The European Court of Human Rights rejected an urgent legal application from the parents of 12-year-old Archie Battersbee Wednesday to delay the removal of their son's life support. In a letter sent to Battersbee's parents, ECHR stated it would not interfere with the decision of previous judges who agreed with the hospital's assessment that removal of care was in Archie's "best interests." The boy's mother, Hollie Dance, said the news was another "heart-breaking development" in her son's case and questioned why he couldn't be given a chance if doctors in other countries are willing to treat him. The parents have now submitted an application to a United Kingdom high court seeking to move their 12-year-old son to a hospice so he can receive palliative oxygen. The application was sent before the 9 a.m. Thursday deadline set by the lawyers for Barts Health NHS Trust. A hearing could come as soon as Thursday afternoon. Read more.

Trending Topics

A report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom says Iran's government utilizes official media, government-linked media and social media to spread "falsehoods and misconceptions" about Evangelical Christianity and religious minorities to turn public opinion against these communities. The bipartisan federal advisory committee's report attributes the effort to a "systematic campaign to deny freedom of religion or belief to groups that do not conform to the government's singular interpretation of Ja'afri Shi'a Islam." Read more.

U.S. News

Unofficial returns from the Kansas Secretary of State's office show that approximately 59% of voters in Tuesday's primary election voted to reject the Value Them Both amendment, which would have enabled the state legislature to pass further restrictions on abortion. This slideshow explores several reasons why conservative Kansas voted to uphold the state's existing abortion law, which limits abortions after 22 weeks of gestation to saving the life of the mother or in cases of "severely compromised physical health." View the slideshow here.

The Chicago-based NorthShore University HealthSystem has agreed to pay more than $10.3 million to settle a lawsuit filed by employees who were denied a religious exemption to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The organization will deposit $30,000 into a settlement fund within 30 days after preliminary approval of the settlement, followed by depositing $10,307,500.00 into the fund within 35 days of a final judgment being entered. They will also grant religious exemptions to the COVID-19 vaccine to employees who request it, including those who were initially denied their exemption request. Approximately 520 employees had been denied a religious accommodation or exemption to the vaccine mandate between July 1 of last year and New Year’s Day 2022. While 200 eventually "became compliant" with NorthShore's policy, another 269 were discharged or resigned due to not receiving the vaccine. Read more.

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Global Insights

The United Nations Integrated Office in Haiti said in a report this week that a fight between two gang coalitions resulted in the killing of at least 94 residents, while at least 120 were wounded and another 12 disappeared between April 24 and May 16. Nearly 16,000 people fled their homes to take refuge in make-shift sites or in relatives' homes. The U.N. has warned that innocent women and children have been executed, raped and tortured as gang wars have intensified in and around the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince. "Women and children as young as one year old were executed and their bodies burned. Young teenagers, accused of spying for the opposite side, were shot in public spaces. Rape against women and girls, some of whom were less than 10 years old, was used as a weapon to terrorize and take revenge on the local populations living in neighborhoods controlled by rival gangs," the report detailed. Read more.

Faith & Society

In this op-ed, Mark Tooley, the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, shares why it is important for Christians to be vocal when it comes to the definition of marriage both inside the church and in society as a whole. "[T]he Church is not at liberty to abandon its marriage teaching in reaction to American public opinion in 2022 or at any other time and place. Doing so would betray its highest calling to reveal and mirror God’s love to the world," he writes. Read more.

In part 2 of this CP Analysis, Jerry Bowyer shares more from his talk with Derek Kreifels, the head of the State Financial Officers Foundation. "Over and over and over again we're seeing the weaponization of banks, of lending, of capital, from these companies like BlackRock and State Street and Vanguard, and places that are trying to band together to push for global climate change." Kreifels cautioned. The executive also called out businesses pushing to cover expenses for employees traveling out-of-state for abortions: "We're business savvy guys, Jerry. It's cheaper to have to pay for a two-day trip to California than it is to have that employee on maternity leave for 16 weeks." Read more.

ADF NEWS

The government cannot force a religious institution to abandon its deeply held beliefs. That violates the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. More to the point, if the USDA does not speedily approve Grant Park Christian Academy’s request for an exemption, dozens of children will be deprived of their school lunches. And the school may even face having to close its doors to the needy children in its community. President Biden and Commissioner Fried’s push to redefine sex in federal law has now reached the point where they will deny school lunches to underprivileged students, just because their school will not violate its religious beliefs. Read more.