Thursday's News & Ideas - 7/13/2023

US ordered to pay $2.2 million in fees to religious nonprofit in abortion lawsuit
Reuters: The Becket Fund represented religious nonprofits and a membership organization of religious healthcare providers in a lawsuit filed in 2016 against HHS. The complaint challenged a rule that the plaintiffs said would have required them to perform and to insure abortions and gender transitions against their religious beliefs.

The Bhagavad Gita, the bomb and the dharma of Robert Oppenheimer
Religion News Service: How did the atomic physicist’s fascination with the Gita influence his feelings about the making of the bomb?

Native Americans argue in court that 2 mining projects would destroy religious sites
NPR: Two large mines important for America’s green energy transition are being fought in federal court by Native Americans who say the developments would destroy sacred, religious sites.

I narrowly escaped being recruited by a cult. Then I realized I was already in one.
HuffPost: “I longed to be thin and beautiful, much like the girls who were leaving my church to attend [Gwen Shamblin’s Remnant Fellowship],” Rachel Stowe writes.

For too many Christians, the lines between dominionism, nationalism and fascism are blurred
Religion News Service: An old social experiment sheds light on how easy it is to manipulate people’s moral compasses.

The Spark

America’s student loans were never going to be repaid
2013 was the first year when over half of all student loans* carried a balance greater than originally borrowed, The New York Times says.

*access is limited for nonsubscribers