What’s the best path to financial success and personal happiness? Get married, says a sociologist who has studied the matter, according to a report by The Washington Times’ Sean Salai.

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Marriage means more financial stability than its alternatives, helps prevent suicide by ensuring human connection and alleviates loneliness, according to W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia. While his conclusions come from loads of statistics and government reports, his own 28-year marriage and nine children, five of whom were adopted, support his theory.

“When it comes to marriage, I benefit from the wisdom and friendship of my wife,” he told Mr. Salai. “Life is often busy and stressful, but from doctor’s trips to basketball games, I’m never lonely or bored.”

Trump tells broadcasters he’ll protect faith if elected

Former President Donald Trump told the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Nashville, Tennessee, Thursday night he would battle the assault on religious liberty waged by the “radical left.”

Calling himself a “very proud Christian” and a “fellow believer,” Mr. Trump said he would protect the interests of religious Americans if returned to the White House. “Americans of faith are not a threat to our country, Americans of faith are the soul of our country,” he said.

Was a NYC funeral a hate crime? One group says yes

The funeral of a transgender activist at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral shocked many when activists took to the Catholic church’s lectern and praised the late Cecilia Gentili as, “That whore. That great whore. Saint Cecilia, Mother of All Whores.”

Now, activist group Catholic Vote is demanding New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City District Attorney Alvin Bragg investigate organizers for a hate crime, since state law prohibits using deception to gain access to a religious facility to mock a faith. The organizers said they didn’t tell cathedral authorities that Gentili was transgender, fearing the church would refuse to hold the service.

German city threatens $1,000 fine for taxi’s ‘Jesus’ decal

Authorities in the German city of Essen have threatened a taxi driver with a fine of just over $1,000 for displaying a decal with a cross and the words “Jesus: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life” on his vehicle.

Jalil Mashali, a former Muslim from Iran who converted to Christianity 22 years ago while in Germany for medical treatment, denies the decal is “illegal religious advertising,” but just a statement of his faith.

“Jesus is the best thing I could recommend to anyone because he changed my life,” he said.

Israel finds friends among evangelical Christians

Israel and its people found warm, even enthusiastic, support among the evangelical Christian broadcasters meeting in Nashville this week. The National Religious Broadcasters approved a resolution in support of the Jewish state and representatives from Israel’s government and nonprofit sector.

“You guys get it,” Tal Heinrichs, a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of evangelicals during a video interview with The Washington Times. “We stand for the same values. We support each other. And you understand the history of our region.”

U.S. churches hit with twice as many attacks in 2023

At least 436 U.S. churches were victims of arson, vandalism and other hostile acts during 2023, more than double the number a year earlier, the Family Research Council said Tuesday. The group released its annual “Hostility Against Churches” survey at the NRB convention in Nashville.

“There is a common connection between the growing religious persecution abroad and the rapidly increasing hostility toward churches here at home: our government’s policies,” said council President Tony Perkins, a former chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Southern Baptists plan to form nonprofit to fight sex abuse

Leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, America’s largest Protestant denomination, said they will form — and finance — an independent nonprofit to combat sexual abuse five years after newspaper reports disclosed hundreds of cases, some swept under the rug by local church leaders.

The new Abuse Response Commission would put into action the long-awaited Ministry Check database, a listing of those convicted of a sex abuse crime or with a civil judgment from a sexual abuse lawsuit, officials said.

Video: Get the scoop on Season Four of ‘The Chosen’

It’s earning millions at the movie box office, and will hit streaming platforms soon, but Season Four of “The Chosen,” the hit series about Jesus and the disciples, is not without some stunning surprises.

Katherine Warnock, vice president of original content for the series, sat down with Mark Kellner to discuss the new season — and what’ll happen beyond.

U.S. Jewish donations climb

Reeling from a dramatic rise in antisemitism in the U.S., many American Jewish families are increasing their charitable giving, a new study reveals, with those who have experienced antisemitic incidents giving 10 times as much as those who have not.

Researchers working with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and the Ruderman Family Foundation, a Jewish philanthropic group, noted the increase in giving, even before the Oct. 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel sparked a dramatic rise in antisemitism worldwide.

In our opinion

Is the Bible pro-life? Abortion is one of society’s most divisive issues, writes Jason Jimenez, but Christians “base our belief on the principle that every human being, starting from the moment of conception, has an equal and undeniable right to life. This belief aligns with the biblical truth that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by our Creator.”

He suggests that advocating for life is possible if we understand and articulate “the pro-life argument utilizing logic, science and philosophy.”

A real-life Hollywood superhero. Oscar-winning “Batman Begins” actor Christian Bale proves it’s possible to be a real-life superhero, our Billy Hallowell writes.

Mr. Bale will build a “village” of homes to keep siblings in foster care together. “With limited availability for foster care housing, some siblings are split up after being removed from a home or losing access to their biological families, leaving them in a tragic emotional state,” Mr. Hallowell says.

With the actor’s $22 million project, Mr. Bale will “ bring hope amid a sea of darkness for tens of thousands of California children.”

Why are we hopelessly divided? Not too long ago, politicians as diverse as Ronald Reagan and Tip O’Neill could cooperate, a reader writes Everett Piper, our “Ask Dr. E” columnist, so what’s happened to America?

We’ve lost perspective, Mr. Piper responds.

“We are lost and divided today because we have no idea where we are going or why. We have discarded the Bible, disparaged the classics, and ignored the Constitution,” he writes. “We pretend our new ideas that are five minutes old are better than those that have stood the test of time for centuries.”