Driven by Islamic extremism, authoritarian regimes and war, high-level persecution and discrimination impacted 380 million Christians around the world in 2024, according to the annual World Watch List report by the evangelical nonprofit Open Doors released Wednesday (Jan. 15). (André, Religion News Service)
Read MoreEveryone knows about the events of 9/11. But few are aware that, a century and a half before, September 11 was associated with a ghastly act of violence that was similarly driven by religious zealotry and a desire to punish Americans. The events of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which took place in early September 1857, and came to their horrific conclusion on the 11 September, have been called “the darkest deed of the 19th century”. (Larman, The Telegraph)
Read MoreTikTok users are pushing back against the looming TikTok ban set to potentially go into effect Sunday by downloading a Chinese app called RedNote, which some users are calling “China’s TikTok.” TikTok’s ban was largely derived from national security concerns related to TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and many users are moving to RedNote as an explicit form of protest. (Rosenblatt, NBC News)
Read MoreJohnson made the comments shortly after the House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act in a 218-206 vote, with all House Republicans and two Texas Democrats — Reps. Vicente Gonzalez and Henry Cuellar — voting in favor of the bill. The legislation bars transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports from elementary school through college. (Jenkins, Religion News Service)
Read MoreThe Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday in a battle over whether Southern Methodist University can separate from the United Methodist Church. The university, founded in Dallas by Methodists in the early 20th century, has been trying to extricate itself since 2019, a period of intense turmoil in the denomination over whether the church should accept gay clergy or gay marriage. (Graham, The New York Times)
Read MoreAround half of adults across the world hold antisemitic beliefs and deny the historic facts of the Holocaust, according to the latest edition of the largest global study of anti-Jewish attitudes by the Anti-Defamation League, a New York-based advocacy group. (Pancevski, The Wall Street Journal)
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