Tennessee

Workers at a local funeral home in Tennessee walked into a strange sight early Monday morning. Employees discovered two men sleeping in the empty caskets located in the Weaver Funeral Home storage facility.

Bristol police said when the sleeping intruders were woken up by employees, they were told the police would be called.

The two men popped out of the caskets and attempted to flee the building by jumping out a window. more >>

Vanderbilt University is recognizing Wiccan and pagan holidays on its interfaith calendar.

Students at the Nashville, Tenn., school will be allowed excused absences to observe those holidays. The school already recognizes Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Baha'i, Hindu, and Buddhist days.

Wicca is a fast-growing religion in America though many Americans have never heard of it, according to a 2009 Barna Group survey. more >>

Police in a small Tennessee town have salvaged a rare painting of supposedly the true face of Jesus from a thief who was trying to sell it to a church.

The 150-year-old painting, a Catholic relic based on the “Veil of Veronica,” had been stolen and dumped in a closet for years by a thief, identified as Kelly Ghormley, before she approached a church in Madisonville to sell it, Daily Mail reported Friday.

According to legend, when a follower named Veronica from Jerusalem encountered Jesus on the way to Calvary and wiped sweat off His face with her veil, Christ’s image was imprinted on the cloth. more >>

A Tennessee Democrat's criticism over the sales of satirical Barack Obama "Disappoint-MINTS"-themed candy in a state university bookstore is leaving the product’s liberal distributor wondering what the real problem is.

The University of Tennessee Bookstore pulled packages of a novelty breath mint off the shelves Tuesday after state Rep. Joe Armstrong (D-Knoxville) expressed his displeasure of the candy's packaging. Armstrong said he felt that the tin which contains the mints and depicts President Barack Obama with the words, "This is Change? Disappoint-MINTS," should not be sold among academic textbooks.

"I think whatever a university bookstore sells in the way of product should be visually neutral," Armstrong told The Christian Post. more >>

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) on behalf of an Oakland, Tenn., man for unconstitutionally prohibiting him from distributing Christian literature in front of the Oakland post office.

Michael Choate was arrested for passing out religious pamphlets, often called "tracts," and asserts in the complaint that he has the right to express his beliefs on public property and was wrongly arrested. Choate contends he did not disturb or interfere with postal service, customers or operations of the facility.

"Christians shouldn't be arrested and silenced for peacefully sharing their beliefs on public property," said Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel Nate Kellum in a statement released on Monday. more >>

A Tennessee pastor claims he was emulating the apostle Paul when he was called on to deliver the opening prayer at a NASCAR event in which he thanked God for his “smokin’ hot wife,” among other things. Some fans have called it the “best prayer ever” while critics are calling it disrespectful and possibly blasphemous.

Joe Nelms, pastor of Family Baptist Church in Lebanon, Tenn., insists that he was just trying to be like the first-century apostle, but some wonder how far Paul would go in his effort to become “all things to all men.”

Nelms, asked to do the invocation at the NASCAR Nationwide Federated Auto Parts 300 on Saturday in Nashville, had decided he was going to do something different, which meant thanking the Lord for his “smokin' hot wife tonight.” more >>