New York

Some 3,500 people marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall Park Sunday in protest of the ban on churches renting New York City's public schools on the weekends.

Council Member Fernando Cabrera, who is also a pastor, led the march, along with religious leaders and elected officials from the area, in efforts to urge Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Department of Education to reverse the policy that will – beginning on Feb. 12 – evict churches meeting at public schools.

Cabrera told The Christian Post that the ban will force about 68 churches that hold weekly services to relocate. It will also affect another 100 churches that rent space on and off throughout the city. more >>

Protesters connected with the New York "Occupy Wall Street" (OWS) movement have been accused of theft and even urinating on church property, leading some members of the faith community to regret ever opening their doors to them or even sympathizing with their cause.

Some churches have been welcoming of OWS and have allowed activists to sleep at their property, while others, like Trinity Wall Street Church, have stayed firmly against allowing any such encampments on their grounds – not because they are against the movement, but because of concerns regarding housing relatively large groups of protesters who come from all walks of life and have no clear leadership or code of conduct.

One New York City pastor told a group of about 60 OWS protesters who had been allowed to stay at his West Park Presbyterian Church in Manhattan to take their belongings and leave, after a large bronze basin and a lid from a holy vessel disappeared from the altar, along with the pastor's laptop in an earlier incident. more >>

Jefferson Bethke, who has now become a household name thanks to his viral video hit "Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus," said in the beginning that he was only seeking to make Jesus famous — and now he may have finally found the platform, as the 22-year-old online evangelist has been appearing more and more in the mainstream press to share his faith and bring Jesus front and center.

Appearing on CBS' "This Morning" for an interview with Charlie Rose, Erica Hill and Gayle King Monday morning in New York City, Bethke sat center stage with the Rev. Edward Beck, a Roman Catholic priest and contributor to the program. The Mars Hill Church (Federal Way) congregant was immediately asked how it all happened — how a video uploaded one day manages to attract more than a million views in 24 hours.

Bethke, whose spoken word video is described by "This Morning" as "a critical look at organized religion, filled with rhymes that differentiate Jesus from the constructs of the church," expressed that he had no idea how the video became so popular. more >>

The Bowery Mission is giving New Yorkers the chance to answer the question "How can I help the homeless?" during one of the coldest months of the year.

The goal of its new four-week initiative, "Don't Walk By," is to offer every homeless person on the streets of Manhattan the opportunity to change their lives.

Many organizations try to help the poor with a handout, but Bowery, a faith-based organization, gives those on the street the chance to engage in long-term solutions to their problems. more >>

Accurately translating the Bible from its original sources to modern-day languages has been the cause of much debate, especially in America, where political speech influences almost every aspect of society. But is it ever necessary to make Scripture "adapt" to the times to get the "good news" across?

Some experts argue that accuracy and truthfulness should be the strict points of concern when translating and interpreting the Bible; others, who see cultural influences as inevitable, have taken up projects to ensure the word of God is presented in the language most relevant to whichever culture it speaks to.

The Conservative Bible Project on Conservapedia.com, a website upholding conservative ideals, tailored after the Wikipedia model of users contributing their own information in building articles, is an effort to remove what it calls "liberal-bias" from modern Bible translations in America and emphasize conservative values – two of which it identifies as accepting the "logic" of a real, eternal hell and expressing free market parables. more >>

An opossum caused a New York City subway evacuation, leaving straphangers with more than just rats to watch out for in the main transportation option for city residents.

The animal reportedly hopped aboard a Manhattan-bound train at the first stop at the far edge of Brooklyn on Friday, Jan. 13. Riders, shortly after leaving the Coney Island station, reported seeing the possum nesting in the train's heating duct, beneath the seats.

It is unclear how the animal boarded the train. more >>