Acting senior pastor Steve Gillen, center, offers prayers for Christmas prison packs filled at Willow Creek Community Church for its Hope Behind Bars initiative near Chicago on Dec. 9, 2018. Video screenshot
Need to know: Thursday, December 20, 2018
As Christmas nears, Willow Creek hopes for a fresh start
Christmas always has been a time of celebration at Willow Creek Community Church, and this year has been no exception. But there also are reminders this has been no ordinary year at Willow Creek.
Illinois investigation finds 500 more clergy abuse cases
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says her office has found 500 more Catholic clergy accused of sexually abusing children than the state’s six archdioceses have publicly identified.
Religious leaders in Congo urge the country to go to the polls to replace Kabila
Two years after the country's Roman Catholic bishops brokered a deal to delay elections, they are framing the vote as a chance to reclaim the country for justice and peace.
A new Christmas pageant shows off the fierce side of Mary
A new Christmas pageant at a church in Spokane skips the camels and wise men and focuses on the Magnificat—a biblical song from Mary that challenges the status quo.
Two cheers for the First Step Act
To continue to make progress in the next Congress, Republican-aligned groups will need to be as willing to work with liberal Democrats as they have with their own tribe, writes Jacob Lupfer.
American anti-BDS legislation coming under heat in the media and in court
In Texas, legislation designed to ensure that suppliers of services to the state do not engage in anti-Israeli boycotts has resulted in the dismissal of a school speech pathologist, who has sued.
Latest news from RNS
Human rights court rules against Greece in Sharia law case
(AP) — Greece violated a prohibition on discrimination by applying Islamic religious law to an inheritance dispute among members of the country’s Muslim minority, the European Court of Human Rights ruled Wednesday.
Pope accepts resignation of LA bishop accused of misconduct
(AP) — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a Los Angeles auxiliary bishop, Monsignor Alexander Salazar, after allegations of misconduct with a minor in the 1990s.
Canada reverses abortion rights proviso to summer jobs program
Many faith groups protested a checkbox on a participation form requiring prospective employers to affirm abortion rights.
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Mormon podcaster Gina Colvin faces excommunication feeling “saddened and enraged”
Gina Colvin is about to be excommunicated, which she says is a "barbaric" practice that reveals the immaturity of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bad priests, of all kinds, chase people away from Christ and the church
(RNS) — For too many Christians, the church is not 'a field hospital for the wounded,' in Pope Francis' words; it is a country club for the perfect.
God loves Christopher Hitchens anyway
WWHS. What would Hitchens say about what is going on today?
