BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—Sandy Wisdom-Martin, executive director-treasurer of national Woman’s Missionary Union, announced Dec. 10 she will retire in January 2027, marking 36 years of ministry service.

Wisdom-Martin has led national WMU, an auxiliary of the Southern Baptist Convention, since October 2016. Previously, she was executive director-treasurer of Woman’s Missionary Union of Texas.

She announced her intention to retire to the national WMU general board—comprised of state WMU presidents and executive directors—during a called meeting and then with the staff of WMU, SBC.

 “After much prayer, reflection and conversation with my family, I am asking the WMU executive board to begin the search for a new executive director-treasurer as I will retire January of 2027,” Wisdom-Martin said.

“Faithfulness in this season calls me to be present with my family in a way that cannot be sustained by the obligations of my current ministry role.

“Our mission remains unchanged because it is rooted in God’s calling, not in one individual. God’s plan for this organization is bigger than any single person’s role. I have every confidence the Lord will guide and undergird WMU. His faithfulness does not change.”

Next steps

Wisdom-Martin voiced gratitude for national WMU staff and presented next steps.

“I am proud of how you serve others so selflessly and with excellence,” she said. “I am more confident than ever in WMU’s future because of you and our valued stakeholders. I do not intend to slow down. Together, we will continue to serve faithfully.”

Wisdom-Martin said she and WMU President Connie Dixon believe God already is preparing the right person to lead WMU forward. Dixon will appoint a search committee soon.

“It is the board’s role to find the next executive director,” Wisdom-Martin said. “They will seek the Lord’s direction, confident that he will make the path clear. We will move forward with gratitude for what has been and hope for what is to come. This will not be a disruption, but a continuation of God’s unfolding story of this ministry.”

‘Passion for missions’

Jeff Iorg, president of the SBC Executive Committee, called working with Wisdom-Martin “a delight.”

“Her passion for missions, personal devotion to Jesus and determination to lead Woman’s Missionary Union to make a kingdom impact has inspired and motivated me to be a better leader,” Iorg said.

“Sandra’s genuine humility is a model for all of us. She has served with honor, and we will miss her contributions to the Great Commission Council and other national leadership platforms.”

During WMU’s January Board Meeting last year, Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, said: “Missions in the SBC would not be what it is if it were not for WMU and if it were not for Sandy Wisdom-Martin. We are very grateful for her, and we are grateful for how you support our missionaries. They are overwhelmed with gratitude when we tell them all that you do.”

In her role, Wisdom-Martin led WMU to help raise more than $513.5 million for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering and more than $1.4 billion for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering since 2017.

In addition to helping raise funds for these two offerings, Wisdom-Martin has promoted giving to the SBC’s Cooperative Program and to the WMU Foundation to advance the gospel, as well as practical ways to involve more believers in evangelism.

Focused on mandate to make disciples

In the past 10 years, Wisdom-Martin has led WMU to be focused on its mandate of making disciples of Jesus who live on mission.

“We are failing to do the one thing Jesus told us to do, and that is to make disciples,” she said. “It is incumbent on every Christ follower to proclaim the gospel. This responsibility cannot be abdicated.

“We have church members who get married in the church and get buried in the church and live their entire life without once sharing their faith. This is the greatest tragedy of our generation, that we would not personally take responsibility for the sacred task entrusted to each of us.”

‘Sought to build bridges and strengthen relationships’

That conviction led Wisdom-Martin to seek partnerships in which WMU could provide practical resources for discipleship and evangelism. She also wrote countless articles, conferences and public addresses designed to encourage and equip others to share their faith.

“Sandy is a dynamic leader, one of the most creative thinkers I have ever known and a dedicated woman of God,” WMU President Connie Dixon said. “She has sought to build bridges and strengthen relationships with all SBC entities and leaders.

“Her genuine love for others is so apparent. Whether speaking on a national platform, writing inspiring articles, serving on a missions trip, or leading children’s Sunday school in her church each week, Sandy inspires all ages to grow stronger in their spiritual walk.”

Linda Cooper, who served as president of national WMU from 2015 until 2021 alongside Wisdom-Martin, agreed.

“A great leader is one who is both strong and kind,” Cooper said. “They lead compassionately and confidently as they inspire others. Sandy Wisdom-Martin is the epitome of a great leader.

“Her leadership has never been about her title or position. It was simply about one life influencing another to make disciples of Jesus who live on mission. Sandy certainly influenced my life and countless others whom her life touched as she has humbly led national WMU. I was honored to serve alongside her.”

Leadership during a global pandemic

During her tenure, Wisdom-Martin led the organization through a global pandemic that she described at the time as a crisis that negatively affected WMU’s bottom line, but positively amplified its mission.

Knowing church attendance and giving would be down during the COVID-19 pandemic, Wisdom-Martin engaged WMU leaders across the country in 2020 to handwrite more than 18,000 letters asking churches to support the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering.

With plummeting sales during a time when churches were closed and missions groups were not meeting, WMU increased efforts to engage others in missions in different ways.

Examples included reaching out to SBC seminary presidents with an offer to help international students stranded on campuses, sending daily prompts via email encouraging prayer for pastors and missionaries, working with IMB and state WMUs to help with a surge in requests for missionary housing and launching a podcast that grew to 63 episodes.

Houston Christian University hosted a ceremony Dec. 2 marking the completion of the structural phase of the Smith Engineering Science and Nursing Building. The multidisciplinary building will expand space and learning opportunities for the next generation of science, technology, engineering, mathematics and nursing professionals. Slated to open in fall 2026, the building will be home to innovative laboratory and learning spaces for the College of Science and Engineering and the Linda R. Dunham School of Nursing. Those in attendance were invited to take part in the traditional signing of a beam to commemorate the occasion.

Baylor University has named media and brand executive and former athletics administrator Doug McNamee as the Bears’ next vice president and director of intercollegiate athletics, Baylor President Linda A. Livingstone announced. McNamee returns to Baylor after serving as president of Waco-based Magnolia, the nationally recognized lifestyle and media company founded by Baylor alumni Chip and Joanna Gaines, and most recently as president of Field & Stream. A two-time Baylor graduate, McNamee spent nearly a decade at his alma mater, rising to senior associate athletics director for external affairs before departing in 2018 for the corporate sector.

Thomas Sanders, provost and vice president for academic affairs, announced East Texas Baptist University’s Level VI accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. ETBU now has authority to award four or more doctoral degrees. ETBU awarded its first Ph.D. to Arcadis Silvera and Doctor of Ministry to Jason Horine. “Level VI is the highest designation,” Sanders said. “We are educating and training the people who will be the next graduate and undergraduate students across Christendom. In a sense, it is a bigger kingdom impact. We are training future educators who will be educating other professionals.”

The Gary Cook School of Leadership at Dallas Baptist University will host a Zoom presentation on “Sabbath Rest for Leaders” on Thursday, Dec. 11, at noon. The candid conversation will include discussions on the biblical understanding of Sabbath rest and how it can be prioritized without diminishing work. Those interested can sign up online.

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Arts Academy is excited to present its Christmas Festival on Saturday, Dec. 13, at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and will take place inside the Sue & Frank Mayborn Performing Arts Center on the UMHB campus.

Howard Payne University surpassed this year’s Giving Tuesday goals of raising $750,000 from 400 supporters. The total on Dec. 2 was $1.2 million from 425 supporters across 21 states. Donations during the one-day giving event were provided by alumni, friends, faculty, staff and community partners. Gifts will support a wide range of student-experience initiatives, including student scholarships, academic programming, campus improvements, athletics and the Howard Payne Fund.

Raúl Josué Valerio has been named the new director of Hispanic initiatives at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary. As Valerio begins this new position, he will play a vital role in advancing Truett’s ongoing commitment to serving and partnering with Hispanic ministers and ministries across Texas and beyond.

EDMOND, Okla. (BP)—For the fourth time in the last six years, Isaiah 41:10 was the most downloaded Scripture of the year on the YouVersion family of Bible apps, which according to its founder has been installed on 1 billion devices nationwide.

The verse states, “So, do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (NIV).

“I think this verse keeps rising to the top because it addresses one of our deepest needs, the assurance that we’re not alone,” YouVersion Founder and CEO Bobby Gruenewald said in announcing the top Scripture.

“In a world full of anxiety and uncertainty, people are drawn to God’s promise to be with us, to strengthen us, and to help us. That message never gets old because the need for it is universal and timeless.”

Psalm 23 in top spot on Bible Gateway

But the Scripture ranked 26th on Bible Gateway apps, where Psalm 23 and Psalm 91 claimed all but one of the top 23 spots.

At Bible Gateway, whose creators say was viewed hundreds of billions of times in the past year, Psalm 23:4 was the top Scripture, followed by the remaining verses of the psalm.

Jeremiah 29:11 ranked 7th, followed by the 16th verse of Psalm 91, with Psalm 91:11 the most popular of that psalm.

“There were no huge surprises this year; most verses only shuffled a few points in one direction or another,” according to a Dec. 1 press release from Bible Gateway.

“Psalm 91 continued its ascent (pushing John 3:16 all the way down to number 24), as did Psalm 121. Isaiah added a few verses this year, and Revelation (which did not appear at all last year) resurfaced with a few verses toward the bottom, knocking Ephesians’ ‘armor of God’ verse off the list altogether.”

Increase in Bible app usage

November’s Global Bible Month spurred increased Bible app usage, YouVersion said, with the first Sunday in November setting an all-time record of 19 million people opening the app in a single day.

Daily app usage increased by 19 percent compared to November 2024, YouVersion said, surmising the month sparked a lasting habit of daily Scripture engagement.

Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 12:2 ranked among other top Scriptures on YouVersion.

At Bible Gateway, people looked most often for Psalm 23:4, which reads: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me” (NIV).

Following in popularity at Bible Gateway were Psalm 23:1, Psalm 23:6, Psalm 23:5, Psalm 23:3 and Psalm 23:2.

Bible Gateway announced the top 100 Scriptures downloaded on its app, with 51 coming from the Old Testament and 49 from the New. While Psalms was the most popular book in the entire Bible, the second and third most popular books were the New Testament writings of 1 Corinthians and Matthew.

Advent should remind justice-minded Christians their “yearning” and “longing for more” is rooted in the awareness God’s kingdom has come, but it also is yet to come, theologian Will Willimon told religious leaders on a Zoom call convened by Pastors for Texas Children.

Christians live “in the meanwhile” between Christ’s first advent as a baby in a manger and his second advent when he returns to set right all that is wrong, said Willimon, a former United Methodist bishop.

So, observing Advent reminds the church “what we need most we don’t have,” he observed.

‘Take the longer view’

In times of discouragement and defeat, Advent reminds Christians to keep the end in mind rather than focusing on the disappointment of the present moment, he asserted.

“There come those times when the discouragement is so deep, and it seems like the opposition is so effective against us, that we have to take the longer view,” Willimon said.

He made that observation when the Zoom call resumed after temporarily being disrupted by a malicious hacker.

Some of the “pushiest prophetic poetry” in the Hebrew Scriptures that focused on hope grew out of the exile in Babylon, Willimon said, citing the late Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann.

Consider the scope of the gospel

“The good news of Jesus Christ is more than personal. It’s more than subjective. It’s more than individualistic,” Willimon said.

In an “aggressively subjective, individualistic culture,” Christians need to be reminded of the scope of the gospel, he asserted.

“This thing with Jesus is more than personal. It’s cosmic,” Willimon said. “Your little heart is too small an arena for what God is busy doing. … Everything is being turned upside-down so it can be turned right-side-up.”

The prevalence of bad news may be opening up the possibility for good news, he suggested.

Advent challenges Christians to hold loosely to temporary human systems and structures, because God is at work doing something on a grander scale, he insisted.

“In some of the dismantling that is going on, some of the letting go that I’m being forced to do that I find very, very painful, is God maybe in some of that, too, so that something new can come?” he asked.

In fact, he suggested, “God may be taking away some false idols.”

‘God is doing a new thing’

Without a long-term, Advent-informed view, Christians who strive for justice and goodness find it “hard to keep at it,” Willimon acknowledged.

However, the Advent message centers on the idea: “God is doing a new thing among us,” he insisted.

Kyle Childress, recently retired pastor of Austin Heights Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, asked Willimon how his preaching has changed since he began in the ministry. Willimon replied he gradually has learned to “take the long view.”

“I hope that the long hope we have—who has a name and a face, Jesus Christ—gives us enough short-term hope to keep working for the good and for others,” Willimon said.

“I do know we have a relentlessly redemptive Savior.”

(RNS)—Religion in America might be best described in the words of rap artist LL Cool J: Don’t call it a comeback. At least not yet.

Despite claims of a revival of religion in the United States, a new report from Pew Research Center finds young Americans remain less religious than their parents or grandparents, with just over half (55 percent) claiming a religion.

“On average, young adults remain much less religious than older Americans,” reads the report released Dec. 8. “Today’s young adults also are less religious than young people were a decade ago.”

However, the decades-long religious decline remains stalled for now, according to the report, based on data from two Pew surveys—the National Public Opinion Reference Survey and the 2023-24 U.S. Religious Landscape Study.

Relative stability

Since 2020, about 70 percent of Americans have identified with a religion, according to Pew, a period of relative stability.

The percentage of Americans claiming no faith—a group known as the nones—nearly doubled in size from 2007 (16 percent) to 2022 (31 percent). The percentage of Americans who identify with a religion decreased from 84 percent to 69 percent during that time period, according to Pew research.

The percentage of nones has settled at around 30 percent over the past five years.

“The recent stability is striking because it comes after a prolonged period of religious decline,” according to Pew. “For decades, measures of religious belonging, behaving, and believing had been dropping nationwide.”

Pew also found the number of Americans who pray daily (46 percent), who say religion is important in their life (43 percent) and who say they attend services at least once a month (34 percent) has remained steady over the past few years.

“There is some bouncing around from year to year, as is to be expected in survey research,” Gregory A. Smith, Pew’s senior associate director of research, wrote in the report. “But there is no clear trend of either increasing or decreasing religiousness since 2020.”

Future decline still likely

Researchers expect the percentage of Americans who are religious will decline in the future, as older Americans die and are replaced by young, less religious Americans.

Just over half (55 percent) of Americans born between 1995 and 2002—the youngest group studied in Pew’s latest report—identify with a religion. By contrast, 83 percent of the oldest Americans studied (born in 1954 or earlier) say they are religious.

However, the youngest Americans are slightly more religious than those who are a few years older, Pew found. Among those born between 1995 and 2002, 55 percent said they identify with a religion in Pew’s National Public Opinion Reference Survey. That jumped to 61 percent for Americans born between 2003 and 2007, according to the report.

The report also found 26 percent of Americans born between 1995 and 2002 say they attend religious services at least monthly, while 41 percent of Americans born between 2003 and 2007 do so. That’s a significant jump, Smith said in an email.

“This is not the first time we have seen the youngest adults come of age with levels of religiousness that equal or exceed those of slightly older adults. But analysis shows that a gap between these cohorts tends to appear over time,” according to the report.

‘Calm before the storm’

It’s not clear how long the decline of religion may stay paused.

A previous Pew report, based on data from the General Social Survey, showed during the late 1980s to early 1990s, the percentage of Americans who identified as Christian dropped from 90 percent to about 80 percent, then stayed stable for more than a decade before dropping again.

The percentage of Americans who identified with other religions over the same time period was relatively stable (between 5 percent and 7 percent), while the religiously unaffiliated increased in a pattern opposite the Christian decline.

Ryan Burge, a professor at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, said something similar could be happening now.

“I think it’s the calm before the storm,” said Burge, who writes about the religious landscape in his Graphs about Religion Substack. At some point, the decline will begin again due to generational shifts.

“Gravity still goes down,” he said.

Looking at the data, Burge suspects in the future, just over half of Americans will be religious, with about 45 percent of Americans identifying as Christians and 10 percent as other faiths, while just under half will be nones.

Religion in America isn’t going away, he said. But it won’t have the same social power as it did in the past.

Signs of vibrancy among students

Dan Allan, a long-time national staffer for Cru, a national evangelical campus ministry, said he’s seen some signs that religion among younger Americans may be becoming more vibrant.

For example, just under 17,000 students attended fall retreats sponsored by Cru campus groups this year, up 7 percent from last year and nearly 20 percent from 2023. Allan said attending a retreat is one sign Cru students are becoming more serious about their involvement.

Allan also said more than 100 groups that minister to American college students have formed a partnership called Every Campus, with the hope of starting new ministries at colleges where there are none.

Campus groups are seeing both renewed interest in faith and, at the same time, a large segment of students who are not religious, Allan said. He cited Christian podcaster and writer Carey Nieuwhof, who said young people are experiencing both “revival and retreat.”

“There’s a great deal of interest and still a set of people who are skeptical,” Allan said.

“The children are the church now,” not just the church of the future, newly elected Baptist General Convention of Texas President Debbie Potter remarked in a phone interview.

Potter was elected president at the BGCT annual meeting in Abilene in November, after previously having served as both second vice president and first vice president.

Her election marks the first time a children’s pastor has served as BGCT president, she observed, noting the role most frequently has been filled by senior pastors or institutional executives. She also is the first ordained woman elected as president of the BGCT.

Potter has served 22 years as children’s pastor at Trinity Baptist Church in San Antonio after previously serving six years at Parkhills Baptist Church, also in San Antonio, where she was licensed to the ministry. Additionally, she teaches at Baptist University of the Américas.

Her drive to serve children and families has kept Potter in ministry even through difficult times.

“I get asked on a regular basis: ‘Why are you still here?’” she said.

She noted that being in her early 60s, some assume retirement is just around the bend for her, but Potter said she doesn’t see it that way.

On the contrary, Potter said she feels like she’s “just getting started,” though she noted she also is intentional about empowering up-and-coming ministry leaders to lead, within the children’s ministry department she oversees.

She is excited to lead the churches of the BGCT to do more to ease suffering among children and families in Texas, Potter noted.

Some recent government changes in Texas have increased needs among already vulnerable populations, she asserted.

“Our children and families are hurting,” Potter said, and she believes BGCT churches can do more to help.

Her own church, for example, has taken an active role in supporting families in their community by providing beds for infants and lockboxes to reduce accidental deaths from co-sleeping or kids getting into medications, she explained. Participants in Trinity Baptist’s Vacation Bible Schools have raised money for these causes through their offerings.

Potter also noted she personally provides support to Child Protective Services workers to aid them in performing some of the difficult duties only they are qualified to do.

“The BGCT does some great work,” Potter said, mentioning lobbying for policies and laws that “give children a voice” in Texas through the Christian Life Commission as an example.

“If we don’t help these vulnerable children, the Bible’s pretty clear,” she added. “These are the least of these. Jesus commands us to do this.”

So, she hopes the somewhat different message she will bring to the BGCT will lead to greater advocacy for children among the churches.

Controversy surrounding being an ordained woman

Potter said debate on social media surrounding her election was somewhat surprising, noting she told her husband, “I had no idea I was this interesting.”

But, she said, she has assured everyone who has expressed concern: “I knew what I was doing. My whole ministry has had these type of things.”

Unknown people on the internet who don’t know her or anything about her don’t bother her much, although when those who are close to her speak out against her ministry it does cause pain.

She finds the social media drama around her election somewhat “comical,” she said—that “I’m worth fighting over” is strange to think about.

Background

Potter is the third generation of pastors in her family, with her father and grandfather both having served as pastors.

She was “one of those strange children that really loved ministry from the beginning,” she said. She never resented going to church or the demands of ministry, she said, noting she was fascinated with her father’s ministry.

She gravitated toward it, she said, explaining whoever among Potter and her two sisters got to ride home from church each week with her dad—a privilege she tried to gain every week—was treated to discussion about ministry.

That time in the car was “when he really would talk about ministry … and what it involves.”

Those rides were special to her, Potter said, because she got a “real inside view into what ministry really is,” noting her dad didn’t just share “the good things” but also some of the “really bad things that happened to him during his ministry.”

The example he set was of a “true shepherd” who treated his congregation as his community, she noted, emphasizing a mutual investment in one another between that church body and her father and between the church and herself personally.

When she was in college at Southern Nazarene University, Potter said she believed the only path to ministry for her would be to marry a pastor, “so (she) could stay in the ministry, because that’s what (she) really loved.”

Accordingly, when she began dating her husband, he was a religion major. However, after much struggle and prayer, he confessed to her that though he wanted to, he did not feel he was called to ministry.

By then, “I’d already fallen in love with him,” she said with a laugh. They’ve now been married 39 years, and he is her biggest advocate and supporter.

After they married, Potter taught public school until a rift with the Nazarene denomination led them to visit and join a Baptist church. About a year into their membership in the Baptist church, Potter said, “I just knew I was called into ministry” to serve children.

She applied for a position as children’s ministry director at Parkhills Baptist Church, a Southern Baptist congregation, and “they hired me,” she said.

“I always say it’s like the David story,” she said, when the youngest son who wasn’t even brought in for consideration as king was the one God had in mind.

“I didn’t have a Baptist pedigree. I don’t have a degree from a Baptist university,” she recalled, but that pastor, Robert Welch, saw her love for children as “the key here.”

“He took a chance on me, and he hired me. And that changed my life,” Potter reflected.

In 1998, She was the first female minister to be licensed to ministry at Parkhills Baptist Church.

Later, at Trinity Baptist Church, she was ordained—a step she said at the time she simply saw as an honor, with no idea of “the things in (her) life that (being ordained) would open criticism for.”

Potter pointed out she’s never moved out of children’s ministry. But, she said about ordination, “I felt like it gave me a stronger voice at the table when our pastoral staff met.” With ordination she gained “all the credibility” the others at the table had.

Over almost 30 years of sitting at the ministry table advocating for the children, Potter said, she felt ordination gave her a stronger voice from which to advocate for children being understood as the youngest members of the church now—not just the church of the future.

“It was just an honor, and I wanted to be fully empowered to take care of our kids,” she said.

She felt like her ordination was important for the kids, but she wasn’t trying to do anything offensive to anybody, Potter said.

In addition to a master’s degree in education from University of Texas at San Antonio, Potter also holds a Ph.D. from Andrews University. She pointed out it is more education than she ever will be compensated for, but she sought the degree because she believes children deserve “the best” too.

Potter wanted to have every qualification she could earn to best serve her community in children’s ministry, she explained.

And having served with some of the same people in and through that ministry for 22 years, they feel a calling too, Potter noted. “These are my people,” she said.

Potter also acknowledged the value of her election to other young women in Baptist life who feel called to ministry and pointed out the real threat of gifted young women leaving to follow God if they can’t find a place to be affirmed in ministry in Baptist life.

“And that’s my whole story, and what is really going to continue to be my whole story,” she said, in her new role as BGCT president—advocating for children as a woman in ministry.

NEW DELHI (BP)—Two thousand Christians gathered in India in November to urge the government to protect religious freedoms as violence and legalized discrimination increase in the world’s most populous country.

Representatives of more than 200 Christian denominations advocated for religious freedoms at the day-long National Christian Convention Nov. 29, spotlighting a 500 percent increase in targeted attacks against Christians from 2014 to 2024, religious persecution watchdog Christian Solidarity Worldwide reported.

More than 830 attacks against Christians were recorded in 2024, based on a report from the United Christian Forum, representing an increase from 139 such cases in 2014.

Physical assaults on pastors based on unverified allegations of forced conversions, and mobs vandalizing churches were among reported incidents. Anti-conversion laws and concerns over the Presidential Order of 1950, which continues to deny Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians and other Dalits, were also discussed.

“Speakers emphasized that this policy continues to trap millions in generational poverty by denying access to education reservations, employment opportunities and land rights,” CSW said in a press release.

“Delegates from tribal communities highlighted mounting pressure in mineral-rich belts like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha where tribal Christians are at risk of being delisted from the Schedule Tribe list.”

Dalits in India are historically considered “untouchable” and broken, and have suffered decades of persecution in the system that puts them at the bottom of a rigid caste system, despite constitutional protections outlawing such persecution.

Protests near the Indian Parliament

Coinciding with the convention, about 3,500 Christians and others publicly protested near the Indian Parliament Nov. 29, decrying the government’s failure to curb the violence. Instead, protestors said, officials often arrest Christian victims instead of perpetrators.

In 80 percent of the cases the United Christian Forum tracked, police did not investigate because First Information Reports were not filed, as required by law.

CSW also urged the government to intervene to protect the rights of Christians in the nation whose constitution claims religious freedom.

“CSW stands in solidarity with India’s Christian community and joins them in their call on the government of India to uphold constitutional protections for freedom of religion or belief, to ensure accountability for perpetrators of targeted violence, and to remove discriminatory provisions that impact vulnerable communities,” said Mervyn Thomas, founding president of CSW.

Convention attendees vowed to draft a national manifesto calling for religious freedom protections for all Christians, equality for Dalits, and justice for those facing persecution.

Concerns about influence of Hindu nationalists

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in its January 2025 annual report, urged the U.S. State Department to designate India a Country of Particular Concern, citing systematic, ongoing, and egregious religious freedom violations under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998.

Christians comprise about 2.3 percent, or 27 million, of India’s 1.4 billion people, according to censusofindia.net. Hinduism is the mostly widely practiced religion there, cited by 79.8 percent of the population, with Muslims the largest minority religion at 14.23 percent. A few states are majority Christian, with believers concentrated in certain areas, Pew Research Center reported in 2021.

An interconnected relationship between the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, elected in 2014, and the Hindu nationalist group Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh works to strengthen religious persecution, USCIRF said in a November update.

“Despite offering some constitutional protections for FoRB (freedom of religion or belief), India’s political system facilitates a climate of discrimination toward religious minority communities,” USCIRF said, citing discriminatory legislation limiting citizenship, and criminalizing religious conversion and the slaughter of cows.

“The enforcement of such laws disproportionately targets and impacts religious minorities and their ability to freely practice their religion or belief as outlined in Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which India is a signatory,” USCIRF wrote.

Oppressive governments not only violate freedom of religion by imprisoning adherents of disfavored religions, but also subjecting them to harassment and even torture during their incarceration, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reports.

“Governments deliberately use mistreatment as a strategy to demoralize and disavow religious dissidents of their belief or the expression of those beliefs,” the commission states in a December factsheet on prison mistreatment and freedom of religion or belief.

“Reports of mistreatment in prison have a chilling effect on disfavored religious communities outside of prison as well,” as individuals fear their lawful exercise of religion will make them targets of government repression, the factsheet states.

The factsheet cites specific examples of mistreatment of prisoners in Eritrea, Iran, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan.

Mai Serwa Prison in Eritrea

Most inmates at Mai Serwa Prison—an isolated and overcrowded facility north of the Eritrean capital of Asmara—are packed into metal shipping containers, where they are subject to extreme heat and cold.

“Scores of prisoners, including those detained on the basis of religion, have died at Mai Serwa,” the commission factsheet states.

“Former inmates and doctors report torture by Mai Serwa prison staff. Since inmates are rarely charged or sentenced, imprisonment at Mai Serwa is often a de facto life sentence.”

Christian prisoners at Mai Serwa are singled out for mistreatment on the basis of their religion, the factsheet reports.

“Former inmates report prison guards using torture to attempt to force Christians to renounce their faith. One recounts being pressured to sign a document saying she ‘would neither preach, praise, sing, nor spread the gospel,’” the factsheet states.

Individuals imprisoned at Mai Serwa for their faith include 15 members of the Christian Mahalian praise group who were imprisoned for an “illegal church gathering” after they recorded religious songs and attempted to post them online.

Scores of Jehovah’s Witnesses also have been imprisoned at Mai Serwa. They include Henok Ghebru, incarcerated for conscientious objection, who has been denied medical treatment.

Evin Prison in Iran

Sixty percent of the Christians detained in Iran are held at Evin Prison, a facility built in Tehran more than 50 years ago to hold political dissidents.

As in the case of Mai Serwa Prison in Eritrea, Christian former prisoners of Evin Prison report harassment by guards, as well as pressure to make false confessions to participating in illegal religious activities.

“An Armenian Christian woman reported that in 2022, an interrogator at Evin sexually assaulted and disparaged her for not wearing hijab on account of her non-Muslim religious identity,” the commission factsheet reports.

“In April 2025, a convert to Christianity who was recently released from Ervin reported that in late 2023 or early 2024, an interrogator at Evin tried to pressure him to sign a legal commitment to cease his religious activities.”

Establecimiento Penitenciario Integral de Mujeres in Nicaragua

Former inmates of Establecimiento Penitenciario Integral de Mujeres in Nicaragua—ironically also known as “La Esperanza” or “the hope”—report “torture, denial of adequate medical care, rodent and insect infestations, inadequate protection from other inmates, and sexual assault,” the commission factsheet states.

Eleven leaders of Mountain Gateway Church were arrested in December 2023 and spuriously charged with money laundering and organized crime, the factsheet reports. At La Esperanza and La Modelo prisons, they reportedly were denied access to Bibles and medication before being deported to Guatemala.

“In January 2025, officials at La Esperanza Prison severely restricted outdoor access for inmates who prayed out loud,” the factsheet states. “The inmates had been beaten during interrogations and denied access to Bibles.”

Dhanban Prison in Saudi Arabia

In recent years, reports of mistreatment of inmates imprisoned at Dhanban Prison in Saudi Arabia for their religious beliefs have included torture resulting in death, the commission factsheet stated.

Raif Badawi, who was imprisoned for allegedly insulting Islam, conducted a hunger strike to protest his mistreatment, including denial of access to crucial medicine.

Although Badawi eventually was released, his attorney, Waleed Abu al-Khair, remains in prison.

“Officials at Dhanban Prison placed al-Khair in solitary confinement, denied him contact with family, and subjected him to torture,” the factsheet stated.

Women who were arrested for peaceful protests have been imprisoned, sexually assaulted and tortured. The factsheet reports officials taunted the women during the encounters by asking, “Where is your Lord to protect you?”

Ovadan-Depe Prison in Turkmenistan

Former inmates who were imprisoned at Ovadan-Depe Prison in Turkmenistan report “egregious conditions, including lack of sufficient food, mass beatings, and other forms of torture,” the commission factsheet states. Some inmates report being held in five-foot-tall “hunchback cells” where they are unable to stand upright.

Several inmates are charged with being “Wahhabi” Muslims—an offense that carries a six-year sentence in Turkmenistan.

“However, the charge is often used against people regardless of their actual beliefs or activity, including a Protestant Christian in 2024,” the factsheet states.

In light of “systemic and egregious” restrictions on freedom of religion, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom calls on the heads of U.S. government agencies to “raise cases involving individuals imprisoned because of their religion with foreign counterparts.” The factsheet also urges U.S. diplomates to “seek to meet with imprisoned religious leaders.”

TYLER (BP)—Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary remains dismissed from claims of defamation in a case involving the school and its former president, Paige Patterson, with the latter being allowed to file again for summary judgment, a U.S District Court decided.

Judge Sean D. Jordan gave his decision Dec. 1, clarifying a remand from the 5th Circuit that ordered supplemental briefing from Patterson and Southwestern Seminary.

Seminary attorneys argued the 5th Circuit vacated only Patterson’s portion of the judgment for dismissal. The District Court agreed, saying, “All claims against SWBTS have been, and remain, dismissed.”

Claimed negligence, gross negligence and defamation

A Southwestern Seminary student sued the seminary and Patterson, its president at the time, over claims of negligence, gross negligence and defamation after alleging a fellow student sexually assaulted her.

Following Patterson’s dismissal on May 30, 2018, Southwestern Seminary donors sent a letter in his support to the seminary’s Executive Board.

The former student who brought the lawsuit contends the contents of that document—known as the “Loveless Letter” after the last name of one of those who prepared it—defamed her.

Also at issue was the role of Scott Colter, Patterson’s chief of staff and personal assistant, in helping with the letter.

Case makes its way through the courts

Although the seminary acknowledged Colter’s employment at the time the letter was sent, attorneys argued he and other employees were acting in opposition to the school’s position. The court agreed with the seminary.

The claims against Patterson and Southwestern Seminary were dismissed, with the former student appealing to the 5th Circuit.

The 5th Circuit court asked the Texas Supreme Court to weigh in on two key questions regarding the letter and a press release issued by Patterson’s lawyer.

The questions addressed liability and defamatory material supplied from one person to another for publication, and if a plaintiff can survive summary judgment by presenting evidence of defamation that doesn’t include specific statements by the defendant.

Earlier this year, the Texas Supreme Court answered “yes” to both questions. That returned the case to the 5th Circuit. The three-judge panel vacated the District Court’s ruling and ordered clarification from both parties, which led to the Dec. 1 clarification from Jordan.

The Texas Supreme Court’s clarification in answering the two questions makes a summary judgment “appropriate,” Patterson attorneys said.

Jordan agreed and granted the motion to file, also on Dec. 1. He further stated the court would issue a separate amended scheduling order, with a full briefing schedule for the motion.

BRENTWOOD, Tenn.—For many churchgoers, Christmastime means giving time. Most say they regularly donate money and items to their churches as well as to local and national ministries and nonprofits.

Churchgoing adults in the United States are likely to make financial and item donations during the Christmas season, according to a Lifeway Research study.

More than 4 in 5 U.S. Protestant churchgoers say they typically make an extra monetary donation this time of year, while 3 in 4 usually give new items to help others.

“Many Americans traditionally give presents to others at Christmas, so we wondered if they also gave to charities during this season,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research.

“There is no shortage of opportunities and numerous requests for donations at Christmastime, and most churchgoers do give charitably at this time of year.”

Christmas bonus

Average Protestant churchgoers say they typically make financial donations at Christmastime to two types of causes, in addition to any regular giving they do, with 84 percent saying they make at least one additional donation this time of year.

Half of churchgoers (49 percent) say they give to their church’s efforts to help those in need. More than one-third (37 percent) donate to their church’s missions offering.

More than a quarter give directly to a person or family they know who is in need (29 percent) or an extra financial gift to their church’s general fund (26 percent).

One in 5 (21 percent) donate to a local Christian ministry. Fewer Protestant churchgoers use this time of year to give to a nonprofit that isn’t a Christian organization (15 percent), a national Christian ministry (15 percent) or their church’s capital or building campaign (14 percent).

Only 13 percent say they typically don’t make any additional donations during this season, while 3 percent aren’t sure.

“Since almost all Protestant churchgoers attend at Christmastime, it is not surprising that they participate in financial giving opportunities at their church the most. And in the giving spirit, gifts in which the church helps others are far more popular than things that benefit the operation of the church itself,” McConnell said.

Male churchgoers are more likely than their female counterparts to give to their church’s mission offering (43 percent v. 32 percent), make an extra financial gift to their church’s general fund (31 percent v. 21 percent) or contribute to their church’s capital or building fund (18 percent v. 10 percent).

Women at church are more likely than men to give to a nonprofit that isn’t a Christian organization (17 percent v. 13 percent).

Those under 50 (35 percent) are more likely than churchgoers ages 50-64 (26 percent) and those 65 and older (23 percent) to give directly to a person or family they know who is in need. Churchgoers 18-29 (26 percent) and 30-49 (27 percent) are more likely than those 50-64 (16 percent) and 65 and older (17 percent) to say they give to a local Christian ministry.

Churchgoers 65 and older (16 percent) are among the most likely to say they typically don’t make any additional donations at Christmastime.

Lutherans are among the least likely to say they give to their church’s efforts to help those in need (36 percent), to their church’s mission offering (21 percent), directly to a person or family they know who is in need (13 percent) or to a local Christian ministry (11 percent).

Nondenominational churchgoers are among the least likely to say they give to their church’s mission offering (27 percent), an extra financial gift to their church’s general fund (18 percent), to their church’s capital or building campaign (11 percent) or to a local Christian ministry (19 percent).

Nondenominational churchgoers (21 percent) and Lutherans (19 percent) are more likely than Baptists (9 percent) to say they typically don’t make any additional donations at Christmastime.

Presents under someone else’s tree

On average, U.S. Protestant churchgoers also donate a new item to at least one ministry or charitable organization during the holiday season. Three in 4 (76 percent) say they made a physical donation to at least one cause last year.

Churchgoers are most likely to have donated food for a local food bank (45 percent) or items collected by their church to help others (40 percent).

One in 4 Protestant churchgoers (25 percent) gave a shoebox item for Operation Christmas Child, a ministry of Samaritan’s Purse. Around 1 in 8 (13 percent) donated Angel Tree gifts for Prison Fellowship.

Some say they give items to a local Christian ministry (18 percent), to a nonprofit that is not a Christian organization (16 percent) or to a national Christian ministry (11 percent).

Around 1 in 5 (19 percent) say they didn’t donate items at Christmastime last year, and 4 percent aren’t sure.

“Donating items to charitable causes at Christmastime may not be as efficient as financial gifts to the charity, but it is a fun way for people to be involved in the cause,” McConnell said.

“Donors spend time as well as money purchasing items, so they are likely thinking longer about those they are helping. They are also often rewarded by seeing the collective donations of everyone, which affirms that they were part of something bigger than their own gift.”

Churchgoers with evangelical beliefs are more likely than those without to say they typically give items to Operation Christmas Child (29 percent v. 20 percent).

Those without evangelical beliefs are more likely than those with such beliefs to give items to a local food bank (51 percent v. 41 percent).

Older churchgoers are less likely to have donated items last year. Those 65 and older (25 percent) and 50-64 (21 percent) are more likely than those 30-49 (15 percent) and 18-29 (14 percent) to say they didn’t donate items at Christmastime last year.

Lutherans are among the least likely to say they donated items to a local food bank (37 percent), Operation Christmas Child (14 percent), Prison Fellowship for Angel Tree gifts (6 percent) or a national Christian ministry (2 percent).

Nondenominational churchgoers are among the least likely to have donated items to a local food bank (42 percent), their church to help others (32 percent), Operation Christmas Child (22 percent) or a nonprofit that is not a Christian organization (13 percent).

In addition, nondenominational churchgoers (29 percent) are among the most likely to say they didn’t donate any items last Christmas.

The online survey of American Protestant churchgoers was conducted Sept. 2-7 using a national pre-recruited panel. Analysts used quotas and slight weights to balance gender, age, region, ethnicity, education and religion to reflect the population more accurately.

The completed sample is 1,200 surveys. It provides 95 percent confidence the sampling error from the panel does not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.

Eighteen families filed a class-action lawsuit Dec. 2 to stop the display of a prescribed version of the Ten Commandments in all classrooms of every Texas school district not already involved in related litigation or subject to an injunction.

Ashby v. Shertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District is the third lawsuit—and first class-action suit—challenging S.B.10.

As approved by the Texas Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, S.B. 10 requires a donated poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments at least 16 by 20 inches to be displayed in every Texas elementary and secondary school classroom.

The Ten Commandments are “ingrained into who we are as a people and as a nation,” said Sen. Phil King of Weatherford, who introduced S.B. 10.

“Today, our students cry out for the moral clarity, for the statement of right and wrong that they represent. If our students don’t know the Ten Commandments, they will never understand the foundation for much of American history and law.”

First Amendment violations asserted

The plaintiffs assert the state-mandated displays in classrooms violate the Establishment Clause and Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

The families represent a range of faith traditions, as well as some interfaith families and families that identify as nonreligious.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas, the national ACLU and the Freedom from Religion Foundation brought the class-action suit on behalf of families whose children attend schools in 16 districts not named in two previous lawsuits.

Named defendants are the Argyle, Birdville, Carroll, Clear Creek, Deer Park, Fort Sam Houston, Hurst-Euless-Bedford, Katy, Liberty Hill, Magnolia, Medina Valley, Pearland, Prosper, Richardson, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City and Wylie school districts.

However, the suit contends the plaintiffs represent “a statewide class consisting of all parents, legal guardians, and their minor children suffering from constitutional harms as a result of Defendants’ posting of religious displays as required by S.B. 10.”

“If Plaintiffs are compelled to pursue relief in multiple counties—or even federal districts—across Texas, the same core facts and legal theories could yield divergent outcomes, on different timelines, resulting in both confusion among defendants and a needlessly increased risk that members of the Plaintiff Class will suffer violations of their constitutional rights,” the lawsuit states.

State has ‘zero legitimate interest in religion’

The state-approved language of the Ten Commandments as stipulated in S.B. 10 is an abridged version of Exodus 20:2-17 from the King James Version of the Bible.

Parents who objected to the classroom displays pointed out Jews, Catholics and Protestants number the commandments differently, and their wording varies. So, they asserted, the required language favors the Protestant approach as the state-sanctioned version.

“S.B. 10 is not neutral with respect to religion,” the class-action lawsuit states. “On its face, it expressly requires the display of religious scripture—the Ten Commandments—in every public-school classroom.

“It also requires that schools post a specific, state-approved version of that scripture that is associated with certain Protestant faiths, weighing in on theological questions regarding the correct content and meaning of the Ten Commandments and enshrining in state law an official denominational preference.”

Charles Foster Johnson, founding executive director of Pastors for Texas Children, agreed the state has no legitimate role “weighing in” on religious issues or giving preferential treatment to one faith group.

“The American experience is uniquely shaped by religious liberty and the ‘wall of separation,’ as Thomas Jefferson put it, between the church and the state. It was the church that shaped this American experience—small, dissenting, separatist churches in every village that trusted the word of God rather than the power of the state,” Johnson said.

“Fast forwarding almost 250 years, true Texas Americans still believe that the State of Texas has zero legitimate interest in religion. Eighteen of them have sued for remedy in this egregious violation of their—and millions of others’—religious liberty. Pastors for Texas Children hopes the federal courts will put a quick end to this infringement of faith freedom.”

Lawsuits, injunctions and appeal

Two federal judges already blocked 25 Texas school districts from displaying a state-prescribed version of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, citing constitutional concerns.

In August, U.S. District Court Judge Fred Biery issued a preliminary injunction blocking classroom Ten Commandments displays in 11 school districts.

In November, U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia granted a preliminary injunction to block the classroom displays in 14 school districts.

Last month, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he filed suit against the Round Rock and Leander school districts for refusing to comply with the mandated Ten Commandments displays.

“These rogue ISD officials and board members blatantly disregarded the will of Texas voters who expect the legal and moral heritage of our state to be displayed in accordance with the law,” Paxton said.

Previously, Paxton sued the Galveston Independent School District after its board refused to display donated posters of the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit will hear arguments on the constitutionality of S.B. 10—and a similar case in Louisiana—on Jan. 20. Court injunctions blocking the classroom displays of the Ten Commandments remain in effect while the appeal is pending.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS)—African Christian leaders attending a conference with faith-based health organizations in late November called for countries on the continent to do more to replace U.S. Agency for International Development funds cut by the Trump administration.

 “We don’t have to wait until the taps are finally locked in Europe and America,” said Catholic Bishop Matthew Kukah of the Diocese of Sokoto, in Nigeria.

Kukah spoke at the Nov. 27 closing press conference for the gathering. While African leaders appreciate foreign support, “it shouldn’t be an excuse for us not doing the things we need to do in Africa,” the bishop said.

“We need to begin to raise resources in our own countries to fill up the gap,” warned Francis Mkandawire, general secretary of the Evangelical Association of Malawi, who condemned the idea of “business as usual.”

“There’s fatigue out there, and it’s affecting us already,” Mkandawire said.

Devote 15 percent of budgets to health sector

The conference, “One Faith, One Voice: A Shared Commitment to Health and Wholeness in Africa,” was attended by some 50 Catholic and Protestant representatives from 10 African countries, including women and youth leaders and the heads of Christian health associations.

The leaders urged their governments to make good on the 2001 Abuja Declaration, an agreement in which the 55 African Union countries made it a goal to allocate 15 percent of their budgets to the health sector. A 2023 Human Rights Watch report showed only two of the signers were meeting the goal in 2021.

The conference, called to discuss the health of the region amid a crisis of shrinking resources and a growing need, was organized by the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform, the All Africa Conference of Churches and Christian Connections for International Health.

For years, faith-based health networks have helped to coordinate the work of thousands of local health institutions, becoming trusted partners in providing relief and treatment for deadly diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.

Those organizations had long received funding from the U.S. government, delivered through grants and cooperative agreements from USAID and the 22-year-old President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR.

Cuts seriously affect health workers

But in January, President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on funding, pending a review and realignment of foreign assistance with his America First policy. The European Union also announced reductions in contributions to foreign assistance.

The abrupt stoppage of the funding has had a grave impact on the organizations’ work, the participants said.

“We have been impacted by the cuts, and the impact includes on our health workers, on service delivery for HIV, for tuberculosis, for malaria,” Nkatha Njeru, CEO of the Africa Christian Health Associations Platform, told reporters.

“We have patients who have been receiving care that now have to seek care in places where the health workers are no longer available in the numbers they were,” Njeru said.

His organization brings together 40 national associations in 32 sub-Saharan African countries and manages 10,000 health care facilities. Delivering 70 percent of services in some countries, the organization reaches more than half a billion people.

“We continue to feel the impact on community programming as well, where services that were available to people in the community are no longer available. … We also have impact on supply chain in many areas as well,” she said.

Without USAID support, said the participants at the conference, lives are being lost to HIV, malaria and tuberculosis, as health facilities run short of supplies and health workers go unpaid.

Community-led outreach cut

Karen Sichinga, CEO of the Churches Health Association of Zambia, said U.S. funding for essential AIDS drugs delivered by the organization is continuing, and the organization had been buying and distributing antiretroviral drugs to 700 hospitals in parts of the country.

But financial support for community-led outreach, crucial in mobilizing and ensuring treatment adherence, was ended, Sichinga said.

“When you cut community-led activities, you can’t expect to achieve much, because you need to mobilize communities toward treatment,” she said.

“We have treatment adherents, particularly the adolescents, who are becoming tired. Some of them are actually saying, ‘Why me?’ And these would be the adolescents who were born with HIV infection. And they’re saying, ‘It’s not my fault.’”

Njeru said the faith leaders are aware that teams from the U.S. State Department have been negotiating bilateral health arrangements with many of the African countries, and the faith sector has been asked to join those conversations.

Engage the faith sector

“Our plea to the State Department of the U.S. government is that they continue to engage the faith sector substantially, so that we can help our specific governments to continue providing health care to our citizens,” she said.

The conversations are at various stages in different countries, according to Njeru.

“Our plea is being heard in some countries, but in other countries, we still need to continue to talk to both our governments and the State Department to understand why the faith sector needs to be engaged substantially,” she said.

The faith leaders said they are not sitting idle. In a statement released at the end of the meeting, they committed to deepening collaboration with national governments, the private sector and international partners.

The clerics called for more government investment in health, which they called a moral and spiritual priority. They also urged African governments to crack down on corruption, citing reports of staggering amounts of funds being sent by politicians and businessmen to European banks and investments.

Kukah challenged the political leaders in Africa to join the search for local funding, saying the faith-based organizations and institutions need their help.

“The question is: What are we doing in Africa?” said Kukah. “But there needs to be greater collaboration, because the church has only a moral voice that it can add.”