Michigan

A jury in one of the most densely populated Muslim communities in the United States has acquitted four Christian street preachers of all but one of the charges laid against them earlier this year.

Nabeel Qureshi of Virginia, Negeen Mayel of California, and Paul Rezkalla and David Wood, both of New York, were all acquitted of breaching the peace Friday. Mayel, however, was found guilty of failing to obey a police officer’s order. But her one-day jail sentence was waived for time served.

The four evangelists – associated with Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries – had been arrested back in June as they were attending the 15th Annual Dearborn Arab International Festival along with over 300,000 from across the country. more >>

Four Christians who were arrested at a large Arab festival in Michigan will have their arraignment hearing on Monday.

Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, a medical doctor, and fellow street preachers Negeen Mayel, Paul Rezkalla, and David Wood were arrested on charges of breach of the peace. Mayel, an 18-year-old woman who emigrated from Afghanistan and who recently converted to Christianity, is also charged with failure to obey police orders. She was videotaping Qureshi’s discussion with Muslims when police seized her camera.

“It’s evident that the Dearborn Police department was more interested in placating Muslims than obeying our Constitution,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center, which is representing the four street preachers. “These Christians were exercising their Constitutional rights to free speech and the free exercise of religion, but apparently in a city where the Muslim population seems to dominate the political apparatus, sharia law trumps our Constitution.” more >>

The two largest reformed church bodies officially merged on Friday to become the World Communion of Reformed Churches, representing more than 80 million Christians.

Hundreds of delegates from countries around the world convened for the Uniting General Council in Grand Rapids, Mich., where they signed the constitution and bylaws of the new organization.

"In these times of division and dissension in so many areas of our lives – including church life – it is highly significant that two global groups of churches … should be willing to come together in a higher level of union than ever before," said Richard van Houten, general secretary of the Reformed Ecumenical Council. more >>

A Reformed Christian college in Holland, Mich., on Friday rejected petitions by gay rights advocates and alumni to drop its policy on homosexuality.

After months of protest and criticism sparked by a decision not to allow the film "Milk" to be screened on campus, Hope College's board of trustees reaffirmed its position that homosexual practice is contrary to Scripture.

"The college’s current position on homosexuality is based on its interpretation of scripture. It is recognized that well-intentioned Christians may disagree on scriptural interpretation. Still, humbly and respectfully, the college aligns itself in its interpretation with its founding denomination, the Reformed Church in America, the orthodox Christian Church throughout the ages, and other Christian colleges and universities," the board said in a statement, according to The Holland Sentinel. more >>

Mainstream media outlets are bias in their reporting about the nine self-identified “Christian warriors” accused of plotting to kill law enforcement officers, contends a group whose mission is to respond to anti-Christian defamation.

Even though members of the militia group call themselves Hutaree, which they say means “Christian warrior,” their alleged violent plan “is absolutely contrary to Christianity,” said Dr. Gary Cass, president of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission.

“They may have illicitly co-opted the Christian faith to justify their murderous intentions, but it is defamatory for the media to keep referring to them as Christians,” said Cass. “They are simply terrorists.” more >>

A Christian couple who leads a ministry that supports persecuted Christians announced this week their successful adoption of eight Burmese refugee children.

Jim and Karen Jacobson of Michigan-based Christian Freedom International said they may very well be the first Americans to be allowed to adopt Karen refugee children who lack official birth records, which means there was no real way to determine the children’s true eligibility for adoption.

The children, four of whom are siblings, came directly to the United States from Burma’s refugee camps and had no birth certificate. When the Jacobsons had applied to adopt them, the children were already in the United States, but the adoption process was complicated by the missing documents. more >>