RNS Updated Budget — Friday, November 1, 2019

The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would allow adoption and foster care agencies, shelters and others receiving taxpayer funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to […]

NEWS STORY
RNS-HHS-RELIGION: New rule would allow foster care and adoption agencies to exclude people on the basis of religion, sexual orientation
(RNS) — The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would allow adoption and foster care agencies, shelters and others receiving taxpayer funding from the Department of Health and Human Services to refuse to serve participants based on religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity.  By Yonat Shimron. 500 words. (categories: a)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Pope-Halloween: This Halloween take time to reflect on the ‘three deaths,’ Pope Francis says
VATICAN CITY (RNS) – For many, Halloween is nothing more than a fun opportunity to slip into a spooky costume, indulge in sugary delights or let their party animal run wild. But Pope Francis on Friday invited faithful to bring it back to basics, or rather, to cemeteries. By Claire Giangravè. 804 words. (categories i)

NEWS STORY
RNS-Paula-White: Paula White to head Trump’s faith office
WASHINGTON (RNS) – The White House confirmed on Friday (Nov. 1) that Paula White, a Pentecostal preacher and longtime adviser to President Donald Trump, has been tapped to head its White House’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative, a successor to previous administrations’ faith-based office that coordinates outreach to religious communities. By Jack Jenkins and Adelle M. Banks. 1450 words. (categories a)


COMMENTARY
RNS-Arbeiter-Oped: The Trump administration’s refugee cap compromises the US economy and American identity
(RNS) — Recently, the State Department unveiled the new cap for refugees in fiscal year 2020: 18,000. It’s a shockingly – and shamefully – low number that is at complete odds with the United States’ character and our historic record. Hard data, meanwhile, counters any defense of the cap based on fear of terrorism or competition for jobs. By Scott Arbeiter. 850 words. (categories: k)

COMMENTARY
RNS-Meek-Oped: David raped Bathsheba, and why that matters
(RNS) — Last month a Twitter storm erupted after a prominent sexual assault survivor asserted, “David raped.” As the Southern Baptist Convention, the Catholic Church and others reckon with sexual abuse, there has been a tendency to use terms like “moral failing,” “inappropriate relationship,” and “sexual incident” to describe what actually happened — rape and sexual assault. This is what we do when we fail to call Bathsheba’s rape what it is. By Russell L. Meek. 1,100 words. (categories: k)

COMMENTARY
RNS-Marty-Oped: Could a revived ‘theology of hope’ restore faith in hopeless times?
(Sightings) — Our spiritual leaders talk about hope in times of droughts, wars, economic or political stress, to name a few. But in the preaching of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as in feminist, Latin American and black theologies, fellow believers are urged to be impatient with the world as it is. By Martin E. Marty. 1,200 words. (categories: k)