News

NY governor vows to fight lawsuit over vaccine mandate

By Marina Villeneuve — September 17, 2021

A group of Christian health care practitioners argue that New York’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate is unconstitutional.

Catholic orphanage’s ex-residents ask church to fund therapy

By Wilson Ring — September 17, 2021

Former residents continue to recover from what they described as abuse at the hands of the nuns and priests.

Women are essential in the Bible. Now they’re in the Sunday readings

By Emily McFarlan Miller — September 17, 2021

(RNS) — ‘What does it look like to tell the Good News through the stories of women who are often on the margins of scripture and often set up to represent bad news?’ asks the Rev. Wilda Gafney.

Study: Religion soothed evangelicals at start of COVID. Politics put them at risk.

By Bob Smietana — September 17, 2021

(RNS) — From the start, religion has divided how Americans respond to COVID.

Another Texas execution delayed on religious freedom claims

By Juan A. Lozano — September 17, 2021

The Supreme Court granted him a stay because his spiritual adviser was not allowed to accompany him in the death chamber.

Survey: Who Americans blame for insurrection depends on their faith

By Jack Jenkins — September 16, 2021

(RNS) — White evangelicals are far more likely than most other religious groups to falsely blame left-wing activists for the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Meet Anne Wilson, a 19-year-old singer behind ‘My Jesus,’ a surprise Christian hit

By Bob Smietana — September 16, 2021

(RNS) — A family tragedy has led the Kentucky teen to unexpected success as a Christian musician.

Balbir Singh Sodhi, early victim of 9/11 hate, honored on 20th anniversary of his death

By Alejandra Molina — September 16, 2021

(RNS) — ‘Balbir Uncle’s story could have ended here,’ said activist Valarie Kaur, ‘but this was not the end of his story. His death was a beginning because of how he lived.’

LDS medical students revolutionize studying in the name of their faith

By Kathryn Post — September 16, 2021

(RNS) — ‘We want to help others ... because we feel that that’s what our savior would do if he was in our position,’ said one of the founders.

Some abortion foes question tactical wisdom of new Texas ban

By David Crary — September 16, 2021

The wariness relates in part to the law’s most novel feature, which some critics view as an invitation to vigilantes: It provides no enforcement role for public officials and instead authorizes private citizens to sue anyone they deem to be assisting in an abortion.

As COVID-19 vaccine mandates rise, religious exemptions grow

By Colleen Long, Andrew Demillo — September 16, 2021

An estimated 2,600 Los Angeles Police Department employees are citing religious objections to try to get out of the required COVID-19 vaccination. In Washington state, thousands of state workers are seeking similar exemptions. And in Arkansas, a hospital has been swamped with so many such requests from employees that it is apparently calling their bluff. […]

Committee wants to file own plan in Boy Scouts bankruptcy

By Randall Chase — September 16, 2021

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A committee charged with representing tens of thousands of alleged victims of child sex abuse in the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy asked the judge on Wednesday to terminate the BSA’s exclusive rights to file a reorganization plan, so that it can file its own. The committee’s court filing came hours […]

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.