Charisma Magazine

A European court on Feb. 2 ordered Turkey to remove the religious affiliation section from citizens' identification cards, calling the practice a violation of human rights.

Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in Turkey have faced discrimination because of the mandatory religion declaration on their identification cards, which was enforced until 2006. Since then, citizens are allowed to leave the "Religion" section of their IDs blank.

Filming began this week on a biopic about Christian surfer Bethany Hamilton, who has become a top professional surfer despite losing her arm in a shark attack six years ago.

Soul Surfer stars AnnaSophia Robb (Because of Winn Dixie) as Hamilton, Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as her parents and Grammy winner Carrie Underwood as a church youth leader.

Photo: Bethany Hamilton

Two Christian evangelists in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, have been arrested after Muslims invited them to debate religion but instead called in security agents who charged the evangelists with illegal preaching.

Anglican evangelists Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga, released on bail and facing a hearing on Feb. 11, told Compass that Christian and Muslim groups organized the inter-faith debate that was planned for a neutral venue in October of last year in the Kariakoo area of Dar es Salaam.

South African megachurch pastor Ray McCauley and his second wife, Zelda, are planning to divorce after nine years of marriage.

The founder and pastor of 40,000-member Rhema Bible Church in Johannesburg, one of the largest churches in the nation, was "devastated" by his wife's decision to file for divorce, according to a statement from the executive board of the church and the International Federation of Christian Churches (IFCC), a ministry network McCauley leads.

A Messianic evangelist believes revival is breaking out among Jewish communities in the U.S.

Sid Roth, founder of Georgia-based Messianic Vision and host of the It's Supernatural television broadcast, said he has seen dozens of Jewish Americans profess faith in Christ in recent months during evangelistic events in New York and California.