Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- On Thursday, the Trump administration announced an expanded “conscience rule” that would protect health care workers who oppose abortion, sterilization, and other medical procedures on religious or moral grounds.
- The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry released its antisemitism worldwide report for 2018, reporting an increase in “almost all forms of anti-Semitic manifestations.”
- State legislators in Massachusetts have proposed removing “so help me God” from its oath.
- Quebec’s government prepares to adopt the most strict secularist bill in Canada, preventing government employees from wearing religious symbols “in performance of their duties.”
- Congressional leaders have asked to intervene in the case after the Department of Justice said it would not appeal a federal judge’s decision to declare a female genital mutilation law unconstitutional after members of an Indian Muslim sect were prosecuted under the law.
- President Trump, at the White House National Day of Prayer dinner, called on Americans to use the power of prayer to end violence and protect religious liberty.
- Vice President Pence delivered remarks in the Rose Garden to mark the National Day of Prayer, averring that President Trump is a champion and defender of faith and religious liberty.
- According to the Anti-Defamation League’s annual Audit of Anti-Semitic incidents, 2018 saw anti-Semitic assaults double and the deadliest attack against the Jewish community in American history.
- According to a British report, the persecution of Christians is fast becoming genocide and the faith will soon disappear in certain areas of the world.
- Alberta’s highest court upheld the dismissal of an injunction against gay-straight alliances brought by two dozen faith-based schools, parents, and advocacy groups after they claimed they impinge on their religious beliefs.
- Human rights groups and Muslim organizations are urging U.S. Muslims to boycott products made in China, where authorities have cracked down on Uighurs.
- The Sri Lankan town of Negombo has been put under curfew after escalating violence between Muslims and Christians in the wake of the Easter Sunday suicide bombings.
- Midwives and other health care providers are filing lawsuits against physician-only laws that preclude them from performing abortions.
- Facebook banned, among others, Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, for violating its ban on “dangerous individuals.”