News
‘What Is God Like?’ Late author Rachel Held Evans’ first children’s book invites questions
By Emily McFarlan Miller — June 15, 2021
(RNS) — 'This is the first book of hers that they'll read,' Rachel Held Evans' husband, Daniel Jonce Evans, said of the couple's two young children.
NIH director: We asked God for help with COVID-19, and vaccines are the ‘answer to that prayer’
By Jack Jenkins — June 15, 2021
WASHINGTON (RNS) — ‘This is about saving lives,’ NIH Director Francis Collins told RNS.
NY Holocaust survivors celebrated at concert after isolation
By Luis Andres Henao — June 15, 2021
NEW YORK (AP) — 'To be out once again is like reviving ourselves. To sit among our children and grandchildren is heartwarming,' said Dolly Rabinowitz, who lived through Auschwitz and the Death March.
A guide to what’s at stake at the Southern Baptist Convention’s historic annual meeting
By Paul O'Donnell — June 15, 2021
(RNS) — A one-stop update on what will be decided in Nashville, and how the Southern Baptists arrived at their crossroads on race, gender and sexual abuse.
Black SBC leader urges African American fellowship to stay the course
By Adelle M. Banks — June 15, 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — ‘I want to encourage you before you do anything, seek the will of God,’ said the Rev. Marshal Ausberry Sr.
Gavel named for slaveholder replaced with one recalling missionary at SBC meeting
By Adelle M. Banks — June 15, 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — SBC President J.D. Greear is showing ‘the need for continuing to move from the past that we had to the present that we’re in,’ says a SBC historian.
At Founders event, Southern Baptists urged to choose Bible over ‘paganism,’ CRT
By Bob Smietana — June 15, 2021
(RNS) — Critics of the current leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention say the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has ‘forgotten God.’
SBC Executive Committee rejects request for system-wide abuse inquiry
By Adelle M. Banks — June 14, 2021
(RNS) — Another committee member argued against a fellow member’s request, saying there is no one in the SBC who favors sex abuse.
Archdiocese of Los Angeles issues new guidelines to fully reopen parishes
By Alejandra Molina — June 14, 2021
LOS ANGELES (RNS) — Masks will not be required for fully vaccinated people during indoor and outdoor religious services.
Sex abuse survivors call for system-wide audit of Southern Baptist Convention
By Yonat Shimron — June 14, 2021
(RNS) — The group of eight survivors wants the convention to go beyond the review of the Executive Committee that was announced last week.
‘Am I the worst thing a person can be?’: Witches fight media bias
By Heather Greene — June 14, 2021
(RNS) — 'Criminals aren’t labeled as Baptist,' one witch observed, unless the crime is related to professed religious beliefs, as was the case in the recent spa shootings in Atlanta.
Pope demands food aid reach starving people of Tigray
By Associated Press — June 14, 2021
ROME (AP) — Francis called for an immediate end to the fighting in Tigray, the return of social harmony and for ‘all food aid and health care assistance to be guaranteed.’
EXPLAINER: What will change under Israel’s new government?
By Joseph Krauss — June 14, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — The next government, which will be led by the ultranationalist Naftali Bennett, has vowed to chart a new course aimed at healing the country's divisions and restoring a sense of normalcy.
EXPLAINER: Who is Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new leader?
By Joseph Krauss — June 14, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — Bennett represents a third generation of Israeli leaders, after the founders of the state and Netanyahu's generation.
At least three critical race theory statements proposed for Southern Baptist meeting
By Adelle M. Banks — June 11, 2021
(RNS) — There’s a lot riding on the resolutions committee’s work, with critical race theory as one of the 'points of tension' it has to manage, its chair said.
