RELIGION HEADLINES FRI 1-23

(SRN NEWS)-

  )  Historians, educators and Jewish groups are considering how to teach about the Holocaust after the last survivors have passed away.  Few of today’s college students have ever met a Holocaust survivor.  Those who have likely met a child survivor, with few personal memories before 1945.  This may have an effect on America’s memory of the Holocaust.  One study finds that 45 percent of American adults cannot identify Auschwitz or any other single Nazi death camp, of which there were about 40,000,  The poll also revealed that 41 percent of younger Americans doubt that the Nazis actually killed six million Jews during the Holocaust.

(  )  Surveys by the Pew Research Center find the Catholic population in Latin American countries has shrunk over the last decade while Protestantism has remained relatively stable across the region.  Experts say the Catholic church’s strong influence has eroded in large measure because of the priest sex abuse scandal.  Meanwhile, the share of Latin America’s population that is atheist, agnostic or followers of no particular religion is growing.  In many countries, people are seeking answers in yoga, tarot, astrology and other pagan beliefs.  There are more religiously unaffiliated adults than Protestants in Argentina, Chile, Colombia and Mexico.

(  )  A federal judge has ruled in favor of West Texas A&M University, allowing the school to block a 2023 drag show by the student group Spectrum WT.  This decision resets the legal battle over the drag show ban and cancels a pending appeal.  U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk (kass-MARE-ick) ruled that the university did not violate the First Amendment.  He found that Spectrum failed to demonstrate that the drag show was meant to convey any specific message.  Spectrum plans to appeal the ruling, arguing it conflicts with Supreme Court precedent on expressive conduct.  The judge also raised concerns about children attending drag shows.

(  )  A Jewish cemetery in Libya has been flattened to make way for construction.  The graveyard was located in the Eastern city of Derna and is just one of many being wiped out by Libyan authorities.  In fact, no Jewish people are known to live in Libya anymore — the last of them left in 2003.  Jews had a long history in the country, dating back more than 2,000 years.  Historians point to evidence of Jewish communities in Libya from Biblical times through occupation by the Romans, the Arabs and the Ottomans.  In the Bible the city of Cyrene (sigh-REE-nee) was in modern day Libya.  Simon of Cyrene was forced to carry Jesus’ cross as detailed in the gospels.