RELIGION HEADLINES WED 5-21-25

Audio By Carbonatix

( SRN NEWS )  A lot of Americans remain skeptical of the Theory of Evolution.  Polls generally show that somewhere between 1-in-6 and 1-in-3 Americans hold beliefs consistent with young-Earth creationism, depending on how the question is asked.  A recent Gallup poll found that 37 percent of adults believe that “God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time within the last 10,000 years or so.”  That percentage is down a little, but not dramatically, from its mid-40s level between the 1980s and 2012.  Rates are higher among religious and conservative respondents.

(  ) Millions of Americans have embraced pickleball — touting its health and social benefits as a way to have fun while getting exercise.  Now some churches are giving it a go, hoping to attract newcomers and help church members make friends.  Todd Katter, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church’s Huntley campus in the Chicago suburbs, calls pickleball a “playground” for adults and another space where people hang out and make friends.  The Armenian Church of Our Saviour in Worcester, Massachusetts has offered pickleball in the church’s auditorium over the past two winters.

(  )  Citizen activists could find it harder to get initiatives on next year’s ballot in some states.  Lawmakers in about a dozen states have advanced roughly 40 measures this year that would restrict or revamp the citizen initiative process.  This could impact efforts by pro-abortion activists to get the procedure added to their state constitutions.  The new laws include limits on who can circulate initiative petitions and additional requirements on the content of those petitions.  Several states also want to raise the threshold needed for voter approval.

(  )  Defense officials say military commanders will be told to identify troops in their units who are transgender or have gender dysphoria, then send them to medical checks in order to remove them from the service.  A senior defense official has laid out the process aimed at fulfilling President Trump’s directive to remove all transgender service members from the U.S. military. The new order to commanders relies on routine annual health checks that service members are required to undergo. It scraps, for now, plans to go through troops’ health records.