The coronavirus relief Paycheck Protection Program was instrumental in keeping 75 percent of churches open and other Christian organizations fully-staffed amid the government lockdowns nationwide. This is according to a survey by Vanderbloeman, which collected data from over 900 churches in a period of months.

The Christian Post reports that even though it was illegal for many churches to meet in person, the Paycheck Protection Program ensured those staffed at houses of worship did not lose a paycheck.

According to the survey, the program provided “unprecedented support” for Christian organizations around the country.

The Paycheck Protection Program ensured churches were able to continue their charitable, medical, and essential services amid widespread lockdowns because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Paycheck Protection Program was part of the CAREs act and doled out a total of $689 billion, of which between $6 and $10 billion were distributed to churches, The Christian Post reports. The program ended on August 8, 2020, but some proponents of the program wanted to keep it going to continue to protect peoples’ paychecks.

Congress, however, could not reach a compromise regarding the relief package, as both parties attempted to add a host of expenses, unrelated to the coronavirus, to the relief bills.

Reportedly, the Catholic Church received some $1.4…

The White House on Tuesday criticized the mayor of Washington, D.C., for publishing a new report that recommends the federal government consider removing or relocating the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument and multiple other historical properties.

The 23-page report was released by a working group assembled by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and was posted on the mayor’s website. Bowser, a Democrat, put the working group together in July and charged it with reviewing the legacy of namesakes properties to “determine if the individual, in an individual capacity or as part of a group, participated in the oppression of African Americans and/or other communities of color, or contributed to the nation’s history of systemic racism and other biases.”

The report recommends the federal government “remove, relocate, or contextualize” eight statues or memorials, including the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. Others include statues or memorials of Andrew Jackson, Benjamin Franklin, George Mason, Albert Pike, Christopher Columbus and Francis Griffith Newlands. 

The report also recommends the city rename 21 public schools, including ones named after Jefferson, Alexander Graham Bell, Zachary Taylor, Francis Scott Key, John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson. 

The group was dubbed the District of Columbia Facilities and Commemorative…

Several abortion supporters fired back against former Planned Parenthood executive Abby Johnson after she made remarks in a speech at the Republican National Convention that abortion has “a smell.”

A writer for Cosmopolitan who had an abortion as a 23-year-old told Johnson her abortion smelled like “freedom,” according to Faithwire.

In an article posted on Cosmo’s website, author Danielle Campoamor said her abortion smelled like her nurse’s “perfume” who held her hand during the seven-minute procedure, as well as “barbecued ribs and a glass of Maker’s Mark” and her “brand new studio apartment.”

She continued, stating that her dream job of being a writer would never have happened if “I had a child as a poor, unhealthy 23-year-old.”

Johnson took to Instagram to respond to Campoamor’s remarks.

“Of course you don’t remember how your abortion smelled, because you were sedated,” she said in a video on Instagram. “And you know why you were sedated? That was intentional, too. We sedated you so that you wouldn’t remember what your abortion smelled like. We sedated you so that you wouldn’t remember how bad it hurt when we killed your baby, when that powerful suction machine went into your uterus and sucked your baby out.”

Campoamor responded on Twitter, stating that she wasn’t sedated and was fully aware of what the doctor was doing to…

Black conservative Christian and host of “The Hamilton Corner” podcast recently said the Black Lives Matter movement is associated with witchcraft and Marxist views.

According to The Christian Post, in an Aug. 19 podcast episode called “The BLM Connection to Witchcraft,” Abraham Hamilton III argues that Black Lives Matter is “Marxist, anti-Christ, anti-family, [and] anti-man organization.”

Hamilton pointed to a quote from Patrisse Cullors, one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter Movement.

“I’m calling for spirituality to be deeply radical,” Cullors said. “We’re not just having a social justice movement, this is a spiritual movement.”

Hamilton also played a clip of a June conversation between Cullors and Dr. Melina Abdullah, a professor of African studies at California State University Los Angeles who founded the BLM L.A. chapter.

In the interview, Abdullah talks about “meeting” with Wakiesha Wilson, the Black woman who died in police custody in 2016 in LA.

“We’ve become very intimate with the spirits that we call on regularly,” Abdullah said in the clip. “Each of them seems to have a different presence and personality. You know, I laugh a lot with Wakiesha … I didn’t meet her in her body, right? I met her through this work.”

Cullors said in the interview that she felt “connected” in a “deeply spiritual”…

On Friday, Evangelist Franklin Graham spoke with CBN News Senior Analyst David Brody regarding the current political atmosphere, his upcoming prayer march and the Democratic Party’s socialist agenda.

Regarding the recent Democratic and Republican national conventions, Graham asserted that the Democratic Party is “opposed to faith.”

“The Democrats are really, if anything, they are opposed to faith.” Graham asserted.

Graham acknowledged that while his father, the late evangelist Billy Graham, was a lifelong democrat, even he saw the significant transformation within the Democratic Party as it became “a party of the left.”

“It’s a socialist party. They want socialism for this country,” Graham argued, according to CBN News.

Graham also addressed the debate within the church between those planning to vote for President Trump’s re-election based on their faith and those who take issue with his personality. As an example, Brody cited members of Graham’s own family such as his daughter’s outspoken support of the President, whereas his niece criticized evangelicals in an op-ed for their support of him.

“Well, I understand people have different opinions in the evangelical community. I’m not a spokesman for them,” he contended. “I’m just one person and so there’s a lot of opinions and ideas and views and unfortunately, people that don’t know the…

NASHVILLE (RNS) — Keith Getty’s life is usually filled with singing.

Leading worship at Christian conferences.

A national singing tour, including a standing-room-only hymn sing at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Irish Christmas concerts at venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and a series of megachurches.

Almost all of it with groups of fellow Christians — which he says is one of the primary tasks of his faith and one made difficult during COVID-19.

“We are made to sing,” Getty said. “So there’s a real sadness.”

Getty spoke to Religion News Service a few days before the kick-off of the annual Sing! conference, which draws tens of thousands of attendees. The conference began Sunday (Aug. 30) and runs through Wednesday (Sept. 2).

In the past, the event has been in person.

This year, it’s online and includes prerecorded sessions mingled with live commentary from Getty, his wife, Kristyn, and Christian author and speaker Trillia Newbell.

There will be singing as well. The Gettys and their band recorded several sessions of hymn singing at the Grand Ole Opry — and then asked attendees to record themselves singing hymns on their phones. Those voices will be mixed with the band’s recording — to provide a virtual version of congregational singing.

Getty, a hymn writer best known for co-writing the 2002 song “In Christ Alone,” one of the most popular…