July 26 2023

A daily news briefing from Catholic News Agency, powered by artificial intelligence. Ask your smart speaker to play “Catholic News,” or listen every morning wherever you get podcasts. www.catholicnewsagency.com - Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department has launched an investigation after two pro-life sidewalk counselors were allegedly attacked outside of a Planned Parenthood clinic on July 22. A group of pro-life sidewalk counselors, who were there to encourage women to choose life for their preborn babies rather than obtain an abortion, were gathered along with other pro-life activists outside of the Planned Parenthood location at 4th Street, Northeast, on Saturday morning. A verbal altercation between pro-abortion passersby and one of the activists ensued around 11:40 am and quickly turned violent. A spokesperson for Washington, DC’s Metropolitan Police Department confirmed with CNA that detectives are investigating the incident. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254898/video-police-investigate-alleged-attack-on-pro-lifers-outside-dc-planned-parenthood Americans are increasingly rejecting the idea of God along with other religious and spiritual concepts, continuing a decades-long trend that shows an ongoing decline in belief in key religious tenets. A July poll from Gallup shows a marked decrease in belief in “God, angels, heaven, hell, and the devil” among U.S. adults since the last time the survey question was asked in 2016. Seven years ago, 79% of respondents said they believed in God; just 74% said the same thing in this month’s survey, a decline of five percentage points. Overall belief in God has declined by 16 percentage points since the survey has been conducted, with 90% of respondents affirming that faith in 2001. Similar declines in belief have been recorded regarding the devil, heaven, hell, and angels, with each one seeing double-digit declines in professed believers over the 22 years in question. https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/254891/americans-belief-in-god-heaven-he