NEWS STORY
RNS-Warren-Retirement: Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren signals retirement with search for successor
(RNS) — Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren on Sunday (June 6) announced the church will begin the official search for his successor, signaling he will retire after 42 years in his pulpit. By Alejandra Molina. 915 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Manchin-March: Poor People’s Campaign plans ‘Moral March on Manchin’
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The faith-led Poor People’s Campaign is planning a march in the home state of West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin to protest the moderate Democrat’s recent decision to oppose voting rights legislation and efforts to end the senate filibuster. By Jack Jenkins. 650 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-COVID-HEZBOLLAH: Iranian politician, Hezbollah founder, dies of COVID-19
(RNS) — Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, an Iranian politician and Shiite cleric who played a leading role in the founding of Hezbollah has died. Mohtashamipour succumbed of COVID-19 today in a hospital in Tehran. In the 1980s he was a key figure in Iran’s revolutionary regime before becoming an opposition figure. By Joseph Hammond. 650 words. (category: i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-SBC-Investigation: Southern Baptist pastors want inquiry into charges sex abuse cases were mishandled
(RNS) — Two Southern Baptist pastors will seek an investigation into allegations that the highest echelons of the Southern Baptist Convention mishandled several sex abuse claims and mistreated and bullied sex abuse victims. By Yonat Shimron. 750 words. (category: a)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Communion-Ban: Communion ban for pro-choice politicians is an old story, but with higher stakes
(RNS) – As bishops in the United States prepare to discuss the drafting of a document that could ban pro-choice Catholic politicians like President Joe Biden from receiving communion, experts say that while this is not a new debate, the stakes are higher than ever. By Claire Giangravè. 1,100 words. (category i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Bethany-Refugees: A refugee agency rebuilds its pipeline after Trump: ‘We’re starting from scratch’
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan (RNS) — Bethany Christian Services was impacted by the past four years of cuts to the refugee resettlement program under the former president. Now it is working to rebuild. “In a lot of ways, it looks like starting from scratch,” said Kristi Gleason, Bethany’s vice president of Refugee and Immigrant Family Services. By Emily McFarlan Miller. 1,500 words. (category: a)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Hirschfield-Oped: I Believe! … In QAnon? What nonbelievers don’t get about conspiracy beliefs
(RNS) — To be a believer, in any classical sense, is to give oneself over, at least at times, to the notion that reality cannot be fully defined or appreciated in strictly rational ways. To be faith-filled is to be animated by beliefs that, though not provable, bring us and our world to what we believe will be a better place. By Brad Hirschfield. 1,193 words. (category: k)