RELIGION HEADLINES

(SRN NEWS) – The new secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs is a pastor.  Doug Collins, whom the Senate confirmed this week, is a former Air Force chaplain, Iraq War veteran and member of Congress.  Some Democrats voted against him because he is pro-life, saying they are concerned that he would limit access to abortion and in vitro fertilization for veterans.  The Department of Veterans Affairs manages a more than 350-billion-dollar budget and oversees nearly 200 medical centers and hospitals nationwide. It also manages national cemeteries. 

Legal experts say President Trump has had a particularly significant impact on the 9th U.S. Circuit court of appeals — one of the most liberal panels in the country.  He made 10 appointments during his first term in office and now liberals only out-number conservatives 16-to-13.  That’s the narrowest margin in nearly 30 years.  The 9th Circuit covers more states than any other federal appeals court and policies differ widely on such issues as abortion and the LGBT agenda.  Mr. Trump has flipped the ideological balance of three appeals courts. 

President Trump’s effort to ban federal funding for sex-chage operations on children is facing a legal challenge.  Individuals who claim they have been denied care since he signed the ban have filed a lawsuit in a Baltimore federal court. They’re joined by a group of families of LGBT people and a medical organization.  A growing number of states are banning doctors from performing sex-change operations on anyone under the age of 18 and the president wants to make sure that federal dollars are not spent on such operations in any state. 

Evangelicals, feminists and female athletes are cheering President Trump’s decision to issue an executive order designed to prevent males from participating in female sports.  The order gives federal agencies wide latitude to ensure entities that receive federal funding abide by Title Nine in alignment with the Trump administration’s view.  Mr. Trump has already ordered the government to define sex as only male or female.  In a signing ceremony at the White House, the president said “With this order, the war on women’s sports is over.”