Luis Palau, the international evangelist who preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to more than 1 billion people through media and evangelistic events, has died, his family confirmed. The 86-year-old preacher, a close friend of the late evangelist Billy Graham, passed away after a decision to stop all treatment for his incurable lung cancer.
The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a bill that would block state and local government officials from forcing houses of worship to close, even under circumstances like a pandemic, the Christian Post reports. House Bill 2648, the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act, passed by 80-18 votes in the House and now goes to the state Senate for consideration.
Wycliffe Bible Translators says the COVID-19 pandemic displaced some of its staff but that the urgent work continues as 1.5 billion people still do not have the full Bible available in their language.
The U.S. Supreme Court has sided once again with California houses of worship in their most recent request for an injunction against a county health order, pending appeal in the Ninth Circuit and disposition of a petition for a writ of cert.
Pope Francis’ perilous pilgrimage to Iraq this week, due to start on Friday, may cast light on the painful plight of Christians in their ancestral homeland, yet the most significant threat facing the community is neither Sunni terrorists nor corrupt government persecutors, but the heavy hand of neighboring Iran and the proxy militias it funds and arms.
As legal and cultural fighting continues over religious convictions and LGBTQ rights, America’s largest Christian adoption agency, Bethany Christian Services, has decided to change a longstanding policy and begin placing children with LGBT parents for foster care and adoption through all its offices in 32 states. Christianity Today reported Monday.
California churches are celebrating after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered Santa Clara County to allow indoor worship services amid a pending appeal over COVID restrictions.
“The end seems near” for international evangelist Luis Palau after a decision to stop all treatment for his incurable lung cancer and start hospice care, his family said Friday.
More than 500 US evangelical pastors and leaders have condemned ‘Radical Christian Nationalism’ in an open letter responding to the January 6 assault on the US Capitol, Religious News reports. Entitled “Evangelical Leaders Statement Condemning Christian Nationalism’s role in the January 6th Insurrection,” the letter explains the signatories come from diverse backgrounds and political persuasions, but stand together against ‘the perversion of the Christian faith” displayed at the insurrection, and against “the theology and the conditions” that led to the attack itself.
A Canadian pastor is in police custody in Edmonton, Canada, after he refused to stop holding church services in defiance of local COVID-19 regulations, Christianity Today reports. Pastor James Coates of GraceLife Church handed himself in to police on Tuesday last week, and twice refused bail conditions that he stop holding services that defy regulations.
Leading Christian rights activist, broadcaster, and author Faith McDonnell, has become director of advocacy at the U.S.-based Katartismos Global (KGI Global) charity. The group says it “exists to equip the Church for mission and ministry” by supporting persecuted Christians and other believers in need.
Trailblazing Christian music artist Carman Licciardello, known to fans simply as Carman, has died.
Over 500 British churches have joined a UK-wide initiative to welcome Hong Kong residents escaping China’s increasingly oppressive policies in the city, the Christian Post reports.
A US federal court has permanently blocked New York’s highly contested COVID-19 restrictions on indoor worship, the Christian Post reports. Tuesday’s ruling by District Judge Kiyo A. Matsumoto follows a temporary block on the restrictions that were issued by the US Supreme Court in November.
A new survey reveals that some pastors worry their church may not survive the COVID-19 pandemic because of financial pressures, Christian Today reports. Titled “Something other than a Building,” and compiled by Churches in Ireland and Queen’s University, Belfast, the survey shows finances have been a source of anxiety for most of the pastors who participated.
Attacks against free speech by big tech companies have quickly escalated into a full-blown censorship campaign as social media giants are now regularly targeting and silencing Christians and conservatives. Their latest target? Focus on the Family.
Souls are being saved and God is being lifted up in Florida as worship leader Sean Feucht presses ahead with his outdoor “Let Us Worship” rallies across the U.S.
The FBI is investigating a bomb blast that broke windows at a California Baptist church that has been subject to protests for what has been described as extremist, hateful messaging against the LGBT community, Religion News reports. El Monte police said the city’s First Works Baptist church building was attacked at 1 am Saturday when an “improvised explosive device” was thrown at it. No one was in the building at the time and no injuries have been reported.
The Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Nevada church protesting Gov. Steve Sisolak’s coronavirus worship restrictions.
A Christian advocacy group has said one of President Joe Biden’s first executive orders is an “assault on biological reality” that negatively targets people of faith and faith-based organizations that provide social services, Christian Today reports. The Family Research Council (FRC) said the president’s Executive Order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation may result in Christians having to violate their consciences and even lose government contracts for failure to comply.