QUITO, Ecuador — Pope Francis is challenging Latin America’s youth to take up his environmental protection campaign, saying the defense of God’s creation isn’t just a recommendation but a requirement.
Francis’ appeal, delivered at Quito’s Catholic University, is particularly relevant for Ecuador, a Pacific nation that is home to one of the world’s most species-diverse ecosystems in the Galapagos Islands and Amazon rain forest, but is also an OPEC country heavily dependent on oil extraction.
Francis told students and professors that God gave humanity the Earth not only to cultivate, but to care for — a message contained in his encyclical on the environment.
Interfaith nuptials control condemned
YANGON, Burma — An international human rights group has accused Burma’s parliament of playing with fire by passing a bill regulating the right of women from the country’s Buddhist majority to marry men from outside their religion.
Phil Robertson of New Yorkbased Human Rights Watch said Wednesday the bill was related to a campaign by extremist Buddhist groups that have incited anti-Muslim hatred. Religious tensions have led to deadly violence, especially against Rohingya Muslims in western Burma, who have felt compelled to flee abroad.
The bill passed Tuesday is one of four known as the Protection of Race and Religion Laws, which have been criticized as discriminatory by rights groups. It mandates that Buddhist women register their intent to marry outside their faith, and that they can be stopped if there are objections.
Kansas order aids gay marriage foes
TOPEKA, Kan. — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has issued an executive order aimed at protecting clergy, religious leaders and religious groups from being penalized by the state for opposing same-sex marriage.
Brownback’s order says the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last month legalizing gay marriage across the nation has the potential to infringe upon religious liberties. Critics say Brownback, a Republican, is sanctioning discrimination even as the state extends new benefits to gay and lesbian couples
The governor’s order says state agencies can’t alter contracts with individuals or religious groups, change their tax status or deny them licenses or tax breaks based on their refusal to perform same-sex marriages or provide services for such marriages.
Court: Gay rights vs. religious tenets
DENVER — A suburban Denver baker who wouldn’t make a wedding cake for a gay couple has told the Colorado Court of Appeals that he shouldn’t be forced to change course because doing so would violate his religious beliefs.
Attorneys for the gay couple countered Tuesday that religious exemptions for businesses would facilitate future discrimination.
The arguments came in the 2012 case that underscores how tensions between religious-freedom advocates and gay-rights supporters are likely to become more heated in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last month legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
A ruling will be issued later.
Baker Jack Phillips, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop in Lakewood, could face fines if he loses.