Leonardo Blair

Latest

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  Jun 17, 2019

  Former President Jimmy Carter says his church's first black pastor is 'excellent preacher and leader'

  Maranatha Baptist Church, a predominantly white church in Plains, Georgia, where former President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn are longtime members recently hired The Rev. Tony Lowden as the first black American to lead their 42-year-old congregation.

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  Jun 17, 2019

  Pastor, father of 4 killed hours before Father’s Day in tragic accident

  A South Carolina pastor and father of four died tragically less than two hours before Father’s Day Saturday after he was hit in a freak car accident while changing a tire on a highway.

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  Jun 13, 2019

  Health workers should have no choice on abortion procedures, Planned Parenthood says, sues Trump

  Several nonprofits, including abortion giant Planned Parenthood, filed two lawsuits in Manhattan federal court Tuesday challenging the Trump administration’s recently announced conscience rule that allows healthcare workers to abstain from participating in abortions or providing other services due to moral or religious objections.

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  Jun 12, 2019

  Alabama gov. signs law requiring convicted child molesters to be chemically castrated before parole

  Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a controversial bill into law Monday that requires chemical castration for sexual predators convicted of offenses against children.

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  Jun 12, 2019

  Matt Chandler defends response to sexual abuse: 'We are an imperfect church'

  Pastor Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Texas is standing by his church’s response to recent allegations from former members that the church mishandled the sexual abuse of their underage daughter by one of the church’s former pastors nearly seven years ago.

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  Jun 12, 2019

  Megachurch leader ‘heartbroken’ after former summer intern, Liberty grad arrested for statutory rape

  Robby Gallaty, senior pastor of the 8,000-member Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, Tennessee, said he is “heartbroken” after Ben Widrick, a former 24-year-old church intern and Liberty University graduate was arrested last Tuesday for statutory rape of a student.

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  Jun 11, 2019

  Pastor sues church for $100K after members fired him, called police when he tried to preach

  A Texas pastor who claims he was improperly fired by members of his congregation who called police when he tried to preach is now suing his former church and seven of its leaders including four deacons for $100,000 in damages.

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  Jun 10, 2019

  Village Church accused of mishandling alleged sex abuse of minor

  The Village Church in Texas, led by Matt Chandler, could soon be facing a lawsuit from former members who allege that the church mishandled the sexual abuse of their underage daughter by one of the church’s then pastors.

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  Jun 10, 2019

  Lawyers for leader of 5 million-member church says he is ‘100% innocent’ of sex abuse charges

  Lawyers for Naasón Joaquín García, who heads the global 5 million-member Light of the World (La Luz del Mundo) church, said Friday that he is “100% innocent” after he was arrested and charged with more than a dozen sex crimes in Los Angeles last Monday.

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  Jun 9, 2019

  Campaign tackles rape of black women and girls at churches through story of Recy Taylor

  A haunting film about the brutal gang-rape of a young black Christian woman by six white men as she walked home from church in 1944 sparked a deep and at times uncomfortable discussion about rape, mental health and healing in the black church at the historic Riverside Church in Manhattan on Wednesday night.