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Need to know: Friday, May 20, 2016
Meet Jewish America’s first ambassador to Muslims
Robert Silverman speaks Arabic, but it’s not language that he will rely on in his new job. “It’s the ability to see through other people’s eyes.”
Americans are more polarized than ever. We Methodists don’t want to be.
"Perhaps, in this divisive national campaign season, our church’s earnest striving for unity offers a lesson for all of us about how people of good will and strong faith in the future can indeed come together," write Tom Berlin and Mike McCurry.
Trump makes a play for Hispanic evangelicals
Trump aides have told the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee will submit videotaped remarks to be played at their annual conference Friday evening.
If death penalty returns, Catholic bishop says he’ll volunteer to die
In what may be a precursor to a showdown between church and state in the deeply Catholic nation, a Filipino bishop has said he’ll take the place of condemned criminals if the country’s new president reintroduces the death penalty.
Ex-NFL QB and outspoken Christian, Tim Tebow, writing on ‘life’s storms’
Tebow will write about maintaining perspective "when your dreams do not go as planned." WaterBrook, a Christian imprint, also plans a companion study Bible.
Church of Scotland to consider online baptisms, Communion
A Church of Scotland committee is pushing for "a wide-ranging review of practice and procedure which is impacted by the use of new technology in church life."
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Teenagers are ‘picking and choosing’ religion to customize their needs on Facebook
"On Facebook, there is no expectation that one's 'likes' be logically consistent and hidebound by tradition," said sociology researcher Paul K. McClure from Baylor University.
Pope Francis rips ‘bloodsucking’ bosses and prosperity theology
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The pontiff said employers who deny benefits and exploit workers "are living on the blood of the people. And this is a mortal sin."
Boston church’s parishioners evicted after 12-year occupation
St Frances Xavier Cabrini parishioners will hold a final farewell service on May 29.
Trump’s Supreme Court picks are a conservative dream come true
Whether the list was compiled by the Heritage Foundation is not certain, but it could have been, writes a Guardian columnist.
Trooper shares meal with panhandling homeless mom of 4
Certain she was about to be cited for panhandling, she offered to leave; he offered her lunch.
More views from RNS
Mayberry 2016
A new sitcom for the Tarheel State.
Gay Mormons, reparative therapy, and the safe spaces of conservative religion
Historian Benjamin E. Park says the new memoir “Saving Alex” -- which chronicles a gay teen Mormon’s nightmare of conversion therapy -- is “a reminder of the lengths people are willing to go to in denying the authenticity of homosexual voices.”
How do Methodists view homosexuality and same-sex marriage? Some poll results
It's not just at the General Conference. United Methodists in the pews are also split over LGBT issues.
Supreme Court ups pressure on Little Sisters to settle
There were good reasons to push for a negotiated settlement.
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