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Families across America gathered last weekend for “See You at the Library” events featuring readings from children’s books by author and actor Kirk Cameron, including one in Fort Myers, Florida, The Washington Times’ Alex Swoyer reported.

One of the books that was read, “Pride Comes Before the Fall,” offered valuable lessons for the children, a mother said.

“I think it is important for kids to hear things from their house first, so when they hear it from their peers, the first authority is their family and that’s who the first authority should be because they are our kids,” Jessica Wielgot, a mother of two, told Ms. Swoyer. “The Brave Books really give them great talking points like pride. Pride is a bad thing.”

British man heads to trial for silently praying near abortion clinic

Adam Smith-Connor, a former British army reservist, stood silently near an abortion facility in Bournemouth, England, in November. With his back toward the clinic, he bowed his head and prayed in his mind, mourning a son lost to an abortion he’d paid for years earlier.

That silent prayer was enough to trigger a fine from city authorities and, now, criminal charges of “breaching” a protection order that set up a “safe zone” around the facility, an area critics call a “censorship zone.”

At a hearing, he said he “stood silently” near the facility and “did not approach anyone [and] did not speak to anyone.” He entered a “not guilty” plea in court, and a trial is slated for November. 

Pray for the school year? Not if this group has its way — and it did

The distance between the Madison, Wisconsin, home of an atheist advocacy group and the public school district in Burnet, Texas, is just under 1,200 miles. But with an email, the Freedom from Religion Foundation shut down the district’s “pray to the first day” social media campaign.

Citing national surveys showing the percentage of non-believers, a lawyer for the group demanded the school system take down the prayer list that implored people to pray for each of the six schools in the district, as well as groups in the district’s administration and school employees.

The issue of prayer in and around schools has been contentious in recent years, even reaching the nation’s highest court. A year ago, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a high school football coach in Bremerton, Washington, who was fired for praying on the 50-yard line after games.

Fear in the pews: America’s Christians ’dread’ the future of faith

The Bible contains 365 references to “fear not,” but that hasn’t stopped many U.S. Protestant pastors from reporting their congregants live in “dread” of the future of Christianity at home and abroad.

According to survey data released by Lifeway Research, 69% of those pastors say their congregants are fearful. That’s down from 74% in 2014, but the number is still substantial.

The greatest levels of fear were reported among non-denominational (75%) and Methodist congregations (74%), Lifeway Research said, while 72% of Baptist and Lutheran churches reported fear in the pews. 

After losing space, NYC pastor takes message underground

New York City is a challenging place to rent an apartment, let alone a church meeting space. So when David Engelhardt, an evangelical pastor who is also a lawyer, learned his Kings’ Church would lose its rental space, he did the next best thing: move services underground, to the city’s subway system.

As he told contributor Alex Murashko, the early Christian leaders — Peter, Paul and even Jesus — took the gospel to the people, as did famed New York street evangelist David Wilkerson. Outdoor services on the street, in parks and on the subways, where more than 3.5 million travel most weekdays, bring the message to people who might not think to enter a church building.

The message is taking hold. After a young man “probably 27 or 28” said he had never heard the Christian message in public, “I just was bothered by his story. [Unfortunately,] the work of evangelism is primarily being done inside the church on a Sunday morning,” he said.

House Republicans: Finnish Christians facing ’hate speech’ retrial deserve U.S. support

Sixteen Republican lawmakers are calling on the State Department to support two prominent Finnish evangelical Christians facing a retrial this month on “hate speech” charges.

The lawmakers, led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, wrote to U.S. Ambassador to Finland Douglas Hickey and U.S. Ambassador Rashad Hussein, at-large envoy for international religious freedom, asking them to advocate for Päivi Räsänen, a member of the Finnish parliament, and Bishop Juhana Pohjola of the Evangelical Lutheran Mission Diocese of Finland.

Although a Helsinki court acquitted the pair in March 2022 of “agitation against a hate group,” Finland’s laws allow a prosecutor to appeal. Ms. Räsänen said she’ll be in court Aug. 31 and Sept. 1.

“No American, no Finn, and no human should face legal harassment for simply living out their religious beliefs. This case will have worldwide ramifications,” the letter reads.

Video: Faith fuels a pastor’s run for 2024 nomination

Billy Hallowell talks with pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley, who says faith is behind his longshot run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination: “God began giving me dreams about running for president several years ago,” he said.

Watch the interview here.

In our opinion

Threat to Christianity. There’s no doubt that forces on all sides in American life are tearing at Christian faith, Mr. Hallowell writes — just consider the Texas school district that was bullied into stopping a prayer campaign noted above.

But he argues that “Christianity is under attack from within” by those who are ignorant of the basic tenets of the faith or disregard them. He quotes noted researcher George Barna, who found “just 4% of Americans have a biblical worldview, down from an already embarrassing 6% in the previous research wave.” 

Read his column here to find out where things stand — and what might happen next.

AI and the Bible. Four words uttered by Christians for 2,000 years — “Jesus Christ is Lord” — are deemed “antisemitic” according to an “AI-generated” media outlet posting on Twitter.

Columnist Everett Piper says we now live in a country “where a new AI news outlet is calling Christians terrorists simply for posting about the redemption, reconciliation, grace, peace and mercy found uniquely in the Lordship of Jesus Christ.”

He also spotlights the arrest of Watertown, Wisconsin, resident Marcus Schroeder, who in a public park read Bible verses that called on people to live in a way that’s considerate of their neighbors. 

“The clock is ticking,” Mr. Piper said. “Time is running out.”

Ask Dr. E: Welcome ‘the stranger’ or ‘build the wall’?

Mr. Piper returns with this week’s “Ask Dr. E” column to examine whether the Bible’s injunctions to welcome the “stranger in our midst” applies to illegal immigrants.

“Frankly, the argument for unfettered immigration seems a bit crazy to me.” The Vatican, after all, has a wall around it. Churches lock their doors at night. And it’s likely the reader’s pastor has a fenced-in backyard, he writes.