Jeff Reynolds – August 07, 2020

Ventura County, Calif., has voted to order a church to stop conducting services and sermons due to the CCP coronavirus pandemic. The pastor, Rob McCoy, has continued to hold services, exerting his First Amendment right to practice his religion. McCoy, pastor of Godspeak Calvary Chapel, says he’s willing to go to jail over the principle. and that the orders for churches in California to shut down while other activities are allowed to continue are arbitrary and discriminatory. A Ventura County Superior Court judge issued a temporary restraining order on Friday halting all services until a hearing on August 31.

Lawyers for Godspeak announced,

The church intends to present expert witnesses for the purpose of establishing that the State of California and the County of Ventura lack a compelling interest for the prohibition of indoor worship services and that the decision to prevent indoor worship services, while allowing other indoor activities, is arbitrary and without a rational basis. Godspeak Calvary Chapel will file a cross complaint against both the County of Ventura, State of California and the officials enforcing the orders.

The Ventura County Star reported:

Ventura County officials on Wednesday sued Newbury Park Pastor Rob McCoy and the chapel he heads to force compliance with public health orders intended to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The filing came a day after the Ventura County Board of Supervisors authorized legal counsel to seek restraining orders and other enforcement actions against individuals and entities who refuse to comply with the orders.

Supervisors Steve Bennett, Linda Parks and John Zaragoza voted in favor. Chairwoman Kelly Long and Supervisor Bob Huber opposed the motion.

In the lawsuit filed in Ventura County Superior Court, the county and Public Health Officer Dr. Robert Levin said McCoy and the Godspeak Calvary Chapel had violated the orders, causing “great and irreparable injury” to the public by creating a significant risk of further community spread. The suit also claims that the defendants have created a public nuisance.

Pastor McCoy has posted regular updates on the situation on the church’s YouTube channel.

https://pjmedia.com

Carlos Garcia – August 6, 2020

A congressman urged the Department of Justice to investigate what he called a “disturbing trend” of attacks and vandalism on churches across the nation.

Rep. Chuck Fleischmann (R-Tenn.) made the request in a letter to U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday after a rash of attacks on Catholic churches in his district.

“Since June, there have been nearly a dozen reported attacks on Catholic churches around the nation. These disturbing attacks range from arson to the beheading of a statue of the Virgin Mary,” wrote Fleischmann, who is Catholic.

“I find these attacks to be a disturbing trend, happening in multiple areas across the nation, including within my own congressional district,” he added.

“In times of uncertainty we naturally turn to religion for comfort and peace, something many Americans are seeking as we combat COVID-19, but these attacks add another level of distress for many across our nation,” Fleischmann continued.

“I commend the Department of Justice’s commitment,” he concluded, “under your leadership, to combating religious discrimination and I look forward to our continued work together to uphold and protect religious freedom in the United States.”

Churches have been targeted for looting and arson across the United States in recent months. Some of the attacks have been a part of the rioting stemming from the protests over the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody in late May.

Some of the rioting focused on statues meant to honor saints of the Catholic church. In San Francisco, California, a group of around 100 rioters toppled a statue of Catholic missionary St. Junipero Serra, despite historic evidence that he defended the rights of Native Americans.

In another recent case of vandalism against a church, someone wrote racist threats on the air conditioning unit of the Murph-Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in North Highlands, California.

https://www.theblaze.com

The Blaze – July 20, 2020

The communist Chinese government is ordering some Christians to take down religious symbols, including crosses, crucifixes, and images of Jesus Christ, and to replace them with communist leaders, according to a new report.

The startling report of religious oppression was reported in Bitter Winter, a religious liberty magazine.

“All impoverished households in the town were told to display Mao Zedong images,” said a local pastor to Bitter Winter.

“The government is trying to eliminate our belief and wants to become God instead of Jesus,” he added.

The order was made in April when communist party officials visited believers’ homes in the city of Linfen, located in the northern province of Shanxi.

The officials said that those who were receiving financial assistance from the government would have to take down their religious symbols and replace them with portraits of Chairman Mao and President Xi Jinping. If they refused to do so, they could face the loss of their welfare benefits.

One villager recounted that officials tore down the Christian images in his home and replaced them with a portrait of Mao Zedong.

https://www.theblaze.com

Steve Warren – July 21,2020

As the “cancel culture” crowd continues to rampage across the US and around the world, tearing down statues of historical figures, they have now apparently targeted statues depicting Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary as well as burning church buildings and vandalizing places of worship with Satanic symbols.

In recent days, several Catholic churches have been vandalized by unknown perpetrators who left behind no motivation for the attacks.

The pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in New Haven, Conn., found a satanic pentagram and an anarchist symbol painted in pink paint on the front doors of the church building, according to the New Haven Register.

Archdiocese of Hartford officials posted news of the vandalism on their Facebook page, writing, “This follows an apparent trend of desecrating Catholic spaces throughout the nation, as evidenced by incidents in Chattanooga, Queens, Boston, Sacramento, and Ocala. The underlying motive of these sacrilegious attacks is clear: to intimidate and instill fear in the hearts of those who worship Christ.”

“Therefore, we remain unafraid and resolute in our faith, and we will pray for a conversion of the hearts of those who wish to terrorize us,” it said.

“Today, even in the midst of anti-Christian sentiment and actions, however, we do not answer hate with hate,” it said. “To the contrary, these attacks make our love and unity stronger, and our prayers ever more steadfast.”

https://www1.cbn.com

ETH – July 17,2020

(ETH) – Another statue of Jesus has been beheaded by vandalizes in the courtyard of a Catholic church in Kendale Lakes, Florida, according to a report from the Miami Archdiocese who claim that it expects police to label the incident as a hate crime.

The statue of Jesus Christ that was beheaded had been resting behind the church for decades before and was allegedly decapitated by vandals overnight into Wednesday.  According to the report, authorities are yet unsure of who was behind the incident, RT News stated:

“This is not something you can trip over and say, ‘Oh, sorry,’ – Someone did this intentionally,” spokesperson Mary Ross Agosta told local media. Agosta said the church sees it as not merely an act of vandalism – which has been on the rise in the wake of the George Floyd protests, with activists toppling statues of historical figures across the country – but an “an attack on the church” that should be investigated as a “hate crime.” They also warned that the suspected hate-fueled attack on the statue is not an isolated incident and that the Catholic Church as a whole has faced an avalanche of similar attacks recently.

https://endtimeheadlines.org

Heather Clark – June 16, 2020

BOSTON — The City of Boston held a virtual flag-raising ceremony on June 5 to commence the 50th annual Boston Pride Week, celebrating the sins of homosexuality and bisexuality. Boston remains embroiled in a federal lawsuit after it denied a private group’s request to fly the Christian flag over City Hall during their temporary event recognizing Constitution Day.

“In Boston, we’re very proud of how far we’ve come,” Mayor Ben Walsh said during the recorded event, which was posted to the Boston Pride YouTube page with the hashtag #wickedproud. “We’re proud of the trailblazers and activists who’ve changed the world, and we’re proud that many of them call our city home.”

“We’re going to keep fighting for greater visibility and representation for people of all sexualities and gender identities,” he stated. “We won’t let anyone take us backward.”

Walsh advised that since the in-person Pride event had to be canceled this year, the City looked for other ways to observe the occasion. He said that part of the plan includes lighting City Hall in rainbow colors.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker also spoke to viewers, thanking those involved with Boston Pride.

“You’ve made an enormous difference for the people in the Commonwealth and in the city of Boston, and you really have changed the world over the course of the past 50 years,” he stated. “God bless and good luck in the next 50.”

Davron Monroe, an award-winning singer who performs opera, theater, gospel and jazz, sang the national anthem for the virtual event, and the song “Raise You Up” from the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus played as footage showed the rainbow flag being run up the pole at City Hall.

As previously reported, the City of Boston was sued in 2018 after it rejected a group’s application to fly the Christian flag outside City Hall during an event celebrating the religious history of the city and the contributions made by Christians.

https://christiannews.net

Daniel Greenfield – June 4, 2020

The assault on St. John’s Episcopal Church by radicals and racists was the ugliest moment of the D.C. riots. Not only was the famous 204-year-old church, which every president since Madison has attended, sprayed with graffiti, but some of the thugs even tried to burn it down by starting a fire in its basement.

The attack and President Trump’s subsequent visit to the ‘Church of Presidents’ captured the attention of a nation. But what happened to St. John’s was not an aberration. The Black Lives Matter and Antifa riots have been associated with attacks on churches and synagogues across the United States.

The victims of New York City’s leftist riots included St. Patrick’s Cathedral as the venerable 142-year-old building was defaced with obscenities and the three letters BLM for Black Lives Matter, along with “George Floyd” and “No Justice, No Peace”.

In Richmond, Virginia, Beth Ahabah, a 225-year-old Reform Jewish congregation, had the windows in its grand 116-year-old building smashed by rioters. The building is now covered over with plywood. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, a 175-year-old building, also in Richmond, was defaced with graffiti. Finally, rioters in Richmond broke the windows of the West Broad Church of Christ, an African-American congregation. They left intact the one pane of glass reading, “Welcome”.

Some of the nationwide vandalism of churches and synagogues featured generic Black Lives Matter slogans, but some had hateful messages that were specifically targeted to the houses of worship.

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver, a 108-year-old building, was at the center of some of the local riots, including the hit-and-run of three Denver police officers, and suffered permanent damage. The walls were also vandalized with graffiti reading, “Pedofiles” and “God is dead”.

https://www.frontpagemag.com

Sarah Taylor – May 21, 2020

A Mississippi church whose leadership refused to close the church’s doors during the state’s COVID-19 lockdown is now no more.

An as-yet identified suspect reportedly burned the church down Wednesday morning.

The First Pentecostal Church of Holly Springs was vandalized, which caused an explosion to the rear of the facility.

Authorities are investigating the vandalism as a criminal act of arson.

One message spray painted on the church property read, “I bet you stay home now you hypokrits [sic].”

Stephen Crampton, an attorney for the church, told WHBQ-TV on Thursday that the unknown vandal or vandals spray-painted the church and set it on fire.

“There was a major explosion in the back of the church that blew out the front,” Crampton said.

Crampton also said that he believed the church was targeted for “being outspoken and somewhat firm about seeking to protect their constitutional rights” by refusing to close during the pandemic.

https://www.theblaze.com

Michael Gryboski – May 15,2020

Two congregations, a pastor and a conservative Christian group are suing North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper for a broader exemption to a state order banning indoor gatherings of more than 10 people.

Berean Baptist Church of Winston-Salem and People’s Baptist Church in Greenville joined the Christian conservative mobilization network Return America in filing a complaint Thursday with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

The Christian groups are seeking injunctive relief from state executive orders aimed at combatting the spread of the coronavirus by limiting mass gatherings, including church services.

The congregations have been unable to hold in-person, indoor worship services since the governor first signed the orders.

According to the complaint, Cooper’s orders are “unconstitutional both facially and as applied to Plaintiffs.”

“Governor Cooper’s Orders have been interpreted, applied, and enforced by his Office and

local law enforcement authorities as prohibiting indoor gatherings for religious worship by more than 10 people,” the lawsuit reads.

“The Orders are not neutral laws of general applicability because they target Constitutionally protected activity, significantly burdening the Plaintiffs’ right to freedom of religion and assembly, establishing an orthodox form of religious exercise approved by the State, all the while providing broad exemptions for many other gatherings of more than 10 people that are not constitutionally protected.”

https://www.christianpost.com

Dave Urbanski – April 16, 2020

A northern California county issued revised shelter-in-place orders on Good Friday that outlaw singing during livestream church services unless the services take place in residences.

The specifics within Mendocino County’s 13-page document are found on page 8 under “Minimum Basic Operations” for “venues, such as concert halls, auditoriums, churches, temples, and playhouses, to enable a recorded and/or live-streamed event to be shared virtually with the public” — and then come the “limitations.”

First off, the order states that “only four individuals may be present for the live event. All others must participate remotely,” the document states.

Secondly, “Social Distancing Requirements must be maintained, include maintaining at least six feet of physical distancing from other individuals (physical distancing not required for members of the same household), frequently washing hands with soap and water for at least twenty seconds as frequently as possible or using hand sanitizer that is recognized by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as effective in combatting COVID-19, covering coughs or sneezes (into the sleeve or elbow, not hands), regularly cleaning high-touch surfaces, not shaking hands, and, for those who are not on camera, to wear facial coverings as much as possible,” the document notes.

And then the powers that be get into specific activities not allowed during livestream events: “No singing or use of wind instruments, harmonicas, or other instruments that could spread COVID-19 through projected droplets shall be permitted unless the recording of the event is done at one’s residence, and involving only the members of one’s household or living unit, because of the increased risk of transmission of COVID-19.”The order is in effect until May 10 and “violation of or failure to comply with this Order is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both,” the document reads.

https://www.theblaze.com