RELGION HEADLINES THR 4-24-25

(SRN NEWS  )  Some good news on anti-Semitism.  The number of attacks and other incidents around the world declined slightly last year from a peak reached immediately after Hamas launched its attack on Israel in the fall of 2023.  That’s according to an annual report from Tel Aviv University.  However, the researchers say the number of attacks in 2024 was still significantly higher than in 2022, before the attack and the subsequent war in Gaza. Two notable exceptions to this trend are Australia and Italy, where attacks on Jews rose sharply last year.

(  )  Democratic Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison has filed a preemptive lawsuit against President Trump over transgenderism.  Mr. Trump has declared that Title Nine does not allow boys to play against girls on school sports teams or use female bathrooms, and the administration has filed suit against Maine over the issue.  Ellison believes Minnesota is next and decided to take preemptive legal action.  Title Nine is a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any educational program or activity that receives federal funds.  It was enacted in 1972.

(  )  A Nebraska bill that would bar males from female bathrooms, locker rooms and sports teams has advanced from the first of three rounds of debate.  The legislation from Omaha Republican Senator Kathleen Kauth is a reprise of one she has introduced repeatedly in recent years.  In 2023 it was linked with another Kauth measure barring sex-change operations and puberty-blocking hormones for children.  The medical care bill passed and was signed into law, but the bathroom and sports measure failed to advance out of committee.

(  )  The Supreme Court’s conservative majority is signaling support for the religious rights of Maryland parents who want to remove their children from elementary school classes using storybooks that promote the LGBT lifestyle.  In arguments this week the justices suggested that it would find the Montgomery County school system cannot require students to sit through lessons involving the books if parents express religious objections to them. The court has repeatedly endorsed claims of religious discrimination in recent years.  A ruling is due this summer.