New York has approved a law that prohibits churches and other nonprofits from campaigning in support or against political candidates.

According to The Christian Post, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed Senate Bill S4347 into law last week. The law is a state-level equivalent to the current Johnson Amendment, which prohibits nonprofits from campaigning.

The Johnson Amendment, passed in 1954, has recently been criticized for limiting the rights of nonprofits, including churches. Then in May 2017, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that called for the federal government to stop enforcing the amendment, so nonprofits could publicly support or not support political campaigns. Officially, the Amendment has not been repealed.

The New York law says nonprofit groups, secular or religious, cannot participate in “any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office.”

“For too long we have listened to the Trump administration threaten to remove common sense protections prohibiting tax-exempt organizations from engaging in inappropriate political activities,” Cuomo said.

“New Yorkers have a right to free and fair elections, and this law will further protect our democracy from unjustified interferences once and for all.”

Ryan Tucker, of the Alliance Defending Freedom, however, wrote in a New…

President Donald Trump met Tuesday with 25 evangelical leaders who prayed with the commander-in-chief in the midst of a persistent push for impeachment by House Democrats.

Just this morning, the House passed a resolution to formalize its impeachment inquiry. The 232-196 vote included all but two Democrats in favor, and all Republicans against.

After the meeting with the president, several pastors said he was faring well amid the inquiry.

“It was abundantly clear, he’s totally unfazed by this,” the Rev. Johnnie Moore, president of the Congress of Christian Leaders, told Fox News.

“Everybody felt this way. This isn’t actually about Donald Trump. … It’s about the agenda that he’s put forward, the success he’s had in advancing the agenda.”

Moore and others said the evangelical leaders fully support the president.

“Evangelical leaders see this, not as impeaching Donald Trump, but they’re trying to impeach me and my values,” Moore said, adding, “Donald Trump is pretty good at fighting alone—but he isn’t going to have to on this one.”

Pastor Jack Graham, senior pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church, echoed Moore’s comments.

“We take it very personally because they’re going after our values,” Graham said, calling the ongoing House impeachment inquiry a “sham of an investigation.”

Despite its significance for the nation, impeachment was not the…

Tennessee pastor Bryan Nerren has been arrested and incarcerated for alleged religious targeting in India, according to the Tennessean.

Nerren, leader of the International House of Prayer Ministries in Shelbyville, was initially detained in New Delhi when police discovered that he was carrying large amounts of cash. When questioned, he explained that the funds were to cover expenses for two conferences. But authorities also asked him if he was connected to any Christian causes and eventually allowed him to fly to Bagdogra.

Nerren’s attorney claims that the pastor was permitted to fly to Bagdogra but not given a form to claim the money, causing officials to flag and arrest him upon his arrival. He was denied visitation from the U.S. Consulate or his attorney. After six days in jail, he was offered a hearing and released on bail; however, authorities took away his passport, thereby detaining him in the country.

“Pastor Nerren is trapped in India with no passport, making even the most mundane of tasks difficult,” the ACLJ, a religious freedom advocacy group, said in a statement according to Faithwire. “He cannot leave. He cannot come home to his wife, children, and young grandchildren who surely can’t comprehend what’s happening to their grandfather. He cannot care for his special-needs daughter here in the United States who needs…

HYDERABAD, India, October 31, 2019 (Morning Star News) – Police in southern India’s Tamil Nadu state have put several house churches under surveillance in order to stop worship, in violation of the country’s secular constitution, sources said.

Police have told congregations to stop worship in homes in Anuperpalayem, Velampalayem, Kangeyam and several other villages in Tiruppur District, the Rev. Vijaya Kumar of The Synod of Pentecostal Churches told Morning Star News.

“We are going through a tough time – there is immense pressure from the police administration in Tiruppur District that Christians are not allowed to gather for prayers even within the four walls of their homes,” Pastor Kumar said. “The pastors of these small churches have been harassed to seek permission from district officials to conduct prayer services.”

Courts in India have repeatedly held that no permission is needed to worship in homes, said Nehemiah Christie, Tamil Nadu state coordinator for legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)-India.

“This level of opposition from government officials is undermining the secularistic values inscribed in the Indian constitution and could lead to deprivation of Christians’ right and freedom to practice their faith, which was upheld time and again in several judgments delivered by the Madras and Madurai benches of the high…