Free Republic

Democrat-dominated Santa Clara County, California, used spies to infiltrate North Valley Baptist Church and fined the church $10,000 when they caught worshipers singing during indoor religious services. .... the church was fined $5,000 for holding a religious service on Sunday morning and another $5,000 when the spies caught the Christians praying again on Sunday evening. Various left-wing protests have taken place in the county. And while it's not clear if the county sent spies in to also "monitor" the lefties (highly doubtful), angry protesters have sung, chanted, shouted, and spittled as they express their hatred for the police and contempt...

Groups and individuals behind the action argue rule is unconstitutional. . A group of 16 individuals, churches and businesses are suing Gov. Tim Walz over his statewide mask mandate for indoor spaces. Their suit, filed Thursday in Ramsey County District Court, argues that the requirement is unconstitutional, conflicts with state laws, and imposes an undue burden on business owners. It also demands that Walz, state Attorney General Keith Ellison and Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom either show it is consistent with state law or end enforcement of the mandate. Walz faces several lawsuits related to the mask requirement, which he...

Che Ahn, the pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, California, may soon be preaching from jail. The city prosecutor threatened to press criminal charges against the pastor and the congregation of Harvest Rock Church. That's right, folks -- criminal charges.I imagined such a circumstance would happen under the rule of Democrats in my new book, "Culture Jihad: How to Stop the Left From Killing a Nation."Harvest Rock has been holding indoor worship services in violation of Governor Gavin Newsom’s China Virus orders. The congregation was also observed not wearing masks and not complying with social distancing rules."All of these...

A California judge has ruled that churches may operate with indoor services and with no attendance cap. This ruling is a swift blow to California governor Gavin Newsom’s edict banning indoor services. The decision came as Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and Charles LiMandri defended California Pastor John MacArthur who openly defied the California ban. Pastor John MacArthur told “Fox News @ Night” earlier this month that he began holding indoor services in the form of “peaceful protest” at Grace Community Church in Los Angeles County, despite being warned he could face fines or arrest.... More at LINK ABOVE:

Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church in Los Angeles, Calif., filed a lawsuit against Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), Mayor Eric Garcetti (D-Los Angeles), and other state and local officials, claiming that coronavirus orders prohibiting in-person worship services while officials encourage politically-favored protests violate the California Constitution. ... On July 29, the City of Los Angeles sent a cease-and-desist letter, threatening Grace Community Church and MacArthur with a daily fine of $1,000 or arrest. The letter gave him one day to respond. On Sunday, August 2, health officials came to the church, asking to inspect the premises. The church declined...

They’re Ensuring It Christians say, with the apostle Paul, that for us to live is Christ, and to die is gain — yet at the very thought of death, so many of our churches slammed our doors shut and are keeping them closed. What does that say about our faith? The coronavirus pandemic has made little liars out of our Sunday school selves. “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine,” we sang. “Hide it under a bushel? No! I’m gonna let it shine. Don’t let Satan blow it out, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine,...

A Catholic political advocacy group is calling on presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden to speak out on a rash of violence and vandalism against churches across the nation. "Catholic churches across America are literally burning, and Joe Biden has said nothing. Leading members of the Democratic Party have fueled a climate of hate against Catholics, and these attacks have now led to acts of vandalism and violence," CatholicVote president Brian Burch said Thursday. "These attacks on the Church raise serious questions about the commitment of Joe Biden, a self-professed Catholic, to stand up to the rising climate of anti-Catholicism across...

About $40,770,000 (3 billion rubles) are donated by sponsors and parishioners every year for the construction of Orthodox churches in Moscow, said State Duma Deputy Vladimir Resin, the curator of the 200 Program, which aims to build enough churches in the capital so that everyone has one within walking distance. The largest benefactor and donor is the people, Muscovites, the residents of the capital’s districts,” Resin said during a tour of churches under construction in northwestern Moscow a few days ago, reports Interfax-Religion. “They have a need for spiritual development, for preserving the traditional foundations of their families, for transforming...

Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that Nevada can legally limit attendance at indoor religious services to just 50 persons. At the same time, casinos, restaurants, bars, theme parks, and gyms are allowed to operate at 50% capacity. This is a double standard. Why are houses of worship restricted to an arbitrary number — no matter how big the venue is or what safety precautions are in place — while business capacity is regulated based on the size of the venue? This ruling unfairly targets churches and other institutions of faith. It tells the American people that the economy is...

I write this from my perspective as a priest responsible for the care of souls; I do not claim to be a medical expert. My pastoral concern is that we as a nation and as a Church have succumbed to excessive fear, which bespeaks a spiritual problem. The medical concerns arising from the pandemic are not without merit, but they are not unprecedented. What is unique today is the collective paralysis brought on by this fear. I write to express my concern and to reiterate the constant biblical cry, “Do not be afraid!”.... .....I cannot avoid concluding that many people...

Signed by Pope Francis June 29, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, the instruction promotes greater cooperation among different parish communities, emphasizing the need for the parish to be inclusive, evangelizing, and attentive to the poor. The Vatican’s Congregation for Clergy published instructions Monday on reforming parishes and restructuring dioceses to better serve their “singular mission of evangelization.” The 24-page document is called “The pastoral conversion of the parish community in the service of the evangelizing mission of the Church” and seeks to “foster a greater co-responsibility and collaboration among all the baptised,” according to Mgr. Andrea Ripa, the...

They're 'protected by the First Amendment and Texas law,' A.G. says. The attorney general of Texas yesterday ordered local authorities to cease any attempts to shut down churches and private religious schools, stating that those institutions are protected by both the U.S. Constitution and Texas statute. .. A.G. Ken Paxton said that "the robust constitutional and statutory protections unique to religious individuals and communities at all times" prohibit local governments from closing them down, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. ... local public health officials have [recently] begun to issue orders restricting or limiting in-person instruction" in private schools. In the...

A fire has broken out at the cathedral in the French city of Nantes. More than 60 firefighters are currently at the Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul cathedral, according to local media. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Images from the scene show a substantial fire and smoke billowing from inside the gothic building.

A federal judge on Friday struck down orders issued by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio that limit the size of church services. The ruling, a preliminary injunction delivered by District Judge Gary Sharpe, notes that by endorsing protests for racial justice while simultaneously discouraging large gatherings in churches, both Cuomo and de Blasio undermined their claim that their lockdown orders were "generally applicable."

Protesters behind the White House on Monday night claimed the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church as the “Black House Autonomous Zone,” vandalizing four of the church’s columns with the acronym BHAZ. . . . John Cheeks, a former independent candidate for D.C.’s nonvoting at-large congressional seat, stood outside St. John’s, bellowing into a megaphone about the historical evils of the Episcopal Church, which, he said, as an institution was one of the four largest slaveholders in American history. “The other three were the Catholics, Methodists, and Presbyterians,” he added, before demanding that all white Christians pay cash to black people...

Unidentified arsonists placed a large trash bin against a side door of the Saint-Pierre cathedral in Rennes late last week and set the contents on fire, in an apparent attempt to torch the church. Rennes firefighters arrived in time to put out the fire, which they believe to have been intentionally set since the bin was brought from an adjacent street and deliberately placed outside the door. The incident took place during the night from the 11th to 12th of June. It was the owner of a neighborhood restaurant who sounded the alarm, shortly before 2:00am. “I started to smell...

Optimism is beginning to return to evangelical churches and organizations in the U.S. as a majority of them saw cash donations growing or remaining the same during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in April compared with the same month last year, according to a survey.Asked how total cash donations, excluding one-time extraordinary gifts, changed for them between April 2020 and April 2019, 66% of churches and 59% of “Christ-centered nonprofits” said it was higher than or the same as April 2019, shows the survey by Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability.Asked how donations changed between April 2020 and January 2020,...

Contra Costa County in California will not allow church services until June 15. But it permits outdoor social gatherings of up to 12 people right now. And it permits protests of up to 100 people right now.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot's decision to shift police resources to conducting raids on churches that hold services in defiance of her edict that this not be permitted has led to questions regarding her priorities. As is well-known, there are dozens of shootings in the City every week and a lengthy list of unsolved murders. This past Sunday, though, five police cars loaded with officers descended on Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church to break-up Pastor Courtney Lewis' sermon and disperse the parishioners. Lightfoot justified the raid saying that "the City's residents have learned to live with the constant murders, but COVID-19 is a...

The three Louisiana churches went up in flames in a span of 10 days, each doused in gasoline and torched with oily shop rags in the middle of the night. Each Baptist congregation was predominantly black, causing church leaders to fear that white supremacists may target their parish next. But as the fears swirled, the arsonist, 22-year-old Holden Matthews, was busy planning his next album cover, according to text messages obtained by prosecutors He burned down the three churches in St. Landry Parish, federal prosecutors said Monday, because he wanted “to raise his profile as a ‘Black Metal’ musician.” Matthews,...