Pro-life support plummets among churchgoers despite faith resurgence



Despite signs of renewed interest in faith, a troubling trend is emerging within the American church.

In a recent study by the Family Research Council, it was revealed that the percentage of regular churchgoers who identify as pro-life was only 43% in 2025, after being 63% in 2023.

“That is so unfortunate,” BlazeTV host Allie Beth Stuckey says. “And what happened there, I think, was just the propaganda war after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, which happened in the summer of 2022. And it convinced so many people.”


“I know people like this who are Christians who consider themselves pro-life, and they bought into all of these lies that these pro-life laws are causing women to die from miscarriages in emergency rooms. It’s a lie. It’s not true,” she adds, pointing out that any pro-abortion tale spun by the left can be easily debunked.

“If you send me someone who tragically died because of a miscarriage, or because of something that was going on in their pregnancy, I can tell you exactly why the legislation in that state had nothing to do with that person dying,” she explains.

“And you even see these stories from places like California of women dying. I’m like, what does that have to do with pro-life laws, which are nonexistent in the state of California? So much propaganda, but clearly the propaganda works,” she continues.

Stuckey believes that the propaganda is playing on what she’s coined the “toxic empathy” manipulation tactic.

“You tell a really sad story of a mom in distress who didn’t want to have an abortion. She wanted this child, and then she ended up losing her life or she ended up being forced to have a child that died soon after birth. And as women, as moms, that understandably pulls on our heart strings,” she says.

“And then it’s presented in a way that if you just allowed women the choice in these extreme situations, then you could relieve her pain. And if you don’t want to relieve her pain, it’s because you’re selfish. It’s because you’re close-minded and bigoted,” she continues.

“And they never talk about the actual victim of that abortion. ... That’s the baby,” she adds.

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Megachurch pastor ousted following Robert Morris' child sex abuse scandal starts ministry up again



Brady Boyd became the senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs in 2007 after serving six years as associate senior pastor and elder at the Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. Elders at the church forced Boyd out last year after it became clear that he had misled his congregation about what he knew about Gateway Church founder Robert Morris' sexual abuse of a child.

Apparently betting on Coloradans to forgive and/or forget, Boyd is launching services nearby.

Background

Cindy Clemishire came forward in 2024 accusing Morris of molesting her when she was a child.

'I am qualified for ministry.'

Morris initially downplayed his interactions with Clemishire as "inappropriate sexual behavior with a young lady" that was limited to "kissing and petting." Clemishire contradicted Morris, suggesting that the pastor starting abusing her when she was 12 years old and continued doing so for roughly five years.

Days after Clemishire's public accusation went viral, the church's elders announced that they had accepted Morris' resignation.

In October, several months after his indictment on child sexual battery charges, Morris pleaded guilty to five felony counts of lewd or indecent acts with a child.

Boyd could not escape the fallout from Morris' sex abuse scandal.

Boyd — who took over as senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs in 2007 after its former pastor, Ted Haggard, resigned over allegations that he had a sexual relationship with a male prostitute and abused methamphetamine — claimed until 2024 that he was unaware that Clemishire was 12 when Morris started molesting her, the Board of Elders of New Life Church said in a June 22, 2025, statement.

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Brady Boyd with former President George W. Bush in 2008. Craig F. Walker/Denver Post/Getty Images

"We believe that to be inaccurate," continued the statement. "Brady also made statements in his public address to the congregation on June 8 that the Board of Elders knows to be inaccurate."

On June 8, Boyd told members of his church that he had no previous knowledge of the allegations against Morris and portrayed himself as a victim of Morris' deception. Court documents suggest, however, that he had some idea of the claims against his associate by late August 2007.

While acknowledging that "Brady had nothing at all to do with Robert Morris' past abuse," the elders claimed Boyd did mislead his flock.

"We believe that trust is the currency of leadership," wrote the Board of Elders. "When Brady recently told our congregation, inaccurately, that he was unaware of certain details regarding Morris’ past abuse, trust was broken, and we, the Board of Elders, asked Brady to resign."

Boyd did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

New life

Within weeks of his resignation, Boyd launched a donation-collecting faith-themed organization called Psalm 68 Ministries, which he said in a July 22, 2025, post would "be operating under the authority of the elders of Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo, TX." Months later, he began a weekly sermon podcast.

Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo did not respond to a request for comment from Blaze News.

Late last month, Boyd and his wife, Pam, announced in-person services in the same commercial area of northern Colorado Springs.

"We believe we are still called to pastor in Colorado Springs. We received this mandate 18 years ago, and the calling has only grown stronger," said the announcement. "After careful prayer and discussions with trusted counselors and friends, we feel led to start a Wednesday night church service in Colorado Springs that will focus on some simple, but powerful ideas. We’ll pray together, study the Scriptures together, share the Lord’s Table, and enjoy fellowship with each other."

Boyd provided a reminder on March 11, writing, "In one week, we will gather and we cannot wait to see all of you at 6:30 at the Phil Long Music Hall."

When asked whether the new services constitute church services, Boyd told ChurchLeaders, "We are going to worship, study the scriptures, receive communion, and pray. This is not a church plant."

Responding to skepticism about whether he should continue in ministry, Boyd said, "Everyone in my trusted circle of pastors and advisers agrees wholeheartedly that I am qualified for ministry."

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Have youth sports replaced church? Jason Whitlock sounds the alarm on America’s Sunday problem.



Are youth sports quietly replacing church in American life?

Sports analyst Danny Kanell recently shined a light on this question when he suggested that youth games shouldn’t start before 9 a.m. on Sundays — and maybe shouldn’t be occurring on Sundays at all.

“He’s got two young daughters that are potential volleyball stars. And Sunday morning, Danny put out a video over X that complained about, ‘Man, what am I doing at 7:30 in the morning?’” BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock comments, before playing the clip.

“We need to save youth sports. We need to save parents from youth sports, because I’m here at a volleyball tournament and it is 7:40 on a Sunday. We need to enforce some laws that you cannot start youth sports games on the weekends before 9:00 a.m.,” Kanell began.


“And how about no sports on Sundays? How about that one? Let’s put those laws into effect,” he added.

“I’m in full agreement with Danny,” Anthony Walker tells Whitlock. “I have seen, over my lifetime, sports just invade family life. And when I look at the scriptures … the scriptures tell us in Acts chapter 2 that they all who believe were together. They had all things in common. They fellowshipped together. They broke bread from house to house together. They were real community together.”

“And that was what was primary, you know, their families and the church community was primary, and everything else is secondary. We now live in a situation where we’re trying to squeeze in the family time. We’re trying to squeeze in the fellowship and worship time,” he continues.

“I actually think that's the attitude we should all take,” T.J. Moe agrees.

“In fact, America used to take this as a whole. You know, going back ... from the beginning of our founding till about 1960, we had something called blue laws, where you couldn’t go in and go shopping for anything that was nonessential because we believed in the Lord’s day,” Moe explains.

And when it comes to sports, it’s not just parents and their kids whose Sundays are being hijacked.

“Sunday is now NFL day. It is not the Lord’s day in America, and I think that is destructive and awful,” Moe adds.

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David French catches flak for claiming Talarico, a pro-abortion Democrat, 'acts like a Christian'



New York Times opinion writer David French, a self-described evangelical conservative, has made a habit out of supporting radical leftists over those Republican officials who have time and again delivered meaningful results for the causes of life and liberty.

French announced in 2024, for example, that he was supporting then-candidate Kamala Harris over President Donald Trump "to save conservatism."

'French always saves his most demonic takes for Sunday morning columns.'

The former National Review writer's rationale was that the GOP supposedly wouldn't survive another Trump term but could be rebuilt as a "force for genuine good" in the event that Harris — an advocate for abortion, child sex-rejection procedures, and infringements on the Second Amendment — won.

Although his propaganda didn't work in 2024, French clearly hasn't given up on promoting radical leftists and is now promoting James Talarico, the Democrat state representative hoping to succeed Republican John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate.

French — who has not only embraced homosexual "marriage" but also non-Christian speech codes about gender — claimed in an editorial on Sunday that "Talarico shines" as "one of the few openly Christian politicians in the United States who acts like a Christian, and by acting like a Christian he reveals a profound contrast with so many members of the MAGA Christian movement that’s dominated American political life for 10 years."

French proffered Talarico's Senate primary victory speech, during which he criticized competition, as an example of the Democrat's supposed Christianity in action, "right heart," and loving ways.

"I am tired of being pitted against my neighbor. I’m tired of being told to hate my neighbor. It’s been more than 10 years of this kind of politics," said Talarico. "Politics as blood sport, politics as trolling and owning, politics as total war. It tears families apart. It ends friendships, and it leaves us all feeling terrible all the time."

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Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Image

Though gushing about Talarico's supposed Christian decency and compassionate public face, French neglected to mention any of the Democrat's nastier remarks about those political opponents and fellow Christians with whom he fundamentally disagrees.

Talarico previously suggested, for example, that Trump is a "business cheat, a pathological liar, a serial adulterer, a twice-impeached insurrectionist, a convicted felon, an adjudicated rapist," many of whose supporters "have forgotten all about Jesus."

Trump sued ABC News over host George Stephanopoulos' false on-air assertion that the president had been found civilly liable for rape. Per the terms of the late 2024 settlement, ABC News ultimately agreed to pay $15 million toward Trump's presidential library.

Despite the apparent narrowness of Talarico's love and understanding, French — making no secret of his soft spot for Cornyn and hard liking for Talarico — presented the Democrat challenger as the supposedly virtuous antithesis of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

French's case relies not only on selective outrage and his apparent ability to judge the hearts of men but on severing both candidates from their relevant activities, namely their work in office.

"For too long we've evaluated Christians in politics primarily through their policy positions," wrote French. "Yet this is exactly backward."

French expressed outrage over Paxton's failed marriage and portrayed him as an exemplar of vice while strategically ignoring Talarico's:

  • support for the dehumanization and elimination of the unborn, as signaled by his 0% score on the Texas Right to Life's pro-life scorecard and his correlated recognition as "a Pro-Choice Champion" by the Texas Choice Tracker;
  • attempted use of scripture, specifically Genesis 2:7 and the Annunciation, to justify the slaughter of the unborn;
  • votes against sparing children from sex-rejection mutilations as well as against keeping men out of girls' sports;
  • claim that displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms is "deeply un-Christian";
  • claim that the Supreme Court's Dobbs ruling was effectively "un-Christian";
  • claim that God is "non-binary";
  • claim that there are six sexes, despite the clear assertion in Genesis, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them";
  • complaint that "Republican politicians are banning drag queens in the name of protecting children"; and
  • claim that "you can't call yourself a Christian and destroy God's creation with greenhouse gases."

Critics blasted French over his commentary, suggesting that his understanding of "decency" is confused if not outright deceptive.

Radio host Erick Erickson noted, "It is not decent to twist scripture to lead others to hell. It is not decent to claim whiteness itself is like a virus. It is not decent to use Christ’s conception as a justification for abortion. It is not decent to reduce women to 'neighbors with uteruses.' Only if you have been radicalized by your critics can you land at this position."

'Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.'

"David French is endorsing a guy who wants free abortion mills in every courthouse and who also claims God is trans," wrote Sean Davis, CEO of the Federalist. "That French always saves his most demonic takes for Sunday morning columns is a pretty good indicator of who he actually worships now."

William Wolfe, executive director for the Center for Baptist Leadership, alluded to the conspiring demons in C.S Lewis' "The Screwtape Letters," writing, "Now tell them that pro-abortion, pro-child mutilation politician who preaches that God is non-binary is a 'shining' example of a Christian. Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape."

Weeks prior to French's opinion piece, BlazeTV host Steve Deace suggested that Talarico was an "object and a vessel of malevolence. All right? When he speaks, he's not deceived; he's the deceiver. ... He is who Paul would have said in Acts, 'You are a son of the devil.' He knows what he is doing."

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Pam Bondi drops hammer on 30 more anti-ICE agitators accused of storming Minnesota church



The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment on Friday charging 30 more people who allegedly stormed Cities Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota, last month.

The arrests are related to an incident that occurred on January 18, when anti-immigration enforcement protesters entered the church, disrupting its Sunday service and intimidating the attendees.

'The First Amendment does not give anyone — regardless of profession, prominence, or politics — license to storm a church.'

Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that she instructed federal agents to apprehend 25 of the newly indicted individuals, vowing that more arrests would follow.

"YOU CANNOT ATTACK A HOUSE OF WORSHIP. If you do so, you cannot hide from us — we will find you, arrest you, and prosecute you," Bondi wrote in a post on social media. "This Department of Justice STANDS for Christians and all Americans of faith."

FBI Director Kash Patel revealed additional details about the indictment, stating that the individuals had been charged under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE Act.

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Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images

Patel explained that the FBI had carried out a joint operation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations to arrest the suspects. He also noted that there would be additional arrests.

"This makes 39 indictments in the Cities Church case total so far, including the arrest of Don Lemon and multiple alleged leaders of the riot last month," Patel stated. "Let it be known: This FBI will never tolerate anyone who targets, intimidates, or attacks Americans peacefully exercising their right to worship freely."

Lemon was arrested on January 29 and released the following day. He pleaded not guilty to violations of the FACE Act and conspiracy to violate another's constitutional rights. The other original eight defendants in the case also pleaded not guilty.

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Kash Patel. Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

True North Legal, the law firm representing Cities Church, responded to the superseding indictment and additional arrests in a Friday statement.

"The indictment of 30 additional people for their involvement in the invasion of Cities Church sends a clear message: Houses of worship are off limits for those who would use chaos and intimidation to advance a political agenda," Doug Wardlow, director of litigation for True North Legal, stated. "The invasion of Cities Church was a planned, coordinated effort to disrupt a worship service and interfere with religious exercise that placed congregants, including children, in fear for their lives. The First Amendment does not give anyone — regardless of profession, prominence, or politics — license to storm a church and intimidate, threaten, and terrorize families and children worshipping inside."

"Cities Church is grateful for the Department of Justice's continued commitment to enforcing federal law to protect churches and other places of worship. The Department's aggressive prosecution of this case affirms a foundational principle: In the United States, the sanctuary remains a sanctuary," Wardlow added.

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Notre Dame pro-abortion radical out as leader after students' and bishops' pressure campaign



The University of Notre Dame in Indiana announced last month that pro-abortion radical Susan Ostermann had been appointed to lead the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies.

The administrative elevation of an activist whose secular ministry is fundamentally at odds with the moral teachings of the Catholic Church and the school's corresponding pro-life position proved intolerable to Notre Dame's members and supporters — including the cleric invested with the power to prohibit the institution from identifying as Catholic.

'A win for consistency, clarity, and common sense.'

The sustained protest by scholars, supporters, alumni, and clergy — including 15 bishops and two archbishops — appears to have paid off.

Keough School of Global Affairs Dean Mary Gallagher, the administrator who reportedly first made the appointment, announced in a letter on Thursday to students and faculty that Ostermann "has decided not to move forward as director."

"I am grateful for her willingness to serve and for the thoughtfulness with which she approached this decision," wrote Gallagher.

Gallagher suggested further that the activist — who has dehumanized the unborn, downplayed the dangers of abortion, equated childbirth without the option of abortion as "violence," worked with an organization that seeks to enshrine pro-abortion policies around the world, and vilified the pro-life movement — is a "respected scholar" whose "research and teaching reflect the intellectual rigor and interdisciplinary excellence at the heart of both the Lieu Institute and the Keough School of Global Affairs."

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Photo by ROBERT CHIARITO/AFP via Getty Images

Ostermann said in a statement included in Gallagher's letter that "the focus on my appointment risks overshadowing the vital work the Institute performs, which it should be allowed to pursue without undue distraction," reported the Irish Rover.

She noted further that "it has become clear that there is work to do at Notre Dame to build a community where a variety of voices can flourish."

The announcement comes two weeks after Bishop Kevin Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend condemned Ostermann's appointment, underscored that her views and activism were disqualifying, and told the university to "rectify this situation."

Following the news that Ostermann had thrown in the towel, Bishop Rhoades expressed gratitude "to all the members of the Notre Dame community and beyond who, out of love for Notre Dame, expressed their opposition to the appointment."

'The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes.'

"The reason I opposed the appointment is because the appointment of persons to leadership positions at a Catholic university is an act of institutional witness, a mission-governance issue," wrote Rhoades.

"Clearly Notre Dame is reaffirming its fidelity to a core truth of Catholic social teaching that is central to the Church’s commitment to integral human development."

Mary FioRito, senior fellow at the Catholic Association, said in a statement obtained by Blaze News, "Professor Susan Ostermann's decision not to accept the position of director at the University of Notre Dame’s Liu Center is a win for consistency, clarity, and common sense."

"As an explicitly Catholic university, Notre Dame owes its students and faculty 'truth in advertising,'" continued FioRito. "Ostermann’s public advocacy of legal abortion would have overshadowed the good work of the Liu Center and significantly hampered its ability to form students."

Catholic and conservative student groups — including Notre Dame Right to Life, Knights of Columbus Council 1477, and the Militia of Immaculata — were planning to hold a prayerful protest Friday evening where they would urge Rev. Robert Dowd, the president of the university, to rescind the appointment and "exercise his authority to enforce Notre Dame's Catholic mission."

Sophomore Luke Woodyard, co-organizer of the planned demonstration, stated, "The Bishop did not urge us to sit silently and watch our Lady’s University fall before our eyes; he gave us a clear call to action."

Notre Dame Right to Life President Anna Kelley told the Observer on Thursday that in light of Ostermann's decision, students will still assemble on Friday but for "a prayerful procession in gratitude of the recent decision" and in thanks "for the true Catholic identity of Notre Dame."

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Headed for sainthood? Catholic Church to beatify friars butchered in America for defending Christian marriage



Five Franciscan friars who traveled from Spain in the late 16th century to what is now Georgia were savagely murdered for defending the dignity of the sacrament of marriage. They are now well on their way to sainthood.

Monsignor Fred Nijem, drawing from the notes of Fr. Conrad Harkins — the vice-postulator for the canonization cause of the Georgia Martyrs — explained in Southern Cross magazine that "the missionaries met their death near present-day Darien. The reason for their death was their defense of the sanctity of marriage. The catalyst for their death was their refusal to allow a Catholic to take a second wife."

'They gave explicit and immediate witness of fidelity to Christ.'

According to the official website for the Georgia Martyrs, the friars lived for years with the coastal Indians of the Guale territory, learning their language, preaching the gospel, and welcoming many into the faith.

Among the coastal converts was a man named Juanillo, next in line to become tribal chief.

Friar Pedro de Corpa challenged the newly minted Christian's decision to take a second wife, vowing to oppose his rise to power if he persisted in his polygamic choice. The Indian evidently did not appreciate this challenge to his power.

Msgr. Nijem indicated that:

Juanillo left the mission and returned under cover of darkness, and bludgeoned Fr. Pedro to death, and impaled his severed head at the mission landing. The remaining four missionaries were also killed. The Guales had decided to dispatch all the "troublesome friars," who interfered with them having many wives.

All of the nearby friars were brutally murdered except for Friar Francisco de Avila, who was kidnapped and tortured until St. Augustine's governor managed to secure his release — 10 months later. Despite the cruelty he suffered at the hands of the Indians, de Avila refused to testify against them at trial in order to spare their lives.

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St. Francis of Assisi. Photo by: Bildagentur-online/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.

Prior to his death, Pope Francis recognized the murdered men of the Order of Friars Minor — four of whom were priests — as martyrs whose slayings were committed out of hatred for the Catholic faith.

The Vatican's Dicastery for the Causes of Saints recently announced that the Georgia Martyrs — Friars Pedro de Corpa, Blas Rodríguez de Cuacos, Miguel de Añón, and Francisco de Veráscola as well as lay brother Antonio de Badajoz — will be beatified at a ceremony in Savannah, Georgia, on Oct. 31.

An English translation of the dicastery's announcement notes that "aware of the risks connected to the apostolate, they gave explicit and immediate witness of fidelity to Christ and His message by fully transmitting the teaching of the Church."

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops notes on its website that "all Christians are called to be saints. Saints are persons in heaven (officially canonized or not), who lived heroically virtuous lives, offered their life for others, or were martyred for the faith, and who are worthy of imitation."

Where official recognition by the Catholic Church goes, there are three steps to sainthood.

First, a candidate who "lived a heroically virtuous life or offered their life" is recognized by the pope as "venerable." The second stage is beatification, which requires a finding of "one miracle acquired through the candidate's intercession." Finally, for canonization, a second miracle is required.

The UCCB noted, however, that "the pope may waive these requirements. A miracle is not required prior to a martyr's beatification, but one is required before canonization."

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