RELIGION HEADLINES SAT 5-23-26

(SRN NEWS)  Australia says a neo-Nazi network is the second organization being banned under a new law criminalizing hate groups and support for them.  That legislation was passed in response to the anti-Semitic attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach in December in which 15 people were killed.  A statement by the government says the National Socialist Network “changed their name but didn’t change the fact that they were still an organization and were still engaging in the same sort of behavior that met the thresholds for this legislation.”  A radical Muslim group was the first organization banned under the hate speech law back in March.

(  )  According to a new study from West Virginia University, most adults who attend religious services go to several different churches, at least occasionally.  The report indicates that roughly 12 percent of all adults who attend services go to multiple congregations regularly and 45 percent do so from time to time.  Of those who attend multiple congregations, about three-quarters attend two congregations, and the rest attend three or more.  Adults who do this are more likely to be politically liberal, whereas political conservatives are more likely to always attend one church.

(  )  The social media platform X is pledging to crack down on anti-Semitic and terrorist content in Britain at the behest of the country’s media regulator.  The platform is taking several steps, including restricting access in the U.K. to accounts operated by or on behalf of Muslim terrorist groups that the country has banned.  Britain’s Jewish community, which numbers about 300,000 people, has faced growing attacks online and in the streets.  These include a string of arson attacks and a double stabbing that have sparked fear and anger among Jews.  X is also promising to review suspected illegal terrorist and hate content within 24 hours.

(  )  The Trump administration wants to take 14 acres of land outside El Paso that’s owned by the Catholic Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico, to install border barriers.  The administration has filed a lawsuit against the diocese, which refuses to cede the land and argues that the seizure violates its First Amendment rights.  The government is offering to pay nearly 200,000 dollars for the strip of land, because it is a high-traffic route for human smuggling.  The area has also been the site of a record number of migrant deaths in recent years.  Many local people agree with the need for barriers in the area.