Americans opened their wallets wider last year, with total charitable giving climbing three percent to reach $617 billion — the first time the figure has ever topped $600 billion. While that total ranks as the second-highest ever when adjusted for inflation, it still fell short of the all-time record set in 2021. The growth rate slightly outpaced the long-term annual average of 2.7 percent, a trend analysts credit to a relatively strong national economy. One notable trend within the data: charitable bequests — donations made through a person’s estate after death — accounted for roughly 10 percent of all giving in 2025.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a former Louisiana prison inmate cannot pursue a lawsuit against corrections officials who cut off his dreadlocks, a practice he argued violated his religious beliefs. The justices sided against Damon Landor, a Rastafarian, determining that a federal law meant to safeguard the religious rights of incarcerated individuals does not allow inmates to seek monetary damages. The high court upheld earlier lower court rulings finding that the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act cannot be used to hold violators financially liable. The justices also declined to extend the reasoning from a 2020 ruling that had allowed Muslim men to file suit under a related federal statute.
An Egyptian court has handed down a five-year hard labor sentence to a Christian man for posting videos on YouTube that drew comparisons between Christianity and Islam. Augustinos Saman was convicted on charges of contempt of religion and misuse of social media. The case highlights the difficult circumstances faced by Christians in Egypt, where they represent only about 10 percent of the population. Although Egypt rarely appears at the top of international lists tracking religious persecution, the government still imposes limits on religious freedom and free speech for non-Muslims, and dozens of members of minority faith communities have been imprisoned.
The Trump administration has opened a federal anti-Semitism investigation targeting the National Education Association, the country’s largest teachers union. Some Jewish members of the NEA allege they were harassed and physically intimidated by fellow union members during the organization’s annual convention last year. Among the specific accusations: other NEA members allegedly cheered when a 2025 attack on Jews in Colorado was mentioned. Additional concerns involve a union handbook for Indigenous People’s Day that featured a map of the Middle East labeling Israel as “Palestine,” as well as a separate handbook that referenced the Holocaust without identifying Jews as its primary victims.
