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Houston’s Hindu youth will soon have a summer campsite of their own
By Richa Karmarkar — November 24, 2023
(RNS) — The Texas Hindu Campsite is set to open by the summer of 2024, just one year before the Hindu Heritage Youth Camp's 40-year anniversary.
Confusion follows Pope Francis’ audience with Israeli and Palestinian delegations
By Claire Giangravé — November 22, 2023
(RNS) — The Vatican denied that Francis referred to the Israeli attacks in Gaza as genocide.
How a game designer turned Jesuit ended up writing about space religion
By Bob Smietana — November 21, 2023
(RNS) — In writing one of Starfield’s religions, Shane Liesegang drew on his studies as a Jesuit priest in training.
Bishop Carlton Pearson, Tulsa pastor declared heretic for views on hell, dies at 70
By Adelle M. Banks — November 20, 2023
(RNS) — 'I’d rather err on the goodness, greatness and graciousness of God than the opposite,' Pearson once said.
From India’s Bihar to California’s Bay Area, Hindus celebrate ancient sun festival
By Richa Karmarkar — November 16, 2023
(RNS) — The ritual celebrating the rising and setting sun predates the Hindu gods that are more commonly known today, and stems from the earliest tradition of Hinduism, known as Vedic Hinduism.
‘No Small Endeavor’ host Lee Camp searches for the good life on the radio
By Bob Smietana — November 16, 2023
(RNS) — Once a Nashville-based variety show, the podcast has evolved into a conversation about the meaning of life. The show currently airs on a handful of public radio stations, with aspirations of going national.
In new political document, Catholic bishops emphasize abortion over climate change
By Jack Jenkins — November 15, 2023
BALTIMORE (RNS) — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops convened this week for an annual gathering that was, overall, more subdued than in recent years.
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.
