Charisma Magazine

A North Carolina-based evangelist hopes to help lift a spirit of heaviness that has fallen over Haiti since a massive earthquake rocked the island nation in January, killing more than 200,000 people.

Ben Cerullo, 33, wants to bless and encourage the Haitian people through Hope Alive, a large-scale event in Port-au-Prince Friday that will include music from Christian rap and reggae artists The Ambassador, J.R., and Prodigal Son, as well as praise and worship.

Christians who believe the nation is in an unprecedented moral and spiritual crisis launched a 40-day prayer and fasting campaign this week. The time of consecration will lead up to a large-scale "May Day" prayer gathering being held May 1 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Organizers of May Day 2010 are calling on Christians to repent and seek God "for His mercy instead of the judgment our many sins deserve." The 30-member host committee includes Christian and conservative leaders ranging from Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to prayer leaders Mike and Cindy Jacobs to Republican Rep. Randy Forbes of Virginia.

A new poll released Tuesday finds broad Christian support for comprehensive immigration reform.

The national phone survey of 1,201 Americans showed that 56 percent of respondents believe the U.S. immigration system is completely or mostly broken. The percentage was relatively the same among Christians—56 percent of evangelicals, 52 percent of mainline Protestants and 60 percent of Catholics say the immigration system is broken.

Photo: The March for America rally drew 200,000 people, including thousands of Christians, to the National Mall March 21 in support of immigration reform

A spate of lawsuits filed Tuesday show signs that the health care reform battle is far from over.

Just minutes after President Obama signed the controversial bill into law, Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum submitted a lawsuit on behalf of his and 12 other states challenging the constitutionality of the health reform law because it requires Americans to buy health insurance or face stiff penalties.

Photo:  Floriday Attorney General Bill McCollum

"This bipartisan effort by attorneys general around the country should put the federal government on notice that we will not tolerate the constitutional rights of our citizens and the sovereignty of our states to be trampled on," said McCollum, a Republican candidate for governor who also claims the health bill will cripple his state financially.

Minority Christians in southern Karnataka state are under an unprecedented wave of Christian persecution, having faced more than 1,000 attacks in 500 days, according to an independent investigation by a former judge of the Karnataka High Court.

The spate began on Sept. 14, 2008, when at least 12 churches were attacked in one day in Karnataka's Mangalore city, in Dakshina Kannada district, said Justice Michael Saldanha, former judge of the Karnataka High Court.