The mayor of Greenville, Mississippi said Monday that he has waived the $500 tickets that were issued to Temple Baptist Church congregants at an April 8 drive-in church service.

Grenville Mayor Errick Simmons’ announcement comes after he initially approved an executive order on April 7 that prohibits drive-in services until the state’s shelter-in-place is lifted.

Reports say eight Greenville police officers issued $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where Temple Baptist Church was having a drive-in service on April 8. Church members were parked in the church’s parking lot with their windows rolled up, listening to a sermon broadcast.

The story about the tickets received national attention with many saying the fines were unnecessary and unfair. Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves released a statement on Facebook as well, saying, “Don’t trample the Constitution. Please use sense, everybody.”

Simmons said the order limiting gatherings to 10 people or less remains in place, but he said he has asked the governor’s office to provide more direction on how to handle drive-in church services.

“What we’re asking for is definitive guidance regarding drive-in and parking lot services, that’s what the issue is,” Simmons said.

After the pastor of King James Bible Baptist Church in Greenville appeared on national TV to discuss the mayor’s…

About half of Americans believe the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws, and one-fourth say the Bible should take precedence over the will of the people, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

The poll of 6,395 adults found that 49 percent of Americans believe the Bible should influence U.S. laws. This includes 23 percent who say it should have a “great deal” of influence and 26 percent who say it should have “some” influence. Nineteen percent of Americans say the Bible should have “not much” influence on U.S. laws, while 31 percent say it should have no influence.

The survey was highlighted in a March 13 “Fact Tank” blog at Pew’s website.

Among specific religious groups, the survey found a wide range of opinions on whether the Bible should have at least some influence on U.S. laws. For example, 76 percent of Protestants, 89 percent of white evangelicals, 76 percent of black Protestant church members, 51 percent of Catholics and 31 percent of Jewish Americans say the Bible should have at least some influence.

A total of 58 percent of white evangelicals and 47 percent of black Protestant church members say the Bible should have “a great deal” of influence.

But there is a sharp political divide on the issue. A full 67 percent of Republicans (34 percent “a great deal,” 33 percent “some”) but only 33 percent of Democrats (13 percent “a great…

April 13, 2020 (Morning Star News) – When a convert from Islam in Iran was sentenced to two years in exile in Sarbaz last year, the judge warned him that religious extremists in the remote desert town would treat him harshly.

When Ebrahim Firoozi arrived in November to southwest Iran near the border with Pakistan, though, he discovered the fear the judge had tried to instill in him was unfounded – local Muslims were helpful, open and hospitable, the Christian said in a recent online interview.

This discovery was all the more welcome as in March his term of exile was extended by another 11 months.

Upon his arrival in Sarbaz, one person invited Firoozi to stay at his home the first night; others quickly found him a place to live. Local people’s kindness only increased, he said, when they learned he was exiled for his Christian faith rather than for a crime.

“I found these people to be very noble,” Firoozi, 34, told Joseph Hovsepian of Hovsepian Ministries in an interview posted on YouTube in which he opened up about his conversion and his years in prison before exile.

Firoozi and advocates believe this kindness was an answer to the prayers of worried friends, family and others.

“The reason people were nice to me wasn’t because of my own character or my goodness. It was all because of God,” Firoozi told Hovsepian.

Released from Rajai Shahr Prison in Karaj on Oct. 26, Firoozi was…

MIAMI, April 10, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Intelligence officials in Cuba have increased harassment of an independent journalist, summoning the Christian and his mother twice in the past two weeks to threaten harsh consequences if he continues reporting on human rights issues, sources said.

As part of his Christian calling, Yoe Suárez has reported for non-state media outlets in Cuba since 2014 about human rights and freedom of religion issues, including the imprisonment of husband-and-wife pastoral team Ramón Rigal and Adya Expósito. They were imprisoned in April 2019 for homeschooling their children.

Following a series of interrogations and threats by Cuba’s Department of State Security (DSE, the inland intelligence branch) over the past year, an intelligence official identifying himself as a second-in-command-for-the-press summoned Suárez and his mother on April 3 to the Siboney Police Station, Playa municipality in Havana, according to Suárez.

The official, who identified himself as “Captain Jorge,” issued a series of implied threats to Suárez’s mother about consequences her 29-year-old son would suffer if he continued working as a reporter outside of Cuban intelligence controls, Suárez said.

“He told us, ‘You don´t know what a dungeon is, or what it is to have a patrol in front of your house,’” Suárez told Morning Star News.

Suárez added that the…