House Passes Bill to Make Cemetery Desecration a Religious Freedom Crime
Lauren Markoe from Religion News Service reports that the U.S. House of Representatives has “passed a bill that makes desecrating graves a violation of religious rights.” Jewish constituents of Rep. Grace Meng (D-NY) originally suggested the bill because they were concerned about the treatment of Jewish cemeteries abroad. According to Meng, vandalism of these cemeteries is “a new and emerging threat in places where there are no Jewish communities left to protect burial grounds.”