This week, a California District Court approved the settlement of Harvest Rock Church and Harvest International Ministry’s lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom, establishing the first state-wide permanent injunction in the country against COVID restrictions on churches and places of worship.
A licensed Christian marriage and family therapist has filed suit against Washington state because of its ban on “conversion therapy” (sexual orientation counseling for minors), the Christian Post reports. Licensed therapist Brian Tingley filed suit in the US District Court of the Western District of Washington at Tacoma on Thursday; the defendants include the state’s Attorney General and Secretary of Health.
Hundreds of people attended a prayer vigil at a Catholic church in New York City’s Brooklyn Friday night, after a vandal entered the church grounds the night before and smashed a statue of Jesus that was there. Police are investigating what is believed to be a hate crime against the St. Athanasius Church, in which the perpetrator also burned the church’s American flag.
In the first such move by any major US Christian denomination, the Sierra Pacific Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) has elected a transgender person to serve as Bishop, Christian Headlines reports.
Finnish lawmaker Päivi Räsänen faces imprisonment after being charged with three counts of “hate speech” because she publically shared her Biblical views on marriage and sexuality, ADF International reports. Räsänen was subject to lengthy interviews and a year of waiting before the Finnish Prosecutor General finally decided to bring charges against her.
A recent ABS-commissioned study by Baylor University researchers found that combining education about mental health best practices with Bible reading can have a significant benefit. In their study, this reduced the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and increased forgiveness, compassion, and sense of purpose.
This year’s National Day of Prayer event at the U.S. Capitol appears to have been canceled after one evangelical leader was denied a permit to hold the prayer gathering at the building.
Indiana’s Governor Eric Holcomb (R) has signed a new law determining that houses of worship provide essential services, and no restrictions may be placed on them during a declared emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nearly three-quarters of faculty at the historically Christian Seattle Pacific University (SPU) voted ‘no confidence’ in the school’s board of trustees because the board affirmed the college’s expectation that hired faculty will live by Biblical standards on sexuality, Christian Headlines reports. The faculty vote was triggered after adjunct nursing professor Jéaux Rinedah claimed in January that he was denied a full time teaching position at the school because he is gay.
New Mexico on Friday eliminated coronavirus-related capacity restrictions on religious services.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) has published a report showing that around 5.2 billion people live in countries where religious freedom is severely violated and restricted, International Christian Concern reports. These countries include China, India, and Pakistan, which have the world’s largest populations.
A new poll released this month shows that a large majority of Christians who attend church worship services are encouraged by the experience, Christian Headlines reports.
More than 1,200 leaders of churches in the United Kingdom have asked Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to establish so-called vaccine passports.
A Christian college in Missouri has filed suit against the US government, claiming that President Joe Biden’s ‘Executive order on Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation’ violates the school’s First Amendment right to exercise freedom of religion.
A new survey has found that just six percent of American adults hold to a Biblical worldview, while nearly nine out of 10 hold to syncretism, a mixture of worldviews, Christian Headlines reports. The study was carried out by the Cultural Research Center (CRC) at Arizona Christian University on a nationally representative sample of 2,000 people in February 2021.
Officials in Alberta, Canada, shut down a church that broke coronavirus restrictions by erecting chain-link metal fencing around the building.
Evangelicals across the U.S. are growing more divided over the use of COVID-19 vaccines.
A federal court ruled Monday that Michigan’s Wayne State University (WSU) officials violated the constitutional rights of the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship student club in 2017: the officials revoked InterVarsity’s registered status saying it was “discriminatory” for the group to require its leaders to be Christian. The lawsuit was filed against the university’s board of governors, board members, and administrators.
John McArthur’s Grace Community Church in Los Angeles County, California filed new documents Friday in an ongoing legal fight over the freedom to hold indoor services amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Just the News reports.
Pastor Artur Pawlowski of the Cave of Adullam Church in Alberta, Canada has been filmed ejecting coronavirus health inspectors and police who arrived at his church during a Passover service Saturday.