The Slingshot: Happy Kwanzaa; Christmas message; Christmas fears

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(RNS) With his granddaughter at his side, Taalib El Amin lights Kwanzaa candles at a
2005 ceremony in Grand Rapids, Mich. Religion News Service photo by Delbridge
Langdon, Jr./The Grand Rapids Press.


Need to know: Tuesday, December 26, 2017

A non-black person’s guide to Kwanzaa

Dec. 26 is the first day of Kwanzaa, the seven-day festival celebrating African-American culture.

Pope Francis laments ‘winds of war’ blowing around the world

“Our hearts must not be closed,” he said as he surveyed the suffering in the world and prayed for peace.

India tightens Christmas security after Christians attacked

Christians are wary that extremist Hindu nationalists who have attacked Muslims will turn on them next.

Analysis: Saudi Arabia is trying to contain the spread of Salafism. It won’t work.

Saudi imams who say Shiites aren’t real Muslims have already spread their view around the globe, two scholars say. (Subscription may be required.)

Mormon congregations in Hong Kong are virtually all women

Weekday services are packed with LDS “foreign domestic workers,” chiefly from Asian countries.

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Humanity finds itself at a major crossroads: Do we choose the path of selfish separatism and inequality based on greed and competition, leading to the destruction of ourselves and planet Earth; or the path of cooperation and sharing leading to global peace and prosperity?

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Christian DACA recipients dream of another Christmas in the U.S.

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Bernard Law, a cardinal of scandal and disgrace

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