Holy days converging in April spark interfaith celebrations
By Luis Andres Henao — April 18, 2022
(AP) — In addition to Passover, Easter and Ramadan, holy days occurring in April this year include the Sikhs' and Hindus' Vaisakhi, the Jains' Mahavir Jayanti, the Baha’i festival of Ridvan, and the Theravada Buddhist New Year.
Across US, faith groups mobilize to aid Ukrainian refugees
By Luis Andres Henao and Deepa Bharath — April 5, 2022
LOS ANGELES (AP) — In Southern California, pastors and lay individuals are stationing themselves at the Mexico border waving Ukrainian flags and offering food, water and prayer.
Ukrainian spiritual and diplomatic leaders urge aid, weapons
By Luis Andres Henao — March 16, 2022
(AP) — “What good is it if you feed the stomachs of these children, these women, these people in cities, if their brains are going to be blown out, if their apartment buildings are going to be rendered into rubble?” said the Most Rev. Borys Gudziak.
Faith in the metaverse: A VR quest for community, fellowship
By Luis Andres Henao — January 31, 2022
(AP) — Many Americans — some traditionally religious, some religiously unaffiliated — are increasingly communing spiritually through virtual reality, one of the many evolving spaces in the metaverse that have grown in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic.
Rastafari want more legal marijuana for freedom of worship
By Luis Andres Henao and Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu — December 10, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — For Rastafari, the ritualistic smoking of marijuana brings them closer to the divine. But for decades, many have been incarcerated because of their use of cannabis.
Faith groups increasingly join fight against climate change
By Luis Andres Henao and Jessie Wardarski — November 2, 2021
POINTE-AUX-CHENES, Louisiana (AP) — On a boat ride along a bayou that shares the name of his Native American tribe, Donald Dardar points to a cross marking his ancestors’ south Louisiana burial ground — a place he fears will disappear. He points to the partly submerged stumps of oak trees killed by salt water on […]
Two decades after 9/11, Muslim Americans still fighting bias
By Luis Andres Henao, Mariam Fam, and Deepti Hajela — September 7, 2021
NEW YORK (AP) — As young American Muslims grew up under the shadow of 9/11, they faced hostility and surveillance, mistrust and suspicion, questions about their Muslim faith and doubts over their Americanness.
For US teen Buddhist lama, it’s faith, school, football
By Luis Andres Henao — August 2, 2021
COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, Minn. (AP) — Jalue Dorje, 14, has spent much of his life training to become a monk, memorizing sacred scriptures, practicing calligraphy and learning the teachings of Buddha.
LGBTQ youth of faith pray, bond at ‘Beloved Arise’ group
By Luis Andres Henao — July 4, 2021
Jessika Sessoms grew up in a conservative Black evangelical family, attended Christian schools and often heard that being gay was an abomination, until she understood that she was queer while studying to become a missionary. The 23-year-old from Florida came out publicly last year and has found healing and a sense of community after joining […]
