Ismail Ajjawi. Photo courtesy of United Nations Relief and Works Agency via YouTube
Need to know: Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Muslim refugee teen previously blocked from US arrives on Harvard campus
The organization that granted the teen a scholarship said that the U.S. Embassy in Beirut had reissued a visa for him after reviewing his case.
Pope Francis to address conflict, climate in Africa in three-country visit
A top Vatican official described Africa as 'a laboratory for integral development' — a term that in this papacy refers to a sustainable society based on precepts in a 2015 papal encyclical on the environment.
It’s time to reclaim the pro-worker history of Catholic social teaching
Bishops and other influential Catholics should be at the front of the line when laborers strike to demand just wages, writes John Gehring.
We are not all the same, and in our difference we are divine
Seeing oneness in difference is the only way I know for us to move beyond our supremacies and to begin treating one another as equals, writes Simran Jeet Singh.
By their tweets you will know them: The Democrats’ continuing God gap
If they want to win back the White House, Democrats need to reach Christian voters. At least on social media, Democratic candidates are failing to do so, writes Ryan Burge.
Conversion therapy center founder who sought to turn LGBTQ Christians straight says he’s gay, rejects ‘cycle of self shame’
After 20 years working in that field, McKrae Game said he realizes the harm he has caused and that he, himself, is gay. Conversion therapy encompasses a widely discredited range of methods that purport to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Latest news from RNS
At first Muslim presidential forum, Sanders reaps adoration of ISNA attendees
At the Islamic Society of North America's first-ever presidential forum, both Sanders and Julián Castro underscored the need to build solidarity between communities to turn the tide against President Trump in 2020.
Instagram apostasy stirs controversy over Christian ‘influencers’
Living one's spiritual life online leaves these leaders more vulnerable to the huge cost of leaving one's faith.
Anti-extremism program won’t stop hate, say Muslims who’ve seen its flaws
Across the country, the question of engagement in federal Countering Violent Extremism programs—including, in Massachusetts, a half-million dollar police mentorship program targeting Boston’s Somali Muslim youth—continues to divide Muslim communities.
More views from RNS
Pope Francis pushes a new theology of climate change
It is not the same as his predecessors', writes Mark Silk.
Pope Francis firms up his legacy with appointment of new cardinals
After Oct. 15, 53% of the cardinal electors will have been appointed by Francis, writes Thomas Reese.
Why Jimmy Al-Daoud’s deportation and death hurts all Americans
Chaldeans, like other people of minority faiths, need protection and revival, not condemnation and expulsion, writes Weam Namou.
