7 stories to know: Trump talks to radicals, a big week in space, and why even learn

“7 stories to know” is a new Monday series showcasing stories that may have been ignored in the crush of news over the past few weeks, and stories that have continued to evolve over the weekend. Expect to read coverage about health, science, and climate that frequently take second chair to what’s happening at the top of the page, plus information from local sources that the national media may have overlooked.

1. Trump to address group that calls abortion ‘child sacrifice’

Donald Trump is scheduled to make a virtual appearance on Monday at an event hosted by a Christian nationalist group that describes all abortions as “child sacrifice.” 

The Danbury Institute was created in February 2024 to promote “a renewed engagement by Christians in national leadership roles to steer public policy.” It’s headed by evangelical radio host Richard Land, previously known not just for his opposition to both abortion and same-sex marriage, but for his complaints that the murder of Trayvon Martin was getting too much attention. The Washington, D.C., think tank insists that it stands for “defense of our Judeo-Christian foundations.” 

“We believe that the greatest atrocity of our generation today is the practice of abortion—child sacrifice on the altar of self,” reads the Danbury website. “More than 60 million pre-born humans—each wonderfully made in the image of God—have been murdered on our watch. Abortion must be ended. We will not rest until it is eradicated entirely.”

Trump may claim that he intends to leave abortion to the states, but that’s not what Republicans in the House or Trump’s right-wing Christian supporters are planning. And that’s not all they are against.

The Danbury Institute also opposes “unbiblical ideologies such as Critical Race Theory, LGBTQ+ emphases, sex and slave trafficking, and rampant efforts to ‘trans’ our youngest generation,” according to its website.

Most of all, what the Danbury Institute means to do is establish evangelical Christian control of the nation and reverse a principle that has existed since the nation’s founding. The think tank draws its name from the Danbury Baptist Church. That’s the church that corresponded with Thomas Jefferson in 1801, resulting in what may be Jefferson’s best known letter, in which he describes the “building of a wall of separation between Church & State.”

The Danbury Institute is dedicated to tearing down that wall. And it’s holding a luncheon adjacent to the Southern Baptist Convention at which Trump is slated to be one of 15 speakers.