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In bipartisan March for Israel, crowd rejects cease-fire, demands release of hostages
By Yonat Shimron and Jack Jenkins — November 14, 2023
(RNS) — The march was intended as a response to numerous demonstrations across the country and the world — some led by Jews — calling for an end to Israel’s retaliatory strikes in Gaza.
Parsis in Mumbai fight existential decline in aspirants to priesthood
By Priyadarshini Sen — November 14, 2023
MUMBAI, India (RNS) — With steadily declining numbers, some of India’s Zoroastrians are looking to reduce the strain of becoming a priest in order to encourage more young men to devote themselves to the rituals that sustain the world’s first monotheistic religion.
As Black church grapples with mental health, clergy are both subject and solution
By Ambar Castillo — November 13, 2023
(RNS) — A new movement has taken on the taboo in many Black churches against talking about suicide.
More than 180,000 people across France march against soaring antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war
By Barbara Surk and Sylvie Corbet — November 13, 2023
PARIS (AP) — France has the largest Jewish population in Europe, but given its own World War II collaboration with the Nazis, antisemitic acts today open old scars.
Pope Francis removes a leading US conservative critic as bishop of Tyler, Texas
By Nicole Winfield — November 11, 2023
ROME (AP) — Strickland, 65, has emerged as a leading critic of Francis, accusing him in a tweet earlier this year of “undermining the deposit of faith.”
For New York’s Indo-Caribbean Hindus, Diwali is a fusion of East and West
By Richa Karmarkar — November 10, 2023
(RNS) — More than 300,000 West Indians reside in Queens. Among them, observant Hindus celebrate Diwali with a special fervor and distinct cultural flair.
Black Christian leaders call for cease-fire in Gaza
By Jack Jenkins — November 9, 2023
(RNS) — Asked about Biden’s calls for 'humanitarian pauses' in the fighting, Barbara Williams-Skinner, CEO and co-founder of Skinner Leadership Institute, said: ‘It’s not adequate.’
Leaders of Berlin’s interfaith House of One manage Israeli-Palestinian tensions
By Tom Heneghan — November 9, 2023
(RNS) — As interfaith feelings are strained by the Mideast conflict, leaders of Berlin’s planned center for Abrahamic religions vow to keep their project on course.
How a bucolic Tennessee suburb became a hotbed of ‘Christian Nashville-ism’
By Bob Smietana — November 8, 2023
(RNS) — The mix of religion, power, money and influence around Nashville and its suburbs makes it fertile ground for a Southern evangelical take on Christian nationalism.
Brandeis University bans campus chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine
By Yonat Shimron — November 7, 2023
(RNS) — The university notified the student group on Monday (Nov. 6) that it will no longer recognize the group ‘because it openly supports Hamas, which the United States has designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.’
Abortion vote in Ohio pushes ‘pro-life pro-choice’ Black clergy to take a side
By Kathryn Post — November 6, 2023
(RNS) — For some clergy, the fall of Roe v. Wade has motivated them to speak out on abortion for the first time.
Faith-based groups’ protests for cease-fire in Gaza gain momentum
By Jack Jenkins — November 3, 2023
“We don't need a pause, we need it ended — we need it to cease,” the Rev. Darrell Hamilton II said of the violence in Gaza.
The White House is working on a strategy to combat Islamophobia. Many Muslim Americans are skeptical
By Aamer Madhani, Zeke Miller, and Seung Min Kim — November 3, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — The new initiative is expected to take months to formalize, following a similar process to the plan to counter antisemitism.
Pope Francis mobilizing Vatican diplomats to quell a world war he says has begun
By Claire Giangravé — November 2, 2023
(RNS) — Pope Francis and the Vatican are pursuing peace in the globe’s two major conflicts, working through official and unofficial channels.
Largest Christian university in US faces record fine after federal probe into alleged deception
By Collin Binkley — November 1, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — Grand Canyon University faces the largest fine of its kind ever issued by the U.S. Education Department.
