Yonat Shimron
Yonat Shimron is an RNS National Reporter and Senior Editor.
All Stories by Yonat Shimron
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, who brought Judaism to a global audience, dies
By Yonat Shimron — November 8, 2020
(RNS) — The former chief rabbi of the United Kingdom won a large audience for his ability to reconcile the particularities of Judaism with universal concerns.
5 Faith-facts about VP-elect Kamala Harris, a Black Baptist with a Hindu family
By Yonat Shimron — November 7, 2020
(RNS) — Few, if any, vice presidential candidates have had as much exposure to the world’s religions as Kamala Harris, the 55-year-old senator from California whom Joe Biden picked Tuesday (Aug. 11) as his running mate.
Exit polls show few changes in the religious vote
By Yonat Shimron — November 5, 2020
(RNS) — Support for President Donald Trump among white evangelicals remained constant. Catholics split their vote. And non-Christians voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden.
Supreme Court hears case pitting religious freedom against LGBTQ rights
By Yonat Shimron — November 4, 2020
(RNS) — In Fulton v. Philadelphia, a more conservative Supreme Court is now considering whether foster and adoption agencies that oppose same-sex marriage on religious grounds may be exempted from serving those couples.
A cemetery is desecrated, shaking Michigan’s Jewish community on Election Day
By Yonat Shimron — November 3, 2020
(RNS) — Gayle Kirshenbaum planned to spend Election Day calling potential voters and urging them to vote. Instead she woke up to the news that the cemetery where her grandparents are buried was desecrated.
As Election Day looms, Christian pastors make bold political appeals
By Yonat Shimron, Emily McFarlan Miller, and Jack Jenkins — November 1, 2020
(RNS) — Prominent clergy on both sides urged their flocks to vote, even as they defended the propriety of addressing politics from the pulpit.
Black churchgoers pine for racial progress amid white resistance
By Yonat Shimron — October 30, 2020
(RNS) — For many Black Americans, life in predominantly white and conservative regions can be isolating and lonely.
Two years after Pittsburgh shooting, solemn anniversary marked online
By Yonat Shimron — October 27, 2020
(RNS) — Public commemorations of the 2018 shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, which killed 11 Pittsburgh Jews, will be livestreamed.
North Carolina Pentecostal church ordered to close after coronavirus outbreak
By Yonat Shimron — October 26, 2020
(RNS) — An abatement order was issued for the United House of Prayer for All People after an outbreak of COVID-19 led to more than 121 cases and at least three deaths.
In battleground states, American Jews prefer Biden over Trump by a wide margin
By Yonat Shimron — October 21, 2020
(RNS) — A pair of surveys of likely Jewish voters in Florida and Pennsylvania shows that former Vice President Joe Biden has a massive lead over Donald Trump.
Michael Hebb, a death wellness expert, wants people to plan for their end
By Yonat Shimron — October 21, 2020
(RNS) — ‘With the coronavirus there’s been an incredible wake-up call to our mortality,’ said Hebb, who has created resources to help people learn how to plan for it and support loved ones who may be nearing the end of life.
James MacDonald and Harvest Bible Chapel reach multimillion-dollar agreement
By Yonat Shimron — October 20, 2020
(RNS) — MacDonald, who was fired last year, will get $1.2 million and a vacant parcel of property adjacent to the church’s Crystal Lake Campus. He will also be allowed to run his Walk in the Word ministry independently.
Poll: White evangelicals are religious outliers on every issue of concern to voters
By Yonat Shimron — October 19, 2020
(RNS) — Only 35% of white evangelicals said the coronavirus is of critical concern, according to PRRI’s 11th annual American Values Survey. Among this group, abortion and terrorism top the list of concerns.
Catholic worker who broke into naval base to protest nuclear weapons sentenced
By Yonat Shimron — October 16, 2020
(RNS) — Patrick O'Neill is the third of the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 to be sentenced by a US District Court judge for trespassing at the Kings Bay Naval Base two years ago in a symbolic act of nuclear disarmament.
Catholic priest is sentenced to time served after 2018 break-in at nuclear naval base
By Yonat Shimron — October 15, 2020
(RNS) — A U.S. District Court judge sentenced the Rev. Stephen Kelly to 33 months in jail and three years’ probation, plus restitution fees for trespassing onto the Kings Bay Naval Base in Georgia.
