A man has been arrested after he reportedly disrupted an outdoor church service armed with a knife on Sunday.

The NY Post reports that police officers responded to a complaint after the suspect, Christopher Eugene Ross, was shouting obscenities while wielding a knife outside of Oak Grove Baptist Church in Waxhaw, North Carolina.

According to Deputy Tony Underwood, a spokesman for the Union County Sheriff’s Office, Ross lives directly across the street from the church.

While the reason for Ross’ aggravation is unconfirmed, it is believed that he disrupted the service because of the noise from the outdoor service.

“We don’t know exactly what the gentleman was upset about,” Underwood said. “We think it’s the noise, but we’re not exactly sure.”

During the incident, deputies became involved in a struggle with Ross.

A statement from the sheriff’s office noted that “the armed male continued fighting and a deputy eventually fired rounds from his service weapon striking the male.”

Reportedly, the deputy first tried to tazze Ross but was unsuccessful.

Following the struggle, the suspect was taken to a hospital in Charlotte, NC with non-life-threatening injuries.

The two deputies involved have received medical treatment, but, Underwood noted, neither officer suffered from serious injuries.

The statement added that Ross will be taken to Union County Jail following his…

The coronavirus that devastated China’s population hasn’t stopped the communist government from shutting down and even razing churches across the country.

The persecution has impacted state-run churches and underground house churches alike, according to the watchdog Bitter Winter, which monitors religious freedom in China. 

“The Communist Party’s persecution of house churches is increasingly severe,” a member of a house church in the province of Jiangxi told Bitter Winter. “This is mainly because more and more people believe in Christianity.”

On April 27, more than 30 officials razed the Jiangxi house church, telling members it had to be destroyed because it was privately owned and unapproved by the government, Bitter Winter reported. Still, the 20 or so church members continue to worship in secret.

“We will be fined 50,000 RMB ($7,000 USD) if the government discovers us worshiping together again,” the member told Bitter Winter.

On April 17, more than two dozen officials stormed a house church in another village in Jiangxi province and broke up the service.

“They told us to raise a national flag and display portraits of Mao Zedong and Xi Jinping,” a house church member told Bitter Winter. “All gatherings were banned, and the officials said that if we meet again, we will have to hand over the church building to the government, and it would be…

The Church of the Nativity, which stands on the site where many believe Jesus was born, reopened this week after a nearly three-month-long closure due to COVID-19. 

According to CBN News, officials closed the site on March 5th when the West Bank had its first confirmed cases of the coronavirus.

Now, as new cases of the coronavirus begin to wane in the area, the historical site is choosing to reopen.”

“All people can now enter the church and pray, as they want and just like before, not only the believers in Bethlehem but from all over the world,” Greek Orthodox Bishop Theophylactos said, according to the Associated Press.

“The church is open,” he added.

There will, however, be some restrictions at the holy site. 

According to CBN News, visitors must adhere to when they visit the site. Only 50 people will be allowed into the church at a time, visitors will be required to wear masks and they must maintain appropriate social distance.

Those who wish to enter the site must also be free from symptoms of COVID-19 and they will not be allowed to touch anything while they are inside.

The church typically attracts tens of thousands of worshippers during Easter.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, just a few miles from Jerusalem, had also planned to open back up on Sunday. According to the Times of Israel, despite an official statement announcing that the church would be…

(RNS) — The Texas Supreme Court awarded a Fort Worth breakaway group affiliated with the Anglican Church in North America the right to $100 million in church property.

The ownership of the property has been in dispute since the ACNA-affiliate group broke away from the Episcopal Church in 2008.

The ruling on Friday (May 22) is the latest over properties held by breakaway congregations and dioceses that the Episcopal Church has been fighting in court for decades.

The Texas ruling may be the first time that a breakaway diocese has prevailed.

Ever since the Episcopal Church ordained Gene Robinson as an openly gay bishop in 2003, scores of congregations and five dioceses withdrew from the church over doctrinal differences. Many joined ACNA, formed in 2008.

That was the case in Fort Worth, too, where a majority of clergy and lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth voted to leave. Both groups continue to call themselves the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Across the country, four other dioceses also broke with the national church, including the dioceses of Pittsburgh; Quincy, Illinois; San Joaquin, California; and in 2012, Charleston, South Carolina. In most cases, courts ruled that property titled to the diocese must stay in the Episcopal Church’s hands.

A breakaway group in South Carolina, for example, won the right to its property in a lower court, but that…

Chicago officials are threatening to close or even bulldoze a church that has continued meeting in defiance of a state order, saying the governor’s action has the “force of law.”

The state of Illinois has banned in-person church services larger than 10 people amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Allison Arwady, the commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, sent a letter Friday to Chicago’s Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church, saying she has the power to stop the congregation from meeting by “whatever means are necessary.”

“If you continue to operate in defiance of the Executive Order, the City will pursue all available legal remedies,” she wrote in her letter. “… Any future gatherings conducted contrary to the Order will be considered a failure to abate and the City will take steps necessary to abate, including Summary Abatement.”

“Summary abatement,” as defined by the Illinois Supreme Court, means “to put down or destroy without process.”

“This means the inspector can, upon his own judgment, cause the alleged nuisance to stop on his own authority and effect a destruction of property at his discretion,” the Illinois’ Supreme Court’s opinion in City of Kankakee v. New York Cent. R. Co. read.

Arwady wrote, “if you continue to host gatherings in violation of the Executive Order, the City of Chicago will take all necessary measures to…

Disney Plus debuted a Pixar short film Friday that breaks new ground for the animation studio by featuring an openly gay character and then by showing him kissing his partner.

The nine-minute animated film, Out, tells the story of a man named Greg who is living with his boyfriend, Manuel. The two are packing up for a move to the city when Greg’s parents – who don’t know he is gay – show up at the door to help. A panicked Greg then asks Manuel to sneak out the back door.

“Tell them,” Manuel urges Greg while leaving.

With his parents in another room, Greg confides privately to his dog, “He thinks it’s so easy to look them in the eyes and say, ‘Mom, Dad. … This is my boyfriend.’

Greg tells the dog, “I wish I had your life. I wish I was a dog.” Thanks to a magical dog collar, Greg and his dog then switch bodies. Moments later, Greg – stuck in the dog’s body – learns that his mom already knows he’s gay.

Out ends with Greg and Manuel sharing a brief kiss and both men enjoying hot chocolate with Greg’s parents.

The film is rated PG for “mild thematic elements” and currently is featured in the “new to Disney Plus” stream on the platform. The film’s description reads: “On an average day, Greg‘s life is filled with family, love and a rambunctious little dog – but despite all of this, Greg has a secret. Today is different, though. With some…