Clergy file suit over Missouri abortion ban, arguing it establishes a religion

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2 years ago

January 20, 2023

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(RNS) — An interfaith group of clergy has filed a lawsuit challenging Missouri’s strict abortion ban, arguing the statute violates the state’s constitution by imposing one set of religious values on all residents.

Advocates announced the lawsuit on Thursday (Jan. 19) from the sanctuary of Christ Church Cathedral, an Episcopal church in St. Louis.

“The Missouri Constitution ensures a strict separation of church and state,” the Rev. Traci Blackmon, a local pastor and denominational official with the United Church of Christ, said at the news conference. “Our elected officials have violated their oath to uphold that constitution by weaponizing religious beliefs to deny abortion access in a state where studies prove these actions are not the will of the majority of the people.”

Blackmon, who is also a plaintiff in the case, later added: “I am not here to debate the morality of abortion with anyone. I’m here to defend women and birthing people’s right not to have to.” RELATED: As Roe falls, religious abortion-rights advocates prepare for next steps

The lawsuit targets a 2019 Missouri law that permits abortion only in a medical emergency. One of many state-level “trigger” laws, the ban was inert until the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, upending nearly 50 years of nationwide abortion access and returning the debate to the states.

Plaintiffs argue the ban reflects a specific religious understanding of abortion, noting that some lawmakers openly invoked religious rhetoric while promoting the bill and even wrote theological arguments into the legislation: The law refers to “Almighty God” as the “author of life” and contends “the life of an individual human being begins at conception.”

“State officials have weaponized their religious beliefs to control the bodies and deny the autonomy of women and all who can become pregnant, jeopardizing their health, lives, and futures,” the lawsuit reads.

Those involved with the suit hail from an array of religious traditions that don’t preach blanket opposition abortion theologically or, in some cases, even require it under certain circumstances. In addition to UCC ministers such as Blackmon, plaintiffs include leaders from Modern Orthodox and Reform Judaism, Unitarian Universalist ministers, an Episcopal bishop and the Rev. Barbara Phifer — a retired United Methodist minister and state representative.

“Simply put, when Missouri lawmakers explicitly state that life begins at conception, that is a theological statement,” said Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis. “That is a religious statement. That is not a Jewish statement, and it violates the Missouri Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of religion.”

A group of religious leaders challenging Missouri’s abortion law poses together Jan. 19, 2023, in St. Louis. Photo courtesy of Americans United

The plaintiffs are backed by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State as well as the National Women’s Law Center. The law firm Arnold and Porter is also lending its legal muscle to the case.

AU head Rachel Laser, who previously worked at the National Women’s Law Center, acknowledged some may be “surprised” to see the lawsuit unveiled at a cathedral. But she and other speakers highlighted support for abortion rights among people of faith: A majority of adherents to most major religious traditions in the U.S. — including Catholics, mainline Protestants and Black Protestants — support making abortion legal in all or most cases, according to recent polls. RELATED: With Roe in peril, abortion rights advocates prepare appeals to religious liberty

“The truth is that religious extremists and their lawmaker allies have waged a coordinated disinformation campaign to call all things that advance equality anti-religion or anti-Christian,” Laser said during the news conference. “Well, today’s lawsuit proves them wrong.“

The effort is the latest in a series of legal challenges filed by people of faith against state-level abortion bans across the country. Faith leaders in Florida, Kentucky and elsewhere have sued to stop abortion prohibitions in their states, often led by Jewish Americans who argue their tradition has long taught that abortion is not only permitted, but sometimes required.

But while some of those legal challenges argued for religious exemptions from abortion bans, the lawsuit filed by Missouri clergy takes a different approach by insisting the entire ban should be rendered void because it imposes specific religious beliefs on all Missourians. At least one lawsuit touting a similar argument halted an abortion ban in Utah last year, and Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor made reference to the idea in December 2021 during oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson, the case that overturned Roe v. Wade.

“The issue of when life begins has been hotly debated by philosophers since the beginning of time — it’s still debated in religions,” Sotomayor said during an exchange with a lawyer. “So, when you say this is the only right that takes away from the state the ability to protect a life, that’s a religious view, isn’t it?” Share Tweet Share

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

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25 mins ago

January 15, 2025

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BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

This year’s BAFTA nominations have been revealed, with papal thriller Conclave leading the race.

Starring Ralph Fiennes as a clergyman responsible for the selection of the next Pope, the film is up for 12 awards – including best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini.

Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, is another best film nominee and has 11 BAFTA nods in total – with star Karla Sofía Gascón up for best actress and co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez both in the running in the supporting actress category.

The Brutalist, an epic drama starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, has nine nominations – including best film and best actor, and supporting nods for co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.

Elsewhere there are seven nominations each for Wicked, Anora, and Dune: Part Two, six for A Complete Unknown and Kneecap, and five for Nosferatu and The Substance.

In the performance categories, Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) and Demi Moore, whose performance in body horror The Substance won her a Golden Globe earlier this month.

Fiennes and Brody’s best actor competitors are Timothee Chalamet, for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, along with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).

Kieran Culkin, another recent Golden Globe winner, makes the best supporting actor shortlist once again for his performance in A Real Pain, alongside Pearce and Yura Borisov (Anora), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).

Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba in Wicked, and Jamie Lee Curtis, for her performance in The Last Showgirl, make up the best supporting actress shortlist.

For 14 of the 24 acting nominees – including Culkin, Grande, Gascon, Gomez and Moore – it is their first BAFTA film nomination.

Erivo and Chalamet are both previous recipients of the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.

In the best director category, Conclave’s Edward Berger is in the running alongside Brady Corbet, for The Brutalist, Denis Villeneuve, for Dune: Part Two, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Sean Baker for Anora.

Baker also has nominations for best original screenplay, casting and editing, making him the most nominated individual this year.

The BAFTAs also includes a category for outstanding British film, with Conclave also shortlisted here alongside films including Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and Irish-language film Kneecap – which stars the rap trio of the same name in a semi-autobiographical account of their rise to fame.

In total, there are 42 films up for awards, spanning a range of genres.

“The film industry has delivered in spades once again,” said BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip.

“The skills on display from creative and technical practitioners across the board are phenomenal,” added BAFTA chair Sara Putt.

Could this be the most competitive BAFTAs for years?

Katie Spencer

Arts and entertainment correspondent

What do you get if you bring several priests, a Mexican cartel leader and an architect together under one roof?

Not the world’s most niche fancy dress party, but 2025’s BAFTA film awards shortlist.

Jazz hands and jump scares are the order of the day. Horror is unusually well represented this year, with The Substance, Heretic and Nosferatu all receiving nods, while musicals are also dominating thanks to Emilia Perez, Wicked and, arguably, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Speaking of music, it’s very good news for Irish language rappers Kneecap, whose self-titled semi-true biopic is up for best British film and five other awards. It’s somewhat ironic given that while they rap about wanting Irish independence, the film qualifies as being British as they’re from Northern Ireland.

In the leading actress category, it’s all to play for as none of the nominees has ever won a BAFTA. Fans of ’90s nostalgia will be hoping the Demi-ssaince continues after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win last month for her performance in body horror The Substance.

Hugh Grant, up for lead actor, last won that BAFTA back in 1995 for his breakthrough performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral. This time around, he’s in the running for a very different role, as a creepy killer in Heretic. He’s nominated alongside another ’90s winner – Ralph Fiennes, who last picked up a BAFTA for supporting actor in 1994.

The nominations this year really showcase a diverse range of genres – and with no clear frontrunners in some categories, could this be the most competitive BAFTAs we’ve seen in a while?

The nominees for this year’s rising star award, which is the only BAFTA prize voted for by the public, have already been announced, with Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan in the running.

And Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has also been revealed as the recipient of this year’s BAFTA fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour, for his “trailblazing work” as an actor and for his charity supporting people with dwarfism.

The BAFTA nominations come at a difficult time for the industry, with the organisers of several US awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, pushing their own announcements back and holding more low-key events due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.

However, the Oscars ceremony is still currently scheduled to go ahead as planned on Sunday 2 March.

The BAFTA ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 16 February.

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

Published

25 mins ago

January 15, 2025

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BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

There are 42 films up for awards at this year’s BAFTA ceremony, from blockbusters to indie breakthroughs.

Organisers have now revealed the shortlists, with papal thriller Conclave leading the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.

The star-studded BAFTA ceremony will take place in London on Sunday 16 February.

Here’s the full list of the stars and films up for each prize.

BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Bird
Blitz
Conclave
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director/ writer)
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer)
Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director)
Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer)
Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perez
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

DIRECTOR
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown – James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave – Peter Straughan
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield

LEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun

LEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

CASTING
Anora – Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
The Apprentice – Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A Complete Unknown – Yesi Ramirez
Conclave – Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Kneecap – Carla Stronge

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Conclave – Stephanie Fontaine
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Emilia Perez – Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

EDITING
Anora
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Kneecap

COSTUME DESIGN
Blitz
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Nosferatu
Wicked

MAKE-UP & HAIR
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Substance
Wicked

ORIGINAL SCORE
The Brutalist
Conclave
Emilia Perez
Nosferatu
The Wild Robot

PRODUCTION DESIGN
The Brutalist
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Nosferatu
Wicked

SOUND
Blitz
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
The Substance
Wicked

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS
Better Man
Dune: Part Two
Gladiator II
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes
Wicked

BRITISH SHORT ANIMATION
Adios
Mog’s Christmas
Wander To Wonder

BRITISH SHORT FILM
The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing
Marion
Milk
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Stomach Bug

EE RISING STAR AWARD (voted for by the public)
Marisa Abela
Jharrel Jerome
David Jonsson
Mikey Madison
Nabhaan Rizwan

Entertainment

Neil Gaiman denies allegations of engaging in non-consensual sex

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25 mins ago

January 15, 2025

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Neil Gaiman denies allegations of engaging in non-consensual sex

Best-selling author of books for adults and children Neil Gaiman has denied allegations he engaged in non-consensual sex with several women.

A New York Magazine article detailed allegations of assault, abuse, and coercion levelled against the 64-year-old by eight women. A Tortoise Media podcast broadcast in July included allegations of four of these women.

Gaiman said in a statement that he had watched stories about him circulate online for months with “horror and dismay”.

“As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen,” Gaiman posted on the social media platform Tumblr.

“I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”

The British author said he had reviewed messages exchanged with his accusers, and they read like “two people enjoying entirely consensual sexual relationships and wanting to see one another again,” he said.

“And I also realise, looking through them, years later, that I could have and should have done so much better. I was emotionally unavailable while being sexually available, self-focused and not as thoughtful as I could or should have been. I was obviously careless with people’s hearts and feelings, and that’s something that I really, deeply regret,” Gaiman said.

Most of the allegations relate to occasions when Gaiman was in his 40s or older and living in the UK, the US and New Zealand.

Gaiman, who wrote the novel American Gods and The Sandman comic book series as well as the children’s fantasy book Coraline, has had several works turned into movies and television programmes in recent years.

The author’s agent and recent publisher Bloomsbury, as well as Amazon Prime Video and Netflix which have Gaiman-related projects scheduled for this year, have not commented on the allegations.