Conceding Missteps, College Board Pledges To Revise Black Studies Course

Nick Anderson for The Washington Post reports that the College Board announced Monday that it will again revise the course plan for its new Advanced Placement course in African American studies. The College Board acknowledged the fraught political environment, first revising the plan afterFlorida officials accused the course of indoctrination to use the word “intersectionality” less and remove the word “systemic” entirely. Since then, numerous faculty members and researchers have signed on to petitions urging the College Board to take a firm stand against censorship of ideas such as intersectionality and systemic racism, Anderson writes. PRRI research findsthat an overwhelming majority of Americans (90%) support educational efforts to “tell the truth about the history of slavery, violence, and discrimination against racial minorities.”

The State Senator Who Sponsored North Dakota’s Near-Total Abortion Ban

Tori Otten for The New Republic reports that North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed a bill this week revising the state’s current six-week ban to prohibit the procedure throughout pregnancy, with narrow exceptions. Under the new law, any care provider who violates the law can be charged with a felony and doctors are required to lie to patients that medication abortions can be reversed. Republican state Senator Janne Myrdal, who sponsored the bill, previously tried to defund North Dakota State University for launching a research project on youth sex education and cosponsored a bill that would classify all internet-connected devices as a “pornographic vending machine.” She also shared an image on her Facebook page of a Pride flag with a swastika on it (she later backtracked and apologized for the post). PRRI research finds that 56% of people in North Dakota think abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Who Are “Pro-Choice” Republicans and “Pro-Life” Democrats and How Do They Differ From All Republicans and Democrats?

In PRRI’s latest Spotlight Analysis, Monyell Sessoms, Nick Splendoria, and Samantha Martin examine partisans who disagree with their parties regarding the issue of abortion. While most Republicans and Democrats agree with their party’s official platform on abortion, the authors dub 36% of Republicans “pro-choice Republicans” and 14% of Democrats, “pro-life Democrats.” Looking at the role of religion, “pro-life” Democrats are more likely to say that religion is an important part of their life (78%) compared to Democrats overall (47%) while “pro-choice” Republicans (50%) are less likely to say religion is an important part of their life than Republicans overall (70%). Further dissecting the demographics of these outlier groups, both “pro-choice” Democrats and “pro-life” Republicans are less likely to be young, with the majority of “pro-choice” Democrats and “pro-life” Republicans being over 50.

Lots of Americans Are Losing Their Religion. Have You?

The New York Times’ Jessica Grose writes in a recent opinion column that while the United States is still a more religiously observant country than our peer nations in Western Europe, somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 churches close down every year. Gross notes that it is difficult for polling questions to encapsulate the whole picture of American religious observance, because those who are unaffiliated may still have belief in a higher power or other aspects of religious observance. Phil Zuckerman explained that when social scientists talk about religion, they do it in terms of “the three B’s: belief, behavior and belonging.” If someone asks you about your religion and you say you don’t have any, Zuckerman said, “that tells me nothing about your beliefs, and that tells me nothing about your behavior. It just tells me how you identify.”According to NORC data, atheists only made up about 2% to 3% of the population from 1988 to 2012. But by 2021, atheists were 7% of the population.

What’s Buzzing?

Read our latest spotlight “Who Are “Pro-Choice” Republicans and “Pro-Life” Democrats and How Do They Differ From All Republicans and Democrats?” here.