RELIGION HEADLINES FRI 8-15-25

Audio By Carbonatix

(SRN NEWS)-(  )  A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore millions of dollars in science grants it has withheld from UCLA, saying they were made in violation of an earlier ruling.  The taxpayer funds were frozen as part of a wider effort by the administration to convince major universities to stop promoting the LGBT agenda and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.  UCLA also faces a Trump administration demand that it pay one billion dollars to settle allegations of anti-Semitism by Jewish students.  A number of other schools have agreed to make changes in return for continued federal funding.

(  )  A federal judge has declined to block an Alabama law that bans Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives in public schools.  U.S. District Judge David Proctor found that University of Alabama students and professors who filed suit challenging the law did not meet the legal burden required for a preliminary injunction.  The court fight over the statute will go forward, but the law will remain in place while it does.  The Alabama measure, which took effect last year, is part of a wave of proposals from Republican lawmakers across the country taking aim at DEI programs on America’s college campuses.

(  )  After decades of tensions between Muslims and Christians in Cyprus a private group is seeking to build bridges.  Greek and Turkish Cypriots have teamed up to restore grave markers at 15 civilian cemeteries on each side of the so-called Green Line which cuts the Mediterranean island in half. Shattered granite crosses are strewn about the weed-choked Greek Cypriot cemeteries on the Muslim side while Muslim graves suffer the same fate in the Greek Cypriot south. Until 2003, no one could even cross the U.N. buffer zone to place flowers on loved ones’ graves.  Expansion of the 800,000 dollar project to more cemeteries is being considered.

(  )  A Muslim terrorist group is ramping up its attacks in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  Christians are almost always the target and tensions are running high.  One local leader tells International Christian Concern “Our population must stay alert.  We are facing a persistent threat, and only by working together with the security forces and remaining cautious can we avoid further bloodshed.”  Muslim terrorism is running rampant in Sub-Saharan Africa where about 50 percent of the population in most countries is Christian.  Weak governments have made it easier for terrorists to establish themselves.