As many protests against police killings of black people across the nation erupt into riots and unrest, thousands of other protestors are making peaceful demonstrations.

According to the Associated Press, thousands marched peacefully in Phoenix, Albuquerque and other cities in the U.S. Many of those protestors are asking that the violent demonstrations stop.

The protests have come after news broke of the death of George Floyd. Floyd, a black man, died after an officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes, despite Floyd telling the officer he could not breathe. He lost consciousness and later died.

In Schenectady, New York, the police department worked with protestors to keep demonstrations safe, the Daily Gazette reports. Police Chief Eric Clifford even took a knee Sunday to show protestors he was listening to their demonstrations.

“As a profession, we all acknowledge that we must do better, and we will do better,” he said. “We are hearing exactly what you are saying here today.”

In Newark, New Jersey, protestors marched and shouted, “I can’t breathe” and “No justice, no peace.” Only a few minor incidents were reported in the demonstrations, according to NJ.com.

“Every Newark Police officer out there today did a hell of a job,” Newark Public Safety Director Anthony Ambrose said Saturday night.

Activist Thomas Idiang, known as Afrika, said the demonstrations…

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Friday to intervene in the legal battle over state restrictions of churches during the pandemic, disappointing religious leaders and activists who believed the body’s conservative bloc might side with houses of worship.

The justices, in a 5-4 ruling, turned down a request by a California congregation to issue an injunction against Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order limiting houses of worship to 25 percent capacity or 100 individuals, whichever is lower.

The congregation, South Bay Pentecostal Church, a Chula Vista, Calif., asserted it could meet safely while practicing social distancing and following health guidelines – just as stores and businesses are permitted by the state to do. Thomas More Society represented the congregation. 

Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the court’s liberal bloc in denying the injunction request, rejected the comparison between churches and businesses. California’s restrictions, he wrote in his own concurring opinion, “appear consistent with the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.”

“Similar or more severe restrictions apply to comparable secular gatherings, including lectures, concerts, movie showings, spectator sports, and theatrical performances, where large groups of people gather in close proximity for extended periods of time,” Roberts wrote. “And the Order exempts or treats more leniently…

Friends and ministry partners of George Floyd are remembering his contribution to ministry work as well as his positive impact on others.

Floyd, 46, died last Monday after his neck was pressed on by a Minnesota police officer, according to a viral video that was taken by a bystander.

The altercation came as officials suspected Floyd of using a forged check.

“It just hit me in the chest,” Christian rapper Corey Paul Davis told CBN News. “As I was starting to watch the video and then see what happened, the weight of it. I could literally feel the weight of it immediately.”

“Knowing him as a person and then seeing the humiliation and ultimately the murder of him it was enraging,” said Davis. “That’s why I had to speak.”

The Christian rapper shared that Floyd was a “person of peace,” according to a video he posted on social media.

Floyd had previously lived in Houston, Texas, where many knew him as “Big Floyd.”

In Houston, Floyd had served at a Christian outreach called “Church in The Bricks,” in collaboration with Davis and several ministry partners.

The outreach was established in 2012 by Pastor PT Ngwolo of Resurrection Houston established in reaching people of the projects, particularly in the Third Ward area.

“I think we came along at a time where God was moving in his heart,” said Ngwolo who noted Floyd’s enjoyment throughout his time with the outreach program.

Christian rapper Reconcile…

(RNS) — They’re best known for their post-hurricane disaster relief efforts —  ripping up homes damaged by floodwaters and rehabilitating them from the studs.

But in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Baptists on Mission, an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, is remaking itself as a food distribution network, delivering boxes of produce to people struggling to get by in a state where more than 1 million people have filed for unemployment benefits.

in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Baptists on Mission, an auxiliary of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, is remaking itself as a food distribution network, delivering boxes of produce to people struggling to get by in a state where more than 1 million people have filed for unemployment benefits.Earlier this month, Baptists on Mission won a reimbursable $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to deliver fruits and vegetables, milk, cheese and meat as part of its Farmers to Families Food Box Program.

The vast majority of that grant — about $1.4 million — will be spent on purchasing food. The remainder will go toward buying or leasing seven refrigerated trucks, paying for gas and other expenses.

The organization is working with volunteers at 185 churches and community centers across the state to help distribute the food — about 8,000 boxes a week.

“We’ve…

The answer to America’s current divisions lies in the nation’s churches, with followers of Christ modeling the “qualities of the One we claim to follow,” former NFL coach and current television commentator Tony Dungy says. 

Dungy made the comments on Twitter Friday, saying he had been thinking and praying “about how I should respond” as he “watched the events in Minneapolis unfold.” 

“Today we are a divided country,” Dungy wrote. “We’re divided racially, politically, and socio-economically. And Satan is laughing at us because that is exactly what he wants. Dysfunction, mistrust, and hatred help his kingdom flourish. 

“Well, what is the answer then?” Dungy asked. “I believe it has to start with those of us who claim to be Christians. We have to come to the forefront and demonstrate the qualities of the One we claim to follow, Jesus Christ. We can’t be silent. As Dr. King said many years ago, ‘Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere!’ But we can’t go forward with judgmental, bitter, spirits. We need to be proactive, but do it in the spirit of trying to help make things better. And it can’t be just the African American churches. It has to be ALL churches taking a stand and saying ‘We are going to be on the forefront of meaningful dialogue and meaningful change.’ We have to be…

June 1, 2020 (Morning Star News) – The COVID-19 crisis in Iran has resulted in freedom for several Christians among the roughly 85,000 people released from prison, but convictions have continued in spite of a short-lived lull in actions against converts to Christianity, sources said.

The release of imprisoned Christians as part of the regime’s efforts to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus was pragmatic and not an indication of a change of policy by the Iranian government, rights advocates said.

“For a time it looked like the authorities were too busy with coronavirus to bother with the Christians,” a researcher at Middle East Concern (MEC) told Morning Star News. “Now we know they have really turned their attention again to targeting Christian converts.”

On April 21 Christian convert Mary (Fatemeh) Mohammadi, 21, was sentenced to flogging and three months plus one day in prison for taking part in a January protest in Tehran over the downing of Ukranian Airlines Flight 752 by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. Though the case is unrelated to her faith, since previously serving a six-month prison sentence for charges due to Christian activity, Mohammadi has been harassed and denied education, according to MEC.

In the hearing, the judged asked Mohammadi about her Christian faith, although it had no bearing on the charges of “disturbing public order” that she…

(RNS) — Faith leaders in Minneapolis, Minnesota, are offering aid to demonstrators who have taken to the streets to decry racism and police brutality, working to balance religious calls for justice with an aversion to violence and a desire to prevent the spread of infection during the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic.

The city has been rocked by unrest this week following the death of George Floyd on Monday (May 25). His final moments were recorded in a widely shared video: Floyd, a black man, is seen writhing underneath Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, begging the official to remove his knee from his neck while gasping: “I can’t breathe.”

Three other officers are seen standing nearby keeping the crowd at bay until Floyd eventually falls silent.

The video sparked demonstrations decrying racism and police brutality, which have rocked the city, drawing out faith leaders hoping to muster a religious response.

Billy G. Russell, the pastor of Greater Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, a predominately African American congregation situated roughly a mile from where Floyd died, has attended several protests in an effort to offer a ministerial presence and “keep the peace.”

His message was amplified on Thursday when the Rev. Jesse Jackson spoke at Missionary Baptist. Russell said the famed civil rights activist called for “protest and peace” while addressing…