RELIGION HEADLINES TUE 12-16

(SRN NEWS)-

(  )  The deadly terrorist attack on Jews in Australia over the past weekend follows a surge in anti-Semitism in that country.  In fact, Australia and Italy experienced the biggest increase in anti-Semitic attacks in 2024, following the Hamas attack on Israel the year before.  Tel Aviv University reports that Australia recorded over 1,700 anti-Semitic incidents.  The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has released a statement saying “We need decisive leadership and action now to eradicate the scourge of anti-Semitism from Australia’s public life, for which the Jewish community has long been advocating. Government’s first duty is to keep its citizens safe.”

(  )  Two California colleges have reached settlements with Jewish organizations and individuals who filed complaints alleging anti-Semitism arising from pro-Palestinian campus protests.  UC Berkeley will pay 60,000 dollars to a visiting professor who was found in a campus investigation to have been the victim of discrimination.  Pomona College will hire a civil rights coordinator and create a task force on Jewish life and anti-Semitism.  The cases are part of broader allegations of bias against Jews at colleges nationwide in the two years since the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked fighting in Gaza.

(  )  Egypt and Iran, two Muslim nations where homosexuality is outlawed, say they will formally protest a World Cup soccer match in Seattle that will celebrate Gay Pride.  Leaders in each nation’s soccer federations will lodge a complaint with FIFA (FEE-fah), the sport’s governing body, and are threatening not to play the match on June 26th at Seattle Stadium.  At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA fiercely defended the right of the host nation’s cultural norms to be respected in full by visiting teams.  Organizers of the matches barred European fans from waving Gay Pride flags during the matches in Qatar, which also criminalizes homosexuality.  

(  )  Archaeologists in Turkey have uncovered an ancient fresco of Jesus from Anatolia’s early Christian era.  The painting was found in an underground tomb near Iznik, a town known for the Nicene Creed’s adoption in A.D. 325.  At the time, the region was part of the Roman Empire, and the tomb is believed to date to the 3rd century, a time when Christians still faced widespread persecution. The fresco shows a youthful, Roman-looking Jesus carrying a goat.  Researchers say it’s a rare depiction of Jesus with Roman attributes.  Turkey has a long Christian history.  Paul was born there and John spent his final years there.