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Member of Aryan Brotherhood Pleads Guilty to Hate Crime in Connection with Church Arson and Attempted Murder of Disabled African-American in Texas

Steven Scott Cantrell, of Crane, Texas, pleaded guilty today to hate crime charges stemming from a series of racially-motivated arsons in December 2010, including the arson of a historic African-American church as part of an effort to murder a disabled African-American man.



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Member of Aryan Brotherhood Sentenced to 450 Months in Prison in Connection with Hate Crime Involving Church Arson and Attempted Murder of Disabled African-American in Texas

Steven Scott Cantrell, 26, of Crane, Texas, was sentenced today for hate crime charges stemming from a series of racially-motivated arsons in December 2010, including the arson of a historic African-American church as part of an effort to murder a disabled African-American man.



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Massachusetts Man Sentenced to 166 Months in Prison for Arson of African-American Church

Michael Jacques, 27, was sentenced in Boston by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to 166 months in prison, followed by four years of supervised release.



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Los Angeles Church Pastor Sentenced to 180 Months in Prison for $14.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

The pastor of a now defunct Los Angeles church who owned and operated several fraudulent durable medical equipment (DME) supply companies was sentenced today to 180 months in prison for his role in a $14.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, the Department of Justice, the FBI and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced.



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Third Springfield, Massachusetts, Man Sentenced to Prison for Arson of African-American Church

Thomas Gleason, 24, was sentenced today in federal court for his role in the arson of the predominately African-American Macedonia Church of God in Christ just hours after the election of President Barack Obama.



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Los Angeles Church Pastor Sentenced to Serve 36 Months in Prison for $14.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

Connie Ikpoh, 49, also was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter for the Central District of California to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $6.7 million in restitution jointly and severally with her co-conspirators.



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Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Conference of National Black Churches Annual Consultation

"In so many different ways – in classrooms and courtrooms, in houses of worship and halls of justice, and in your own homes and neighborhoods – you are working to protect the progress that has marked our nation’s past, and to strengthen its future," said Attorney General Holder.




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Justice Department Reaches Agreement with City of Falls Church, Va., on Bailout Under the Voting Rights Act

The Justice Department announced today that it has reached an agreement with the city of Falls Church, Va., that will allow for the city, a covered jurisdiction under the special provisions of the Voting Rights Act, to bail out from coverage under these provisions.



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Virginia Teen, Charged as Adult, Sentenced for Church Arson

Jean-Claude Bridges pleaded guilty earlier this year to deliberately setting a church on fire and was sentenced this morning in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Danville, Va.



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Attorney General Eric Holder Delivers Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church Bombing

We come together today because we’re still striving, as they once did, to realize the dream that Dr. King shared with us 50 years ago last month – on the steps of a memorial to America’s Great Emancipator – when he spoke of an Alabama where children of all races and backgrounds would be able to play together, to learn together, and to grow together.




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Derelict church transformed into psychedelic Sistine Chapel for skateboarders (Video)

In this eye-popping example of adaptive reuse, a crumbling church is remade into a public skatepark, complete with incredible murals.




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Church of England divests from dirtiest fossil fuels

Tar sands and thermal coal are out but natural gas and conventional oil can stay. For now...




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United Church of Canada divests from fossil fuels

In the grand scheme of things, $5.9 million is not a huge amount to take from fossil fuels. But when you reinvest in renewables...




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City Bees Go to Church in London and Get Saved

The plight of the bumblebee is a matter of great concern. Their numbers are declining, some species are on the brink of extinction and colony collapse disorder has spread in the U.S. Albert Einstein may (or may not) have said




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Church in the Netherlands converted into transformer library: books by day, party room by night

"If knowledge has become a secular religion, public libraries are its parishes, mosques and synagogues."




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10 incredible churches consumed by water

What to do when a church gets in the way of your water plans? Drown it.




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Church of England fleshes out plans for fossil fuel divestment

Oil and gas companies have until 2023 to make 'Paris compatible' plans, or face divestment.




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Artist Hangs Living Trees in Abandoned Churches

Shinji Turner-Yamamoto's beautiful 'Global Tree Project' reveals the natural world with hanging trees, gilded boulders, and more.




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Church of England to fight "great demon" climate change, mulls divestment from fossil fuels

Inspired by massive flooding in the UK, the Church of England is renewing its commitment to fighting climate change. And that's sending a signal to the markets.




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Midcentury church in Quebec is converted to a library

Dan Hanganu mixes the modern with the even more modern, totally respectful of the original.




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Restored church building has a growing congregation – of bees

ZGF builds interesting hives on the roof of a fascinating building.




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Britain was led by Churchill then – it’s led by a Churchill tribute act now

With coronavirus lockdown subduing VE Day, contrasts with 75 years ago were many and varied

Somehow the quiet made it louder. By rights, marking the 75th anniversary of VE Day in the midst of a pandemic that has confined us to our homes – forcing us to keep our distance from one another, denying us the right to gather in crowds – should have muffled this commemoration. A celebration in private would surely feel like no celebration at all. Katherine Jenkins singing to an empty Albert Hall, streets with no street parties and the pubs all shut: how could that add up to anything other than a damp squib?

And yet Friday’s marking of the end of the second world war struck a deeper chord than it might, had it been just another sunny bank holiday. Yes, the usual rituals had to be suspended. There could be no wreath-laying at local memorials; instead, Prince Charles and Camilla laid two small wreaths on their own, in a crowdless corner of Balmoral, watched by a lone piper. There could be no veterans’ parades, no reunions for those who had served, no grateful handshakes from the politicians: 102-year-old former staff sergeant Ernie Horsfall had to make do with a Zoom call from Boris Johnson. And there were limited opportunities for silliness: the Winston Churchill impersonators were all dressed up with nowhere to go, forced to perform their cigar-and-V-sign shtick online.

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VE Day: Churchill feared De Gaulle would declare victory early

War cabinet papers reveal PM’s concern French ally would pre-empt joint announcement

Winston Churchill believed a disgruntled general Charles de Gaulle intended to pre-empt the allies’ announcement of victory in Europe by 24 hours but felt unable to pressure him to change his plans, according to British war cabinet documents released free online by the National Archives during the lockdown.

The 75th anniversary of VE Day will be celebrated on Friday 8 May but Gen Dwight Eisenhower, the supreme allied commander in north-west Europe, and the Soviet high command had actually received the German surrender in the French city of Reims on 7 May 1945 at 2.41am.

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Sir Winston Churchill

"For myself I am an optimist - it does not seem to be much use being anything else."




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'Colour allows us to understand in a deeper sense': Hitler, Churchill and others in a new light

The story of global conflict is all the more powerful when it isn’t seen in black and white. Artist Marina Amaral explains her latest work

On a stretcher lies a patient; his ashen face protrudes from under a green blanket, eyes closed. Two uniformed women carry the stretcher, wearing face masks. It looks as if it’s a lovely day: the sun is shining, the shadows dark, the sky blue. But this is not a happy picture. Is the casualty even alive, or has he already been taken by the killer virus that has wrapped itself around our planet like a python, squeezing the life from it?

The photograph was taken at an ambulance station in Washington DC. Within the past couple of months? It could have been, if it weren’t for the uniforms (I don’t think today’s nurses wear lace-up leather boots) and the stretcher. In fact, it was taken more than a century ago, in 1918, during the Spanish flu epidemic, which killed so many millions. The photographer is unknown, forgotten. But the black and white picture was recently “colourised” by Marina Amaral.

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Coronavirus: MPs urge churches to allow small funerals

Their letter says services can be held with "proper measures in place", amid the Covid-19 outbreak.




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Winston Churchill's inspiring wartime speeches in Parliament

As his great grandson launches a competition to "inspire like Churchill", we look at the PM's wartime words.




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UK Churches Ban Yoga, Brand It 'Un-Christian'

At a time when Indian yoga camps are spreading far and wide in Britain, two churches here have banned a group from condu




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Church of England raises pressure on miners over dams

Investor group led by the CofE launches database to track tailings dams after Brazil disaster




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Justin Bieber leaves church and shows new neck tattoo of bird

Justin, 25, teased the tattoo on his Instagram account, asking fans if they were interested in seeing it. 'I got a new tatoo do you want to see it?' Justin posted on his Instagram stories.




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Miley Cyrus reveals why she gave up on the church

The conversation took a serious turn when the 27-year-old pop star revealed her struggles with faith and how she left her church over its treatment of gay people.




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The Queen is joined by Princess Beatrice at church in Balmoral

The monarch was joined by her granddaughter Princess Beatrice for the Sunday service at Crathie Kirk church this morning.




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Justin Bieber wears double denim while his wife Hailey looks elegant in black for church

Justin Bieber went nerd-chic with glasses and double denim as he and his wife Hailey Bieber went to church. He was seen earlier in the day buying a bouquet for his love at CVS.




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Ed Sheeran may have to open the boat-shaped church in his garden to the public after council row

The millionaire pop star, 28, lodged plans to open the 'prayer retreat' last month at his estate in Suffolk. But his local parish council has since stressed that the current plans are not legal.




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Winston Churchill's granddaughter reveals her mother's mercy dash

On the evening of May 8, 1945, Winston Churchill could have been forgiven a little merry-making.




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Germany gives the green light for museums, churches and zoos to reopen

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte bemoaned the 'rashness' of local politicians who opened up bars and pizzerias at a 'delicate stage' of the coronavirus crisis, four days before the lockdown is due to end.




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'We WERE complicit in Nazi crimes', German branch of Catholic Church admits in 'confession of guilt'

For decades the German branch of the Church has been accused of staying silent over the crimes of the Nazis and even acting to 'bolster' the Third Reich. The Church has avoided admitting any failings.




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'Let us not forget the toils ahead': Churchill's VE Day message and photos of jubliant Londoners

As the country reveled in triumph on May 8, 1945, the streets of London were packed with overjoyed Britons weary from six years of war with the Axis powers in Europe.




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Sonny Bill Williams returns to Christchurch as New Zealand remembers victims or terror attack

Sonny Bill Williams joined thousands of fellow Muslims and New Zealanders for Friday prayers in Christchurch as the country remembered the victims of last week's shooting.




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Prince George and Princess Charlotte join royals at church

George, six, and four-year-old Charlotte walked the short distance from Sandringham House to St Mary Magdalene Church hand in hand with their parents the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.




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The Two Popes: Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce depict tensions of Catholic Church in new trailer

The film, set to release on December 20, will showcase the transition of power between Benedict (Hopkins, 81) and Francis (Pryce, 72), with the latter taking over the papacy from the former in 2013.




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Nuns forced to become PROSTITUTES after they were 'abandoned' by the Catholic Church

Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz confirmed the house's existence during an interview for the February issue of the Vatican's magazine Women Church World.




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Coronavirus Italy: Rome's churches remain open amid outbreak

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis has today issued a new decree, stating that some of Rome's churches will stay open, despite his initial order to close all of the religious sites just a day ago.




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Lawyer for evangelical megachurch defying social distancing orders is in hospital with coronvairus

Jeff Wittenbrink, 59, who represents the Life Tabernacle Church, is now on oxygen at Baton Rogue General, struggling to breathe after coming down with the virus.




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DEBORAH ROSS: Oh great! It's yet another Broadchurch lookalike

Deadwater Fell is set in a small community nursing big secrets. (I blame Broadchurch for this.) It stars David Tennant at his most sinisterly bearded and relies heavily on our old friend: flashbacks




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Prince Andrew is joined by fellow royals at church in Balmoral

Prince Andrew joined the Queen and his daughter Beatrice today at church in Balmoral, after his former friend Jeffrey Epstein was found hanged in his jail cell.




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May says church bells across England will ring out in solidarity with France after Notre Dame fire

The bells of Westminster Abbey rang out on Tuesday in solidarity with France after the devastating fire that gutted Notre Dame Cathedral, Theresa May said.




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Fundraising for three burned Baptist churches in Louisiana skyrockets after Notre Dame blaze

A GoFundMe called 'Seventh District Baptist Church Fires St Landry' has received just under $480,000 for the three black churches in Louisiana that were burned down.




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Fundraising for three burned-down black churches in Louisiana skyrockets past 1.45MILLION

The 'Seventh District Baptist Church Fires St Landry' page grew in virality by Wednesday following a surplus of shares of the GoFundMe by several notable figures, including the site itself.




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Leeds businessman wins slander payout after church row

A businessman has been awarded slander damages after he was wrongly accused of having threatened to slit a woman's throat at the Seventh Day Adventist Church in Leeds.