Court’s rejection of HHS conscience rule decried
WASHINGTON (BP)—A federal court’s nullification Wed., Nov. 6 of a Trump administration rule protecting the conscience rights of health-care workers elicited disappointment from religious freedom and pro-life advocates. The court in New York City vacated the entire regulation issued in May by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), saying the federal entity exceeded its congressionally granted authority. HHS acted...
Moore praises HHS steps on foster care, adoption
WASHINGTON (BP)—Southern Baptist religious freedom leader Russell Moore has praised new Trump administration actions designed to restore protections for faith-based foster-care and adoption agencies that operate by biblical convictions. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued Nov. 1 a proposed rule that revises an Obama-era regulation by ensuring religious freedom is guaranteed in its grant programs. The new rule...
Kentucky high court rules for print shop owner
FRANKFORT, Ky. (BP)—Religious freedom advocates commended a Kentucky Supreme Court decision Thursday, Oct. 31 in support of a business owner who declined to print T-shirts for a gay pride festival. The state high court ruled unanimously the Gay and Lesbian Services Organization (GLSO) did not have “statutory standing” under a local ordinance to bring the challenge against Hands On Originals, giving the Lexington shop and...
Baptists differ over evangelical movement
WASHINGTON (BP)—A historian, an ethicist and a pastor—all Baptists—displayed a difference of opinion on the usefulness of the word “evangelical” and the state of evangelicalism in an Oct. 29 conversation at the Museum of the Bible. Thomas Kidd, history professor at Baylor University and prolific author, discussed the crisis in evangelical Christianity with Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics &...
Pro-life lament greets California abortion law
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (BP)—Pro-life advocates lamented California’s barrier-breaking enactment of a law requiring its public colleges and universities to provide non-surgical abortions to students. California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Oct. 11 that mandates student health centers of the University of California and California State University systems offer what are known as medical or chemical abortions—reportedly making...
