1. FBI Thwarts NYC Antisemitic Terror Plot
The FBI broke up a plot against a Jewish community in New York City. Agents say 20-year-old Pakistani national Muhammad Khan was planning an attack on a Jewish center in Brooklyn with assault-style rifles, and he was working in the name of ISIS.
This comes amid a spike in antisemitic attacks, including two incidents in the last month where suspects shouted “free Palestine”:
- The firebombing of a gathering of Jews in Boulder, CO;
- And the murder of a Jewish couple in Washington, D.C.
Tuesday, lawmakers gathered to mourn the couple who worked at the Israeli embassy, while highlighting the rise in antisemitism:
- House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA): “We see two cold-blooded monsters separated by 2,000 miles but united in their sick hatred of the Jewish people.”
- Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY): “We must come together in good faith as Democrats and Republicans standing shoulder to shoulder to defeat antisemitism.”
Antisemitic violence in the U.S. has increased 300 percent since Hamas’s October 7th attack on Israel.
2. Parking Tax Could Harm Non-Profit Ministries
The Senate might pass the president’s so-called “big, beautiful bill” this month, but some faith leaders want senators to remove one provision dubbed the “non-profit parking tax.”
It would require organizations, like Christian ministries, to treat the cost of providing parking to their employees as taxable income. It’s expected to lead to more than $2.6 billion in taxes over the next 10 years.
Citizens are being urged to ask their senators to pull this measure from the bill.
Aaron Mercer, Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability: “It is very clear that this money that they’re expecting to come in, it is coming from the charitable missions that these works are doing. And when donors give money to ministries, I don’t think they’re expecting a certain part of that to be handed over to the government because of parking. So that would be something that would be good to express.”
Churches are exempt from the tax.
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3. Christianity Still the Largest Global Religion but…
A new report from the Pew Research Center shows Christians remain the largest religious group in the world, but Muslims were growing faster during the last decade.
Islam grew more than any other religion between 2010 and 2020.
The number of Muslims increased by 347 million, rising 1.8 percent to 25.6 percent of the global population.
Christianity added 122 million followers in that decade, but its share of the global population dropped 1.8 percent to 28.8 percent.
The global Jewish population rose by 6 percent from about 14 million to nearly 15 million. That total is still below the estimated 16.6 million who were alive in 1939, prior to the Holocaust.
