EDS: RNS-DCChurches-Vaccines will not be transmitting today.
NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Buddhists-Scotland: US Air Force pulls firing range near a Scottish Buddhist monastery
(RNS) — The U.S. Air Force will no longer use a firing range near a Buddhist monastery in Scotland, bowing to pressure after nearly 20,000 people signed a petition objecting to its use and to potential plans to expand the range. By Yonat Shimron. 300 words. (category: i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Ostara-Spring: End-of-pandemic hopes rise, just in time for pagan holiday Ostara
(RNS) — One of eight holidays in the pagan Wheel of the Year, Ostara is a time of balance — with equal hours of light and dark — and renewal. As pandemic restrictions are eased, this year’s celebrations will look forward to a collective re-emergence from lockdowns and suffocating loneliness. By Antonio Pagliarulo. 1,046 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-German-Blessing: From Germany to the US, Catholics push back on Vatican ban on blessing same-sex couples
(RNS) – Catholic groups, priests and laypeople from all over the world are waiving the Vatican’s recent document banning blessings for same-sex couples, emphasizing the need for the Catholic Church to include and promote LGBTQ individuals. By Claire Giangravè. 1100 words. (category c)
NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Bieber-Album: Bieber samples King’s sermons, supports Poor People’s Campaign with new album ‘Justice’
(RNS) — Pop star Justin Bieber tweeted his support Thursday (March 18) for the Poor People’s Campaign, A faith-led anti-poverty initiative among “organizations that embody what justice looks like in action,” directing his fans to donate to the cause for a chance to win tickets to an upcoming concert or a signed guitar. It’s all in in honor of “Justice” — not the moral principle, but rather the title of Bieber’s latest album, released Friday. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 488 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Coachella-Priest: In Coachella Valley migrant community, the COVID-19 death of a beloved priest spurs vaccinations
THERMAL, Calif. (RNS) — As community organizers and public health leaders work to ease vaccine hesitancy among farmworkers and other residents across Southern California’s Inland region and the eastern Coachella Valley, the passing of a local priest has ignited a consciousness around public health and COVID-19 prevention. By Alejandra Molina. 915 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Bushra-Rises: Meet Bushra Amiwala, America’s youngest elected Muslim in public office
(RNS) —At just 22 years of age Bushra Amiwala is the youngest publicly elected Muslim in the United States. The member of a Chicago-area school board is quickly rising beyond local politics to national attention as the subject of recent documentaries on Amazon Prime and Hulu. She aspires to be part of a new generation of politically active Muslim women and is very much a product of the multicultural Chicago sub-urb in which she grew up. 1000 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Complementarian-Women: With Beth Moore exit, more evangelical women are challenging strict gender norms
(RNS) — Beth Moore, the popular women’s Bible teacher shook up the evangelical world by announcing last week she was quitting the Southern Baptist Convention. But her departure is just the latest signal of a reshaping of the theological doctrine of womanhood, which has been going on for a while in the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. By Yonat Shimron. 1,400 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-McCaulley-Oped: Same, but different: Notes on Black Christian solidarity against anti-Asian racism
(RNS) — Our particular problems and struggles are different. Being a co-belligerent in the struggle for justice does not mean collapsing all Asian problems into Black ones or ignoring the tensions that exist between Black and Asian communities; it is to try to understand the unique stories of Asian Americans and support them in the best ways we know how. By Esau McCaulley. 1,559 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Mwaura-Oped: Blaming Christians for the Atlanta shootings isn’t persecution, it’s prosecution
(RNS) — This cry of persecution has become Christians’ go-to statement any time the media focuses on us. What we are facing, however, is not persecution, but prosecution. We are not being persecuted for doing what is right. We are being prosecuted for what we’ve gotten wrong. By Maina Mwaura. 732 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Burke-Perry-Oped: How pleading ‘sexual addiction’ protects evangelical men
(RNS) — Research into white Christian men in pornography addiction recovery programs show they can admit to being “powerless” over their pornography addiction without actually losing their positions of power. Given Long’s exposure to Christian porn addiction recovery rhetoric, it likely contributed to his claim that his out-of-control sex addiction fueled his atrocious violence. By Kelsy Burke and Samuel L. Perry. 977 words. (category: k)