Leading Christian leaders and pastors gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. and in Los Angeles City on Saturday to lead Christians in praying for unity to heal their divided nation and for America to return to God.

CHR Comment: Evangelical/Revivalist churches supported the ecumenical United Cry DC 2016 event to pray about issues that concern them most in the changing American culture, including longer term issues such as abortion. Prayers emphasized national and racial unity by returning to God through repentance and faith.

Source: Christians gather in D.C., L.A. in ‘solemn assembly’ of unity to pray for America to return to God | Christian News on Christian Today

Scores of Christians were killed by ISIS during the group’s occupation of al-Qaryatain, it has emerged.

CHR Comment: The report comes from the Syrian Orthodoxy patriarch who describes the Assad troops and ISIS fighters taking over Al-Qaryatain (see map). The ISIS imposed dhimmi status on Christians and a strict interpretation of Sharia law, which led to accusations that Christians were violating the law and ultimately to executions. The vast majority of Christians have fled the area. The second link is to a story mentioning human rights abuses and assaults on churches.

Source: 21 Christians ‘slaughtered by ISIS in Syria’ | Christian News on Christian Today

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/13/united-states-human-rights-report-syria/83000788/

Human bones tell stories that would otherwise be lost to history. But archaeologists are increasingly confronted with demands to let past generations rest in peace.

CHR Comment: Mark Strauss explores how archaeologists and persons of different faiths and belief systems respond to the issue of discovered remains and handling the dead. The article refers to a Luther College archaeologist, the church at Jamestown, and the Church of England’s theological statement about the subject as well as the views of other professional and religious persons.

Source: When Is It Okay To Dig Up The Dead?

The pope asked priests to welcome single parents, unmarried couples and gay people, lamenting the “severe stress” of modern families.

CHR Comment: The new apostolic exhortation urges clergy to show care for a variety of household situations that some have treated judgmentally in the past. The exhortation empowers leaders to adapt solutions to local culture but does not change any official church teaching.

Source: Francis’ Message Calls on Church to Be Inclusive – NYTimes.com

http://religionnews.com/2016/04/07/pope-to-push-for-understanding-on-family-matters/

Scotland is beginning a year-long Festival of Architecture.

CHR Comment: The Scottish festival beings in a former Roman Catholic Seminary that the church no longer uses. The second link below describes the former seminary as a modernist masterpiece, which was designed by confessed atheists of Jewish and Presbyterian background. The seminary opened in 1966 but was only used to train priests for fourteen years.

Source: Scotland to celebrate its architecture but not its castles

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/17/st-peters-seminary-glasgow-second-coming-for-scotlands-modernist-masterpiece

Pope Francis blessed the eyes of an American girl who suffers from a genetic condition that will make her blind, in a visit to the Vatican described as a “miracle” by her father.

CHR Comment: The article does not describe a miraculous healing but a great opportunity for the girl to meet the head of their church and to pray with him. The family was awarded a flight to Rome by Turkish Airlines. May God grant the prayers of the family.

Source: Pope Francis blesses eyes of Ohio girl going blind

More than half of the 5.4 million people living in Scotland have no religion, according to a survey published by Scottish Social Attitudes.

CHR Comment: The article describes the decline of the state church in Scotland, which is Presbyterian. Fewer people are attending and declaring affiliation with the state church. It also describes a small increase in Catholicism in Scotland due to immigration. There is a bar graph included, which illustrates changes. The associated survey question, however, may mean that people retain religious views but without having a denominational affiliation.

Source: Majority of people in Scotland have no religion

Science and religion have a notoriously fractious relationship, each spouting fundamental “truths” from either side of an ideologically inscribed line.

CHR Comment: Reporter Jeffrey Marlow describes an interview with Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the Chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, who appears in the National Geographic series, A History of God.

The differences between science and religion predate Christianity as described by the philosopher Bertrand Russell in his History of Western Philosophy. The same dialogue/argument occurred among Greek philosophers. So Christianity did not give rise to the tensions but inherited them from earlier thinkers.

Source: Can Science and Religion Co-Exist? – The Extremo Files : The Extremo Files

The Islamic radical group Jamaat-ul-Ahrar has threatened that even more “devastating” attacks against Christians are coming, following the Easter Sunday bombing at a fun fair in Lahore that killed 73 people, mostly women and children.

CHR Comment: Jamaat-ul-Ahrar is associated with the Pakistani Taliban rather than with Islamic State. They are responsible for a series of bombings against Christians dating from September 23, 2013 to this event on Easter 2016. The group also targets other religious minorities.

Source: Terror Group Behind Pakistan Easter Bombing Threaten More ‘Devastating’ Attacks on Christians

She was the original breaker of glass ceilings.

CHR Comment: Shelley Emling lists some key reasons why she believes Catherine of Siena is a good role model for women today. The article strains to make Catherine sound like a modern feminist, likely for marketing purposes, an effort that seems a bit uncomfortable when describing a person who “cared not a whit for the trappings of wealth.”

Source: Why Catherine Of Siena Is A Role Model For Women In A Man’s World