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Links on R&P from around the web
Muslim Candidates Run in Record Numbers But Face Backlash
posted on July 18, 2018The Associated Press’ Philip Marcelo and Jeff Karoub report that a new wave of Muslim Americans are running for elected office during this year’s midterm elections. Around 50 Muslim American candidates still remain in national or statewide races all over the country. Marcelo and Karoub write, “From Congress to state legislatures and school boards, Muslim Americans spurred to action by the anti-Muslim policies and rhetoric of President Donald Trump and his supporters are running for elected offices in numbers not seen since before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, say Muslim groups and political observers.”
Judge: Jewish Heritage Can Be Basis for Race Discrimination
posted on July 17, 2018The Associated Press’ Michael Kunzelman reports that a Louisiana judge has ruled that Jewish people are a class protected from racial discrimination in employment decisions. The decision comes from a civil case filed by Joshua Bonadona against Louisiana College, which declined to hire him because of his “Jewish blood.” U.S. Magistrate Jack Hornsby, in his decision on the case, writes, “Jewish citizens have been excluded from certain clubs or neighborhoods, and they have been denied jobs and other opportunities based on the fact that they were Jewish, with no particular concern as to a given individual’s religious leanings.”
Texas Fetal Burial Law Trial Begins After Pointed 5th Circuit Rulings
posted on July 17, 2018Courthouse News Service’s Kelsey Jukam reports that there is a trial in Texas to determine if healthcare providers should be required to bury or cremate fetal remains following an abortion. U.S. District Judge David Ezra has come under fire for issuing a discovery order to a group of Roman Catholic bishops affiliated with the case, with Fifth Circuit Judge James Ho claiming the incident was “to retaliate against people of faith for not only believing on the sanctity of life — but also for wanting to do something about it.” Ezra said, “Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Read at Courthouse News Service
Mariia Butina, Who Sought “Back Channel” Meeting for Trump and Putin, is Charged as Russian Agent
posted on July 17, 2018The New York Times’ Matt Apuzzo, Katie Benner, and Sharon LaFraniere report that a woman was charged Monday and alleged to be a Russian operative seeking to influence American politics. They write, “At the behest of a senior Russian government official, the woman, Mariia Butina, made connections through the National Rifle Association, religious organizations and the National Prayer Breakfast to try to steer the Republican Party toward more pro-Russia policies, court records show.” They continue, “Ms. Butina is the 26th Russian – and the first one arrested – to face charges related to interference in the presidential election.”
#MeToo Goes to Jewish Summer Camp, a Traditional Place for Teenage Romance
posted on July 17, 2018The Washington Post’s Julie Zauzmer reports that the climate of Jewish summer camps is changing in response to the #MeToo movement. The Foundation for Jewish Camp is launching a training program called the Shmira Initiative, which aims to prevent sexual harassment at overnight camps. “The trainings covered the spectrum, from laws regarding consent and notification to the ways that counselors should talk to teenage campers about healthy relationships,” Zauzmer writes.
Even Never Trump Evangelicals Might Be Swayed by the Supreme Court
posted on July 16, 2018The Atlantic’s Emma Green reports on the unity among evangelicals following the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. Some evangelical leaders have traveled down what Green terms a “conciliatory path,” applauding the newly conservative Supreme Court made possible by Trump’s election while still lamenting the church’s involvement in politics. “Ultimately, this is what evangelical disagreements in 2016 election were about: how Christians witness their faith in public life, and the longstanding, outsized role of politics in the evangelical world, largely driven by the old religious right,” Green writes.
He Preyed on Men Who Wanted to Become Priests. Then He Became a Cardinal.
posted on July 16, 2018The New York Times’ Laurie Goodstein and Sharon Otterman report on Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, “the highest-ranking Catholic official in the United States to be removed for sexual abuse of a minor.” Goodstein and Otterman report on McCarrick’s alleged adult victims as well; two men have alleged McCarrick made sexual advances toward them when they were seminarians. Goodstein and Otterman write, “But while the church has made strides in dealing with sexual abuse of children, it has largely avoided a reckoning over sexual harassment and abuse suffered by adult seminarians and young priests at the hands of their superiors, including bishops.”
As Trump Picks Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, Evangelicals Rejoice: “I Will Vote for Him Again”
posted on July 10, 2018The Washington Post’s Julie Zauzmer reports on evangelical reactions following the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Many in the community see Kavanaugh as payoff for their strategic vote for Trump. Zauzmer writes, “For millions of evangelical Christians, President Trump’s announcement Monday night was the vision they held in their heads as they stepped into the polling booth almost two years ago: a Republican president, filling the Supreme Court with more conservative justices who might drastically curtail access to legal abortion and advance other conservative Christian priorities.”
Amy Coney Barrett Is Allegedly a Member of a Religious Group That’s Been Called a “Cult.” What Is It, Really?
posted on July 6, 2018Slate‘s Ruth Graham reports on potential Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney’s Barrett’s membership in the group People of Praise. “Amy Coney Barrett, now a judge on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, became a heroic figure to some religious conservatives during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last fall,” Graham writes. “Sen. Dianne Feinstein challenged the Catholic law professor about her religious beliefs, sneering—it seemed to many—that ‘the dogma lives loudly within you.’” Graham interviews Craig Lent, the current leader of People of Praise. She writes, “Lent sounded bemused by the national scrutiny the group has attracted lately. ‘In a certain sense it’s not really about us, although I owe members a good account if somebody asks me what this group is about.’”
Leading Contender to be Trump’s Supreme Court Pick Faces Questions from Social Conservatives
posted on July 6, 2018The Washington Post‘s Robert Costa and Josh Dawsey report that some social conservatives are critical about Judge Brett M. Kavanaugh, a frontrunner for the president’s Supreme Court nomination. They write, “Kavanaugh’s critics have pointed to a recent case involving a pregnant immigrant teenager in federal custody as reason to doubt his conservatism on the abortion front.” Though he voted against the teenager receiving abortion services, critics say he did not oppose abortion as strongly as another judge in the case. He has also been criticized on the right for decisions on healthcare and contraception access.