Coronavirus

A California county government used the location data on church members’ cell phones in 2020 and 2021 in order to determine if a high-profile congregation, Calvary Chapel, was violating pandemic health restrictions, according to court documents.

A new intelligence report from the U.S. Energy Department suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic began following a leak at a lab in Wuhan, China.

The US Energy Department (USED) has concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic origin was most likely a laboratory leak.

According to the Wall Street Journal, this conclusion “is the result of new intelligence and is significant because the agency has considerable scientific expertise and oversees a network of US national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.” However, people who have read the classified report add that the USED made its judgment with “low confidence” (which means that it is based on highly incomplete evidence).

According to a new American Enterprise Institute (AEI) survey, about a third of Americans have stopped attending church since the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

Last week, a federal judge approved a $10 million settlement for healthcare workers in Illinois who were fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine or denied a religious exemption from the shot.

Leaders of a fraudulent ministry are being charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and visa fraud after spending millions in COVID-19 pandemic relief funds for a down payment on a mansion in Central Florida.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis (R) is calling on the state’s Supreme Court to impanel a grand jury to investigate misconduct regarding COVID-19 vaccines.

The California Supreme Court denied a petition last week by Santa Clara County asking Calvary Chapel San Jose to pay $217,500 in fines for violating COVID-19 restrictions during the height of the pandemic.

A new Pew Research report finds that governments and police in nearly a quarter of 198 countries and territories used coercion on religious groups who refused to comply with COVID-19 worship restrictions.

The doors of American churches are open again, although their attendance numbers are not back to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new Lifeway Research survey.