Benjamin Spratt
Benjamin Spratt is an author at Religion News Service.
All Stories by Benjamin Spratt
Embodying Islam: Nadiah Mohajir works to better Muslims’ sexual health and relationships
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — May 8, 2023
(RNS) — Mohajir's nonprofit, HEART, was conceived as a 'third space' — not the home and not the mosque — that provides muslims the safety and openness they need to discuss issues about their bodies, while honoring Muslim traditions.
‘Healing the healers’ with the restorative wisdom of the Black church
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — April 11, 2023
(RNS) — The Rev. Jennifer Bailey believes Americans’ divisions are experienced as grief and loss, and looks to provide rituals to help us heal.
Anju Bhargava: Getting Hinduism a seat at the table
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — March 13, 2023
(RNS) — Bhargava is among a rising cohort of American Hindu leaders becoming more public about their spirituality. They're inspired by the Hindu concept of "seva" — selfless service.
For Father James Martin, ministry means going wherever the people are
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — October 18, 2022
(RNS) — The popular Jesuit priest and author says he felt called to minister among the LGBTQ+ community following the Pulse nightclub shooting in 2016, when few Catholic leaders were speaking out.
Her own trauma showed Yolonda Blue Horse how Indigenous Americans can overcome history
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — September 27, 2022
(RNS) — Discriminated against after the death of her child, the Lakota Sioux leader realized that Native Americans have to stand up and be counted.
Bishop Robert Stearns wants to reinvent evangelicalism without leaving it behind
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — August 31, 2022
(RNS) — The pastor from western New York is one of a rising cohort of evangelical leaders who are looking beyond partisan politics and messaging based on fear.
A saint-soldier defending Sikhs and reviving the American melting pot
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — July 15, 2022
(RNS) — The Sikh Coalition was born in the hours after 9/11, out of self-defense. It’s become an outward-looking force promoting the core American value of being able to practice faith without fear.
Creating a Catholic Church she can belong to
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — June 3, 2022
(RNS) — Jamie Manson, president of Catholics for Choice, is often asked why she doesn’t leave a church whose direction she often questions. But she long ago found that Catholicism offered the very theology that promised her, and so many others, belonging.
An immigrant Muslim finds his model of empowerment in Black American Islam
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — May 10, 2022
(RNS) — One in a new series of interviews with contemporary faith-based leaders reinventing American faith.
An awakening is coming to American religion. You won’t hear about it from the pulpit.
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — April 12, 2022
(RNS) — The future of American religion resides with innovative lay leaders who focus on empowerment, rather than power.
Evangelical Christians looking for renewal should look to the margins
By Joshua Stanton and Benjamin Spratt — February 18, 2022
(RNS) — The crisis of church and synagogue is not a crisis of faith, so much as a crisis of purpose.
How a Supreme Court bent on protecting religion could harm it
By Benjamin Spratt and Joshua Stanton — December 1, 2020
(RNS) — Even if the Supreme Court allows church and synagogue doors to remain open, it cannot fill the pews.
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