NEWS STORY
RNS-Mormon-Football: For Latter-day Saints like Andy Reid of Kansas City Chiefs, football and faith go hand in hand
(RNS) – In the early 1900s, both the game of football and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were in crisis. The faith and the sport found each other and each has prospered from the relationship. And the influence of the Latter-day Saints helped propel coach Andy Reid’s Kansas City Chiefs to the Super Bowl. By Bob Smietana. 1,500 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Black-Church: Centuries of Black church history distilled in new Henry Louis Gates book, TV series
(RNS) — Author Henry Louis Gates Jr. and producer Stacey Holman have teamed up on a book and television project called “The Black Church: This Is Our Story, This Is Our Song.” They spoke to Religion News Service about their views on faith and how they distilled centuries of history into the upcoming four-hour PBS series based on Gates’ book. By Adelle M. Banks. 1,500 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Jets-Coach: Robert Saleh is the NFL’s first Muslim head coach
(RNS) – Robert Saleh, a Lebanese-American from Michigan and a former San Francisco 49er defensive coordinator has become the first Muslim to become the head coach of an NFL team after signing a five year contract with the New York Jets. By Joseph Hammond. 670 words. (category: a)
NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Humanist-Leader: American Humanist leader Roy Speckhardt stepping down to make room for more diverse leaders
(RNS) — Roy Speckhardt announced Friday (Feb. 5) he is stepping down from his position as executive director of the American Humanist Association. Speckhardt said after 15 years at the top of the organization, it was time for him to “step down and make room for new leadership” when the most prominent organizations representing atheists and freethinkers never have had non-white leadership. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 400 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Refugees-Rebuild: Faith-based refugee resettlement groups describe what it will take to rebuild program after Trump cuts
(RNS) — Faith-based organizations involved in refugee resettlement are feeling hopeful, even as some admit the U.S. is unlikely to reach a higher refugee ceiling amid a pandemic that has slowed resettlement efforts around the world and deep cuts to the resettlement apparatus over the past four years that will take time to rebuild. By Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins. 2,000 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Riess-Oped: Mormonism and the ‘one true church’
(RNS) — Author Patrick Mason says Latter-day Saints’ focus on being the ‘one true church’ may be missing the larger purpose of the restoration. With his new book, coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Joseph Smith’s First Vision, Mason investigates what “restoration” has meant in the Mormon past — and what it could become in the future. By Jana Riess. 1,136 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Perkins-Oped: Nigeria’s blasphemy laws are the religious freedom crisis no one is talking about
(RNS) — In northern Nigeria, Sharia penal codes officially do not apply to non-Muslims, but many Sharia laws in northern Nigeria continue to criminalize blasphemy and result in harsh punishments for blasphemers. The United States should incentivize the Nigerian government to uphold its own constitution’s guarantees of freedom of belief. By Frederick A. Davie and Tony Perkins. 720 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Claiborne-Oped: A former Confederate state just voted to abolish its death penalty. Why that’s a big deal
(RNS) — Virginia has a special place in the history of racial terror, but it’s also just one of the places where slavery and lynching turned into a legacy of mass incarceration and prejudicial justice. Today’s vote is the latest evidence that change is in the air. By Shane Claiborne. 700 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Camosy-Oped: Make houses of worship the center of vaccine rollout
(RNS) — Study after study finds the most vulnerable populations — Black Americans and seniors — are likely to be connected to their churches, synagogues and mosques. These institutions should be providing these populations with both access points for the vaccine as well as trust-building to bring in understandably skeptical groups. By Charles C. Camosy. 760 words. (category: k)