RELIGIOUS HEADLINES SAT 1-17-26

(SRN NEWS) The Texas Methodist Foundation has awarded nearly one million dollars in grant funding to 68 churches and nonprofit ministries across Texas and New Mexico.  One of those recipients is Corpus Christi Metro Ministries.  It provides over 8,000 hot meals to the homeless each month, as well as no-cost medical services, and transitional housing.  TMF says all the recipients spread the gospel and help the poor, adding that “these are nurturing places where neighbors are welcomed and fed, where healing begins, and where people experience God’s love.”  The Foundation has been boosting ministries since it started in 1938. 

(  )  Europe and North America aren’t the only regions that are seeing a decline in religious faith.  A new analysis of data by Matthew Blanton at the University of Texas finds that the number of Latin Americans reporting no religious affiliation surged from seven percent in 2004 to over 18 percent in 2023.  The share of people who say they are religiously unaffiliated grew in 15 of the 17 countries, and more than doubled in seven.  On average, 21 percent of people in South America say they do not have a religious affiliation, compared with 13 percent in Mexico and Central America.  Uruguay, Chile and Argentina are the three least religious countries in the region.  

(  )  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.