Twinbrook Baptist Church will be closing in Rockville, Md. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks
Need to know: Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Pastor says $1 million from closing church aids wider ‘fellowship of the concerned’
Twinbrook Baptist Church will close, but its sale will help nonprofits meet needs in the community and the Hispanic congregation that long rented the building.
Boston’s Catholic archdiocese expands effort to digitize archives
The data will help individuals hoping to trace back their family ancestry, as well as historians, genealogists, economists and other scholars looking for bulk data for their research.
Survey: Less than 25% in any US state approves total ban on abortion
The survey's state-by-state findings come at a time when overall national views on the legality of abortion have remained stable. In 2018, 15% of those surveyed said it should be illegal in all cases, compared to 16% in 2014.
‘Let our voices be heard’: Churches march against immigration raids
Churches have emerged as the top sources of spiritual and material support to the mostly Mexican and Guatemalan workers targeted by recent immigration raids in Mississippi. Some churches are going beyond comfort and material aid, with their response flaring into political opposition.
French cannabis debate ignores race, religion and mass incarceration of Muslims
Evidence suggests that cannabis prohibition over the past 50 years has disproportionately punished France’s Muslim minority, writes David A. Guba Jr.
Sister Helen Prejean on witnessing executions: ‘I couldn’t let them die alone’
Sister Helen Prejean is best known for her 1993 memoir, Dead Man Walking, about her role as a spiritual adviser to a convicted killer on death row.
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Troops let Muslims go to mosques in locked-down Kashmir
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Muslims walked to local mosques for the Eid al-Adha festival during an unprecedented security lockdown in the disputed region that has gone on for eight straight days.
India to bring supplies to Kashmir; Pakistan to go to UN
Authorities enforcing a strict curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir will bring in trucks of essential supplies for an Islamic festival next week, as the divided Himalayan region remained in a lockdown Saturday.
ELCA Churchwide Assembly calls sexism and patriarchy sins, condemns white supremacy
The ELCA's newly approved social statement — titled 'Faith, Sexism, and Justice: A Call to Action' — names patriarchy and sexism as sins and acknowledges the church’s complicity in them.
More views from RNS
A year later, Catholic Church and Pennsylvania politicians ignore abuse survivors
Sexual abuse of minors and hiding abusers within the church is happening at epidemic proportions across all denominations. It’s time we reach out to survivors of abuse who have been silenced for their entire lives, writes Jimmy Hinton.
The maddeningly untraditional and modern faith of Abraham Lincoln
(RNS) — An atheist, then a seeker, he was convinced of God’s existence but agonized over the meaning of Providence in a tragic world; Lincoln’s faith was much like what we see among millions today.
Steve Bannon and the nationalist roots of Trump’s ‘Judeo-Christian’ vision
It comes via Steve Bannon, writes Mark Silk.
