RELIGION HEADLINES TUE 1-13

(SRN NEWS)-

(  )  Churches in Syria are opening their doors to refugees from fighting between the government and Kurdish forces around the city of Aleppo.  St. Ephrem Syrian Orthodox Church is hosting about 100 people who had fled the conflict.  Parishioners have donated mattresses, blankets and food.  Pastor Aday Maher says “As soon as the problems started and we heard the sounds of battle we opened our church as a shelter.”  The Ministry of Social Affairs in Aleppo says several thousand people have been staying in various shelters in the city while tens-of-thousands had gone to other areas of the province.  The ministry is working with NGOs to supply them with food.

(  )  Religious leaders and civil rights activists are condemning what authorities say was an act of arson over the weekend that heavily damaged a historic Mississippi synagogue.  The Beth Israel Congregation had been bombed decades ago for the congregation’s role in the civil rights movement.  Synagogue leaders say they are assessing damage but will continue regular worship programs and services for Shabbat, likely at one of the local churches that have reached out.  Local and federal officials, including from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are working together on the investigation.

(  )  According to Voice of the Martyrs, persecution of Christians is no longer confined to traditionally high-risk regions of the world.  VOM’s annual report doubles the number of Latin American countries on the watch list by adding Honduras and Nicaragua.  Venezuela and areas of Mexico were included in the 2025 edition.  Spokesman Todd Nettleton says “Latin American believers are increasingly facing persecution by corrupt governments, Marxist guerrilla groups and criminal gangs.”  Since 1997, the ministry has tracked and designated nations where Christians are persecuted as either hostile, restricted or monitored.

(  )  Texas A&M University faculty have been informed that around 200 courses in the College of Arts and Sciences might be affected by a new policy designed to eliminate DEI and promotion of the LGBT agenda.  The A&M System Board of Regents approved the policy in November, requiring campus presidents to o.k. courses on topics related to sexual orientation or so-called gender identity.  The changes follow a viral video of a professor arguing with a student over transgenderism that sparked a backlash.  Other public universities in Texas are following A&M’s lead.  The Texas Tech University System now prohibits certain sex-related course content.