The New York City Council passed a resolution Wednesday in support of Christians and other faith groups being granted "equal access" to gather for worship on public school property after hours. The 38-11 vote is seen as another sign of progress in a years-long battle that threatens the right of Christians and other faith groups to use such spaces to gather for worship.

"We had a huge, huge victory today, "Pastor Bill Devlin said of the "Right to Worship" resolution, according to World Magazine.

Devlin and City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, a Democratic representative of the Bronx borough, have been at the forefront of a grassroots push to grant churches equal access to public school space. more >>

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case regarding public prayer in government meetings which, depending on the verdict, could greatly alter the future of public religious expression in the United States.

The Supreme Court justices announced Monday that they will be hearing the case of Greece, N.Y. v. Galloway, Susan, a 2008 case filed by Susan Galloway and Linda Stephens, residents of Greece, N.Y., who sued the city, arguing that it had violated the First Amendment rule of separation of church and state by allowing predominately Christian prayers to be held at government meetings.

Galloway and Stephens argued that the majority of prayers held at Greece government meetings from 1999 to 2010 were delivered by Christian clergy, and therefore the city was endorsing the religion. more >>

Christian ministers like Joel Osteen, Rick Warren and Jamal Bryant are among a number of high-profile individuals and organizations apparently being used by scammers on Facebook to solicit funds from unsuspecting supporters.

Miles McPherson, senior pastor of the Rock Church in San Diego, alerted his Facebook fans Wednesday that someone had set up a fake account on the social network pretending to be him.

Joel Osteen Ministries, which has more than 3,630,000 "Likes" on Facebook, received several messages from supporters this week notifying the Lakewood Church ministry of account holders using Joel Osteen's name. more >>

Reader's Digest magazine has revealed its survey results for "The 100 Most Trusted People in America," which features actor Tom Hanks at the top of the list. Also included among those whom Americans find most trustworthy are the Rev. Billy Graham, former President Jimmy Carter and NFL player Tim Tebow.

"To understand how our trust instinct shapes our culture, we compiled a list of over 200 American opinion shapers and headline makers from 15 highly influential professions. Then we polled a nationally representative sample of over 1,000 American adults, asking them to rank each person based on trustworthiness," explains the publication.

Despite the television and movie personalities that dominate the list, the survey found that Americans tend to trust more than anyone else their doctors (77 percent), spiritual advisers (71 percent) and their children's teacher (66 percent). However, those results, which were the three highest scores on the poll, were excluded from "The 100 Most Trusted People in America" list — "to focus on the public figures who resonated with everyone," according to the magazine. more >>

[UPDATE: Monday, May 6, 2013 4:50 p.m.

Joseph Zwilling, director of Communications for the Archdiocese of New York, released this statement to The Christian Post in response to the gay rights supporters' protest:

"Yesterday, prior to the 10:15 a.m. Mass at Saint Patrick's Cathedral, a small group of individuals approached the Cathedral with blackened hands, as a form of protest in response to Cardinal Dolan's blog post, 'All Are Welcome.' Although organizers have attempted to call yesterday's events by another name, it is clear that they were trying to make a statement, had hoped to get media attention to spread their message, and were using the setting of the Mass in Saint Patrick's Cathedral as their forum. more >>

The Rev. Rastko Trbuhovich, the parish priest at St. Stephen Serbian Orthodox Church in Lackawanna, N.Y., said he's proud to welcome the visitors who are flocking to his church to view the completed work of Father Theodore Jurewicz, an American painter and iconographer who last month completed a six-year project of painting sacred Christian images inside the church.

Located just south of the city of Buffalo, the Serbian Orthodox church is smaller than the city's renowned Lady of Victory Basilica, but it displays a sacred tradition of iconography, which reveals major events in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

Trbuhovich, who has been the parish priest at St. Stephen's for 28 years, told The Christian Post on Thursday that members of the Lackawanna congregation, who paid $160,000 for the project, are "delighted," and "very, very happy," to see the completed images, and in time for their May 5 Easter celebration. In his words, the iconography is "spectacularly beautiful." more >>