1. Abortion Rates Are Falling in Colorado Due to Free and Easy Contraception Access
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2736268736459968
Location: Colorado, USA
2. Christian Rapper Walks Out of “The Addams Family” Movie Due to Demonic Elements
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2727905673962941
Location: USA
3. Mandatory Bible Reading in Public Schools May be Coming to the Philippines
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2731221843631324
Location: Philippines
4. Americans becoming less Christian as over a quarter follow no religion
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2723605734392935
Location: USA
5. Theater Teacher Fired from Christian School Due To Her Same-Sex Relationship
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2734754543278054
Location: Florida, USA
6. Muslim student disqualified in Ohio high school cross-country race for wearing hijab
https://www.facebook.com/AtheistRepublic/posts/2738237179596457
Location: Ohio, USA
7. Elizabeth Warren Says She’ll Consider Hiring a “Secular Outreach Director”
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2734656973287811
Location: USA
8. Northern Ireland prepares for momentous gay marriage, abortion changes
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2729849523768556
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland
9. Voters against return of ISIS wives, kids
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2729796667107175
Location: Australia
10. 500 shackled children freed from third Islamic boarding school in north Nigeria
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/2730065907080251
Location: Nigeria
1. Abortion rates across the country have dropped steadily to their lowest rates since the practice became legal nationwide in 1973, but this is especially true in Colorado where the rates dropped by 10% between 2014 and 2017, from 12.1 abortions per 1000 women to 10.9 abortions. Health officials in the state believe it’s almost entirely due to the increased availability of birth control — and not any kind of restriction on women seeking to obtain the procedure. The Colorado Sun reports that in 2017, Colorado became the third state in the country to make it possible for women (including teenagers) to obtain oral contraceptives at the pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription. The pharmacists simply have to complete a four-hour training online before having the ability to dispense the pills.
2. Christian hip hop artist Bryann Trejo recently went with his family to go see the new Addams Family movie, and he had to walk out of the theater. Not because the movie was bad, but because it was apparently way too demonic. Who would've guessed a movie about the Addams family would include faux-horror elements? The video ends with his kids explaining why they had to leave… and a prayer. Because only God can counter the dangers of an Ouija board.
3. Public school students in the Philippines could be forced to read the Bible every day while in class under a new bill that was put forth by Minority Leader Bienvenido Abante Jr. who is a pastor, as well. House Bill 2069, known as the Mandatory Bible Reading Act of 2019, would apply to students in elementary and secondary schools. They would read, discuss, and examine the Bible in English and Filipino, according to the Manila Times. One top education official in the current administration actually pointed out how difficult it would be to enact it.
4. The United States is becoming a less Christian country, and the decline in religious affiliation is particularly rapid among younger Americans, new figures show. The proportion of US adults who describe themselves as Christian has fallen to two-thirds, a drop of 12 percentage points over the past decade, according to data from the Pew Research Center. Over the same period, the proportion of those describing themselves as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” has risen by 17 percentage points to more than a quarter of the adult population. Although churches and faith movements continue to exert strong political influence on the Trump administration and at the state level, the proportion of American adults attending religious services has declined.
5. Monica Toro Lisciandro, who owns a performance studio in Florida, also spent part of her days teaching kids about theater at Covenant Christian School in Palm Bay. As a believer herself, she loves the opportunity to help kids “feel seen and heard and loved.” It’s why she worked at the school for the past three years. But this month, she was fired after someone outed her as a lesbian in a committed relationship.
6. Noor Alexandria Abukaram ran a personal-best time in a cross-country meet last Saturday. Then the 16-year-old Ohio high school student found out her race didn't count. Abukaram was disqualified from her team's meet for wearing a hijab while in competition. "It was like your worst nightmare to have to compete and then find out that you got disqualified and it's because of something that you love," Abukaram told CNN. "Why should you have to sacrifice your religion and a part of who you are to run, to do another thing that you're very passionate about?" Abukaram told several news media outlets she had competed in six meets this season without any problems. She also said officials did not address her hijab immediately after the race. Meet officials told her that her coach ultimately didn't fill out the correct paperwork.
7. Sen. Elizabeth Warren said during a town hall meeting in Cedar Falls, Iowa that she would think about hiring a staffer whose sole job would be to connect with Americans who aren’t religious. So far, no candidate has hired a “Secular Outreach Director.” Atheist activist Justin Scott, the Iowa State Director for American Atheists, had the chance to ask Warren, among the front-runners for the Democratic nomination, if she’d consider hiring someone specifically to reach out to people without faith.
8. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that does not allow same-sex marriage. Campaigners who fought for decades to end Northern Ireland's same sex-marriage ban and restrictions on abortion prepared on Monday for a momentous change to the laws on both at the stroke of midnight. But an overwhelming vote by British lawmakers in July to compel the government in London to overhaul the laws if Belfast's devolved executive had not been restored by Oct. 21 is set to kick in with little or no hope of politicians ending the local parliament's near three-year hiatus. Advocacy groups have planned a number of events on Monday to usher in the changes. It will take the British parliament until mid-January to bring in the new legislation, setting up Feb. 14, 2020 - Valentine's Day - as the first opportunity for same-sex couples to marry once they give the required 28-days' notice.
9. Voters are mostly opposed to the repatriation from Syria of Islamic State wives and children holding Australian citizenship. A Newspoll found 59 per cent of 1634 voters polled between October 17 and 19 are opposed to their return, against 36 per cent who were in favour, The Australian reported on Tuesday. Some 20 Australian women and 46 children are stranded in refugee camps in northern Syria following the defeat of ISIS.
10. Police have freed hundreds of manacled boys from a madrassa in northern Nigeria for the third time in a month, raising fears of systemic torture and sexual abuse in the region’s Islamic schools. Officers leading a raid on the Mal Niga school in the city of Katsina found more than 500 boys and young men, many of whom had been chained to walls, molested and beaten. The discovery followed a pattern that has become grimly familiar in Nigeria’s mostly Muslim north. More than 1,200 males, some as young as five, have been freed in three police operations since late September. The owner and five members of staff at Mal Niga have been arrested, police said.
