One of the special interests listed in the profile of Harvard’s new Chief Chaplain is “meaning and purpose beyond religion.” A very striking deviation from the century-old tradition of religious guidance usually expected of a chaplain. 400-years in the making, Harvard, an institution whose original mission was to educate religious ministers, has elected its first openly atheist chapel minister.
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.
Gerald Darmanin, France’s Interior Minister, in an interview with RTL radio in February 2021, commented on the proposed Anti-Separatism Bill. Darmanin describes the bill as tough but necessary, calling it “an extremely strong secular offensive.” The bill passed the lower house of the French parliament on Friday, July 23, 2021. Darmanin sponsored the bill with the support of his party, La République En Marche.
According to a recent survey by the Pew Research group, every 2 in 3 Indians express strong opinions on interfaith marriages and would actively like to stop them. The survey result indicates that most Indians like to believe that India is tolerant of other religions while they themselves oppose interfaith relationships.
In January 2021, Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody sponsored Senate Joint Resolution 55 to amend Article IX of the Constitution of Tennessee. Article IX has three sections that bar church ministers, atheists, and people who participate or aid a duel from holding any office in the civil department of the state.
A Texas federal court received a petition from Braidwood Management, Inc. to provide a religious exemption that will allow them to discriminate against LGBTQ+ staff.
For 14 years in a row, statistics for Southern Baptists, the country’s largest Protestant denomination, are still declining. In 2020, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) saw crucialcomponents falling, including membership, attendance, donations, and the total number of congregations.
On May 3, 2021, the right-wing pastor and televangelist Andrew Wommack made horrible anti-LGBTQ+ comments on his podcast alongside his guest, anti-LGBTQ+ religious-right activist, Janet Porter. He said that gay people should wear labels on their foreheads as a warning sign because their sexuality could be "hazardous" to health.
