In today's News:

Egger extended call for President of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis

Concordia Seminary, St. Louis has extended a call to Dr. Thomas J. Egger, the Gustav and Sophie Butterbach Professor of Exegetical Theology and chairman of the Department of Exegetical Theology at Concordia Seminary, to serve as the 11th president in the school’s 182-year history. The call was extended after a unanimous vote on the first ballot by the electors and following interviews with the final slate of two candidates. Egger was originally nominated for the presidency by all three sources that Synod Bylaws allow to submit nominations: the faculty of Concordia Seminary, the Board of Regents of Concordia Seminary and numerous LCMS congregations. 

Republicans move to save women’s sports 

Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah last week led 13 of his colleagues in introducing the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, legislation that would protect athletic opportunities for female athletes. Specifically, the bill would ensure that Title IX provisions relating to athletics treat sex as that which is "recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth." Further, if any recipient of federal funding who operates, sponsors or facilitates athletic programs or activities permits a male to participate in a women's sporting event, they would be found to be violation of the statutory regulations outlined in Title IX. 

Supreme Court reopens California houses of worship 

The Supreme Court issued an injunction stopping California’s extreme COVID-19 ban on indoor worship in churches, synagogues and other houses of worship. The Court ruled in two cases, South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom and Harvest Rock Church v. Newsom. Both churches sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom, challenging the state’s total ban on indoor worship services — the most extreme in the nation — that targeted churches for closure while allowing non-essential retail stores such as Macy’s to open to hundreds of customers, as well as hair salons, nail salons and Hollywood soundstages. The Justices wrote several opinions in addition to the Court’s order.

Senate Democrats block ‘Born Alive’ legislation 

With a vote of 52-48, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act failed as an amendment to the 2021 Budget Resolution in the Senate. All Senate Republicans, along with Democratic Senators Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey, Jr. of Pennsylvania, voted in favor of the amendment. Forty-eight Senate Democrats blocked the amendment, which required 60 votes to pass. The Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act requires that, when a baby is born alive following an abortion, health care practitioners must exercise the same degree of professional skill and care that would be offered to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. It also requires that, following appropriate care, health care workers must transport the child immediately to a hospital.