Several evangelical leaders have come to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s defense after a nationalist tabloid controlled by the Chinese Communist Party accused him of “betraying Christianity with lies” that COVID-19 broke out of China’s Wuhan lab.

According to ABC News, in early May, while speaking on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Pompeo said, “While the intelligence community continues to do its work, they should continue to do that and verify so that we are certain. I can tell you that there is a significant amount of evidence that this came from that laboratory in Wuhan.”

Then, on Monday, an editorial by China’s state-owned Global Times newspaper objected to Pompeo’s comments.

The paper accused Pompeo of betraying Christianity by “spreading lies or misleading the public” by asserting that China hid the outbreak.

“[H]is lying for political purposes is contrary to his label as a so-called ‘devout Christian,’” reads the editorial, adding that the “Christian doctrine opposes lying – it’s a sin.”

The editorial goes on to cite scriptures on lying such as, Proverbs 19:9 which says, “a false witness shall not go unpunished. And he that utters lies shall perish,” and from the Ten Commandments, ‘You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.’”

The editorial concludes by saying that Pompeo…

President Trump urged Americans in a National Day of Prayer proclamation Thursday to “come together and pray” that the nation develops “even greater faith” in God’s “divine providence” during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Trump, in his annual National Day of Prayer proclamation, quoted Presidents Washington, Lincoln and Reagan and noted that “from our earliest days, our dependence upon God has brought us to seek His divine counsel and unfailing wisdom.” 

“Today, as much as ever, our prayerful tradition continues as our Nation combats the coronavirus,” the proclamation reads. “During the past weeks and months, our heads have bowed at places outside of our typical houses of worship, whispering in silent solitude for God to renew our spirit and carry us through unforeseen and seemingly unbearable hardships. 

“Even though we have been unable to gather together in fellowship with our church families, we are still connected through prayer and the calming reassurance that God will lead us through life’s many valleys.”

In the midst of “these trying and unprecedented times,” Americans “are reminded that just as those before us turned to God in their darkest hours, so must we seek His wisdom, strength, and healing hand,” the proclamation reads. 

“We pray that He comforts those who have lost loved ones, heals those who are sick,…

Samaritan’s Purse, which operated a field hospital in New York for the coronavirus outbreak, will have to pay state taxes.

According to CBN News, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the group will have to pay taxes on their hospital because the state is “not in a position to provide any subsidies right now.”

The field hospital, which is now shutting down after more than a month in the city, has served some 300 patients in New York City, Christian Headlines previously reported.

Rev. Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, said New York lawmakers asked for help with the pandemic.

“They’re the ones who called us originally,” referring to officials with the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City. “We didn’t call them; they called us,” he said. “And we agreed to go and we have not charged them one penny. All of our services have been paid by God’s people.”

Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan’s Purse, said he was also surprised to learn the organization would have to pay taxes.

“I said, ‘What?’” Isaacs said. “[The financial comptroller] said, ‘Yeah, there’s a law. If you work in New York state for more than 14 days, you have to pay income tax.’ I didn’t know that.”

Isaacs said he’s also concerned about the paperwork and “bureaucracy” involved in paying taxes to the state.

Since…

Former Vice President Joe Biden told the nation’s largest LGBT advocacy group Wednesday he will appoint “pro-equality judges” to the federal judiciary and will make it a “top priority” to pass the Equality Act if elected president.

Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, made the comments to Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David during a livestream the same day HRC officially endorsed him.

“I’m going to make passing [the Equality Act] a top priority my first 100 days, because it’s about who we are,” Biden said.

Biden further said he will “reverse Trump’s actions” and will reinstate anti-discrimination measures he says President Trump has “shredded.” Among them, Biden pledged to let transgender service members serve opening in the military, prohibit discrimination against transgender people in federally funded homeless shelters, and “stop schools from discriminating against LGBTQ students.”

The Equality Act, he said, “makes clear that existing civil rights law banned discrimination based on gender [and] sexual orientation.”

The Equality Act would amend federal laws to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment and housing. Kristen Waggoner, senior vice president of U.S. legal division of Alliance Defending Freedom,…

One-fourth of Americans say their religious faith has grown stronger as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, despite most churches not holding in-person services, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

The poll of 10,139 U.S. adults April 20-26 found that 24 percent said their faith has grown stronger, while 47 percent said it hasn’t changed much and 2 percent said it’s grown weaker. Twenty-six percent said the question wasn’t applicable to them.

The growth in faith has occurred “even as the vast majority of U.S. churchgoers” report that “their congregations have closed regular worship services to the public,” Pew noted.

Members of historically black congregations (56 percent) were the most likely to say their faith has grown stronger, followed by evangelicals (42 percent), Catholics (27 percent) and mainline members (22 percent), according to the survey.

But this growth in faith hasn’t been confined to Christians or even regular churchgoers. Eleven percent of Americans who said their religious affiliation is “nothing in particular” said their faith has grown. Likewise, 26 percent of Americans who attend church only a few times a year and 11 percent who seldom or never attend church said their faith has grown during the pandemic.

Among those who attend church weekly or more, nearly half (48 percent) said their faith has grown.

Only about 2 percent among…

JOS, Nigeria, May 7, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Muslim Fulani herdsmen shot and wounded a Christian leader and his family in one part of Plateau state on Tuesday (May 5), two days after herdsmen killed four Christians in another part of the state, sources said.

Herdsmen shot the Rev. Bayo Famonure, head of Christian high school Messiah College, at his home on the school premises in Gana Ropp village, Barkin Ladi County on Tuesday night, Pastor Famonure said by text message from his bed at General Hospital in the town of Barkin Ladi.

“Yes, I was shot in the head, but the bullet didn’t enter. It’s a miracle,” Pastor Famonure told Morning Star News, saying he was also grateful that bullets in his lower extremities missed bones.

The herdsmen shot his wife in the back and his two children in the feet, but all were in stable condition, he said. His wife, Na’omi, was initially in critical condition and was transferred to Jos University Teaching Hospital (JUTH), where she underwent surgery on her back on Wednesday (May 6), sources said.

“I just praise God,” Pastor Famonure said, adding that even though his wife and two children were shot, “we’re all chatting.”

Eight armed herdsmen invaded the school, closed due to the novel coronavirus, while the pastor and his family were sleeping, said the Rev. Danjuma Byang, secretary of the Plateau chapter of the Christian…

The filmmakers and cast of one of the most popular faith-based films of all time are hosting a Facebook watch party on Friday, with the hope of entertaining and encouraging moviegoers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Filmmakers Alex and Stephen Kendrick will host the watch party while watching and commenting on War Room, the 2015 prayer-themed film that climbed to No. 1 in the nation on its second weekend of release. Key cast members also will participate.

The watch party will begin at 8 p.m. EST Friday on the War Room and Kendrick Brothers Facebook pages, one day after the National Day of Prayer.

Although the watch party is free, participants will need to rent or own a copy of War Room to fully enjoy the experience. Multiple retailers are offering limited-time discounted pricing on digital copies ($4.99 to own and $2.99-$3.99 to rent). Fans of the film also can use a DVD/Blu-ray copy.

Alex Kendrick, the film’s director, said the watch party offers families a unique opportunity to get behind-the-scenes insights while watching the film with the cast and crew.

“One of our favorite things to do is to be able to watch a movie and share the Easter eggs in the scenes – funny stories – and talk about how God showed up on the set,” Stephen Kendrick, the film’s producer, said in a promotional video. “… We’re going to enjoy time together, talk about the Lord, and we’re going to have a prayer…

The share of Americans who claim any religious affiliation has declined in recent decades, but the United States nevertheless remains one of the most religious countries in the world, according to a new report.

The study by Lyman Stone, an adjunct fellow for the American Enterprise Institute and a research fellow at the Institute for Family Studies, examined the history of religion in the U.S. and the causes behind its recent decline.

For example, the share of adults attending any religious service in a typical week has fallen from 50 percent in 1960 to about 35 percent today, Stone writes, while the share of Americans who self-identify “or report being affiliated with any religion” has plummeted from over 95 percent to around 75 percent today. Further, the share of Americans “claimed as members by any religious body has fallen from over 75 percent to about 62 percent.”

The decline is “striking,” Stone writes in the report, yet he cautions against “making overbold statements about what such a decline might portend.” That’s because, he says, America’s religiosity has risen and fallen in the past.

“At the dawn of the American republic in the 1780s, probably just a third of Americans were members in any religious body, and just a fifth could be found at church on a given Sunday,” he wrote. “This was a historic low ebb in American religiosity. Thus,…