Weekly briefing: Abortion pills without doctor, Calif.'s indoor worship ban, Christian author comes out as gay |
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| We've compiled the top stories of the week. Here's what you need to know: |
| Judge allows women to get abortion pills without seeing doctor |
| U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang suspended a Food & Drug Administration rule requiring that women be seen by a doctor before accessing abortion-inducing drugs. |
| “The end goal of the abortion industry is to have the drugs sent through the mail making possible ‘Do-It-Yourself’ abortions. However, this is not some benign ‘take-two-aspirin’ treatment.” — Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life |
| Calif. gov. bans indoor church services |
| Gov. Gavin Newsom issued a new order this week that shuts down indoor operations for churches, gyms, and certain businesses in 30 counties amid rising COVID-19 cases. |
| Some churches said that they won’t be complying. |
| "I believe my mandate as a pastor is to obey the Word of God. And part of what we do is worship together as a church. We are not going to allow our government to use data that is not supported factually to shut the church down.” — Greg Fairrington, pastor of Destiny Christian Church |
| Others are adjusting their services to stay in line with the governor’s order by holding outdoor worship. |
| Read Andy Stanley suspends in-person services until 2021 |
| Millions of children forced into labor amid pandemic |
| The COVID-19 pandemic has caused at least 110 million children to go hungry and pushed 8 million others into child labor and begging, according to assessments in 24 countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia by evangelical Christian humanitarian aid organization World Vision. |
| “Without urgent action, this will only get worse given that every second child, out of 2 billion children in the world, is living in poverty.” — World Vision |
| Christian author announces divorce: ‘I am gay’ |
| Christian children's book author Matthew Paul Turner came out as gay and announced that he and his wife are divorcing. |
| Turner, author of When I Pray for You and who grew up in evangelical churches, said he and his wife will be putting the well-being of their three children first. |
| In case you missed it |
| Evangelist Morris Cerullo dies at 88 |
| Interviews |
| Megachurch pastor warns 'woke' Christians: Don't jump on 'cultural hype trains’ |
| Lori Allen of ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ on keeping faith, hope and belief in God in crazy times |
| Pray for |
| Christians in India, where 135 cases of persecution have so far been reported |
| Family of youth pastor Kelvin Wheeler, who was shot dead |
| New releases |
| Apple Tom Hanks stars in "Greyhound," now streaming on Apple TV+. |
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| Film: |
| Greyhound (Apple TV+) |
| Album: |
| Here for Jesus by Nashville Life Music (July 17) |
| Books: |
| Weep with Me: How Lament Opens a Door for Racial Reconciliation by Mark Vroegop (July 14) |
| 9 Lies That Will Destroy Your Marriage: And the Truths That Will Save It and Set It Free by Greg Smalley and Robert Paul (July 7) |
