Law and Religion Headlines

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Wednesday, 21 April 2021

US Sikh community traumatized by yet another mass shooting
(Casey Smith and Luis Andres Henao, Associated Press)

Church leaders seek Home Depot boycott on Georgia voting law
(Jeff Amy, Associated Press)

Greek Church to allow worshippers at Easter Week services
(Nicholas Paphitis, Associated Press)

Catholic officials halt activity in Haiti for 9 kidnapped
(Evens Sanon, Associated Press)

Missouri House passes bill for guns in churches, buses
(Summer Ballentine, Associated Press)

Bill ending religious vaccine exemption now heads to CT Senate
(Susan Haigh, Associated Press)

China rejects accusations of abuses in Xinjiang
(Associated Press)

Chinese Church: ’knowing, thanking, listening, following the Party’
(Asia News)

USCIRF releases 2021 Annual Report with recommendations for U.S. policy
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)

Love and the core values of religious freedom
(Brian Grim, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation)

Filipino church celebrates milestone while standing at a crossroads - 500 years
(John L. Allen Jr., Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Majority of world’s population live in countries that violate religious freedom, report says
(Ines San Martin, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Pope renews call for debt forgiveness to poor countries
(Junno Arocho Esteves, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Organization plans to challenge Ten Commandments law
(Associated Press)

Biden administration moves to force religious hospitals to uphold transgender mandate
(Madeleine Kearns, National Review)

Christian morality is why weed isn’t legal yet
(Mira Fox, Forward Opinion)

What’s at stake for Muslims in the Scottish elections?
(5 Pillars UK)

Ukrainian church suspects Moscow church will betray Ukraine
(RISU, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))

Absurd misapplication of anti-evangelism law corrected
(Religiia i Pravo, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))

Azerbaijan: State to have veto on religious leader appointments?
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)

ISIS executes another Coptic Christian: Once again, this appears to be 'conservative' news
(Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)

'Cyber-caliphate' linking Islamist network expanding globally with online recruitment, says religious freedom report
(Peter Kenny, Ecumenical News)

Meet the Muslim activist who educates about the Shoah and Israel in Urdu
(Lee Harpin, Jewish News)

Dutch daily apologizes for drawing Jewish pollster as a puppet master
(Cnaan Liphshiz, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Hundreds of Palestinians protest barriers in Jerusalem during Ramadan
(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Dutch museum will pay $240K to owners of Nazi-looted painting it won’t return
(Cnaan Liphshiz, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Legal Journal Number 6 (16): April (Spanish)
(Observatorio de Libertad Religiosa de América Latina y El Caribe)

U.S. report says Russia among 'worst violators' of religious freedom
(Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty)

World reacts to death of Chad President Idriss Deby
(Al Jazeera)

US commission: Put India, Russia on religious freedom blacklist
(Joseph Stepansky, Al Jazeera)

Laws barring marriage through religious conversion run afoul of India’s foundational value of Secularism
(Indira Jaising, The Leaflet)

India should be a ‘Country of Particular Concern’ for religious freedom: U.S. Commission
(Sriram Lakshman, The Hindu)

WEBINAR, 21 April 2021 (2PM EDT): USCIRF's 2021 Annual Report Virtual Launch
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)

ONLINE EVENT, 21 April 2021: The right to places of worship between plural disciplines and judicial discourse
(DiReSoM: Diritto e Religione nelle Società Multiculturali/ Law and Religion in Multicultural Societies)

Tuesday, 20 April 2021

WEBINAR, 20 April 2021 (12 noon Rome): DPIHD Biodiversity Webinar
(Parliament of the World's Religions)

Monday, 19 April 2021

Sikhs in America: A religious community long misunderstood is mourning deaths in Indianapolis mass shooting
(Simran Jeet Singh, The Conversation)

Conservative justices aren’t alone in supporting religion at the Supreme Court
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

The Supreme Court creates a new religious aristocracy
(Andrew Koppelman, The Hill - Opinion)

Colombian social media star challenges censorship ruling
(ADF International)

Demirtas v. Turkey: an exploration of the dissenting opinions and the Court’s oversights
(Hakan Kaplankaya, Strasbourg Observers)

The Weekly Round-Up: are immigrants and asylum seekers getting their day in court?
(Calia Randall, UK Human Rights Blog)

Biden administration reverses Trump restrictions on fetal tissue research
(Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico)

Legal Spirits Episode 033: Augustine and Our Common Loves (podcast)
(Law and Religion Forum, St. John's Law School Center for Law & Religion)

Minister Roderic O’Gorman set to ban 'deceptive and harmful' conversion therapy
(Neil Fetherstonhaugh, Sunday World)

Conservative legal experts take up Apache Oak Flat religious freedom case
(Brian Roewe, National Catholic Reporter)

Indonesian Muslims bay for Christian YouTuber's arrest
(Konradus Epa, Union of Catholic Asian News)

Violence and micro-sized religious minorities (Indonesia): A conversation with Jessica Soedirgo
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)

UN rights office concerned at Indian illegal acts in IIOJ&K
(The News International)

Articles of interest - 19 April 2021
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Vietnamese missionary's labor of love
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

State of Baden-Württemberg loses in court against a Scientologist
(EU Today)

Pope calls on Russia and Ukraine to seek reconciliation
(Associated Press)

Ukrainian Orthodox and Catholics rally the faithful
(Religiia v Ukraine, 16 April 2021, Russia Religion News (Stetson University))

Russia: Special bimonthly on freedom of religion or belief (01-15.04.2021)
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)

Hong Kong's freedom fighters pay the price of bravery
(Gianni Criveller, Union of Catholic Asian News)

Barring women as leaders in church may be bad for their health, new study finds
(Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

Why set up faith-oriented employee resource groups?
(Kent Johnson, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation)

After Vatican said ‘God cannot bless sin,’ some LGBTQ people leave Catholic identity behind
(Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)

First drag queen certified as a candidate for United Methodist ministry ‘speaking in a new way to new people’
(Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service)

Same-sex adoption, religious freedoms, and child-abuse petitions before NZ Parliament
(Daniela Maoate-Cox, Radio New Zealand)

Does Daniel Andrews have new bars on free speech coming?
(David Limbrick, Spectator Australia)

Lecrae, Bieber appear at prison events as ministries return to correctional facilities
(Emily McFarlan Miller, Maina Mwaura, and Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

Study: Multiracial Methodist churches draw and keep more people than their white counterparts
(Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service)

UK government asked about progress in supporting persecuted Christians around the world
(Cara Bentley, Premier Christian News)

Black churchgoers more likely to identify as Democrat than overall black population: Barna
(Michael Gryboski, The Christian Post)

African Americans attend church, Bible study more than others, but Black ‘nones’ increasing
(Adelle M. Banks, Religion News Service)

In Los Angeles, a pair of art exhibitions centers the Black worship experience
(Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)

Christian college takes Biden to court over trans mandate
(Graham Piro, Washington Free Beacon)

Sudan repeals Israel boycott law amid normalization efforts
(Samy Magdy, Associated Press)

Israel criticized for silencing call to prayer from Al-Aqsa Mosque
(Daoud Kuttab, Religion News Service)

Albanian man with knife wounds 5 at mosque in Tirana
(Llazar Semini, Associated Press)

Religious, political parties misused Islam to damage Pakistan: Imran
(Hamza Ameer, Punjab News Express)

Radical Islamist party frees 11 Pakistani police hostages
(Munir Ahmed and Babar Dogar, Associated Press)

Egypt: 3 militants involved in Christian’s slaying killed
(Samy Magdy, Associated Press)

Bangladesh court allows police to question Islamist leader
(Julhas Alam, Associated Press)

Faith leaders across US join in decrying voting restrictions
(David Crary, Jonathan J. Cooper and Emily Leshner, Associated Press)

Delights of Ramadan disappear for Syrian refugees in Lebanon
(Mariam Fam and Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press)

Head of Irish bishops calls new law on Mass attendance ‘draconian’
(Michael Kelly, Catholic News Service)

Priest insists insurgency in Mozambique is based on economics, not religion
(Ines San Martin, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Mozambique’s bishops speak out against violence in Cabo Delgado
(Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Is ‘The Chosen’ series about Jesus Christ a cultural moment worth watching?
(Catholic News Agency)

Lev Tahor leaders charged with child exploitation offenses
(Southern District of New York, U.S. Department of Justice)

Society of Catholic Scientists prepares for conference on non-human intelligence
(Perry West, Catholic News Agency)

Christian group comments on the proposed EU asylum and migration pact
(Conference of European Churches)

Progressive Christian leaders call for abolishing Senate filibuster blocking Biden's agenda
(Leonardo Blair, The Christian Post)

‘Fundamental betrayal’ of Christian beliefs: Over 1,000 clergy vow to oppose vaccine passport
(Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post)

Police in Haiti fire tear gas at Catholic mass protesting abduction of priests, others
(Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post)

Brazil’s new Jesus statue will surpass height of Rio’s iconic Christ the Redeemer
(Jeannie Law, The Christian Post)

Prince Philip’s funeral in hallowed St. George’s Chapel was thoroughly Christian
(Dennis Lennox, The Christian Post)

Alabama Legislature passes bill banning boys from competing in girls’ K-12 sports
(Ryan Foley, The Christian Post)

Lebanon, a haven for Christianity, on the brink of collapse if world fails to act, experts warn
(Emily Wood, The Christian Post)

Over a quarter of college and high school students 'never' attend church, new poll finds
(Ryan Foley, The Christian Post)

It’s time for social conservatives to stop fawning over Hungary
(Lyman Stone, Public Discourse: The Journal of the Witherspoon Institute)

Saving the history of Soviet Jewry before it disappears
(Justinian Jampol and Edward B. Robin, Jewish Journal)

Muslims urged to embrace environmental side of Islam
(Beatrice Ekoko, Canada's National Observer)

Ponder this news question: What happens to Afghan religious minorities post-USA?
(Terry Mattingly, GetReligion)

GQ's religion-focused cover story is (clickbait) worth reading – even for non-Beliebers
(Bobby Ross Jr., GetReligion)

Law and religion round-up – 18th April
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Scottish church, Billy Graham group sue charity over venue cancelations said due to same-sex marriage views
(Peter Kenny, Ecumenical News)

"The right to shun: Ghent’s misguided Jehovah’s Witness decision"
(Matthew P. Cavedon, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

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