April 17, 2020: Ky. gov. sued by churchgoers, Planned Parenthood baby body parts scandal, Willow Creek
Friday, April 17, 2020:
Here are the latest headlines, brought to you by The Christian Post.
— Greenville mayor ends ban on drive-in church services after DOJ intervenes
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Democrat Mayor Errick D. Simmons of Greenville, Mississippi, said he will now allow residents to attend drive-in church services without fear of facing penalties from authorities after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a statement of interest on behalf of Temple Baptist Church’s lawsuit against the city for issuing $500 tickets to every driver who attended the church’s April 7 drive-in worship service.
Mayor Simmons assured residents on Wednesday that they can attend drive-in church services as long as they keep their windows rolled up. He also said he would allow churches to have up to 10 people in their buildings for worship services that are broadcast as long as they follow social distancing and health guidelines to stop the spread of COVID-19.
— Willow Creek selects megachurch pastor Dave Dummitt as new senior leader
Two years after the tumultuous resignation of their longtime pastor and founder Bill Hybels under a cloud of sexual misconduct allegations, Willow Creek Community Church in suburban Chicago announced Wednesday that they have selected Michigan megachurch pastor David Dummitt to replace him at the helm.
Dummitt is the founding and lead pastor of the 10,000-member 2|42 Community Church in Southeast Michigan which he has been operating for more than 15 years. The 2|42 Community Church was launched with just 35 people in Dummitt’s living room and now has seven different campus that meet each weekend. Willow Creek meets in eight locations.
— Planned Parenthood raked in nearly $25K for aborted baby body parts
Newly unsealed documents show that over the course of three months in 2012, Planned Parenthood was paid tens of thousands of dollars for the body parts of aborted babies.
The invoices show Planned Parenthood Mar Monte in California billed biotech company StemExpress nearly $25,000 over July, August and September of 2012 for babies’ organs harvested from abortions as well as maternal blood samples. The abortion giant has long denied that they profited from selling baby body parts and insisted they were only reimbursed for their costs of obtaining the samples.
The emergence of the documents come as a result of lengthy investigations into Planned Parenthood in light of the undercover investigation from David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress.
— Kentucky gov. sued by 3 churchgoers over order barring mass gatherings
Three churchgoers have sued Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and other public officials over an executive order that prevents them from attending in-person worship services.
According to the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs attended an Easter Sunday service at Maryville Baptist Church of Hillview in Bullitt County. While there, they wore face coverings and avoided personal contact with other people.
After the service they each found notices on their cars from Kentucky State Troopers saying their license plate numbers had been recorded and they were expected to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
— Idaho faces lawsuit over law barring trans-identified boys from competing in girls' sports
The ACLU is suing the state of Idaho over a new law prohibiting males who self-identify as transgender from participating in girls' sports at the high school and university levels.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Boise alleges that the bill signed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little last month unlawfully discriminates against athletes who identify as transgender and that it constitutes an invasion of privacy because the bill requires athletes to give proof of their birth sex if challenged. The lawsuit names Lindsay Hecox, a trans-identifying track athlete at Boise State University and an unnamed high school female athlete as plaintiffs.
Little also signed a separate bill banning the alteration of sex markers on public documents such as birth certificates in order to preserve biologically-based vital statistics in the state.
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