For most of us, losing a loved one is traumatic, painful and persistent. We can cherish fond and happy memories, but how many people believe that a dead relative has communicated in some way from the “other side”?

Many Americans believe it’s happened to them: On Wednesday, Pew Research Center reported that slightly more than half of Americans said they’ve “interacted” with departed loved ones, and many said they had such encounters in the past 12 months.

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Being “visited” in “a dream or some other form” was the most common such experience, reported by 53% of those surveyed this year. Of that group, 34% said they had “felt the presence” of a dead relative, while 28% said they “told a dead relative about their life.” Just 15% said the dead loved one communicated with them.

 

’Take a knee’ with Coach Kennedy: campaign

The lawyers who represented high school football coach Joe Kennedy in his Supreme Court battle to pray on the field after games are calling on Americans to bring faith back to public life.

Their campaign, “Restoring Faith in America,” starts just days before the Bremerton, Washington, coach returns to the playing field on Friday.

First Liberty Institute, the public interest law firm that defended Mr. Kennedy’s right to pray on the 50-yard line, wants to defend the right to openly pray, display the Ten Commandments, erect nativity scenes and otherwise express faith in public spaces such as city halls.

Court rules Md. school district can bypass parents’ concerns over LGBTQ books

Parents have no right to opt their elementary school children out of lessons that include LGBTQ-themed storybooks, a federal district judge in Maryland ruled on Thursday, just before the start of the new school year.

The ruling by federal District Judge Deborah L. Boardman, a 2021 Biden appointee, wasn’t the “fairytale ending” the multi-faith plaintiffs – Catholic, Jewish, Muslim and Protestant parents of Montgomery County Public School students — had hoped for, their attorneys said. The judge sided with the schools’ arguments that the district was not abridging the parents’ right to religious free exercise and said the plaintiffs likely would lose at trial.

Attorneys at the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represented the Maryland parents, vowed they would appeal to the 4th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

City can’t bar Catholic apple grower from farmer’s market, judge rules

East Lansing, Michigan, can’t disqualify an area apple farmer from selling his wares at its farmer’s market simply because the Catholic owner won’t host same-sex weddings at his orchard, a federal judge ruled this week.

Capping years of litigation, U.S. District Judge Paul L. Maloney said Country Mill Farms and owner Steve Tennes “were forced to choose between following their religious beliefs and a government benefit for which they were otherwise qualified” when city officials said vendors at the open-air market had to support non-discrimination rules required of city contractors.

Washington-area radio ads on Gospel messages go national

For 38 years as senior pastor of McLean Bible Church, Lon Solomon has tried to reach the community with a simple message: We all need Jesus in our lives. He’s retired from that pulpit, but not from sharing the Christian Gospel.

Since 1997, he has packaged his message in 60-second radio spots that mix a culturally relevant point with a Bible verse and the tagline, “Not a Sermon, Just a Thought.” The ads are now going national, with 13-week campaigns in two cities every quarter.

Experts say it’s a good way to reach those who aren’t likely to tune into to a 30-minute sermon on Christian radio.

Video: Movie shows how God did the impossible for MLB player

This week, Billy Hallowell spoke with former Major League Baseball player Rickey Hill, who overcame disabilities to play professionally, and Jeff Celentano, director of “The Hill,” a movie about Mr. Hill’s life and faith.

View the conversation here.

In our opinion

Teachers are key in gender chaos. Amid the gender chaos confronting faithful parents in the nation’s public schools, one group of people is key to solving the problem, columnist Billy Hallowell writes: the teachers and public school staffs, along with school board members.

While outsiders can have some influence on the system, he said, “People inside the bowels of the educational complex must put their feet down, speak up and take the lead.”

And some are stepping up to the challenge, he reports. Two California teachers have sued their school district after, they say, officials told them to hide students’ gender identity from their parents. Elizabeth Mirabelli, one of the teachers, gave officials a hard “no” before taking legal action.

Fight with your faith. How to respond to an America that has become “sad, rude and mean?” Author and former U.S. Ambassador Lisa Gable tells parents that instilling kindness and faith in their children — especially those entering their senior year of high school or headed off to college — will anchor them in a world gone astray.

“It’s essential to hold onto the belief that the foundation you’ve assisted your child in building and your unwavering support will guide them to become the leaders God intends them to be,” Ms. Gable writes.

Be a disciple. Cultural engagement is important, writes James Spencer, president of the D.L. Moody Center, but the primary function of Christians in today’s society is to be a disciple and help others in their discipleship journey.

“We are the only ones who can accomplish that mission” of discipleship, he said. “At times, pushing back against the culture is part of that mission. At others, it may be a distraction that tempts us to renovate our nation rather than build the Kingdom of God.”