, they saw that the High Court’s refusal to find a constitutional right to same-sex marriage as a victory and asserted that Prop 8 remains standing as part of California's state law.

Under California law, it appears that prop 8 still stands, because there is no appellate court decisions striking it down, which is necessary to void an initiative started in that state. Don’t be confused by all that you may be hearing. Portions of DOMA are down, but the ultimate fate of Prop 8 is unclear.

In the wake of the suicide of Pastor Rick Warren’s son last Friday who suffered from depression, the suicides in the cases of Audrie Pott in Northern California and Rahteah Parsons in Canada have brought the public's attention to sexual assault by adolescents, and the cyberbulling that follows.

Quinlivan Hannah, girlfriend of Asia’s king of pop Jay Chou, said that she was deeply inspired by a sculpture depicting Jesus’ mother Mary embracing her son Jesus who was hung on the cross.

Rick Warren said he has cried "as many tears of joy as grief in the last 48 hours," because of the outpouring words of support and love to him and his wife Kay warren from friends and followers of the Saddleback ministry. The couple grieves for the loss of their 27-year-old son Matthew who killed himself Friday.

A power 7.1 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia on Saturday. No reports of immediate injuries and no tsunami warnings due to the location of the quake, an official said.

Houston Rockets Jeremy Lin and his teammates are pushing hard to make the sixth spot in the playoffs with a month left in the season.

Tens of thousands of Chinese were to be baptized Catholics on Easter Sunday in mainland China, the country with a quarter of the world's population, while just 50 years ago the Communists had ordered the complete purge of any religions and the indoctrination of atheism in its citizens.

Opponents of law legalizing same-sex marriage have staged the France’s largest-ever rallies; while organizers have urged non-violence, some have become combative and even labeled their camp the “French Spring”, referring to the regime-toppling Arab uprisings of recent years.

The majority of the Supreme Court justices indicate it may strike down Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) as they said it infringes on the traditional role of the states in defining marriage.

Christian churches, ministries have helped publicize the premier to their congregation and readers. YouVersion Bible App was the official “The Bible” reading app, which has over 82 million installs around the world.

Thousands of Indonesians converted to Christianity during the Stephen Tong’s evangelistic conferences in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population. Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministries International (STEMI) announced on their Facebook fan page that the events were held on five Indonesian islands – Ambon, Manokwari, Kab, Sorong, and Kota.

Some top profile Republicans have signed a legal brief that supports a lawsuit aiming to bringing down Proposition 8, the California ballot that received a majority vote in 2008 banning same-sex marriage.

A new video promo touting the internet-connected technology known as Google Glass posted on Wednesday shows the biggest advancement in personal computing in many years.

Since the Chinese and Turkish expedition group announced their discovery of a large wood structure on Mount Ararat as the legendary “Noah’s Ark” in late 2009, an internationally-respected and independent archaeologist has made two visits to the prehistoric sites and analyzed their material assemblages. He has reported the findings in details in January this year.

South African Paralympic and Olympic “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius has been charged with murdering his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, who died of four gunshot wounds at the athlete’s home, on Valentine’s Day in South Africa.

Iranian-born American Pastor Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years of prison in Iran and is reportedly being tortured in prison as an appeal against his 8-year sentence is being filed.

As the anti-national and moral education campaign grows stronger, Hong Kong Federation of Students (HKFS) has decided to go on strike next Tuesday. Chinese University of Hong Kong Chancellor Joseph Jia-Yiu Sung, who was voted as Hong Kong’s favorite university principle, supports and encourages students to participate in this campaign. He is given the title of “a principal with conscience” because of his strong support for students.

More than 1,000 university students in Hong Kong boycotted classes last Tuesday in protest against the pro-Beijing “patriotism” curriculum that was introduced at the beginning of this month.

On Saturday, Hong Kong’s government has backed down on enforcing the plan for elementary and secondary school students to take Chinese patriotism classes, after tens of thousands took to the streets in protest ahead of legislative polls.

Thousands of students, teachers, and families in Hong Kong protested since the beginning of this month against the government’s plan to introduce “unbalanced” Chinese patriotism classes, also known as the “moral and national education.”

Last Thursday, over 10,000 anti-abortion protestors marched from Parliament Hill through the streets of Ottawa in the annual march against legalized abortion. Those who participated include various protestant and catholic organizations, religious leaders and families with little children, who called on the government to legislate protection for all human beings from the time of conception to the moment of natural death.

A year has passed since the March 11th Japan earthquake and tsunami. Billy Graham Evangelistic Crusade (BGEA) shared that the Japanese, who had been relatively critical towards Christianity, have softened to be more receptive after the earthquake, according to an interview with Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN).

Chinese Coordination Center of World Evangelism (CCCOWE) recently published the mission developments and prayer needs of Japan’s mission field on its website. While Japan has been known for the difficulty in spreading the gospel, the Chinese churches in Japan have been revealing a unity in seeking for a gospel revival.

Influential Chinese economist Zhao Xiao recently reported that the biggest church in the world is in China rather than what’s commonly thought to be Rev. Yonggi Cho's Full Gospel Church in South Korea. China is undergoing a transformative change as a result of the cross, where in some of its areas the churches are greatly revived, number of believers has surpassed half of the population, said Zhao, founder and chairman of Beijing-registered Cypress Leadership Institute, at a seminar hosted by Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship in Southern California.