(SRNN NEWS)-( ) Drug use is spiraling out of control in Cuba and the Christian community is fighting back. The Alcance (al-KHAN-say) Victoria Cuba church provided therapy to approximately 50 addicted young people and their families last year and today more than a dozen individuals attend sessions regularly. Pastor Abel Perez says “As a pastor, I’m not called […]
Religious News
RELIGION HEADLINES FRI 3-13
Audio By Carbonatix
(SRNN NEWS)-( ) Drug use is spiraling out of control in Cuba and the Christian community is fighting back. The Alcance (al-KHAN-say) Victoria Cuba church provided therapy to approximately 50 addicted young people and their families last year and today more than a dozen individuals attend sessions regularly. Pastor Abel Perez says “As a pastor, I’m not called to sit idly by.” Drug use was an almost-unknown phenomenon in Cuba until the beginning of this decade. However, a deepening economic crisis, shortages of basic goods and the emergence of low-cost synthetic drugs have combined to transform the social landscape.
( ) For more than a century, Utah has kept gambling almost entirely out of the state. But now, the state is fighting a new, more challenging battle to keep the practice outside its borders. It’s on the verge of enacting a law intended to undercut so-called prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, which allow anyone with a smartphone to wager on anything from whether it will rain in Los Angeles to whether the United States will go to war. Republican Governor Spencer Cox says “They are putting a casino in the pocket of every single American, and we are going to make sure this doesn’t happen in our state.”
( ) A new Iowa law now bans local nondiscrimination protections on the basis of so-called “gender identity”. The measure prevents cities and counties from having civil rights protections that go beyond the categories identified in state code. Sponsors of the bill pointed out that nondiscrimination protections for transgender people cannot coexist with other recently enacted laws, including ones that bar males from playing on female sports teams and keep men out of women’s bathrooms. Many Iowa cities have gender identity protections on their books, including liberal centers such as Des Moines and Iowa City.
( ) Senegal’s parliament has approved a bill that toughens punishment for homosexuality in the largely conservative West African nation. The legislation also calls for punishing the “promotion or financing” of homosexuality — an attempt to crack down on LGBT advocacy groups. Laws proscribing homosexuality are common across Africa: more than 30 of the 54 countries criminalize same-sex sexual acts. Senegal has joined countries like Kenya, Sierra Leone, and Tanzania, where penalties can include 10 or more years of imprisonment. Some Eastern European nations are also passing laws to bar the promotion of the LGBT agenda.