Oluwatoyin Salau, 19, speaks in front of the Tallahassee Police Department during a protest held Saturday, May 30, 2020. Salau went missing on June 6 and was found dead Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Tesia Lisbon/Special to the Democrat via USA Today)
Need to know: Tuesday, June 16, 2020
Protester, Oluwatoyin Salau, found dead after tweeting assaulter was ‘disguised as a man of God’
Black Lives Matter protester Oluwatoyin Salau has been found dead days after she reported being sexually assaulted by a man who offered to give her a ride to a church.
Black clergy testify to outrage and hope in demonstrations across Washington
Citing recent killings by police as well as the ravages of the pandemic, leaders of several faiths called on the government to take responsibility.
Supreme Court rules that federal law protects LGBTQ persons from employment discrimination
The Court ruled that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, making employment discrimination against LGBTQ persons illegal in all 50 states for the first time.
Black Lives Matter is ‘a spiritual movement,’ says co-founder Patrisse Cullors
Lifting up the names of victims ‘is literally almost resurrecting a spirit so they can work through us,’ Cullors said.
How white spirituality, religious or not, allows racism to grow
Christians and New Agers alike tend not to concern ourselves with human bodies, and too often talk of actual justice is hushed for the sake of unity or good vibrations, writes Kerry Connelly.
For sale: The hair of the Virgin Mary
What does a supposedly secular world want with the creepy (and probably fake) remains of medieval saints? asks Mattia Ferraresi.
Latest news from RNS
Amid protests and pandemic, Dave Dummitt steps in as senior pastor of Willow Creek
Dave Dummitt is Willow Creek’s first full-time senior pastor since founding pastor Bill Hybels retired early and his successors resigned over the church’s handling of the allegations against him.
In Greece, pandemic deprives refugees of vital link to food and locals
A restaurant dedicated to feeding refugees and native Greeks alike awaits the country's reopening.
Young Japan priests try to breathe life into fading Buddhism
Buddhist leaders say a third of the country’s 75,000 temples are barely functioning, but a younger generation of priests is working to reverse the faith’s downward spiral.
More views from RNS
Measuring the religious significance of the Supreme Court’s LGBT decision
Dashing the hopes of social conservatives, two justices President Trump nominated to the Court took a relaxed view of the religious implications of expanding LGBTQ rights, writes Mark Silk.
As churches reopen, let’s not lose the sense of sanctity in our homes
(RNS) — One of the silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic is that it has forced us to once again make our homes places of worship.
India’s goddesses of contagion provide protection in the pandemic
(RNS) — Collectively known as the Divine Mother, the goddesses of contagion act as “celestial epidemiologists” curing illness. But if angered they can also inflict disease.
