Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- After New York City dropped the case against a woman who assaulted a pro-life influencer, the legal nonprofit Thomas More Society has asked the DA to reconsider.
- The Vatican has appointed a five-member panel of independent judges to oversee the canonical trial of Father Marko Rupnik, who faces allegations of sexual and psychological abuse involving consecrated women under his spiritual care.
- Oklahoma’s new state superintendent has dropped the prior mandate requiring Bibles to be placed in public school classrooms and will not distribute them or enforce a biblical character curriculum.
- Hispanic Christian leaders are endorsing the Republican-introduced “Dignity Act,” a bill that would protect certain undocumented immigrants from deportation without granting them a path to citizenship.
- A federal judge has temporarily blocked key provisions of Texas’ new campus speech law, siding with Christian and other student groups who argued the law infringed their First Amendment rights.
- A New Jersey jury has awarded $5 million in damages to a former student who alleged he was sexually abused decades ago by a monk at the elite Delbarton School.
- After strong community pressure and protests, St. Demetrios Church in Astoria and the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America reached a deal changing how the Archdiocese is involved in the parish, including removing a controversial clause and banning the sale of church or school property. This agreement protects the school, keeps the parish independent, and sets up a plan for managing money responsibly in the future.
- Dallin H. Oaks, a former Utah Supreme Court justice, has been selected to lead The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the death of his 101-year-old predecessor, Russell M. Nelson.
- California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed SB 509, a proposed law that would have required police to receive training on “transnational repression” (how foreign governments target people living in the U.S.) because he felt existing programs were sufficient and worried about federal coordination. The veto caused tension in the Indian-American community, with many Sikh Americans supporting the bill for protection against harassment, while many Hindu Americans opposed it, fearing it could unfairly target them.
- The Catholic nonprofit Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) will publish its biennial “Religious Freedom in the World Report 2025” on October 21 in Rome, highlighting global trends in religious persecution and restrictions.