RELIGION HEADLINES THR 6-26-25

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( SRN NEWS )  The sleeper cell behind a deadly church bombing near Damascus this week belonged to ISIS, which had plans to target a Shiite shrine in a similar attack.  That’s the word from the Syrian government.  The attack was the first of its kind in Syria in years, and comes as the Islamist group currently ruling the country is trying to win the support of Christians.  Meanwhile, funerals are being held for the victims of the bombing at the Church of the Holy Cross. Church bells rang as men walked through the weeping crowds carrying white coffins this week.

(  )  A West Virginia woman has filed a lawsuit seeking a religious exemption from required school vaccinations for her young child.  Miranda Guzman alleges that the state’s vaccine mandate violates a 2023 West Virginia law that stipulates that the government must not substantially burden someone’s constitutional right to freedom of religion, unless doing so is “essential to further a compelling governmental interest.”  Guzman is suing the state and local boards of education and the county schools superintendent in Raleigh County Circuit Court.

(  )  Ten years after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, the split between Republicans and Democrats on the issue is wider than it’s been in decades.  Recent polling from Gallup shows a 47-percentage-point gap on the issue between Republicans and Democrats, the largest since it first began tracking this measure 29 years ago. The size of that chasm is partially due to a substantial dip in support among Republicans since 2023.  There is also an effort building at the state level to bring a new challenge before the Supreme Court to the 2015 gay marriage decision.

(  )  A pastor says the hand of God prevented a mass shooting at his Detroit-area church over the weekend.  An armed man was struck by a pickup truck and fatally shot by security staff before he could enter and attack more than 100 people at Cross Pointe Community Church in Wayne.  Pastor Bobby Kelly says he had met the gunman three times in the past, though the man was not a member of the church.  The pastor says the church had a security team even before he arrived in 2016, introduced by the previous church leadership.