News
Priest outed via Grindr app highlights rampant data tracking
By Matt O'brien and Frank Bajak — July 23, 2021
(AP) — With few U.S. restrictions on what companies can do with the vast amount of data they collect from webpage visits, apps and location tracking built into phones, there’s not much to stop similar spying.
China’s Xi visits Tibet amid rising controls over religion
By Associated Press — July 23, 2021
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made a rare visit to Tibet as authorities tighten controls over the Himalayan region’s traditional Buddhist culture, accompanied by an accelerated drive for economic development and modernized infrastructure. State media reported Friday that Xi visited sites in the capital, Lhasa, including the Drepung Monastery, Barkhor Street and […]
Noem to headline GOP event in early-voting South Carolina
By Meg Kinnard — July 23, 2021
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Kristi Noem will speak Aug. 23 at the Faith & Freedom BBQ in Anderson, according to the event’s host, U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan.
Dating as a Catholic: Sweet dream or not-so-beautiful nightmare?
By Renée Roden — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Sometimes sorting potential mates based on shared religion can result in strange bedfellows. One Instagram account laughs through the pain.
UMC edges toward historic split over LGBTQ inclusion. This church showed the way.
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Community of Hope was founded in 1993 as an outreach to ‘people on the margin,’ including LGBTQ people and people living with HIV/AIDS, according to its former pastor.
Oh Baby, Baby: Amy Grant’s biggest hit turns 30
By Bob Smietana — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — Amy Grant’s ‘Heart in Motion’ sold more than 5 million copies and made her a household name. Thirty years later, the record has been rereleased.
André Mendonça, President Bolsonaro’s ‘terribly evangelical’ Supreme Court justice
By Eduardo Campos Lima — July 22, 2021
SÃO PAULO (RNS) — Mendonça’s nomination has been seen by many as a political maneuver by Bolsonaro to strengthen his ties with evangelicals, a significant and loyal voting bloc for him.
Teachers turn to mindfulness after a stressful pandemic year
By Megan Sweas — July 22, 2021
(RNS) — After a challenging year, mindfulness practice, based in Buddhism, is helping teachers maintain compassion for his students — and themselves.
Missouri church leaders implore congregants: Get vaccinated
By Jim Salter — July 22, 2021
O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — ‘Vaccine hesitancy in our pews puts our congregations and communities at greater risk.’
Politics foil replacing hazardous bridge to Jerusalem site
By Ilan Ben Zion — July 22, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — The tenuous state of the Mughrabi Bridge has raised fears of another disaster after a stampede at a religious festival left 45 people dead.
Room for 10,000: Inside China’s largest detention center
By Dake Kang — July 22, 2021
DABANCHENG, China (AP) — This site suggests that China still holds and plans to hold vast numbers of Uyghurs and other minorities in detention.
Former NBA player Stan McKenzie, husband of first woman AME Church bishop, dead at 76
By Adelle M. Banks — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — Less than two weeks before, his wife — Bishop Vashti McKenzie — thanked her spouse as she made farewell remarks at the African Methodist Episcopal Church’s General Conference.
With more than a million children orphaned by COVID, faith-based groups look to mobilize support
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — ‘These new estimates highlight the tremendous impact COVID-19 has had on children around the world,’ said Elli Oswald, executive director of the Faith to Action Initiative.
New book examines Sting’s enduring Catholic imagination
By Yonat Shimron — July 21, 2021
(RNS) — Before bursting onto the international rock scene as the principal songwriter and lead singer for the Police, Sting grew up Catholic. The faith’s images, symbols, stories and hymns appear everywhere in his music, writes Evyatar Marienberg in a new book.
Sharon Stone says Vatican must listen to Pope Francis and welcome LGBTQ Catholics
By Claire Giangravé — July 21, 2021
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Actress Sharon Stone urges the Vatican Curia to follow Pope Francis’ footsteps in including LGBTQ individuals
