Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

• The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans secured near unanimous approval for a $230 million bankruptcy settlement. The settlement payout breaks down to $130 million in cash from the archdiocese and its affiliates, $20 million in promissory notes, $30 million from insurers, and up to $50 million from the sale of various property owned by the archdiocese.
• A federal district court in California dismissed a Title VII religious discrimination claim by a DMV worker who objected to a Covid vaccine. The court held that the worker’s vague statements about bodily autonomy and God did not amount to a religious conviction.
• A Texas state appeals court affirmed the dismissal of United Methodist Rio Conference Board of Trustees v. Alice First Methodist Church. This suit was brought by the United Methodist Church parent body in an effort to challenge attempts bylocal Texas congregations to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church. The Court held that dismissal was proper under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, which precludes courts from interpreting religious documents that dictate church governance.
• The Texas Supreme Court added a new Comment to Canon 4 of the Texas Code of Judicial Conduct which would allow judges to abstain from performing same-sex marriages because of their sincerely held religious beliefs.
• A new report from Barna Group shows that Gen Z and Millennial Christians are not only attending church more frequently than in previous years but are also attending more often than Christians of older generations.