Christian Today staff writer

• Bishop slams 'archaic' UK marriage rules

  A bill aimed at ending the 'historic injustice' of excluding mothers' names from marriage certificates has passed its first parliamentary stage.

• Luis Palau family: Cancer has spread but he is at peace with the Lord

  The family of evangelist Luis Palau, diagnosed recently with stage 4 lung cancer, has said the cancer has spread but that he and his wife Patricia 'remain absolutely at peace in the Lord'.

• Bear Grylls 'helped so many people explore faith', says Alpha

  Bear Grylls is being praised for his role as the face of the evangelistic course Alpha last year as his arrangement comes to an end.

• Former Archbishop of Canterbury accuses Davos elite of 'serious failure' to address poverty

  Using GDP as a measure to relieve poverty is an experiment that has failed, world leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos this are being told by the charity Christian Aid.

• German Catholic bishops reject Pope's re-translation of the Lord's Prayer

  Catholic bishops in Germany have rejected Pope Francis' controversial suggestion of re-translating the Lord's Prayer. The Pope said in December that the Church should follow the adoption of French Catholics, who render 'lead us not into temptation' as 'do not less us enter into temptation'.

• US refugee agency damns Trump's travel ban as 'net loss' that hurt persecuted Christians

  World Relief, one of America's largest refugee resettlement agency has given a statement damning to the Trump administration, one year after Trump's infamous 'travel ban' on refugees was effected. The organisation said that needy refugees, including many Christians, had been denied 'a place of refuge and hope' in what was unequivocally a 'net loss' for the US.

• 'Juvenile' interpretations of the Bible blamed for mental illness and self-harm among LGBT people

  Irresponsible church leaders who encourage a literal and 'juvenile' interpretation of the Bible are partly to blame for heightened mental illness and physical harm among LGBT people, according to a leading UK evangelical Christian.

• Congo Cardinal likens his country to an 'open prison' following deadly crackdown on Church-backed protests

  A Cardinal from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has likened his country to an 'open prison' after security forces killed at least six people taking part in Church-backed protests against the president, Joseph Kabila, on Sunday.

• Majority of Brits unhappy at gambling industry regulations and 14.5 million know a problem gambler

  A majority of British people feel the gambling industry is not doing enough to help care for problem gamblers, new research commissioned by the Christian social policy charity CARE has revealed.

• Gen Z: Increasingly atheist, post-Christian and don't go to church, survey finds

  Americans belonging to Generation Z (born between 1999 and 2015) are the least religious in the country's history, a new study has found. Those is the 'post-millennial' cohort are less likely to attend church, and more likely to see science and the Bible as incompatible than previous generations.

• Does Ireland have a demon crisis? Priest calls for back-up over 'exponential' rise in demand for exorcisms

  Ireland urgently needs more exorcists to tackle the 'exponential' rise in demonic activity, a Catholic priest has said.

• Who was the worst king of Israel – and what was his sin?

  After the death of King Solomon the Hebrew kingdom split into two, with the larger northern part called Israel and the southern part Judah. There were some truly horrible kings in both countries.