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Need to know: Friday, March 31, 2017
Judge maintains broad block on Trump travel ban
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson of Hawaii said the revised travel ban still appeared to be driven by anti-Muslim sentiment and so he made the hold on the ban indefinite.
Survey: Evangelical leaders really don’t want to endorse politicians
A new survey of evangelical leaders — mainly pastors whose flocks were crucial to Trump’s victory in November — shows that close to 90 percent opposed the idea of clergy endorsing politicians from the pulpit.
The ’Splainer: Why won’t Mike Pence eat alone with a woman who is not his wife?
The vice president adheres to the so-called Billy Graham Rule developed when the 98-year-old evangelist was a 25-year-old newlywed and wanted to be sure his budding ministry wasn’t derailed by sexual scandal.
Pence breaks tie in Senate vote targeting Planned Parenthood funding
The bill repeals a rule proposed by the Obama administration that bans states from blocking family planning grants to Planned Parenthood and other health care providers that offer abortion.
How a folk saint of death took off among transgender women in Mexico
Unlike official church figures such as Our Lady of Guadalupe whose images are ethereal, Santa Muerte appeals to those with practical problems and passions living on the country's margins.
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Latest news from RNS
Prison Fellowship spearheads ‘Second Chance Month’ to help ex-convicts
Washington (RNS) About 65 million Americans – or 1 in 4 adults – have a criminal record that can lead to reduced access to jobs and education and a restriction from voting.
Vatican says Trump risks losing climate change leadership to China
ROME (Reuters) Pope Francis has made defense of the environment a key plank of his papacy, strongly backing scientific opinion that global warming is caused mostly by human activity.
Some Protestant pastors preach on race but most leave it to others
(RNS) A new LifeWay Research survey also finds that most pastors have not addressed economic inequities in their communities or joined a public lament about racial injustice.
More views from RNS
The AIPAC drinking game
The proverbial elephant in the room: Is there a growing divide between American Jews and Israel? And if so, why?
Abraham Kuyper: after a century, in the news again
For those of us who have been working for an increasing influence of Kuyper’s in North American evangelicalism, where a mean-spiritedness is often on display in dealing with issues in the public square, we can only regret the Princeton controversy.
‘Greenleaf’ portrayal of black church sexuality all too familiar
(RNS) Why is the African-American church seemingly so challenged when it comes to dealing with the diversity of human sexuality and gender identity in our congregations?
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Bonus tracks
- After Pope Francis says give to beggars, a US bishop says don’t
- Sufism, the mystical practice of Islam, takes root in the City of Angels
- Survivors remember Ebola epidemic as Samaritan’s Purse releases documentary
- After an attack on Philadelphia mosque an interfaith mural art project is born
- Is the religious left emerging as a political force? No.
