Authorities arrested six family members in Peoria, a suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, for allegedly trying to kidnap a 20-year-old female relative because she has a non-Muslim boyfriend — and she is approximately 5-months pregnant. The victim later told police how she feared dying at the hands of her relatives because they believe she brought dishonor to them.
The report by the Office of the Director of the National Defense (ODND) released last June 25, 2021, caused a flurry of discussion regarding the existence of aliens. The report's title, made more ominous by the government agencies involved in its writing, Preliminary Assessment: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP), creates an exciting topic for non-religious and religious individuals.
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 Aug. 19, Inoke Tonga — a volleyball coach at Valor Christian High School — was invited to meet before a session with his team. “Our interactions prior to that day were always so refreshing,” Tonga said. He happily complied with Brian Bonn, the Athletic Director, and the campus pastor’s request to meet.
A much-needed tipping point in the social atmosphere of America has been achieved. A study backed with a substantially generous amount of data showed that more than half of adult Americans accept evolution. The study, first published online by Sage Publishing on August 16, 2021, stated that the public's level of acceptance of evolution had increased dramatically over the past two decades.
In a tweet in August, noted Christian fundamentalist and Young Earth Creationist Ken Ham insisted that aliens do not exist. Ham was responding to a Washington Post article that claims highly religious people are less likely to subscribe to the existence of intelligent extraterrestrial life.
On August 13, 2021, Illinois Second District Appellate Court declared that Meggan Sommerville, a transwoman who was in a legal battle with her former employer — Hobby Lobby — over bathroom access, is no doubt a female and "just like the women who are permitted to use the women's bathroom."
In 1965, Jean Fields, aged 15 at that time, married a man in his 20’s. She went on to have three children by the time she was 21. Fields, along with Judy Wiegand of Kentucky, are one of the few people invited by lobbyists in North Carolina to help convince the state’s congress to address the increasing cases of underage marriage. The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and Unchained at Last are among the groups that have pressured the state’s legislators to fix the gruesome age of consent for marriage.
On Aug. 11, 2021, a paradox unfolded during a school board meeting in Virginia. In a single statement, Laura Morris — a 5th-grade public school teacher — juxtaposed her school district's "cutting-edge technology" and the religious ideology of a "believer in Christ." Laura ruefully announced her resignation, failing to see that the liberal movement that allowed her to speak openly against a policy is the same movement that compels the board to respect transgender children.
"School board, I quit," she announced defiantly, with white tears.
In 2017, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, in a "connecting the world" manifesto, stated that religion and religious communities are the things his company will focus on for "faith partnership." In December 2020, Facebook started rolling out its "I Prayed" button tool for Facebook groups in the United States.
