Religious Celebrations Begin to Emerge from COVID Isolation, Gallup: Religion Largely Unaffected, Supreme Court will Hear Abortion Case, LGBTQ Activists Sue Christian Colleges, Lawsuit: Virginia Transgender Rights Violate Religious Liberty, Archbishop Gregory Aymond on COVID and Church Challenges
Religious Celebrations Begin to Emerge from COVID Isolation Ramadan ObservanceEaster was Sunday April 4. Passover ended April 4, and Ramadan will begin April 12. While some religious services begin to revert to in-person meetings, many others are still virtual, but congregations and religious leaders are eager to return to normal.
Gallup: Religion Largely Unaffected While polls in recent years show a decline in religious belief among Christians a recent Gallup poll shows a different trend – an uptick in the percentage of Americans who think religion as a whole is increasing, rather than losing, its influence on American life, a pattern seen at other times of national crisis.
LGBTQ Activists Sue Christian Colleges Thirty-three current and past students at 25 federally funded Christian colleges and universities are cited in a federal lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Education. The suit says the religious exemption allowed religious schools are discriminatory policies because they receive government funding. The Suit is said to be for the purpose of applying pressure on Equality Act negotiations.
Lawsuit: Virginia Transgender Rights Violate Religious Liberty By sarahmirk [CC BY-SA 4.0 ], from Wikimedia CommonsA lawsuit has been filed challenging Virginia’s new state guidelines on the treatment of transgender students in public schools. The policies state that “… access to facilities such as restrooms and locker rooms that correspond to a student’s gender identity shall be available to all students.” They also say failure to speak a student’s preferred pronouns could be considered harassment and discrimination. The suit claims those policies violate parental child-rearing rights and student rights to freely exercise their religion.
Archbishop Gregory Aymond on COVID and Church Challenges The Catholic Church has had legal and financial challenges, closing of Catholic schools, COVID restrictions and more. Archbishop Gregory Aymond of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, however, sees a positive side. “I think a number of people through the pandemic have come to realize by staying home, by being quarantined they’ve begun to ask some pretty important questions, ‘what’s really important in my life? Who is really important in my life?’” While some see closed houses of worship, the Archbishop sees “A chapel in every home” through livestream and television.
