In today’s News:
Brazilian Lutherans cope with pandemic
Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing in March 2020, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brazil has been concerned with helping its members and pastors acclimatize to the current reality the world is facing. With the covid-19 pandemic in mind, President Geraldo Walmir Schüler encouraged congregations to suspend all onsite activities, including worship services. At the same time, the church made available to congregations a variety of resources to assist their ministry work during the pandemic. Worship services were organized with the assistance of its communication agency and pastors from the church’s national board and transmitted live via the web radio station on Sunday mornings.
A Christian student fights back
Alliance Defending Freedom sent a letter yesterday to Florida State University administrators appealing the student senate’s decision to remove him from his seat as president of the FSU student government association student senate for sharing his personal beliefs with other students. In a private text conversation with fellow Catholic students, Jack Denton suggested that blacklivesmatter.com, reclaim the block, and the ACLU advocate for causes opposed to Catholic teaching and Catholic students may wish to avoid supporting them financially. After one student took screenshots of Denton’s private messages and shared them publicly on social media, students mocked and misrepresented his remarks and demanded his removal from leadership as the SGA’s student senate president. After a failed vote of no-confidence on June 3, student senators approved Denton’s removal two days later. Students who supported the motion stated that they sought to remove Denton because of his beliefs, communicated in private texts.
Nebraska moves to ban dismemberment abortions
Nebraska lawmakers voted Tuesday to advance a pro-life bill to protect unborn babies from brutal dismemberment abortions. The pro-life bill would prohibit abortion procedures that use clamps, forceps or similar instruments to remove pieces of a living unborn baby from his/her mother’s womb. These abortions typically are referred to as dilation and evacuation, or D&E, and are common in the second trimester when unborn babies are nearly fully developed. The ban does not apply to unborn babies who are already dead. Doctors who violate the ban would face fines and felony charges.
More protections for religious freedom
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services took two important steps Tuesday to protect religious freedom during the covid-19 pandemic. The agency’s Office for Civil Rights announced that patients at hospitals within the University of Maryland medical system may receive visits by clergy amid the pandemic. And, the office said, a medical student at Staten Island University Hospital in New York City may follow his religious belief by not shaving his beard despite having to wear a mask.
