CALIFORNIA |
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===california===
California is a state in the Western United States, lying on the American Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. With over 38.9 million residents across a total area of approximately 163,696 square miles (423,970 km2), it is the most populous U.S. state, the third-largest U.S. state by area, and the most populated subnational entity in North America. The Greater Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas in California are the nation's second and fifth-most populous urban regions respectively. Greater Los Angeles has over 18.7 million residents and the San Francisco Bay Area has over 9.6 million residents. Los Angeles is the state's most populous city and the nation's second-most populous city. San Francisco is the second-most densely populated major city in the country. Los Angeles County is the country's most populous county, and San Bernardino County is the nation's largest county by area. Sacramento is the state's capital city. California's economy is the largest of any state within the United States, with a $3.6 trillion gross state product (GSP) as of 2022. It is the largest sub-national economy in the world. If California were a sovereign nation, it would rank as the world's fifth-largest economy as of 2022, just ahead of India and the United Kingdom, as well as the 37th most populous. The Greater Los Angeles area and the San Francisco area are the nation's second- and fourth-largest urban economies ($1.0 trillion and $0.6 trillion respectively as of 2020). The San Francisco Bay Area Combined Statistical Area had the nation's highest gross domestic product per capita ($106,757) among large primary statistical areas in 2018, and is home to five of the world's ten largest companies by market capitalization and four of the world's ten richest people. Slightly over 84 percent of the state's residents 25 or older hold a high school degree, the lowest high school education rate of all 50 states.
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No Christians Allowed? Tech Company Blocks Nonprofit Discount Over Faith A Christian nonprofit dedicated to teaching biblical principles on human sexuality has taken legal action against a major California-based tech company for alleged religious discrimination. Holy Sexuality, a Christian ministry that produces video courses to help families and young people navigate sexuality through a biblical lens, filed a federal lawsuit against Asana, a San Francisco software company, after it was denied a nonprofit discount on Asana’s project management software. According to the lawsuit, Asana refused to grant the 50% discount specifically because Holy Sexuality is a religious organization—a policy that violates California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act. . (California Family Council 2/24/25) READ MORE>>>>> Los Angeles-Area Christians On Frontlines As Wildfires Burn Homes And Churches One of the windstorms blew, and it was like a fireball, and it blew straight toward me. All I could do was just back up, and that was it. I had to get out of there.” Eon Walk — chief financial officer for the Pasadena Church of Christ, also known as the Kinneloa congregation — recounted her experience trying to enter the Southern California church building as the Eaton Fire encroached. She wanted to save the building blueprints and grab a fire extinguisher to stop a nearby bush fire from spreading. But she returned home empty-handed. . (Julie Roys 1/18/25) READ MORE>>>>> Los Angeles-Area Christians On Frontlines As Wildfires Burn Homes And Churches One of the windstorms blew, and it was like a fireball, and it blew straight toward me. All I could do was just back up, and that was it. I had to get out of there.” Eon Walk — chief financial officer for the Pasadena Church of Christ, also known as the Kinneloa congregation — recounted her experience trying to enter the Southern California church building as the Eaton Fire encroached. She wanted to save the building blueprints and grab a fire extinguisher to stop a nearby bush fire from spreading. But she returned home empty-handed. . (Julie Roys 1/18/25) READ MORE>>>>> California wildfires update: Baptist volunteers deployed, Christians urged to ‘get specific’ in prayers California Baptist Disaster Relief chaplains have been deployed as wildfires continue to rage in the Los Angeles area, where the death toll has risen to more than 20 people and over 12,000 structures have reportedly been destroyed or damaged. This week, the number of deaths and amount of destruction is expected to rise as heavy winds may only intensify. The current conditions will make it more difficult for volunteers seeking to help with clean-up efforts, said Coy Webb, crisis response director for Send Relief, a ministry of the North American Mission Board and International Mission Board. “FEMA has declared all the fire sites hazardous. This means that they will need to complete phase one before any organization will be allowed into the area to begin clean-up. This cannot begin until fires are out,” he noted. (The Baptist Paper 1/13/25) READ MORE>>>>> Pope assures spiritual closeness to LA fire victims In a message sent through his Secretary of State to the archbishop of Los Angeles, José Gómez, Pope Francis assures his "spiritual closeness" to all those affected by the fires. "Entrusting the souls of the deceased to the loving mercy of Almighty God, His Holiness sends heartfelt condolences to those who mourn their loss. He likewise prays for the relief efforts of the emergency service personnel and imparts his blessing to all as a pledge of consolation and strength in the Lord." Some 180,000 people have been evacuated. The death toll is currently limited to 11 though it is thought it could rise as more victims are discovered. The disaster caused the cancellation of US President Joe Biden's visit to Rome, where he was due to meet Pope Francis on January 10. President Biden, 82, will hand over power to Donald Trump on January 20. . (Aleteia 1/11/25) READ MORE>>>>> |
2024 Pew Research for California
July 13, 2020: Baptist News Global reported: While many Republicans decry the state of the party today, California provided the staging ground for creating the American evangelicalism that we now know, and California continues to be a prominent center of evangelicalism in American culture. June 18, 2019: CalMatters reported: How Redding, California, became an unlikely epicenter of modern Christian culture: God brought Golibé Omenaka to Northern California. The journey started in Manchester, England, when he encountered the teachings of a Redding-based megachurch called Bethel, and took off when a friend prophesied that God had called Omenaka to Bethel. Specifically, God called Omenaka to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry, where the 24-year-old would undertake a spiritual transformation and be trained in miraculous healing. June 24, 2016: KCET reported: How Los Angeles Helped Make the U.S. an Evangelical Nation: Carey McWilliams once called Louis Adamic Los Angeles’ greatest “prophet, sociologist and historian” of the 1920s. Adamic loved California not so much because of the famed climate, though that certainly didn’t hurt, but more because he found it a source of endless entertainment and absorption, and not always toward the good. “Actually, and in spite of all the healthful sunshine and ocean breezes, it is a bad place ... full of curious and wild and poisonous growths.” For the skeptical Adamic, “decadent religions and cults” served as warning of such perils. “Hardly a day passed … that I was not stopped in the street and handed a religious tract,” he noted. L.A. might be “the essence of America” but it was a cacophony of faiths, a veritable ecclesiastical jungle. By the 1920s, Los Angeles hosted a particularly fervent strain of Christianity today referred to as evangelicalism, but it took decades to develop before reaching a true mass audience through the likes of Aimee Semple McPherson, Bob Shuler, and Los Angeles native Charles E. Fuller. The rise of Pentecostalism in the Azusa Street Revival during the first decade of the 20th century, the establishment of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (Biola) near its second, and the ascension of the famed Aimee Semple McPherson and her Echo Park Angelus Temple in the century’s third decade, the 1920s, demonstrate this arc. |
Bethel Church Leaders Respond to Attempted Assassination of Former President Donald Trump
Bethel’s Senior Prophet Kris Vallotton referenced the Clement prophesy yesterday morning, calling Trump’s survival “providence to the providence, max.” Vallotton told the congregation “there’s a wrong spirit in the land,” and suggested that this might not be the only attempt that will be made on Trump’s life. “I feel like the spirit of vengeance is on our country,” he said, “and if we’re not careful, we’ll be swept up in this hatred.” Like Johnson, Vallotton has a long history of support for Trump. In 2019, he instructed the congregation to oppose Trump’s impeachment. In 2020, he inaccurately prophesied that Trump would win the presidential election. He apologized after the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s win. Yesterday, Vallotton appeared to temper his previously vocal support for Trump with a call to prioritize faith over politics. “I want to point out that Donald Trump is not the answer to our moral crisis,” Vallotton said, “Joe Biden is not the answer to our moral crisis . . . If we’re not really careful, we’ll be calling for a king,” Vallotton said, “and we have a king. His name is Jesus.”
(ShastaScout 7/15/24) Read More>>>>>
Bethel’s Senior Prophet Kris Vallotton referenced the Clement prophesy yesterday morning, calling Trump’s survival “providence to the providence, max.” Vallotton told the congregation “there’s a wrong spirit in the land,” and suggested that this might not be the only attempt that will be made on Trump’s life. “I feel like the spirit of vengeance is on our country,” he said, “and if we’re not careful, we’ll be swept up in this hatred.” Like Johnson, Vallotton has a long history of support for Trump. In 2019, he instructed the congregation to oppose Trump’s impeachment. In 2020, he inaccurately prophesied that Trump would win the presidential election. He apologized after the Electoral College confirmed Biden’s win. Yesterday, Vallotton appeared to temper his previously vocal support for Trump with a call to prioritize faith over politics. “I want to point out that Donald Trump is not the answer to our moral crisis,” Vallotton said, “Joe Biden is not the answer to our moral crisis . . . If we’re not really careful, we’ll be calling for a king,” Vallotton said, “and we have a king. His name is Jesus.”
(ShastaScout 7/15/24) Read More>>>>>
Beth Moore, doctor criticize John MacArthur for claiming mental illness isn’t real
Gavin Ortlund, former senior pastor of the 100-member First Baptist Church of Ojai in Ojai, California, who now ministers full time via his Truth Unites channel on YouTube, said MacArthur’s ideology on mental health is “destructive.” He further noted that MacArthur’s ideology on mental health is common among American Evangelical culture and it’s something that needs to be better addressed.
(Christian Post 5/2/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Gavin Ortlund, former senior pastor of the 100-member First Baptist Church of Ojai in Ojai, California, who now ministers full time via his Truth Unites channel on YouTube, said MacArthur’s ideology on mental health is “destructive.” He further noted that MacArthur’s ideology on mental health is common among American Evangelical culture and it’s something that needs to be better addressed.
(Christian Post 5/2/24) READ MORE>>>>>
San Francisco drag group mocks Christians with 'Hunky Jesus', 'Foxy Mary' contests on Easter
An LGBTQ+ drag group held a "Hunky Jesus" and "Foxy Mary" costume contest in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, appearing to mock Christians on their most holy of holidays. The "queer and trans nuns" known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence held their annual costume competition in Dolores Park on Sunday with thousands reported in attendance, including at least one state lawmaker. Contestants dressed as "playful, lewd reinterpretations of Jesus and Mary" competed against each other in drag and dance performances, according to the SF Gate. (Fox New 4/1/24) Read More>>>>>
An LGBTQ+ drag group held a "Hunky Jesus" and "Foxy Mary" costume contest in San Francisco on Easter Sunday, appearing to mock Christians on their most holy of holidays. The "queer and trans nuns" known as the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence held their annual costume competition in Dolores Park on Sunday with thousands reported in attendance, including at least one state lawmaker. Contestants dressed as "playful, lewd reinterpretations of Jesus and Mary" competed against each other in drag and dance performances, according to the SF Gate. (Fox New 4/1/24) Read More>>>>>
Christians and climate change: Southern California churches preach very different messages
Crews started installing solar panels this week on the red tile roof at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. Pastor Mark Davis said the project, once complete, should easily power the church’s entire 7-acre campus. Last year, many of St. Mark’s 550 members attended a meeting, in keeping with Presbyterian doctrine, to vote on taking out a loan to finance the $200,000 solar project. There was some spirited debate about the financial implications, Davis said with a chuckle, but in the end members gave the project an enthusiastic green light. They see the panels as key to St. Mark’s goal of going completely carbon neutral by 2030.
(Brooke Staggs/Orange County Register 11/19/23) Read More>>>>>
Crews started installing solar panels this week on the red tile roof at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Newport Beach. Pastor Mark Davis said the project, once complete, should easily power the church’s entire 7-acre campus. Last year, many of St. Mark’s 550 members attended a meeting, in keeping with Presbyterian doctrine, to vote on taking out a loan to finance the $200,000 solar project. There was some spirited debate about the financial implications, Davis said with a chuckle, but in the end members gave the project an enthusiastic green light. They see the panels as key to St. Mark’s goal of going completely carbon neutral by 2030.
(Brooke Staggs/Orange County Register 11/19/23) Read More>>>>>
ELCA synod elects its first openly gay bishop
A California-based synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first-ever openly gay bishop, over a year after the regional body removed its first-ever trans-identified bishop from office.
At the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly last week, Pastor Jeff R. Johnson of Berkeley, California, was elected to a six-year term as bishop of the regional church body. (Michael Gryboski/Christian Post)
Read More>>>>>
A California-based synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first-ever openly gay bishop, over a year after the regional body removed its first-ever trans-identified bishop from office.
At the ELCA Sierra Pacific Synod Assembly last week, Pastor Jeff R. Johnson of Berkeley, California, was elected to a six-year term as bishop of the regional church body. (Michael Gryboski/Christian Post)
Read More>>>>>
What Church Is Jesus Revolution Based On?
Jesus Revolution tells the story of Greg Laurie and how he was involved in the Jesus movement in California during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The movement was an evangelical Christian movement characterized by the increase of religion in the state, thanks to the blend of counterculture with Evangelicalism. The 2023 Christian drama film pulls inspiration from the autobiographical book of the same name that the real Greg Laurie co-wrote in 2018. Plus, the church depicted in the movie is based on a place of worship that exists in real life.
Joel Courtney stars as Laurie in the film, and the rest of the cast includes Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith, Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Charlene McDaniel, Anna Grace Barlow as Cathe Martin, and Nic Bishop as Dick. Along with Courtney's Laurie, Grammer's character Chuck Smith is an instrumental figure in the movie and is based on a real pastor. As a matter of fact, the church that Greg and Cathe stumble upon in Jesus Revolution is inspired by Smith's chapel. (Sarah Little/Screen Rant)
Read More>>>>
Jesus Revolution tells the story of Greg Laurie and how he was involved in the Jesus movement in California during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The movement was an evangelical Christian movement characterized by the increase of religion in the state, thanks to the blend of counterculture with Evangelicalism. The 2023 Christian drama film pulls inspiration from the autobiographical book of the same name that the real Greg Laurie co-wrote in 2018. Plus, the church depicted in the movie is based on a place of worship that exists in real life.
Joel Courtney stars as Laurie in the film, and the rest of the cast includes Kelsey Grammer as Chuck Smith, Jonathan Roumie as Lonnie Frisbee, Kimberly Williams-Paisley as Charlene McDaniel, Anna Grace Barlow as Cathe Martin, and Nic Bishop as Dick. Along with Courtney's Laurie, Grammer's character Chuck Smith is an instrumental figure in the movie and is based on a real pastor. As a matter of fact, the church that Greg and Cathe stumble upon in Jesus Revolution is inspired by Smith's chapel. (Sarah Little/Screen Rant)
Read More>>>>
Inside the anti-LGBTQ effort to put Christianity back in schools
And in California the same month, a school board member who had advanced a policy banning LGBTQ pride flags from classrooms told followers they were engaged in “a spiritual battle” for their children. (Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton/NBC News 10/4/23)
Read More>>>>>
And in California the same month, a school board member who had advanced a policy banning LGBTQ pride flags from classrooms told followers they were engaged in “a spiritual battle” for their children. (Mike Hixenbaugh and Antonia Hylton/NBC News 10/4/23)
Read More>>>>>
June 14, 2023: Religion News Service: Ouster of Saddleback and Fern Creek from SBC over women pastors is affirmed
Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting affirmed a decision to expel two Southern Baptist churches, including Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, because they employed women as pastors. The churches had appealed to the meeting, the denomination’s ruling body, to be allowed to remain.
Delegates to the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting affirmed a decision to expel two Southern Baptist churches, including Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, because they employed women as pastors. The churches had appealed to the meeting, the denomination’s ruling body, to be allowed to remain.
Mar 30, 2023: Religion Unplugged: Hillsong Founder Brian Houston Charged With Drunk Driving In California
Disgraced Hillsong founder Brian Houston has been charged with drunk driving in southern California, the latest of several legal charges facing the former megachurch pastor.
Newly uncovered court records reveal that Houston was arrested in Newport Beach, California, for driving under the influence of alcohol on Feb. 26, 2022. The case filed in the Superior Court of California in Orange County also charges Houston with driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more and failure to display two license plates on his vehicle.
Disgraced Hillsong founder Brian Houston has been charged with drunk driving in southern California, the latest of several legal charges facing the former megachurch pastor.
Newly uncovered court records reveal that Houston was arrested in Newport Beach, California, for driving under the influence of alcohol on Feb. 26, 2022. The case filed in the Superior Court of California in Orange County also charges Houston with driving with a blood alcohol content of .08% or more and failure to display two license plates on his vehicle.
Feb 23, 2023: Baptist Press: Churches respond to action of Executive Committee
Several churches deemed “not in friendly cooperation” with the SBC have responded to action taken by the SBC Executive Committee earlier this week.
The recommendation from the SBC Credentials Committee regarding Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., came “on the basis that the church has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”
Several churches deemed “not in friendly cooperation” with the SBC have responded to action taken by the SBC Executive Committee earlier this week.
The recommendation from the SBC Credentials Committee regarding Saddleback Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif., came “on the basis that the church has a faith and practice that does not closely identify with the Convention’s adopted statement of faith, as demonstrated by the church having a female teaching pastor functioning in the office of pastor.”
Jan 24, 2023: Religion News: How Southern California helped birth white Christian nationalism
Bradley Onishi became a Christian at age 14 when his eighth grade girlfriend invited him to a Bible study at her church in Yorba Linda, California, just south of Los Angeles. Ten years later, he would serve as its youth minister.
Over that decade, he writes in his new book, “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — And What Comes Next,” Onishi grew to see his faith as less about Jesus and more about perpetuating a certain myth of the United States, one that he says forms the bedrock of white Christian nationalism.
Bradley Onishi became a Christian at age 14 when his eighth grade girlfriend invited him to a Bible study at her church in Yorba Linda, California, just south of Los Angeles. Ten years later, he would serve as its youth minister.
Over that decade, he writes in his new book, “Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism — And What Comes Next,” Onishi grew to see his faith as less about Jesus and more about perpetuating a certain myth of the United States, one that he says forms the bedrock of white Christian nationalism.