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Religion & Public Life

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Views on posting Ten Commandments in public schools

In Texas last week, a judge ordered a school district to post the Ten Commandments, and the district said it would do so, after months of legal battles over a 2025 state law requiring public school classrooms to display the commandments. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide later this month whether to review the state law.

Americans are roughly divided over whether public schools should display the Ten Commandments in classrooms. In a Pew Research Center survey from April, 50% said they favored this and 48% opposed it. People in the South (57%) and Midwest (51%) were more likely than people in the Northeast (45%) and West (43%) to say they favored it.

Media mentions

Mail order abortion pill at stake as red states go to High Court
Oct. 6 – Bloomberg Law *

I went to America’s largest gathering of astrologers. It was a battle over how to read the stars
Oct. 1 – The Guardian

In the news

Jim Bakker, whose globe-spanning PTL ministry fell to scandal and fraud, dies at 86
Oct. 6 – NBC News

Trump orders execution of gunman in 2009 attack at Fort Hood
Oct. 5 – The New York Times *

The fall of Roe changed doctors. Now they’re changing politics
Oct. 3 – Politico

Mormon leader decries explosion in sports betting, prediction markets
Oct. 3 – The Associated Press

U.K. police accuse 2 Iranian men of planning terror attack on Manchester’s Jewish community
Oct. 3 – CBS News

OpenAI’s Altman: Ascribing religion to models a ‘safety issue’
Oct. 3 – Axios

As anti-Hindu rhetoric grows, Texas Hindus rethink public celebrations
Oct. 2 – Religion News Service

Pete Hegseth creates a Pentagon Office of Religious Affairs reporting directly to him
Oct. 2 – The Associated Press

AIPAC is spending millions to elect friends. It’s also making enemies
Oct. 2 – The New York Times *

Polish activists open first abortion pill locker in Warsaw
Sept. 30 – Agence France-Presse

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