A group marches to Jefferson Square in Louisville, Kentucky, on June 2, 2020, to protest the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot by police in her home in March. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)
Need to know: Monday, July 6, 2020
‘More than individual sin’ — Black pastors urge evangelicals to admit systemic racism
While liberal Christians have embraced the idea of social or collective sin, especially when it comes to racism, white evangelicals have typically resisted such notions as unbiblical. A Black Southern Baptist pastor is now calling them out on it.
On July 5, Uighurs remember 2009 violence that set Chinese crackdown in motion
The uprising of July 5, 2009, and ensuing ethnic violence charted the way forward for China’s mass suppression of Uighurs over a decade later.
The preaching politician: ‘Good Trouble’ documentary follows John Lewis from fields of Alabama to halls of Congress
‘Faith is an integral part of Mr. Lewis’ life but also part of his activism,’ said director Dawn Porter.
Death of megachurch pastor Darrin Patrick officially ruled a suicide
The cause of death was a gunshot wound and the medical examiner ruled it a suicide, said Franklin County Sheriff Steve Pelton.
An outsider’s encounter with the Psalms
Instead of trying to contextualize it as a scholar, I decided to approach Psalm 133 as a reader and see how it might speak to me, writes Simran Jeet Singh.
Arab and Muslim communities need to talk about anti-blackness
Black Muslims are often overlooked in conversations about Islam, and Afro-Arabs are rendered invisible in the discourse of Arab politics and culture.
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Some question replacing Mississippi’s Confederate symbol with ‘In God We Trust’
‘In God we trust that we never go back to the Jim Crow laws, that we never go back to the Confederate flag and that every citizen of Mississippi — whether he’s Black or white — will be inclusive,’ said the Rev. Isiac Jackson Jr.
Top Vatican investigator on sex abuse says church must empower victims
‘We talk about communicating with victims, but we really need to listen to them,’ said Archbishop Charles J. Scicluna in a Tuesday webinar.
Death Cafes help ease grief, loss in the time of coronavirus
(AP) — Virtual Death Cafes allow strangers to explore mortality and its impact on the living, preferably while sipping tea and eating cake.
More views from RNS
To finish the fight for freedom, we need a revolutionary tea party for racial justice
(RNS) — The basic principle we all celebrate on Independence Day, the consent of the governed, has long been broken in two by the color line.
The Fourth of July: Time to celebrate or lament?
(RNS) — How could the white colonists fight for freedom and remain numb to the possibility of liberty for the slaves? The question plagues us to this day.
12 Black faith leaders who shaped America
(RNS) — As we approach our national Independence Day this year, I’m inspired to look at the holiday as a chance to commemorate the past, but, even more importantly, to demand a better future.
