Speakers during the second night of the Republican National Convention commended President Trump’s contributions to religious freedom, criminal justice reform and economic growth.

According to CBN News, faith was the primary focus during the opening of Tuesday night’s event under the theme, “Land of Opportunity.”

Eric Trump, the President’s son, started off the night by promising “all houses of worship” and “all people of faith stripped of religious freedom and religious liberties” that President Trump “will fight for you.”

As Christian Headlines previously reported, Cissie Lynch Graham, the daughter of evangelist Franklin Graham, expressed her gratitude for Trump as an advocate for religious freedom.

“Our founders did not envision a quiet hidden faith, they fought to ensure that the voices of faith were always welcome, not silenced, not bullied,” she said.

In January 2019, Nicolas Sandman faced off against a Native American man at the Lincoln Memorial in a viral video. He told the RNC on Tuesday that the media constantly bullied him following the incident while ignoring the full context of the story.

“My life changed forever in that one moment,” Sandmann said in a pre-recorded speech from the Lincoln Memorial. “The full war machine of the mainstream media revved up into attack mode. They did so without ever researching the full video of the incident, without ever…

As many as one in five churches could permanently close as a result of shutdowns stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, according to David Kinnaman, president of the prominent Christian research organization Barna Group.

In an interview with NPR Monday regarding the status of American churches after months of shutdowns, Kinnaman said although churches were handling things “pretty swimmingly” at first, circumstances have changed for some.  

He noted that although many churches have opened as states’ shutdown orders are loosened, their services have had “a lot less people coming.”

“They’re recognizing that the relationships that they thought were much deeper with people were actually not as deep as they expected,” Kinnaman told NPR.

Kinnaman then explained that, in keeping with research from earlier this year, he still expected to see about one in five churches permanently close within the next 18 months.

“If anything, I think that prediction was based on data about two, two-and-a-half months ago, and I think we’re even more likely to see that to be the case today,” he noted.

“The disruptions related to giving, and maybe even as important…

A California judge declined on Tuesday to issue an order shutting down Grace Community Church, handing pastor John MacArthur his third recent victory in a much-followed legal battle against Los Angeles County.

The county had hoped Judge Mitchell Beckloff would issue a temporary restraining order prohibiting the congregation from meeting indoors during the pandemic. Instead, the judge pointed to a previous decision by a higher court, the state Court of Appeal, which he said refused to issue a temporary restraining order against the church.

State and local health restrictions prohibit churches from meeting indoors.

“The court has no authority to take the action requested by Plaintiffs,” Beckloff wrote.

Beckloff also noted the county has “elected not to punish Defendants’ alleged violation of the County Health Order ‘by fine, imprisonment or both.’” Although Los Angeles County’s next move isn’t known, at least one other California county – Santa Clara County – fined a church $10,000 for not complying with health orders.

It was the third victory for Grace Community at the trial court level. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept 4. Although a mid-August appeals court decision was viewed at the time as a win for the county, Beckloff said the appeals court declined to grant the county what it requested.

“It is deeply disappointing that the Court…

WASHINGTON (RNS) — More than 300 faith leaders have signed a letter addressed to delegates to the Republican National Convention and President Donald Trump demanding the commander in chief end immigration policies they argue are “inhumane.”

“Our sacred texts challenge us, first and foremost, to love our neighbor, and welcome the sojourner among us,” the letter reads. “These values are not reflected in your platform; this sacred calling is not what we see on your agenda. As you enter your convention, you have the power to put forward a new policy approach. We urge you to remember that we, as a nation, have the responsibility to be the City on the Hill, and the policies we create should reflect those values by treating immigrants with the respect and dignity we all deserve.”

The letter specifically decried the detention of migrant children and the separation of migrant families, the latter of which triggered widespread backlash in 2018 when the Trump administration adopted a “zero tolerance” policy that wrenched many migrant families apart. Although that policy encountered numerous legal challenges, some migrant parents have still been separated from their children or ended up in facilities plagued by COVID-19 outbreaks. Meanwhile, migrants who have arrived since the beginning of the novel coronavirus pandemic have been subjected to a mass expulsion…

Cissie Graham Lynch, the granddaughter of the late evangelist Billy Graham, warned during Tuesday’s Republican National Convention that a nation led by Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris “leaves no room for people of faith.”

Lynch, a communications advisor and ministry spokesperson for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) and Samaritan’s Purse, said America’s Founders “did not envision a quiet hidden faith.”

“As Americans, we know the first line of the First Amendment protects our freedom of religion,” said Lynch, who also hosts a BGEA podcast. “But what we often forget – the actual words are ‘free exercise of religion.’ That means living out our faith in our daily lives, in our schools, in our jobs, and yes, even in the public square.”

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— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2020

Although the Founders fought to ensure people of faith were “not bullied,” the Obama-Biden administration did just that, Lynch charged.

“These freedoms were under attack,” she said of the Obama-Biden era. “Democrats tried to make faith organizations pay for abortion-inducing drugs. Democrats tried to force adoption agencies to violate their deeply held beliefs. Democrats pressured schools to allow boys to compete in girls’ sports and use girls’ locker rooms. Those are the facts.”

President Trump,…

(RNS) — The board of Liberty University has accepted the resignation of its president, Jerry Falwell Jr., after a roller coaster day in which Falwell resigned, then withdrew his resignation, then resigned again late Monday night (Aug. 24).

The board announced it had accepted Falwell’s resignation from his roles as president and chancellor of the university and from its board of directors after meeting Tuesday morning.

“I am so encouraged by the unity of Christ that I saw exemplified by our Board today,” acting board Chairman Allen McFarland said in a written statement.

“Liberty University’s future is very bright and in capable hands of leaders who are committed to being good stewards of what the Lord has entrusted!”

The university and board did not adjust the severance compensation in Falwell’s preexisting employment agreement, according to the statement from the school. Liberty’s latest tax filings show Falwell made just over $1 million in 2018.

Jerry Prevo remains acting president of Liberty.

“Our students are ready to be world changers as Champions for Christ. Their spirit is strong as they look to the future. I intend to do all I can to nurture their spiritual side as they grow academically and enjoy all our campus has to offer,” Prevo said in the statement.

The back-and-forth began Monday, when Falwell resigned from Liberty University, the evangelical school his…

A pair of California churches has been fined several thousand dollars for violating health restrictions and conducting indoor worship services during the pandemic.

North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, Calif., was fined $10,000 by Santa Clara County for conducting two indoor worship services that included singing. It also received a cease-and-desist order. (The county fined the church $5,000 for a Sunday morning service and $5,000 for a Sunday evening service.)

Meanwhile, a California judge fined Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, Calif., a total of $3,000 for meeting indoors and held the church and its pastor, Rob McCoy, in contempt of court. (The judge’s fine included $500 for each one of six services.)

Jack Trieber, pastor of North Valley Baptist Church, decried the county’s fine.

“I’m in charge of the spiritual health of the people who sit in this area,” he said in a video inside the church building. “… And although [physical] health is very important — of utmost importance – spiritual health is supreme. And because we’ve been locked out … of churches, suicide is up, domestic violence is up, drug addiction is up, homelessness is up, alcoholism is up. We need to get back to worshiping God. I am commanded to worship God.”

Trieber said he is “willing to take a stand.”

“If you arrest me this week – and I know that’s a…

A California court has once again sided with Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church, denying the County of Los Angeles’ renewed application for a temporary restraining order against the church for holding indoor worship services amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In California Superior Court on Tuesday, Judge Mitchell Beckloff concluded that the county’s attempt to obtain a restraining order did not meet statutory requirements and that the Court of Appeals’ order did not justify a new temporary restraining order.  

The next scheduled hearing on the original lawsuit filed by the church against the county and the countersuit filed by the county against the church will take place Sept. 4.

Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna applauded the court for “correctly” concluding that Los Angeles County’s “renewed application for a temporary restraining order was both procedurally and substantively defective.”

“This was their fourth unsuccessful attempt to obtain a court order prohibiting indoor worship services at Grace Community Church,” Jonna said. “We look…