Christian Designer Who Won’t Make Same-Sex Wedding Websites Loses Case

On July 26th, the U.S. Court of Appeals held the lower court’s decision to deny a web designer’s petition to discriminate against the LGBTQ+ community in Colorado. There have been many other court rulings in the United States deciding if a business that denies service to LGBTQ+ people is considered prejudice or exercising their right to religious freedom.

Jehovah’s Witnesses Jailed as Extremists for Practicing Their Religion

On July 29, three Jehovah’s Witnesses were sentenced to six years in prison, on top of the two years they served while waiting for their trial. Two of the Jehova’s Witnesses are father and son, Vilen(68) and Arsen(37) Avanesov. Aleksandr Parkov (53), a companion, was also charged. Arsen and Parkov were sentenced to six and a half years, while Vilen was sentenced to six years. By the end of their time, they would have all spent nearly a decade behind bars.

Discovery of Native Graves Renews Probe of US Christian Boarding Schools

From the 19th to 20th centuries, Canadian churches operated at least 150 boarding schools for children of aboriginal tribes. Officials have exposed hundreds of unmarked graves on the surrounding properties. Approximately 150,000 native children attended these schools for more than a century. Sadly, the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada determined 3,201 native children died due to unsatisfactory conditions, malnourishment, and abuse.

Christian Teacher Won’t Use Transgender Name, Sues School and Lost

John Kluge, a former orchestra teacher in Brownsburg Community School from 2014 to 2018, sued the school over the transgender name policy. According to Kluge, he was “forced to resign,” citing the steep differences in the school’s policy and his religious beliefs. The Brownsburg Board of School Trustees accepted Kluge’s resignation on June 11, 2018. In the following year, he decided to sue the school.

EU’s Top Court Bans Wearing the Hijab at Work?! It’s not that simple.

According to the EU’s top court ruling, companies in the European Union (EU) may now mandate that Muslim employees refrain from wearing a headscarf. Companies may only ban employees from wearing Islamic head coverings if required to project an image of neutrality to customers, the court said on Thursday.

11 Convicted For Harassing French Atheist Teen Over Anti-Islam Views

On June 7, in a first-of-its-kind ruling, a French court convicted 11 out of 13 accused of cyberbullying a teenager over her views against Islam on social media. The 18-year-old started receiving threatening messages after her video criticizing Islam and the Quran posted last year from her social media accounts went viral.

Catholic Bishops threaten Biden with communion ban over abortion stance

On June 17, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has pushed ahead a draft in a majority vote that would deny President Joe Biden the Holy Communion because of his stance on abortion laws. Approval of this new statement will authorize individual bishops to deny Catholic politicians, who support abortion, the sacred rite of the Eucharist. Never has tensions between church divisions and the legislation been prevalent since the Trump administration. This new step has further reinstated the debate on the church's interference in politics.

Vatican intervenes to stop proposed anti-homophobia law in Italy

The Vatican had sent a letter to the Italian government to request a change in a new anti-homophobia law to be passed. On June 17th, a "verbal note" by the Vatican's secretary of relation with states, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, was delivered to the Italian embassy, as confirmed by a spokesperson of the Vatican.

Chinese Government Uses Economic Clout to Target Uyghurs Living Abroad

Beijing is using its financial power to target Uyghurs living abroad, in Asia, and in the Middle East

Five Evangelical Houses Burned Down By Catholics in Mexico

In Mitzitón, Mexico, local authorities and traditionalist Catholics burned down five indigenous Tzotzil evangelical houses. The properties belonged to pastor Alejandro Jiménez Jiménez and his sons. In January 2021, they had been expelled from Mitzitón after being accused of building an evangelical temple.