Correctional officers in a county Illinois jail are marveling at the change they see in their inmates after a church stepped in with services.

“We have a quieter atmosphere,” Jasper County Sheriff Patrick Williamson told WLFI-TV. “In times past, you would hear banging, kicking, yelling, screaming, but now it’s very quiet. They get along well, they treat staff better, so we have less incidents. It just complements the other things going on in our jail.”

First Church in Wheatfield, Illinois, started their prison ministry with their pastor John Hill, who worked with the jail on an addiction recovery house for men. When that initiative yielded successful results, Williamson invited the church into the jail.

Every Thursday, Faithful volunteers visit for a weekly service with chairs, sound equipment and doughnuts in hand.

Anthony Gann, an inmate arrested for drug use, has seen the powerful positive effects of the services. “It’s awesome to get to have that real church experience while we are in here doing our time,” he said. “Some of the best guys I know are in here.”

In only three months, the jail has noticed a big change. “The corrections officers have talked about how the entire culture of the jail has shifted,” Hill said. “The inmates are caring for one another and actually thinking about life beyond bars.”

In a video First Church shared on Facebook, nine…

On Wednesday, Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed the Reproductive Privacy Act into law, allowing late-term abortions on unborn babies, including part-birth and dismemberment abortions. 

According to the Christian Post, the bill states, “Neither the state, or any of its agencies, or political subdivisions shall restrict an individual person from preventing, commencing, continuing, or terminating that individual’s pregnancy prior to fetal viability.” The bill states that late-term abortions are only allowed when necessary if the mother’s life or health is at risk. 

The Catholic governor claimed signing the bill shortly after it was approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly was the “right thing to do.” 

“When this bill becomes law, women and their families across Rhode Island will be free from the fear that the reproductive health care they need today will be illegal tomorrow,” Raimundo said. “We owe this certainty to every Rhode Island woman – and the bill before me today provides exactly that.” 

LifeNews called into question the broad term of “health” of the mother, which could qualify for any situation. And, Barth Bracy, executive director of the Rhode Island Right to Life Committee, called the new legislation a “New York-style abortion expansion bill.” 

“These powers and principalities of the General Assembly have now completely…

A municipal council in Sweden has passed a set of controversial new guidelines which prohibit government employees from praying during working hours.

The new rules, which were invoked in the coastal town of Bromölla by politicians from the Sweden Democrats Party, according to regional newspaper Kristianstadsbladet.

“In the regulation, we have cut out everything which could be interpreted as saying that you can take time off to pray during work time,” Chairman Eric Berntsson, told The Local. “Both we and the Moderates and the Christian Democrats thought that the regulations should be more precise.”

Berntsson insisted that the new rules were not dissimilar from employers cracking down on employees who take unnecessary time away from work for things such as smoking. He also noted that the ban was not applicable to any singular religion, but was instead a blanket policy for all faiths.

Shockingly, the new policy will apply to schools, nursing homes and council offices among other state-affiliated facilities.

Officials were also keen to point out that the guidelines will not affect the current break schedule allotted to staff members, but will mean that they are not allowed to take a single moment out of their working day for the express purpose of praying.

While many argue that the ban is a blatant violation of religious freedom, others argue that employees should be free to work…