The following articles have been selected because they are informative, instructive, entertaining, or simply interesting. Articles appearing in Your Friday Five do not represent an endorsement.
A win for religious liberty.
Victory for the Little Sisters, WORLD
In a 7-2 decision, the majority held that in 2017 the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) created the exemption in a way that squared with the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the exemption was not procedurally defective. “For over 150 years, the Little Sisters have engaged in faithful service and sacrifice, motivated by a religious calling to surrender all for the sake of their brother,” wrote Justice Clarence Thomas. “We hold today that the Departments had the statutory authority to craft that exemption.”
Genocide is genocide no matter where it occurs.
China is a Genocidal Menace, Andrew Sullivan
And the campaign of terror is working: “Birth rates in the mostly Uighur regions of Hotan and Kashgar plunged by more than 60% from 2015 to 2018, the latest year available in government statistics. Across the Xinjiang region, birth rates continue to plummet, falling nearly 24% last year alone — compared to just 4.2% nationwide, statistics show.” In the Uighur city of Hotan, over a third of all married women of childbearing age were sterilized in 2019 alone. And this is taking place in the context of a new campaign to increase the fertility and offspring of the majority Han Chinese. This is pure racial social engineering.
Satanists object to “In God we trust.” Imagine that.
Satanic Temple threatens to sue Mississippi, Christian Post
“[W]e can imagine that there would be some Mississippians who would be a bit put off by the words ‘In Satan we Trust’ on the state flag.”
Temple spokesperson Lucien Greaves said in a statement released Tuesday that his group was “fully dedicated to preserving Religious Liberty, and that includes the rights of non-believers and believers of alternative faiths to live free of government coercion or sanction related to their personal religious opinions.”
Mosque or museum: controversy in Turkey continues.
Battle over Turkey’s Hagia Sophia goes to court, NBC News
On Thursday, Turkey’s Council of State heard arguments by lawyers for the Association for the Protection of Historic Monuments and the Environment, a group asking for the Hagia Sophia to be reverted from a museum to a mosque.
The association is pressing for an annulment of the 1935 decision that turned the iconic structure into a museum, where religious services or group prayers would not be held. A decision is expected within two weeks.
NYT makes a strange charge against churches.
Churches, Coronavirus, and The New York Times, Ed Stetzer
As someone who has strongly advocated for churches to take COVID seriously, and whose church is not yet meeting, I read this article with great interest. And, after reading it twice, I can say that this article seems to tell a different story than its title.