RELIGION HEADLINES FRI 6-20-25

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(SRN NEWS  )  Nicaragua continues to attract attention for religious persecution.  Scores of Catholic and Protestant leaders have wound up in prison for questioning President Daniel Ortega’s dictatorial rule. CSW, a British-based group that advocates for religious freedom, documented more than 200 cases affecting Nicaraguans in 2024.  Tensions between Ortega and Nicaraguan faith leaders began in 2018, when a social security reform program sparked massive protests that were met with a violent crackdown.  Some clergymen who haven’t been imprisoned have been exiled.

(  )  Groundbreaking has been held for the rebuilding of one of the nation’s oldest black churches, whose congregants first gathered outdoors in secret before constructing a wooden meetinghouse in Virginia.  The First Baptist Church of Williamsburg officially established itself in 1776, although parishioners met before then in fields and under trees in defiance of laws that prevented African Americans from congregating. Free and enslaved members erected the original church house around 1805, laying the foundation with recycled bricks.

(  )  Advocates for children are cheering the Supreme Court’s decision this week that upholds a Tennessee ban on sex-change operations for children.  The case is sure to resonate nationally.  Twenty-six other states have passed similar laws, and nearly all of them are also facing legal challenges.  The new ruling could help the states withstand them.  It could also bolster President Trump’s efforts to cut off federal funding for sex-change operations, though a court has put that order on hold.  States are also passing laws to keep males out of female sports.

(  )  Hundreds of Jews from the United States and elsewhere have been evacuated from Israel aboard a cruise ship to Cyprus as conflict between the Jewish state and Iran heats up.  The island nation has become a transit point for those being evacuated from Israel or Israelis wishing to return home after being stranded abroad.  Approximately 6,500 people are in Cyprus attempting to reach Israel.  The small Jewish community in Cyprus has embraced the unexpected visitors.  Rabbis are finding accommodations, and the local community center has been serving kosher meals.