Nation

Michael Flynn has used public appearances to energize voters, along with political endorsements to build alliances and a network of nonprofit groups to advance the movement, an investigation by the Associated Press and the PBS series “Frontline” has found.

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that required coverage of an HIV prevention drug under the Affordable Care Act violates a Texas employer’s religious beliefs and undercut the broader system that determines which preventive drugs are covered in the U.S. The ruling was handed down by Fort Worth-based U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, who ruled in 2018 that the entire ACA is invalid.

Members of Apache Stronghold, a nonprofit working to protect the Apache sacred site in Arizona known as Oak Flat, are requesting a rehearing in their case against the United States as they seek to stop a private venture from turning the land into an underground copper mine. The Apache people hold a number of important ceremonies at Oak Flat that can take place only on the site, which would be destroyed by mining.

The Republican candidate for governor in Wisconsin endorsed by Trump is calling for people to take up “pitchforks and torches” in reaction to a story that detailed his giving to anti-abortion groups and churches — rhetoric that many say amounts to threatening violence. Since the story’s publication, he has gone after not just his opponent and Democrats, but also the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and, more broadly, all reporters.

Parents of children enrolled in Maine religious schools fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the state to treat tuition reimbursements the same as other private schools. But only one of the religious high schools has signed up to participate this fall, after Maine’s attorney general warned that the schools would have to abide by state antidiscrimination laws, including those that protect LGBTQ students and faculty.

If Dr. Mehmet Oz is elected to the U.S. Senate this fall, he’ll be the first Muslim ever to serve in the chamber. It’s something he hardly brings up while campaigning, his Democratic opponent isn’t raising it and it’s barely a topic of conversation in Pennsylvania’s Muslim community. Even if Muslims know that Oz is a fellow Muslim, many may not identify with him culturally or politically.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we offer a review for the test about the cultural and political forces targeting public education. Then we open up a new chapter about how Christians have added to this political polarization before answering the essay question about the consequences of such politicking.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we take you backstage to meet the most influential Christian musician in the world of conservative political activism. Then we rewind to rehear Trump’s problematic relationship with 9/11 before considering the sour note of this mixture of worship and profane politics.

An Arkansas state senator will be required to unblock critics from his social media accounts under a settlement a national atheists’ group said it reached with the state on Wednesday.

In this issue of A Public Witness, we look at politicians citing Ephesians 6 in ways that don’t fit with the meaning of the passage. Then we consider how this rhetoric adds to a political environment already filled with violence.