RELIGION HEADLINES

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(SRN NEWS) – Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Little Rock, Arkansas is hosting an unusual series of concerts.  Organist Colin MacKnight is marking the 275th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach’s death by playing all of the German composer’s organ works, but he’s doing it one lunch break at a time.  MacKnight is spending this year playing nearly 18 hours of Bach’s organ works in 30-minute increments at the nearly 150-year-old church.  The performances are among countless other events around the world this year to commemorate Bach’s legacy. 

A Bible verse will be removed from the entrance of a new jail in central Michigan after critics said it was a government endorsement of religion. “Blessed are the peacekeepers for they shall be called the children of God” was prominently displayed at the Isabella County criminal justice center.  Sheriff Michael Main says he wanted to honor first responders and law enforcement, not promote religion.  The Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, the leading atheist organization in the country, had threatened to launch a lawsuit if the verse stayed up. 

A man arrested for firing a shotgun outside an upstate New York synagogue shortly after the Hamas attack on Israel in 2023 has pleaded guilty to federal charges.  Mufid Fawaz was arrested after shots were fired outside Temple Israel of Albany.  The Iraqi-born man was shouting “Free Palestine” when officers arrested him and later told investigators that he felt affected by events in the Middle East. Under a deal with prosecutors, the 29-year-old has pleaded to obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by threat of force, amonst other charges.
 

(  )  A federal judge has agreed to temporarily block prison officials from transferring three men who are living as women back to men’s facilities and terminating their access to hormone therapy.  Those actions were to be under taken because of the executive order signed by President Trump ending federal support for transgenderism. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth in Washington, D.C., issued his written ruling after hearing a plaintiffs’ attorney argue that Mr. Trump’s order discriminates against transgender people and violates their constitutional rights.