Christians around the world spent their first Pentecost Sunday in decades without the comforting voice of Ravi Zacharias, who U.S. Vice President Mike Pence recalled as a great evangelist.
A pastor in Mississippi has reported that his church building was burned down because his congregation had gathered together in person while COVID-19 restrictions were in place, USA Today (USAT) reported Wednesday.
The Chicago Health Department Commissioner has told the Elim Pentecostal Church and other Romanian churches that if they do not stop holding services of more than 10 people in accordance with COVID-19 restrictions, the city “will take all necessary measures to abate the nuisance to ensure the safety of the City’s residents,” CNS News reported on May 27.”
The Justice Department criticized Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak for treating churches “unequally” in his guidelines for reopening states.
Sixteen Christian families from a church in India’s Jharkhand were physically threatened every night for nearly three weeks by gangs of animist worshippers demanding they reconvert to the Sarna religion, Morning Star News reported on May 26. The families (around 130 people) have ancestral connections to the religion, whose followers worship a god called Dharmes.
Leading rights groups and church officials will hold Thursday their annual protest and prayer vigil against the reported massive persecution of Christians in Eritrea for the first time online, amid ongoing coronavirus lockdown restrictions in Britain.
The brother-in-law of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who faced the death penalty for “blasphemy” against Islam, has been killed, local Christians confirmed Wednesday.
When asked what authority he had in mind when threatening to overrule governors on reopening houses of worship, President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “can absolutely do it” if he wants to.
The state of California issued guidelines Monday under which houses of worship may reopen. The Department of Health guidelines were published even though the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 ban on public gatherings could stand. The decision to allow churches to reopen also follows interventions last week by the US State Department, which specified that California’s ban on church gatherings was unfair, and by President Trump, who called on all states to lift bans on religious assemblies.
Egypt’s government has recognized an additional 70 churches, but minority Christians fear more violence and threats in this mainly Muslim nation.
Islamic militants have brutally murdered at least hundreds of Christians in Nigeria this year, a new investigative report claims.
Smoke and screams of panicked people filled central Hong Kong on Sunday as security forces fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators.
Pastor Tun N., who was abducted by rebels in Myanmar and thought to have been killed, has been reunited with his family, Worthy News learned Saturday.
Tensions were rising Saturday after U.S. President Donald Trump demanded that states allow churches and other houses of worship to reopen from stay-at-home restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Saying America needed more prayer, Trump threatened to override governors’ orders though he faced constitutional limits to enforce these policies.
Pending judicial review, the Oregon Supreme Court held in place on May 19 Gov. Kate Brown’s stay-at-home orders that limit in-person church services to 25 people, the New York Times reported. Ten churches had filed suit, arguing that the orders placed an undue burden on houses of worship that wanted to have services with social distancing. The state appealed to the Supreme Court after Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff ruled May 18 that Brown overstepped her authority in not seeking legislative approval to extend her stay-at-home orders beyond a 28-day limit.
A Pentecostal church in the U.S. state of Mississippi, which challenges coronavirus restrictions, has been destroyed by a suspected arson fire.
Wycliffe Associates, an international organization that empowers mother-tongue Bible translators and partners with local churches in the advancement of Bible translation, has recently identified 10 language groups that don’t yet have complete Bibles, although translation projects began decades ago.
Four former Muslims who became Christians and part of Iran’s leading house church movements have been freed from an Iranian jail, Christian activists confirmed Thursday. Kathrin Sajadpour, Moslem Rahimi, and another Christian, of the ‘Church of Iran,’ were reportedly freed on a reduced bail of 200 million tomans ($11,500) this week, Wednesday.
The Justice Department has told California Gov. Gavin Newsom that his current COVID-19 order prohibiting worship services amounts to “unequal treatment of faith communities,” the Washington Examiner reports. In a letter sent Tuesday by the Department’s Civil Rights Division, the governor was told it is apparently unfair that church should be closed when “non-essential” businesses have opened in phase two of California’s Reopening Plan.
An administrative court in France has overturned a government ban on meetings in churches and other places of worship. The case underscored broader tensions in coronavirus-hit Europe over religious freedom amid an ongoing pandemic.