RELIGION HEADLINES SAT 7-5-25

Audio By Carbonatix

(SRN NEWS)  Legal experts say the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Maryland parents who don’t want their children exposed to LGBT books in school could inspire similar lawsuits in other states.  Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles says “Any school district that reads similar books to their children is now subject to suits by parents who don’t want their kids to hear these books because it substantially interferes with their religious beliefs.”  The books in question promote the LGBT lifestyle and in some cases are pornographic.

(  )  A new poll finds few Americans support allowing religious schools to become tax-funded.  But majorities are in favor of allowing religious chaplains to provide support services for public school students.  The AP-NORC poll shows the complexity of Americans’ attitudes toward religious expression in schools, which varies depending on the kind of expression and sometimes crosses partisan lines. The findings also highlight tension points in the country’s long-standing debate over the role of religion in public schools, which continues to drive legislation and legal action.

(  )  Iowa has become the first state to remove so-called “gender identity” from its civil rights code under a law that took effect this week.  That means transgender and nonbinary residents are no longer part of a special protected class.  The law also explicitly defines male and female based on biological reality and removes the ability for people to change the sex designation on their birth certificate.  Also taking effect are provisions in Iowa’s budget that say Medicaid recipients are no longer covered for sex-change operations or hormone therapy.

(  )  Zohran Mamdani, an outspoken critic of Israel, is the expected Democratic nominee for mayor in America’s most Jewish city and that’s raising alarms among some in New York’s Jewish community.  They’re worried about rising anti-Semitism and their waning political influence in the Big Apple.  Mamdani has declined to support the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, refused to denounce the term “global intifada” and supports the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions program — an organized effort to put economic pressure on Israel through boycotts and other tactics.