NASHVILLE (RNS) — Keith Getty’s life is usually filled with singing.

Leading worship at Christian conferences.

A national singing tour, including a standing-room-only hymn sing at the Grand Ole Opry House.

Irish Christmas concerts at venues like Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center and a series of megachurches.

Almost all of it with groups of fellow Christians — which he says is one of the primary tasks of his faith and one made difficult during COVID-19.

“We are made to sing,” Getty said. “So there’s a real sadness.”

Getty spoke to Religion News Service a few days before the kick-off of the annual Sing! conference, which draws tens of thousands of attendees. The conference began Sunday (Aug. 30) and runs through Wednesday (Sept. 2).

In the past, the event has been in person.

This year, it’s online and includes prerecorded sessions mingled with live commentary from Getty, his wife, Kristyn, and Christian author and speaker Trillia Newbell.

There will be singing as well. The Gettys and their band recorded several sessions of hymn singing at the Grand Ole Opry — and then asked attendees to record themselves singing hymns on their phones. Those voices will be mixed with the band’s recording — to provide a virtual version of congregational singing.

Getty, a hymn writer best known for co-writing the 2002 song “In Christ Alone,” one of the most popular…

The Associated Press reports that Jerry Falwell, Jr. is under investigation by Liberty University after being ousted for sexual conduct that violates Liberty University’s ethical codes. The investigation will be headed by the college’s board and will span everything Falwell oversaw as head of Liberty University.

The investigation was allegedly sparked after an interview with Giancarlo Granda, a young pool boy working for the Falwell family. In the interview, Granda alleges he would have sex with Becki Falwell as Jerry Falwell, Jr. watched. However, the family denied Falwell was watching the young couple, though they agreed Becki and Granda were having sex. They say Granda tried to extort them by threatening to go to the press about a fake scandal.

This isn’t the first time Liberty University has come under fire, however. As Christian Headlines previously reported, before Granda’s interview, Falwell sparked national outrage after he shared a photo of himself with his arm around a young woman, identified as his wife’s assistant, with both of their pants unzipped. In the photo, Falwell was also holding a cup containing an unknown dark liquid.

Additionally, Falwell Jr. posted a now-deleted anti-mask tweet where he said he was selling masks with Ralph Northam’s blackface photo on them. The tweet was condemned by some black religious leaders and…

Women in the United Kingdom may be able to obtain an at-home abortion even after the pandemic has passed, according to The Christian Post.

In March, the British government allowed pregnant women to acquire mifepristone and misoprostol after a tele-visit with a medical professional in order to terminate their pregnancy. The provision was initially set to only last 18 months in order to curb the spread of the pandemic. Now, however, Health Minister Lord James Bethell says the government may continue to allow the practice.

“Thanks to telemedicine, women have been able to access the timely, high-quality care they deserve,” Lord said. “Had this not been available the consequences could have been catastrophic.”

According to The Mirror, roughly 90,000 children have been aborted in the UK since March. The pills are only available for women up to ten weeks pregnant.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson originally restricted home terminations but eventually changed his mind as COVID-19 continued to spread.

Though some health officials have applauded the possible permanent measure, several critics, such as Senior Research Fellow Dr. Helen Watt of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, have expressed their concern of taking the pills unsupervised.

“[Allowing ‘pills by post’] was in the teeth of opposition from those pointing out the dangers to women: severe…

Israeli, American and United Arab Emirates delegates gathered Tuesday morning for a morning prayer service ahead of meetings about a peace agreement between the UAE and the Jewish State.

According to CBN News, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a news conference that the meetings marked a “happy day for all citizens of Israel” and a peace deal with the UAE “will be a warm peace because it is based on economic cooperation with an entrepreneurial economy similar to ours with very large economic capabilities, with investment routes, or, with a big money that is also looking for investment routes, and for the first time the State of Israel, which has received investments from all over the world, is going to receive investments in the Middle East, from the Middle East, this is a huge change.”

The Israeli National Security adviser is leading the Israeli delegation, while the U.S. delegation is being led by President Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner.

“At this moment, and always, we feel proud to be Jews of the UAE. We wish the delegations success in their work and give thanks for the decisive and visionary leadership of the UAE’s leaders that has allowed for friendship with Israel,” Ross Kriel, the president of the Jewish Council of the Emirates — the Modern Orthodox community — told Israeli National Security Adviser…

Some 75% of Christian churches and organizations that applied for and received forgivable loans under the federal government’s coronavirus relief program for small businesses, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, say the loans helped keep their operations fully staffed and many of them have already been forgiven.

A recent survey by Vanderbloeman citing data collected over several months from 900 churches and Christian organizations reveals how crucial the relief program has been for the survival of Christian operations.

The survey found that 76.09% of the churches in the survey had service attendance below 1,000 while 58.85% attracted less than 500. A majority of the churches (74%) also had annual budgets of less than $2 million.

More than half of the Christian churches and organizations (61%) received less than $150,000 and 85% of them received less than $349,000.

“The government hoped that the economic impact of COVID-19 would be temporary and wanted to improve job stability by enabling organizations to continue paying their employees, rather than having the government pay for…

New research from the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University shows that there is a widening gap in the worldviews of American adults as it shapes one’s political beliefs and behaviors.

According to the American Worldview Inventory 2020, 98 percent of American adults who choose socialism over capitalism are opposed to a biblical worldview.

Conversely, 83 percent of people who do hold to a biblical worldview prefer capitalism instead of socialism, while 78 percent are “consistently conservative.”

Additionally, 80 percent of people who uphold a biblical worldview are fiscally conservative and 91 percent support conservative social policies.

Furthermore, 89 percent oppose abortion based on “clear biblical teaching” and 83 percent endorse a “limited view of the size and scope of government.”

On the other hand, only 5 percent of Americans with a biblical worldview “are likely to adopt liberal views on physical, social, and government issues.”

The CRC analysis also found that those without a biblical worldview are more likely to support liberal fiscal and social policies (26 percent and 40 percent, respectively).

Regarding the Bible’s stance on abortion, 38 percent of Americans who reject a biblical worldview do not believe the Bible is unambiguous on the subject. Additionally, 26 percent prefer “a more liberal, expansive view of…

A congregation in Alabama that garnered headlines after 40 of its members tested positive for COVID-19 following a revival has reported that nearly all of those infected have recovered.

Warrior Creek Baptist Church of Arab, a small Southern Baptist congregation, was the sight of an outbreak in July in which 40 people, including its pastor, became infected.

However, according to a report last week from The Alabama Baptist posted by Baptist Press, there remained only one family that still tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Warrior Creek Pastor Darryl Ross, who was among those who tested positive for COVID-19 in July, explained to TAB that the one family still battling the coronavirus was doing well.  

A small church located in Cullman County, 40 members tested positive for the virus during a weeklong revival event, prompting the church to end the gathering early.

In an interview with al.com at the time, Ross explained that he learned about someone attending the event who had COVID-19.

“On the way back over Thursday is when we found out. I got a call that one of our guys in the church has tested positive. So we shut down revival and, by Friday night, I’ve got church members…

A Christian man in Pakistan was arrested over the weekend and could face life in prison after residents in his community said he placed pages of the Quran in a drain.

The charges against the man, David Masih, were made under Pakistan’s so-called blasphemy laws, which often target religious minorities and prohibit desecration of Islam.

All total, 25 Christians are currently imprisoned on blasphemy charges, according to International Christian Concern (ICC), which reported Masih’s arrest.

Masih lives in Pakistan’s Khybar Pakhtunkhwa province. Residents in the city of Nowshera say he was guilty of blasphemy by mishandling the Quran. A video of the pages in the drain was posted to social media and reportedly went viral, according to ICC.

Masih could face life in prison if found guilty.

“In Pakistan, false accusations of blasphemy are widespread and often motivated by personal vendettas or religious hatred,” ICC reported. “Accusations are highly inflammatory and have the potential to spark mob lynchings, vigilante murders, and mass protests.”

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws were strengthened in 1987. From ‘87 through 2017, 1,535 individuals were accused of breaking the blasphemy laws. Of those accusations, 54 percent involved religious minorities, ICC reported. Christians comprise 15.5 of the blasphemy accusations, despite making up only 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s…