RELIGION HEADLINES – SUN 6-14-26

(SRN NEWS)  Even in the midst of Gay Pride Month celebrations, LGBT advocates are in retreat.  There’s been a strong backlash in recent years, especially against the promotion of transgenderism to children.  Many states have banned males from competing in female sports and some have barred sex-change operations on children.  At least nine states have considered resolutions seeking to undo legal recognition of same-sex marriages.  Most would call on the Supreme Court to rethink its 2015 decision recognizing the unions. The measures would not carry the weight of law, but might encourage a new challenge to the high court. 

(  )  America is a highly religious nation and it always has been.  When the 13 colonies banded together and declared independence in 1776, there were 3,228 houses of worship.  And the new country was already religiously diverse. Congregationalists led the pack with about 670 congregations, or just over 20 percent of the total. Presbyterians weren’t far behind, followed by Baptists, Episcopalians and Quakers.  Methodists had a small presence at two percent, Catholics were just under two percent, and there were a handful of synagogues and more than a dozen Mennonite congregations. 

(  )  The Vatican says that Pope Leo has met with six survivors of clergy sexual abuse in Madrid and vowed to consider their suggestions for how the Catholic Church can improve its response to the crisis.  The meeting was part of the pontiff’s visit to Spain.  The country’s Catholic hierarchy has only recently begun reckoning with its legacy of abuse and cover-up after long dismissing the severity of the scandal that came to light thanks to reporting by the newspaper El País (pie-EES).  In fact, sexual abuse by Catholic priests is a global scandal that has driven many people out of the church and threatens to backrupt some dioceses. 

(  )  Persecution of Christians in India is flaring up again.  International Christian Concern reports that a mob of Hindu nationalists attacked a church service in the Sukma (SOOK-mah) District injuring 25 people — some of them critically.  Local clergymen say things have gotten worse in the district ever since local officials passed an anti-conversion law.  Persecution of Christians in India has been on the rise for more than 20 years, ever since a Hindu nationalist party won control of the government.  The Indian constitution guarantees freedom of religion, but government officials are accused of failing to enforce that provision. 

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