Photograph by Brotin Biswas via Pexels

Why are Southern Baptists still arguing about women preachers? For the past 25 years, Southern Baptists have officially banned women pastors. That hasn’t stopped churches from having women serve in that role. (RNS)

Survey: US religious groups support LGBTQ+ rights, divide on medical care for trans minors. Most US religious groups remain broadly supportive of non-discrimination laws and policies toward LGBTQ+ people. Far fewer support gender-transition medical care for minors. (RNS)

As Trump tries to kill refugee resettlement, groups issue ‘Ash Wednesday Declaration.’ The American Baptist Churches in the USA and The United Methodist Church are among a host of religious bodies joining Church World Service in issuing an “Ash Wednesday Declaration” in support of refugee resettlement work. (Baptist News Global)

Oklahoma parents sue Walters to stop Bible curriculum in schools. The families, teachers and religious leaders already suing to block Oklahoma from buying classroom Bibles are now attempting to prevent the state from purchasing a Scripture-based curriculum for elementary school children. (Baptist News Global)

Watching Trump repeat Putin’s lie fills Ukrainian pastor with fear. Oleg Magdych was there when the war began. He knows who started it. (Christianity Today; paywalled)

Ash Wednesday and Lent not on the radar for most US Christians. A traditional 40-day window of fasting before Easter, Lent is observed by around a quarter of U.S. adults, according to a Lifeway Research study. Three in four Americans (74%) say they do not typically observe Lent, while 26% participate. (Religion Unplugged)

Surprise! What we learned (and didn’t) from a big new study on religion in America. This week, the Pew Research Center released the findings of its massive Religious Landscape Study, building on similar research from 2007 and 2014. The big news, according to Pew: The decline of Christianity in the United States has slowed and may have leveled off. (Religion Unplugged)

West Texans, Mennonites at center of measles outbreak choose medical freedom over vaccine mandates. Alongside measles in this region, where voters overwhelmingly supported President Donald Trump, there’s another outbreak: one of misinformation about vaccines, distrust of local public health officials and fear of governmental authority overruling family autonomy. (Associated Press)

Where is the spiritual support for people trying to conceive? As a homebirth midwife struggling with infertility, Abby Hall Luca intimately knows the gaps in fertility and maternity care. For 12 years she guided couples through the journey of growing their families while not being able to grow her own. (Sojourners)

Martin E. Marty, influential religious historian, dies at 97. A staunch champion of pluralism, he was described in Time magazine as “the most influential living interpreter of religion in the U.S.” (The New York Times; paywalled)