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        <title>Christian Daily International | US & Canada</title>
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        <copyright>Christian Daily International © 2026</copyright>
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                <title><![CDATA[Dolly Parton dies at 80: 'In the arms of Jesus']]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/dolly-parton-dies-at-80-in-the-arms-of-jesus</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/dolly-parton-dies-at-80-in-the-arms-of-jesus</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/51/5175.png">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Dolly Parton]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Wikimedia Commons ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Dolly Parton at the Grand Ole Opry in 2005. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 16:18:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Dolly Parton, the country singer and songwriter who carried the hymns of a small Tennessee mountain church into a career that ended with No. 1 hits on Christian radio, died Tuesday (Aug. 25) in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Dolly Parton, the country singer and songwriter who carried the hymns of a small Tennessee mountain church into a career that ended with No. 1 hits on Christian radio, died Tuesday (Aug. 25) in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80.
Her family announced the death in a video posted to Parton's official channels, saying she died peacefully. The announcement described a "rhinestone life" and a legacy of "love, compassion, and resilience" built over a seven-decade career. 
Parton was known internationally for "Jolene," "9 to 5" and the Dollywood theme park in the Smoky Mountains. Alongside that work she recorded steadily with contemporary Christian artists in her final years, including the Grammy-winning duet "There Was Jesus" with Zach Williams and a version of "God Only Knows" with the Australian duo for KING & COUNTRY.
The family's announcement was delivered by Parton's nephew Bryan Seaver, who served as her head of security for more than two decades and said she had asked him years earlier to record it.
"Our sadness lies with us, not with Dolly," Seaver said. "Dolly has lived in the light and is in the arms of Jesus, surely met by Carl, her parents and countless others who have watched her and longed for her to meet them in the heavens."
Parton was preceded in death by her husband of 59 years, Carl Thomas Dean, who died in 2025, and by her parents, Robert Lee Parton Sr. and Avie Lee Owens Parton.
Church beginnings
Parton was born Jan. 19, 1946, one of 12 children in a farming family in East Tennessee. Her maternal grandfather, Jake Owens, was a preacher, and Parton has said she began singing in church at age 6 and playing guitar not long after.
In an interview with Country Woman magazine reported by The Christian Post, Parton connected her early religious upbringing to the ambition that followed. "We grew up believing that through God all things are possible," she said. "I think I believed that so much that I made it happen."
Speaking to the same publication about the pressures of a long career, Parton said her convictions had held her steady. "It's all kept me sane. It's kept me stable," she said. "A belief in God is essential." She added that her family kept her grounded, saying she knew both what it was like to be without and what it was like to have things.
Faith surfaced throughout her catalog rather than only at its edges. Her first gospel record, "The Golden Streets of Glory," was released in 1971, followed decades later by "For God and Country" in 2003 and, in 2024, the sprawling family project "Smoky Mountain DNA: Family, Faith and Fables," recorded with relatives.
Work with Christian artists
Parton's collaborations with contemporary Christian musicians began in 2019, when for KING & COUNTRY invited her to record a new version of "God Only Knows." Joel Smallbone, one half of the duo, has said the group approached her after seeing her Netflix film "Dumplin'."
"When I first heard 'God Only Knows' I thought it was one of the best songs I'd ever heard," Parton said in remarks published on her website. Smallbone described hearing her sing the chorus as "an out of body experience for us as writers and artists." The recording spent 11 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Christian Songs chart and won song of the year at the K-LOVE Fan Awards.
Her duet with Williams on "There Was Jesus" reached No. 1 across Christian radio charts and won the Grammy for best contemporary Christian music performance/song in 2021 — Parton's 11th Grammy. Accepting the award, she said: "Thank you Jesus, thank you Zach Williams, and thank you to the Grammys and all of our fans."
Parton said she took the song partly because she wanted material of that kind at that point in her life, calling it "a Godsend." The two recorded together again on "Lookin' For You," released in 2024 on the extended edition of Williams' album "A Hundred Highways."
Final years
Parton's last two years were shaped by grief and illness. Dean died in March 2025 after nearly six decades of marriage. In a June 2025 television interview, Parton said her faith had carried her through the loss.
"My faith has helped me through it all because I am a person of faith, even though I lost him on this earthly plane," she said, adding that she found comfort "knowing that he's in God's arms now."
She postponed a planned Las Vegas residency in September 2025, citing health challenges, and told fans in a social media post the following month, "I ain't dead yet!" Speaking at Dollywood in March 2026, she said she had been "worn down and worn out, grieving over Carl," and had needed to rebuild herself "spiritually, emotionally and physically."
The Christian Post has previously reported Parton's insistence that her success could not be separated from her religious convictions.
In lieu of flowers, her family asked that donations be made to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, the childhood literacy program she founded in 1995 in memory of her father, which mails free books to children in several countries.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Startup builds AI that predicts nature instead of language]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/startup-builds-ai-that-predicts-nature-instead-of-language</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/startup-builds-ai-that-predicts-nature-instead-of-language</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/51/5172.jpg">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, AI, chip, computer]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ iStockphoto ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 10:54:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A California startup unveiled an artificial intelligence system designed to predict physical phenomena rather than language, saying it processed 5 trillion pieces of data in a single query — a volume its founders said may exceed what one computer can handle.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A California startup unveiled an artificial intelligence system designed to predict physical phenomena rather than language, saying it processed 5 trillion pieces of data in a single query — a volume its founders said may exceed what one computer can handle.
The company, Accelerated Understanding, says the model points toward a single AI capable of answering physics questions across industries, replacing the separate mathematical models that engineers and scientists now build for each application. Its founders told Reuters, which reported the launch on Tuesday (Aug. 25), that they are targeting business customers first, in areas including semiconductor design, robotics, extreme weather prediction and geological analysis for energy firms.
The 5 trillion data points the system handled in one prompt is roughly 5 million times what flagship models from Anthropic and Google typically take in — the equivalent, by Reuters' comparison, of reading Tolstoy's "War and Peace" 5 million times in one sitting.
The technical departure is architectural. Systems such as ChatGPT were trained on the world's text and predict the next word in a sentence. Accelerated Understanding's model was built to predict how physical systems behave across space and time, and it does not use the Transformer architecture that Google researchers introduced and that underpins most large language models.
Instead it relies on neural operators, an approach co-founder Anima Anandkumar helped develop years ago while working on scientific computing. Anandkumar is a professor of computing and mathematical sciences at Caltech. Her co-founder, Benedikt Jenik, is an AI infrastructure engineer.
"The language-centric view of intelligence is humans at the center. Putting physics at the center is a nature-centric view," Anandkumar said.
Chip design is one case the company points to. Firms are already applying text-based AI to write code and reason through semiconductor problems. Accelerated Understanding argues that a model with a working grasp of physics can optimize materials and heat management directly, reducing the trial-and-error testing that laboratory work requires.
The same system, Anandkumar said, could forecast severe weather, guide robots or sort through geological data. She described the alternative as brittle: custom models built one at a time for each narrow problem.
The approach draws on work she led at chipmaker Nvidia, where she was hired in 2018 to head a team examining how the company's graphics processors could support frontier AI. One early project showed that AI could produce weather forecasts as accurate as the intensive computations meteorologists rely on, but far faster.
The startup is not alone in looking beyond text. Companies led by AI researchers Yann LeCun and Fei-Fei Li are developing what the field calls world models — systems meant to grasp spatial reality more reliably than AI trained on language. Accelerated Understanding's wager is that neural operators, which can model phenomena invisible to the eye, offer the better route.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Museum of the Bible to host 'Dawn of Christianity' exhibit on Jordan's biblical heritage]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/museum-of-the-bible-to-host-dawn-of-christianity-exhibit-on-jordan-s-biblical-heritage</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/museum-of-the-bible-to-host-dawn-of-christianity-exhibit-on-jordan-s-biblical-heritage</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Daoud Kuttab]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Al-Maghtas, the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the East Bank of the Jordan River traditionally identified as the baptism site of Jesus Christ, is among the Christian heritage sites featured in Jordan: Dawn of Christianity, coming to the Museum of the Bib]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Jordanian Embassy ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Al-Maghtas, the UNESCO World Heritage Site on the East Bank of the Jordan River traditionally identified as the baptism site of Jesus Christ, is among the Christian heritage sites featured in "Jordan: Dawn of Christianity," coming to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., in 2027. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2026 08:50:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., signed an Aug. 1 agreement with Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to host "Jordan: Dawn of Christianity," an international exhibit tracing key biblical sites in modern-day Jordan.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Museum of the Bible in Washington, D.C., signed an Aug. 1 agreement with Jordan's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities to host "Jordan: Dawn of Christianity," an international exhibit tracing key biblical sites in modern-day Jordan. Ambassador Dina Kawar signed on behalf of the ministry, alongside museum President and CEO Dr. Carlos Campo.
"We are excited to share the importance of locations in Jordan and their ties to stories from the Bible," Campo said in an exclusive interview with Christian Daily International. He added that the museum expects the exhibit to encourage visitors to view Jordan as "a country full of history and deep significance."
The exhibit, which was previously shown at the Vatican and later in Assisi, Italy, features a collection of rare archaeological artifacts tracing the history of Christianity in Jordan from its earliest beginnings to the present day, according to an announcement by the Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Washington D.C. on social media.
Sites represented include Bethany Beyond the Jordan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site identified as the baptism site of Jesus Christ; Machaerus, associated with John the Baptist; Umm Qais; the ancient churches of Rehab; the Aqaba Church, regarded as one of the world's earliest purpose-built churches; the churches of Petra; Um er-Rasas, also a UNESCO World Heritage Site; and Madaba, known for its mosaic heritage.
Among the items featured will be a replica of the Madaba Map, a historic pilgrimage guide used to direct travelers along routes associated with biblical events. "This pilgrimage map served as a roadmap for walking the path of those individuals who are in the Bible," Campo said. He noted the exhibit is intended to inspire visitors to see the original map at St. George's Church in Madaba and explore other locations it highlights.
In addition to displaying artifacts, it will offer educational programming centered on Jordanian history and the care of Christian pilgrimage sites.
Beyond the exhibit itself, the museum framed the project as a broader effort to strengthen cultural and historical cooperation. "We see this as more than just a partnership with Jordan," Campo said. "We see it as an opportunity for our countries to work together and highlight the deep, rich archaeological history that supports the Bible."
The exhibit also aligns with Jordan's preparations for the global commemoration of the 2,000th anniversary of the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, a milestone that is expected to draw international attention to Bethany Beyond the Jordan, also known as Al-Maghtas.
Campo said the museum will highlight John the Baptist's role in Jesus' early ministry, including the site of Machaerus, where John the Baptist was killed. "This archaeological site is one of the best-preserved sites directly connected to the Bible anywhere," he said.
Media access is expected to be available, with the museum saying members of the press are always welcome to visit its exhibitions. Campo also indicated that U.S. officials may show interest in attending, describing the partnership as "an important connection between our two countries."
The exhibit is expected to open during the first quarter of 2027. Campo said visitors should plan to attend from that period through the summer.
The museum anticipates large public engagement, estimating tens of thousands of visitors will come to learn — many for the first time — about how Jordan has helped preserve significant biblical sites.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[TikTok agrees to pay $400 million over child privacy violations]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/tiktok-agrees-to-pay-400-million-over-child-privacy-violations</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/tiktok-agrees-to-pay-400-million-over-child-privacy-violations</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[A 7-year-old teenage boy and a 11-year-old teenage girl look at their iPad screen with TikTok logo is displayed on December 07, 2025 in Sydney, Australia]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ George Chan/Getty Images ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Sat, 22 Aug 2026 07:42:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the social media platform of systematically collecting personal data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday (Aug. 21).]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
TikTok has agreed to pay $400 million to settle a federal lawsuit accusing the social media platform of systematically collecting personal data from children under the age of 13 without parental consent, the U.S. Justice Department announced Friday (Aug. 21). The settlement closes a case that exposed what prosecutors described as widespread, years-long failures in the company's handling of children's accounts.
The government filed the lawsuit in August 2024. Prosecutors said TikTok had gathered data from minors even within a product the company marketed as safe for children, and that the violations continued despite a prior legal agreement TikTok had reached with federal regulators in 2019, according to media reporting at the time.
Under the terms announced Friday, TikTok will pay $300 million. The Justice Department also asked the court to dissolve the 2019 consent agreement, after which TikTok would pay an additional $100 million. Stanley E. Woodward Jr., an associate U.S. attorney general, described the settlement as "a major victory for American children and parents."
Data gathered even in 'Kids Mode'
Among the most significant findings in the 2024 complaint were problems with TikTok's Kids Mode — a setting the company offered to users under 13 that it said would limit data collection and provide age-appropriate content.
Federal prosecutors said that even when children used that setting, TikTok continued collecting their email addresses and other personal information. The company also built profiles of young users based on their IP addresses and device identifiers. Some of that data was then shared with Facebook and a marketing firm, the government alleged — used, according to the complaint, to draw young users back to the platform after their activity had slowed.
Federal law restricts the collection of children's data to what is strictly necessary to operate an online service. Sharing it for marketing purposes, the Justice Department said, crossed that line.
Inadequate oversight of underage accounts
The 2024 complaint also revealed what prosecutors described as a serious underinvestment in child safety. Staff reviewing accounts to determine whether users were under 13 spent an average of only five to seven seconds assessing each profile, according to the filing.
At certain points, the entire team responsible for identifying and deleting underage accounts comprised fewer than 24 people. TikTok's own employees had raised internal concerns about the company's practices with underage accounts and the difficulty of removing them, the filing said.
The platform also frequently failed to honor parents' requests to delete their children's accounts — a requirement under federal law and, separately, under the 2019 agreement the company had reached with the Federal Trade Commission.
A repeated pattern of violations
The 2019 agreement had its origins in Musical.ly, a lip-syncing app that ByteDance acquired and merged with TikTok. The FTC had accused Musical.ly of collecting personal information from children without parental permission, resulting in a $5.7 million fine — a record at the time — and a commitment to new child protection measures that included notifying parents before collecting data and removing videos posted by children under 13.
When the FTC later investigated whether TikTok was honoring those commitments, it found evidence of continued violations and referred the matter to the Justice Department. The lawsuit accused TikTok of knowingly allowing children under 13 to create accounts and of violating the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, a federal law restricting the online tracking of minors, The New York Times reported.
TikTok disputed the allegations at the time. "We disagree with these allegations, many of which relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed," company spokesman Alex Haurek said in a statement. "We are proud of our efforts to protect children."
Global regulatory scrutiny
The U.S. case was part of a broader pattern of regulatory action. In September 2023, the European Union fined TikTok 345 million euros for failing to protect the privacy of young users. Earlier that year, a British regulator fined the platform after finding that more than one million children under 13 had signed up for its service.
In the United States, lawmakers separately pursued broader child safety legislation. The Senate passed the Kids Online Safety Act in July 2024, which would require social media platforms to take additional steps to protect minors, though the bill's future in the House remained uncertain at that time.
Some governments have moved beyond fines and regulations to outright restrictions. Australia passed legislation banning children under the age of 16 from using social media platforms, among the strictest such laws in the world. Other countries have debated or adopted similar age-based restrictions, reflecting growing concern among lawmakers that voluntary safety measures by platforms have proven insufficient to protect young users.
TikTok has said it has committed billions of dollars and thousands of employees to making its platform safe. TikTok's U.S. operation did not immediately respond to a request for comment following Friday's settlement announcement, The New York Times reported.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Keith Getty says Christians must ‘sing the Bible’ in the age of AI ahead of Sing! Conference]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/keith-getty-says-christians-must-sing-the-bible-in-the-age-of-ai-ahead-of-sing-conference</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/keith-getty-says-christians-must-sing-the-bible-in-the-age-of-ai-ahead-of-sing-conference</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Keith Getty says Christians must ‘sing the Bible’ in the age of AI ahead of Sing! Conference]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Gareth Russell/Jersey Road PR ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The Getty's live at Sing! 2019 ]]>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Keith Getty says Christians must ‘sing the Bible’ in the age of AI ahead of Sing! Conference]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Wikimedia Commons ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ A 19th century portrait of William Tyndale (c.1490-1536), a Protestant theologian best known for his work to translate the Bible into English. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:05:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[Ten years after Keith and Kristyn Getty launched what was intended to be a one-time event celebrating a book about congregational singing, the Sing! Conference has grown into an international gathering of pastors, theologians, musicians and believers focused on strengthening the singing life of the Church.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
Ten years after Keith and Kristyn Getty launched what was intended to be a one-time event celebrating a book about congregational singing, the Sing! Conference has grown into an international gathering of pastors, theologians, musicians and believers focused on strengthening the singing life of the Church.
This year, the conference will return to Nashville on Sept. 7–9 with the theme “Symphony of Scripture,” marking the 500th anniversary of William Tyndale’s English New Testament and examining the influence of the Bible on worship, theology, language, culture and the arts.
For Keith Getty, the Grammy-nominated hymn writer behind worship classics including “In Christ Alone,” “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” and "The Lord Is My Salvation," the focus reflects what he says has always been at the heart of the Sing! movement: helping Christians sing the truth of the Scriptures.
“There are many goals with the Sing! Conference: congregational singing, to improve high artistry, but I think at the heart of it is helping people sing the Bible,” the Irish artist told The Christian Post.
Getty, who shares four daughters with his wife, said the timing of the anniversary was particularly meaningful because the first Sing! Conference was deliberately postponed until 2017 so it could coincide with the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
Now, its 10th gathering falls 500 years after Tyndale’s English New Testament helped make Scripture accessible to ordinary English-speaking Christians. The conference will also coincide with the 25th anniversary of the English Standard Version Bible. 
According to Getty, this year’s conference will highlight not only how Scripture has shaped Christianity but also how singing biblical truth has shaped American life and the global Church.
The event, held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, will feature speakers alongside large-scale hymn sings, theological discussions, instructional sessions and orchestral performances. Crossway is also launching its “Symphony of Scripture” project, Getty said, and a full symphony orchestra will accompany the opening day's programming before the Getty band takes a larger role beginning on the second day.
“We’re excited about all the potential this has to touch people, to bring the Bible to people in a fresh way and to a wider audience. It's a really amazing missional opportunity,” he said. 
Music and poetry are embedded throughout Scripture itself, Getty contended, and have historically functioned as a way of teaching and preserving biblical truth.
“Scripture itself is about 20 percent poems and songs,” Getty said. “The Bible is more biased towards songs and poetry than any Christian book written since. … Singing is exhilarating. It's a holy privilege. It is doxological worship to our God and Heavenly Father. But it's never less than instructional.”
What Christians sing, Getty said, helps shape what they believe and remember. He pointed to Martin Luther’s vision for the Reformation: Scripture should be opened in the language of ordinary people, pastors should faithfully explain it, and believers should carry biblical truths through song.
Luther, who Getty said is his “hero,” envisioned Scripture being opened “in the language of the people" so ordinary Christians could read the Bible while pastors explained and applied its truths. But Luther's vision didn't stop at biblical literacy, he said.
“People would carry the Bible out of church by being able to sing the Bible in their own tongue,” Getty said. “In other words, he thought the singing of the Bible had more to do with Monday to Saturday than the preaching or the reading of the Bible.”
For that reason, the hymn writer said strengthening congregational singing is “hugely important to our Christian health.”
He also sees that mission increasingly extending beyond the Western Church. The songwriter noted that much of Christianity's growth is now occurring outside the English-speaking West, often in places without centuries-old traditions of hymnody. Part of Sing!'s mission, he said, is to “be a supporter” and “help stimulate” the singing life of churches around the world.
“The goal is, number one, to really reform it in the Western Church, and then to go out and be a supporter and someone who could help stimulate and contribute to the singing life of the Church around the world,” he said.
And that emphasis on theology and the power of worship is reflected in the speakers selected for this year's conference, among them John Piper, John Lennox, Wes Huff, Sinclair Ferguson, Malcolm Guite and Os Guinness, among others. 
“We take a theme each year and we share the platform with many people who we believe are wiser and more holy than we are,” he said. “The Sing Conference every year is, to some degree, what Kristyn and I have been learning in the last year, what we've been doing, what we've been writing, what we've been sharing.”

 Unlike previous years, Piper won’t deliver expository Bible teaching at the conference, but will instead tell the story of Tyndale and the extraordinary personal cost of his determination to give English-speaking Christians access to Scripture.
“I think a lot of how grace is taught today is just way too casual. It's way too easy,” Getty said, adding that for Tyndale, faithfulness meant being “turned down 100 times” and ultimately being killed for his work. “I think Piper has a great way of telling that."
Huff, a Canadian Christian apologist who has gained a significant following, will focus on the credibility of Scripture. Getty said Huff is “appealing to a new generation” that churches and Christian conferences have not always successfully reached.
Meanwhile, Guite, an Anglican priest, poet and longtime Cambridge educator, will examine Tyndale's influence on the English language and subsequent literature, while Guinness will address Christianity's engagement with culture. Ferguson, a prolific author and speaker, will focus on theology and worship.
Read: 5 highlights from John Lennox on 'Diary of a CEO': AI, transhumanism and Christ
The conference will also address a decidedly 21st-century issue: artificial intelligence. Getty revealed that Huff and Oxford mathematician and Christian apologist John Lennox will participate in what he described as a first-of-its-kind conversation between the two on “biblical intelligence versus artificial intelligence and the future.”
“As we enter the AI age, both the confusing disparity of what people have known to be true in the past and what is the new reality that they're going to discover in the next one to 10 years will be so dislocating,” Getty said. “With the internet ... rose depression, and then social media rose anxiety. And I think what AI is going to do for loneliness and just the lack of any sense of friendship is so crazy.”
The response, according to Getty, shouldn't be fear, but be to root Christians more deeply in eternal truths and in the physical community of the Church.
“I think all the more important that we sing of Heaven, that we think of Heaven, that our trust is [in] eternal things. Ultimately ... our hope has to be in Heaven,” he said, adding that throughout Christian history, movements of renewal have consistently produced new songs.
“All great movements result in doxology,” Getty said. “They result in people singing because, as the hymn writer says, how can we keep from singing? We just can't. That's how we're made.”
“The world was sung into being," he added. "Heaven is a picture of God's people singing, and we want to help equip the Church to engage more fully in worship.”
Learn more about the Sing! Conference here.
Originally published by The Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA['Thou shalt not steal,' Huckabee says in warning to settlers targeting Palestinian Americans' West Bank properties]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/thou-shalt-not-steal-huckabee-says-in-warning-to-settlers-targeting-palestinian-americans-west-bank-properties</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/thou-shalt-not-steal-huckabee-says-in-warning-to-settlers-targeting-palestinian-americans-west-bank-properties</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaks during an interview with Reuters at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Aug. 20, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Video screenshot/Reuters ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee speaks during an interview with Reuters at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Aug. 20, 2026. Huckabee warned militant Israeli settlers against seizing properties owned by Palestinian Americans in the occupied West Bank, calling such actions a violation of both civil and divine law. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 08:29:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers against seizing properties owned by Palestinian Americans in the occupied West Bank, calling such actions "a violation of God's law" and raising the prospect of U.S. sanctions against those responsible.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee has warned militant Israeli settlers against seizing properties owned by Palestinian Americans in the occupied West Bank, calling such actions "a violation of God's law" and raising the prospect of U.S. sanctions against those responsible.
Huckabee, a Baptist minister and the first evangelical Christian to serve as U.S. ambassador to Israel, told Reuters in a Jerusalem interview that settlers found to have taken part in the ongoing siege of homes in the West Bank village of Qusra could face consequences both in Israel and from Washington.
"Thou shalt not steal," Huckabee said, citing the Ten Commandments. "You don't take something that doesn't belong to you."
The remarks come as Israeli settlers have encircled at least three homes in Qusra since Aug. 9 in what human rights groups describe as an attempt to seize privately owned Palestinian land. Among the properties targeted is a home belonging to Loui Ridi, a Palestinian American from Toledo, Ohio, who flew to the West Bank last week to defend his property after watching settlers encircle it via security camera from the United States.
The Israeli military has deployed troops to the area and pushed the settlers back from the homes, but Ridi told Reuters from Qusra on Thursday that settlers remain nearby and that he continues to be harassed. Israeli police have not announced any arrests in connection with the siege, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not publicly commented on the incident.
A growing crisis for Palestinian communities
The Qusra siege reflects a broader pattern of escalating settler activity across the West Bank that has affected Palestinian communities of all backgrounds — Muslim and Christian alike. Christians make up a small but historic portion of the Palestinian population, with communities in and around Bethlehem, Ramallah and other West Bank towns that have faced land pressures from settlement expansion for decades.
U.N. bodies and the vast majority of countries consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal under international law governing military occupations. Israel rejects that characterization, viewing the territory as disputed rather than occupied. Despite international objections, the settlement enterprise has expanded continuously, with the Netanyahu government accelerating construction and territorial designations in recent years.
U.S. officials estimate that tens of thousands of Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, many of them in a cluster of villages between Ramallah and Nablus, the region where Qusra is located.
Huckabee, who last week described the perpetrators as "Israeli terrorists," said the families targeted in Qusra were victims of "inexcusable and repugnant" criminal activity. He said anyone found to have participated could face significant legal consequences in Israel, and potentially U.S. sanctions including a ban on entering the country, though he added he was not aware that any such measures were under active consideration.
Huckabee's position carries tensions
The ambassador's condemnation is notable given his long and public record of support for Israeli settlements in the West Bank. Huckabee refers to the territory by its biblical name, Judea and Samaria, a term used by the Israeli government but not formally adopted by the U.S. government.
In the same interview, he offered a qualified defense of the broader settlement movement, telling Reuters that violent settlers represent a minority who do not speak for settlers in general, who he said "just want to raise their families in Judea and Samaria peacefully and with a level of security."
Palestinians and international legal bodies reject that framing. Critics argue that settlements — regardless of the behavior of individual settlers — systematically displace Palestinian communities, fragment territory Palestinians seek for an independent state, and are maintained through military enforcement.
A senior settler leader has separately condemned the actions taken against the Qusra homes, according to Reuters.
Ridi built his home on land his grandparents owned and his family farmed for generations, beginning construction three years ago. He told Reuters he wanted his daughters to have a connection to their roots in Qusra. He said his property sits in an area that Israeli-Palestinian peace accords reached in the 1990s placed under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction.
"The message is bigger than just even the Trump administration," Huckabee said. "It's a message of basic civility and civilized behavior."]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Melanoma vaccine success sparks hope for broader cancer treatment]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/melanoma-vaccine-success-sparks-hope-for-broader-cancer-treatment</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/melanoma-vaccine-success-sparks-hope-for-broader-cancer-treatment</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[A close-up image shows melanoma on skin.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ National Cancer Institute ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ A close-up image shows melanoma on skin. A large clinical trial found a personalized mRNA vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna cut the risk of melanoma recurrence by half when combined with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2026 08:07:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A personalized cancer vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna has shown success in preventing the return of melanoma in a large clinical trial, raising hopes that the same approach could eventually be used against many other types of cancer.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A personalized cancer vaccine developed by Merck and Moderna has shown success in preventing the return of melanoma in a large clinical trial, raising hopes that the same approach could eventually be used against many other types of cancer, Reuters reported.
The trial, involving more than 1,000 patients whose localized tumors had been surgically removed, found the vaccine helped prevent the cancer from recurring or spreading. Moderna says thousands of melanoma patients could benefit within a few years of regulatory approval.
Unlike chemotherapy, which destroys healthy and cancerous cells alike, or immunotherapy drugs that broadly stimulate the immune system, the vaccine is custom-built for each patient. It instructs the immune system to recognize and attack mutations unique to that person's tumor.
"It is a big deal for the field in general," said Dr. Ryan Sullivan, director of the Center for Melanoma at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute. "With this positive study, there is hope that these approaches may change the way we treat cancer more broadly."
The treatment pairs the vaccine with Merck's immunotherapy drug Keytruda. Data from an earlier, smaller trial showed the combination cut the risk of recurrence by half and reduced the risk of the cancer spreading to new sites by 59% compared with Keytruda alone.
Moderna and Merck are already running large trials testing the approach against non-small cell lung cancer that has been surgically removed, with mid-stage studies ongoing in bladder and kidney cancers and earlier-stage work in pancreatic and stomach cancers. Multiple trial results are expected within the next two years, Moderna President Stephen Hoge told Reuters.
Roche and BioNTech are pursuing a similar vaccine, autogene cevumeran, in trials targeting colon and pancreatic cancer patients who have had surgery.
"We should be hearing results from multiple studies over the next few years and there's every reason to hope now, with this news, that many of them will be positive," said Dr. Robert Vonderheide, director of Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center.
Doctors say the broad applicability of the approach comes from the fact that many cancer types produce numerous mutations, making them recognizable targets for the immune system to attack.
"It's definitely an area that is going to be exploding, especially with these results coming out," said Dr. Elizabeth Buchbinder, a melanoma specialist at Mass General Brigham Cancer Institute, according to Reuters.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[YouVersion strengthens alliances to bring the Bible closer to Latin America]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/youversion-strengthens-alliances-to-bring-the-bible-closer-to-latin-america</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/youversion-strengthens-alliances-to-bring-the-bible-closer-to-latin-america</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ommar Ayala]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Bobby Gruenewald, CEO of YouVersion, speaks at a special event at the Más Vida CDMX auditorium in Mexico City on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Ommar Ayala/Diario Cristiano Internacional ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Bobby Gruenewald, CEO of YouVersion, speaks at a special event at the Más Vida CDMX auditorium in Mexico City on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                                                                        <pubDate>Thu, 20 Aug 2026 07:54:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[YouVersion gathered leaders from major Christian organizations in Mexico City this week to announce new partnerships and highlight the Bible app's expansion across Latin America.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
YouVersion gathered leaders from major Christian organizations in Mexico City this week to announce new partnerships and highlight the Bible app's expansion across Latin America.
The meeting, held Tuesday (Aug. 18) at the Más Vida CDMX auditorium, included participation from organization executives, Banda Más Vida, The Chosen, The Bible Project, Alpha, and singer Fermín IV, who performed. Diario Cristiano Internacional, Christian Daily International's Spanish edition, was present at the event.
In 2007, YouVersion CEO Bobby Gruenewald had the idea at Chicago's airport to build a website for regular Bible reading — but it failed.
"That failure led us to try another idea: putting the site on a mobile phone, and that did work. In early 2008 we decided to build a Bible app when the App Store boom began. A 19-year-old boy was the one who helped us," Gruenewald said.
A Bible on the Phone
The YouVersion app is available in 2,300 languages and allows users to consult multiple Bible translations for free, listen to audio versions, follow reading plans and devotionals, and save, annotate, and share content.
Gruenewald told Diario Cristiano Internacional that more than 1 billion phones and tablets have downloaded the app and that more than 260 million accounts have been created.
"It took us 17 years to reach the first 1 billion devices. We believe the next billion will come in the next 5 years. There is a hunger for the Word of God at a global level," Gruenewald said.
The app allows users to download Bible versions for offline use, a feature that benefits people without consistent internet access.
"The app is designed for Catholic and evangelical people, and even for non-Christians. Many turn to it in times of desperation. We have seen that people going through divorces, and even those who have considered suicide, have downloaded YouVersion to look for solutions to their problems," Gruenewald said.
YouVersion's Vision
According to YouVersion, Mexico and Colombia rank among the top 10 countries in Latin America for app usage.
Since 2025, YouVersion has established a Hub in Mexico — a network connecting pastors, ministries, and content creators to share resources and build partnerships.
"God draws people to His Word every day, and it is a privilege to collaborate with so many churches and ministries. We are at the service of the global church," said Pablo Langlois, leader of the YouVersion Hub for Latin America.
Artificial Intelligence
YouVersion says it takes a cautious approach to artificial intelligence.
"We are very careful about the topic of Artificial Intelligence. It has helped us move faster in our processes, but we do not mix it with the use of the Bible, in order to maintain the trust and credibility of new generations," Gruenewald said.
He added that younger users are discerning about what they encounter online. "Generation Z has a hunger for the Word of God and for what is true," he said.
The Celebration
During the event, attendees heard testimonies from people who came to faith through the app. YouVersion also highlighted its alliance with the Sociedad Bíblica de México (Mexican Bible Society), citing its role in Bible translation.
The platform includes reading plans on topics such as faith, family, leadership, prayer, hope, youth, marriage, and the Christian life. Users can also highlight text, write personal notes, and share passages on social media.
Exclusive Interview
Christian Post Español, to whose group of brands Diario Cristiano Internacional and Christian Daily International belongs, spoke exclusively with Pablo Langlois about Latin America's growing digital Bible engagement. Watch the full interview in Spanish below.
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                <title><![CDATA[Barna book argues worldview gap explains why many Christians think like the culture]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/barna-book-argues-worldview-gap-explains-why-many-christians-think-like-the-culture</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/barna-book-argues-worldview-gap-explains-why-many-christians-think-like-the-culture</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[George Barnas new book, How to Think Like Jesus: 7 Cornerstones to Build a Biblical Worldview, releases Sept. 15, 2026.]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ George Barna's new book, How to Think Like Jesus: 7 Cornerstones to Build a Biblical Worldview, releases Sept. 15, 2026. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:31:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A new book from Christian researcher George Barna argues that the reason many people who call themselves Christians think and live indistinguishably from the broader culture comes down to a missing foundation — not a lack of sincerity, but the absence of a coherent biblical worldview]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A new book from Christian researcher George Barna argues that the reason many people who call themselves Christians think and live indistinguishably from the broader culture comes down to a missing foundation — not a lack of sincerity, but the absence of a coherent biblical worldview, a conclusion he draws from more than 1,000 surveys and interviews with over one million Americans.
How to Think Like Jesus: 7 Cornerstones to Build a Biblical Worldview, published by Arizona Christian University Press in partnership with Fedd Books, is scheduled for release Sept. 15, 2026.
Barna, who directs research at Arizona Christian University's Cultural Research Center, identifies seven core beliefs he describes as the non-negotiable building blocks of a biblical worldview — covering topics such as the nature of God, the authority of Scripture, human sin, the definition of truth, and what he calls God's definitions of meaning, purpose and success.
"Your worldview is only as strong as its foundation," Barna writes in the book. "You will experience as much success in life as your worldview allows."
The book grows out of research Barna has conducted at the Cultural Research Center, which also produced the ACU Worldview Assessment — an online tool that measures an individual's worldview and gives readers a score reflecting how their beliefs align with each of the seven cornerstones. "Because worldview is measurable, we have research data that identify the incidence of various worldviews, how people piece together the elements of their life philosophy, and insights into the life consequences of people's chosen philosophy," Barna writes.
The central distinction the book draws is between what Barna calls "genuine disciples" and "cultural Christians" — people who identify with Christianity but whose thinking and decision-making, he argues, have been shaped more by surrounding culture than by biblical convictions.
Barna is a professor at Arizona Christian University and founder of The Barna Group. He also serves as senior research fellow at the Family Research Council Center for Biblical Worldview and has authored or co-authored more than 60 books, including several New York Times and Amazon bestsellers. The new title builds on themes from his 2023 book, Raising Spiritual Champions: Nurturing Your Child's Heart, Mind and Soul.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[UN warns children are 'guinea pigs' for unregulated AI as online risks mount]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/un-warns-children-are-guinea-pigs-for-unregulated-ai-as-online-risks-mount</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/un-warns-children-are-guinea-pigs-for-unregulated-ai-as-online-risks-mount</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Imaginary Friend]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Pheniti/Adobe Stock ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ The United Nations is urging a fundamental shift: the burden of protecting children online must fall on the platforms generating harm, not on children, parents or caregivers. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Wed, 19 Aug 2026 07:55:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The United Nations is calling on governments, technology companies and advertisers to act on what it describes as a pressing and consequential policy challenge — the safety, rights and digital future of the world's most connected generation.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The United Nations is calling on governments, technology companies and advertisers to act on what it describes as a pressing and consequential policy challenge — the safety, rights and digital future of the world's most connected generation.
The United Nations is calling for urgent, coordinated action to protect children and young people from escalating dangers in digital information spaces, warning that business models built on capturing attention and harvesting personal data are shaping the online experiences of a generation with little recourse against harm.
A new UN report released ahead of International Youth Day on Aug. 12 found that disinformation, algorithmic manipulation, targeted advertising, online harassment and opaque AI systems now pose serious and compounding threats to children's safety, development and rights. The brief, published Aug. 10 by the UN Department of Global Communications, is the third in a series examining how to strengthen integrity across global information environments.
"No child should be a guinea pig for unregulated AI," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said. "When a child is harmed, the answer must never be 'the algorithm did it.'"
More than 80% of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are now online worldwide, the brief reported. In lower-income countries, young people are nearly twice as likely to use the internet as the broader population — even as significant digital divides persist within and across regions. In higher-income countries, children's relationship with digital platforms often begins in early childhood and deepens through adolescence.
Children and youth now engage with digital technologies across nearly every dimension of daily life: education, social connection, economic opportunity, entertainment and civic participation. Yet the platforms shaping those experiences were not designed with child welfare at the center.
Built for revenue, not for children
Technology companies have constructed their platforms around what researchers call the "attention economy" — business models that depend on maximizing the time users spend online and the data that can be extracted from their behavior, habits and emotional states. This model funds hyper-personalized advertising that can be tailored in real time to individual vulnerabilities and insecurities, the UN report said.
Children's still-forming cognitive and emotional capacities make them particularly susceptible to design features engineered to exploit psychological weaknesses. Algorithmic systems can trap young users in escalating content loops, exposing them to increasingly extreme material — including content related to self-harm, suicide, pornography, extremism and violence. Gaming and social media environments use deceptive interface designs, intermittent reward mechanics similar to slot machines, and "fear of missing out" tactics to drive compulsive engagement and spending.
Children also struggle to tell the difference between organic content and paid advertising, a gap that commercial interests are structured to exploit. Some technology companies have begun placing advertisements within AI-generated results and summaries, deepening an already wide literacy deficit.
"Protecting them and including them are not competing goals. We have to do both," said Charlotte Scaddan, UN Senior Adviser on Information Integrity.
The brief argues that framing these problems as a matter of parental oversight or individual screen time misses the structural forces driving harm. Digital systems are now so deeply woven into commercial, educational and social life that opting out is neither feasible nor realistic for most families. The burden, it says, must rest on the platforms generating the harm and the regulatory systems needed to govern them — not on children, parents or caregivers.
A global wave of regulation — with gaps
Governments around the world are moving to fill what the UN describes as critical policy gaps. Australia sparked international regulatory momentum in 2024 by requiring social media platforms to prevent users under 16 from holding accounts. The European Union is weighing a comparable measure across its 27 member states, while Indonesia and Malaysia have enacted similar laws. The United Kingdom plans to introduce age restrictions in early 2027.
Brazil's Digital Statute of the Child and Adolescent, enacted in September 2025, stands as one of the most comprehensive approaches to date. It prohibits behavioral advertising targeting minors, bans the use of children's personal data in ways that violate their rights and mandates the highest default privacy settings for users under 18 — while also requiring age verification mechanisms.
A UNICEF analysis across six jurisdictions — Australia, the European Union, India, Kazakhstan, South Africa and the United Kingdom — identified a cluster of common business obligations present in at least half the frameworks reviewed, including safety-by-design requirements, impact assessments, complaints procedures and transparency reporting. The African Union adopted a Child Online Safety and Empowerment Policy in 2024, though the UN brief notes that its effect depends heavily on the capacity and political will of individual member states.
Despite the breadth of this regulatory momentum, the brief warns that existing frameworks were not designed to address what is coming. AI technologies are introducing risks — synthetic content, AI-facilitated exploitation and opaque algorithmic systems shaping children's information environments — that current rules cannot adequately reach. The UN and children's rights experts have warned against a "wait-and-see" approach to AI governance, arguing that legislative frameworks should incorporate children's rights from the outset, before this window of opportunity closes.
Coalition puts children's rights at the center of AI governance
One month before the brief's publication, UN News reported on the launch in Geneva of the Coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence — a new international body whose founding members committed to ensuring that children are treated not merely as technology users to be protected after the fact, but as rights holders whose perspectives shape how AI systems are designed in the first place.
Seventeen countries signed on at launch: Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, El Salvador, Estonia, France, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Luxembourg, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Republic of Korea and Spain. UN founding members include the Department of Global Communications, the UN human rights office, the International Telecommunication Union, the Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies, UNICEF and UNESCO.
The coalition is anchored in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the world's most widely ratified human rights treaty. Its formation followed Secretary-General Guterres's call for an AI Child Safety Pledge at the Global Dialogue on AI Governance in July, and a landmark G7 agreement among digital and technology ministers on common principles for safer digital spaces for children.
Youth as actors — and targets
The UN brief presents young people as active participants in public life — creators, advocates, organizers and civic leaders — whose capacities the information ecosystem should be designed to support rather than exploit.
Youth-led movements have demonstrated the power of digital platforms to mobilize rapidly and across borders, using shared cultural symbols to build transnational solidarity around issues from government corruption to climate change and human rights. These movements have, in some cases, outpaced governments' own messaging capabilities.
Yet the same environments enabling that civic energy also expose young activists to serious risks. Women and girls who enter the public sphere — as journalists, human rights defenders, politicians or activists — are disproportionately targeted by technology-facilitated violence, the brief said. Youth protesters have faced online harassment, state and non-state surveillance, disinformation campaigns designed to discredit their movements, internet shutdowns and the exploitation of algorithmic amplification by actors seeking to polarize and destabilize.
The brief also identifies a structural problem of representation. Despite the scale and sophistication of youth-led movements worldwide, young people's perspectives remain underrepresented in the policy forums where decisions about information integrity are made and contested. Closing this gap, the brief argues, is both a rights obligation and a practical requirement for building effective, durable solutions.
What the UN is calling for
The UN's recommendations are organized around five core principles drawn from its Global Principles for Information Integrity, launched by Guterres in June 2024.
On trust and resilience, the brief calls for states to require safety-by-design from technology companies and hold platforms accountable for outcomes rather than intentions alone. Age-appropriate design, it says, must be embedded in product architecture from the start — with the highest available privacy and safety settings as the default for younger users, not something they must navigate menus to find.
On advertising, the brief calls on advertisers to stop targeting minors with behavioral advertising and to ensure commercial messaging is clearly distinguishable from organic content. It points to Brazil's law and the EU's Digital Services Act as models, while calling for industry coalitions to establish shared norms around what constitutes manipulative or exploitative practice when directed at young audiences.
On public empowerment, the brief calls for digital and media literacy to be integrated into formal education from an early age, with content and methods tailored to children's developmental stage. It also calls for accessible, child-friendly mechanisms for reporting harm and seeking redress — including mental health referrals — available in local languages and designed with direct input from young people themselves. Accountability measures must ensure that platforms and other actors can be held responsible when their products cause measurable harm.
On independent media, the brief identifies the decline of local journalism and the spread of "news deserts" as a compounding problem for children's access to reliable, relevant information about their communities. AI companies are exacerbating that decline, it notes, through aggressive data scraping and zero-click summaries that bypass direct access to news websites. Young people are also increasingly media producers in their own right — through social media, podcasting and other platforms — and the brief argues that the same press freedom protections extended to professional journalists should apply to children and youth engaged in civic and journalistic expression online.
On transparency, the brief identifies a significant systemic barrier: technology companies hold vast quantities of data on how their platforms affect users, but that data is largely inaccessible to independent researchers. Without it, neither policymakers, educators, parents nor children themselves have the evidence needed to make informed decisions. The brief calls for data-sharing arrangements that protect user privacy while enabling rigorous independent scrutiny — with particular urgency around the AI systems now mediating so much of what children encounter online.
The brief also flags a geographic blind spot in the existing evidence base. Most research on children and digital environments has been conducted in North American and European contexts, despite the fact that most of the world's children and young people live in the global South. It calls for sustained investment in research capacity in underrepresented regions, alongside genuine partnerships with institutions and young people there.
Physical spaces as a necessary counterweight
A different kind of recommendation also included is an emphasis on physical environments. Community centers, libraries, youth clubs and other shared spaces outside the home and school — sometimes called "third spaces" — are essential foundations for information integrity, the UN report said. These are places where young people encounter different perspectives, practice civic engagement and develop the habits of mind that digital platforms alone cannot build.
The brief calls on states to work with all stakeholders to support the conditions for children and youth to have dynamic, varied lives beyond digital platforms — treating this not as a cultural preference but as a structural necessity for building resilient, informed and participatory societies.
Young people are not only among the populations most affected by the failures of the global information ecosystem, but also among the most motivated and capable of helping to fix it, the brief argued. The question, it says, is whether institutions — governments, technology companies, civil society, media organizations and the UN itself — are willing to bring them in as genuine partners rather than treating their protection as the whole of the problem.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Canadian evangelical body launches study on pastor shortage]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/canadian-evangelical-body-launches-study-on-pastor-shortage</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/canadian-evangelical-body-launches-study-on-pastor-shortage</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Pastor, preaching, church, pulpit, bible]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Unsplash / Nycholas Benaia ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 15:54:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has announced a new research project to assess how many churches across the country lack pastoral leadership and what factors are driving that gap.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada has announced a new research project to assess how many churches across the country lack pastoral leadership and what factors are driving that gap.
The study, conducted through the EFC's Centre for Research on Church and Faith in partnership with Northwest Seminary's Propel Lilly grant program, will examine pastoral calling, training and long-term sustainability in ministry.
Researchers plan to conduct a needs analysis of past, present and projected pastoral workforce demands among EFC-affiliated congregations. They will also hold conversations with denominational, higher education and church leaders to identify what is preventing people from entering pastoral ministry — and what is driving current pastors to leave it.
The EFC said it has already begun consulting with affiliate leaders across Canada to ensure the study addresses their specific concerns about pastoral vitality in the 21st century.
According to the EFC, the Centre expects its findings to produce benchmark projections of current and future pastoral needs and to help church and denominational leaders develop strategies for identifying and recruiting pastoral candidates. Researchers also hope to clarify the relationships between denominations, congregations and Christian higher education institutions in forming the next generation of pastors.
The study is also expected to shed light on how pastors develop resilience and longevity in ministry — a question the EFC described as central to sustaining healthy churches over time.
Those with relevant perspectives or questions about the research may contact the team at research@theefc.ca.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Most evangelicals give their spiritual lives a C+, new study finds]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/most-evangelicals-give-their-spiritual-lives-a-c-new-study-finds</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/most-evangelicals-give-their-spiritual-lives-a-c-new-study-finds</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[CDI Staff]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[worship, church, praying]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Unsplash / Ismael Paramo ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:03:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[A new survey of 1,000 evangelical Protestants in the United States found that believers rate their own spiritual lives at an average grade-point equivalent of 2.42 — roughly a C+ — with evangelism, financial giving and tithing ranking as the weakest areas, according to research released by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research.]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
A new survey of 1,000 evangelical Protestants in the United States found that believers rate their own spiritual lives at an average grade-point equivalent of 2.42 — roughly a C+ — with evangelism, financial giving and tithing ranking as the weakest areas, according to research released by Infinity Concepts and Grey Matter Research.
The study, titled "The Spiritual Report Card: Perception vs. Practice Among Evangelicals", asked participants to grade themselves across 12 areas: prayer, Bible knowledge, Bible reading, tithing, charitable giving, volunteering, church attendance, worship, Christian relationships, evangelism, ministry involvement and their overall relationship with God.
Only 12% of respondents assigned themselves an average grade of A. At the other end, 16% averaged a D+ or below, including 2% who gave themselves a failing grade.
One of the more striking findings, according to the researchers, was how accurately believers' self-assessments reflected their actual behavior. Ron Sellers, president of Grey Matter Research, said the alignment between perception and practice was unexpected.
"When some evangelicals say they are struggling spiritually, they usually are not being overly critical — they are being honest," Sellers said. "What surprised us was not that Christians recognize their weaknesses — it's that their self-evaluations so often synchronize with their behavior. But we also see that recognizing the problem is not necessarily producing meaningful change."
The data showed the correlation playing out consistently across categories. Among those who gave themselves an A for Bible reading, the overwhelming majority reported reading Scripture daily. Among those who gave themselves a failing grade in the same category, few reported opening the Bible at all. Church attendance followed a similar pattern: 92% of those who graded themselves A in attendance said they attended in-person services weekly or more often, compared with just 7% of those who gave themselves an F.
Two categories where self-assessments appeared to outrun actual behavior were Bible knowledge and financial giving, according to the study.
Respondents rated prayer and their overall relationship with God as their strongest areas, while evangelism and financial generosity — both giving and tithing — were rated lowest.
Mark Dreistadt, president and CEO of Infinity Concepts, said the findings present both a challenge and an opening for church leaders.
"This study offers something every church leader wants but rarely has — a candid look at how believers evaluate their own spiritual health," Dreistadt said. "The encouraging news is that most Christians recognize both their strengths and their struggles. The challenge for the Church is helping people move from honest self-awareness to intentional spiritual growth."
The research was conducted by Grey Matter Research, a consumer insights firm that has worked with more than 100 charities, ministries and Christian denominations since 1996. The full report is available for download through Infinity Concepts.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[Michael W. Smith warns worship must not become ‘celebrity driven,' says he's seeing revival among Gen Z]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/michael-w-smith-warns-worship-must-not-become-celebrity-driven-says-he-s-seeing-revival-among-gen-z</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/michael-w-smith-warns-worship-must-not-become-celebrity-driven-says-he-s-seeing-revival-among-gen-z</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
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                            <media:title><![CDATA[Michael W. Smith warns worship must not become ‘celebrity driven, says hes seeing revival among Gen Z]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Courtesy of Michael W. Smith ]]>
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                                    <![CDATA[ Michael W. Smith ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 10:07:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[After more than four decades of standing on stages, with crowds singing his songs by heart, Michael W. Smith is convinced that one of the greatest dangers for a worship leader can be the very thing that signals success: attention and celebrity. ]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
After more than four decades of standing on stages, with crowds singing his songs by heart, Michael W. Smith is convinced that one of the greatest dangers for a worship leader can be the very thing that signals success: attention and celebrity. 
The 68-year-old Christian music veteran has sold more than 15 million albums, written or recorded more than 36 No. 1 songs and collected four Grammy Awards and more than 45 Dove Awards over a career that helped define contemporary Christian music. His songs, from the crossover hit “Place in This World” to “Friends” and worship anthem “Agnus Dei,” are beloved by generations of Christians.
But these days, Smith said, he's concerned about what happens when the person leading worship becomes more visible than the God being worshiped.
“I just think we have to be careful that this thing is not celebrity-driven,” Smith told The Christian Post. “We can all say, ‘Well, oh, we’re doing it all for Him.’ But you watch social media, and it’s just a little me-focused.”
Perhaps, he added, modern worship has also “lost the reverence.”
Emphasizing he’s not “throwing anyone in particular under the bus,” Smith clarified his warnings come from someone who knows firsthand how easily accolades can distort even the most sincere of intentions.
“The Lord doesn’t share His glory with anybody,” Smith recalled his friend and fellow worship leader Michael Olson telling him several years ago. “Those words sort of took my breath away.”
“It was convicting, honestly, and he was right,” Smith said. “As we’re leading worship, we’re not supposed to be a celebrity. We’re supposed to kind of disappear, honestly, and our goal is to change the atmosphere and allow God to meet people. That’s our job.”
Smith approached “House of Worship,” a new cinematic event arriving in more than 400 theaters nationwide beginning Aug. 23, with that same mindset. Presented by The Fuel Music and Ori Music in association with K-LOVE and Air1, the film gathers 25 prominent Christian artists and songwriters to revisit the songs that helped shape modern Evangelical worship.
Smith and Australian worship pioneer Darlene Zschech serve as executive producers, with a roster that includes CeCe Winans, Kari Jobe, Cody Carnes, Naomi Raine, Matt Redman, Israel Houghton, Paul Baloche, Brian and Jenn Johnson, Charity Gayle, Hillary Scott and others.
Recorded in the round at World Wide Stages in Spring Hill, Tennessee, the project pairs artists across generations. Winans joins Zschech for “Shout to the Lord,” Redman and Scott perform “The Heart of Worship,” Tim Hughes and Carnes revisit “Here I Am to Worship,” while Smith and Elevation Worship’s Chris Brown perform “Agnus Dei.”
“There was just such a unity in the room for two days,” Smith said of the atmosphere as the artists worshipped together. “All the songs, they never really stuck to the template of what we were doing. They all kind of took on a life of their own.”
“Nobody kind of came and sang and left,” he said. “Everybody just stayed. … It was just an emotional two days for me. I’m glad I was a part of it. … It was all I could do to fight the tears.”
Songs like “The Heart of Worship,” “Shout to the Lord,” “Come Now Is the Time to Worship” and others featured in the film have endured for decades because they have “stood the test of time,” he said.
“I think a lot of these young worship leaders and people who worship today, they don’t know a lot of those songs,” Smith said. “And I think they need to.”
Smith still sings “The Heart of Worship,” one of his favorite worship songs, and said he expects to sing “Breathe” for the rest of his life.
“I just hope this next generation can find themselves sort of going back and listening to some of those songs,” he said, “because they probably need to be back in the set list, at least from time to time, in churches around the world.”
Since beginning his recording career in the early 1980s, Smith’s catalog now includes more than three dozen No. 1 songs, and his albums A Million Lights and Surrounded became his 30th and 31st Top 10 entries on Billboard’s Top Christian Albums chart, more than any other solo artist at the time. 
He was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and a 2019 tribute at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena brought together artists including Amy Grant, Vince Gill, CeCe Winans, Wynonna, Randy Travis and others to celebrate his career.
His influence has also extended beyond Christian radio. Smith performed “Friends” at the funeral services of evangelist Billy Graham and former President George H.W. Bush, and founded Rocketown, a Nashville-based youth organization.
But despite his success, the artist said time, and a deeper walk with the Lord, have given him a different relationship with acclaim over the years.
“I really don’t care what people think of me,” he said. “You just want to lead with humility. You’ve got to have a great spirit.”
“My intent was always right,” Smith said, reflecting on his early years in the music industry. “But you get distracted. You get distracted by the attention, and everybody’s applauding, and you sometimes just kind of lose your way.”
Smith traces a turning point to the recording of Worship, the landmark live album released Sept. 11, 2001. The project, which included “Agnus Dei,” “Above All,” “Breathe” and Rich Mullins’ “Awesome God,” became the bestselling album of Smith’s career. He recalled leaving the stage after the recording in Lakeland, Florida, and finding the artists backstage overwhelmed by what had occurred.
“We all just wept,” Smith recalled. “We were just weeping backstage because we felt like something shifted in the atmosphere.”
The artist said he wondered then whether what they had experienced in the room could translate to a recording, “and it did.”
Today, before Smith steps onto a stage to lead worship, he prays three prayers: that God would be pleased with what he says, does and sings, that he would be “clothed in humility,” and that his motivations would remain pure.
Despite his warnings, Smith said he sees much to celebrate in contemporary worship; young songwriters, he said, are giving their generation language with which to express faith.
“There’s this real move of God, and I love that,” he said. “You’re watching young kids worship and cry. It’s overwhelming. It’s beautiful to watch.”
Smith said the spiritual hunger he’s seeing among young people reminds him of another period that changed his life: the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which impacted even his hometown of Kenova, West Virginia.
“I probably have not seen anything like this since the ’70s,” he said. “I was there for the Jesus Movement. It swept into my little town of Kenova, West Virginia, when I was a teenager, and it changed my life. … I’m having this interview with you because of the Jesus Movement.”
Smith recently attended a concert by Forrest Frank, whose hits like “Lemonade” and “Your Way’s Better” have attracted a large Gen Z following. Smith said he was struck by watching young fans sing every word while Frank openly proclaimed his Christian faith.
“To see Forrest up there sharing the Gospel, and he’s not ashamed, it just was awesome,” Smith said, adding that artists like Frank are “young Joshuas” who are “stirring it up.”
“I believe we are at least seeing the beginnings of it,” he said of revival. “We might be in the middle of it, but I think it’s going to get much bigger.”
For Smith, House of Worship offered another glimpse of what can happen when generations of Christians unite and see themselves as a family. During filming, Smith said younger worship leaders repeatedly thanked veteran artists for paving the way, while older artists responded by encouraging them to continue what they were doing.
“It was a family,” Smith said. “There was just a lot of love in the room. You see these artists who are … deep into it on every song. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything.”
With “House of Worship,” Smith said he hopes audiences leave with hope — from Christians who are exhausted or grieving to those who have never heard the Gospel.
“I hope somebody sees it who doesn’t know the Lord and that they’re just convicted and they give their hearts to Jesus,” Smith said. “That would just be amazing.”
“Just turn on the film, turn on the record, and just sing the songs,” he added. “Regardless of how you feel, just sing the songs. … These songs are full of hope. I think these songs will provide that opportunity and get people through hard times.”
And after more than four decades of recording, touring and watching Christian music transform around him, Smith said he’s “grateful for the journey,” adding: “It’s been awesome.”
“I think my best days are ahead.”
"House of Worship" hits theaters Aug. 23.
Originally published by The Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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                <title><![CDATA[American missionary pilot released after being abducted in Niger last year: report]]></title>
                <link>https://www.christiandaily.com/news/american-missionary-pilot-released-after-being-abducted-in-niger-last-year-report</link>
                <guid isPermaLink="true">https://www.christiandaily.com/news/american-missionary-pilot-released-after-being-abducted-in-niger-last-year-report</guid>
                                                            <dc:creator><![CDATA[The Christian Post]]></dc:creator>
                                                                                                                            <media:content  url="https://www.christiandaily.com/media/original/img/0/51/5133.webp">
                            <media:title><![CDATA[American missionary pilot released after being abducted in Niger last year: report]]></media:title>
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                                    <![CDATA[ X/@RepMarkHarrisNC ]]>
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                                                                                        <media:description type="plain">
                                    <![CDATA[ Kevin Rideout, 48. ]]>
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                                                                            <pubDate>Tue, 18 Aug 2026 06:02:00 -0400</pubDate>
                <description><![CDATA[An American missionary pilot has reportedly been released from captivity after being abducted last October in Niger. ]]></description>
                <content:encoded><![CDATA[
An American missionary pilot has reportedly been released from captivity after being abducted last October in Niger. 
Two U.S. officials told The New York Times on Thursday that Kevin Rideout, who serves with the North Carolina-based Evangelical organization Serving In Mission, was in U.S. custody and en route to the United States. 
For months, public information about Rideout's status and whereabouts was scarce, with many Christians and church groups praying for his safety at the urging of influential Evangelical figures like Franklin Graham. The details of his rescue location and those responsible for holding him remain unclear. 
Rideout served for years flying mission personnel and equipment across West Africa. He also helped to facilitate the work of several organizations, according to a 2014 report from The Wellesley Townsman. 
He was reportedly kidnapped by three men near the grand Bravia Hotel, in the city center, just a few hundred meters from the presidential palace. The country has been in political turmoil since a coup d'etat in July 2023. 
Officials cited by The New York Times say that Rideout is now in FBI custody and appears to be in good health. 
The Christian Post has reached out to the State Department and White House for comment on Rideout. A response is pending. The Trump administration had deemed Rideout’s release a “top priority” at the time of his capture. 
The U.S. Embassy in Niamey issued a security alert after Rideout’s abduction, warning Americans that they face a "heightened risk of kidnapping" throughout the country.
Originally published by The Christian Post.]]></content:encoded>
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