Items included for this subject area come from a variety of sources. The perspectives conveyed may or may not express a Lutheran ethos. They can serve our instruction as discussion-starters, examples (positive and negative), and illustrations of intersections between God’s two kingdoms, intersections sometimes characterized by tension, sometimes by congruence. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
Nova Scotia law society can’t block graduates of evangelical school: The Nova Scotia Court of Appeal has upheld a decision allowing graduates of a controversial Christian university law school to practice in the province. The court dismissed an appeal from the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society fighting accreditation for graduates of Trinity Western University law school, which […]
Book Review of Jon Diefenthal’s New Book on H. Richard Niebuhr: Diefenthal is concerned primarily with Niebuhr’s descriptive and prescriptive discussions of how the church relates to non-Christian society. This collection of texts is impressive and allows Niebuhr’s voice to come through clearly and effectively on the topic of the church’s relationship with the world. See […]
Church asks court to halt Iowa commission from enforcing speech ban: The ADF has filed a motion that asks a federal court to stop the Iowa Civil Rights Commission from censoring the church’s teaching on biblical sexuality and from forcing the church to open its restrooms and showers to members of the opposite sex. Fort Des Moines […]
Trends in the Prevalence of Sexual Behaviors: The CDC 2015 national Youth Risk Behavior Survey reports that 60% of high school students in America report never having had sexual intercourse. This marks a 5.6% increase in abstinence from its 2013 survey and a increase of 28% in the past two decades.
Orthodox Church Lays Groundwork For Legal Enforcement of Ban on Church Use For Same-Sex Marriages: The Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America has adopted a statement (full text) titled Sincerely Held Religious Beliefs Regarding Marriage, apparently designed to allow parishes and monasteries to legally enforce restrictions on use of their facilities for same-sex or […]
9th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Pregnancy Center Disclosure Law Challenge: A federal district court refused to enjoin California’s Reproductive FACT Act which requires reproductive health clinics to disseminate a notice for abortion services. See also the Nat’l Right to Life News.
Gallup Moral Issues 2016 : With the exception of same-sex relations, public opinion on most of the usual moral issues has been fairly stable since 2001, when Gallup first began asking Americans annually about the moral acceptability of a range of social policy issues. See Gallup Moral Issues 2016.
Federal judge urges prompt appeal to Court on transgender rights: Arguing that “time is of the essence,” a federal appeals court judge has called for a prompt appeal to the Supreme Court to sort out the rights of transgender students when they use restrooms at school. At issue in the case of G.G. v. Gloucester County School […]
Should Courts Get to Define Religion? The Massachusetts Supreme Court will decide whether a local shrine should be tax-exempt. The city of Attleboro has decided that $4.9 million in property is not used for religious worship or instruction. They declared that a maintenance shed, coffee shop, conference rooms, and a religious bookstore—along with the forest preserve that […]
Overtime Pay Mandated for More Ministry Employees: The U.S. Dept. of Labor now requires churches and other ministries to pay overtime to full-time, salaried support staff making less than about $48,000 a year. However, for ministers of religion, “The FLSA [Fair Labor Standards Act] does not specifically provide a ministerial exemption, but some case law applies […]
