After customers expressed concerns about sexually graphic content available for purchase through its app, Logos Bible Software said it is “actively addressing” the issue and “removing these and related titles ASAP.”

According to the company, the erotica resulted from “an automated feed from the publisher.” Logos thanked customers for calling their attention to the matter. “We agree this has no place in the Christian faith,” Logos said in a social media post.

Logos Bible Software: Graphic Content Lacked Warnings

In a Feb. 28 exclusive, Protestia revealed that almost 750 titles with explicit content were being sold through Faithlife E-books, a service available through the Logos Bible Software app. The article urged readers to contact Logos and “insist they stop selling erotic and pornographic books.”

Although Logos users could purchase books separately, Protestia noted, they could also search the content without buying it, “giving any bored pastor quick access to this content where no one would think to look, and without ever having to pay for it.” The article added, “There is no content warning for this literature through the program, and it cannot be locked down or blocked by a firewall.”

After Logos indicated it is addressing the issue, Protestia called that “welcome news” but wondered “why previous complaints by customers seemingly went unaddressed.” The website added, “The internet can be a challenging place to stay pure, and errors can happen.”

Protestia also shared details about what led to its initial article. On Feb. 5, someone emailed Logos to express concern about a book subtitled “Sexual Magic for the Solo Witch.” Other questionable content included children’s books about astrology and books about sex workers. “None of this content belongs on the ‘world’s leading Bible study software,” the letter writer noted. “I should not have to worry about protecting my family or my brothers and sisters from Bible software.”

Some Offending Content Is Now Gone

By Feb. 29, several erotica titles had been removed from Faithlife E-books. On X (formerly Twitter), one person commented, “The ‘romance’ stuff is gone today but the occult stuff for kids is still there from a publisher called ‘Running Press Kids.’” Protestia responded that it plans to address that concern in a Mar. 1 post.

Logos, launched in 1992 by Faithlife Corporation, states it “is not a church, charity, ministry, or nonprofit” but a “technology company and bookstore that serves churches, pastors, academics, and laity.” The company website indicates it doesn’t sell pornographic media.

As lead pastor at Stonebridge Bible Church in Franklin, Tennessee, Jonny Ardavanis encourages those in his care to follow Jesus Christ in all that they do—including how they speak. Ardavanis looks to God’s Word as he explores whether or not Christians are allowed to use profanity or cuss words.

“How many unwholesome words am I allowed to speak as a Christian?” Ardavanis asked in a recent video posted to X (formerly Twitter).

Jonny Ardavanis Answers the Question, ‘Should Christians Cuss?’

Through Dial In Ministries, Ardavanis has interviewed other pastors, including John MacArthur and Alistair Begg, to gain their perspectives on such topics as why we continue to feel guilty for past sins and the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

“Yesterday’s pursuit of God doesn’t equip you for today’s battle. The pursuit of holiness and the battle against sin is constant,” Ardavanis has said.

This time, and in less than a minute, Ardavanis sought Scripture that addresses the words we speak. He noted how common it is to hear Christians use foul language, and that’s not always been the case.

Especially when ministering to youth and young adults, people wonder about the subject and how to approach the hot topic. Does that language just flow off their lips? Do kids cuss to impress their peers? How do you respond when kids ask you if cussing is a sin?

“Every single culture recognizes words that are explicit, derogatory, and crude. And, the Bible’s very clear how the Christian is to steward their tongue in that regard,” explained Ardavanis.

Ardavanis then quoted Ephesians 4:29, which says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

“How many unwholesome words am I allowed to speak as a Christian?” he asked.

Ardavanis quickly responded, “And the answer is zero. Let no unwholesome word.”

He further explained that this non-negotiable command doesn’t fall under “Christian liberty.” In fact, Ardavanis claimed that Christian use of foul language or cuss words “is a grievance to the heart of God.”

Should Christians cuss? pic.twitter.com/xQyiOfexTG

— Jonny Ardavanis (@Jonnyardavanis) February 28, 2024

Award-winning actor Gary Sinise, who is well known for his roles in “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13,” and “Truman,” posted a moving tribute to his son Mac, who died from a rare spinal cancer called chordoma on Jan. 5 at the age of 33.

Sinise, who played the father of contemporary Christian music (CCM) singer-songwriter Jeremy Camp in the Erwin Brothers‘ film “I Still Believe,” referenced his faith in his tribute to his son.

“Like any family experiencing such a loss, we are heartbroken and have been managing as best we can,” Sinise said. “As parents, it is so difficult losing a child. My heart goes out to all who have suffered a similar loss, and to anyone who has lost a loved one.”

Mac’s battle with cancer lasted over five years, a fight that Sinise described as “more and more challenging as time went on.”

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“While our hearts ache at missing him, we are comforted in knowing that Mac is no longer struggling, and inspired and moved by how he managed it,” the actor added. “He fought an uphill battle against a cancer that has no cure, but he never quit trying.”

Sinise said, “I am so blessed, fortunate, and proud to be his dad.”

Mac worked at his father’s foundation as the Assistant Manager of Education and Outreach, and although his cancer paralyzed him from the chest down, he used his limited mobility  to continue serving wounded veterans of the military.

Mac also recorded an album titled “Resurrection & Revival.” The album was a passion project of Mac’s and was finished in the last year of his life.

RELATED: Toby Keith, Whose Faith Was His ‘Rock,’ Passes Away From Cancer At Age 62

The week his album went to press, he lost his battle to cancer.

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Days after a bus accident claimed 11 of its missionaries in Tanzania, leaders of Youth With a Mission are rallying for support to aid logistical arrangements, including medical evacuations, repatriations and funeral arrangements.

The Christian missionaries, seven of whom were from other countries, including one from the United States, died in the Ngaramtoni area, near the city of Arusha in the eastern African country’s north. Authorities say a construction truck hit one of two mini-school buses carrying the missionaries. The participants in an “Executive Masters in Leadership” course were returning from a field trip in Maasai land when the truck lost its brakes, smashing into the bus.

On Wednesday (Feb. 28), members of Youth With a Mission in the region held prayers and send-off services for their departed colleagues.

“The mood is very sad,” Bernard Ojiwa, an official of the YWAM in Tanzania, told Religion News Service in a phone call from Arusha. “We started the journey for burials of the local members.”

“We are also planning how the bodies of the foreign members could be sent home. For now, the bodies remain in the morgue,” he added.

Police sources in Arusha said the seven foreign nationals were from Kenya, Togo, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Nigeria and the U.S.

The accident, which involved four motor vehicles in all, killed 25 people, 11 of them members of YWAM, and injured 21, eight of them with the mission group. John Mukolwe, a Kenyan and the base leader of the Arusha station, was among the dead.

“Mukolwe was a friend for more than 30 years. His death makes me very sad,” said Karin Kea, the administrator for YWAM’s base in the Athi River area in Kenya.

Abel Sibo, a Burundian member of the mission, posted a video on Facebook of YWAM missionaries singing the hymn “This Is the Day the Lord Has Made,” saying the group was singing before the accident occurred.

According to officials, members of the mission from around the globe have gone to the region to offer moral, pastoral and counseling support.

YWAM (pronounced “why-wham”) was founded by Loren and Darlene Cunningham in 1960 with an emphasis on sending young volunteers of different denominations to serve on short-term evangelization missions. The group now has some 2,000 offices worldwide and involves missionaries from 200 countries.

(RNS) — A new report released Wednesday (Feb. 28) found that roughly 3 in 10 Americans express some sympathy for Christian nationalism, with its greatest popularity concentrated in the Southeast and Upper Midwest.

The findings appear in a study from the Public Religion Research Institute, which probed public support for Christian nationalism as part of a broader survey of more than 22,000 adults. To assess feelings about Christian nationalism, respondents were asked whether they completely agree, mostly agree, mostly disagree or completely disagree with five statements, including “the U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation” and “U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.”

PRRI broke out four categories depending on how people responded to the questions. Those most supportive of the ideology — 10% of the country — were dubbed Adherents, followed by Sympathizers, who represent 20% of the country. Those who disagreed the statements were classified as Skeptics (37%) or Rejecters (30%).

Mississippi and North Dakota showed the highest levels of support for Christian nationalism, with Adherents and Sympathizers making up 50% of those states. They are followed by Alabama (47%), West Virginia (47%), Louisiana (46%), Tennessee (45%), Kentucky (45%), Nebraska (45%) and Wyoming (45%).

States exhibiting the least support for Christian nationalism were Oregon (17%), Massachusetts (18%), Maryland (19%), New York (19%), New Jersey (20%) and Washington (20%).

Voting patterns reflected the presence of Christian nationalist ideas as well. “Residents of red states are significantly more likely than those in blue states to hold Christian nationalist beliefs,” the report reads. Researchers later note that, overall, nearly 4 in 10 residents of red states express support for Christian nationalism.

The survey also noted a strong correlation between support for Christian nationalism and support for the Republican Party, as well as for former President Donald Trump, who has long made appeals to Christian nationalists on the stump.

Last week, in addressing the annual gathering of National Religious Broadcasters, a disproportionately evangelical Christian group, Trump promised the crowd: “If I get in, you’re going to be using that power at a level that you’ve never used before.” He later added: “With your help and God’s grace, the great revival of America begins on Nov. 5.”

In PRRI’s survey, among those who hold favorable views of Trump, 55% qualify as Christian nationalists (21% Adherents and 34% Sympathizers). Only 15% (4% Adherents and 11% Sympathizers) of those who hold favorable views of President Joe Biden were identified as Christian nationalists.

“As the proportion of Christian nationalists in a state increases, the percentage of residents who voted for Trump in 2020 also increases,” the report reads. “If the analysis is restricted to white Americans only, the relationship between state-level support for Christian nationalism and votes for Trump in 2020 becomes even stronger.”

The survey found support for Christian nationalism concentrated in two religious groups: white evangelical Protestants (66%) and Hispanic Protestants (55%). Christians who ascribe to beliefs often associated with Pentecostals and charismatic Christianity, such as modern-day prophecy, spiritual healing and the prosperity gospel, were particularly drawn to the ideology.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — For the last five months, Moshe Lavi has worn a medallion around his neck in honor of his brother-in-law Omri Miran, who was taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

Inscribed on the steel medallion, modeled after the dog tags worn by Israeli soldiers, is a simple drawing of a house with part of one wall missing. Inside the walls of the house is a heart.

“This represents the love that is in our family, but it’s incomplete,” said Lavi, a former Israel Defense Forces captain who was in Nashville last week to attend the annual National Religious Broadcasters meeting.

“It will be complete only when we return Omri home,” he said.

Lavi, who now works as a financial analyst, and other members of the Hostages and Missing Families Forum were among a large contingent of Israelis — including government officials — at the NRB gathering to meet with evangelical leaders, radio and television hosts, and other Christian supporters of Israel.

They were there because evangelicals remain key allies for Israel in a time when the nation is losing support around the world.

“Evangelicals as a bloc are about the only friends that Israel has,” said Joel Rosenberg,  a longtime political strategist, novelist and editor-in-chief of All Israel News, an evangelical pro-Israel news and commentary site.

Rosenberg, who became an Israeli citizen about a decade ago and identifies as a Jewish believer in Jesus, told Religion News Service that he saw more Israelis at the NRB this year than in the past.

That’s in large part due to the close ties between Israel and evangelicals, who are more loyal than other groups, said Rosenberg, host of “The Rosenberg Report” for the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

“Where else are you going to find people who will listen, and then have a platform and a motive to act,” he said.

Evangelical Christians have long been the backbone of U.S. support for Israel and are arguably among Israel’s most ardent advocates. They travel to Israel in great numbers. They donate vast sums of money and advocate for Israel in Republican Party circles.

After the Oct. 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel killed an estimated 1,200, evangelicals jumped to defend Israel and raise money to rebuild its border communities. The Southern Baptist Convention’s public policy arm issued an “Evangelical Statement in Support of Israel.”

Evangelist Franklin Graham donated 21 new ambulances to Israel’s EMS fleet, known as Magen David Adom, becoming the national nonprofit’s largest donor, said Catherine Reed, CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom.

“The evangelical community loves Israel,” said Reed, who brought her team, including an Israeli ambulance and a series of short videos about the nonprofit, to the exhibition floor of the National Religious Broadcasters meeting as a way to thank evangelicals for their support.

Reminders of the Oct. 7 attacks were everywhere at the conference. Not far from the exhibitors hall, conference attendees could watch “Bear Witness,” a three-minute video of the Hamas attacks using virtual headsets. The exhibit where the video was being shown was flanked by Israeli flags and Nashville Metro police officers providing added security.

A few floors up, a 45-minute version of the video — taken from footage filmed by Hamas — was being shown to groups of pastors, broadcasters and other attendees. After watching the footage, the groups heard from families of hostages and IDF officers. The videos have also been shown around the country to build support for Israel after the attacks.

There is good reason for Israel to woo evangelicals. They are mightier in numbers than Jews, said Dov Waxman, professor of Israel studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“Many people, when they think about Zionists in America, think about Jewish Americans,” said Waxman. “But in actual fact, there are many, many more Christian Zionists than there are Jewish Zionists in the United States.”

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Women in key roles at the Vatican and Catholic universities in its close orbit have been leading an effort to raise women’s standing and visibility in church governance, creating a growing network of experts, diplomats and scholars like them around the world.

“Today we still have a lot to do to promote women. There are still many areas where women continue to be discriminated against,” said Gabriella Gambino, a professor of bioethics and undersecretary of the Vatican Department for Laity, Family and Life.

Gambino appeared at a press event on Wednesday (Feb. 28) in Rome to promote “Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity,” a conference scheduled for March 7 and 8 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. The conference will focus on the lives and legacies of 10 female saints, who despite the challenges of their times and cultures left a meaningful mark in the church.

Among better-known canonized women such as Mother Teresa and Elizabeth Ann Seton, the conference is examining the life of Sister Josephine Bakhita, the first Black woman to be made a saint, who championed victims of human trafficking.

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The conference is meant “to put the lives of these women within the context of the concrete lives of men and women of our time,” Gambino explained.

The conference is a collaboration by several Catholic institutions and universities along with foreign embassies to the Holy See, which are represented today by a record number of women ambassadors. The 20 or so ambassadors are connected through an informal WhatsApp group created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gambino holds to a different kind of feminism from the one many other women and even other academics espouse. The mother of five believes that womanhood and motherhood are intrinsically tied and that men must be seen as needing support along with women. “In the church, this is called co-responsibility,” she said.

Starting with Pope John Paul II and increasingly under Pope Francis, women have been acquiring more relevance in the church, and currently hold many important Vatican offices.

Last October, at a summit of bishops and lay people at the Vatican to discuss the most pressing topics facing the church, the question of female roles was front and center. While some Catholic women propose that women be allowed to become priests or at least the lesser ordained order of deacon, others seek alternative ways for promoting women in the church.

“It’s about living out baptismal vocation to the fullest,” Gambino said, which entails “adopting within the church a new paradigm that is capable of understanding the female condition and can lead to the creation of roles for women in the church, especially at the local level, where they are often neglected.”