Black church
Stacey Abrams’ passion for voting began with her preacher parents
By Adelle M. Banks — October 16, 2020
(RNS) — ‘The family is just a tight-knit cadre of people who understand that it is incumbent upon them to vote,’ said her Georgia pastor.
Sex and ‘church ladies’: True-to-life secrets beyond Black church pews
By Adelle M. Banks — October 9, 2020
(RNS) — In ‘The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,’ a finalist for the National Book Award, author Deesha Philyaw focuses on Black women and ‘the tug of war they experience between their desires and what they may have learned at church.’
Trump campaign ad shows Biden kneeling in Black church to argue Americans ‘won’t be safe’
By Jack Jenkins — September 10, 2020
(RNS) — After showing Joe Biden kneeling in a Black church in front of a row of Black leaders, words appear on the screen reading ‘stop Joe Biden and his rioters.’
Raise your signs and voices. Then raise your church’s race awareness
By Nikki Toyama-Szeto — June 5, 2020
(RNS) — Protest is good for the soul. But it should be just the first step in your church's anti-racist education.
In South Carolina, secular activists rival political might of black church
By Elana Schor and Jack Jenkins — February 28, 2020
CHARLESTON, S.C. (RNS) — Democratic candidates here are as likely to rally behind groups such as Black Lives Matter as they are to make traditional Sunday appeals to African American voters.
Book: How Martin Luther King Jr. used the pulpit to ‘redeem’ America’s soul
By Yonat Shimron — January 17, 2020
(RNS) — He believed there were transcendent truths that had the power to change hearts and move them away from the political and social policies of segregation.
White evangelicals’ attacks on James Cone are about power, not truth
By Andre Henry — January 9, 2020
(RNS) — A specter has been haunting white evangelicalism, in the shape of the late James Cone, a founder of black liberation theology.
With Joel Osteen, Kanye drops a clue about his faith, and his kinship with Trump
By Joshua Lazard — November 21, 2019
(RNS) — If Kanye’s understanding of God comes through the lens of African American New Thought, his egotism, ostentation and seeming megalomania have a historical and theological context.
Tony Evans: On his new Bible and commentary, Kirk Franklin boycott, wife’s health
By Adelle M. Banks — November 19, 2019
DALLAS (RNS) — The Dallas pastor says his new study Bible and commentary aim to foster ‘a well-ordered life in a chaotic world.’
As Democrats vie for African American votes, the Black church is paying attention
By Michael McBride and Leah Daughtry — August 20, 2019
(RNS) — Gaining our vote requires gaining more than a cursory understanding of who we are as a people.
Warren, Sanders get personal with young, black Christians
By Bill Barrow — August 19, 2019
(AP) — Warren and Sanders received warm welcomes, with notable enthusiasm for their proposals to overhaul a criminal justice system both derided as institutionally racist and to eliminate student loan debt that disproportionately affects nonwhites.
From black megachurch to big screen: Another team of brothers directs new movie
By Adelle M. Banks — March 27, 2019
LARGO, Md. (RNS) — Jimmy and Joshua Jenkins are hoping their independent film 'Sinners Wanted' will continue to expand the depiction of biblically based stories on the big screen.
Black clergy vow to forge their own path
By Adelle M. Banks — October 9, 2018
WASHINGTON (RNS) — Representatives of the Progressive National Baptist Convention spoke Tuesday at the National Press Club about the need to address race and spirituality amid the get-out-the-vote drives.
With Voting Rights Act weakened, black church networks seek more voters
By Adelle M. Banks — September 5, 2018
(RNS) — Five years after the Supreme Court invalidated a key provision of the act, and with voters in almost two dozen states facing stricter rules, black denominations are working to get more people to the ballot box in November.
In ‘gOD-Talk’ discussions, black millennials explore their faith, spirituality
By Adelle M. Banks — August 23, 2018
(RNS) — Black millennials on average are more religious than other millennials and less religious than other blacks, Pew researchers have found.
