Alabama

Texas megachurch pastor Joel Osteen has spoken out on the Alabama state law that makes it a crime for pastors to provide church shelter for illegal immigrants, as residents protest against a new provision to the bill that may force courts to disclose information on undocumented aliens.

"I'm not up to speed on it all, but I think in general you know the Bible tells us to help one another and to help those in need so you know, I think it's a tough position to not be able to welcome people to our churches. You know we don't necessarily know who they are," said Pastor Osteen said in an interview earlier this week with WIAT-TV, while he was visiting Birmingham.

In 2011, Alabama Christian leaders stood up against state officials seeking to enact the "nation's most merciless" anti-immigration law which puts pastors in danger of facing criminal charges for transporting, concealing, harboring or shield an illegal immigrant. The Beason-Hammon Alabama Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act takes aim at people without proper alien registration living in the state. more >>

A small town in Alabama has decided to put up welcome signs that have Bible verses despite questions about the constitutionality of the signs brought up by a national atheist organization.

Town council members in Sylvania, Ala., voted unanimously on Tuesday to replace the four signs that former mayor Mitchell Dendy had removed two weeks ago before he resigned.

In April, Dendy received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based atheist organization, which said the local government was using the signs to endorse Christianity and as such they were unconstitutional. The signs said "Sylvania Welcomes You" and "Ephesians 4:5 – One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism." more >>

Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who gained national notoriety for defying a federal order to remove a granite monument of the Ten Commandments from a courthouse, was voted as the Republican nominee for his former position earlier this week.

Moore received a little more than half of the votes Tuesday to win the nomination for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Political analysts rank him as a heavy favorite to win the general election over his Democratic opponent in November.

In 2001, Chief Justice Moore installed a granite monument depicting the Ten Commandments in the rotunda of the Alabama Judicial Building, "to invoke the favor and guidance of Almighty God in establishing justice as provided in the Constitution of the State of Alabama," according to the Judge Roy Moore for Chief Justice website. more >>

An Alabama Rep. introduced a bill Friday to allow churches and ministries to hold off-campus religion classes for public school students. He said the request for the measure came from a former school teacher in his district who was fired for reading the Bible and teaching creationism.

Republican Rep. Blaine Galliher from Rainbow City sponsored the bill at the request of Joseph Kennedy, an 84-year-old member of his district, who was terminated in 1980 for reading the Bible and teaching creationism at Spring Garden Elementary School, al.com reported Friday.

Rep. Galliher, a member of Chandler Mountain Baptist Church, said similar legislation had been adopted in several states, including Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and Idaho. "It's already been litigated all the way through the court system, so it's constitutional," said Galliher, chairman of the agenda-setting House Rules Committee. more >>

The surviving victims of the tornadoes that hit near Birmingham, Ala., on Monday are probably wrestling with a variety of emotions today, including sadness, uncertainty, anger or even denial. Fortunately, they won't have to deal with these feelings alone.

Three chaplain coordinators from the Billy Graham Evangelical Association's (BGEA) Rapid Response Team (RRT) arrived in the affected area Tuesday to evaluate where volunteer chaplains are most needed to lend an ear to hurting storm victims.

"So what we're looking for is the people that desperately need our help, that maybe don't have anybody to turn to, don't have a support group, cannot afford to get their homes repaired or get a tarp on the roof, get the trees removed," Keith Stiles, deployment manager for the RRT, told The Christian Post on Wednesday. more >>

A group of pro-family Christian and Jewish leaders – including many African-American pastors – plan to rally outside the offices of the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala., Tuesday to protest the SPLC’s labeling of organizations, many of them faith-based, as "hate groups" due to their opposition to homosexuality and pro-gay agendas.

The SPLC categorizes "hate groups" as any organization in the nation that has "beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

The group of religious leaders believes the SPLC has wrongly applied that label to themselves and other members of the faith community.  more >>