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Melissa and Cody Busby with their children. Courtesy photo

Transracial adoptive families say talking about race is not a ‘woke test’

By Bob Smietana

(RNS) — A new Bethany Christian Services report argues that a colorblind approach to adoption can hurt Black children. In response, a critic labeled the agency racist and woke.

A Kashmiri Muslim walks towards a mosque during sunset in Srinagar, India, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India police jail 21 Kashmiris amid pro-Palestinian rallies

By Aijaz Hussain

In this Tuesday, March 30, 2021, file photo, members of the Orthodox Jewish community walk past shipping containers in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. A comprehensive new survey of Jewish Americans finds them increasingly worried about antisemitism and sharply divided about the importance of religious observance in their lives. The wide-ranging survey, released on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, was conducted by the Pew Research Center. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

RNS News Quiz: A transgender bishop and a landmark survey of American Jews

By Emily Churchill

Rev. Rob Lee. Courtesy image from Rob Lee’s website

New report disputes North Carolina pastor Rob Lee’s ties to Robert E. Lee

By Jack Jenkins

Opinion

The Atlanta spa shooting and the hate crime gap

By Simran Jeet Singh

(RNS) — Those targeted by hate see evidence of bias that law enforcement doesn't see.

The growing Jewish divide

By Mark Silk

(RNS) — Growth is occurring at both the low and the ultra ends of the religious Jewish spectrum.

The debate over women pastors is a Southern Baptist smoke screen

By Laura Levens

(RNS) — The fiery arguments distract from constructive conversations about entrenched racism, Christian nationalism and sexual abuse.

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Bob Abernethy on the set of

Bob Abernethy, host and founder of ‘Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly,’ dies at 93

Facebook is currently testing a new prayer post feature. Illustration by Kit Doyle

Likes and prayers: Facebook tests new ‘prayer post’ feature

The Rev. Jason Lydon speaks during a virtual Passover service of Second Unitarian Church of Chicago on March 28, 2021. Video screengrab

Formerly incarcerated, this Unitarian Universalist minister is dedicated to abolishing prisons

The celebration of Nowruz in Tehran, Iran, in 2014. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

The story of the Iranian new year, Nowruz, and why its themes of renewal and healing matter

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Other Faiths

Poster for the PBS’ ‘American Experience’ Billy Graham documentary. Courtesy image

PBS’ Billy Graham documentary captures preacher’s pull and ambition

Palestinian citizens of Israel were met with a strong Israeli police response during a protest in Haifa against Israeli actions in Jerusalem's Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood and around the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, on Sunday, May 9, 2021. (Photo by Mati Milstein/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Protests by Palestinian citizens in Israel signal growing sense of a common struggle

A person stands in a tower on the perimeter of the Number 3 Detention Center in Dabancheng in western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on April 23, 2021. Human rights groups and Western nations led by the United States, Britain and Germany accused China of massive crimes against the Uyghur minority and demanded unimpeded access for U.N. experts at a virtual meeting on May 12, 2021. China denounced the demands as “politically motivated” and based on “lies.” (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

China challenges UN event focused on its Uyghur population

Palestinians walk next to the remains of a destroyed 15 stairs building after being hit by Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Interfaith efforts strained by Israeli-Palestinian violence

Nuns and priests hold up a banner reading

‘We cannot wait!’ pleads Catholic missionary in Myanmar

Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about the release of the 2020 International Religious Freedom Report, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C. on May 12, 2021. (State Department photo by Freddie Everett/ Public Domain)

US hits China and others for repressing religious freedom

Health & Lifestyle

Levon Kafafian glides forward during their Ashoun Voki: Zharrankoum ceremonial procession during the autumnal equinox in 2019. Photo by Noah Elliot Morrison, courtesy of Levon Kafafian

Folk healers create modern techniques from their ancestors’ lost lore

Indian Muslims arrive to break their day-long fast during Ramadan at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. Islam's holiest month of Ramadan is a period of intense prayer, dawn-to-dusk fasting and nightly feasts. (AP Photo /Mahesh Kumar A.)

In India, Hindus fast in Ramadan for growth and solidarity with Muslim friends

A pastor preaches during the COVID-19 pandemic. Photo by Diana Polekhina/Unsplash/Creative Commons

For some pastors, the past year was a sign from God it was time to quit

“Godspell” premiered in 1971 on off-Broadway. Courtesy image

Day by day: Musical ‘Godspell’ celebrates 50th anniversary

Actor and producer Justin Baldoni discusses how storytelling can help us all move forward with a progressive definition of masculinity on Tuesday, June 18, 2019 in Cannes, France. (Philippe Farjon/AP Images for Procter & Gamble)

Man or robot? Justin Baldoni takes on masculinity in a new book

Van Morrison performs during the Americana Honors and Awards show, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Zaleski)

Goodbye, Van Morrison

Disaster psychologist and author Jamie Aten. Photo courtesy of Jamie Aten

For evangelical leader Jamie Aten, advocating for vaccines led to a death threat

Worshippers, wearing masks and socially distanced due to COVID-19 concerns, kneel in prayer in the mosque of the Islamic Society of Boston during the first Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, April 16, 2021, in Boston. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

CDC director: Masked, fully vaccinated people can safely attend worship indoors

What group is least likely to get a vaccine? (AP Illustration/Peter Hamlin)

Black Protestants aren’t least likely to get a vaccine; white evangelicals are

In this March 7, 2021, file photo, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses a public rally ahead of West Bengal state elections in Kolkata, India. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

President Trump failed to challenge India on religious freedom. Will Biden follow suit?

Goldziher Prize Expanding for 2019

Luther Bible in the Lutherhaus in Wittenberg, Germany. Photo courtesy of Michael Turtle/German National Tourist Office

Germany’s ‘LutherCountry’ gears up for Reformation 500th anniversary

A Kashmiri Muslim walks towards a mosque during sunset in Srinagar, India, Friday, May 14, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)

India police jail 21 Kashmiris amid pro-Palestinian rallies

In this Tuesday, March 30, 2021, file photo, members of the Orthodox Jewish community walk past shipping containers in the South Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York. A comprehensive new survey of Jewish Americans finds them increasingly worried about antisemitism and sharply divided about the importance of religious observance in their lives. The wide-ranging survey, released on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, was conducted by the Pew Research Center. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

RNS News Quiz: A transgender bishop and a landmark survey of American Jews

A recent study looking at TV news used most by different religious affiliations found that white evangelicals look to Fox News while Black Protestants look to the mainstream channels. Image by Photo Mix from Pixabay

Survey: Faith groups showcase media divide

Rev. Rob Lee. Courtesy image from Rob Lee’s website

New report disputes North Carolina pastor Rob Lee’s ties to Robert E. Lee

An Israeli soldier takes cover as an Iron Dome air defense system launches to intercept a rocket from the Gaza Strip, in Ashkelon, southern Israel, Tuesday, May 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Why the first in-person gathering for many US Jews may not be so celebratory

Melissa and Cody Busby with their children. Courtesy photo

Transracial adoptive families say talking about race is not a ‘woke test’

Authorities investigate a multiple fatal shooting at a spa March 16, 2021, in Acworth, Georgia. Cherokee County sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said Robert Aaron Long of Woodstock, Georgia, was taken into custody in Crisp County on Tuesday night. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Articles of Faith

The Atlanta spa shooting and the hate crime gap

Muslims girls display their hands painted with traditional henna to celebrate Eid al-Fitr holidays, marking on the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, in Peshawar, Pakistan, Thursday, May 13, 2021. (AP Photo/Muhammad Sajjad)

Photos of the Week: Eid al-Fitr celebrations; Israeli-Palestinian conflict

A side view of a chapel and parking lot in Caldwell, Idaho. © Intellectual Reserve, Inc. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/media/image/caldwell-idaho-stake-center-058d244?lang=eng&collectionId=bfbfee68450247889fd7af274c9262ee.

Flunking Sainthood

If Mormons could just hang out in the church building

FILE - In this Thursday, Oct. 15, 2020, file photo, a young girl holds a poster she made as she and others joined protesters outside the offices of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in New York. Three Rockland County Jewish congregations are suing New York state and Cuomo, saying he engaged in a

Spiritual Politics

The growing Jewish divide

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RNS Press Releases

Gordon College completes largest fundraising campaign in school history

Thousands of pastors and church leaders to focus on mental health issues during church mental health day national event, May 21

Interdisciplinary Fellows at Yale Institute of Sacred Music