The Florida Supreme Court has handed down two abortion rulings, one nearly banning the procedure and the other placing its ultimate fate in the hands of voters. The April 1 decisions making way for a six-week abortion ban and a…
Palestinians join Jesus in crying, ‘I thirst,’ Lutheran pastor says in Good Friday sermon
A Palestinian minister’s Good Friday sermon portrayed Israel’s continuing massacre of Gazan civilians as a mirror image of the passion and subsequent crucifixion of Jesus at the hands of a brutal foreign power. “Today, we place the cross in the…
Four Cuban Baptist groups find common ground in medical ministry
Four Cuban Baptist groups are launching a medical ministry both to address the nation’s health care crisis and to help overcome theological differences that divide them, according to an official with the Baptist World Alliance. BWA President Tomás Mackey and…
Baltimore bridge collapse highlights dangerous work immigrants do in America
Immigration advocates are extolling the contributions of the nation’s immigrant workforce while grieving for six Latin American construction workers killed or presumed dead after a cargo ship collided with a bridge in Baltimore, Md. Supporters of immigration reform also warned…
Murder of Baptist pastor in Myanmar brings new attention to the ‘under-reported war’
The fatal shooting of a Baptist pastor in Myanmar reflects an upsurge of civil war violence targeting Christians, Muslims and other religious and ethnic minorities. Outrage over the March 18 killing of Nammye Hkun Jaw Li comes at a time…
Watch your language and your beliefs, sex abuser survivors tell the church
The insidious and chronic nature of church sexual abuse is an outgrowth of patriarchal concepts of the divine that provide theological cover for abusers and shame for their victims, said the authors of a new book on theologies of abuse….
Open Doors report documents dangers women and men face for Christian faith in 50 countries
Christian women face appalling levels of religiously motivated sexual assault and forced marriages in countries known to be hostile to the faith, Open Doors International reports in a new study on gender-specific religious persecution. Physical and psychological violence are next…
Jim Wallis calls for an American revival flowing from a ‘remnant church’
Saving American Christianity from the idolatry of religious nationalism requires the creation of a church untainted by MAGA conservatism and its lust for racial and political dominance, according to Sojourners founder Jim Wallis. The new creation would be comprised mostly…
New book shows how Mainline churches promoted Christian nationalism by another name
Mainline Christians should not let themselves off the hook for enabling the ideology of Christian nationalism that currently threatens American democracy, author and journalist Brian Kaylor says. While white evangelicals get most of the blame, Mainline and other non-evangelical Christians…
The saga of S.B.-4 in Texas continues with back-and-forth rulings by federal judges, Supreme Court
A federal court barred Texas late March 19 from implementing a new law that enables state law enforcement officers to arrest and deport migrants who illegally cross the border from Mexico. Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the hold…
To combat the death penalty, educate yourself, activist urges
Christians opposed to the death penalty but unsure how to effectively challenge it can begin by educating themselves about the practice, civil rights activist Joia Erin Thornton said during a webinar hosted by Equal Justice USA. As founder and executive…
PRRI finds small declines in Americans’ support for LGBTQ rights, although a majority still affirm
Americans of faith contributed to a small decline in overall support for LGBTQ rights in 2023, even as most U.S. adults continued to oppose discriminatory policies and practices aimed at gender and sexual minorities, according to a new study by…