Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- Miles from ISIS’s front lines, a Christian couple in Syria held a marriage celebration attended by Christians who defy ISIS by remaining in their homes when so many others have fled.
- The Seventh Circuit ruled that the Freedom From Religion Foundation has no standing to challenge an IRS rule allowing tax-free housing to ministers, a case concerning the so-called parsonage exemption.
- The Indonesian government says it is drafting new legislation to protect citizens of all faiths in the world’s largest Muslim majority nation. The news follows an announcement that citizens of faiths other than the six officially recognized by the government do not have to choose one of the six in the religion column of the national identification card. The Indonesian Interior Minister said the legislation was needed because the religion choice provision was causing many Indonesians to avoid getting national ID cards.
- Members of Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority hope that this week’s visit by President Obama and other world leaders will improve their conditions. Up to 1 million Rohingya have been denied full citizenship, and around 140,000 displaced Rohingya live behind barbed wire and under armed watch in camps and villages, unable to move freely and in many cases unable to farm, fish or find employment.
- Allying themselves with the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, some Lebanese Christians are forming militias to defend their land against ISIS.
- In a movement to make conversion to Judaism more accessible for so-called “religionless” Israelis, the Israeli cabinet passed a new law concerning conversion that affects at least 330,000 Israelis who immigrated to Israel following the “Law of Return.”
- Catholic bishops in Kenya urge Kenyans to avoid the tetanus vaccination campaign originated by the World Health Organization because they believe it is a disguised population control program. Prompted by “suspicious” implementation of the campaign, the bishops conducted private tests of the vaccine, which was not tested by Kenya’s Ministry of Health and found it was laced with a birth control hormone. The government and WHO deny the allegations.
- The Air Force approved an update to its rules governing religious expression. The new rules were intended to incorporate feedback from the Air Force’s “Religious Freedom Focus Day,” during which leaders of the Air Force’s chaplain corps met to discuss the service’s law and policy regarding religious freedom, the complaint process, and how to inform airmen about their rights.
- Three Catholic bishops speak out in support of President Obama’s pledge to act to bring about immigration reform.
- The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay advocacy group, launched a faith-based campaign called “All God’s Children,” to bolster gay rights support and same-sex marriage legislation in Mississippi.