NEWS STORY
RNS-Inaugural-Advance: Joe Biden’s family Bible anchors faith-inflected inaugural events
(RNS) — President-elect Joe Biden plans to be sworn in with his hefty family Bible when he becomes the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday (Jan. 20). It’s one of many ways religion will be a facet of the inaugural activities surrounding the country’s second Catholic president. By Adelle M. Banks. 850 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Biden-Appointments: In Biden’s Cabinet, Catholics and Jews dominate
(RNS) — President-elect Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees are a diverse mix in terms of ethnicity, race, gender and religion. Like the president-elect, the majority — about eight — are Catholic. Five Jews have been nominated, two Black Baptists and, if the surgeon general is included, two Hindus. One group not represented? White evangelicals. By Yonat Shimron. 800 words. (category: a)
NEW STORY
RNS-Cathedral-Service: The Rev. William Barber II to headline interfaith inauguration prayer service
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The Washington National Cathedral will host a virtual iteration of its traditional interfaith worship service the day after Joe Biden’s inauguration, with activist and pastor the Rev. William Barber II preaching the sermon. By Jack Jenkins. 605 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Matthews-Facts: What is St. Matthew’s, the church Biden will attend on Inauguration Day?
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Hours before he takes the oath of office Wednesday (Jan. 20) as president, Joe Biden is reportedly slated to attend a worship service at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, commonly known as St. Matthew’s — a space with an august history. By Jack Jenkins. 500 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-BlackChurch-Report: Black churchgoers report powerlessness in politics, control in Black congregations
(RNS) — The majority of Black Church attenders say African Americans generally feel politically powerless but those worshippers see the African American congregations as a source of comfort and control, a new Barna Group study finds. By Adelle M. Banks. 700 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Capitol-Churches: Ahead of inauguration, faith leaders urge devotees in state capitols to take precautions
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Liberal religious groups and minority faith communities around the country are urging caution in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, with some expressing concerns of potential violence against “liberal churches.” The warnings follow recent attacks on churches in Washington, D.C., by “Proud Boys,” a far-right extremist organization that expresses support for Donald Trump. By Jack Jenkins. 1,044 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Silk-Oped: The end of the pro-Christian presidency of Donald Trump
(RNS) — No president in American history has so overtly, by word and by deed, devoted himself to appealing to evangelical Christians as Trump. And never have Christians — that is, the subset he’s assiduously appealed to — responded with such devotion. It wasn’t enough. By Mark Silk. 935 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Smith-Oped: Want your kids to follow in your faith? Take a page from religious conservatives.
(RNS) — Among the factors that can affect how strongly religious habits are passed down is how close parents are to their children, and their tradition’s sense of identity. But talking to kids about God often seems to be what makes religious conservatives so successful in passing along their faith. By Jesse Smith. 950 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Tisby-Oped: This MLK Day, white evangelicals again have a choice to make on racial justice
(RNS) — If white evangelicals or anyone else wish to learn from MLK’s legacy, then they will ask who the modern-day prophets of racial justice are and whether they are willing to listen right now or will they honor the wisdom of these voices in the wilderness only after they die? By Jemar Tisby. 1,117 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-MWAURA-OPED: What Andrew Young taught me about keeping King’s movement going
(RNS) — What we celebrate on MLK Day is not the overcoming, but the struggle. Our country continues to struggle when it comes to race, but King showed us that it’s what we do with the struggle, how we struggle, that defines and shapes us as Christ’s followers. By Maina Mwaura. 634 words. (category: k)