Roundup edition
Plus, catch me this week in a Builders Meetup.
Quick announcement
I’ll be the featured speaker in a virtual fireside chat hosted by Builders this Wednesday (5/14) at 6pm ET. During the event, I’ll be sharing my personal experience and learnings from building Framechange, describing the mindset we adopt in writing Framechange editions, and offering practical tips for approaching disagreement with curiosity. You can register here if you’re interested in attending.
I'm also excited to welcome Dylan Hannes to the Framechange team starting next week! Dylan brings extensive research experience and previously served as Head of Content at 6Pages, a market intelligence platform focused on business and tech trends, which he and I co-founded. He's deeply aligned with the Framechange mission and will be supporting the development of our weekly editions.
Since we didn’t publish an edition last week, I wanted to start this week with a brief roundup of viewpoints on recent topics that we haven’t had the chance to cover in depth. Let us know what you think of this format in the 1-question poll at the bottom.
Thanks as always for your readership.
Eric
Viewpoints roundup
Note: The viewpoints summarized below are meant to provide a small sample of the current discourse around each topic. They aren’t comprehensive and don’t fully capture the nuances of any one perspective.
1. The US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, a case focused on a Catholic virtual charter school’s bid to become the first religious charter school in the US.
Opposed to the school’s bid: The First Amendment requires the separation of church and state, and allowing the Catholic school to become a charter school would subsidize the school with tax dollars from non-Catholic Oklahomans.
Supportive of the school’s bid: Charter schools are different from conventional public schools in that they – while subsidized by government funding – are privately operated and are intended to give families greater choice in the education their children receive. The Court should rule in favor of the Catholic school.
2. India launched a military operation in Pakistan in response to a mass shooting in Indian-administered Kashmir that India blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Both countries agreed to a US-brokered ceasefire after the retaliatory operation.
Supportive of India’s military strike: India was justified in carrying out retaliatory strikes on Pakistani targets as a method of deterrence against extremist threats operating from inside the country.
Opposed to India’s military strike: India’s offensive was based on limited evidence that Pakistan is responsible for the Kashmir attacks, but Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities will likely deter significant Indian aggression.
3. President Trump signed an executive order aimed at cutting off federal funding for NPR and PBS. Both news organizations said they would challenge the order.
Supportive of the order: NPR and PBS have the means to continue operating without the portion of funding they receive from the federal government and, with both outlets recognized as left-leaning, should not receive taxpayer money to conduct biased reporting.
Opposed to the order: Funding cuts to PBS would threaten the sustainability of local news critical to many communities across the country and limit the availability of impactful children’s programming.
4. Washington State passed a law requiring clergy to report any suspected child abuse or neglect, with no exceptions for information shared in Catholic confession. The Department of Justice said it was reviewing the law, calling it “anti-Catholic.”
Supportive of the law: The harm of abuse to children outweighs the importance of keeping confessions confidential – priests, like teachers or doctors, should be required to report any suspicions of child abuse.
Opposed to the law: Requiring clergy to report child abuse admitted during confession would break the sacred seal of confession and a core tenet of the Catholic faith, a violation of the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.
5. The US Supreme Court ruled to temporarily allow the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military while challenges continue in lower courts. President Trump had issued the ban through executive order in January.
Opposed to the ruling: The Trump administration’s transgender military ban violates the Constitution's equal protection rights for transgender military members and should be blocked.
Supportive of the ruling: Transgender people should not serve in the military because the treatments and therapies required to undergo gender transition affect combat readiness and unit cohesion.
Music on the bottom
Check out this groove-forward acoustic track by Sean Hayes, “Soul Shaker.” I love the way it carries with minimal percussive instrumentation.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music.
Thanks for the context on the Washington State law. Helpful to get past the sounds bites.