Iran has passed a draconian new law that will jail women who refuse to wear the hijab for up to 10 years, in what the UN has labelled “gender apartheid”. Lawmakers in Iran, where the hijab is mandatory for women, approved on Wednesday the “Support for the Culture of Hijab and Chastity” legislation, which seeks to increase penalties for flouting Islamic dress codes. (Rothwell, The Telegraph)
Read MoreIn late August, Israel put a halt to new work permits — accusing Hamas, the Islamist militant group that governs this blockaded territory, of being behind terrorist attacks in the West Bank. Hamas and Israel traded familiar threats. In Gaza’s latest lurch between calm and chaos, Asad saw his long-shot chance vanish. (Hendrix & Balousha, The Washington Post)
Read MoreThe Violet Crown City Church in north Austin used ChatGPT to develop a sermon, with pastor Jay Cooper saying he got the idea after reading about the technology and wondering what it might be like to use in during a service, according to a report from KXAN. (Lee, Fox News)
Read MoreThe ongoing legal battle between Liberty University and Jerry Falwell Jr. has taken yet another twist, with the disgraced former president of the school alleging misconduct by its board of directors and attempting to ban the university from using images of his late father. (Smietana & Jenkins, Religion News Service)
Read MoreDespite some recent encouraging trends, most U.S. churches are still recovering from the pandemic, with attendance remaining below what it was in early 2020. That could give a picture of a Christianity struggling to advance or even one barely surviving. (Earls, Lifeway Research)
Read MoreThe Southern Baptist Convention has ousted an Oklahoma church whose pastor defended his blackface performance at one church event and his impersonation of a Native American woman at another. (AP/NPR)
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