Free Republic

WASHINGTON, July 9 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday welcomed the Internal Revenue Service's decision that houses of worship could endorse political candidates to their congregations without risking losing their status as tax-exempt nonprofits. "I love the fact that churches could endorse a political candidate," Trump told reporters at the White House. "If somebody of faith wants to endorse, I think it's something that I'd like to hear." In a court filing on Monday to resolve a lawsuit by two Texas churches and the National Religious Broadcasters, the IRS said traditional religious communications are exempt from a decades-old...

The campus of Baylor University in Waco, Texas. | Baylor University/Morty OrtegaBaylor University in Waco, Texas, has received a $643,401 grant from a liberal foundation to foster inclusion among LGBTQ-identified individuals in the church.The hefty grant to the private Baptist research university's Center for Church and Community Impact (C31) came from the Eula Mae and John Baugh Foundation, according to a press release from the school's Diana R. Garland School of Social Work.The grant's goal is "to foster inclusion and belonging in the church," with an emphasis on understanding "the disenfranchisement and exclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals and women within congregations...

WAYNE, Mich. (WXYZ) — At least one person was injured in a shooting at a Wayne church on Sunday morning, police and sources tell 7 News Detroit. The suspected shooter was reportedly killed by a security guard. We're told the shooting happened around 11:15 a.m. at Crosspoint Community Church, shortly after the 10:45 a.m. Sunday service started. A police source tells us that the armed suspect was on his way to the church when another person tried to stop him with their truck. He reportedly opened fire at the truck, and that's when a security guard got involved. Wayne Police...

Yesterday, I [Turley] was notified by the Justice Department confirming that a recent swatting indictment includes the person or persons responsible for my own swatting a year ago. One of the defendants, Thomasz Szabo, was arrested a couple weeks ago. The indictment below charges two foreign nationals: Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia. Szabo and Radovanovic are each charged with one count of conspiracy, 29 counts of threats and false information regarding explosives, and four counts of transmitting threats in interstate and foreign commerce. Their alleged conspiracy began as early as December 2020. It continued...

A Romanian national pleaded guilty on Monday to charges related to his role in a “swatting” ring that targeted dozens of public officials, including a former US president. Going by the aliases “Plank,” “Jonah” and “Cypher,” 26-year-old Thomasz Szabo took part in a years-long conspiracy to place bogus 911 calls, claiming emergencies were taking place at the homes of top government officials, and make bomb threats against government buildings and houses of worship, according to Justice Department. Szabo and a co-conspirator, 21-year-old Serbian national Nemanja Radovanovic, allegedly targeted about 100 people, including members of Congress, governors, cabinet-level executive branch officials...

President-elect Donald Trump used a “forceful hand” to get his Drug Enforcement Agency pick to drop out on Tuesday after hearing “concerns” about the Floridian’s record, sources familiar told The Post — leading outgoing Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) to make a bid for the position. Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister issued a lengthy statement indicating he was withdrawing his name for the DEA slot — but did not reveal the specific reason he was dropping out of the confirmation process after just three days. “Everyone knows President Trump calls the shots,” a well-placed source spilled. “The president heard the concerns...

A leading Trump administration attorney says the U.S. Department of Justice dismissed several cases against pro-life activists filed by the Biden administration and vowed to prosecute perpetrators responsible for vandalizing churches and pro-life pregnancy centers in the wake of the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. In an appearance on "The Glenn Beck Podcast" Saturday, Assistant Attorney General for the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon identified protecting "the rights of people of faith throughout the United States, whether they're in federal agencies or not" as one of the key aspects of the...

BOULDER, Colo. (BP) — Men have outpaced women in church attendance the past three years, reversing a longstanding trend of more women in the pews that narrowed in 2016, Barna said in its 2025 State of the Church release, created in partnership with Gloo. Women had outpaced men in attendance since 2000, then at 47% to 38%, before men began outpacing women in 2022, at 35% to 30%. In 2024, 30% of men were attending weekly, compared to 27% of women. “As a leader,” researchers said, “consider how your church is reaching and connecting with women, who have traditionally been...

A church in Highland Park, New Jersey, is in a tough spot after receiving millions of dollars in USAID relief funds to assist illegals. Leaders with the Reformed Church of Highland Park told Shore News Network they laid off 195 workers after President Donald Trump’s administration stopped federal money from going to migrant resettlement programs, the website reported Sunday. The outlet said it “confirmed layoffs through a WARN notice filed with the New Jersey Department of Labor.” It continued: The church, which had received $18 million in aid from USAID to place migrants in jobs across New Jersey, is now...

Rev. Brent Hawkes argues that churches should remove references to Jesus being the "Savior" from their websites, so as not to offend Muslims and other religions, and because it is a "stumbling block" for people who might otherwise attend. on X

When Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde lectured President Trump and Vice President Vance about immigration during her sermon at the National Prayer Service on the day after they were inaugurated, leftists hailed Budde for standing on principle and giving the Bad Orange Man a good scolding. As it turns out, however, Budde may have motivations that were a bit more tangible than principle: her church’s Episcopal Migration Ministry (EMM) rakes in millions from a number of taxpayer-funded entities for bringing the migrants. And the Episcopal Church is by no means alone in this: other churches that have recently taken principled stances...

President Donald Trump addressed pro-life advocates in a video speech at the 52nd annual March for Life on Friday, praising them for their “extraordinary love and compassion for the unborn” while promising to “end the weaponization of law enforcement against Americans of faith.” Trump pledged in the video — which played to a crowd of thousands gathered in Washington, DC, in frigid weather — that the Department of Justice (DOJ) will investigate the hundreds of pro-abortion attacks on churches and pregnancy centers. He also talked about his pardoning of nearly two dozen pro-life activists targeted, and some imprisoned, by the...

Federal immigration authorities now have the ability to arrest individuals in and around schools and churches — areas previously considered sensitive. This new policy change involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, announced on the second day of the new Trump Administration on Tuesday, Jan/ 21 by Acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman and represents a significant shift from long-standing guidelines. “Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest," Huffman said in a statement. "The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to...

On January 15, 2025, three men entered two churches in Fairfax, Virginia, and began taking photos and videos of the properties. One of the men asked questions about the churches’ security systems, specifically whether their cameras could live-stream and if they were monitored continuously. When challenged by staff, the group left in a Lexus SUV. Their behavior, consistent with reconnaissance tactics often used to plan attacks, raised significant concerns among church leaders and law enforcement. This incident is not isolated. Just days earlier, a similar situation unfolded in Southern California, where individuals displayed nearly identical behavior, including taking photos and...

de Tocqueville wrote about the righteous fire in America's pulpits. Below are two powerful, urgent messages. We need courage in our pulpits and seats of government. Without vision the people perish. Short video -- Pastor Jonny Ardavanis Goes Viral For Exposing the Demonic Truth About the Democrat Party -- https://rumble.com/v5itb2l-pastor-jonny-ardavanis-goes-viral-for-exposing-the-demonic-truth-about-the-.html Longer video -- (actually a number of powerful, short messages, then group prayer over President Trump) National Faith Summit -- https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=AyzxGWgzxQ0 ------------------------ TOP 25 QUOTES BY ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE | A-Z Quotes https://www.azquotes.com/author/14691-Alexis_de_Tocqueville

Though churches have reported ongoing declines in worship service attendance, their fiscal health has not suffered as significantly because the faithful who continue to attend have been giving more to cover operating expenses, a new study from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research suggests. In "Finances and Faith: A Look at Financial Health Among Congregations in the Post-Pandemic Reality," researchers highlighted data from the Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations research project and the Faith Communities Today research initiative.The data was collected mainly from the 2023 survey of over 5,000 congregations and the 2020 survey of over 15,000 congregations, representing...

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz has faced multiple lawsuits for allegedly infringing on religious liberty during his time as Minnesota governor. Walz encountered legal challenges for lockdown policies that religious organizations argued were discriminatory, placing stricter requirements on churches than businesses. He also encountered pushback after signing a law that stripped faith-based schools of funding for a program that offers free college credits to high school students. Walz determined in a May 13, 2020, executive order that retailers would be allowed to reopen at 50% capacity, but left religious gatherings capped at ten people. After Catholic and Lutheran churches...

A quiet yet insidious transformation is taking place: American Christian churches are being systematically converted into mosques, signaling an Islamic conquest intent on erasing the nation’s heritage and conquering its Christian population.Recent trends in religious property transactions reveal a concerning shift in America’s religious landscape. A striking example is the sale of the Calvary Temple of Praise Inc. building in Sanford, Florida, to Masjid Al Hayy. This transaction highlights a broader trend: while Christian churches are experiencing a decline, Islamic mosques are witnessing significant growth. This trend points to a deeper and more troubling phenomenon: the slow but steady erosion...

Conservative media personality Todd Starnes has come under fire from a number of pastors after he urged Christians to leave their church if their pastor did not address the assassination attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump from their pulpits on Sunday. “If your pastor did not address the assassination attempt in today's service, you need to find another church. There is tremendous spiritual warfare being waged in this country. This is no time for limp-wristed wokevangelicals,” Starnes wrote on X Sunday evening. Starnes’ comment came less than 24 hours after Trump, who is expected to accept the...

There’s a significant gap in the involvement of Protestant churches with local pregnancy resource centers, despite heightened attention on such centers following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade two years ago. A survey by Lifeway Research reveals that only 31% of Protestant churchgoers have observed any congregational support for these centers since the ruling. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization allowed states to enact laws regulating abortion, spotlighting the role of local pregnancy centers in providing support for women with unintended pregnancies. Despite this, the majority of...