DIY Faith
Atheist ashram on Lord Krishna’s home turf roils India’s Hindu nationalists
By Priyadarshini Sen — June 19, 2019
(RNS) — Two brothers who once devoutly supported the Hindu nationalist agenda have turned to rationalism, attracting attacks from religious leaders and politicians.
Quebec’s new law banning religious garments in public fails the reality test
By Simran Jeet Singh — June 18, 2019
(RNS) — Where the arguments of laicity offered by defenders of Quebec's new law fall flat is in the real world.
There’s more to wellness than looking pretty
By Tara Isabella Burton — June 14, 2019
(RNS) — Wellness culture is about more than beauty. It’s about something even more complicated: purity.
Connecting the scourge of ethnic nationalism to the 1984 Sikh massacre
By Simran Jeet Singh — June 12, 2019
(RNS) — Ethno-nationalism is a regressive way of constructing and inhabiting a nation, yet its popularity is surging in the skyrocketing Hindu nationalism in India or the rise of white nationalism in the United States.
App for the blind is the latest in Jerusalem’s effort to make holy sites accessible
By Michele Chabin — June 11, 2019
JERUSALEM (RNS) — In recent months, pedestrian walkways through the oldest parts of the city have been reworked to make them wheelchair-accessible, and new technology is bringing holy sites to life for everyone.
In my church, some of us voted for President Trump. All of us pray for him.
By Tish Harrison Warren — June 11, 2019
(RNS) — Recent public prayers for the president appear to understand prayer less as an ancient and mysterious spiritual practice than as a chance to endorse (or condemn) what we see in the world around us.
Amid Ramadan celebrations, Jordanians fear an uncertain future
By Ken Chitwood — June 5, 2019
AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — In Jordan, young Muslims count their blessings during Ramadan but worry about the future.
Can witches and consumer culture coexist?
By Tara Isabella Burton — June 4, 2019
(RNS) — As long as millennials adapt rituals and spells as a force for change, companies will hawk those rituals and spells to preserve the status quo.
Why a Boston church is stamping Harriet Tubman on all its $20 bills
By Aysha Khan — June 3, 2019
BOSTON (RNS) — Since May, the Jamaica Plain church has been stamping all $20 bills from its offering plates with abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s face. It is, the church's pastor said, a 'worthy replacement.'
At her funeral, Rachel Held Evans is memorialized with quotes from her own writings
By Carina Julig — June 1, 2019
(RNS) — Her friend Nadia Bolz-Weber gave a sermon, saying that though theologically she knows that death knows no sting, 'it stings now.'
Fighting hate with a holy, and blessedly ordinary, partnership of Christians and Jews
By Daniel Greyber and Katie Crowe — May 31, 2019
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) — Sharing a sanctuary, a church and a synagogue wrote a narrative that refused to let our current divisions have the final word.
Vanier is gone, but his Christian model for living alongside the disabled takes root
By Yonat Shimron — May 30, 2019
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (RNS) — Jean Vanier’s core principle of 'Eat together, pray together, celebrate together' forms the basis for Friendship House, where students share living space with people with disabilities.
In St. Louis, ‘Grill to Glory’ deploys churches (and hot dogs) for community renewal
By Eric Berger — May 30, 2019
ST. LOUIS (RNS) — A partnership between churches and a local nonprofit build community through cookouts in crime-plagued North St. Louis.
Immigrant-run sewing co-op aims to end fast fashion culture, starting with Muslims
By Aysha Khan — May 29, 2019
CHICAGO (RNS) — One of the country’s first clothing cooperatives run by immigrant and refugee women, Blue Tin Production aims to develop ethical manufacturing for Muslim designers while offering well-paying opportunities for skilled immigrants.
Why politics may kill white churches
By Ryan Burge — May 29, 2019
(RNS) — If young people are the future of the church, it’s hard to see how both white Catholics and white evangelicals can effectively reach out to the younger generations when their politics become further and further polarized.
