Religious Liberty Commission Discusses Faith at Schools

Religious Freedom, ,

On Monday, our friends from Alliance Defending Freedom testified at the Presidential Religious Liberty Commission.

In May, President Trump signed an executive order establishing the commission. The commission is responsible for “producing a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious liberty in America, strategies to increase awareness of and celebrate America’s peaceful religious pluralism, current threats to religious liberty, and strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations.”

The primary purpose of Monday’s commission meeting was to discuss religious liberty in education.

During his testimony before the commission, ADF Vice President of Appellate Advocacy John Bursch said:

“Religious liberty in education should not be a partisan issue. It is a matter of human dignity, family rights, and national flourishing. Our nation will continue to benefit from generations of young people formed in both knowledge and virtue if faith-based schools are free to live out their missions and families are free to choose them.”

In recent years, news outlets and congressional testimony have alleged that government policies and government agencies have been weaponized against people of faith — especially conservative and Christian organizations.

More broadly, wedding venues, bakeries, photography studios, and florist shops all have been taken to court or targeted by government officials because their owners wanted to operate according to their deeply held convictions.

In March, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 400, the Religious Rights at Public Schools Act of 2025.

This good law by Sen. Mark Johnson (R — Little Rock) and Rep. Alyssa Brown (R — Heber Springs) affirms public school students’ and teachers’ religious liberties.

Act 400 identifies and upholds religious freedoms that are already protected by state and federal law — such as the right to pray, discuss religion, or read the Bible during free time at school.

The measure also helps make sure that religious expression is treated equally to other types of speech at school.

This will help prevent schools from squelching anyone’s religious liberties.

People should be free to live and operate according to their deeply held religious convictions, and we must protect religious freedom at school. That is why it is so important for our laws — and the government agencies that enforce those laws — to protect religious liberty as much as possible.

When it comes to religious liberty, public schools have been a battleground for more than 60 years.

We appreciate our friends at Alliance Defending Freedom standing up for the free exercise of religion in America.

The Religious Liberty Commission says it will hold another hearing to discuss religious liberty issues in the military on November 17.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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New Study Links Marijuana to 400% Higher Risk of Diabetes

Marijuana

New research shows marijuana is linked to a 400% increased risk for developing diabetes.

Researchers presented the findings in September at the annual meeting of The European Association for the Study of Diabetes. The study reportedly relied on health data from more than four million adults.

Across the board, a growing body of scientific evidence shows marijuana is harmful.

Just this year, researchers announced marijuana use doubles a person’s risk of death from heart disease.

Heavy marijuana use is associated with a threefold increased risk of certain cancers.

Marijuana use during pregnancy has been shown time and time again to hurt unborn children and newborns.

Experts have linked heavy marijuana use to paranoia, memory loss, schizophrenia, and other serious problems.

And instead of decreasing crime, marijuana legalization has emboldened drug cartels and fueled the flow of illegal drugs across America.

The tax revenue that states receive from marijuana sales does not justify the harm that marijuana causes.

All of this should serve as a word of caution to Arkansans. Since 2020, there have been multiple efforts to legalize marijuana by writing it into the state constitution or by letting companies manufacture and sell dangerous drugs made from hemp. Fortunately, voters and lawmakers have rejected those bad proposals.

As we have said for years: Marijuana may be many things, but “harmless” simply is not one of them.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Medical Expert Urges CDC to Acknowledge Gender Detransitioners

Transgender, ,

Earlier this month, a medical expert urged the Centers for Disease Control to update its medical codes to acknowledge gender detransitioners.

The CDC’s current medical diagnostic code system only includes a code for “personal history of sex reassignment.” That makes it possible to collect data on the number of people who have undergone sex-change procedures, but it is difficult to know how many of those people later detransitioned.

In recent years, men and women have come forward with chilling testimony about how they were rushed through gender transition as children. Since then, many of them have detransitioned and no longer suffer from gender dysphoria.

On September 10, Do No Harm’s Medical Director Dr. Kurt Miceli gave a presentation at the CDC’s semiannual conference urging the CDC to establish diagnosis codes for detransitioners as well.

These diagnostic codes would help medical experts track how many people detransition after undergoing sex-change procedures, and they could shed light on the long-term consequences of sex-reassignment surgery.

Do No Harm made headlines last year with its “Stop The Harm” report analyzing gender transition data from across the country. The report used data from commercial insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, and VA claims to determine how many children in America have been subjected to sex-change procedures.

Do No Harm’s data for Arkansas reveals that from 2019 to 2023, 41 children were treated as “sex-change patients” in the state.

Of those children, the report found three underwent sex-change surgeries at UAMS. Another 38 received puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones from various facilities across the state.

The report also reveals that from 2019 to 2023, doctors and hospitals in Arkansas wrote 234 prescriptions for children to be given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.

Right now, Family Council is not aware of any public health data showing how many of these children have detransitioned.

In 2021, Arkansas passed the Save Adolescents From Experimentation (SAFE) Act prohibiting doctors from performing sex-change surgeries on children or giving them puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. The SAFE Act was the first law of its kind in America. This good law spent four years tied up in federal court, but the Eighth Circuit finally upheld it as constitutional in August. Today the SAFE Act is in full effect and protecting children in Arkansas. That’s something to celebrate.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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