Guru Nanak Sikh Documentary on PBS; New Research on Religious Exemptions from COVID Vaccine; Defend Religiously Affiliated Child Care; Fauci Asks Faith Leaders to Enlist in War Against COVID; Catholic Women Urge Vatican to Sign Human Rights Pact; Separation of Church and State at Issue in Education; Supreme Court Leaves Texas Abortion Restriction Intact; University Ordered to Pay $2 Million in Religious Liberty Suits
Guru Nanak Sikh Documentary on PBS
New Research on Religious Exemptions from COVID Vaccine
A new survey reveals that only one in 10 Americans believe the teachings of their religion prohibit COVID-19 vaccinations; nearly nine in 10 disagree. Among unvaccinated Americans, this belief rises to 28 percent. Six in 10 Americans agree that too many people are using religion as an excuse to avoid vaccine requirements. Similarly, six in 10 Americans believe that there are no valid religious reasons to refuse a COVID-19 vaccine. Majorities of every major religious group agree, with the sole exception of white evangelical Protestants (41 percent).
Defend Religiously Affiliated Child Care
Two bishop chairmen on behalf of their committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) have cosigned a coalition letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Richard Burr (R-NC) with other faith groups raising urgent concerns that the Build Back Better Act’s (BBBA) child care and universal pre-kindergarten programs would exclude faith-based providers.
Fauci Asks Faith Leaders to Enlist in War Against COVID
Faith leaders are needed to help fight the coronavirus and its new variants, according to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical adviser to the president. “Faith leaders have an enormous impact because among all the different sectors in society, faith leaders are among the most trusted messengers,” he said in an exclusive interview with Baptist News Global. If you look at who the most trusted people are, it’s schoolteachers and clergy.”
Catholic Women Urge Vatican to Sign Human Rights Pact
Separation of Church and State at Issue in Education
Supreme Court Leaves Texas Abortion Restriction Intact
University Ordered to Pay $2 Million in Religious Liberty Suits
The University of Iowa was ordered to pay almost $2 million in attorneys’ fees to the nonprofit legal organization that represented two Christian student groups that sued the public university for violating their religious liberty. The three-member Iowa State Appeal Board approved writing two checks to The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, following the groups’ victory in federal court after years of litigation. The Business Leaders in Christ sued the university in 2017 after the student club was removed from campus and kept from student activity funding because it required its leadership to affirm a biblical definition of marriage and sexuality.