From NCJW:
Next week, the Senate will vote on The Right to Contraception Act which would uphold the right to access contraception, first recognized by the Supreme Court in Griswold v. Connecticut in 1965. The Right to Contraception Act would safeguard a person's right to seek and obtain birth control, even if the Supreme Court were to ever overturn the existing constitutional protection.
We need your voice in this fight. Take action today and tell Congress to support the Right to Contraception Act. Our Jewish movement has our own playbook: everyone deserves access to basic health care, including abortion care and contraceptives. Let’s get out there and play.
A timely discussion about the importance of church-state separation in the battle against Christian Nationalism. Even if you can’t attend the webinar live, you can still RSVP to receive a recording of the discussion.
This discussion will feature a stellar panel, including:
— Rachel Laser, President and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
— Dr. Samuel L. Perry, associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Oklahoma at Norman.
— Rev. Dr. Lori Walke, AU Faith Advisory Council member and senior minister at Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City.
This free event is open to the public and co-hosted by the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ and Americans United for Separation of Church and State. After the panel, there will be a short Q&A with the presenters.
From NCJW:
As we approach Mothers’ Day, NCJW renews its commitment to creating a society where honoring mothers means celebrating the ways in which we provide care to ALL mothers each and every day of the year. Through education and advocacy, we can start by addressing the disproportionate destruction and suffering experienced by Black mothers seeking reproductive and maternal care.
This Mother’s Day we’re thinking about all the Black moms we know: we see you, we love you and we aim to champion you, always.
In the latest installment of Oklahoma's elected officials not having the necessary background to do their jobs, we have this:
The Satanic Temple plans to place ministers in Oklahoma schools if new bill becomes law
Of course Oklahoma legislators don't want those chaplains in schools. And, it apparently never occurred to them that allowing one religion means allowing ALL religions. I don't even think this is some misguided 1st Amendment challenge. It's just ignorance, ignorance that doesn't belong in public office. #Oklahoma#FirstAmendment#ReligiousFreedom#SatanicTemple
Denying pregnant people emergency abortion care under EMTALA advances Christian Nationalism
By Kalyn Mizelle McDaniel May 01, 2024
"...Abortion bans violate the separation of church and state by imposing one narrow religious viewpoint on everyone. Removing EMTALA protections from pregnant women goes a step further by advancing the Christian Nationalist commitment to relegating women to second-class citizenship. According to complementarianism, which is intrinsically intertwined with Christian Nationalism, cisgender woman have a distinct role. Motherhood and submission to men are key parts of the separate role women play. The incapability of the role is evidence of its second-class nature. Complementarianism is diametrically opposed to the liberation of women, and fittingly, limiting the instances in which their wellbeing can be protected in emergency rooms aligns with that ideology..."
Emboldened by the fascist Ky GOP imposing their religious beliefs on women and LGBTQ folks, now magats are harassing businesses of people who follow different spiritual paths.
This was never going to end with abortion and trans people - you know that, right?
They intend to eliminate anyone and everyone who will not bow to their disgusting cult. Today it's crystals and nature religions. Tomorrow it's Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Sufis, and Judaism.
These nutjobs don't care about constitutional rights and are fine with using police state violence to enforce their cult's backward and barbaric beliefs. And if that doesn't work, they're fine with murder, arson, and assault.
This is happening because #Christians are afraid they are losing #culturalDominance and they want to either #evangelize to #nonChristian#students or drill it into their heads that they are second-class citizens in this country, thereby making it easier for those like #DeSantis to force their #religion on them in other ways.
From Americans United for Separation of Church and State:
Congress needs to hear from you!
Urge your legislators to co-sponsor the Do No Harm Act today.
The Do No Harm Act will help ensure that our laws are a shield to protect religious freedom and not used as a sword to harm others by undermining civil rights laws and denying access to health care.
An Indiana court ruled that Jews have a religious liberty right to abortion. Here’s why that matters.
Michael A. Helfand April 11, 2024
"...Indiana’s abortion restriction, it turns out, has lots of other exceptions. For example, it has exceptions — like many other abortions restrictions across the country — for rape, incest, in vitro fertilization and even a narrow exception to protect the physical health of the mother. Where a state grants all these exceptions that weaken the objective of a law — in this case promoting fetal life — then it cannot turn around and claim that its interest is so important that it can’t grant exceptions for religion. After all, how important can the government’s interest be if it already provided all these other exceptions?"
This is one of the many sessions you’ll find at SRF – the hub for our fight to protect church-state separation and inclusive religious freedom and to stop Christian Nationalism. I encourage you to sign up to attend SRF virtually for this breakout session and so many other essential discussions.
Please keep an eye out for more information on Project 2025 in the coming months, and I hope you can join us on Monday, April 15, at 11:15 a.m. ET!
With hope and resolve,
Rachel K. Laser
President and CEO
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the anti-abortion extremists who brought this case, it would impact access to mifepristone in states across the country — including in states without abortion bans.
This case, coupled with another abortion case the Supreme Court will be hearing next month (more on that later!), threatens what is left of federal protections for abortion access. Join us now — right now, click this link and sign the pledge — to raise your Jewish voice in support of abortion access: https://www.jewsforabortionaccess.org/actions/not-on-our-watch-jewish-communal-pledge
Onward,
Shira Zemel and Glenn Northern
Abortion Access Campaign Co-Directors
...Voters like yourself are supporting true religious freedom and all it represents—doggedly.
People of every stripe have voted to overturn state abortion bans and add reproductive freedom language to state constitutions. Scores of “Moms for Liberty” followers have been voted off school boards. Candidates most aligned with Christian Nationalism have been defeated. That's why I know that, with your help, we can continue to turn the tide—but we can’t do it without you.
I believe in the American people, and I know that no organization is better equipped and more determined to defeat the Shadow Network than AU. With your support, we will continue to take them on in the courts, in state legislatures, and wherever religious freedom is in peril.
‘After Muslims, It’s The Turn Of Christians:’ With Little Evidence, UP Govt Prosecutes 4 Christian Institutions, Arrests Employees
Four Christian-run institutions in the Uttar Pradesh town of Fatehpur face criminal cases for alleged forcible conversion of Hindus, with over 200 accused, many arrested and imprisoned, under UP’s three-year-old anti-conversion law. Article 14 investigation reveals similar statements in four FIRs over nine months, police cases or raids on Christian institutions, based on illegal third-party or anonymous complaints. Simultaneously, the union government acted against the finances of one of these four institutions.
Rajasthan: Muslim Groups Urge Citizens Not to Take Part in Govt Schools' Surya Namaskar Programmes
The Rajasthan high court on Wednesday dismissed a petition challenging the order issued by the Rajasthan Secondary Education Department, Bikaner last month.
How Procedure Upended Personal Liberty In Allahabad High Court’s Refusal To Protect Interfaith Couples
In January 2024, the Allahabad High Court turned down appeals of nine interfaith couples for protection from their families on the grounds that they did not solemnise their marriages according to Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law. In doing so, the High Court opted for procedure over liberty, even as challenges to the law are pending in the Supreme Court, which last heard the case in April 2023.
Opposition, Women, Muslim Groups Criticise Uttarakhand's Passing of Uniform Civil Code
'In one sense, the Bill has terminated the application of Muslim family law and has further criminalised the Muslim man and woman,' read a statement issued by Uttarakhand women’s groups.
Uniform Cut and Paste? A quick appraisal of Uttarakhand’s Uniform Civil Code Bill
The last time rulers of this great land tried to artificially create a ‘homogenous community with a common law,' it proved to be a total disaster leading to the eventual partition of India, writes Sanjoy Ghose.
Register Live-In Relationships Or Face 6-Month Jail: Uttarakhand Civil Code
Uttarakhand UCC Bill: The Uniform Civil Code was tabled in the Uttarakhand Assembly Tuesday morning and, among other points, says children born out of live-in relationships will receive legal recognition.
Places of Worship Act – a crucible for the idea of India
The next few months and years will determine which vision of India will triumph – the one which (as the Act does) recognises fault lines that were imaginarily wiped out by the lawmakers to bolster the dream of a unified vision of a shared India, or the one which is premised on cultural supremacy and reclamation of a glorious religious past. Soutik Banerjee writes.
Hindu outfit moves Agra court to ban annual "Urs" of Shah Jahan at Taj Mahal
The Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha has also challenged the free entry for public to attend the 'Urs' event proposed to be held within the Taj Mahal premises.