Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- A bomb exploded at the al-Taqwa mosque in the Paktia Kot area in Kabul, Afghanistan, during afternoon prayers, killing two people and wounding sixteen others.
- In addition to dozens of murder and attempted murder charges, New Zealand police have also charged twenty-eight-year-old Brenton H. Tarrant with engaging in terrorism under the country’s Terrorism Suppression Act for the mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch.
- Robert Bowers, the man charged in the Pittsburgh (PA) synagogue massacre, wants to plead guilty in exchange for a life sentence and to avoid the death penalty.
- The Texas House of Representatives tentatively approved the so-called “Save Chick-fil-A” religious freedom bill, which would bar Texas government agencies from punishing people and companies for affiliating with or donating to religious organizations.
- The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the San Antonio International Airport (TX) and the Buffalo International Airport (NY) over religious discrimination complaints, following the exclusion of Chick-fil-A from the premises.
- A federal judge rejected a defense raised by the DOJ in a lawsuit claiming the U.S. Air Force was negligent in failing to report information that could have prevented the man who murdered more than two dozen people at a Texas church in 2017 from buying a gun.
- The Catholic Church is objecting to the Western Australia government’s plans to expand mandatory reporting laws to cover all recognized religious ministers, including where knowledge of child sex abuse is gained through confession.
- State senators in California overwhelmingly approved a bill that would require priests to report any knowledge or suspicion of child abuse gained while hearing the confession of another priest or colleague.
- Police have arrested a twenty-seven-year-old man after he allegedly made angry, profanity-laced death and arson threats on Facebook against Muslims and a mosque in Miami Gardens (FL).
- A man who attacked a Sikh store owner because of his religion pleaded guilty to second-degree intimidation, a hate crime under Oregon law, and was sentenced to 180 days in jail and ordered to attend the local temple’s annual parade to learn more about the Sikh faith.
- A twenty-one-year-old man whose beliefs in Nazism and white supremacy motivated him to paint swastikas at Congregation Shaarey Tefilla in Carmel (IN) last year was sentenced to prison and ordered to repay the synagogue $700 for the damage.
- A federal judge has temporarily frozen the accounts of a suburban West Palm Beach (FL) church after its pastor refused to turn over $1.7 million that financial regulators claim rightfully belongs to people who were ensnared in a $30 million Ponzi scheme.
- Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) questioned attorney Michael S. Bogren, nominee to be U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Michigan, over allegations that he holds anti-Catholic views.
- Russia’s Oryol Regional Court denied the appeal of Dennis Christensen, who was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for being a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
- During a visit to Tibet, U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad told Chinese officials that the country should hold talks with the Dalai Lama, while criticizing Beijing for interfering with religious freedom.
- The Trump administration is considering changes to Obama-era nondiscrimination policies, which would make it easier for adoption agencies to deny adoptions to same-sex couples.
- Kenya’s High Court declined to strike down a colonial-era law banning same-sex relations.
- Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that five former Catholic priests have been arrested on charges of criminal sexual conduct, the first arrests in a statewide investigation of Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse.
- Police in India are investigating a claim that Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay and two auxiliary bishops covered up an accusation of clerical sexual abuse involving a minor that reportedly occurred four years ago.
- A Catholic priest with the Diocese of Saginaw (MI) has been placed on administrative leave following an allegation of misconduct with a minor.
- Missouri Gov. Mike Parson signed into law a bill that bans abortion at eight weeks of gestation, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
- A federal judge in Mississippi blocked the state’s fetal heartbeat law, which prohibits abortions once a fetus’s heartbeat is detected.
- In Scotland, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has, for a second time, lost a legal challenge against the government’s decision last year to allow women to self-administer abortions pills at home.
- An armed fugitive accused of beating a man and stabbing a woman was shot and killed by members of the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force outside the Masjid Al Iman mosque in Fort Lauderdale (FL).
- The owner of the Ark Encounter, a life-size replica of Noah’s Ark in Northern Kentucky, has sued its insurers for refusing to cover rain damage.