RELIGION HEADLINES – SAT 6/20/26

(SRN NEWS)  The United Nations is again sounding an alarm about anti-Christian violence in Nigeria.  The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights says it is being swamped with reports of attacks by Muslim terrorists on believers in Nigeria and women are suffering the most.  The U.N. says there has been a surge in abductions, sexual violence, forced marriage, and enforced disappearance, especially in the country’s northern and Middle Belt regions.  At least two Muslim terror groups, Boko Haram and the Islamic State West Africa Province are at work in Nigeria.  Some accuse the government of a tepid response. 

(  )  Evangelical Christians continue to be one of President Trump’s key constituencies.  An AP-NORC poll finds that about two-thirds of white born-again Protestants approved of Trump’s overall performance in April.  Mr. Trump won the support of about eight-in-10 White Evangelical Christian voters in 2020 and 2024.  Prominent clergymen have been some of the president’s strongest supporters.  Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, says he especially appreciated Mr. Trump’s establishment of the Religious Liberty Commission, where Jeffress testified about unfair scrutiny of his church by the IRS. 

(  )  As more Americans turn away from Christianity, interest in UFOs is up sharply.  Now Steven Spielberg has released a new movie called “Disclosure Day” which explores extraterrestrial life and its impact on religion.  The film explicitly asks if God is the God only of Earth, or if a divine creator spans every civilization and intelligent life form in the cosmos.  A growing number of conventions are being held across the country for UFO enthusiasts, some who are proclaiming that aliens from other planets represent God.  Some faith leaders view UFOs as demonic and others warn that America’s obsession with them is unhealthy. 

(  )  A new report warns about increasing persecution of Christians in Nepal.  International Christian Concern says the mostly-Hindu nation subjects followers of Christ to legal restrictions, social pressure and occasional violence.  ICC says “According to Christian leaders in Nepal, increasing Hindu nationalism seeks both to reinforce the country’s identity as a Hindu nation and to suppress Christian growth.  Christian converts, especially those who leave Hinduism, often endure severe social consequences.”  According to the latest data, 81 percent of the population in Nepal is Hindu, while only about two percent is Christian.