News
Photos of the Week: Biden inauguration, Buddhist funeral in Nepal
By Kit Doyle — January 22, 2021
(RNS) — This week’s photo selection includes the inauguration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, a Buddhist funeral in Nepal and more.
SBC president JD Greear’s church launches inquiry into past actions of Bryan Loritts
By Bob Smietana — January 22, 2021
(RNS) — Questions have been raised about how Loritts handled accusations that his brother-in-law secretly videotaped women in a church bathroom.
Southern Baptist Dwight McKissic to leave Texas group over critical race theory stance
By Adelle M. Banks — January 22, 2021
(RNS) — ‘I’m no longer compatible with them and made the decision that we need to disengage from them,’ the pastor said of Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.
Tolkien fans hope to turn his house into a ‘Rivendell’ for writers and filmmakers
By Claire Giangravé — January 22, 2021
(RNS) — Fantasy enthusiasts want to turn the house of the Catholic author in Oxford, England, into a meeting place.
German teens go to Israel to atone for their families’ Holocaust history
By Michele Chabin — January 22, 2021
(RNS) — March of Life, a German movement that actively atones for the Holocaust through volunteerism, fights anti-Semitism through activism.
Vatican convicts ex-bank chief in property embezzlement scam
By Nicole Winfield — January 22, 2021
(RNS) —The scam allegedly involved the suspects selling 29 different properties in Rome and elsewhere to offshore companies that then resold them at market rates, with the suspects pocketing the difference.
Jen Hatmaker apologizes for line in inaugural prayer critiqued as erasing Native Americans
By Emily McFarlan Miller — January 21, 2021
(RNS) — ‘If God gave this land to anyone, it was to the Native community who always lived here,’ Hatmaker said.
5 faith facts about Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Southern Jew with a passion for racial justice
By Yonat Shimron — January 21, 2021
(RNS) — He wrote a letter to the Atlanta Jewish community saying his Jewish upbringing instilled in him ‘a conviction to fight for the marginalized, the persecuted and the dispossessed.’
With new executive order, this immigrant is leaving church sanctuary after 3.5 years
By Yonat Shimron — January 21, 2021
DURHAM, N.C. — Dozens of others who took sanctuary in churches after former President Trump’s aggressive deportation policies are now checking with their lawyers to see if it might be safe for them to leave.
Alabama pastor Ed Litton, known for racial reconciliation work, joins SBC presidential race
By Bob Smietana — January 21, 2021
(RNS) — So far, four Southern Baptist leaders, each representing a different segment of the SBC, plan to run for president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination.
At inaugural prayer service, a message of renewal and ‘repairing the breach’
By Jack Jenkins — January 21, 2021
WASHINGTON (RNS) — The service featured prayers and sermons from some of Donald Trump's biggest religious critics.
Faith and the COVID-19 vaccine: ‘Muslims were among the first to believe in vaccines’
By Julie Schonfeld — January 21, 2021
(RNS) — A conversation with Imam Mohamed Magid on the safety and theological underpinning of taking the vaccine.
US Catholic bishops divided over Biden presidency
By Claire Giangravé — January 21, 2021
(RNS) — Wednesday’s critical statement of Biden from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops put a spotlight on the fractured episcopacy in the country.
For President Joe Biden, an inauguration filled with faith
By Jack Jenkins — January 20, 2021
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Quoting the Bible, President Joe Biden declared: Weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. 'We will get through this together!'
The Rev. Raphael Warnock sworn in with two others as new senator
By Adelle M. Banks — January 20, 2021
(RNS) — Warnock was sworn in with Georgia’s second new senator, Jon Ossoff, who is the state’s first Jewish senator, and Alex Padilla, California’s first Latino senator.
