RELIGION HEADLINES WED 6-18-2025

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(SRN NEWS  )  The latest addition to the Copenhagen skyline is a tall, 12-sided wooden building bearing the sign “Denmark’s First Tiny Church”.  The 800-square-foot construction was unveiled Sunday and is an outpost of the local Evangelical Lutheran Church.  The parish’s leaders saw a need for extra space as the Danish capital is expected to grow by 20 percent over the next decade.  The city has already seen an influx of new housing projects, bringing with them an estimated 40,000 new residents over the next four decades.  Most Danes belong to the ELC.

(  )  For the first time in 2,000 years an American is Pope and a new AP-NORC poll asks U.S. residents how they feel about that.  Plenty of people are still making up their minds about Pope Leo, but among those who do have an opinion, feelings about him are generally positive.  The survey finds that 44 percent of U.S. adults have a favorable view of the pontiff.  A similar percentage say they don’t know enough to have an opinion, and only about 1-in-10 see him unfavorably.  About half of Democrats have a favorable view of the new pope, as do about 4-in-10 Republicans and independents.

(  )  Seventeen statewide anti-domestic and sexual violence coalitions are suing the Trump administration over requirements in grant applications that they don’t promote gender ideology or run diversity, equity and inclusion programs.  The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island claims that the grant requirements would open the plaintiffs to federal investigations and enforcement actions, as well as lawsuits from private parties.  President Trump has vowed to purge the federal government of DEI and the LGBT agenda.

(  )  Centuries-old monasteries have been damaged by a series of earthquakes in a secluded monastic community in northern Greece.  A magnitude 5.3 quake struck the Mount Athos peninsula this month, followed by a series of both undersea and land-based tremors.  The semi-autonomous monastic republic is one of the most important religious sites for Orthodox Christians.  It is home to 20 monasteries and observes a number of ancient traditions. The Culture Ministry reports “severe cracks” in the dome of the Monastery of Xenophon as well as damage to other sites.