Author and theologian Kaitlyn Schiess recently took an unapologetic stance against Bachelor Nation, and The Holy Post gave her a microphone to defend it.

“You are enjoying watching people harm themselves, and that is wrong,” argued Schiess.

‘Holy Post’ Co-Host Kaitlyn Schiess Argues That ‘The Bachelor’ Is ‘Potentially Sinful’

Co-hosts Skye Jethani and Esau McCaulley invited Kaitlyn Schiess to share her own “cultural hot take.” The Holy Post described this “new HP+ series ‘My Hill to Die On,'” as a place to “fiercely defend our cultural hot takes.” Schiess focused on Bachelor Nation.

For more than 20 years, Bachelor Nation has provided reality TV shows capturing the attention of millions of viewers. In each season, an eligible bachelor or bachelorette has the chance to “find true love” by first meeting a number of also eligible candidates.

Each episode involves connection, drama, surprises, and a rose ceremony—where the star hands out a rose to the contestants with the most growing connection. The franchise has grown to 10 other spinoff shows, including “The Bachelor Winter Games” and “The Golden Bachelorette.”

In a new episode of “My Hill to Die On,” Schiess offered a bold take on the Bachelor Nation. She argued that watching the show is “spiritually malformative” and even “potentially sinful.”

The claim is naturally controversial as the shows have gained millions of fans over the decades. When McCaulley chimed in with a follow-up question, Skye Jethani interrupted, “Esau, you’ve got to give people a moment because a lot of them just threw their phones or fell off their chair.” The trio realized Schiess’ claims were bold and potentially unpopular.

Schiess fiercely defended her take.

“It does something to you to watch people, intentionally or not, harm themselves in body, soul, and mind,” argued Schiess.

Schiess explained that contestants are “willingly subjecting themselves” to the nature and content of the show—which means they’re “subjecting themselves to great spiritual and sometimes bodily harm.”

Contestants put themselves in situations “to constantly vie for different people’s attention…I don’t think humans were meant to be in” that situation, said Schiess.

Schiess further described the premise of reality shows. “The producers intentionally pit the men and women against each other, try and get them to dig up childhood trauma, try and put them in embarrassing situations so that they’ll cry and be all emotionally involved,” she said.

Possibly @kaitlynschiess’ spiciest take yet.🌹
Watch her full critique of Bachelor Nation now on Holy Post Plus! This is part of our new HP+ series “My Hill to Die On,” in which we fiercely defend our cultural hot takes – tune in at the 🔗 in bio! pic.twitter.com/GXWX8d1LsR

— Holy Post Media (@HolyPostPodcast) February 11, 2025

New Hope Community Church in Palatine, Illinois, sparked community backlash by posting a message the pastor said is straight from the Bible. “Heaven has strict immigration laws. Hell has open borders,” reads the church’s electronic sign.

James Pittman Jr., senior pastor of the Chicago-area church, said he often uses current events to draw people’s attention to the gospel. But he denied making any statement about U.S. immigration policy or President Trump.

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“The immigration we were talking about is very clear in the sign: heaven and hell,” said Pittman. “And our message is very clear, the scriptures are clear. Not everybody makes it to heaven.” The pastor also denied promoting any political agenda, saying, “We push one man and one man only here, and that’s Jesus Christ.”

But some Palatine residents describe the church sign as extreme, hateful, and exclusionary. They’ve launched a campaign to post signs with positive messages near New Hope, saying schoolchildren who walk by are affected by what they read.

Pastor James Pittman Jr. Responds to Church Sign Controversy: ‘The Bible Is Clear’

On its Facebook page, the church posted on Feb. 10:

We want to be clear. We did not mention nor intend this sign to be about U.S. immigration policy. We understand that immigration is a hot topic today and wanted to use that to turn people’s attention heavenward. We did not mention any country or any people group. We do not believe that all go to heaven and wanted the community to examine their relationship with Almighty God. People are getting triggered by the word “immigration.” We took a stand on “immigration” to heaven, not to the United States.

In response to the controversy, New Hope added an “About Our Sign” pop-up on its website. It links to a 14-minute video in which Pittman explains the sign’s intent—and calls out people whose god is “political victimhood.”

In his video, the pastor said the sign had been up for six days before anyone expressed concerns. “The kids were okay, the sky wasn’t falling, racism wasn’t running rampant through Palatine,” he said.

New Hope often uses “issues of the day” to point people to “the righteousness of God and who he is,” Pittman continued. Rather than being about illegal immigration, the sign “used the buzzword about immigration and borders to start a conversation about this one question everyone has to answer: Where are you going to spend your eternity?”

An Arkansas pastor has been arrested and charged with two counts of aggravated animal cruelty. Police obtained a search warrant for the home of Charles Thessing after receiving a tip from animal control.

Thessing is the pastor of St. Michael Church in West Memphis, Arkansas, according to the church’s website.

Editor’s note: This article refers to reports of animal cruelty that some readers might find disturbing.

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The video was sent from animal control to the West Memphis Police Department (WMPD). The content of the video has not been publicly disclosed, but Thessing is accused of drowning cats. 

When WMPD officers arrived at Thessing’s home, they reportedly discovered two deceased house cats that appeared to have been drowned in a water tank. They also found animal traps.

Kerry Facello, director of the West Memphis Animal Shelter, said in a statement that the city takes “all matters of public concern seriously, especially those affecting the well-being of animals in our community.”

“Animal cruelty cases are a top priority, and we will always enforce the law to protect the animals in our care,” Facello said. 

RELATED: 2 Men Arrested for Allegedly Assaulting Pastor, Stealing His Car During Church Renovations

Facello said that the investigation is ongoing. “The deliberate harming of an animal is 100% unacceptable,” she emphasized. 

Award-winning Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman told music students at Colorado Christian University (CCU) that God can use any art “illuminated” with their faith, even if their work doesn’t explicitly mention Jesus. Among his other advice, Chapman encouraged the students in their efforts to find creative ways of shining light on God’s truth. 

“The Scripture says, do everything you can do for the glory of God,” said Chapman during a master class he gave for six students with CCU’s School of Music on the afternoon of Friday, Feb. 7. “I am one who probably at different points in my life thought, well…did I mention Jesus in that song?”

“And then I learned more and more over time,” he said, “and I really believe that, you know, that his presence is in all art that is illuminated with our faith.”

Steven Curtis Chapman Gives Feedback to 6 CCU Music Students

Steven Curtis Chapman is one of the most decorated artists in Christian music. He is the winner of five Grammys, 60 Dove Awards, and one American Music Award. He has had 50 No. 1 hits and has sold 16 million albums, with 10 of them being RIAA-certified Gold or Platinum. 

Last July, Chapman was invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. He told CCU students and staff that his induction into the Grand Ole Opry was particularly meaningful to him because he performed there in his youth, and his father had given up a dream of being a Grand Ole Opry singer.

Chapman was the featured guest in the second event in CCU’s newly launched President’s Speaker Series. He and his wife, Mary Beth Chapman, were hosted Friday by CCU President Eric Hogue and First Lady Tammy Hogue. The event with the Chapmans follows CCU’s inaugural event in its President’s Speaker Series, which was held on Friday, Nov. 15, and featured former Vice President Mike Pence and former Second Lady Karen Pence.

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Friday evening, over 500 people came to see Chapman perform, as well as to listen to a moderated conversation with Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman. The evening performance and conversation followed a dinner where two CCU students received scholarships. 

Before the evening events, a crowd of nearly 100 School of Music students attended the master class Chapman led. During the hour-and-a-half-long session, the Christian artist shared how he got his start in the industry and listened to and gave feedback on original compositions performed by six School of Music students. 

As he began the class, Chapman told the students, “You wouldn’t be in this room if you, number one, weren’t gifted and had a desire to use that gift to the highest calling, I believe.”

During a recent interview with OnlyFans star Lily Phillips, born-again Christian Russell Brand told the British sex worker that, as God’s child, she is special and sacred. Phillips, 23, gained notoriety after sleeping with more than 100 men in one day—and setting her sights on 1,000.

Editor’s note: Brand’s interview with Phillips contains language some might find triggering and/or offensive. 

Brand, an actor and comedian who admitted to being “very, very promiscuous” earlier in his life, told Phillips his former self would have been “happy to see you as an object.” Now, however, “as a man of God,” Brand said he wondered if he could offer Phillips “some protection, or service, or counsel.” He told the OnlyFans star “there is a path and a light” for her, if she ever changes her mind about her profession.

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Brand, 49, has denied previous allegations of sexual abuse, saying his relationships “were always consensual.” Since his recent conversion to Christianity, Brand has been posting about spiritual topics, as well as conservative politics.

Lily Phillips to Russell Brand: ‘I Really Enjoy My Job’

When Brand asked Lily Phillips about her work, she denied feeling exploited. Instead, she said OnlyFans empowers sex workers because they no longer need a pimp or agent. The site is “a great platform to explore your kinks without someone telling you what to do,” she said.

Phillips, who has reportedly made more than £2 million from sex work, said “no amount of money” would make her stop selling her body. “I’m maybe just, like, obsessed with sex and really enjoy my job,” she told Brand.

In the interview, shared with Brand’s 6.8 million followers on Rumble, the host quoted 1 Corinthians 6:19, about the body being a temple of the Holy Spirit. Brand referred to Phillips’ “precious soul and spirit,” emphasizing that she is “a child of God” and deserves to be “cherished and treasured in every aspect” of her life.

Phillips deflected, saying she’s “just another girl” and “not religious or anything like that.” Brand followed up by saying one day Phillips might have a change of heart—and that he wanted her to know a different path is available. “As a man of God, how I see you is a fellow child of God,” Brand told her.

In response to Phillips’ shocking sex-capades, British newspapers have compared the men who participated in her numerical “challenge” to rapists.

Response to Russell Brand’s Interview Is Mixed

On social media, many people praised Russell Brand for witnessing to Lily Phillips, even though she didn’t seem receptive to his message. “You may have saved her life,” someone wrote. “Of course, we may not know for a few years, but at some point, she’s going to remember this conversation. Good on ya.”

Another person commented, “She will revisit this and she will be grateful that you shared these words with her. Everyone finds God in their own agency and timing. It’s God’s will that we seek for his help on our own. No one can control our fate with Him.”

The Church of England has released a statement clarifying its stance on whether gluten-free wafers and non-alcoholic wine can legitimately be used for Communion following reports that it had banned both.

On Sunday (Feb. 9), The Telegraph reported that “Church guidance makes clear that bread must be made from wheat flour and wine must be the fermented juice of the grape in order to be consecrated as part of the service.” 

The Telegraph went on to report that some felt that the apparent exclusion of people who cannot consume gluten from the sacrament is an “injustice.”

Rt. Rev. Michael Ipgrave, the Bishop of Lichfield and chairman of the Church’s Liturgical Commission, responded to this criticism, saying that “receiving holy communion in one kind in a case of necessity is not an ‘exclusion’ but full participation in the sacrament, as often practised in the communion of the sick, or with children.”

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“Indeed, even believers who cannot physically receive the sacrament are to be assured that they are partakers by faith of the body and blood of Christ, and of the benefits he conveys to us by them,” Ipgrave added.

Following The Telegraph’s report, several other outlets reported on the story, leading the Church of England to clarify the specifics of its ban on Communion elements not containing wheat or fermented grape juice. 

On Monday, the Church of England released a statement, titled “No, we’re not banning ‘gluten-free’ bread or ‘non-alcoholic’ Communion wine.”

“Contrary to recent reports following a question asked by a General Synod member, the Church of England is not banning ‘gluten-free’ wafers nor ‘non-alcoholic’ wine at Communion,” the statement said. “Church of England churches across the country routinely offer ‘gluten-free’ bread or ‘non-alcoholic’ wine at Holy Communion.”

RELATED: Church of England To Introduce Same-Sex Blessing, as It Faces ‘Disestablishment’ Bill in Parliament

“Many professional ecclesiastical suppliers have long provided wine or bread which may contain tiny traces of alcohol or gluten which can legitimately be considered non-alcoholic or gluten free,” the statement added. “We hope this helps clarify and avoid further confusion!”

(RNS) — On Friday (Feb. 7), Wheaton College, the evangelical Christian school outside Chicago, publicly congratulated Russell Vought, a conservative activist and architect of Project 2025 who attended the school, for his confirmation by the U.S. Senate as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Within hours, hundreds of Vought’s fellow alumni had complained that Vought’s agenda contradicted the values they had been taught at Wheaton.

By Saturday morning, the college had deleted the post, and a new social media barrage, this time from Vought’s supporters, had begun.

The college has defended its original post, and its subsequent pivot, as “deliberately non-partisan,” as its institutional commitments demand.

“Wheaton College congratulates and prays for 1998 graduate Russell Vought regarding his senatorial confirmation to serve as the White House Director of the Office of Management and Budget!” said the now-deleted social media post on Friday.

One commenter responded that Vought was not only working at cross-purposes to Christian values but to his fellow alums: “The work that he is doing negatively and directly impacts countless other Wheaton alum who are seeking to be the hands and feet of Jesus in this country and around the rest of the world,” the commenter said, per screenshots of the exchanges that were deleted along with the original post but obtained by RNS.

After deleting the post, the college backpedaled, writing, “On Friday, Wheaton College posted a congratulations and a call to prayer for an alumnus who received confirmation to a White House post.” On Saturday morning, it wrote, “The recognition and prayer is something we would typically do for any graduate who reached that level of government. However, the political situation surrounding the appointment led to a significant concern expressed online. It was not our intention to embroil the College in a political discussion or dispute.”

In an email to RNS, Wheaton College spokesperson Joseph Moore said the deletion of the initial post was “in no way an apology for having expressed congratulations or for suggesting prayers for our alumnus.”

“The social media post led to more than 1,000 hostile comments, primarily incendiary, unchristian comments about Mr. Vought, in just a few hours,” wrote Moore. “It was not our intention to embroil the College or Mr. Vought in a political discussion or dispute. Thus, we removed the post, rather than allow it to become an ongoing online distraction.”

The decision, however, led to further backlash from conservative alumni and activists. Wheaton alumnus Eric Teetsel, chief executive officer of the Center for Renewing America, a conservative think tank founded by Vought in 2021 and credited for advising on Project 2025, called the decision an “act of cowardice.”

“Nothing about (the school’s) behavior was biblical or resembled the values Wheaton purports to stand for, and by deleting the post and apologizing the school has — yet again — compromised instead of standing firm for what is good, right, and true,” wrote Teetsel on social media site X, citing recent appearances at the school by Christian figures who oppose Trump.

Vought, who served as director of the Office of Management and Budget at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, is listed as an author of Project 2025, a blueprint for President Donald Trump’s second term in office, and has recently spoken about his desire to traumatize federal workers and to shut down the Environmental Protection Agency, according to ProPublica. Last week, the Atlantic reported that while Project 2025 called for limiting USAID’s funding, the president’s actions to shut down the agency and freeze foreign aid went beyond what was included in the proposal.