5 of our top opinion pieces this week: ICYMI

In today's fast-paced news environment, it can be hard to keep up. For your weekend reading, we've started in-case-you-missed-it compilations of some of the week's top USA TODAY Opinion pieces. As always, thanks for reading, and for your feedback.

— USA TODAY Opinion editors

1. Here are the tough debate questions 2020 Democratic candidates should have to answer

By Ari Fleischer

"For years, the news media have drilled Republicans on cultural issues, seeking information on where candidates stand on some of the most sensitive and divisive topics imaginable. With the first 2020 Democratic debates coming in a double-header next week in Miami, here are a few questions that would be equally tough on the 20 Democratic candidates who made the cut. ... 

"►Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said she was fine with noncitizens voting in some local elections. Are there any elections in which you would support allowing noncitizens the right to vote, or do you flat-out oppose allowing illegal immigrants the right to vote in any election? 

"►If illegal immigrants commit felonies, will you allow Immigration and Customs Enforcement to deport them?

"►Aside from those who commit felonies, are there any illegal immigrants you would support deporting?"

2. My rapist fought for custody of my daughter. States can't keep survivors tied to rapists.

By Analyn Megison

"After I became pregnant as a result of the attack, I did not want to think of myself as a victim. I chose to carry my pregnancy to term. It gave me hope that I was not completely broken and destroyed. ... I did not expect to feel the horror and shock that came years later, in 2010, when my rapist tried to claim custody of my child. ... Currently, just 30 states allow the termination of parental rights of rapists who conceive a child, while others just put restrictions in place. Many states still require the conviction of the sexual assault. If your state requires a conviction of the sexual assault, I challenge you to reform it. Demand that your lawmakers reform it — including situations of domestic violence and marital rape. We cannot keep allowing the laws of your state to keep women and children chained to a rapist."

3. Joe Biden says he'll cure cancer. Sounds like the kind of lie Donald Trump would tell.

By David Mastio

"Trump's whoppers rarely get serious competition from the other side of the aisle. Nobody is as big as he is and nobody twists reality the way he does. But with the Democratic primary heating up and front-runner Joe Biden trading barbs with the president, last week there was finally some competition. In a Trumpian-turn, the former vice president claimed that electing him would cure cancer. No, seriously. ... Pie-in-the-sky promises about curing cancer only fuel distrust in government. Fantasies about an ethical golden age insult voters who remember that the scandal-laden Hillary Clinton was the avatar of an Obama-era third term. And both Biden’s falsehoods feed the cynical view that all politicians are allergic to the truth, normalizing one of Trump’s most appalling pathologies."

4. Global Christian persecution is worsening while American churches slumber

By David Curry

"On May 18, extremists in Nigeria interrupted a church choir practice and abducted 17 Christians. ... It’s the latest attack in the escalating violent war on Christians within Nigeria, where 3,731 Christians were killed last year. ... (But) it’s not just in Nigeria. ... China, waking up to a stunning realization that there could be more Christians in Chinathan members of the Communist Party soon, has begun an Orwellian crackdown ... to bring Chinese churches under the boot of the government. Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been governing India, the country has relegated its 30 million Christians to second-class citizens. ... Yet the leadership of the American church, with its superpastors and megachurches, is whistling through the graveyard. The beast that we have created, which relies on upbeat music and positivity to attract donors to sustain large budgets, leaves little room for pastors to talk about the suffering of global Christians."

5. Fear, not outrage: Trump doesn't get better, he just makes the people around him worse

By Chris Truax

"A lot of people are outraged by President Donald Trump’s admission last week that he would happily accept dirt on a political opponent from a foreign government. I’m not outraged though, or even particularly upset. ... What I am is frightened. After two years of being hectored, lectured and dragged over the coals, Trump has learned absolutely nothing. ... Trump’s constant complaints about being suspected of colluding with the Russians were entirely fueled by Trump and his own campaign. Who can forget the news conference where he encouraged the Russians to hack into Clinton’s servers and steal her emails? Donald Trump Jr.’s giddy acceptance of an apparent offer from the Russian government promising dirt on Clinton and her campaign? ... We have a president who can’t or won't learn from his mistakes and a large group of people fanatically devoted to that president who can no longer tell right from wrong. Trump isn’t going to get better. He only makes the people around him worse."