(  )  The civil war in Sudan has just passed its two-year anniversary with both sides accused of destroying churches and abusing Christians.  More than 160 houses of worship have been flattened or closed since the war began and in some cases members of the clergy have been targeted for assasination.  Christians make up about five percent of the population in mostly-Muslim Sudan so there is very little motivation on the part of the government to protect them.  The civil war has killed tens-of-thousands of people and displaced at least 13 million.

(  )  The bishop of a New Jersey diocese says he will no longer oppose a state grand jury investigation of priest sex abuse that the Catholic church has been fighting behind closed doors in court for years.  It’s not clear, however, that the grand jury investigation will go forward.  That’s because the New Jersey State Supreme Court is already considering the diocese’s earlier argument against seating one.  Camden Bishop Joseph Williams, who took over the diocese in March, told the Philadelphia Inquirer of the church’s about-face on the probe.

(  )  Americans on both sides of the church-state separation debate are anxiously awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on a proposed Catholic charter school in Oklahoma to be financed with taxpayer dollars.  The dispute over St. Isidore comes at a time when the Supreme Court has been steadily expanding the limits of aid to faith-based schools.  Starting in 2016, a trio of cases have held that states cannot deny institutions and believers any generally available taxpayer-funded aid based solely on their religions.  The St. Isidore decision is expected next month.