Christianity

Disabled Catholics praise pope's example in publicly using a wheelchair

August 17, 2022

When Amanda Martínez Beck saw a photo of Pope Francis sitting in a wheelchair and holding a baby during his weeklong trip to Canada in July, she felt the same sense of camaraderie she feels seeing another mom at her children's elementary school using a wheelchair.

Beck, who uses a rollator, a kind of walker with a seat, teaches that "all bodies are good bodies" in her fat liberation activism. "Something is good...

Read more about Disabled Catholics praise pope's example in publicly using a wheelchair

Teaching teachers about the Holocaust and its lessons for democracy today

August 10, 2022

At a seminar for schoolteachers on teaching the Holocaust, instructor Donna Tarney rolled through a list of antisemitic tropes about Jews throughout history.

In the Middle Ages, Jews were accused of poisoning wells and using human blood to make matzo.

In the early 20th century, automaker Henry Ford claimed Jews caused World War I, the outbreak of “thieving and robbery” — even, he said, the ...

Read more about Teaching teachers about the Holocaust and its lessons for democracy today

In his debut country album, Rhett McLaughlin breaks up--with God

August 11, 2022

For the entirety of his adolescence and young adulthood, YouTuber Rhett McLaughlin strived to live as the epitome of a winsome Christian. He was raised in a devout home in North Carolina and previously worked as a full-time missionary on college campuses in the South.

But, by his early 30s, his relationship with God was torturing him. Or, as he put it, “I constantly, constantly thought: Oh, crap, what if I’m wrong?”

During that time — about a decade ago — McLaughlin, alongside his lifelong friend and business partner Link Neal, was churning out hundreds of episodes...

Read more about In his debut country album, Rhett McLaughlin breaks up--with God

With an Eye to Mission and Money, More Evangelical Universities Go Green

August 3, 2022

There are two reasons to put solar panels on the roofs of Calvin University.

One, renewable energy can provide power for the private Christian campus in Grand Rapids, Michigan, without adding to the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, chlorofluorocarbons, and nitrous oxide that are driving climate change.

Two, it will save the school some money.

Source:...

Read more about With an Eye to Mission and Money, More Evangelical Universities Go Green

Faith leaders urge Congress to fund help for families torn apart by Trump's 'cruel' family separation policy

August 2, 2022

More than 400 religious leaders and faith groups signed an Aug. 1 letter urging Congress to provide funding for social and legal services for immigrants victimized by the Trump administration’s infamous family separation policy at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Organizations including the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Fellowship Southwest, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and the American Baptist Churches in the USA ...

Read more about Faith leaders urge Congress to fund help for families torn apart by Trump's 'cruel' family separation policy

When does conflict become spiritual abuse? Churches large and small face that question.

August 1, 2022

Concerns about spiritual abuse have become common in recent years — at churches large and small — following the fall of megachurch pastors like Mark Driscoll, of the now-disbanded Mars Hill Church in Seattle, and Bill Hybels, founder of Willow Creek Community Church outside Chicago, both accused of creating toxic cultures ruled by...

Read more about When does conflict become spiritual abuse? Churches large and small face that question.

A religiously diverse Edmonton hosts Pope Francis' visit

July 26, 2022

As Pope Francis pays a historic visit to Canada, he is encountering a country that is less Catholic, more secular and more religiously diverse than the last time it hosted a pontiff two decades ago.

And the city where he landed on Sunday — Edmonton — reflects that diversity more than outsiders might expect from a provincial capital in Canada’s prairie heartland.

Edmonton and its province of Alberta do have a large, long-settled population of Christians of European descent.

Source:...

Read more about A religiously diverse Edmonton hosts Pope Francis' visit

An interfaith group in Oregon is behind one of nation's strictest gun control measures

July 26, 2022

Oregonians will be voting on one of America’s strictest gun control measures on the ballot this November.

If passed by voters, the gun safety initiative would ban the sale of magazines with a capacity greater than 10 rounds and would require permits and firearm safety courses to purchase any gun. Applicants would have...

Read more about An interfaith group in Oregon is behind one of nation's strictest gun control measures

Bishops say U.S. mass shootings have become 'shockingly commonplace'

July 8, 2022

The July 4 mass shooting brought devastation to yet another community in the U.S. and such a tragic situation “has become shockingly commonplace in our country,” said the chairmen of three committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

During a Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, several people died and 30 others were injured when a gunman perched on a rooftop fired on people lining the parade route. Five people died at the scene and two died later in the hospital.

Law enforcement authorities apprehended Robert E. Crimo III, 21,...

Read more about Bishops say U.S. mass shootings have become 'shockingly commonplace'

The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 'We Are Seeing Them Emboldened'

July 8, 2022

Three weeks before he won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano stood beside a three-foot-tall painted eagle statue and declared the power of God.

“Any free people in the house here? Did Jesus set you free?” he asked, revving up the dozens before him on a Saturday afternoon at a Gettysburg roadside hotel.

Mr. Mastriano, a state senator, retired Army colonel and prominent figure in former President Donald J. Trump’s futile efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, was addressing a far-right conference that mixed Christian...

Read more about The Far-Right Christian Quest for Power: 'We Are Seeing Them Emboldened'

Attitudes about transgender issues vary widely among Christians, religious 'nones' in U.S.

July 7, 2022

Growing shares of Americans believe that a person’s gender is determined by their sex assigned at birth, according to a new Pew Research Center survey, which finds major differences by religion on this question and others about transgender issues.

For example, a majority of White evangelical Protestants say society has gone too far in accepting people who are transgender, while religiously unaffiliated Americans are far more likely to say...

Read more about Attitudes about transgender issues vary widely among Christians, religious 'nones' in U.S.

Presbyterians to divest from 5 oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, after years of debate

July 7, 2022

A prominent mainline Christian denomination plans to divest from five oil companies it believes are not doing enough to address climate change.

The vote to divest from Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Marathon Petroleum, Phillips 66 and Valero Energy comes after years of debate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

On Wednesday (July 6), commissioners at the PCUSA’s general assembly voted 340-41 to add those companies to the denomination’s ...

Read more about Presbyterians to divest from 5 oil companies, including Exxon Mobil, after years of debate

Members of minority faith, belief communities have mixed responses to Supreme Court ruling in favor of football coach praying on field

July 8, 2022

Members of minority faith and belief communities had mixed reactions after the recent Supreme Court ruling that said the Constitution protected a high school football coach in Washington who prayed on the field after games.

Some worried the high court’s ruling isn’t necessarily...

Read more about Members of minority faith, belief communities have mixed responses to Supreme Court ruling in favor of football coach praying on field

This conservative leader is trying to make white evangelical politics less white

July 5, 2022

At a recent gathering of thousands of religious conservative activists held by the Faith and Freedom Coalition, one thing immediately stood out: the crowd isn't as white as it used to be.

That's not an accident, according to founder Ralph Reed.

"Our goal is, over the coming decades, to build a genuinely multiracial, multiethnic, faith-based movement that changes the demographic location of our movement," Reed said during a lunch roundtable with a handful of reporters.

Source:...

Read more about This conservative leader is trying to make white evangelical politics less white

After Roe's fall, Black churches support some or all reproductive health options

July 1, 2022

For Evangelist Lesley W. Monet, the week since the fall of Roe v. Wade has been a time of praise and preparation.

For Dr. Miriam Burnett, it has been a time of protest and preparation.

Monet, international director of the Church of God in Christ’s Family Life Campaign, recently moved to Tennessee, where the predominantly Black Pentecostal denomination plans to turn a former Catholic monastery into a facility that, among other things, will offer pre-natal and post-natal care in a state where maternal and infant mortality for Black women is ...

Read more about After Roe's fall, Black churches support some or all reproductive health options

Pages