High Court OKs Keeping Native American Kids with Families; Ensures Native Kids Are Not Separated from Families

 The Supreme Court on June 15 preserved the system that gives preference to Native American families in foster care and adoption peroceedings of native children, rejecting a broad attack from some Republican-led states that it is based on race, the AP News website reports today (June 16, 2023).

The court left in place the 1978 Indian Child Welfare Act, which was enacted to address concerns the Native children were being separated from their families and placed in non-Native homes. 

Tribal leaders have backed the law as a means of preserving their families, traditions, and cultures. 

SBC Prohibits Churches from Having Female Pastors; Had Voted to Remove 2 Churches for Hiring Females

 The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) passed an amendment yesterday to officially prohibit churches in the denomination from having a female pastor, the WND website reports today (June 15, 2023). 

The convention, which took place in New Orleans this year, had voted earlier to remove two churches from the denomination for employing female pastors in contradiction of the church's constitution. 

A second vote confirmed a proposed amendment by adding it to SBC's constitution affirming that only men can be appointed as pastor or elder "as qualified by scripture."

Artificial Intelligence for German Church Service; Held at Protestant Convention in State of Bavaria

 Hundreds of Protestant Christians in Southeastern Germany have attended a church service that was nearly entirely generated by artificial intelligence (AI) despite warnings the invention could destroy humanity, the Worthy News website reports today (June 14, 2023).

The June 9 AI church service was among hundreds of events at the convention of Protestants in the towns of Nuremberg and neighboring Fuerth in the German state of Bavaria.

Witnesses said it drew such immense interest that people formed a long queue outside the 19th-century, neo-Gothic St. Paul Church in Fuerth an hour before it began.

Eucharistic Adoration Leads Young Adults to God's Love; Has Effect on Young Adults Whether Catholic or Not

Eucharistic adoration can bring college-age students and young adults to a better understanding and love of God, whether they are Catholic or not, the National Catholic Register website reports today (June 13, 2023).  

"We actually have a pretty high number of non-Catholics coming to adoration regularly," said Marie Putbrese, a Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionary at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri.

"Our Bible studies are open to Catholics and non-Catholics alike," she explains, pointing to what often opens the door to the interest that develops in finding out about adoration," she said. 

More Than 5,000 UMC Churches Granted Disaffiliation; Mainly Due to UMC's Approval of Homosexuality

 The number of congregations approved to disaffiliate from the United Methodist Church (UMC) in the last two years has surpassed the 5,000 mark, the Christian Post website reports today (June 12, 2023). 

Last week, according to numbers compiled by UMNews, the number of churches that have had their disaffiliation votes approved by their annual conferences under Paragraph 2553 of the UMC Book of Discipline went from around 4,000 on June 6 to 5,321 as of June 9.

There was a strong increase in departures beginning last year, with around 2,000 congregations having their disaffiliation votes approved in 2022 and over 3,000 so far in 2023. 

US Bishops Urge Online Protection for Children; Send Letter to Cath. to Ask Congress to End Issue

 On June 9, 2023, the U.S.  Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) sent out an action alert for Catholics to ask their members of Congress to address the online child exploitation which they argue "threatens the safety and well-being of our young people and destroys families and communities," the Crux website reports. 

They wrote the letter not just as USCCB chairmen or pastors, but also as leaders of an institution that for many years failed to meet its responsibility to protect children. 

"The ability of a child to grow into adulthood in peace and security is both a human right and a demand of the common good the dignity of the human person requires protections for our young people so that they may flourish as they mature," they added.

US Christianity Drops Due to Broken Marriages; Study Shows Family Decline Fuels Faith Decline

 A new study on faith and relationships suggests that absent fathers and collapsed marriages might be two of the best explanations for why Christianity is declining in the U.S., the Christian Post website reports today (June 10, 2023). 

The Nationwide Study on Faith and Relationships, research recently released by the church-consulting organization Communio, reports that "family decline appears to fuel faith decline."

The research comes as marriage rates have dropped 31% since 2000 and 61% since 1970, while less than half of all adults under 30 today grew up in a home with married parents.