Louisiana

The Louisiana House Education Committee unanimously agreed on Wednesday to submit a bill for review in the legislature that would grant teachers and students the freedom to challenge and examine critically the tenets of Darwinism in the classroom.

The “Science Education Act” is the latest measure in a series of “Academic Freedom” bills that have swept across Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, and Michigan. A similar measure was also under review in Florida before stalling in the state’s legislature.

Lawmakers say that the efforts to pass the bills are a response to allegations that teachers and students who share views contradicting or challenging the tenets of Darwinism in the classroom are marginalized, discriminated, or ostracized. more >>

What does it take to be an NBA "All-Star" Role Model?

Character, leadership, integrity, and faith, Dave Lower, spokesman for Athletes in Action, told the Christian Post.

At the third annual All-Star Breakfast on Saturday, the sports ministry honored two Christian leaders in the NBA with two esteemed basketball awards for their demonstration of such qualities on and off the court. more >>

A small, highly religious town in southwest Louisiana has finally gained the right to change their 666 area code, which they consider a stigma.

For 40 years the town of Reeves, La., has battled to change the phone prefix, but has failed at least four times, Mayor Scott Walker told The Associated Press. But beginning this month, residents and businesses can apply to change their area code from 666 to 749.

“This boils down to, this is a very, very religious community,” Walker said, according to AP. more >>

Corrections appended

The Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops has pledged not to authorize public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions until a broader consensus emerges in the worldwide Anglican Communion, or until the primary governing and legislative Episcopal body takes further action.

In their response Tuesday “to questions and concern raised by our Anglican Communion partners,” Episcopal bishops also said they agreed that a resolution on the election of bishops calls upon church officials "to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." more >>

Senior Anglican leaders in the United States were drafting a statement Sunday night in an urgent attempt to find a compromise between warring factions within the worldwide Communion.

Bishops meeting at their semi-annual gathering in New Orleans are hoping to find a way to maintain a degree of unity within the Anglican Communion by keeping The Episcopal Church – the U.S. arm of Anglicanism – within the worldwide church body.

The matter will be further discussed at the U.S. House of Bishops meeting on Monday, and it is believed that some compromise will be sought to allow liberal clergy to continue offering pastoral support to gay couples while imposing a ban on formal blessing services for homosexual couples as well as promising not to appoint any more openly gay bishops. more >>

If the Anglican Communion resolves its differences enough to avoid schism, "it will have done something for the entire Christian community,” the top leader of the Anglican Communion told reporters on Friday.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, who leads the worldwide church body as “first among equals,” has been engaged in key talks in New Orleans with U.S. Episcopal bishops since Thursday, addressing in particular divisions over homosexuality.

"The need we have for each other is very deep, it came across yesterday in much of the discussion in our first session," he said at Friday’s news conference, according to the Episcopal News Service. more >>