Faith Digest: Anti-Semitism decreases

Anti-Semitism down in U.S. but rampant online. The Anti-Defamation League’s study of anti-Semitism in the United States shows a 14 percent decrease in incidents during 2012, the second consecutive year of a downward trend. Overall, the ADL counted 927 anti-Semitic incidents—including assaults, vandalism and harassment—down from the 1,080 incidents reported in 2011. But the ADL report also showed a proliferation in the United States of some expressions of anti-Semitism, including vandalism, online expressions of hatred toward Jews and anti-Jewish hostility on college campuses. Vandalism rose 33 percent, with 440 incidents reported in 2012. Most took place on public property or at individual homes, and Jewish institutions were targeted in 13 percent of the total cases. Online expressions of anti-Semitism “are simply too numerous to track,” according to the report, and are only counted “if they specifically target an individual.” The report also describes increasing hostility against Jews on college campuses, with 61 incidents reported in 2012, up from 22 incidents reported in 2011.

Evangelicals decry silence on sexual abuse. More than 1,200 people signed an online petition decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches. The statement was prompted by recent child abuse allegations against Sovereign Grace Ministries, an umbrella group of 80 Reformed evangelical churches based in Louisville, Ky. The three-page statement spearheaded by GRACE—Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment—took to task the response of churches and Christian institutions to such allegations, “moving to protect her structures rather than her children.” In May, a judge dismissed many of the charges against Sovereign Grace, but lawyers for the victims appealed the verdict. Board members of Sovereign Grace have said they “abhor sexual abuse of any kind” and said they have not found evidence of a cover-up.

Pork pics could land couple in Malaysian prison. A non-Muslim Chinese couple who posted on Facebook a photo of themselves eating pork during the Islamic month of Ramadan face up to 15 years in prison in Muslim-majority Malaysia for sedition and other crimes. Alvin Tan, 25, and Vivian Lee, 24—also known as Tan Jye Yee and Lee May Ling— were charged under Malaysia’s Sedition Act, Film Censorship Act and Penal Code, and they pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court in Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur. They allegedly posted a photograph of themselves early in July, smiling at a roadside restaurant while eating pork stew with chopsticks. The photo included a caption greeting Muslims during Ramadan, plus their personal website address. That website displayed several YouTube videos with sexually provocative titles. Ethnic Malay Muslims comprise about two-thirds of the Southeast Asian nation’s population, compared to Chinese who form about 25 percent of Malaysia’s total of 30 million people. Malaysia’s Chinese are mostly Buddhists or Christians and can eat pork.