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Faith-based volunteers show up to help after Mississippi tornadoes
By Bob Smietana — March 27, 2023
(RNS)— Faith-based groups often play a key role in cleaning up after disasters and with long-term rebuilding.
‘Purple church’ pastors mull leadership strategies in polarizing times
By Yonat Shimron — March 27, 2023
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (RNS) — The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of North Carolina held a leadership forum to help pastors figure out how to speak out without alienating half of their members.
Amid crisis and political feuds, hope abounds in East Palestine
By Kathryn Post — March 24, 2023
EAST PALESTINE, Ohio (RNS) — ‘We have this chance to build something new,’ said the Rev. Fritz Nelson, pastor of First United Presbyterian Church in East Palestine.
As The King’s College faces closure, scrutiny turns to its backers
By Meagan Saliashvili — March 22, 2023
NEW YORK (RNS) — The nondenominational Christian college is expected to announce it will close after a Canadian company failed to deliver on lofty promises to boost declining enrollment, say staff and faculty members.
Bishops discourage Catholic health care groups from performing gender-affirming care
By Jack Jenkins — March 21, 2023
(RNS) — Opponents of the new ‘doctrinal note’ such as New Ways Ministry, a Catholic LGBTQ outreach organization, blasted the bishops’ statement as ‘neither good theology nor acceptable pastoral care.’
Ukraine’s Hare Krishnas survive war by Zoom and serving neighbors
By Tori Luecking — March 20, 2023
(RNS) — Many of the estimated 15,000 Hare Krishnas who call Ukraine home have continued their daily practice and serve their neighbors, even as several temples have been damaged or destroyed and their communities scattered.
Bitter infighting threatens Kenya’s Methodist Church
By Fredrick Nzwili — March 20, 2023
NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — At the center of a controversy that has been unfolding since 2015 is Presiding Bishop Joseph Ntombura.
Johnny Hunt, disgraced former SBC pastor, sues denomination he once led
By Bob Smietana — March 18, 2023
(RNS) — In a court filing, Hunt admitted kissing and fondling another pastor's wife but says the incident was consensual and private and should not have been made public in a major 2022 report.
State lawmakers push for priests to report abuse learned about in confessional
By Jack Jenkins — March 14, 2023
(RNS) — Catholic bishops are pushing back, arguing the statutes would infringe on the First Amendment rights of priests.
How a little-known editor made God a bestseller by helping Americans let go of religion
By Bob Smietana — March 13, 2023
(RNS) — A chance encounter at a party led religion professor Stephen Prothero to rediscover the story of Eugene Exman, a longtime book publisher who helped transform American religion.
Pope Francis at 10 years: A reformer’s learning curve
By Nicole Winfield — March 13, 2023
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The pope who once envisioned a papacy of 'two or three' years shows no signs of slowing down.
For FBI legend J. Edgar Hoover, Christian nationalism was the gospel truth, argues new book
By Bob Smietana — March 10, 2023
(RNS)— In 'The Gospel of J. Edgar Hoover,' Stanford professor Lerone Martin details how the longtime FBI director shaped the belief in America as a Christian nation.
Former Bishop Megan Rohrer, forced to resign over Latino pastor’s removal, sues ELCA
By Emily McFarlan Miller — March 9, 2023
(RNS) — Rohrer is suing the denomination, claiming he was ‘scapegoated’ and cast as racist for following orders when he removed the pastor of a Latino congregation on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Columbus artist’s dreadlocked, tattooed icons offer a fresh take on the saints
By Kathryn Post — March 8, 2023
COLUMBUS, Ohio (RNS) — They were the ‘original social justice warriors,’ says artist Gracie Morbitzer.
Old-school Christian nationalism’s avatar of racism, antisemitism and conspiracies
By Bob Smietana — March 7, 2023
(RNS) —The early version of Christian nationalism turned the fear of communism into an excuse to embrace prejudice and forfeit American democracy.
