“Texas will require all public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments under a new law that will make the state the nation’s largest to attempt to impose such a mandate.
Gov. Greg Abbott announced Saturday that he signed the bill, which is expected to draw a legal challenge from critics who consider it an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.”
“Texas has become the latest state to pass a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public school classrooms. The bill, which is already being legally challenged and is unlikely to pass constitutional muster, is part of a recent trend of red states attempting to inject religious texts into the classroom.”
Reported: ‘Hegseth aids warned him before the strikes not to discuss sensitive operational details on Signal because the app is not considered as secure as government channels.’
“The first case, Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, poses the question of whether the 46 states with charter schools must offer public funds to schools that would teach religious doctrine as truth. The second case, Mahmoud v. Taylor, involves the claim that religious parents should have a right to opt their children out of controversial public school curricula.
Taken together, Drummond and Mahmoud threaten the twin cornerstones of the American education system that Brown affirmed six decades ago: Since Brown, America’s public schools have operated under a norm of inclusive enrollment, and they’ve offered all children a shared curriculum that reflects the values that communities believe are essential for civic participation and economic success.
If the court tears down these foundational norms, the schools that remain in their wake will be a shell of the democracy-promoting institution the court itself has long lionized — and that healthy majorities of parents continue to support in their local neighborhoods. And although there’s a way to avoid the worst outcome in both cases, the path ahead is uncertain: It will require the court to follow history in an evenhanded manner (in Drummond) and progressives to accept a middle ground (in Mahmoud).
The legal challenges presented in Drummond and Mahmoud did not arise out of thin air. They are part of a long-term conservative movement strategy aimed at eroding public education.”
“The repression began in 2018 when Ortega’s regime went after the Catholic Church for mediating between the state and anti-government protesters. Since then, targeted retaliation has grown into a full-scale assault on religious freedom.
“The government initially targeted the Catholic Church because it provided sanctuary to demonstrators, and clergy voiced opposition to the government’s human rights abuses,” reports the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. “More recently, the government’s actions have led to full-scale shuttering of the Church’s activities, mass imprisonments, and the targeting of multiple other religious groups.”
Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, have accused church leaders of being “agents of evil” engaged in “spiritual terrorism.” They claim the clergy is inciting civil unrest and planning to overthrow the regime.
The consequences for religious groups—Catholics and others—have been devastating. Since 2018, over 1,100 religious entities have been forcibly closed, more than 70 individuals detained for their religious affiliations, and 84 priests forced into exile.
Surveillance and harassment of church leaders have become ubiquitous, with the Ministry of Interior imposing strict controls on religious activities and regulating visits from foreign clergy, according to the ICC. Easter processions, Christmas celebrations, and even cemetery prayers have all been outlawed.”
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“Eighty percent of Nicaraguans identify as Christian, with half being Catholic and 30 percent evangelical. In a country deeply rooted in faith, Ortega’s attack on religion is a calculated effort to suffocate dissent and dismantle spaces of hope and community, tightening his grip on a nation with fewer places left to turn.”