The Department of Veterans Affairs is establishing a task force to investigate employee reports of alleged anti-Christian bias.

When I was a child my parents would take me to churchAnd when I was a little wiggly Or couldn't make it through the homilyMy dad would take me outside There was a garden thereAnd we played on the benchesAdmiring the trees and the flowersMy dad had a name for itThe Church of the Bees and Trees…

47 minutes ago Pallab Ghosh ,Science Correspondent , Alison Francis ,Senior Science Reporter , Kevin Churchand Emily Selvadurai Four astronauts on Nasa's Artemis II mission are on their way back home after a dramatic lunar fly-by that saw them travel further from Earth than any other humans. The crew lost contact with the Earth, as expected, for 40 minutes as they travelled behind the Moon. With communications re-established, astronaut Christina Koch said: "It's so great to hear the Earth again." Soon afterwards the spacecraft dipped to within a few thousand miles of the lunar surface and the crew witnessed a total eclipse of the Sun as the Moon blocked out its light - the first time such a sight has been seen from the Moon's perspective. The Artemis II mission's spacecraft, Orion, broke the record for human travel at about 13:56 EDT (18:56 BST) on Monday, beating a record of 248,655 miles (400,000km) held since 1970 by the Apollo 13 mission. Canadian astronaut Jeremey Hansen acknowleged the achievement with humility. "As we surpass the furthest distance humans have ever traveled from planet Earth, we do so in honoring the extraordinary efforts and feats of our predecessors in human space exploration,"...

Image: Sinners in Hell One Sunday —inspired by Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” I walked out as a sinnerIn the hands of an angry God— And the earth opened up before meOn my path to ChurchAnd I could not keep my foot fromSlipping and slid down and downAnd soon stood at the mouth of Hell.

The Catholic Churchand Eastern Orthodoxyand even (goodness me)Lutherans and Methodists tooand a whole slewof protestantismsaccidentally kept alivethe truth that Jesus is God..A half-truth, but stil…

Global faith leaders including the United Methodist Churchand civil society to gather in New York to explore multilateral responses to concerns like climate change, human rights, peacebuilding, and emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence.

2 hours ago Pallab Ghosh ,Science correspondent , Alison Francis ,Senior Science Journalist , Kevin Churchand Emily Selvadurai The four astronauts of Artemis II say their mission gave the world a sense of hope and unity at a time when both feel in short supply. At their first Nasa news conference since returning last Friday, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen said they left as friends and came back as something closer - bound by an experience that no earthly language can fully contain. More than the technical milestones, the mission reminded them of what being human actually means: laughter, joy, tears, and an instinct toward one another that transcends borders. And their message was clear: Landing on the Moon is not the distant dream it once seemed. "We wanted to go out and try to do something that would bring the world together, to unite the world," Wiseman told reporters at Nasa's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We were certainly hooked on this mission, but when we came home, we were shocked at the global outpouring of support, of pride, of ownership of this mission... we want to thank the world. Thank you for tuning in."...

3 hours ago Pallab Ghosh ,Science Correspondent, Cape Canaveral , Alison Francis ,Senior Science Journalist , Kevin Churchand Emily Selvadurai The four astronauts on the Artemis II mission have now left the Earth's orbit, after their Orion spacecraft fired its main engine for a final push towards the Moon. The five minute and 55 second engine burn, known as the translunar injection (TLI), went "flawlessly", Nasa's Dr Lori Glaze said afterwards. And from the Orion capsule, Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen said the crew was "feeling pretty good up here on our way to the Moon". Artemis II is now on a looping path that will carry the crew around the far side of the Moon and back again. It is the first time since 1972 that humans have travelled outside of the Earth's orbit. On the livestream from Orion, Earth is slowly shrinking, as the capsule moves further and further into space. Hansen, who is the first non-American to travel to the Moon - told Nasa's mission control that the crew "firmly felt the power" of those who have persevered and worked so hard on this mission. "Humanity has once again shown what we are capable of," he said. "It's...

2 hours ago Pallab Ghosh ,Science Correspondent, Kennedy Space Centre , Alison Francis ,Senior Science Journalist , Kevin Churchand Emily Selvadurai "People going up to the Moon is kind of cool," eight-year-old Isiah says. He is among the 400,000 people expected to cram the causeways, beaches and motel balconies of Florida's Space Coast for the launch attempt of Artemis II tonight. They will watch as four astronauts blast into space in the hope of flying around the Moon and potentially travelling further from Earth than anyone has ever been before. Nasa's 10-day test flight will not land on the Moon. However, the crew may witness views of the lunar landscapes that have never been seen by human eyes. Amanda Garcia has travelled more than 1,000 miles from New Mexico to witness the launch. "I'm pretty excited about it," she tells us. "I came out here to see it, and I heard it's gonna be a great show. A lot of people are going to be here." Beyond the Kennedy Space Centre launch site, along the lagoon and beaches of Titusville and Cocoa Beach, bars are advertising "moonshots" and hotels are warning guests to expect long delays getting to and from...