A Christian women's group is currently blasting NBC's sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live for airing a recent skit, titled "D'Jesus Uncrossed," which the group claims unfairly mocks Christianity.

Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America, a coalition of women focused on promoting biblical values in American families, said that she and her organization are mostly offended that SNL chose to air its D'Jesus skit during Lent, considered to be one of the most reverent Christian observations leading up to Jesus' death and resurrection.

"[SNL] stooped to a new low, going out of their way to mock Jesus Christ and Christianity during our most important religious season," Nance wrote in a statement regarding the skit. more >>

Pop singer Justin Bieber may have helped boost sales of Pastor Judah Smith's new book after the Canadian sensation told his 6.8 million Instagram followers to read Jesus Is: Find a New Way to Be Human. The book from The City Church pastor, made available on Amazon on Tuesday, currently holds the no. 1 spot among Christian books on the retailer's website.

Bieber, 18, shared an Instagram photo of the cover of Smith's book Tuesday, writing, "So proud of my pastor. This book comes out on the 26th. Judah is the best speaker of our generation. Read this book [you] won't regret it."

Although Feb. 26 is listed on Amazon as the official publication date for Jesus Is, Smith's book went on sale yesterday, according to the promotional website launched by publisher Thomas Nelson, Inc. more >>

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has backed President Barack Obama's push for gun control, saying that this is an area both leaders can agree on.

"I found myself nodding in agreement," Dolan, who is also president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said of Obama's recent State of the Union address.

"Overwhelming majorities of Americans – Americans who believe in the Second Amendment – have come together around common-sense reform, like background checks that will make it harder for criminals to get their hands on a gun," the cardinal wrote in a blog last week. more >>

Attorneys for a former New York 8th-grade student have asked the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to weigh in on a three-judge panel's ruling against a New York 8th-grade student who wanted to include a religious blessing at the end of her graduation speech.

The Alliance Defending Freedom legal group announced Monday that it had filed the "petition for rehearing en banc" last week that seeks to overturn the Second Circuit panel's ruling, which approved the censorship of the student. Co-counsel David Gibbs originally filed the case, A.M. v. Taconic Hills Central School District, in 2010.

"Public schools should encourage, not shut down, the free exchange of ideas. The personal well-wishes of a student are no different just because they mention God," said Senior Counsel David Cortman. "Public school officials have no legitimate basis to shut down personal speech just because it has a religious reference." more >>

There are three things that all creative people struggle with, says Pastor Sam Luce, who is the Utica Campus Pastor of Redeemer Church in Utica, N.Y.

Luce, who was the children's pastor for the past 14 years at Redeemer before becoming a campus pastor, wrote recently in his blog that his church began a Creative Community Night.

"It's a time where the creatives in our church can join in community and grow in relationship and in their various gifts," he writes. "The format is basically small groups based around relationship and skill development, followed by a creative service where we worship and receive from the Word, lastly we work on creating a flow for the weekend service." more >>

The Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper, the rector of the historic Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan, has announced he will retire in 2015, even as a congregant has sued him for voting improprieties in an internal election last year.

"The Trinity Vestry has accepted the Rev. Dr. James H. Cooper's intention to retire in February, 2015. The parish will engage in an 18-month search process in order to find Dr. Cooper's successor," says the Episcopal Church in a letter to Cooper this week, which is posted on its website.

The 20-member vestry was responding to a letter Cooper had written last week to church leaders. "In fulfillment of my commitment to serve at least ten years as the 17th Rector of Trinity Wall Street, and in confidence that Trinity is well positioned for the future, I write to request that you accept my intention to retire from Trinity February 28, 2015," the rector wrote. more >>