Religion: Celebs Rumors

Donald Trump and the $60 bibles he has been selling mere hours before the Easter holiday. During the program’s cold open, “SNL” gave a brief nod to the biblical story of how Jesus Christ was killed and then rose from the dead three days later.After a brief conversation between three women named Mary (portrayed by Chloe Fineman, Heidi Gardner and Sarah Squirm) the stone door to Jesus’ tomb rolls aside. “What is that noise that comes from within,” asks Fineman, while Squirm points out that the stone blocking the tomb had moved aside.

The Office” star Angela Kinsey opened up in a recent podcast appearance about the few times her own faith caused her to speak out against certain jokes made on the popular sitcom.Kinsey, who played Angela Martin on the long-running show, talked about her Christian faith and her years on “The Office” with former co-star Rainn Wilson on the April 23 episode of his podcast, “Soul Boom.”Wilson, who played Dwight on the show, asked Kinsey what it was like playing an “uptight Christian” when she was raised having a “very warm, meaningful relationship” with her faith and the church.Kinsey explained how there were a few times when a joke was written for her character that she felt pigeonholed Christians and didn’t really reflect their views.In one episode during the show’s third season, she recalled her character being given a line she felt was “super judge-y” against Oscar, a gay character on the show.Kinsey said she felt the line didn’t reflect something a true Christian would say, and talked to “Office” producer and showrunner Greg Daniels about it.“Yeah, actually, there were one or two times in which there would be a joke written for her that I thought was just really stereotypical, maybe one note. I like to think of her as a full, well-rounded person.

delivered an impassioned opening monologue as host of “Saturday Night Live.”“This is an incredibly spiritual weekend,” the “Ramy” creator began on a light note. “We’re in the holy month of Ramadan. Tomorrow is Easter.

Liberty University did not issue the Montero Hill acceptance letter posted yesterday to social media, and we have no record of Montero Hill applying to the university,” a spokesman for the Virginia-based university told Entertainment Weekly. The statement from the Christian college stated that the school “exists to glorify God by equipping men and women in higher education in fidelity to the Christian faith expressed through the Holy Scriptures.”Liberty’s statement comes after the “Call Me By Your Name” singer posted the faux acceptance letter stating that he would be attending the religious school in the fall of 2024 with a dual concentration in Christian Leadership and Biblical studies.

bill aims to silence accusations of racism, homophobia, sexism, transphobia, or any other allegations of discrimination, making them “defamation” under the law and potentially costing the person who made them up to $35,000 in the state known for its “Don’t Say Gay” law.The sweeping legislation also appears to void journalists’ right to not reveal sources, and, chillingly removes the long-standing requirement that a public figure needs to show “actual malice” to win a defamation lawsuit.“In cases of alleged homophobia or transphobia, defendants charged with defamation are not allowed to use the plaintiff’s religious or scientific beliefs as part of their defense. If they are found liable for defamation, the defendant could be fined at least $35,000,” The New Republic reports, noting it “would silence basically any accusations of discrimination.”“The bill applies to statements made in print, on television, or on social media.

The Grammy winner shared both the song’s title and cover image on Monday, with the visual being quite striking. The artwork sees Lil Nas X impersonating Jesus Christ as he’s being crucified. He lies on the cross, covered in nothing but a small yellow cloth.

posted to Instagram during her appearance on the podcast “Unexpected with Hanna Love” last week.“Tons of people say to me or have texted me or commented about me and said ‘she’s ruining her career by talking about these things’ and by, you know, X, Y and Z,'” the “American Idol” alum stated.“I treasure a godly marriage over anything the world could offer,” the songstress continued. “Because I know where I’m going, I know who I’m going to see and who I’m going to answer to.” According to the “I Hope” singer, she’s not worried about the naysayers because they “are going to have to answer to him too.” “I’m trying to do the best with what I’ve been given for Him,” Barrett explained.

Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is promoting his far-Christian right beliefs in his latest fundraising email, which asks, “Does America Need More God, Patriot?”Johnson, who last year was the lead sponsor of a federal “Don’t Say Gay” bill, lamented in his email that an increasing number of high school students identify as LGBTQ+. He also claimed “America is hanging on by a thread,” “I fear America may be beyond redemption,” and said, “we live in a depraved culture.”“I’m uneasy, Patriot,” Johnson’s email, sent via the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC), begins, as Insider reported.

KFile, on Wednesday uncovered Johnson’s remarks in support of so-called “ex-gay” conversion therapy, which major medical institutions and government agencies have pronounced dangerous, possibly deadly, and likened to or defined as torture.Johnson had collaborated with an “ex-gay” ministry and his employer before he entered politics in the mid-2000’s, a Christian legal organization that is now designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.Wednesday evening, as Mediate reported, CNN played audio of Johnson talking about an annual event he worked on with his employer, the Alliance Defense Fund (now Alliance Defending Freedom) and Exodus International, a now-defunct and debunked “ex-gay” organization that claimed gay people could become heterosexual through conversion therapy.That event was targeted toward school children.READ MORE: Johnson Mocks Reports GOP Plan to Defund IRS Will Cost US Taxpayers Up to $90 Billion“Our race, the size of our feet, the color of our eyes, these are things we’re born with and cannot change. But what these adult advocacy groups like the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network are promoting is a type of behavior.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA), who House Republicans unanimously voted for last week, has scrubbed his personal website, apparently deleting all 69 weekly podcasts he and his wife Kelly began recording last year.Kelly Johnson’s business website, Onward Christian Counseling, has also been scrubbed. HuffPost reports she “runs a counseling business that advocates the belief that homosexuality is comparable to bestiality and incest, according to its operating documents.” Attempts to access both websites now result in an “Error” message, although those web addresses have been archived.Speaker Johnson has been described as a far-right Christian nationalist and Christian dominionist.Last week, after Johnson was elected the third-most powerful official in America, Politico published a profile on “the Christian nationalist ideas that shaped House Speaker Mike Johnson.” The New York Times wrote, “The new House speaker has put his faith at the center of his political career, and aligned himself with a newer cohort of conservative Christianity that some describe as Christian nationalism.”An MSNBC columnist last week wrote, “Mike Johnson’s Christian nationalist track record isn’t a mystery — it’s a tragedy,” and added, “The new speaker cut his teeth trying to erode the separation of church and state and abortion and LGBTQ rights as a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund.”On Thursday, in a Daily Beast opinion piece, David Rothkopf wrote, “Here’s Why Mike Johnson Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump.”“In interviews he has spoken of the fact that ‘We don’t live in a democracy’ we live in a ‘Biblical republic,'” Rothkop said.

“Take Me to Church” — released 10 years ago on Sept. 13, 2013 — it was more like “Take Me to College” for Hozier.“When I started working on the lyrics for a lot of that song, I was in college,” the suburban Dublin native — who was born Andrew John Hozier-Byrne — told The Post.

Tapestry of Love” (literally — in a notebook) after beginning her writing career at an Amish newspaper.The second novel in her “New Directions” romance series chronicles the romance between two traditional Amish youngsters in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and has sold close to a million copies, the Daily Mail reported Saturday.But Byler has gotten blowback from some community elders who claim the success of her tome is fueling sexual abuse, she told the outlet.“They are very tame books,” Byler said, dismissing comparisons to the sadomasochistic “Fifty Shades of Grey” novels, which shocked and titillated readers just over a decade ago.“There’s nothing unclean in them. There is some touching, my publisher said it would have to be discreet, and a little bit of a kiss,” she said, adding there was no sex in the book.Byler began newspaper reporting when her husband went bankrupt and later transitioned to publishing books for children before writing about the amorous side of Amish culture, where premarital sex — not to mention divorce, cars, electricity and cellphones — are verboten.Her books have increasingly become popular in the conservative US Bible Belt and other Christian communities, and Byler said she has earned a lifetime of money for her and her husband.However, she claims she is being unfairly blamed for recent publicized cases of sex abuse in the Amish community.“In the last 10 years or so, romance novels have become wrong in the community,” Byler told the Daily Mail.

In a statement released by the Church of Scientology on Thursday, the organization called the suit “ludicrous” and claimed that the allegations were “pure lunacy.”“This lawsuit is ludicrous and the allegations pure lunacy,” the statement read. “Remini spreads hate and falsehoods for a decade and is now offended when people exercise their right to free speech, exposing her for what she is—an anti-free speech bigot.”The message continued: “Remini’s complaints are like an anti-Semite complaining about the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for exposing the anti-Semite’s bigotry and propaganda.”“Remini’s obsession with attacking her former religion, by spreading falsehoods and hate speech, has generated threats of and actual violence against the Church and its members as evidenced by multiple criminal convictions of individuals poisoned by Remini’s propaganda.”In the statement, the Church also claimed that Remini had “antisocial traits” and called her a “horrible person,” adding that the star had “profited handsomely from her fabrications.” “If Remini can no longer get a job, she has nobody to blame but herself,” they wrote.

annual conference at Liberty University last month, the event featured a “para-legislative session” at which state legislators and religious-right activists proposed and discussed various resolutions and sample legislation.Among the speakers at the session was Allan Parker, president of religious-right organization The Justice Foundation, who urged the lawmakers in attendance to return to their states and introduce resolutions declaring the month of June to be “Christian History Month.”“I think people are feeling it’s time for Christian History Month,” Parker said. “I hadn’t thought about when but I’m going to suggest June because it’s also Celebrate Life Month.

generated lots of media coverage by making appearances before North Carolina school boards to rant about the supposedly “perverted” books that are available in school libraries. He’s so pleased with himself that he’s taking his bigotry-promoting show on the road.Amanchukwu is a pastor at Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, North Carolina, which is overseen by virulently anti-LGBTQ pastor Patrick Wooden, who also happens to be Amanchukwu’s father-in-law.

THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE FILM “OPPENHEIMER.”A sex scene in the highly anticipated drama “Oppenheimer” is being slammed by Indian officials who claim the scene is “a scathing attack on Hinduism.” The biographical drama tells the story of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he and a group of scientists rush to complete the infamous Manhattan Project, which culminated with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan on August 6, 1945.In the film, Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy, 47) and Jean Tatlock (Florence Pugh, 27) are engaged in sexual intercourse until Jean walks over to a bookshelf and grabs a copy of “Bhagavad Gita” and asks Murphy to read from it.“Oppy” then reads the line, “I am become Death, destroyer of worlds,” as the duo resumes sexual intercourse.

six-page letter, dated July 5, also appears to promote a form of Christian nationalism, suggesting right-wing boycotts over the LGBTQ Pride products harmed the company’s market value, and then stating: “It is likely more profitable to sell the type of Pride that enshrines the love of the United States. Target’s Pride Campaign alienates whereas Pride in our country unites.”The letter also refers to reports from right-wing media including the National Review, Fox News, the New York Post, and the Daily Caller, along with articles from Reuters and Axios.It denounces Target’s financial support of GLSEN.

because she refuses to provide that service to same-sex couples. The case is 303 Creative vs.

303 Creative vs. Elenis, was argued on First Amendment free speech grounds.“The First Amendment prohibits Colorado from forcing a website designer to create expressive designs speaking messages with which the designer disagrees,” the Court ruled on Friday, in a 6-3 decision along ideological lines.On Friday, Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, ruled in favor of the Colorado designer who claims she would like to expand her business to include producing wedding websites, but also claims her Christian faith requires her to refuse to do so for same-sex couples getting married.

Rainn Wilson, who rose to fame playing Dwight Schrute on “The Office,” talked on a recent podcast about the need for a spiritual revolution.The actor spoke about his religious journey and trying to navigate Hollywood and modern culture as a person of faith on the “No Small Endeavor” podcast, hosted by theologian and professor Lee C. Camp.Wilson also noted how he has been discussing faith for a “good 12 years,” noting, “Frankly, I think it freaks people out.

303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, has echoes of another case that was decided a few years ago, Masterpiece Cakeshop v.

American Family Association publicly attacked U.S. Senator Ted Cruz over the Texas Republican’s opposition to the “Kill the Gays” law in Uganda.

Mike Pence on Wednesday officially launched his 2024 campaign for the White House, in a lengthy, polished video carefully constructed to position himself as the torch-bearer of American values, including Christian nationalism, while conveniently all but ignoring his four-plus years spent in service to Donald Trump, who recently was held liable by a jury for sexual abuse, is currently under a 34-count state felony indictment, and expected to soon be facing a slew of federal and state charges amid several other investigations.“I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet,” Pence tweeted atop his campaign video. “Together, we can bring this Country back, and the best days for the Greatest Nation on Earth are yet to come!”The well-known presidential historian Michael Beschloss, author of ten books, noted that it will “not be easy for a VP to separate himself from the President he served for four years.”READ MORE: Double Bombshell: Mark Meadows and Trump’s Secret Service Agents Have Testified, NYT ReportsAnd he made this critical observation: Pence’s “just-released announcement video cites ‘drag queens’ and Biden-Harris but not a single mention or image of You-Know-Who,” referring to Donald Trump.In fact, in Pence’s video (below), he falsely claims, “President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad.” “The American dream is being crushed under runaway inflation.

Turning Point USA, is being widely mocked for posting a video attacking Chick-fil-A over claims the conservative, privately-owned, faith-based fast food restaurant chain recently hired a diversity officer.“So I’m grieving,” the video, apparently by Morgonn McMichael (below), begins. “It’s lunchtime.

Governor Ron DeSantis insists his recent remarks attacking U.S. Senator Ted Cruz should not be viewed as an endorsement of the biblical call for gay people to be executed.

spread former President Donald Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and participated in his illegitimate effort to stay in power after he lost to President Joe Biden. The group promotes false Christian nationalist history.FRC is intensely opposed to legal abortion and legal equality for LGBTQ people and portrays LGBTQ equality as a dire threat to religious liberty.At its 2021 Pray Vote Stand conference, George Barna told religious-right activists that it is parents’ responsibility to shape their children’s worldview.

pushing schools to adopt junk science painting transgender youth as carriers of a pathological disorder,” and files detailing methods to indoctrinate pre-teens into a culture of “sexual purity” and opposing same-sex relationships.The august-sounding American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) is not the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). The American Academy of Pediatrics is the highly-respected and largest group of pediatricians in America.

signed legislation Tuesday prohibiting transgender people from using public school facilities that match their gender identity. Later that same day, Jason Rapert, a former Arkansas state senator and founder of the National Association of Christian Lawmakers, posted a video crediting his organization for the legislation.Rapert, a longtime religious-right activist and ardent Christian nationalist, bragged that this piece of legislation was first proposed by Arkansas school board member David Naylor during an annual NACL meeting, endorsed by the organization, and finally brought to the Arkansas state legislature by state Rep. Mary Bentley, who serves on the board of the NACL.“The NACL has seven working committees,” Rapert said.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is publicly denouncing Uganda’s latest Anti-Homosexuality legislation, which is being called a “Kill the Gays” bill for its capital punishment penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.”The legislation passed in a nearly-unanimous vote and now heads to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni‘s desk.“The Anti-Homosexuality Act passed by the Ugandan Parliament yesterday would undermine fundamental human rights of all Ugandans and could reverse gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), a far-right Christian nationalist extremist, kicked off her speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday morning by telling the room filled with many empty seats that the left is “coming for our children,” in her hate-filled, lie-filled, fear-mongering, anti-LGBTQ speech portraying her cause as virtuous because, she preached, “our God is bigger.” That God, she promised, would help her pass anti-transgender legislation that “will make it a felony to perform anything to do with gender-affirming care on children.”“The left has told us something that should put fear in the heart of every parent,” Greene said as she began her speech.

told USA Today.“Sometimes rejecting faith, sometimes rejecting God even, in a period of being pretty angry about it. Like, ‘Where were you?’ That kind of thing. But I have come to terms with it and have found great peace in my faith and in Jesus.”“It’s not cavalier.

“Today” show with an ashen smudge on his forehead — a symbol of Ash Wednesday, the first day of the season of Lent, for some Christian denominations. For worshippers, these six-and-a-half weeks leading up to Easter commemorate the death and resurrection of their prophet Jesus Christ.Wahlberg noted how religion has helped him stay disciplined in his film career.“[Faith] is everything, it’s afforded me so many things,” the “Father Stu” star, 51, said, adding that exercising his religion publicly is “a balance” and he doesn’t “want to jam it down anybody’s throat.”“It’s not popular in my industry, but, you know, I cannot deny my faith.

Sydney Catholic Schools’ production of School of Rock has left parents clutching their pearls at the show’s “adult themes,” forcing the school to apologise. The show, which took place at the Qudos Bank Arena, was billed as “extraordinary” and a “musical extravaganza” by Sydney Catholic Schools. A casting call video from earlier this year, featuring Sydney Catholic Schools Executive Director Tony Farley, teased, “Our School of Rock arena spectacular will be on a size and scale never seen before in our system of schools.“4000 performers from our 150 schools will perform this worldwide hit musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, and be part of one of the largest musicals ever seen in the City of Sydney.”However, the “extravaganza” was overshadowed by an uproar from parents over a brief scene involving a same-sex couple, played by two male students. According to Sydney Morning Herald, Parents also complained about the language, disrespect for authority, and a scene where the children “prayed to the God of Rock.” The brief scene with a same-sex couple, however, was the transgression that really caused a stir. “Concerns have included language used in the show that is clearly unacceptable in a school or family setting, adult themes that are alluded to in the show which are in no way endorsed by Sydney Catholic Schools, and disrespect for authority that caused some concern.“Sydney Catholic Schools sincerely apologises and takes responsibility for any elements which caused offence and are undertaking a full review of all aspects of the production which will ensure that a situation such as this will not occur again.”School of Rock is the first time students from across the Sydney Catholic Schools system put on a show of this magnitude. ©

READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t Get to Tell the County What They Can Read’: Lawmaker Blasts Christian in Viral Video Attacking LGBTQ Library Books“God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what they should not be doing,” the unidentified man can be heard saying. “They invent ways of doing evil.

Ginni Thomas is once again at the center of controversy and accusations of conflict of interest after an analysis of the 74 amicus briefs filed with the U.S. Supreme Court aimed at overturning Roe v Wade found she was linked to just over half of the legal entreaties to end a woman’s right to choose.“A new analysis of the written legal arguments, or ‘amicus briefs,’ used to lobby the justices as they deliberated over abortion underlines the extent to which Clarence Thomas’s wife was intertwined with this vast pressure campaign,” The Guardian reports.

sued the federal government claiming their business is a “Christian for-profit corporation” that “objects” to “coverage of preventive care such as contraceptives and PrEP drugs” on “religious grounds.” The plaintiffs, the lawsuit also says, “claim that compulsory coverage for those services violates their religious beliefs by making them complicit in facilitating homosexual behavior, drug use, and sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.”HIV is not exclusive to people who engage in same-sex intimate relations, drug use, or sexual activity outside of marriage between one man and one woman.U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor (photo) of Texas, who ruled in 2018 that ObamaCare is unconstitutional, on Wednesday declared the U.S.