Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- President Trump issued a proclamation declaring January 26, 2018 to be Religious Freedom Day.
- Chinese police have dynamited a Christian megachurch. The New York Times describes this act as “reflecting tensions between Christians and the Communist party.”
- A Catholic university in Kansas that had agreed to host an exhibit highlighting gays and lesbians in the arts at its gallery has cancelled the event after receiving complaints.
- Pope Francis met with victims of clergy sex abuse in Chile during a visit to the country.
- A Sikh man has been appointed New Jersey’s Attorney General; he is the first Sikh to hold that office in any state.
- An organist and music director fired from his job at a Catholic church in Illinois after he entered a same-sex marriage has filed a hostile work environment lawsuit after his employment discrimination lawsuit was dismissed under the ministerial exception doctrine.
- The Department of Justice has filed a brief in support of the Archdiocese of Washington, which is challenging the Washington Metro for refusing to sell it advertising space.
- Indonesian Christians who fled religious rioting decades ago and then overstayed their U.S. visas are fighting their deportation in federal court in Boston.
- A 93-year-old former heart surgeon is the new leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.