Monday's News & Ideas - July 3, 2023

News & Ideas will resume Wednesday, July 5. Enjoy the holiday!

The Supreme Court doesn’t care that the gay wedding website case is based on fiction*
The New Republic: It still feels unnerving to some, even those caught in the crossfire, to see injuries invented wholesale and lies accepted by the highest court in the land.

Judge awards a Black church $1M over BLM banner burned by Proud Boys during protest
NPR: A judge on Friday awarded more than $1 million to Metropolitan AME Church in downtown Washington, D.C. that sued the far-right Proud Boys for tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter banner during a 2020 protest.

Elevation Church exits Southern Baptist Convention after expulsions over female pastors
NBC News: The North Carolina-based megachurch, which draws thousands of worshippers, did not say why in its notice to the SBC.

Study: Half of young Latinos not religious, but Christianity still dominant religion in US*
Austin American-Statesman: A new analysis found that Catholicism among U.S. Latinos is declining. Forty-nine percent of those ages 18-29 identified as religiously unaffiliated, and instead as atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular.”

The traitor chaplain who gave government prayer to America – a 4th of July corrective
Religion Dispatches: Supreme Court justices have cited this preacher and his prayer to justify congressional chaplains, prayers before legislative sessions and even a 40-foot-tall Christian cross on government land. As with much American mythology, we’ve only heard part of the story. We’re told of the chaplain and his prayer — but not of his treason.

The Spark

CNN’s Independence Day quiz: How well do you know your American history?
Test your knowledge of American history and the Fourth of July with CNN’s 10-question Independence Day quiz.

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