RELIGION HEADLINES TUE 8-26-25

(SRN NEWS)-

(  )  France summoned American Ambassador Charles Kushner to Paris on Monday after he wrote a letter to French President Emmanuel Macron stating that the country does not do enough to combat anti-Semitism.  The French foreign ministry says his allegations are “unacceptable”.  The summoning of the ambassador is a formal and public notice of displeasure.  France, which has the third highest population of Jews in the world, has seen a rash of anti-Semitic acts recently.  Many Jews are also outraged at Macron’s decision to unilaterally recognize a Palestinian state during United Nations meetings in September.

(  )  The manager of a leisure park in southern France is being investigated for alleged religious discrimination after a group of Israeli children were refused access.  The kids, ages eight-to-sixteen, had made a reservation to use the zipline facility in the Pyrenees mountains.  Prosecutors say the manager initially said he was refusing the group access on the grounds of “personal beliefs” before offering other justifications.  Perla Danan of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions says “It started with graffiti, insults and physical attacks and now it’s literally a ban on children.”  The Israeli group opted to go to a different park.

(  )  Focus On The Family founder Dr. James Dobson, who passed away last week, is being remembered as an iconic Evangelical leader.  But he also spent a lot of time building the conservative political infrastructure that helped elect President Trump.  Dobson helped create a constellation of allied Family Policy Councils in around 40 states that promote a socially conservative agenda and lobby lawmakers.  Dobson considered running for president himself in 2000, following in the footsteps of former television minister Pat Robertson’s surprise success in 1988.  Political action groups started by Dobson have made large contributions to GOP candidates.

(  )  Religious colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith cannot be excluded from a popular Minnesota program that lets high school students take college courses for credit.  That’s the ruling from a federal judge, tossing a state law that she called an unconstitutional violation of religious freedom.  The decision from U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel (bruh-SELL) is a victory for two religious schools in the state: Crown College in St. Bonifacius and the University of Northwestern in Roseville. Those two institutions require their students to pledge to follow the school’s values and conduct rules.