Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law a bill that eliminates religious exemptions for vaccinations, as the state continues to grapple with a measles outbreak.
- The Supreme Court rejected a petition to remove “In God We Trust” from all U.S. coins and dollar bills.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law the controversial “Save Chick-fil-A” bill, which prohibits the government from taking “adverse action” against any individuals or businesses for affiliating with or donating to religious organizations.
- The Freedom From Religion Foundation declined to appeal to the Supreme Court the Seventh Circuit’s decision upholding a federal tax provision that allows churches, mosques, and synagogues to provide faith leaders a tax-free housing allowance, ending the lawsuit.
- An Indian court convicted six Hindu men for the rape and murder of an eight-year-old Muslim girl last year, bringing to a close a case that gripped the country and reflected bitter religious divisions.
- A German court issued a temporary injunction lifting the city of Koblenz’s ban on the burkini, an all-encompassing swimsuit used by some Muslim women.
- Ecuador’s highest court ruled to recognize same-sex marriage—a landmark ruling for the Catholic-majority country’s LGBT community.
- Craig Hicks of Chapel Hill (NC) pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to three terms of life in prison for shooting and killing three Muslim college students in 2015.
- A couple is suing the Evergreens at Smith Run senior-living facility in Fredericksburg (VA), claiming they were prohibited from holding Bible studies and saying grace before meals, in violation of their religious freedom rights.
- A coalition of advocacy groups filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s “conscience protection” rule, which allows health care providers to refuse to provide care because of their religious beliefs.
- The D.C. Circuit ruled against the Trump administration’s policy of blocking undocumented pregnant teenagers in federal custody from obtaining abortions.
- The Waskom City Council (TX) passed a resolution that bans most abortion procedures, declaring itself Texas’s first “sanctuary city for the unborn” and designating abortion providers “criminal organizations.”
- A court in Germany ruled that the Archdiocese of Cologne, the country’s richest Catholic archdiocese, need not disclose the ways it invests its annual income of almost $3.4 billion.
- An Alabama sheriff was arrested and agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of scamming a food bank and his own church to pocket thousands of dollars under an old law that let state sheriffs profit from feeding prisoners.
- Former Westchester County (NY) Executive Rob Astorino agreed in federal court, without admitting any wrongdoing, to relinquish his claim for a Rolex watch that was seized by the FBI as part of a bribery investigation into the appointment of Westchester County police chaplains.
- A twenty-three-year-old man was arrested in California after allegedly threatening to commit a mass shooting at a synagogue.
- The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution introduced by Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Tim Kaine (D-VA) condemning all forms of anti-Semitism.
- Coffee County (TN) District Attorney Craig Northcott is under investigation following anti-Islamic social media posts and comments about not enforcing domestic violence laws for gay couples.
- A federal judge in Ohio ordered Andrew Anglin, the founder of neo-Nazi site the Daily Stormer, to pay $4.1 million in damages for defaming Muslim-American comedian Dean Obeidallah.
- Rastafarians in the Bahamas say they intend to sue the government if it does not indicate a willingness to grant them a license for the cultivation, possession, and supply of hemp, claiming they have a constitutional right to use marijuana for religious purposes.
- The twenty-one-year-old son of a St. Landry Parish deputy was indicted on federal hate crime charges in connection with a string of fires that destroyed three black churches in rural Louisiana earlier this year.
- A fire at St. Jude Catholic Church in El Paso (TX) is being investigated as possible arson, as the church is the third religious institution affiliated with the El Paso Catholic Diocese that has been set ablaze in about a month.
- Jiang Rong, a key figure in Early Rain Covenant Church, one of China’s best known churches, was released on bail last week, six months after she and dozens of other members of the congregation were detained and their church was closed.
- The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding the Appleton Area School District (WI) prevent board member Rev. Alvin Dupree from continuing to use his position to promote his religious views after Dupree referenced his Christian faith during a recent commencement speech.
- California Catholic dioceses are asking Catholics to urge their state representatives to reject a bill that would require priests to disclose information regarding child sex abuse that they learn about when hearing co-workers’ or other priests’ confessions.
- The Congregation of Holy Cross, the Catholic religious order that founded the University of Notre Dame and Holy Cross College, released a list of priests credibly accused of sexually abusing minors.
- A thirty-two-year-old former youth leader of Clearwater Community Church (FL) was arrested on two counts of lewd and lascivious molestation of a fifteen-year-old member of the church.
- A Texas pastor was arrested on charges of child sex abuse for allegedly molesting a teenage relative several times over a two-year period.