RELIGION HEADLINES

Audio By Carbonatix

(SRN NEWS) – Louisiana’s plan to make all public-school classrooms in the state post the 10 Commandments next year remains on hold after a federal appeals court ruling in New Orleans. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has decided not to block an order by a federal judge in Baton Rouge. He found that the 10 Commandments requirement is “overtly religious” and unconstitutional and suspended the law pending a full trial.  Arguments in the case are scheduled for January 23rd, meaning the judge’s order stays in effect well past the law’s New Year’s Day deadline to post the Decalogue.

Attacks on Christians in Turkey have spiked.  According to a study by International Christian Concern, the number of hate crimes perpetrated on believers more than doubled from 2021 to 2023.  The ICC report adds that “The crimes include property damage, harassment, and violence. And the true number of hate crimes is likely higher than what has been presented due to victims’ fear of reporting.”  Since President Erdogan came to power in Turkey, he has taken the officially secular country in a more Islamic direction and persecution has followed.

A federal court in New Hampshire is taking up the issue of transgenderism.  The case concerns two high school boys, one who played soccer on the girls’ team this fall and the other who plans to join the girls track team this winter.  A federal judge ruled earlier this year that the teens can play on the girls’ teams as they seek to overturn the Fairness in Women’s Sports Act.  That law, which went into effect in July, bars males in grades five-to-12 from competing on female sports teams.  It also requires schools to designate all teams as either girls, boys or coed.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, says he will wrap up his official duties in early January amid an abuse scandal in the Church of England. Welby resigned last week after an investigation found that he failed to tell police about physical and sexual abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps as soon as he became aware of it. His refusal to accept responsibility for failing to report the abuse in England and in Africa in 2013 kindled anger about a lack of accountability at the highest reaches of the church.