NEWS STORY
RNS-Ortberg-Resignation: Embattled megachurch pastor John Ortberg resigns from Menlo Church
(RNS) — Best-selling author and speaker John Ortberg resigned as pastor of a San Francisco-area megachurch, saying his departure would help the church heal. He had been under fire for allowing his son, who has admitted being attracted to children, to work with kids. By Bob Smietana. 700 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Immanuel-Demons: Why is Trump supporter Stella Immanuel talking about demon sex? A professor explains
(RNS) — Stella Immanuel, a doctor and “deliverance minister,” made headlines this week for her advocacy of hydroxychloroquine and her unconventional beliefs. A professor looks at how her spirituality fits in among Pentecostal and charismatic Christians. By Bob Smietana. 549 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Reconciliation-Justice: Can churches’ focus on race move from reconciliation to justice?
(RNS) — The difference between approaches to race relations, a recent study finds, has been particularly evident in multiracial evangelical churches, which often choose reconciliation over justice. But experts say reconciliation is no longer enough for some churchgoers and staffs. By Adelle M. Banks. 850 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Priest-Syria: Seven years later, still no trace of Jesuit priest kidnapped in Syria
(RNS) – Seven years after the disappearance of an Italian Jesuit priests in Syria, family members and Vatican officials address his legacy and appeal for the truth of what happened to the thousands who vanished in the war-torn middle eastern country. By Claire Giangravè. 700 words. (category: i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Tisha-B’Av: On this Tisha B’Av, American Jews cry out to God about Black lives
(RNS) — Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, a New York-based group, have been gathering daily at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza for the past month to mourn Black lives. The 40-day event culminates Thursday (July 30), which is Tisha B’Av, the annual Jewish day of mourning for the Jerusalem Temple. By Yonat Shimron. 750 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Fatima-DriveIn: Chicago’s Soldier Field rolls out blue carpet for drive-in screening of upcoming movie ‘Fatima’
CHICAGO (RNS) — Cars lined up Tuesday night (July 28) at Soldier Field for a drive-in screening of “Fatima” — a new movie about the Virgin Mary’s reported 1917 appearances to three shepherd children in Fatima, Portugal — complete with photos of cars arriving on the blue carpet and “Fatima” face masks. “Just like the churches, we had to pivot, too,” said Jeanne Berney, chief operating officer of Picturehouse Entertainment, the film’s distributor. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 730 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Silk-Oped: The war over in-person church continues
(RNS) — While recent Supreme Court injunction cases have ruled narrowly on how houses of worship are treated relative to secular institutions, the legal battle over churchgoing in the time of COVID-19 is just the latest front in the conservative struggle for greater religious liberty. By Mark Silk. 600 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Hannan-Oped: Time in Coronatide: We’re not actually living in ‘Groundhog Day’
(RNS) — Kanye West, David Brooks and other leading lights have weighed in about living “in the moment” as we endure the pandemic. But what we really need is a way of living in time that remains open to the messiness of the past and the sublimity of the future, refusing to seal itself off in some illusory vision of the here and now. By Sean Hannan. 1,444 words. (category: k)
