Lady Gaga and an order of the Benedictine nuns now have something in common—they have major record contracts with the same music label, Decca Records.

Decca Records, which is part of Universal Music and also has among its talents Eminem, Amy Winehouse and U2, will release “Voice: Chant From Avignon,” the debut effort of nuns from the Abbaye de Notre-Dame de l’Annonciation in November.

The effort is the result of the nuns’ winning a Decca Records contract by besting 70 convents in a global search for the best Gregorian Chant singers in the world.  Read more... (379 words, 1 image, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

British columnist and former atheist, Peter Hitchens, has written a book about his conversion to Christianity.

Hitchens, a London Mail political columnist and former Marxist revolutionary, has penned “The Rage Against God: How Atheism Led Me to Faith.” The book has a different subtitle in the U.K., namely Why Faith is the Foundation of Civilization, the Washington Times said.

A Cain and Abel scenario has unfolded with Hitchens’ new faith. His older brother Christopher, who remains an atheist, and he have had heated public debates. Christopher has authored the tome God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, CBN News said.  Read more... (517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

For the first time, both the Sistine Chapel tapestries by Raphael and the artist’s cartoons (designs upon which the tapestries were based) will be on exhibition side by side at London’s Victorian and Albert Museum on September.

The tapestries, which were commissioned by Pope Leo X, are 500 years old. They depict scenes from the book of Acts in the lives of Peter and Paul, and are Vatican properties which are displayed at the Arazzi Gallery, the Catholic Herald said.  Read more... (509 words, 2 images, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

King’s College London will collaborate with London’s National Gallery to offer a new MA degree in Christianity & the Arts—a first of its kind to be offered in London.

The course brings together the forces of a world-class art gallery with one of the U.K.’s foremost departments of Theology & Religious Studies. King’s College, a research led university, is among the top 25 universities in the world, and the fourth oldest in England, Media Newswire said.  Read more... (470 words, 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

The Christian film, “The Way Home” (formerly “Our Child is Missing”) will be released on DVD in October.

The Lions Gate Entertainment film which premiered over a year ago at the Fabulous Fox Theater in Atlanta is based on a real life experience of producer Randy Simpkins of Red Five Entertainment.

The story tells of the time Simpkins’ two-year-old son walked out of their house and could not be found for several hours.  Simpkins is played by Dean Cain of “Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” television series.  Read more... (321 words, 2 images, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

NFL player Al Harris is best known as “The Dirty One,” the veteran Green Bay Packers’ cornerback. But this time the football star is doing something different—a Christian rap album with his childhood friend.

Harris and ex-convict Kevin Soto go back more than 25 years when they lived a few blocks away from each other in a Pompano Beach neighborhood. They rode the school bus together and often got into trouble. This time however they are putting out a Christian rap record on Harris’ label 31Entertainment, The Palm Beach Post said.  Read more... (518 words, 2 images, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

In 2003 Don Miller, then a freelance writer, published his first book, “Blue Like Jazz”—and became an instant celebrity. Now a movie is being made based on his biographical essays.

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

The bestseller has led some to dub Miller “The voice of a new generation of evangelicals.” Brian McLaren, who wrote A New Kind of Christian said evangelicals have a “profound starvation for honesty,” and Miller responds to that, CNN said.

Miller co-wrote the screenplay with Taylor and Ben Pearson, the movie’s website says.  Read more... (416 words, 2 images, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Faithful America claims that Fox News commentator Glenn Beck preaches a false, piecemeal gospel and has sponsored a radio ad to counter some of the claims Beck has claims made by about Christianity.

The ad says “Would you support a leader who said Jesus’ teachings can lead to Nazi

Glenn Beck / yournews.com

sm? Or who attacks Christian pastors for preaching the full gospel? Then why do so many Christians tune into Glenn Beck? By deriding pastors who preach the justice taught by Jesus and the prophets, Glenn Beck has urged listeners to follow his piecemeal gospel. Scripture teaches that the tongue can be like a small fire that sets a whole forest ablaze, and Christians are cautioned not to praise God in one breath while cursing those made in God’s likeness in the next,” The Atlantic reported.  Read more... (355 words, 2 images, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

It’s not the YMCA any more, it’s just the Y.

And from Texas to Tennessee, people have something to say about it.

New YMCA logo/ YMCA of the USA

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said to the Star-Telegram, “The YMCA was founded because the founder, George Williams, realized boys need Christ to become grown men. By removing Christ or Christianity from their title, they’re just taking another step away from their original mission.”

Others expressed a similar concern that the name change would imply a lessening of the Christian aspect of the organization.  Read more... (320 words, 2 images, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

In a move that has upset the sensitivities of many people including the Playboy group itself, the Portuguese edition of Playboy came out recently with a cover showing  a model made to look like Jesus Christ and a half nude female model lying on a bed.

The issue also had a photo spread with the same male model surrounded by nude women.

Playboy Portugal said it was a tribute to Nobel Prize winning author Jose Saramago, who wrote The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, the Huffington Post said.  Read more... (229 words, 1 image, estimated 55 secs reading time)