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…

This week I Am Second released the first video in a four-part series profiling the life and faith of Mike Fisher and Carrie Underwood. The series, “Mike and Carrie: God & Country,” features the couple talking about their life together as a married couple, the struggles that have shaped who they are, and how their faith in Jesus provides a solid ground for their family.

Fisher grew up in Ontario and was drafted by the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. He played for the Senators until the 2010-2011 season, when the team traded him to the Nashville Predators. Fisher finished out his career in Nashville and retired in 2018. He played in two Stanley Cup finals, with the Senators in 2007 and the Predators in 2017.

“I Am Second” featured Fisher in a 2014 “White Chair Film.” Fisher discussed how the night he was drafted was the emptiest moment in his life when it should have been the time when he was “most full.” His despair led him to a time where he lived a life of foolishness. God changed his life when he was doing a Bible study with his cousin and he read Mark 8:36, which says, “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” He said this verse led him to cry out to God and confess his sin.

Underwood was raised in Oklahoma and became a household name when she won season 4 of American Idol. Underwood is a devout Christian and is also…

We’re all living in difficult times. Friends can help friends get through anything, but how can friends help ease the burden of one another’s medical costs, especially during a pandemic?

It’s in times like these Christians are called to help and care for one another, even if we can’t be physically together.

There are endless references in the Bible relating to helping your fellow brothers and sisters, especially when times are tough. Take for example, James 2:14-17 which says: “”Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

We must have more than good intentions – we must take action. While it may not be easy to make a big difference by ourselves, if we come together with others, we can make a difference for many people in times of need.

As individuals, we don’t often have the structure needed to bring together large groups of people to unite around a specific cause. It’s in these times that established organizations can step in to help facilitate the process of organizing people to achieve a larger goal together than they could achieve alone. When coming together across a wide geographical area and involving a purpose that includes the sharing of medical needs, the need…

Multiple churches in Chicago, Illinois are already having in-person services even though restrictions prohibit them from exceeding a certain amount.

According to the state’s “Restore Illinois” plan, religious services with 10 or fewer people are permitted, NBC Chicago reports.

Gatherings of more than ten, however, are still restricted until phase four of the plan which will increase the maximum to 50 people.

Even though some churches have been having in-person services, some pastors are already facing threats of church shutdowns.

Pastor Joe Wyrostek of Metro Praise International Church noted that he is facing a “summary abatement” for having services with more than 10 people, according to a letter sent by the city’s health department.

“We are very disappointed with all of this, including not being considered as essential in the beginning, as a church,” said Wyrostek, whose church held Sunday service for the second week in a row.

At the same time, Pastor Cristian Ionescu of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Albany Park also received the same letter.

He noted that “the summary of abatement” entailed padlocking doors or even seeing his church get demolished.

“There is not going to be a stand-down on our part,” asserted Ionescu. “It’s only the city that escalates. I wonder, if they threaten us with such extreme measures, what else is left?”

Pastor Ionescu also filed a…

As Christians in Nigeria continue to face harsh persecution by Islamic extremist groups, 2 Republican senators want President Trump to take action.

According to CBN News, Iowa Senators Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley are urging the President in a letter to send out a special envoy to aid persecuted Christians in Nigeria.

Both Senators noted in the letter that 40,000 Nigerians have died at the hands of Boko Haram, an Islamic terrorist organization.

Boko Haram, along with other terrorist groups such as the Fulani herdsmen, have reportedly made it difficult for Christians living in West Africa throughout the years.

President Trump had previously asked Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari to ensure the safety of “innocent civilians of all faiths,” about two years ago.

Both senators, however, assert that Christians are in need of more protection.

Earlier in May, CBN News reported that an estimated 620 Christians in Nigeria were killed by Boko Haram within the first five months of 2020, according to a report published by a Nigerian organization.

The International Society for Civil Liberties & Rule of Law (LSCLRL), a nongovernmental organization, had advised in a report concerning increased violence against Christians by Boko Haram and the Fulani Herdsmen.

The report noted that Christian centers of worship and learning have been burned down or destroyed in a region referred to as the old…