Archives: RNS Morning Reports
The Slingshot: Cardinal charged; Pastor detained; Imam censured
By Kimberly Winston and Jerome Socolovsky — July 26, 2017
Vatican Cardinal Pell faces Australian court on sex charges. Religious leaders protest L.A. pastor’s detention during routine ICE appointment. Sermon called anti-Semitic; imam says, taken out of context.
The Slingshot: Jared Kushner; Charlie Gard; Guns and God
By Kimberly Winston and Emily McFarlan Miller — July 25, 2017
Some evangelical leaders are rushing to defend not a policy impacting people of faith, but a person — Jared Kushner. Charlie Gard’s parents have ended their legal fight to bring the sick infant to the U.S. for treatment. Four out of five white evangelicals have fired a gun.
The Slingshot: Ark incentive suspended; Summer of Love; UFOs as religion
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 24, 2017
The ark park’s recent actions may put it in breach of the agreement with the state to refund a portion of sales tax collected at the site. The revolution that rocked the streets of San Francisco in the summer of 1967 can be seen as a new religious movement. The less religious people are, the more likely they are to endorse empirically unsupported ideas about UFOs.
The Slingshot: Muslim Old City protests; Baptists and race; McCain’s diagnosis
By Yonat Shimron — July 21, 2017
Muslims hold street prayers to protest the installation of metal detectors at the Jerusalem holy site. Black ministers in the Southern Baptist Convention discuss race issues after one pastor quits. Jeffrey Weiss hopes Sen. John McCain’s brain cancer will help shed light on an awful illness.
The Slingshot: Access to Trump; Refugee ban upheld; Skirting Saudi freedoms
By Mark A. Kellner — July 20, 2017
Conservative evangelical leaders get up close to POTUS while others are kept away; the Supreme Court said the U.S. can temporarily ban some refugees; Saudi Arabia's detention of a miniskirt-wearing woman shows the conflict between Wahhabism and modernity.
The Slingshot: Black clergy protest; Saudi video; Transgender Mormon
By Kimberly Winston and Jerome Socolovsky — July 19, 2017
Black clergy arrested while protesting Trump administration policies. Saudi woman in miniskirt video arrested after public outcry. After leading LDS congregations and designing Mormon temples, this Utah dad is building a new life — as a woman
The Slingshot: Pence’s Promised Land; Russia’s Jehovah’s Witnesses; Muslim women’s sex guide
By Lauren Markoe — July 18, 2017
The vice president told Christians United for Israel that his support for the country is rooted in his faith. Russia’s Supreme Court upholds a ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses. A new sex manual for Muslim women.
The Slingshot: Rigid rabbinate; Summer reading list; Sacred space for UFO enthusiasts
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 17, 2017
A so-called blacklist drawn up by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate includes the names of 160 rabbis from several countries outside Israel. We’ve got a reading list that will take you through the end of the summer. Roswell, N.M., is the site of pilgrimages of the third kind.
The Slingshot: Peterson retrenches; Shrine attacked; Texas migrant crackdown
By Yonat Shimron — July 14, 2017
Eugene Peterson backtracks on his support for same-sex marriage. Policemen shot near revered Jerusalem shrine. Hispanic Catholics oppose a new Texas law that puts immigrants in the crosshairs of law enforcement.
The Slingshot: Eugene Peterson’s stand; Pat Robertson’s interview; Transcendentalism revisited
By Mark A. Kellner — July 13, 2017
Teresa Hord Owens, a descendant of one of Indiana’s oldest free black settlements, will be the group's general minister and president.
The Slingshot: Becoming a Saint; Gluten on the altar; Tattoos in Jerusalem
By kimberly-winston-and-jerome-socolovsky and Kimberly Winston — July 12, 2017
Pope Francis creates fourth pathway to becoming a saint. Protestant churches embrace gluten-free wafers as Vatican reaffirms ban. A 700-year-old Christian body painting tradition thrives in a holy city.
The Slingshot: Gluten-free wafers; Samford’s LGBT group; Joan of Art
By Lauren Markoe — July 11, 2017
The Vatican reiterates that communion wafers have to have at least a trace amount of gluten. A Baptist University thinks twice about an LGBT group. The 15th-century French teenage martyr lives on in art.
The Slingshot: Russell Moore; Linda Sarsour; The future of faith
By Emily McFarlan Miller — July 10, 2017
The story of Moore, and others before him, illustrates even the deepest splits of our time can ultimately be overcome. Conservative media was alarmed by Sarsour’s use of the word ‘jihad,’ meaning they don’t understand what it means. What’s a Mormon doing leading Buddhist meditation?
The Slingshot: Antiquity raiders; Ecumenical accord; Church and health
By Yonat Shimron — July 7, 2017
Experts reject Hobby Lobby explanations for illegally imported cuneiform tablets. Protestants and Catholics now agree on key theological point. Church is good for your health — now what?
The Slingshot: Smuggled antiquities; Vatican ‘gay orgy’; Rohingya Muslims
By Mark A. Kellner — July 6, 2017
Hobby Lobby is fined over smuggled Iraqi artifacts; allegations of a ’gay sex orgy’ at a Vatican apartment; and Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar continue to suffer Buddhist repression.