South

Public schools in Wake County in North Carolina must only teach evolution and no other theory on how life began, not even in an extra credit project, a science teacher has been told.

Authorities at Wakefield Middle School in North Raleigh told an eighth-grade science teacher, Adam Dembrow, to stop giving students an extra-credit opportunity to do a poster and paper either on creationism or on "any evidence on the theory of evolution, which can be used to support the theory of evolution," News & Observer reported Friday.

Dembrow was told the state curriculum does not include creationism and therefore giving his students the option of doing an extra-credit project on evolution or creationism was inappropriate. more >>

New Destiny Christian Center's founder and pastor Zachery Tims may have passed away, but the vision he birthed more than a decade ago at the Florida megachurch continues under the leadership of minister Paula White, according to a birthday tribute video released Wednesday by the church.

The video released by New Destiny Christian Center features a clip of the charismatic Tims preaching about God "bringing forth a new generation of bold believers" and "radical people" from the Apopka church. The birthday tribute segways from Tims, who would have been 43 years old today, stating New Destiny's motto of being a purpose-driven people to the church's new senior pastor, White, saying, "[...] purpose, of prayer, power, praise and prosperity." Text reading "the vision continues" moves across the screen as it transitions back to a clip of Pastor Tims.

In a press release issued earlier this year by New Destiny to announce White as Tims' successor, church administrators said that the "central directive of this ministry has always been to build people of purpose, power and prayer." Church officials assured members that White would work to continue that mission. more >>

In their continued fight for religious freedom, Christian students at Vanderbilt University have organized a video campaign highlighting their concern for the university's new policy barring religious groups from selecting members and leaders based on faith requirements -- a policy they say discriminates against Christians.

The nearly seven-minute video features several university students, alumni, and sponsors speaking on their rights to freely express their religious association, and the importance of electing religious leaders to the university's student run organizations.

The video also claims that there is a disparity in university requirements for Greek organizations and religious organizations, as the university allows Greek organization to "discriminate" for leadership and membership positions. more >>

Pastor Joel Osteen of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, threw the ceremonial first pitch at Nationals Park to kick off a baseball game between the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals during the D.C. team's first annual "Faith Night" event.

Osteen, who grew up watching the Astros at the Astrodome in Houston, is promoting his upcoming "Night of Hope" sermon event in Washington on Saturday, April 28, which is part of a tour he has taken across the country.

"I grew up watching the Astros going to the Dome all the time, and so I've seen them a whole bunch of times and still see them quite a few times during the year," Osteen said, according to Ultimate Astros. "They're a young team with all these changes and the new ownership -- I've met some of those guys. It seems like it's a few years of rebuilding, but we still are rooting for our hometown." more >>

Mars Hill Church founding pastor Mark Driscoll responded to controversy over being chosen as a guest speaker at Liberty University in Virginia by poking fun at the apparent inaccuracy of a blogger who claimed the megachurch pastor was not welcome at the campus.

Driscoll is scheduled to speak at the campus on the topic of "The Rebellious and the Religious" during the daytime on Friday. On Friday evening and on Saturday, he and his wife will teach from their book, Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together, as part of their ongoing tour to help promote the book.

"The trouble started with a Southern Baptist blogger . . . yes, you should have seen that one coming," Driscoll wrote in his blog post on Monday titled, "An Official Response to The Kerfuffle At Liberty University." more >>

A U.S. House candidate in North Carolina, who is also a young Christian businessman, is releasing a campaign ad which asks Congress to get some wisdom from the Bible, and not read "President Barack Obama's book," to help rid America of its problems.

"Congress should stop reading Obama's book, give up the New York Times, and pick up the Bible," Ethan Wingfield, a 26-year-old running for the open seat in North Carolina's District 11, told CBN's "The Brody File" prior to the release of his ad. "They can start with Proverbs 22:7. 'The borrower is slave to the lender.' Washington either hasn't read that, or doesn't care. But I do."

A tech entrepreneur and strategy executive at Capital One, a Fortune 500 company, Wingfield says he is concerned because the United States is borrowing trillions of dollars from countries like China. "Our debt is 100 percent of GDP. And if we don't act soon to cut spending and get a handle on this immoral debt, things are only going to get worse." more >>