Black churches
Black churchgoers report powerlessness in politics, agency in Black congregations
By Adelle M. Banks — January 18, 2021
(RNS) — Researchers say that the Black church may be providing a respite for Black people who feel they do not have sufficient political power.
Black churchgoers pine for racial progress amid white resistance
By Yonat Shimron — October 30, 2020
(RNS) — For many Black Americans, life in predominantly white and conservative regions can be isolating and lonely.
Adventists’ new North American leader hopes to leverage the denomination’s ‘strength of diversity’
By Adelle M. Banks — October 2, 2020
(RNS) — ‘We can't distance ourselves from it because it's a part of who our church is,’ G. Alexander Bryant said of Adventists facing racial tensions.
Black church turnout effort mobilizes against alleged voter suppression
By Adelle M. Banks — September 29, 2020
(RNS) — Some groups previously ‘never worked this tightly together because the stakes are higher,’ one Black church network leader said.
Black churches lagged in moving online during COVID
By Erika Gault — July 6, 2020
(RNS) — On average, Black Americans face greater barriers to internet access and high-speed connection at home than do white Americans — this disparity extends to Black young adults.
‘Greenleaf’ star Deborah Joy Winans says her TV family reflects real life
By Adelle M. Banks — June 30, 2020
(RNS) — The final season features the aftermath of Charity Greenleaf helping a church conglomerate take over the fictional Calvary Fellowship World Ministries.
Black churches, via phones and Facebook, bridging digital divide amid COVID-19
By Adelle M. Banks — April 30, 2020
(RNS) — ‘This is definitely new territory,’ said an associate minister in rural South Carolina. ‘We’ve learned to do things that we never thought we’d do.’
Black church leaders urge churchgoers to continue to ‘tele-worship’
By Adelle M. Banks — April 24, 2020
(RNS) — ‘We regard this pandemic as a grave threat to the health and life of our people,’ they said.
Black clergy memorialize the dead, ask government to address disparities
By Adelle M. Banks — April 16, 2020
(RNS) — Some are mourning losses in the highest echelons of their denomination. Others are counting the dead, sick and unemployed.
‘Christian left’ is reviving in America, appalled by treatment of migrants
By Laura E. Alexander — August 16, 2019
(The Conversation) — The high profile, religiously based moral outrage at Trump’s immigration policies does seem to be spurring some long-overdue rethinking of what it means to be Christian in America.
‘A heavy lift’: Religious black voters weigh Buttigieg’s bid
By The Associated Press — August 16, 2019
GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — In South Carolina, part of the dialogue focuses on a conflict between a cultural openness for same-sex marriage and the deeply held religious convictions that could impede support for Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
Black women cracking ‘stained-glass ceilings’ with Jesus’ 7 last words
By Adelle M. Banks — April 18, 2019
(RNS) — At least a dozen churches across the country are hosting Good Friday services this year that feature seven African American female preachers speaking about the last sayings of Jesus.
Authorities say deputy’s son behind fires at black churches
By Melinda Deslatte — April 11, 2019
OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) — Holden Matthews, 21, faces arson charges in connection with the blazes in and around Opelousas, a city of 16,000 where the flame-gutted remains of the buildings evoked memories of civil rights era violence.
100 investigators probing La. fires that destroyed three black churches
By Adelle M. Banks — April 9, 2019
(RNS) — Investigators are trying to determine if the three fires at historic Baptist churches in Opelousas and Port Barre are related or if any of them are tied to a blaze at a Pentecostal church in the town of Vivian.
How Howard Thurman can help Christians heal their political divides
By Jemar Tisby — October 16, 2018
(RNS) — In our current political morass, we need to constantly remind ourselves that Christians, and their politics, should bring relief and flourishing to those whom the world counts as the least.
