On Friday, the Irish government put two measures to a vote that would have extended the rights of unmarried couples in the country’s constitution and removed language defining women’s roles “within the home.” Both had been widely expected to pass despite enjoying little debate in the Dail, or Irish parliament, and after a rubber stamp by all three of the Irish Republic’s main political parties. (O’Connor, Religion News Service)
Read MoreThe Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), an organisation deeply rooted in traditional values, has found itself at the centre of a political storm for welcoming transgender women. After hundreds of resignations and the intervention of at least one Republican senator, the organisation for women who can trace their lineage back to a participant in the American Revolution has become an unlikely voice in the culture wars. (McDonald-Gibson, The TImes UK)
Read MoreOn a continent better known for left-wing youth activism a la Greta Thunberg, polls show that young Europeans are fueling the growth of the far right from France to Sweden to the Netherlands. And in a year when former president Donald Trump is making a bid to take back the White House, multiple European governments may be headed for a rightward shift, propelled by voters in their late teens, 20s and early 30s. (Faiola & Martins, The Washington Post)
Read MoreEvangelicals have been among Israel’s fiercest foreign supporters for years, particularly in the United States, where their significant political influence has helped shape the Israel policy of recent Republican administrations. (Lidman, AP News)
Read MoreThe report, based on interviews with more than 22,000 U.S. adults in 2023, found that Americans are slightly less likely to support same-sex marriage and LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections and less likely to oppose allowing business owners to refuse to serve LGBTQ people for faith reasons, compared with the year before. (Post, Religion News Service)
Read MoreState lawmakers in India are seeking to curtail evangelism with a ban on “magical healing” that could penalize Christians who offer prayer or any “non-scientific” practices to comfort people who are sick. (Kaur, Christianity Today)
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