The conservative-led court is taking up the case amid actions by President Donald Trump targeting transgender people, including a ban on military service and an end to federal funding for gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The justices also have heard arguments in a Tennessee case over whether state bans on treating transgender minors violate the Constitution. (Sherman, AP News)
Read MoreHe [Ross Markham] was born into the Plymouth Brethren, Britain’s most secretive Christian group, but left briefly, aged 17. This Prodigal Son only made it as far as Woking, but he was, he says, living in debauchery. He was “like the son in Luke 15… I was disillusioned. I didn’t feel the Church was fulfilling enough. But I was probably just ungrateful.” Within a year, he was back. (Buchanan, The Telegraph)
Read MoreTwo recent school shootings are highlighting what extremism researchers see as a growing — and poorly understood — trend among young people who embrace mass violence. The attacks, at high schools in Madison, Wis., and Nashville, Tenn., defy categories that law enforcement and researchers have long used to understand radicalization pathways, such as radical Islamist terrorism and white nationalist terrorism. (Yousef, NPR)
Read MoreThe racial and ethnic makeup of the Catholic population varies by region. For example, in the Midwest, 78% of Catholics are White and 15% are Hispanic. In the Northeast, 72% of Catholics are White and 20% are Hispanic. In the South, 44% are White and 45% are Hispanic. And in the West, there are more Hispanic Catholics than White Catholics (58% vs. 27%). (Nortey, Tevington & Smith, Pew Research Center)
Read More“The fundamental cause of freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations in Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory is Russia’s invasion and occupation from 2014 onwards of Ukraine,” Forum 18 wrote. “Until Russia’s occupation of Ukrainian territory is ended, the freedom of religion or belief and other human rights violations seem set to continue.” (Candler, Baptist Press)
Read MoreIt was the first church service in Finland put together mostly by AI tools, which wrote the sermons and some of the songs, composed the music and created the visuals. The widely advertised experimental service drew over 120 people to the church in northeastern Helsinki, much more than on a typical weeknight. (Litvinova & Manenkov, AP News)
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