NEW YORK – Slamming New York City's public education system as having the worst record in America in educating black and Hispanic Americans, president of the New York Divinity School, Paul de Vries, pitched a Bible-based cure for the crisis to a group of church leaders on Thursday.

Speaking at the "Educate: Empower" conference held at Calvary Baptist Church on Manhattan's West Side, de Vries outlined an alarming picture of New York's record on educating black and Hispanic students and called for churches to step up and be a part of the solution.

"We enslave, literally, huge portions of our urban folk with the education systems we allow to develop especially among Hispanic and black populations in our urban centers," said de Vries. more >>

A Texas honors student punished for saying that homosexuality was wrong has had his suspension rescinded after a meeting with the mother and her attorney.

The 14-year-old, Dakota Ary, from Western Hills High School of the Fort Worth Independent School District was initially given a suspension of one day in-school and two days full.

After hearing about the suspension the mother, Holly Pope, reached out to Matt Krause of the Liberty Counsel to be her son's legal representative. Matt Staver, founder and chairman of the Liberty Counsel, told The Christian Post that he believed Western Hills High made the correct decision in reversing their course of action. more >>

After completing the U.S. portion of a 2,400-mile relay from Atlanta to Guatemala City in Guatemala, a Christian-based global leadership development organization plans to hand over the baton to their Guatemalan partners at the Mexican border near Laredo, Texas, on Friday. The purpose of the approximately 120-day journey by foot (and bicycle in parts of Mexico and Central America) is to bring awareness about plans to activate Christians in leadership positions, first in Guatemala and then elsewhere around the world.

"It's a big initiative and we felt like we need to do something very bold that would be consistent and bring attention to such a worthy cause," John Hull, president and CEO of EQUIP Leadership, told The Christian Post by phone call from Laredo on Wednesday.

"The EQUIP World Relay is a journey that represents what leadership is all about – a journey full of extraordinary challenges, hard work, sacrifice and daily-mile markers that ultimately reach a goal that is bigger than oneself, a goal that could never be accomplished alone," he said. more >>

In a bid to capitalize on the resources of churches to help close the stark achievement gap in education among urban learners, Calvary Baptist Church in New York City will host a conference focused on renewing the church through literacy and leadership on Thursday.

The full day conference, billed "Educate: Empower," will feature Bible-based workshops on topics such as leadership and training for ministry, responding to the need for Bible knowledge, professing Christ through your profession and empowering the body of Christ through churches and ministries as well as individuals and families.

Leadership for the workshops will be provided by the New York School of the Bible, New York Divinity School, Literacy3, The Urban Ministry Institute, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Prison Fellowship, Children's Bible Fellowship, Gang Bureau of the Brooklyn DA and New York State Chaplains Task Force. more >>

Bob and Sarah Fisher were checking their daughter's homework last week when a social studies assignment caught their attention – it criticized the United States for dropping the atomic bomb during World War Two.

"Both of our grandfathers were in World War Two and this worksheet makes it seem as if they were the bad guys," Fisher told Fox News.

The Fishers have a daughter in eighth grade at Victory Junior High School in New York. They said the anti-American slant in the homework assignment was shocking. more >>

A middle school in New York has been managing complaints from angry parents after their daughters complained that they were forced to ask each other for kisses and pretend to be lovers during an anti-bullying presentation on homosexuality and gender identity.

A recent report noted that the controversial session which parents were not informed about, took place at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, N.Y., just outside of Poughkeepsie. The presentation was conducted by a team of students from Bard College.

According to the report, the 13- and 14-year-old girls were introduced to terms like "pansexual" and "genderqueer" during the session where they were instructed to ask each other for kisses. more >>