Weekly religion news roundup (April 17-23, 2026)
Photograph by Utsav Srestha via Unsplash
Hannah Estifanos
Trump reads from Bible in Oval Office in taped message for Christian group. Reciting of Old Testament passage comes days after clash with pope and posting AI image of himself as Jesus. (The Guardian)
Outcry grows over Israeli soldier smashing Jesus statue in Lebanon. Although the incident is only one among a broad range of atrocities that Israel is accused of committing in the region in recent years, it garnered condemnations across the world and prompted a response from Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Al Jazeera)
Strait of Hormuz Closure Is Hurting Global Aid. Christian aviation and relief groups say increased fuel costs and shipping disruptions make it difficult for them to help the world’s most vulnerable. (Christianity Today)
UK police arrest 2 in connection with weekend arson attack on synagogue. Deputy Commissioner Matt Jukes of London’s Metropolitan Police Service said officers arrested two young men, aged 19 and 17, overnight in relation to the attack on the Kenton United Synagogue in the borough of Harrow. (Religion News Service)
China raises pressure on underground Catholics to join official church, Human Rights Watch finds. Chinese authorities are increasing pressure on underground Catholic communities to join the state-controlled official church while tightening surveillance and travel restrictions on all of China’s estimated 12 million Catholics, a rights group said Wednesday. (Associated Press)
Each week in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.
Pope prays at Catholic shrine in Angola that was a center of African slave trade. Pope Leo XIV on Sunday recalled the “sorrow and great suffering” Angolans endured for centuries, as the American pope prayed at a Catholic shrine located at the site of an important hub of the African slave trade during Portugal’s colonial rule. (Associated Press)
A rural college uses ancient Islamic archives to reconnect students to African legacy. In a formerly segregated school in rural Virginia, an Islamic college has been reconnecting its mostly Black American Muslim students with a legacy of faith and scholarship largely erased from mainstream history. (The Christian Century)
Supreme Court will hear from religious preschools challenging exclusion from taxpayer-funded program. In the latest religious rights case for the conservative-majority court, the justices will hear from Colorado's St. Mary Catholic Parish and the Archdiocese of Denver, which are supported by the Republican Trump administration. (Religion News Service)
Evangelical groups divided over DIGNITY Act for immigrants. The DIGNIDAD (Dignity) Act could put long-term, law-abiding, hard-working, tax-paying immigrants and families on a pathway to U.S. citizenship. But it has divided evangelicals, illustrating divisions over President Donald Trump’s immigration policies six months before midterm elections. (Baptist News Global)
What a new Gallup poll shows about young men’s religious revival. A new Gallup poll released Thursday shows more young men in the U.S. say religion is “very important” in their lives compared to young women — the first time young men have surpassed young women on this measure of religiosity going back 25 years. (Associated Press)
Hannah Estifanos is the copyeditor of The Christian Citizen.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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