The Watchman

Churches in Dhamtari Put Up Notices Warning Non-Christians to Enter at Their Own Risk. They Call It Protection.

Scroll, the Deccan Herald and International Christian Concern report that churches in Dhamtari, Chhattisgarh, now tell non-Christians to enter at their own risk. The counts run from eight churches to more than forty. Leaders call it a precaution under the new conversion law.

The notice is short. Christians only. Anyone else who walks in does so at their own risk.

That is now the message at churches in Dhamtari district, in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. No official ordered it. Community leaders say the churches put it up themselves, as a precaution.

How many churches is a matter of dispute. Scroll reported more than ten. The Deccan Herald reported eight. International Christian Concern reports more than forty. We cannot reconcile those numbers and will not pick one. Every account agrees on the direction: doors that were open to anyone are now marked.

A church does not close its own door lightly. So what was it afraid of?

A Yakima Homeless Mission Went Before the Full Ninth Circuit Tuesday. Its Cook and Its CEO Pray Together.

On Tuesday the full Ninth Circuit was scheduled to hear whether Washington may make a Christian homeless mission hire people who do not share its faith. A panel said no in January, and the full court vacated that ruling in June. This is a reflection on the cook, not only the CEO.

Sotomayor Asked for an Answer by Monday. Bain Replied That the Supreme Court Cannot Hear This Case.

Justice Sotomayor asked Moshe Bain to respond by Monday. He did, and his lead argument is that the Supreme Court cannot hear a stay request over a trial court order no appeals court has reviewed. Here is what the opposition says, where it is strong, and where its neutrality claim has a seam.

DHS Sought a Six Year Ban on Sister Norma Pimentel's Migrant Charity. It Just Quietly Dropped It.

DHS tried to bar Sister Norma Pimentel's migrant charity from federal funding for six years over a paperwork dispute. Twenty two months later, with no hearing and no explanation, it quietly let the ban go. The same tool could reach the next ministry just as easily.

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