Samuel Smith and World Watch Monitor

Latest

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  Apr 23, 2020

  Christian leaders demand access to COVID-19 relief loans for business owners with criminal record

  Evangelical and Catholic leaders are calling on federal lawmakers to make legislative changes to allow coronavirus relief loans to be given to business owners with criminal records as Congress works to pass a second coronavirus stimulus bill this week. 

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  Apr 23, 2020

  Louisville church drops lawsuit after mayor allows drive-in worship services

  On Fire Christian Church in Louisville, Kentucky, has come to an agreement with city officials to end its lawsuit against an order that banned churches from holding drive-in worship services. 

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  Apr 23, 2020

  Protestant families in Mexico denied water access, kids barred from school: NGO

  Some Protestant minority families from indigenous communities in Mexico are being denied access to crucial utilities like water and electricity while some kids are denied access to school, a new report from an international Christian persecution watchdog warns. 

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  Apr 22, 2020

  Iran sentences Christian woman to 3 months in prison, 10 lashes for protesting regime

  Iranian Christian convert and human rights activist Mary Mohammadi has been sentenced to three months and prison and torture for protesting the government’s downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane in January.  

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  Apr 22, 2020

  Christian group calls on churches to resume in-person services on May 3

  A national Christian conservative legal nonprofit is calling on churches nationwide to resume in-person worship services while taking appropriate safety precautions on May 3, arguing that “now is the time to act” after weeks of in-person services being suspended due to COVID-19. 

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  Apr 22, 2020

  Trump says Christian faith 'treated very unfairly' during COVID-19 pandemic

  President Donald Trump said over the weekend that the Christian faith is being “treated very unfairly” during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as state and local governments have enforced social distancing against church gatherings.  

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  Apr 21, 2020

  Army brigade removes chaplains’ Facebook videos on prayer during COVID-19 following complaints

  Videos produced by chaplains encouraging service members and their families to pray during the COVID-19 crisis were removed from the official Facebook page of the U.S. Army’s 10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade at Fort Drum, New York, following a complaint. 

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  Apr 21, 2020

  Tony Spell arrested for aggravated assault after backing church bus toward protester

  Controversial Louisiana pastor Tony Spell, who has defied state stay-at-home orders by holding church services, has been arrested for aggravated assault after he allegedly backed up a church bus toward a protester. 

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  Apr 21, 2020

  'Pastor' to plead guilty to $33M church-based investment scam

  A man claiming to be a pastor in California will plead guilty to organizing an investment scam using the guise of a church to swindle over $33 million away from investors, primarily from Orange County’s Vietnamese community. He could face over two decades in prison.

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  Apr 21, 2020

  Nigerian Christian student killed, 2 villagers abducted by suspected Fulani radicals

  A Christian college student was reportedly shot and killed by radical Fulani herdsmen during a raid on a village in the Nigerian state of Kaduna last Thursday, about a week after a pastor was stabbed to death in his church in southern Nigeria.