United Kingdom

Evangelical Christian leaders from around the world are mourning the death of evangelical figure John Stott, who died Wednesday at the age of 90.

Stott, known for shaping 20th century evangelicalism through his writing and preaching, died 3:15 p.m. in his retirement home at St. Barnabas College, located 30 miles away from London. He was surrounded by his longtime secretary Frances Whitehead and close friends who read Scriptures and listened to Handel's "Messiah" when he passed.

An Anglican theologian from the U.K., Stott was the chief architect of the 1974 Lausanne Covenant and the author of over 50 Christian books in which he took complex theology and explained it in a way lay people could understand. One of his most popular books was Basic Christianity (1958), which has been translated into more than 60 languages, according to Christian book publisher InterVarsity Press. He has also influenced millions of Christians through other well-known titles including Christ the Controversialist (1970), Issues Facing Christians Today (1984) and the one he always considered his best: The Cross of Christ (1986). more >>

World-renowned evangelist and Biblical scholar John Stott died Wednesday at 3.15 p.m. local time in London (10.15 a.m. EST), according to John Stott Ministries President Benjamin Homan.

Homan has reported that Stott’s death has come following a few weeks of discomfort, and that the death was simply related to complications related to old age.

Stott, who died at 90, retired from public ministry in 2007 when he was 86 years old. He spent his retirement in the College of St. Barnabas, Lingfield, which is a residence for retired Anglican clergy. more >>

Amy Winehouse’s funeral took place yesterday with a private gathering of family and close friends at Edgwarebury Cemetery in North London. Giving a eulogy her father Mitch spoke to congregants and addressed his beloved daughter’s struggle with drug and alcohol addiction.

According to reports, Mitch, a former cab driver turned jazz singer, said that his daughter had found new love with film director Reg Traviss who had attempted to help get her life back on track.

He referred to his daughter as a loving person, and the greatest family member and friend you can ever have. more >>

A funeral for late British singer Amy Winehouse will be held Tuesday, July 26, according to a family spokesman.

The funeral will be held privately and will be just for the troubled singer’s family and close friends.

Winehouse, 27, was found dead by a member of her security team in her London apartment Saturday. more >>

A vicar in Wales has outraged his church authorities by refusing to make an apology a week after he burned pages from the King James Version Bible which he said portrayed God as “cruel and vile.”

“The passages I cut out [and later burned] referred to the wrath of God, a God who killed millions of people in a vengeful, spiteful way,” the Rev. Geraint ap Iorwerth, the vicar of St. Peter ad Vincula Church in the town of Machynlleth, told Walesonline Saturday.

The charred remains were “a memorial to the millions whose lives have been destroyed as a result of the cruelty of this kind of God and his followers,” the 60-year-old priest was quoted as saying. more >>

A study of 15-year-olds from various religious backgrounds in Britain showed that Christian and atheist students were far less interested in higher education than their Hindu and Muslim classmates.

Only 45 percent of teenagers who said they were Christian went to university, as compared to more than 77 percent of youngsters who described themselves as Hindu, a recent Longitudinal Survey of Young People in England showed.

The study of over 13,000 young people, carried out for the U.K.’s Department for Education, also revealed that 53 percent of Muslim pupils went for higher education. more >>