NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Latino-Testing: Latino churches in Los Angeles County will serve as COVID-19 testing sites
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Latino churches in Los Angeles County will now serve as walk-up and drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites to help curve the spread of the virus in a community that has been disproportionally struck by it. The first Latino church to offer this service is Centro de Vida Victoriosa in East LA, more will follow in March. This move comes after the county and the state of California partnered with Black churches to offer free testing in hard hit communities. By Alejandra Molina. 400 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Equality-Act: What’s in store for the Equality Act and why do some religions want a revision?
(RNS) — The Equality Bill passed Thursday in the U.S. House along mostly party lines and the Fairness for All bill was introduced Friday by 20 Republicans. The only way either bill would make it into law is if the U.S. Senate combines parts of both — prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ Americans and providing religious groups exemptions. By Yonat Shimron 850 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Prayer-Books: On late-night TV and bestseller lists, new books on prayer resonating with readers
(RNS) — Maybe the past year of pandemic and a reckoning over racial injustice have readers turning to lament. Maybe polarizing politics have them feeling imprecatory. But several new books about prayer from popular Christian authors have landed on bookshelves in the past month — and they seem to be resonating with readers. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 1,200 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Malcolm-X: Life of Malcolm X continues to resonate with Muslims, public
(RNS) — Decades after he was gunned down in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem to silence his voice the ministry and life of Malcolm X continues to loom large in the American culture and public life following new revelations into a possible conspiracy behind his death. By Your Joseph Hammond. 1,086 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Warren-Baker: Rick Warren reflects on the life of John Baker, founder of Celebrate Recovery
(RNS) — In the early 1990s, John Baker, a newly baptized member of Saddleback Church came to pastor Rick Warren with an idea of starting a new ministry that combined 12 steps with Christian teaching. That led to the founding of Celebrate Recovery, now a worldwide movement of Christian support groups. Warren spoke to RNS about the life of Baker, who died this week at 72. By Bob Smietana. 750 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Riess-Oped: Tish Harrison Warren, a rising star in Christian spiritual writing
(RNS) — “Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work or Watch or Weep” is not a memoir, per se, but its deep theological insights are repeatedly grounded in the Rev. Tish Harrison Warren’s own experiences as a mother and an Anglican priest. And many of those experiences have not been idyllic or easy. By Jana Riess. 1,269 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Camosy-Oped: Seeing Pope Francis in the Argentine priest made a cardinal 20 years ago
(RNS) — It’s fair to say popes generally stay true to the foundational principles and ideas that guided them throughout their pre-papal lives, but there is a beauty to Francis’ consistency of thought from the time he was ordained at age 33 and since being made cardinal 20 years ago on Sunday (Feb. 21). By Charles C. Camosy. 900 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Singh-Oped: In US Capitol attack, America’s violent gun culture finally reached its source
(RNS) — Analysts have long warned that America’s greatest terrorist threat was from the far right, including Christian nationalists and white nationalists. Our leaders’ unwillingness to warn of this danger, and call out their own constituents’ violent response to the normal workings of democracy, led inevitably to the events of January 6. By Simran Jeet Singh. 725 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Thames-Oped: The pope’s Iraq visit will make headlines. Can it make life better for religious minorities?
(RNS) — Members of religious minorities in Iraq I’ve spoken to recently welcome the pope’s emphasis on Christian/Muslim relations, but they also hope he will focus on issues impacting them. Since the U.S. invasion and subsequent Islamic State group onslaught, the future for religious minorities in Iraq has become increasingly uncertain, and time is working against them. By Knox Thames. 910 words. (category: k)