Faith
Once a fringe Indian ideology, Hindu nationalism is now mainstream, thanks to Modi’s decade in power
By Krutika Pathi and Sheikh Saaliq — April 18, 2024
AHMEDABAD, India (AP) — Supporters and critics agree on one thing: Modi has achieved staying power by making Hindu nationalism acceptable — desirable, even — to a nation of 1.4 billion that for decades prided itself on pluralism and secularism
Israelis grapple with how to celebrate Passover, a holiday about freedom, while many remain captive
By Sam Mednick — April 18, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — This year, Alon Gat is struggling with how to reconcile a holiday commemorating freedom after his mother was slain and other family members abducted when Hamas attacked Israel.
Sydney teen accused of stabbing 2 clerics showed no signs of radicalization, Muslim leader says
By Rod Mcguirk and Mark Baker — April 18, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) — The teen spoke in Arabic about the Prophet Muhammad being insulted after he stabbed Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel and the Rev. Isaac Royel during Monday night's Assyrian Orthodox service, which was being streamed online.
Prominent Baptist pastor in military-ruled Myanmar detained again hours after release from prison
By Grant Peck — April 18, 2024
BANGKOK (AP) — The Rev. Hkalam Samson was among the 3,300 prisoners released nationwide on Wednesday to mark the traditional Thingyan New Year holiday.
What happens when most of the Catholic churches in Baltimore close?
By Mark Silk — April 18, 2024
(RNS) — The loss to local communities is likely to be substantial.
It’s not just young women who have a problem with Mormon temple garments. It’s young adults, period.
By Jana Riess — April 18, 2024
(RNS) — An LDS church leader recently said that garment rules were getting stricter because of the laxity of young women. Let’s expand that to ‘young people.’
Nancy French had it all — then along came Trump. Her new book ‘Ghosted’ tells all.
By Bob Smietana — April 18, 2024
(RNS) — Once a go-to ghostwriter for conservative politicians, Nancy French lost friends and many of her clients for criticizing Donald Trump.
Does my alma mater deserve an F in antisemitism?
By Jeffrey Salkin — April 17, 2024
(RNS) — If antisemitism is a test, what does it mean for a college to fail?
Why an organization founded to care for orphans no longer has a children’s home
By Vaughan Stannard — April 17, 2024
(RNS) — Our aim now is to strengthen families to raise thriving children.
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.
Frederick D. Haynes resigns abruptly as leader of Rainbow PUSH Coalition
By Adelle M. Banks — April 17, 2024
(RNS) — Haynes, the pastor of Friendship-West Baptist Church in Dallas, had been in the role at Rainbow PUSH for less than a year.
Father of boy accused of stabbing 2 Sydney clerics saw no signs of extremism, Muslim leader says
By Mark Baker and Rod Mcguirk — April 17, 2024
SYDNEY (AP) — Kheir is among several community leaders who have accused police of unnecessarily raising community tensions with a premature declaration on Tuesday that the attack at Christ the Good Shepherd Church fit the definition of a terrorist act.
Reagan’s great America shining on a hill twisted into Trump’s dark vision of Christian nationalism
By Diane Winston — April 17, 2024
(The Conversation) — Reagan and Trump − two of the most media-savvy Republican presidents − used religion to advance their political visions, but their messages and missions could not be more different.
‘The Hopeful,’ film about Adventist origins, debuts in theaters
By Kathryn Post — April 17, 2024
(RNS) — ‘I think a lot of those misconceptions that Adventists maybe aren’t mainstream Christians, I think they’re going to be challenged,’ said director and co-producer Kyle Portbury.
In time for Passover, the first Ukrainian-language Haggadah goes to print
By David I. Klein — April 16, 2024
(RNS) — ‘It is a symbol of how we’ve manifested as Ukrainian Jews, that we are something different, not just Soviet Jews anymore,’ said the translator of the Passover liturgy.
