(1) New Kansas law lets campus religious groups restrict members (AP)
Kansas’ conservative Republican governor signed legislation Tuesday allowing faith-based groups at college campuses to restrict membership to like-minded people, likely putting the state on a collision course with civil liberties groups. The GOP-dominated Legislature approved the legislation earlier this month, even though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled nearly six years ago that universities can require membership in such groups to be open to all. Supporters have said the bill was a victory for the freedom to exercise religious beliefs, but opponents called it a veiled attempt to legalize discrimination.
(2) Marijuana sales in U.S. higher than Dasani, Oreos (Forbes)
Marijuana sales in the United States reached a record high in 2015. Legal in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia, a whopping $3.4 billion of the green stuff was sold last year. The best way to give that figure some kind of perspective is by comparing it to the sales of well-known and established brands.
Take Oreo for example, a cookie loved by millions of Americans. Between April 2014 and April 2015, its sales amounted to $711 million. Weed sales were five times higher than that. Dasani brand bottled water recorded impressive sales figures of $1.02 billion between May 2014 and 2015 but legal marijuana sales were still about three times higher last year. In 2016, America’s legal marijuana sales are expected to be even higher, somewhere in the region of $3.5 billion to $4.3 billion.
(3) Brussels pastor: ‘Our city is in pain’ by Mindy Belz (World)
“Our city is in pain today,” said Deal, founding pastor of The Well, a church that meets in four ethnic neighborhoods in Brussels, including near his home in Schaerbeek. Deal also directs Serve the City, an evangelical ministry that began years ago as an outreach of the church and now operates independently, serving homeless and, increasingly, refugees from the Middle East and Africa.
The Well’s church offices are less than a kilometer, Deal said, from the Maelbeek subway station, which was hit by a 9 a.m. explosion about an hour after two blasts rocked the airport. All morning, stories of “near misses” poured in from the people his ministry serves—a last-minute flight cancellation that kept travelers from the airport; an impromptu decision to walk instead of taking the subway; and reports of friends and neighbors who felt the explosions but were unhurt.
Also: Pope leads crowd in silent prayer for Brussells (AP)
(4) Princeton Theological Seminary hosts ’Gender Bender’ Conference
Princeton Theological Seminary hosted a controversial conference last week to explore so called “gender fluidity” and how people are “forging new gender identities” outside the norms of male and female. Titled “Gender Benders: Theology and Gender Fluidity,” the multi-day conference was presented by the seminary’s center for theology, women, and gender last weekend.
The center’s Director, Jacqueline Lapsley, said in a statement last month that “[g]ender identity is a topic of great interest today, especially for young people. They are questioning the gender binaries — male and female — and some are forging new gender identities in accordance with their self-understanding,” said Lapsley.
(5) Post-arson, small Kentucky congregation still ‘on fire’ for the Lord
The handiwork of an arsonist has been entirely erased. There are no signs of the flames that charred the insides of the historic church, which dates back to the days when this was a working coal camp. The soot and stain and odor of acrid smoke are long gone. So, too, are the water-logged furnishings, ruined in the mad dash by firefighters to extinguish the blaze.
Church members refused to leave Black Mountain in shambles.
“They never missed a worship service because of the fire,” said Bill Wallace, director of missions for the Upper Cumberland Baptist Association. “They never gave up. That says so much about their determination to serve the Lord and to reach this community with the gospel.”
(6) South Carolina bill aimed at protecting unborn children advances from Senate panel
A Senate panel advanced a bill that would let voters decide whether the state should protect unborn children once they are conceived.
The measure calls for putting up to a popular vote whether the state’s constitution should be amended to extend the protection of the residents of South Carolina to “preborn persons beginning at conception.”
(7) What happens to democracy without religion? (Religious Freedom for All)
“The reason why democracy works is not because the government was designed to oversee what everyone does, but rather democracy works because most people most of the time voluntarily choose to obey the law.”
Americans have believed they are not just accountable to society, but also accountable to God. As religion loses its influence over the lives of Americans, what will happen to democracy? This provoking thought is explored in the following video.
(8) Just for fun: “Colonels of Truth” ***If you’ve got 20 minutes to invest in a rollicking profile piece on “Colonel Sanders,” then you’ll enjoy this.
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