Religious News From Around the Web September 28, 2020

New Supreme Court Pick Could Heat Up Intersection of Faith and Law
Trump’s Attorney Make Baffling Error About Islam To Supreme CourtThe confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice to succeed the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the eve of an election could make the contentious Brett Kavanaugh hearing look mild by comparison. For Trump, who has already seated two conservative jurors on the High Court, another conservative would tilt the court to the right for perhaps decades to come. Kavanaugh, a Catholic, had to defend his record, his faith and an allegation of sexual impropriety in a rancorous confirmation hearing. If Trump were to nominate Federal Appellate Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the old question of how a justice’s faith may factor in deciding legal cases would likely be hotly debated. Barrett, also a Catholic, is on the short list of candidates, and she has reportedly said in the past that her faith precludes her from supporting the death penalty.

ICE Arrests Immigrant on Church Grounds
Immigration-Court--1Bishop LaTrelle Easterling, head of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church, had harsh words for ICE agents who entered church property to arrest an undocumented immigrant: “How dare they enter upon our sacred grounds to violate their own policy?” Binsar Siahaan, an Indonesian Christian and asylum seeker, had worked at the Glenmont United Methodist Church in Silver Spring, Md., for six years.

Faith-Based Contributions to Economic Prosperity
Gold-backed and Sharia Compliant CryptocurrencyReligion and its services – which include charities, organizations and congregations – contribute an estimated $67.5billion to the Canadian economy, according to a Canadian faith-based think tank. The largest share off the direct economic contribution is publicly funded Catholic schools, which totals $14.5 billion.

San Francisco Catholics March Against Restrictions
Archbishop Cordileone answers a question during news conference in BaltimoreUnder COVID restrictions, San Francisco bans indoor worship and limits outdoor services to 12 people, but Catholics, Led by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, marched in San Francisco recently, demanding city health officials ease COVID restrictions. Cordileone, in an opinion piece said: “I never expected that the most basic religious freedom, the right to worship — protected so robustly in our Constitution’s First Amendment — would be unjustly repressed by an American government,”

Full Docket of Religious Liberty Cases During SCOTUS Nomination Fight
Episcopal Church property caseAs the nomination fight approaches to find a Supreme Court Justice to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a number of cases with religious liberty implications will be front and center. They include Fulton v Philadelphia, Dalberiste v GLE Associates, Uzuegbunam v Preczewski, and several others that may soon be before the High Court.