The control room of EWTN in Irondale, Ala., on Jan. 8, 2019. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins
Need to know: Tuesday, January 15, 2019
From the Bible Belt, EWTN shapes world Catholic news
Leaders of the Eternal Word Television Network have spent the better part of four decades quietly building a Catholic media empire that spans the globe.
Israeli Christians protest artwork depicting Ronald McDonald as ‘McJesus’
The controversy has raised questions about the limits of artistic freedom in Israel, which prides itself on being both a progressive country and the home to holy sites of three world religions.
In northern Kenya, al-Shabab militants target Christian teachers
Non-Muslim teachers have long suffered discrimination by the ethnic Somalis in the region, who are accused of helping militants to target Christians.
Jimmy Allen, a Southern Baptist for everyone, taught us how to deal with change
History will remember the last moderate Southern Baptist leader for his grace in the upheavals that hit American religious and political life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, writes Bill Leonard.
Why making clergy mandatory reporters won’t solve the Catholic abuse crisis
Even covering confession under mandatory reporting rules would have little effect, since few abusers would confess such a sin if they thought their confidences were not secure, writes Thomas Reese.
Kumbh Mela: Hindus converge for largest-ever human gathering
More than 120 million Hindu devotees, as well as tourists, are expected to visit the north Indian city of Prayagraj over the next few weeks for the Kumbh Mela, a vast spiritual festival at the point where two sacred rivers, the Ganges and Yamuna, converge.
Latest news from RNS
Resolved to unplug? Films, challenges urge the religious to reflect on digital lives
As filmmaker Jonathan Ignatius Green screens the documentary 'Social Animals,' he's seen how ready people are to reflect on their digital behaviors. Many are bringing their beliefs to that reflection.
Texas GOP leader who is Muslim declares victory over bigotry
The vote ends a bid to unseat a Tarrant County GOP vice chair by those who consider any follower of Islam as a soldier in a 'stealth jihad.'
Cyntoia Brown: Christian university’s prison program ‘changed my life’
Cyntoia Brown, who was recently granted clemency for a murder she committed as a teenager, says a program run by a Christian college in Nashville, Tenn., helped her turn her life around.
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The spirituality hiding in our self-help New Year’s resolutions
In the rhetoric of self-improvement, ridding ourselves of the old year's bad energy is a matter of social, physical and emotional health. But the notion is loaded with spiritual significance, writes Tara Isabella Burton.
10 ways Utah Mormons are a breed apart
Is there really such a thing as a "Utah effect" in American Mormonism?
Jason Berry’s spiritual counter-narrative
A new history of New Orleans by the man who broke the Catholic abuse story.
