RELIGION HEADLINES TUE 11-25

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(SRN NEWS)-(  )  The daughter of a detained Chinese Christian pastor is urging U.S. lawmakers to help free her father.  Grace Jin Drexel says her father, Ezra Jin Mingri (MIN-gree), has been formally charged along with 17 other leaders of the prominent underground Zion Church.  They were first detained in October in one of China’s largest crackdowns on a single church in decades.  It is among the largest churches that are unregistered with the Chinese authorities, defying restrictions from the officially atheist Communist Party requiring believers to worship only in registered congregations.

(  )  Two Catholic priests who were imprisoned on what human rights officials say were politically related charges have been released from prison in Belarus following talks with the Vatican.  The move, which was confirmed by the Conference of Catholic Bishops in Belarus, comes amid speculation about warming relations between Minsk and the West.  A phone call between President Alexander Lukashenko and President Trump back in August led to the release of some political prisoners.  The authoritarian government in Belarus has been cracking down on all critics, including clergymen.

(  )  President Trump’s administration is promoting efforts to work with Nigeria’s government to counter violence against Christians by Muslim terror groups.  Following a meeting with Nigerian officials, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on social media that the Pentagon is “working aggressively with Nigeria to end the persecution of Christians by jihadist terrorists.” Hegseth says Nigeria has to demonstrate commitment and take urgent and enduring action to stop the attacks.  A State Department official describes an expansive approach that includes diplomatic tools and intelligence sharing.

(  )  The annual Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg is open, nearly a year after it was the scene of a horrific car-ramming attack that left six people dead. The city and the organizers of the market have invested nearly 300,000 dollars in new security systems, including concrete blocks that are supposed to keep cars from entering the pedestrian area.  The attacker, a Saudi national, is on trial charged with murder.  Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual tradition cherished since the Middle Ages and successfully exported to much of the Western world.