NEWS STORY
RNS-Czech-Torah: This Simchat Torah, one ancient Czech scroll has returned to its country of origin
(RNS) — Simchat Torah, which falls Tuesday (Sept. 28), celebrates the completion of a cycle of liturgical readings and a return to the Book of Genesis. But in Prague on Monday, the holiday marked a different kind of return when an 1890 scroll once used by the Jews of Brno came back to the Czech Republic to be used by a new Jewish congregation in Prague. By Yonat Shimron. 1,000 words. (category: a)
NEWS BRIEF
RNS-Russia-Scientology: Russia declares groups linked to California-based Church of Scientology groups as ‘undesirable’
(RNS) — Russia has designated two California-based organizations linked to the Church of Scientology as “undesirable,” a move that could formally ban the group. The Prosecutor General’s Office on Friday (Sept. 24) said the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises International and the Church of Spiritual Technology “pose a threat to the security of the Russian Federation.” By Alejandra Molina. 230 words. (category: i)
NEWS STORY
RNS-Guatemala-Church: Set adrift by Catholic Church and inequality, Indigenous Guatemalans turn to Orthodox Christianity
(RNS) — Like the rest of Latin America, since the arrival of the Spanish, for centuries religious expression in the region had mostly been dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. That’s changing fast. Guatemala has been in a state of religious flux since in the mid-1990s and the end of the country’s decadeslong civil war. One aspect of the country’s changing religious landscape is the mass conversion of Indigenous people in the north of the country to the Orthodox Church. By David I. Klein. 1,300 words. (category: i)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Silk-Oped: Resettling Afghan evacuees will be a mammoth job. Churches will be essential.
(RNS) — Amid the political polarization that afflicts just about every issue before the American public, one happy exception is the overwhelming bipartisan support for taking in Afghan evacuees who assisted the U.S. military during the war in Afghanistan. But that doesn’t mean resettling them is going to be easy. By Mark Silk. 738 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Randall-Oped: As billionaires grow richer, children go to sleep hungry
(RNS) — The American Rescue Plan — the COVID-19 relief bill passed in March — expanded eligibility for two of the most vital anti-poverty programs we have. Both adjustments put more money into the pockets of low-income people who were previously ineligible — many of them frontline workers in the pandemic. But these payments will expire on Dec. 31 if Congress does not extend them. By Diane Randall. 731 words. (category: k)
COMMENTARY
RNS-Reese-Oped: Five rules for disagreeing with the pope
(RNS) — Attacks on popes from clerics and the media are not new. These attacks come from the left or the right depending on who is pope. Let’s be honest. We are all cafeteria Catholics. The real question is how we avoid a food fight in the cafeteria. Here are five rules for disagreeing with the pope. This draft is not perfect, but I think the church needs to have a conversation about how we deal with disagreements. By Thomas Reese. 856 words. (category: k)
