Doctrine & Practice

Hindu Lord Ram road-trips through the United States

By Richa Karmarkar — April 17, 2024
(RNS) — For the first time in North America, an image of Lord Ram is being paraded from temple to temple on a two-month-long road trip, just in time for the deity’s birthday, Ram Navami.
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The worship of Shiva, Hinduism’s ‘inconceivable’ deity, finds a home in the tech sector

By Richa Karmarkar — April 11, 2024
(RNS) — Often cast as the most transcendent sect of Hinduism, Shaivism’s appeal to scientific-minded Hindus is becoming more visible.

At Yale, Christian pastors sign a declaration opposing religious nationalism

By Yonat Shimron — April 9, 2024
(RNS) — The declaration commits Christian leaders to preaching on moral issues and rejecting a political movement it says is exploiting traditional values to undermine democracy.

Why Sikhs celebrate the festival of Baisakhi

By Anshu Malhotra — April 9, 2024
(The Conversation) — The spirit of Baisakhi for Sikhs is reminiscent of the ideals of their gurus, who encouraged them to work toward building a just society.

A dramatic schism over social issues? The United Methodist Church has been here before – but this time, America’s religious landscape is far different

By Christopher H. Evans — April 9, 2024
(The Conversation) — The United Methodist Church will hold its General Conference, delayed several years by the pandemic, in April 2024. The meeting comes amid a dramatic divide over LGBTQ+ rights.

Transgender Catholics say new Vatican document shows no understanding of their lives

By David Crary — April 9, 2024
(AP) — The dismay was heightened because recent moves by Pope Francis had encouraged some trans Catholics to hope the church might become more accepting.

For Latino Muslims, Ramadan is a celebration of ‘Islam and Latinidad’

By Fiona André — April 8, 2024
(RNS) — 'The beauty is that we're not expected to commit cultural apostasy when we convert to Islam.'

For some Christians, a solar eclipse signals the second coming of Christ

By Eric Vanden Eykel — April 5, 2024
(The Conversation) — A scholar of early Christian literature writes that religious theories around celestial events are part of a larger human pattern to find meaning. And they go back thousands of years.

In 1877, a stained-glass window depicted Jesus as Black for the first time − a scholar of visual images unpacks its history and significance

By Virginia Raguin — April 5, 2024
(The Conversation) — A stained-glass window, which shows Jesus as a Black man for the first time, tells a story not only of race but of gender, class and ethnicity.

Ahead of General Conference, queer United Methodist delegates organize a caucus

By Yonat Shimron — April 4, 2024
(RNS) — After a four-year COVID-19 delay, and the departure of about 25% of its U.S. churches, the United Methodist Church is meeting again and the issue of human sexuality is back on the agenda.

Spiritual libertarianism swatted down in Wisconsin

By Mark Silk — April 3, 2024
(RNS) — Conservative legal groups are trying to erase a distinction between religious employers and religious activity.

LGBTQ-inclusive church in Cuba welcomes all in a country that once sent gay people to labor camps

By Luis Andres Henao — April 1, 2024
MATANZAS, Cuba (AP) — Cuba repressed gay people after its 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro and sent many to labor camps. But in recent years, the communist-run island barred anti-gay discrimination.

One year ago, Pope Francis disavowed the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ – but Indigenous Catholics’ work for respect and recognition goes back decades

By Eben Levey — April 1, 2024
(The Conversation) — Indigenous Catholics have long argued they should be able to embrace both sides of that identity.
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