The legal battle over government-mandated closure of churches is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Liberty Counsel filed an appeal Wednesday to the high court on behalf of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church, a Chicago church that is being threatened with closure for defying a state order that bans church gatherings larger than 10 people. Liberty Counsel also is representing Logos Baptist Ministries.

Meanwhile, Thomas More Society filed an appeal to the Supreme Court over the weekend on behalf of South Bay Pentecostal Church, a Chula Vista, Calif., congregation that’s also under state restrictions.

Either case could resolve the nationwide legal debate over the state-mandated closure of churches during the coronavirus pandemic.

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has given the state of Illinois until Thursday night to respond to Liberty Counsel’s appeal. Kavanaugh handles emergency applications from the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which includes Illinois. 

Supreme Court Justice Elana Kagan, who handles emergency applications from the Ninth Circuit, also gave California until Thursday night to respond.

The churches argue they can meet safely while practicing social distancing and following health guidelines. The briefs argue the closures violate the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. 

Appeals courts have split on the issue of church closures, with the Seventh…

A committee report authorized by Boise’s new mayor has sparked concern among conservatives for its promotion of multiple controversial policies, including free abortions and pre-kindergarten sex education.

The 13-page report, titled “A More Equitable City for Everyone,” was written by an 18-member transition team put together by Boise Mayor Lauren McLean, who took office in January. It was posted on the city’s website and makes clear it is “A Final Transition Team Report for Mayor Lauren McLean.”

The report tackles a wide range of issues. It recommends, among other things, “free contraception as defined by the CDC, abortion and reproductive health care” and collaboration with the Boise School District “to establish sex education at pre-k level-12th.”

The report also promotes “policies that would effectively make Boise a sanctuary city, including ending coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” according to a summary in the Idaho Statesman.

Dustin Hurst of the Idaho Freedom Foundation said the report would “fundamentally transform Boise into a socialist enclave” by making the city look “something like Portland, Seattle, or San Francisco.”

The report further recommends the city:

• Commit “to an ongoing and robust efforts to interrupt white-dominant/white supremacist culture with a multi-layered strategy and designate a full-time City of…

A new video containing the sworn depositions of Planned Parenthood executives shows the abortion giant’s employees breaking down a contract between them and a stem cell research lab for the sale of fetal tissue.

The revealing video was released on Tuesday by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and shows Planned Parenthood officials – as part of their own lawsuit concerning publicly released, undercover footage that showed Planned Parenthood workers discussing the sale of fetal tissue  – making admissions regarding fetal sales while under oath.

While under investigation in 2015, the abortion giant told Congress that they “rebuffed” a proposition to sell fetal livers for $750 per liver and liver/thymus pairs for $1600. 

In the videoed testimonies, however, when asked about an email chain between her and Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Regional Director Dyann Santos regarding a contract for fetal tissue sales, PPGC’s Senior Director of Abortion Access Tram Nguyen admitted that she was willing “to move forward with” the contract.

Chief Medical Officer at Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Dr. Dorothy Furgerson, also confirmed in the video that the abortion facility would only be “reimbursed” for viable fetal tissue and organ samples.

Following the video’s release, CMP President David Daleiden asserted in a press release that the abortion giant had lied…

A Florida Pastor has a new lease on life following a near-death experience.

In mid-March, Pastor Mark Berney of River of Life Assembly of God Church in Merritt Island, Florida fell back in his chair and started seizing during the course of a sermon he was preaching.

Shortly afterward, Berney awoke, encircled by church members after they called 911 and dashed towards the stage to pray for him.

The pastor was then taken instantly by an ambulance to AdventHealth Orlando (Formerly Florida Hospital).

The doctors there told Berney, 61, that because of past heart issues he would need a heart transplant.

“My mortality was real — it’s that way for everybody,” Berney said in a press release obtained by Faithwire.

While the preacher admits that he had “no guarantees” over the future of his physical body, he recognized the power of faith.

“So I grabbed a hold of my faith and I drove down where God was concerned and recognized that He’s my prize, ultimately. When I signed up for Him, He’s my ultimate destiny,” Berney asserted.

“That began giving me peace of mind — knowing I was gonna be OK,” he continued. “No matter what, I couldn’t lose. I’d always win.”

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the pastor underwent a successful heart transplant on April 22.

“Words cannot express how I feel,” Berney said of the donor and his surviving family. “How…

A Mississippi pastor says he and his congregants will pray for the person who set their church on fire last week.

“We recognize that not everyone shares our belief in the Word of God as revealed in the Bible,” Jerry Waldrop, senior pastor of First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs, wrote in a commentary for USA Today. “We are not offended that others don’t share our firmly held belief that gathering together to worship and to study the Bible is an essential duty and necessary to the growth of the church and its members.

“And we will pray for the soul and peace of mind of someone who would harbor such hatred that he would take from us our cherished spiritual home,” he added.

The arson attack seems to stem from the church refusing to shut down for in-person gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, Waldrop said. The church was badly damaged.

“Bet you stay home now, you hypokrists [sic],” a graffiti message written in the parking lot of the church says.

Waldrop had filed a lawsuit against local officials claiming that law enforcement had overruled state restrictions put in place because of the pandemic. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves had said that churches were “essential” and could stay open.

Waldrop says in his lawsuit that police interrupted a Bible study at the church and later the Easter service.

After the Easter service was disrupted, congregants went to a…

Pro-life groups within Texas are claiming victory after the ACLU and two pro-choice groups dropped their lawsuits against seven towns that had declared themselves to be “sanctuary cities for the unborn”

The ACLU of Texas said this week it was dropping the suit after the seven towns removed language within their ordinances that called pro-choice groups and abortion clinics “criminal organizations.” The ACLU represented the Lilith Fund and the Texas Equal Access Fund in the suit, which was filed in February. 

Language within the ordinances calling the towns “sanctuary cities for the unborn” will remain. Also unchanged is language that calls abortion “murder” and “the purposeful and intentional ending of a human life” and that says “babies are the most innocent among us and deserve equal protection under the law as any other member of our American posterity as defined by the United States Constitution,” as the Naples, Texas ordinance says. 

“The City Council has found it necessary to outlaw human abortion within the city limits,” the Naples ordinance says. In addition to Naples, the other Texas towns are Waskom, Joaquin, Tenaha, Rusk, Gary and Wells.

“This is a total and complete victory for the cities that have enacted these ordinances,” said Mark Lee Dickson of Right to Life of East Texas, which promoted the ordinances. “This lawsuit…

(RNS) — The United Methodist Church has rescheduled its General Conference for Aug. 29-Sept. 7, 2021, at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis.

And it’s looking into ways to use technology to ensure delegates can participate in the quadrennial meeting, according to the Commission on the General Conference.

The General Conference — during which delegates from across the globe are expected to discuss a proposal to split the denomination over the inclusion of its LGBTQ members — had been set for earlier this month in Minneapolis. It was postponed in March when the convention center announced it was restricting events at the venue to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

“We’re grateful that we were able to secure new dates while keeping the site of General Conference in Minneapolis. Nearly seven years of pre-planning and preparations by the host team have gone into this event,” commission chair Kim Simpson said in a written statement.

A group of young delegates had circulated a petition asking the commission to reconsider rescheduling the meeting at the start of the academic year.

The commission “expressed regret” in a statement that it was unable to accommodate that request without losing a substantial amount of money, finding a new meeting location or pushing the event to 2022. It also agreed to gather a group, including young delegates, to…

The remaining members of Christian Band Hawk Nelson have released a statement following their front man’s departure from Christianity.

On Thursday, bass guitar player Daniel Biro, guitar player Micah Kuiper and drum player David Niacaris released a statement offering love and support to the band’s former frontman Jon Stiengard, CCM Magazine reports.

The statement starts out with the band members recognizing Steingard’s struggle in his faith journey and emphasizing what they call the band’s main purpose: showing people that “THEY matter.”

“Our mission as Hawk Nelson has always been to inspire and encourage all people with the truth that God is FOR them and not against them. In that message’s most simple and purest form, that THEY matter,” the statement reads.

“So now we turn that truth towards one of our own. That God is still FOR Jon & he still matters. Why? Because that truth doesn’t change just because we question it,” the band members wrote.

The men then encouraged people to treat each other with love no matter where they are in their faith journey. “WE are called to Love one another unconditionally, as God loves us. We should also encourage and challenge one another in our Faith, seeking truth,” they wrote.

As Christian Headlines previously reported, earlier this week, Steingard took to social media to announce that he “no longer…