WASHINGTON (AP) _ The State Department says four U.S. officials visited an imprisoned American in North Korea last week, but failed to win his release.
Spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Monday that a consular official, two doctors and a translator were in Pyongyang to see Aijalon Mahli Gomes.
Gomes was sentenced in April to eight years of [...]

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (AP) _ Matthew Soerens says when the Bible commands us to love our neighbor, that includes immigrants — regardless of their legal status.
Soerens has been working as an immigration counselor for World Relief, the compassionate service arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. In the Chicago area, he’s been calling for compassion at [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) _ More than 100 mostly African-American opponents of same-sex marriage have rallied under threatening skies outside the U.S. Capitol.
Bishop Neavelle Coles of the Church of God in Christ told the cheering crowd Sunday that — quote — “Same-sex marriage is not a civil right — it is a civil wrong!”
The Rev. Walter Fauntroy, [...]

The producers of C.S. Lewis’s The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Samaritan’s Purse have joined together to get Christmas gifts into the hands of over 8 million children worldwide.
In The Chronicles of Narnia series, the world of Narnia is described as a place where it Is “Winter, but never Christmas” before Aslan the Lion [...]

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) _ A study by the Duke University Divinity School suggests that pastors may be so busy tending to other people’s needs that they neglect their own health.
Researcher Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell says compared with other North Carolina residents, United Methodist pastors had significantly higher rates of obesity, asthma, arthritis, diabetes and high blood [...]

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) _ An Iowa church is singing “hallelujah” after winning approval from the Waterloo city council to continue its outdoor services.
The council voted unanimously Monday to grant New Hope Missionary Baptist Church a noise variance.
That means the church can hold outdoor worship sessions on Sunday mornings this month.
Councilman Harold Getty says there were [...]

CHICAGO (AP) _ The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America reports that it lost almost 91,000 members and 48 congregations last year.
In 2009, the denomination dropped to 4.5 million members and about 10,300 congregations, according to a report released Tuesday by David Swartling, the ELCA secretary.
Total offerings in congregations dropped by nearly 3 percent, to about [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) _ An Associated Press-Univision poll finds that younger Latinos in the U.S., and those who speak more English than Spanish, are much less likely to identify as Catholics than older Hispanics who mostly speak Spanish. And a growing number worship in evangelical or Pentecostal churches.
Overall, 62 percent of Hispanics identify as Catholic, but [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) _ Former Senator Ted Stevens, who was killed Monday in a plane crash in his native Alaska, is being remembered as a friend of Christian radio.
National Religious Broadcasters President Frank Wright says Stevens was “a staunch defender of religious freedom” during his
40 years in the Senate.
NRB Vice President Bob Powers says that Stevens [...]

SAN DIEGO (AP) _ Evangelical and Roman Catholic leaders are calling for 40 days of fasting and prayer before the upcoming November election.
The Rev. Jim Garlow, a San Diego pastor who has led opposition to gay marriage, says Christians will be asked to fast and pray from Sept. 20 to Oct. 30.
Garlow says public events [...]