Leonardo Blair

Latest

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  Jun 15, 2023

  Many American atheists hide their unbelief due to social stigma in Christian culture: study

  Many American atheists still struggling with the stigma associated with their lack of faith and often choose to hide their unbelief due to social stigma, according to a new study published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

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  Jun 14, 2023

  Abigail Zwerner, teacher shot by first grader, resigns; lawyer says she was fired

  The first-grade teacher in Virginia who filed a $40 million lawsuit against school administrators after she was shot by a first-grade student in January has reportedly resigned from her job. But her attorney says she was fired.

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  Jun 14, 2023

  Restaurant owner allegedly used bogus priest to get employees to confess ‘workplace sins’

  Owners of Che Garibaldi Inc., which operates the Taqueria Garibaldi Mexican restaurant in Sacramento, California, have agreed to pay some $140,000 in back wages and damages for shortchanging 35 employees and attempting to use a fake priest to get them to confess to “workplace ‘sins’” while on the job following legal action by the U.S. Department of Labor.

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  Jun 13, 2023

  Pastor’s son sentenced for pointing gun at church member during dispute

  Cedric Taylor, the son of Bishop Jerry Wayne Taylor of Holy City Church of God in Christ Memphis, Tennessee, where former Vice President Mike Pence delivered a campaign speech in 2020,  was slapped with a suspended sentence Friday for pulling a gun at a former longtime member inside the church in February.

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  Jun 13, 2023

  Pastor, former director of food bank allegedly paid employee for sex acts, stole thousands

  James Gill, a longtime minister who was most recently the senior pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Gallatin, Tennessee, and served as the director of the Sumner County Food Bank has been indicted for stealing more than $250,000 from the food bank he founded and paying a volunteer for sex acts.

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  Jun 13, 2023

  Majority of worshipers highly satisfied with virtual services but in-person church is still preferred: study

  While a majority of U.S. adults who worship virtually say they are highly satisfied, most still prefer in-person worship services, though a significant minority has adapted to worshiping virtually exclusively, a new study from the Pew Research Center shows.

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  Jun 9, 2023

  Criminal prostitution case against Pastor John Blanchard is ‘sound,’ special prosecutor finds

  William Blaine, a special prosecutor appointed to review whether a prostitution-related case against Rock Church International Senior Pastor John Blanchard in Virginia Beach should be reopened, has concluded that the criminal charges against the pastor are "sound" but has decided not to refile the case.

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  Jun 8, 2023

  Former youth pastor Daniel Mayfield filmed girls ‘as young as 14’ in church bathroom: police

  Daniel Kellan Mayfield, a married youth pastor at First Baptist Gowensville in Landrum, South Carolina, who was fired after he was charged with voyeurism for secretly recording a woman from outside her bathroom window, also filmed girls “as young as 14” in the bathroom of his former employer, authorities said.

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  Jun 6, 2023

  Heaven is a ‘fantasy,’ says Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘We won’t see each other again after we’re gone’

  While nearly three-quarters of U.S. adults, including large majorities of Christians, say they believe in Heaven, famous actor and former Republican California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says the idea that people will see each other again after death is only a "fantasy."

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  Jun 6, 2023

  Former Eastview Christian Church leader’s son used influence as pastor to prey on women: report

  Independent investigators for Eastview Christian Church in Illinois have concluded that Pastor Caleb Baker used his position in the church to "persuade women to engage in sexual activity" while his father and the church's Senior Pastor Mike Baker likely used his position to cover the sins of his son.