Giovanni Galante’s wife, Grace, was 29 and working on the 105th floor of the North Tower on 9/11. This summer he launched a petition asking the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to keep Mamdani out of the official 25th-anniversary ceremony. The petition doesn’t argue that a Muslim mayor is unfit because he is Muslim but that this particular mayor’s associations—and his way of talking about that horrid day—make his presence a wound rather than a tribute. “For 9/11 families,” Galante wrote, “this is not simply a public ceremony—it is a deeply personal day of mourning. The presence of individuals whose words or associations are perceived as conflicting with the solemn purpose of the event risks detracting from that focus and causing additional pain.”

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, told Decision, “People should pay very close attention to state laws, those who are running to make those laws, the attorneys general in those states and the state elected officials. What’s happening at the state level is very important in our system—our federalist system—because the state laws become, as we’ve seen in recent years, a defense against the encroachment of bad federal policy.” The former Louisiana legislator added, “The state level is an opportunity to actually get strong pro-family, pro-life, Biblically aligned laws into place.”

The authors present the result as a gap in how officials look for radicalization. The report noted that “federal agencies and public safety officials are concerned not only with ideology in the abstract, but with radicalization pathways: the content that tells people who to fear, why the situation is urgent, and when force becomes acceptable.” “Violence connected to gender ideology remains largely undocumented in the academic literature,” the researchers concluded. “This study provides a first systematic empirical look at the psychological infrastructure that makes such violence conceivable.”

Shawn Carney, CEO of 40 Days for Life, said that the law is “designed to scare people of faith off the sidewalks outside abortion facilities by creating the constant threat of prosecution and costly lawsuits,” because prayer, holding a sign, or offering a woman help could be seen as intimidation or coercion.

Following a heated city council meeting in Dearborn, Michigan, last week, a local pastor and other religious freedom advocates are accusing the Muslim-majority city council of favoring Islamic Sharia law over pursuing justice for Christian protestors who were attacked during a recent local event. Dearborn, just west of Detroit, is one of Michigan’s largest cities, and has one of the largest concentrations of Arabs outside the Middle East, according to The Detroit News. The 2020 U.S. Census puts the majority-Arab population at about 54.5%. The city has five Muslim public prayers a day, in accordance with Sharia Law, and boasts the largest mosque in North America.

People across social media have joined online to support Clancy, and about 300 women and a few men protested on Aug. 20 outside the courthouse where Clancy is being prosecuted. The group’s pink shirts had messages such as “Believe,” “She Needed Help” and “Peace for Lindsay” inscribed on them. Allie Beth Stuckey, a Christian commentator, weighed in on the “pro-Lindsay” movement and the high-profile case, expressing that one’s state of mind does not excuse murdering children. “We can have grace for people’s struggles—postpartum and otherwise—without excusing or minimizing the methodical murder of children,”

“It will not desist from expressing the view—shared by tens of millions of Americans and by the pro-life movement your clients have made careers of publicly opposing—that abortion takes the life of a living human being and is accurately described as ‘killing,’” the letter said. “Live Action will not delete its archive, will not retract protected opinion, and will not submit its future coverage of public figures, public lawsuits, public convention speeches, and public political campaigns to your pre-clearance.”

The ongoing fight over transgender athletes playing women's sports has apparently claimed another victim. Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins left the paper after editors reportedly rejected a piece about young activists opposed to biological males in spaces reserved for actual females, particularly in athletics.

Huffman, a humanist, became the second member of Congress in modern times to publicly identify himself as a “nonbeliever.” In Huffman’s book, “No Prophets: The Fight to Save Democracy from Christian Nationalism,” published Aug. 18, Huffman calls “Christian nationalism” the most dangerous political movement in the U.S. and claims that it is actively trying to “destroy democracy.” He also accuses religious nationalists of being a “scorched earth insurgency.” His book cites laws mandating the Ten Commandment displays in public schools, as well as the Trump administration and government officials’ participation and initiation of Christian prayer services within federal agencies.

Tingley, who has counseled adults and minors for more than 20 years, challenged a 2018 state law that bars counselors from encouraging and helping minors reject same-sex attraction or gender confusion. That same law permits counselors to encourage gender transitions. Those who violate the law could face suspension from their practice and loss of their license, as well as fines of up to $5,000 per violation.

The family of a Christian grandmother who was euthanized, allegedly without her consent, has filed a complaint to the Office of the Chief Coroner of Ontario. Brigette Stegemann previously refused so-called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) on the grounds that it violated her Christian faith, and died by a lethal injection on July 10 without providing a final verbal confirmation of consent, the family says

In June, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the attorneys general of Alaska, Iowa, Nebraska and Texas sued the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) over deceptive claims regarding the treatment of children. The complaint alleges that WPATH’s eighth edition of the Standards of Care (SOC-8) contains “core deceptive statements” that misled parents and providers about the necessity, effectiveness and safety of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for minors. 

McKenna West, the surrogate mother, fled Alaska and flew to Texas, where abortion is illegal. There, she gave birth to Gabriel in a Dallas hospital on Aug. 12. Texas AG Ken Paxton announced that he had “secured an emergency court order ensuring that baby Gabriel receives life-saving care in Texas.”

Canada’s government has raised alarms by instructing military chaplains that they may offer “inclusive” spiritual reflections at public events but cannot pray or mention God. The personnel instruction released July 29 by the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) does not apply to funerals or voluntary worship services, but does apply to all other public events, including military parades, change of command ceremonies, commissioning of ships and historical commemorations.

Beyond his broader legal work, Ellis said his “most rewarding” cases are those he has litigated in concert with BGEA. In the last decade, the ministry prevailed, thanks to assistance from Ellis and others, in cases that challenged the ability of BGEA to place ads and hire venues, after opposition threatened to prevent Franklin Graham from preaching at some public events in the U.K.