NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Sermon-Apology: General Baptist pastor who criticized wives’ weight ‘deeply sorry’ for sermon
(RNS) — The pastor of a General Baptist church who took a leave of absence after preaching that “weight control” by wives could solve marital problems has apologized to his church for his comments. The church’s deacon board also offered an “unreserved apology.” By Adelle M. Banks. 450 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Ortega-Sanctuary: Last North Carolina immigrant to take church sanctuary goes home
(RNS) — Juana Luz Tobar Ortega who spent nearly four years in church sanctuary at an Episcopal church in Greensboro, North Carolina, will be allowed to go home beginning Monday (April 19) after receiving a stay of removal from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ortega was the first person to seek church sanctuary in North Carolina in 2017 and the last to leave. By Yonat Shimron. 600 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Women-Health: Sexism in church may be bad for women’s health, new study finds
(RNS) — For years, research had found links between better health and participation and going to church. But going to a church that limits women’s leaders may cancel those benefits, a new study has found. By Bob Smietana. 700 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Lesbian-Discrimination: Sex discrimination suit against Florida church tests ‘ministerial exception’ rulings
(RNS) — A new sex discrimination lawsuit involving a Christian mission group in Florida could test the limits of the so-called “ministerial exception,” a legal workaround that exempts faith groups from nondiscrimination laws in hiring and firing as long as the employees in question are considered ministers — including, according to recent Supreme Court decisions, staffers such as Leonard who are not clergy. By Jack Jenkins. 1,600 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Anthony-Obit: Ole Anthony, longtime critic of prosperity gospel televangelists, dies at 82
NASHVILLE(RNS) — Ole Anthony, a small church pastor whose investigations of televangelists made national headlines, died April 16 at age 82. He was the longtime president of the Dallas-based Trinity Foundation Inc. and had clashed with televangelists like Robert Tilton and Paul Crouch. By Bob Smietana 800 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-LGBTQ-Catholics: After the Vatican said ‘God cannot bless sin,’ some LGBTQ people leave their Catholic identities behind
(RNS) — Pope Francis’ rejection of proposals that would allow priests to bless same-sex couples, has left many LGBTQ Catholics feeling disappointed and demoralized by an institution they felt recently represented a softening toward LGBTQ marriages within the church. As a result, some have decided to leave their Catholic identities behind, while others remain hopeful the church will eventually become more accepting. By Alejandra Molina. 950 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Refugee-Ceiling: Biden reverses course on refugee cap after faith groups express outrage
WASHINGTON (RNS) — President Joe Biden’s administration has reversed a decision to keep in place a historically low cap on refugee admissions left by Donald Trump, saying it will raise the ceiling next month after faith-based groups initially decried the move as an “abandonment of our ideals.” By Jack Jenkins and Emily McFarlan Miller. 1,424 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Silk-Oped: Racial identity follows in the footsteps of religious identity
(RNS) — Over the past several decades, mixed religious marriages have become more and more common, creating growing numbers of nones as well as those with mixed religious identities they increasingly understand as chosen by themselves rather than inherited or ascribed. Recent census data suggests racial identity is similarly becoming more fluid, with increasing numbers of Americans choosing to simply opt out of existing categories. By Mark Silk. 880 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Woodward-Oped: Joe Biden may unify the country. Don’t ask him to unify Catholics.
(RNS) — At 161 smallish pages, Massimo Faggioli’s “Joe Biden and Catholicism in the United States” has the brevity, bravado and binary thinking of a good political tract. Which is what it is. The book pits Pope Francis’ ‘global left’ and Biden’s ‘liberal America’ against a conspiracy of conservative Catholic “neo’s.” By Kenneth L. Woodward. 1,164 words. (category: k)