'Detrans' clinic planned
Luke Randall
Date posted: 30 Jun 2026
A detransition clinic is set to open in Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston following a settlement with the Texas Attorney General, making it the first initiative of its kind in the USA.
The service will exist to help correct transition care administered by doctors at the hospital, enabling children to undergo corrective surgery to return to their gender assigned at birth after they were wrongly treated at the pro-trans facility, potentially signifying a “cultural shift away from radical gender ideology”.
Analysis: Zohran Mamdani – Islam’s smiling NY face
en staff
Date posted: 3 Jan 2026
Who is Zohran Mamdani, the political outsider who has just become Mayor of New York? And should evangelicals be relaxed, concerned, or even alarmed?
Plenty of people have indeed expressed worry. Mike Johnson, the evangelical Southern Baptist speaker of the House of Representatives, described his victory as “without a doubt the biggest win for socialism in the history of the country, and it is the biggest loss for the American people.”
Politics USA
The US Supreme Court and questions of justice
Tony Bennett
Date posted: 26 Jul 2025
In the UK we are used to Parliament being the law-making body for the nation. But a recent ruling by the UK Supreme Court on the meaning of “sex” for the purposes of gender discrimination showed that sometimes it’s the Supreme Court that has the final word.
How the US Supreme Court works
Our Supreme Court is not yet 20 years old and is only just beginning to make its mark. The United States Supreme Court, on the other hand, was created back in 1789 as a coequal branch of the federal government, alongside Congress and the Presidency. It even has the power to declare Acts of Congress unconstitutional, and thereby null and void. (The UK Supreme Court has no comparable power.) Through this power, the US Supreme Court has become the final arbiter of what the laws mean and, most importantly, what the Constitution means. That’s why most important cases of legal and constitutional importance end up there.
USA: New task force to remove ‘anti-Christian’ bias
Emily Pollok
Date posted: 18 Apr 2025
President Trump is on a mission to get rid of “anti-Christian bias” in the US, creating a task force especially for the purpose.
Headed up by Attorney General Pam Bondi, the task force is to “immediately halt all forms of anti-Christian targeting and discrimination within the federal government”, Trump announced in Washington recently during National Prayer Breakfast events.
letter from Australia
Prayer? Unlawful. Puberty blockers? Fine
David Robertson
Date posted: 4 Jun 2025
In April the New South Wales Conversion Practices Ban Act came into effect. Its stated aim is “to ban practices directed to changing or suppressing the sexual orientation or gender identity of individuals”. The reaction from the churches has been mixed.
Churches of a more “progressive” bent broadly welcome the ban. More-Biblical churches are concerned – although some leaders think that it will not make much difference. They argue that prayer is not banned. The legislation explicitly states that general religious teachings, sermons, private prayer or personal reflection are not considered conversion practices and are not illegal. For example, expressing religious beliefs or seeking spiritual guidance through prayer is permitted.
Trans woman wins 'landmark' discrimination case against app
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 21 Oct 2024
A transgender woman (a biological male who identifies as female) from Australia has won a discrimination case against a women-only social media app, after she was denied access for being male.
The Federal Court found that although Roxanne Tickle had not been directly discriminated against, she was a victim of indirect discrimination, when a decision disadvantages a person with a particular attribute. It ordered the app to pay her the equivalent of £5,100 plus costs. The case is both a landmark ruling about gender identity and addresses the increasingly contentious question: what is a woman?
This Orwellian bill is almost North Korean
David Robertson
Date posted: 1 Aug 2023
The Australian government is proposing a ‘Combating Misinformation and Disinformation Bill’.
The negative effect of this on society, democracy and the Church could be considerable. The bill requires social media companies to remove any speech that causes harm to Australians' health, to the environment or any economic or financial harm. In other words, the government is giving itself carte blanche to censor any view it does not like, as being harmful. Anyone who is critical of transgender, or government policy on climate, or abortion, or even some religions, could be considered guilty of hate speech and causing harm.
news in brief
Iran: pastor’s wife bailed
Anahita Khademi , the wife of a Church of
Iran leader, has been released on bail after
spending over three weeks in prison. She
was released after posting bail equivalent
to about $4,000, but still faces charges
of
‘propaganda against
the system’ and
‘disturbing public opinion’.
Ms Khademi was arrested days after her
husband, Pastor Matthias Haghnejad, was
seized, together with two other Christians.
Haghnejad remains in prison on charges of
‘acting against the security of the country
by
forming
a
group
and
propagating Christianity’.
news in brief
Netherlands: new trans law imminent?
The Dutch Parliament is debating a new draft transgender law which would allow anyone over 16 to change the gender on their birth certificates via a civil officer – without a statement from a physician or psychologist, as is now the case.
The court would decide cases involving children aged under 16, where the opinions of their parents/guardians about the change would not be decisive.
news in brief
Mexico: evangelical
leader sentenced
Naasón
Joaquín García,
the
leader
of
Mexico’s largest evangelical church, has been
sentenced to nearly 17 years in prison for
sexually assaulting three teenaged girls from
his church. He will also be required to register
as a sex offender for life.
The 53-year-old
led
the
congregation
La Luz Del Mundo based in Guadalajara,
Jalisco, Mexico, which
runs churches
in
several
locations
throughout
the United States and Mexico.
news in brief
Samaritans Purse opens
emergency field hospital
International Christian relief organisation
Samaritan’s Purse is opening an emergency
field hospital in Ukraine. Disaster response
specialists have already been
in Poland,
Romania and Moldova conducting rapid
needs assessments and preparing a strategic
response.
The
hospital,
together with
doctors,
nurses,
and
support
staff,
is providing
specialised trauma care to people impacted
by the conflict. This unit has the capacity to
treat more than 100 patients each day, and
comprises 30 beds, an operating theatre and
an Intensive Care Unit. Two medical clinics
will also be deployed to meet minor trauma
needs and provide general medical care for
200 patients.
Australia: contentious Bill in the balance
Iain Taylor
Date posted: 1 Mar 2022
As Evangelicals Now went to press, political manoeuvring in Australia’s lower house has meant that the passage of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s contentious legislation to outlaw religious discrimination was looking increasingly uncertain, with elections looming this May.
Morrison’s government claims that ‘The Religious Discrimination Bill, and associated legislation, will ensure Australians are protected from discrimination on the basis of religious belief or activity – just as they are protected from discrimination on the basis of age, sex, race and disability’. Mounting opposition from some of his own Liberal MPs, and uncertainty as to whether the Labor opposition and some senior senators will back the Bill – with or without a number of amendments – have led to intense debate on the issue, both inside and outside Australia’s Parliament.
news in brief
Cuba: 2,000 petition for
pastor’s release
More than 2,000 people
have signed a petition
demanding
the release
of a Protestant pastor
imprisoned
without
trial
in
Cuba.
The
petition
calls
for
the
release of Pastor Rosales Fajardo, who
has been detained without trial for over
two months for participating in peaceful
protests against the ongoing shortages of
medicine and food resulting from Covid-19.
Fajardo, who has been pastor of
the
Monte de Sion church for 20 years, faces
charges
including
‘disrespect’ and
‘public
disorder’. If found guilty he could be jailed
for between three and 20 years.
news in brief
Israel: rare Biblical inscription discovered
Israeli archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, excavating in Judea, have uncovered an extremely rare 3,100-year-old inscription with a name from the book of Judges.
‘Jerubbaal’, on a small jug from 1,100 BC, could be the first hard evidence of a name from that Old Testament book found on a contemporary artifact. ‘The name of the Judge Gideon ben Yoash (Judges 6-8) was Jerubbaal, but we cannot tell whether he owned this particular vessel’, they said. More importantly, ‘that name only appears in Judges, yet now it has also been discovered in the precise archaeological stratum from that period.’
news in brief
USA: two pastors arrested over Capitol riots
James Varnell Cusick Jr., 72, and his son Casey Cusick, 35, both pastors at the Global Outreach Ministries church at Melbourne, Florida have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riots on 6 January.
They face charges including: disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building; and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. David Lesperance, a 68-year-old congregant of their church, faces similar charges. Bodycam footage and CCTV images showing the three men inside the Capitol have been presented as evidence.
Biden: liberal changes or token gestures?
Gerald Bray
Date posted: 1 Mar 2021
The
inauguration of a new American
President
is
always
a
time
of
great
expectations, but especially now, after the
sorry end to the previous regime.
Most people are relieved that the transfer
of power went off without a hitch. The
overarching need to deal with the pandemic
is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and
Joe Biden’s promise to deliver 100 million
does of the vaccine in his first 100 days in
office is being widely hailed as an ambitious
but still achievable goal. In the circumstances,
other matters have taken a back seat. Biden is
a sincere Catholic and his recent attendance
at church has been duly noted,
though
some of his executive orders are not what
the Vatican would have prescribed. He has
rescinded the restrictions on abortion that
the previous administration introduced and
has appointed homosexual and transgender
people to prominent positions. He has also
removed the bar to transgendered soldiers
serving in the armed forces. It is hard to
say what practical effect things like that will have, and for the moment few people are
talking openly about them. Whether they are
the tip of a looming iceberg of radical reform,
or simply a nod to left-wing lobbies that will
soon be disappointed in their deeper aims,
remains to be seen.
USA: deconstructing language
Breakpoint / The Gospel Coalition
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
In mid-June, with a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court ruled that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which prohibited discrimination in employment on the basis of sex, also includes sexual orientation and gender identity.
The decision, Bostock vs Clayton County, involved three cases. In two of them, a social worker and a skydiving instructor claimed they were fired for being gay. The third case involved the firing of a funeral home employee (of Harris Funeral Homes) who, after being hired as a man, identified and presented as a woman.
USA: ‘hate speech policy’
Christian Post
Date posted: 1 Aug 2020
A video of a panel discussion including Walt Heyer, a Christian man who detransitioned back to his male birth sex, was taken off YouTube in June after it was deemed ‘offensive’.
Heyer, the founder of Sex Change Regret, was part of a Heritage Foundation panel last October, where he detailed his experiences with taking hormones and undergoing body-altering surgery to look more like a woman. During the panel discussion Heyer said that in the eight years he lived as a woman, he learned that, while he could change his appearance, sex is an immutable characteristic.
news in brief
Azerbaijan: fired
On 10 June, Baku Appeal Court rejected arguments that letters given to a Christian fired from his workplace were illegal.
Former parliamentary staffer Rahim Akhundov said he was fired in December 2018 on secret police orders because he is a Christian. Courts said he could not appeal earlier as Parliament sent the letter nine months late. He will appeal to the Supreme Court when he receives the written appeal rejection.
news in brief
Algeria: trying to stay open
An order to close a church building in the city of Oran was issued in 2019 but was not conveyed to the pastor until the middle of January.
This action prevented an appeal being made at the time. The church pastor’s lawyer notified the judge of the delay and it is hoped that the church can still appeal within ten days of receipt of the order.
news in brief
Canada: Trans Fine
A human-rights tribunal ruled in March that a Christian activist discriminated against a transgender woman by distributing flyers that referred to the person, who was running for political office at the time, as a ‘biological male’.
In a 104-page ruling, the tribunal further declared that there is no room for any public debate in the matter. The tribunal ordered the Christian to pay $35,000 in compensation for injury to the person’s ‘dignity, feelings, and self-respect’.
news in brief
Algeria: closure
The official notice that a village pastor in Algeria received on 30 December confirmed that his church had been ordered to close.
Pastor Rabah Messaoudi had won a legal battle in 2017 after local officials in the Muslim country tried to close his church. Those acting for the pastor have said they will appeal again, as the church is affiliated to an organisation of 45 churches through which the national commission confirms their authenticity.
USA: out of scouts
crosswalk.com
Date posted: 1 Feb 2019
Christian parents are pulling their children
out from the Boy Scouts of America (BSA)
in exchange for a faith-based organisation,
CBN News reported in December.
Since
the BSA policy change
in 2015
that allowed gay adults to lead boy scout
troops and the 2017 decision to allow girls
and transgender boys to join troops, many
Christian parents have moved away from the organisation that once emphasised the
importance of a nuclear family.
Australia: LGBTI loses out to faith-based schools
Peter Riddell
Date posted: 1 Jul 2018
In an ironic turnaround, the LGBTI lobby in Australia is proving to be a significant source of support for faith-based schools, including Christian schools.
In 2010, the government of Victoria rolled out the Safe Schools programme. The purpose of Safe Schools, according to official government speak, was to develop a mechanism to limit bullying within schools of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) students. This programme included professional development activities for school teachers accompanied by materials for the training of students to eliminate discrimination against LGBTI students.