Michelle Budge, Deseret Information
This text was first revealed within the State of Religion publication. Signal as much as obtain the publication in your inbox every Monday night time.
Sen. Lindsey Graham escalated the nationwide combat over abortion rights final week, three months after the Supreme Court docket overturned Roe v. Wade. The Republican senator from South Carolina launched a invoice “that might prohibit elective abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant, with few exceptions,” because the Deseret Information reported.
Graham’s invoice additional difficult already tense debates over abortion rights, together with inside his personal celebration. “From the halls of Congress to the marketing campaign path, Republicans attacked the invoice as a distraction that divides the GOP and reminds voters that the majority of them see the celebration as too excessive on abortion,” NBC Information reported.
The brand new invoice refocused my consideration on the faith-related fallout from the Supreme Court docket’s ruling. For this week’s publication, I need to spotlight three latest developments on the intersection of spiritual freedom and abortion rights:
- Religion teams are divided over Graham’s invoice.
Simply as spiritual leaders clashed over the worth of June’s Supreme Court docket ruling, they’re divided over Graham’s abortion invoice.
Some extra liberal teams have described the proposed laws as an assault on spiritual freedom.
“Non secular freedom calls for the best to an abortion so folks could make their very own reproductive choices in keeping with their very own beliefs and ideas. Abortion bans just like the one Sen. Graham is proposing undermine spiritual freedom by trying to impose one spiritual viewpoint on all of us,” stated Rachel Laser, president and CEO of People United for Separation of Church and State, in an announcement.
Different organizations celebrated Graham’s transfer, and lots of distinguished abortion rights opponents stood with Graham at his press convention saying the invoice.
- A brand new lawsuit challenges abortion restrictions in Indiana.
Indiana is the location of the newest faith-based problem to abortion restrictions. A gaggle of religion leaders there filed a lawsuit earlier this month towards the state’s new abortion ban, arguing that it interferes with spiritual apply.
The lawsuit “contends that the brand new abortion ban would violate Jewish educating. ... It additionally cites theological teachings permitting abortion in not less than some circumstances by Islamic, Episcopal, Unitarian Universalist and Pagan faiths,” Faith Information Service reported.
- Will spiritual freedom claims succeed?
The destiny of the Indiana lawsuit and others like it's nonetheless unsure, though some spiritual freedom students are skeptical that they'll succeed. In a non secular freedom case, religion leaders must do greater than show that a secular legislation prohibits one thing that spiritual teachings allow, stated Asma Uddin, an lawyer, professor and writer, throughout a webinar final week hosted by the Institute for Social Coverage and Understanding.
“You may’t simply say my faith permits one thing. You need to say my faith requires me to get an abortion,” she stated.
Islam and different religions usually solely require an abortion in circumstances the place there’s a risk to the mom’s life, Uddin famous, including that even strict abortion bans sometimes supply exceptions for circumstances like that.
“There won't be battle there to start with,” she stated.
Recent off the press
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Why college students and employees members simply sued this Christian faculty
What's going to American faith appear like in 50 years?
Identify of the week: Balbir Singh Sodhi
Balbir Singh Sodhi was one of many casualties of the 9/11 terrorist assaults, though he was not in a constructing hit by one of many planes. He was a fuel station proprietor in Mesa, Arizona, who was shot and killed by a person who thought he was Muslim. Sodhi, who was really Sikh, was the primary individual to lose his life as the results of a 9/11-related hate crime.
Balbir Singh Sodhi was one in all many individuals of religion acknowledged on the White Home final week as a part of a dialogue on easy methods to hold communities protected from hate. President Joe Biden and different officers current stated “federal sources can be allotted ... to coach folks at homes of worship, in workplaces and native legislation enforcement to establish, report and fight violence linked to hate,” Faith Information Service reported.
What I’m studying ...
Because it turns into extra widespread for purple state leaders to bus or fly migrants to different cities quickly after their arrival in the US, religion teams are getting used to springing into motion on brief discover, in keeping with America journal.
The World Cup can be held within the Muslim-majority nation of Qatar later this yr. Because of Islamic prohibitions on alcohol use, it was initially unclear whether or not beer could be out there on the World Cup venues. However earlier this month, FIFA introduced that a deal had been struck. “Followers can be allowed to purchase Budweiser beer with alcohol throughout the eight stadium compounds — although not at concourse concession stands — earlier than and after video games, and through evenings solely on the official ‘Fan Competition,’” The Related Press reported.
I actually loved Christianity At this time’s take a look at a new marriage ebook that's “bringing new consideration to ladies’s pleasure.” The ebook’s writer, Sheila Gregoire, surveyed greater than 20,000 ladies throughout her analysis, which explains Christianity At this time’s eyebrow elevating article title: “What occurs if you ask hundreds of evangelical ladies about intercourse.”
Odds and ends
The rise of vehicles modified spiritual life within the U.S. greater than you suppose, in keeping with historic analysis on Catholic monks in Milwaukee.
Right here’s an oldie-but-a-goodie: Washington Submit columnist Michael Gerson’s essay on sending a toddler off to varsity.