RELIGION HEADLINES – SAT 5-30-26

(SRN NEWS)  The United Nations is expressing “grave concern” about a new law issued by Afghanistan’s Taliban government on separation in marriage which includes provisions on child marriage.  Among the law’s most controversial provisions, is one that says the silence of a girl reaching puberty can be interpreted as consent to marriage.  It also includes a section on the separation of girls who reach puberty and are married, which implies that child marriage is permitted.  The Taliban rejects the accusations, saying the decree follows Islamic law and claiming that Afghanistan has already banned the forced marriage of girls.

(  )  Warsaw has registered its first gay marriage, implementing court rulings that require Poland to recognize same-sex unions registered abroad.  Last fall, the European Union’s highest court ordered the country to recognize same-sex marriages that were entered into in other EU countries even if Polish law does not currently permit them.  In March, Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court cited that ruling in ordering authorities to recognize the marriage in Germany of two Polish men.  Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to bring gay marriage to Poland, but he’s facing opposition from within his own governing coalition.

(  )  An advocacy group has filed suit against the Trump administration over its decision to reinstate a near-ban on abortions for veterans at V.A. hospitals.  Attorneys for the group Minority Veterans of America want the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to throw out the ban.  Under president Biden, abortion at V.A. facilities was greatly expanded, including in states that have banned the procedure.  President Trump reversed that action.  The VA has said it will still provide abortions in cases where a pregnant woman’s life is threatened.  That’s something state laws allow, even in places where bans are in place.

(  )  Democrats are in an uproar over DNC Chair Ken Martin’s 192-page autopsy on the 2024 election defeat.  One point of contention is transgenderism.  Martin argues that the party has boxed itself in by supporting that lifestyle and needs to deemphasize it in future campaigns.  The report warns that Democrats “wrote off rural America, assuming urban-suburban margins would compensate. The math doesn’t work.  Democrats must reclaim the Heartland and the South.”  LGBT advocates are railing against Martin, potentially splitting the already fragmented party as the crucial midterm elections approach.