civil rights
Episcopal saint is namesake of new Yale residential college
By Lauren Markoe — April 28, 2016
(RNS) Pauli Murray is the first Yale college named for an African-American woman.
Harriet Tubman’s long journey to the $20 bill acknowledges sin of slavery
By Daren C. Jaime — April 22, 2016
(RNS) By stamping her likeness on our currency, the U.S. now is forced to awkwardly roll away, unseal and uplift the highly secured stones of its dark and embarrassing past.
US commission weighs in on religious liberty vs. human rights
By Kimberly Winston — April 20, 2016
(RNS) The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights condemns "bathroom laws" and the like as human rights violations.
Minister accepts congressional medal for civil rights marchers
By Adelle M. Banks — February 25, 2016
WASHINGTON (RNS) The Rev. Frederick D. Reese said God enabled the civil rights leaders to endure beatings as they worked for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Activists contest Vatican over gay rights before key Italian vote
By Rosie Scammell — January 23, 2016
ROME (RNS) Gay rights activists demonstrated for civil marriage across 100 city squares, ahead of Thursday's (Jan. 28) parliamentary vote, which would grant same-sex couples legal rights.
Why black clergy ought not oppose same-sex marriage (COMMENTARY)
By Gilbert H. Caldwell — January 7, 2016
(RNS) Faith-based opponents of same-sex marriage claim the Bible as their source for the opposition. So did faith-based opponents of racial integration.
With ‘Woodlawn,’ Christian films enter new playing field
By Patrick Ryan — October 16, 2015
"It wasn't politicians that led the Civil Rights Movement, it was pastors," said faith-based filmmaker Jon Erwin, whose new faith-and-football movie opens Friday (Oct. 16.)
In meeting Kim Davis, Pope Francis confounds and challenges (COMMENTARY)
By Jacob Lupfer — September 30, 2015
(RNS) Conservative Catholics often complain that Pope Francis, especially in his unscripted moments, sows confusion. Now, for a change, progressives are grappling with that frustration.
Gay civil rights activist, MLK mentor Bayard Rustin to be honored
By Renée K. Gadoua — June 30, 2015
(RNS) Years before the gay rights movement gained momentum, the openly gay black activist, a Quaker, advised Martin Luther King Jr. on nonviolent protest tactics and organized the 1963 March on Washington.
Tears of joy, tears of sorrow, and little empathetic listening (COMMENTARY)
By Jacob Lupfer — June 26, 2015
(RNS) I suspect I am not the only one who does not believe that my gay friends are vile sinners or that my traditional religious friends are retrograde bigots.
Juneteenth celebration resonates in wake of Charleston, S.C., tragedy
By Melanie Eversley — June 19, 2015
(RNS) Two days after Dylann Roof allegedly opened fire inside of an historic black church in a city with deep black historical roots, the country is poised Friday (June 19) to celebrate black empowerment and freedom from slavery.
Rev. Gil Caldwell, a ‘foot soldier’ for civil rights, turns his eye to LGBT rights
By Adelle M. Banks — May 5, 2015
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) The Rev. Gil Caldwell walked onto the campus of Duke Divinity School, leaning on a cane, alongside thousands of Duke alumni arriving for a reunion. But unlike the others, he wasn’t returning for a stroll down memory lane. He had come here for a glimpse of what might have been. Some 60 […]
THE BEST OF RNS: Gil Caldwell, civil rights leader, turns his eye to LGBT rights
By Adelle M. Banks — May 5, 2015
DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) "There is a possibility that on gay rights and marriage equality, God is speaking more through the judiciary than God is speaking through the United Methodist Church,” he says.
The long history of sexual baiting in America’s effort to extend civil rights (COMMENTARY)
By William J. Barber II — April 9, 2015
(RNS) The pattern is clear: Whenever established power brokers have felt threatened in America’s history, they have responded by stirring up sexual fears.
PHOTOS: Lost images of the march from Selma, 50 years later
By Sally Morrow — March 24, 2015
(RNS) "We didn't know what would happen when we reached the capitol. We were singing the civil rights song, 'I Am Not Afraid,' but, yes, I was afraid."
