Southern Baptists to Vote of Further Restricting Women's Roles and Opposing IVF

The Southern Baptist Church is expected to vote on Wednesday on whether to amend its constitution to mandate that Southern Baptist churches must have “only men as any kind of pastor or elder as qualified by Scripture.” The group’s statement of faith already forbids female pastors.

Messengers are also poised to vote on whether to oppose in vitro fertilization, as anti-abortion activists seek to build on their gains after the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The resolution, put forth by an ethicist and the president of a Southern Baptist seminary, calls for Baptists to “reaffirm the unconditional value and right to life of every human being, including those in an embryonic stage, and to only utilize reproductive technologies consistent with that affirmation.”

Hierarchical religions are going farther and farther out supporting issues limiting freedoms. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/us/southern-baptist-meeting-women.html

Disney Replaces Racist Ride with One Focusing on Tiana, Disney’s First Black princess

Ripping out "Splash Mountain" in the summer of 2020, Disney removed a ride with a racist history. 

The new ride, “The Princess and the Frog,” is based on the 2009 animated musical that introduced Disney’s first Black princess. The lighthearted new ride, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, will open to the public on June 28 at Disney World, with a similar version expected to arrive at Disneyland by the end of the year.

Tiana’s Bayou Adventure uses the same ride tracks as Splash Mountain, and riders still travel in vehicles made to look like hollowed-out logs. But everything else has been redesigned. Instead of a suspenseful story involving Br’er Rabbit’s getting tossed into a briar patch, the new attraction focuses on a Mardi Gras party: Tiana and her pal Louis, a trumpet-playing alligator, are searching for critters to form a band.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/11/business/disney-world-splash-mountain-princess-tiana.html

First Black Georgia Tech Graduate Hands Diploma to Granddaughter

Not only was a statue of Mr. Ronald Yancey present at the graduation, but he was there in person to give his granddaughter her diploma for a master's degree. 

Mr. Yancey was the first Black graduate of Georgia Tech University.  

Granddaughter Deanna Yancey added, “It’s just beyond me how someone could have been so strong in such a hard time. He’s broken barriers and he’s opened doors that I will never have to experience opening myself.”

https://www.kptv.com/2024/05/05/universitys-first-black-graduate-hands-granddaughter-her-diploma-59-years-later/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3xhpCoxaIjdBgM806HZ05f8GOmAiuel4Rky3LMkVgTSFZXRNmP5_-LKZI_aem_AWEgGm8rHHcS7P4gxNlklrxcli4TgzmLl4YeicVn69yg-X4ZypXgWRs72aRphnAKx5IoYjd3_-82qZ-sH3S3DV1f

Mural in New Hampshire Tears the Town Apart

Carrie Gendreau, one of the members of the select board of Littleton, New Hampshire, tore her town apart after she objected to a mural in town.

Tbe mural features a blooming iris, dandelions, and birch trees. But Ms. Gendreau became convinced that there were subversive messages in its imagery.

North County Pride, founded four years ago to build more visible support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people planned and paid for the mural. 

Before it was over, Ms. Gendreau, an evangelical Christian, had warned the community of American's descent into evil, citing gay rights as an example of moral decay destroying the country. People took sides, and words exchanged.

The town manager resigned after hateful comments about his late gay son, and Ms. Gendreau decided not to run for reelection. 

Not a pleasant situation all around when hierarchy builders insist that their actions to destroy other people are just another opinion. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/28/us/littleton-new-hampshire-mural.html?referringSource=articleShare

Miltary Behind Times in Disability Awareness

Hanna Cvancara, a nurse, exceeds the military fitness tests, as she can do double the number of push-ups required, and has finished the timed 1.5-mile run with minutes to spare. However the military will not let her join because she has a prothetic foot. 

While there is no specific rule barring amputees from serving, in practice, that caution has meant routinely rejecting amputees.

Ms. Cvancara recently applied to the military once again, to join the Air National Guard. And in case she is rejected once more, she is working with her representative in Congress, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, to pass a bill called the Hannah Cvancara Service that would create an exception to allow amputees to join the military as medical personnel.

“My whole life, no one ever told me I couldn’t do anything I wanted to, until I tried to join the military,” she said. “I don’t want to be treated like I’m special. I just want to be treated like everyone else.”

 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/25/us/amputee-military-nurse-hannah-cvancara.html?referringSource=articleShare

Yep, WNBA Players are Paid Horribly Compared to Men in NBA

Despite Caitlin Clark's record-breaking performance on Iowa's team in the NCAA and the energy that she’s generated for the sport, Clark’s base salary will be $76,535 as a rookie. In the NBA, meanwhile, the first draft pick is expected to make roughly $10.5 million in base salary their first year.

Needless to say, sexism in sports is rampant.

https://www.vox.com/24132057/caitlin-clark-wnba-draft-2024

Get Healthy - Looking at Alternatives in Other Countries

Will our health system that has tended to shun alternatives to western medicine get behind a new trend coming? Prescriptions for social activities, exercise and the arts — first popularized in Britain — are coming to America. 

Social prescriptions generally aim to improve health and well-being by connecting people with nonclinical activities that address some of the underlying problems, such as isolation, social stress and lack of nutritious food, which have been demonstrated to play a crucial role in influencing who stays well and for how long.

In recent years, the English national health care system has employed 1,000 new link workers, with the goal of making social prescribing available to 900,000 people by 2024. However, with no socialized health care system in the United States, implementing this alternative approach will be far more complicated. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/17/well/mind/social-prescription-health-medication-art.html