Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- A federal district judge in Albany (NY) dismissed a lawsuit brought by New Hope Family Services, a faith-based adoption provider, against New York officials who allegedly targeted the agency for its religious beliefs.
- The Sixth Circuit granted a new trial to a couple convicted of distributing methamphetamine in part because the prosecutor cited their belief in “Jesús Malverde,” who is known as the patron saint of narcotraffickers.
- A Muslim woman filed a complaint against the Georgia Department of Corrections, alleging the agency violated her religious beliefs by not allowing her to wear a hijab at work.
- Tennessee’s Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott is facing calls to resign from the Council on American-Islamic Relations after posting several anti-Islam remarks to social media.
- Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland will not provide restitution for Jewish property taken during World War II when the country was under Nazi control.
- Australian rugby player Israel Folau may go straight to the Supreme Court rather than appeal Rugby Australia’s decision to terminate his $4 million contract for posting religiously inspired, anti-gay comments to social media.
- Lawmakers in Taiwan approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, making the self-ruled island the first place in Asia to pass gay marriage legislation.
- The House passed the Equality Act Friday, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
- Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claims President Trump is “paying lip service” to gay rights by saying he is “absolutely fine” with Buttigieg’s gay marriage.
- The Veterans Administration said it will remove items representing different religious faiths placed next to a Bible on a POW/MIA table at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center that had prompted a lawsuit by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation.
- The Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled that physicians who object on religious grounds to providing health-care services such as assisted suicide, abortion, and contraceptives must offer their patients an “effective referral” to another doctor.
- Pro-Life activists in Argentina are calling for the acquittal of Dr. Leandro Rodríguez Lastra, who is currently standing trial in Rio Negro Province for refusing to perform an abortion.
- Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) says he will sign a heartbeat abortion bill that comes to his desk should it clear the state legislature.
- President Trump denounced highly restrictive abortion bills like the one recently passed in Alabama, claiming he is “strongly Pro-Life” but favors allowing women to get abortions in cases of rape or incest.
- Thousands gathered in Birmingham (AL) for the March for Reproductive Freedom in protest against the state’s new abortion law.
- The Executive Director of the Chick-fil-A Foundation, the chicken franchise’s charity arm, defended the company’s donations to Christian nonprofits that uphold the traditional view of marriage, claiming the organization serves a “much higher calling.”
- In an address to the Foreign Press Association in Italy, Pope Francis paid tribute to journalists killed while doing their jobs, urging journalists to shun fake news and continue reporting on the plight of people who no longer make headlines but are still suffering.
- Leaders of the U.S. Bishops’ conference voiced their opposition to President Trump’s new “merit-based” immigration plan, stressing that families should be strengthened and promoted in the immigration system.
- A Vatican court has decided not to initiate canonical charges against a former Vatican official following an investigation into allegations of unwanted sexual advances toward a woman in a confessional.
- Bishop Edward J. Burns of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas (TX) has challenged the accuracy of a police affidavit’s allegations that the diocese had “thwarted” an investigation of past sexual misconduct by priests.
- Poland’s ruling conservative party leader said Friday it does not tolerate “pathology” in the Catholic Church and will back a commission to investigate sexual abuse of minors.
- The forty-three-year-old man charged with the arson of a Pennsylvania church that banned him for unspecified reasons told the media that he set the fires and was “mad at God.”
- Authorities are investigating vandalism at St. Patrick Cathedral in El Paso (TX) after a liquor bottle containing an unknown liquid was discovered near a broken window.
- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised that not only will Israel successfully land on the moon, but a Bible will be present when they do.