Anti-immigrant bigotry is reaching a frenzied pitch as Texas continues to defy a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that grants U.S. border agents permission to remove razor wire Gov. Greg Abbott has erected along portions of the Rio Grande. Abbott has…
Alabama legislator seeks to duplicate Texas law on school ‘chaplains’ even as resistance grows in Texas
The campaign against a new Texas law permitting school districts to hire unlicensed chaplains is gaining momentum just as Alabama legislators prepare to debate an identical measure in their upcoming session. The Texas statute went into effect in September and…
Governors of 15 states opt out of summer food program for children
Governors of 15 U.S. states are putting politics ahead of the needs of hungry children by opting out of a new federal food assistance program that launches this year, critics say. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recently announced the remaining…
Unholy vows, endangered women and Texas abortion politics
Old Testament scholar Phyllis Trible names it one of the “texts of terror” in the Hebrew Scriptures: Jephthah, a Gileadite general, is facing a decisive battle with the Ammonites. He makes a vow to God: If you give me the…
GOP abortion laws are wildly out of step with many evangelicals’ convictions
Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, 21 Republican-led states have passed restrictions and/or outright bans on women receiving elective abortions. The most stringent of these laws may be found in the state of Texas, whose state legislature…
Here’s the lie exposed: There are no medical exemptions to Texas abortion law
This article was updated Dec. 12 with additional information as the case developed. For months, advocates of the new law that bans almost all abortions in Texas have been telling us there is an exemption for medically necessary terminations…
As ‘medical exemption’ in new Texas abortion ban remains undefined, mother with endangered pregnancy flees the state for care
Kate Cox, a married mother of two who is pregnant with a child afflicted with fatal genetic defects, cried tears of joy on Thursday after a district judge granted her an exception to the Texas Heartbeat Act’s total ban on…
Once again, faith and humanitarian groups decry Texas’ latest approach to ‘border security’
An array of faith and humanitarian groups is imploring the Biden administration to challenge current and pending Texas immigration measures targeting vulnerable migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. The organizations seek federal intervention before Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs into law…
100 chaplains urge Texas schools not to take the bait on school ‘chaplains’
Texas school districts should reject a new state law that permits hiring government-approved chaplains to counsel public school children, more than 100 chaplains say in an Aug. 22 letter to school board members statewide. The chaplains warn the policy created…