Russian Court Fines Virus-Denying Priest
A Russian court has fined an influential priest for publicly denying the existence of the new coronavirus and urging his followers to ignore government ordered lockdowns.
A Russian court has fined an influential priest for publicly denying the existence of the new coronavirus and urging his followers to ignore government ordered lockdowns.
A group of California churches filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom Friday because state COVID-19 lockdown orders prohibit indoor services, even while people are allowed to gather in ongoing racial injustice protests, Fox News reports.
Portland community leaders have asked for a cessation of violent protest in order for discussions to take place on the issues protestors want to raise, Fox News reported Monday. Portland has been the scene of violent protests in the weeks following the police killing of George Floyd, such that federal forces were dispatched recently in a controversial quest to end the clashes and turmoil.
Jonathan Cahn, author of The Harbinger and many other bestsellers has launched The Return: a national and global movement of prayer and repentance culminating in Washington DC on September 26, 40 days before the presidential election. “America is in deep, deep trouble,” Cahn told CBN News. “The Return is a chance for America, 40 days prior to our next election, to turn back to God, just like Nineveh.”
America’s churches could be facing a critical COVID-19 financial crisis.
Three evangelical churches in California have sued Gov. Gavin Newsom for banning singing and chanting in places of worship but permitting such activities elsewhere.
Criminal charges against a Virginia pastor who held a Palm Sunday service in violation of coronavirus lockdown orders were dropped on Friday. He faced a $2,500 fine and possible jail time.
Days before California churches closed due to a surge in coronavirus cases, there was a massive evangelical Christian gathering on Huntington Beach near Los Angeles.
Christians in eastern China were recovering of their injuries Thursday after trying to prevent the removal of crosses from churches by Chinese government forces.
Indian church leaders have condemned the killing of a young Protestant missionary and pastor by suspected Maoist rebels in western India.
Iraqi Christians want prayers for Christian and Kurdish families suffering from Turkish bombardments and incursions in Northern Iraq, aid workers say.
Christian converts in Sudan are rejoicing after the transitional government scrapped legislation that made leaving Islam punishable by death, Worthy News learned.
An international humanitarian aid organization has said Christians living in the formerly ISIS-controlled Nineveh Plains of Iraq are now in danger of extinction, the Christian Post reports. Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) published a report this week in which it states that political and sectarian tensions are driving Christians out of the area.
People in Poland went to the polls Sunday in what commentators called a razor-blade-close presidential election runoff amid a coronavirus pandemic. Voters were deciding whether to give another chance to the current conservative President Andrzej Duda, or to make the liberal mayor of Warsaw the next head-of-state.
Turkey is expelling foreign Christians as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan seeks to increase support from conservative Islamic leaders, rights investigators told Worthy News.
At least 12 Christians are understood to have been arrested by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRG) in what is believed to have been a coordinated round-up last week, the Christian Post reports. Announced by Article 18, a UK-based human rights non-profit organization, the arrests were said to have taken place in the cities of Tehran, Karaj and Malayer on June 30 and July 1.
After finding 40 churches connected to around 650 cases of the coronavirus, The New York Times is calling Sunday worship services “a major source” of COVID-19 cases.
New details emerged Thursday of a young Christian man who was reportedly murdered in eastern India for refusing to abandon his faith in Christ.
Churches and Christian non-profits were among religious organizations that received at least $6 billion in COVID relief loans under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) run by the Small Business Administration (SBA), Ministry Watch reports. In order to receive PPP funds, applicants must claim: “Current economic uncertainty makes this loan request necessary to support the ongoing operations of the Applicant.” PPP beneficiaries in the religious organization category also included mosques, synagogues and other houses of worship.
The US Supreme Court reaffirmed Wednesday that religious schools and institutions have a First Amendment right to choose their own staff.