Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- Legislators in Kansas are considering enacting legislation aimed at protecting student faith-based groups on state college campuses.
- The 3rd Circuit rejected a constitutional challenge to a New Jersey statute prohibiting sexual-orientation change counseling to minors.
- A Pew study has found that, if current demographic trends continue, more people in the United States will identify as Muslim than Jewish by 2050.
- A Satanist church in Oklahoma City has asked permission to distribute literature at an elementary school.
- A court order enforcing a parenting plan that calls for a four-year-old boy’s circumcision is being challenged in federal court. According to the boy’s mother, the trial court order violates the First Amendment.
- The Tennessee House of Representatives voted to make the Bible the official state book, despite a warning from the state’s Attorney General that the measure could violate both the federal and state constitutions.
- On May 22, Ireland will be the first country to hold a nationwide referendum on gay marriage. Polls currently suggest wide support for gay marriage in Ireland.
- Two members of the Israeli Knesset will travel to Armenia to attend the official 100th anniversary commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. According to one, “a nation that suffered a Holocaust cannot close its eyes to another nation’s holocaust.”
- Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Pope Francis for stating that the 1915 mass killing of Armenians was a genocide and warned him not to make such a statement again.
- CLR Director Mark Movsesian discusses Pope Francis’ commemoration of the Armenian genocide here.
- The Vatican has delayed its approval of France’s ambassador to the Holy See. According to French media, the Vatican considers it a “provocation” that the French government nominated a homosexual to the post.
- The Supreme Court of Canada has unanimously ruled that the recitation of prayer at council meetings is unconstitutional.