Photos of the Week

This week’s photo selection includes the Eid al-Adha commemorations around the world, funeral and memorial services for John Lewis, and more.

(RNS) — Each week Religion News Service presents a gallery of photos of religious expression around the world. This week’s photo selection includes the Eid al-Adha commemorations, funeral and memorial services for John Lewis, and more.

Young men shampoo sheep before offering them for sale for the upcoming Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha, on the beach in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, July 30, 2020. Even in the best of times, many Muslims in West Africa scramble to afford a sheep to slaughter on the Eid al-Adha holiday, a display of faith that often costs as much as a month’s income. Now the coronavirus is wreaking havoc on economies, putting an important religious tradition beyond financial reach for many. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)


Muslim worshippers in the mixed Arab-Jewish city of Jaffa, Israel, offer Eid al-Adha prayers in a park, as gatherings are limited to ten people to avoid the spread of the coronavirus, Friday, July 31, 2020. This is the first Feast of Sacrifice since the onset of the global coronavirus pandemic. The major Muslim holiday, during the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, is observed around the world by believers to commemorate the prophet Abraham’s pledge to sacrifice his son as an act of obedience to God. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

The Rev. Darryl Caldwell speaks as the casket of the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., lies in repose during a service celebrating “The Boy from Troy” at Troy University on Saturday, July 25, 2020, in Troy, Alabama. Lewis, who carried the struggle against racial discrimination from Southern battlegrounds of the 1960s to the halls of Congress, died Friday, July 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Former President Barack Obama gives a eulogy at the funeral service for the late Rep. John Lewis, at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Thursday, July 30, 2020. (Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool)

With 12-year-old Philipe Mabudi, center, as their mascot, 30 African bandsmen from the Congo visited London to participate in celebrations marking the Salvation Army’s 100th anniversary in July 1965. The Congo Army’s Leopoldville Central Band joined others in playing at various events in London held in connection with the centennial. The ten-day observance was launched with a ceremony attended by Queen Elizabeth and many religious, government and civic leaders. The Salvation Army is a worldwide evangelistic and service organization based on religious principles, and was founded in London by William Booth on July 2, 1865. RNS archive photo. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Queen Elizabeth II, center, and top church leaders were among dignitaries from various fields attending a ceremony which launched a ten-day observance of the Salvation Army’s 100th anniversary, on June 24, 1965. The Salvation Army, a worldwide evangelistic and service organization, was founded in London on July 2, 1865, by William Booth. RNS archive photo by L.P. Allen. Photo courtesy of the Presbyterian Historical Society

Hundreds of Muslim pilgrims circle the Kaaba, the cubic building at the Grand Mosque, as they observe social distancing to protect against the coronavirus, in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on July 29, 2020. During the first rites of hajj, Muslims circle the Kaaba counter-clockwise seven times while reciting supplications to God, then walk between two hills where Ibrahim’s wife, Hagar, is believed to have run as she searched for water for her dying son before God brought forth a well. (AP Photo)

Men butcher a cow near an open air animal market at the start of Eid al-Adha, in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, July 31, 2020. Small groups of pilgrims performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage and celebrations. The last days of hajj coincide with the four-day Eid al-Adha, or “Feast of Sacrifice,” in which Muslims slaughter livestock and distribute the meat to the poor. (AP Photo/Yasin Akgul)


Muslims queue up to enter a disinfection chamber set up as a precaution against the coronavirus pandemic, upon arrival for an Eid al-Adha prayer at Al Mashun Grand Mosque in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)

Mullahs wait for Eid al-Adha prayers to begin while maintaining social distancing at the almost empty main mosque in Moscow, Russia, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Muslim men offer Eid al-Adha prayers in the Al Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem’s old city, Friday, July 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!