Yonat Shimron
Yonat Shimron is an RNS National Reporter and Senior Editor.
All Stories by Yonat Shimron
As Reform Jews investigate themselves, a reckoning over sexual abuse grows
By Yonat Shimron — October 15, 2021
(RNS) — Multiple investigations, which will look at both historic and more recent instances of sex abuse, signal a desire for a new level of ethical accountability on sexual misconduct and gender discrimination.
Study: Attendance hemorrhaging at small and midsize US congregations
By Yonat Shimron — October 14, 2021
(RNS) — The Faith Communities Today survey finds that half of the country’s congregations had 65 or fewer people in attendance on any given weekend, a drop from a median attendance level of 137 people in 2000.
Mary Lou Williams thought jazz had the power to heal. The Catholic Church agreed.
By Yonat Shimron — October 7, 2021
(RNS) — A popular biography of the legendary jazz pianist, composer and arranger gives a glimpse of how art can serve the pursuit of holiness.
Born into slavery, they rose to be elite New York Jews. A new book tells their story.
By Yonat Shimron — October 5, 2021
(RNS) — In her new book, ‘Once We Were Slaves: The Extraordinary Journey of a Multiracial Jewish Family,’ Laura Arnold Leibman shows that Jews were not only slave owners. They were also slaves.
Jewish women to march in abortion rights rally
By Yonat Shimron — October 1, 2021
(RNS) — The National Council for Jewish Women will host a special Shabbat morning service at the site of the Washington march Saturday in Freedom Plaza.
Pat Robertson steps down from ‘700 Club’
By Yonat Shimron — October 1, 2021
(RNS) — The 91-year-old televangelist, pioneer Christian media mogul and one-time Republican presidential candidate made the announcement Friday (Oct. 1) on the 60th anniversary of CBN’s first broadcast.
Southern Baptist seminary heads join chorus of critics as leaders balk on abuse probe
By Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana — September 30, 2021
(RNS) — The presidents of all six Southern Baptist seminaries have issued statements or tweets expressing their dismay at the Executive Committee’s unwillingness to act at the convention’s direction. Many pastors agree.
Study: Social hostility to religion declines, but government restrictions rise
By Yonat Shimron — September 30, 2021
(RNS) — Governments in more than 80% of the represented countries harassed religious groups in some way, though use of force was less common, a new Pew study found.
Southern Baptists, at impasse, postpone vote on sex abuse probe for a week
By Yonat Shimron and Bob Smietana — September 28, 2021
(RNS) — At issue is whether the Executive Committee can shield from investigators certain communications it has received from its lawyers.
This Simchat Torah, one ancient Czech scroll has returned to its country of origin
By Yonat Shimron — September 27, 2021
(RNS) — Jewish life was nearly extinguished by the Nazis. But because of a historical quirk, Czech Jewish liturgical objects, such as Torah scrolls, survived. Now, one such scroll has made it back.
J. Dana Trent turns her drug-dealing childhood into a podcast about poverty and faith
By Yonat Shimron — September 24, 2021
(RNS) — ‘Breaking Good,’ a four-part podcast, tells a complex story of a dysfunctional churchgoing family living in a fading railroad town beset by poverty, addiction and mental illness.
Randall Balmer on why racism, not abortion, birthed the religious right
By Yonat Shimron — September 22, 2021
(RNS) — In his new book, he shows it was government interference in ‘segregation academies’ such as Bob Jones University that sparked the growth of the religious right. Opposition to abortion was an afterthought.
She spent three years in church sanctuary. A new documentary tells her story.
By Yonat Shimron — September 17, 2021
(RNS) — Espinal, who is married and has three adult children, had been living in the United States since she was 16.
A new Anne Frank Center aims to reshape racism through Holocaust education
By Yonat Shimron — September 15, 2021
COLUMBIA, S.C. (RNS) — The German-Dutch diarist is being memorialized in the heart of the South as part of an educational effort to stem not only hatred of Jews, but bigotry, discrimination and racism more broadly.
Blocked from serving their church, Catholic women push for female deacons
By Yonat Shimron — September 14, 2021
(RNS) — There is growing momentum to restore women to the diaconate, which would allow women to serve as Catholic chaplains in prisons, hospitals and other settings.
