letter from America
‘I can’t avoid writing about Donald Trump...’
David Burrowes
Date posted: 20 Mar 2025
I know it’s tempting, but I can’t avoid writing about Donald Trump. Having been at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C., the impact of Donald Trump and how Christians should respond looms large.
So to the US Capitol, where just a week after President Trump’s inauguration the talk of the town was of the first set of executive orders being fired off, calling a national emergency on the southern border to stop illegal migration and USAID freezing all aid programmes.
Trump 'Jesus' post sparks outrage
en staff
Date posted: 13 Apr 2026
US President Donald Trump is attracting a torrent of outrage after posting a picture in which he apparently likened himself to Christ.
The picture - shared on social media network Truth Social - appeared to show Trump, as Jesus, healing a man, while surrounded by military and national symbols.
Politics USA
Donald Trump: An imperial president?
Tony Bennett
Date posted: 2 Dec 2025
The term “the imperial presidency” gained popularity in the USA in the early 1970s as a consequence of a book of that title by the historian Arthur Schlesinger.
Schlesinger charted what he saw as the abuse of power by successive presidents, most especially by Johnson (1963–69) and Nixon (1969–74). The presidency, claimed Schlesinger, had come to resemble more an imperial court than the office envisaged by the Founding Fathers back in the 1780s.
Family campaigner James Dobson dies
en staff
Date posted: 21 Aug 2025
Influential US evangelical author and psychologist James Dobson died today, Thursday, it has just been announced.
News agency Associated Press described him as "a child psychologist who founded the conservative ministry Focus on the Family and was a politically influential campaigner against abortion and LGBTQ+ rights". He was 89.
news in brief
Pakistan: Pressured to drop charges
A Christian family is being pressurised by neighbouring Muslims to drop charges against their relative, who sodomised their six-year-old daughter. The girl had been in the Muslim family’s home for a tutoring lesson by the attacker’s sister, having received lessons there for several months, before he assaulted her.
Students had been left with the accused man, who is in his early 20s, when his sister went to do jobs around the house. The girl’s father revealed to Morning Star News that he then allowed the other students to leave the home before raping her in another room.
letter from Japan
Drawn to Jesus – but repelled by Trump
John Newton Webb
Date posted: 30 May 2026
In the space of ten days, three Japanese people have asked me about Donald Trump and Christianity.
A non-Christian academic, who said he is drawn to Christianity but that Christian nationalism keeps him from embracing it, a non-Christian lady who is attracted by the Christian faith but was worried that following Jesus would also mean supporting Trump, and a Christian who was troubled by Trump/Hegseth’s claim to be doing God’s will.
Franklin Graham says Pope should thank Trump
en staff
Date posted: 16 Apr 2026
Evangelist Franklin Graham says he hopes the Pope and Donald Trump will meet - and that the Pontiff should express his thanks to the President.
Writing on social media platform X, the son of the late Billy Graham said he was sharing "thoughts" having "received some questions about President Trump's recent posts".
John Piper addresses Trump and Musk online
en staff
Date posted: 3 Mar 2025
Well-known preacher John Piper has name-checked Donald Trump and Elon Musk in a social media post.
The internationally-acclaimed author and speaker addressed them on X – formerly Twitter – with reference to Luke 18:7 in which Jesus speaks about entering the Kingdom of God like a child.
Nigeria: Violence ongoing after strikes
Luke Randall
Date posted: 20 Feb 2026
Recent US airstrikes have “clearly had an impact” on the situation facing Christians in Nigeria, but religiously motivated violence continues, according to an Open Doors source.
Militant Islamist groups previously feared no punishment for their continual persecution of Christians across the nation’s northwest, but US intervention seems to have alerted them to stronger repercussions for their actions.
news in brief
Canada: Protesting pastor returned to jail
A pastor from Calgary, Canada has been arrested and accused of breaching the terms of his year-long house arrest after attending a protest ahead of his own court appeal. Derek Reimer had been charged with criminal harassment and breaching bail conditions following his participation at protests against drag storytime events at a library last year.
CBC News reports that Reimer was allowed to attend court hearings while serving his sentence, but is accused of exploiting this allowance by arriving at the court 90 minutes beforehand. His lawyer expressed concern that he has been “punished for going to court too early and saying the wrong thing”.
Iranian pastor: 'The people are not backing down'
Lydia Houghton
Date posted: 16 Jan 2026
Iranian evangelical pastor Pooyan Mehrshahi says the people of Iran are not backing down, despite thousands having been killed and tens of thousands reported to have been arrested amid the country's protests against the government.
In an update earlier this week, en shared statistics from the Human Rights Activist News Agency (HRANA) stating that 490 protesters and 48 security personnel had died in Iran in recent days, with 10,600 reported arrests.
Donald Trump's second term: Christians in key roles
Luke Randall
Date posted: 23 Jan 2025
Donald Trump bas become President of the United States for the second time, and while he naturally takes the limelight, he has appointed several Christian influences in key positions around him.
Vice President J.D. Vance’s Catholic background is well-documented, but others with a more evangelical worldview include House Speaker Mike Johnson, Israel Ambassador Mike Huckabee, and Secretary of Defence nominee Pete Hegseth.
Marjorie Taylor Greene: Trump 'has no faith'
en staff
Date posted: 30 Dec 2025
US Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says she realised Donald Trump "has no faith" after Charlie Kirk's assassination.
The Georgia Republican representative, who is stepping down from her elected role on January 5th, was speaking in an interview with The New York Times.
Politics USA
Trump and 'the most important issue': Immigration
Tony Bennett
Date posted: 23 Jun 2025
Rather like studying Scripture, context is so important.
In 2015, having glided down that gold escalator in Trump Tower in New York to announce his first presidential bid, Donald Trump was not a minute into the speech when he delivered this broadside against immigrants: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems … They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”
Ongoing concern in ‘new’ Syria
Luke Randall
Date posted: 21 Jun 2025
Uncertainty remains for Christians in Syria six months on from Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) overthrowing of Bashar al-Assad’s government. While they are meeting together, they remain concerned about the future under President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s rule.
Martin Parsons, CEO of The Lindisfarne Centre for the Study of Christian Persecution, believes a recent meeting between US president Donald Trump and al-Sharaa carries “seismic importance” for the future, with the first meeting between US and Syrian leaders in 25 years representing a huge shift in approach.
news in brief
Nigeria: Christians killed
Forty-two people have been killed in Christian communities in Taraba state, north-east Nigeria in a devastating attack by Fulani herdsmen. Attackers invaded homes and murdered residents, leaving destruction and burning houses in their wake, while hundreds of others fled the scene.
Morning Star News reports that the governor for the Karim Lamido Local Government Area has pledged to bring the perpetrators to justice and provide safety to the community, which has been left in ruins. Witnesses said that the “tragic” attacks have “brought untold pain and disruption” to their lives.
‘Evangelicals for Harris’ in late push for votes - but face struggle as vote looms
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 28 Oct 2024
Although many US evangelicals are backing Donald Trump in the upcoming presidential election. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris has supporters among them too.
‘Evangelicals for Biden’ has rebranded as ‘Evangelicals for Harris’ in an effort to mobilise Christian voters for her campaign. The group argues that her faith ‘shines through in her clear Christian values displayed in her unwavering support for American families.’
Jimmy Carter funeral: a testimony to his 'deep' Christian faith
Nicola Laver
Date posted: 10 Jan 2025
For anyone who hadn’t appreciated that the late US President Jimmy Carter was a Christian with a deep faith and love for God, his funeral service on 9 January has left no doubt.
The BBC currently has a programme on famous names who died in 2023 called Lives Well Lived. The typical worldly measure of a life well lived is their achievements, wealth accumulation, status, and doing good. Viewers of Jimmy Carter’s funeral service and its attendees were offered a far more valuable measure of a life well lived: a higher godly standard.
After COP 29: evangelical scientist claims ‘history on our side’
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 22 Nov 2024
‘Gravity, history, and progress’ make the drive to clean and green energy unstoppable, says leading evangelical climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe as the COP 29 gathering concluded.
The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference began on 11 November in Baku, Azerbaijan and ended on 22 November.
Trump win: gospel triumph or tragedy?
Luke Randall & Emily Pollok
Date posted: 21 Nov 2024
Evangelicals across the United States and beyond are reacting to Donald Trump’s victory over Kamala Harris in the US presidential election, with some believing he will protect religious freedoms. Others fear he will promote radical nationalism.
Trump has always portrayed himself as the candidate who would best protect Christians, and according to an NBC News exit poll, evangelicals in America played a crucial role in Trump’s victory; about 80% of white evangelicals voted for him, along with 67% of Latino evangelicals and 14% of black evangelicals.
news in brief
USA: 200 Bibles burned
Pastor Greg Locke of Global Vision Bible Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, told church members that the setting on fire of around 200 Bibles in a trailer near his church by an unidentified suspect on Easter Sunday is proof that Christianity is ‘under attack’ in the United States.
‘If you think Christianity is not under attack more than ever before in the United States of America, you’ve not been paying attention,’ Locke said.
Trump 2.0: evangelicals react
en staff
Date posted: 6 Nov 2024
Evangelicals and other Christians are digesting the news that Donald Trump is heading back to the White House for a second term.
Writing on social media platform x.com, Graham Nicholls, director of evangelical umbrella organisation Affinity in the UK, wrote today: 'Praying for the USA and the world as we transition to a new duly elected returning President of one of the most powerful nations in the world. Whoever you wanted to win, there's only ever one winner and He already won.'
US vote: High stakes & tribalism - what difference does Jesus make?
Russell Moore
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
'Here we are, right at the end, and the election is a coin toss.' A friend said that to me just a few minutes ago, referring to the razor-thin polling margins between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.
A few thousand votes one way or the other in as few as three swing states could produce radically different alternatives for the future of the country.
Seek to be peacemakers - and not partisans, US evangelicals are urged
en staff
Date posted: 4 Nov 2024
US evangelicals are being urged to act as peacemakers rather than partisans, as the drama of the 2024 Presidential election result unfolds.
Writing in The Times in the UK, leading evangelical scientist and author Dr Francis Collins, who led the Human Genome Project from 1993, urges: 'Take up the mantle of a peacemaker; you will be blessed; you may even be called a child of God.'