Life has gone from bad to worse for LGBTQ persons in Afghanistan during the year since the Taliban took control of the nation, attorney and human rights activist Joseph Azam said. He spoke during an Aug. 24 webinar hosted by…
CBF, Fellowship Southwest and BJC join in appeal to DHS to stop harassing Sikhs seeking religious asylum in U.S.
The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, Fellowship Southwest, Baptist Joint Committee and 160 other civil rights and faith groups are demanding American border agents be forced to stop confiscating religious items and other personal property from migrants seeking asylum in the United…
Armed with high court’s praying coach decision, more conservative Christians hope to score religious discrimination claims
Attorneys in three ongoing freedom of religion cases are urging federal judges to consider recent U.S. Supreme court decisions when ruling on their disputes. The development was pointed out by Don Byrd, author of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty’s…
Appeals court allows priest’s defamation case to proceed against Russian Orthodox Church
Faith groups cannot claim religious belief and doctrine as exemptions from lawsuits that include issues of secular law, a federal court has ruled in the case of an Orthodox priest who sued church officials for defamation. The Aug. 17 opinion…
Faith leaders call for urgent opposition to Oklahoma plan to execute an inmate a month for two years
The state of Oklahoma has announced an unprecedented plan to execute 25 inmates over a two-year period beginning this month, about one execution per month. This plan will clear out more than half the current population on Oklahoma’s Death Row,…
Despite financial hardships, Americans upped their giving to congregations during pandemic
The financial hardships many Americans faced during the COVID-19 pandemic did not result in the predicted revenue declines for U.S. churches, according to new research into congregational giving trends. In fact, the study conducted by the Lake Institute on Faith…
Carver School of Social Work was a victim of American fundamentalism, authors explain
Diana Garland’s 1995 firing as social work dean at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary had less to do with her public conflicts with the Kentucky seminary’s leadership than with the surge of fundamentalism in the SBC and American evangelicalism, according to…
Veterans and faith groups urge Congress to secure the safety of Afghan immigrants
Secular and faith-based organizations are pressing Congress to enact the newly introduced Afghan Adjustment Act, which would provide permanent legal residency to Afghan refugees a year after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban. Introduced with bipartisan support earlier this month in…
Progressive National Convention joins with AFL-CIO to advance racial and economic justice
Combating racism is pointless unless the economic injustice that underlies it is also dealt with, activist and attorney Jennifer Jones-Austin said. She spoke during the recent town hall segment of the Progressive National Baptist Convention’s 61st annual session in Orlando,…
‘Everything is changing at the same time,’ veteran religion reporter explains
Demographic shifts, rising political polarization and heated debates over sexuality and race pose existential threats to the American church because they cannot be tackled individually, according to veteran religion writer Bob Smietana. “It’s not that one thing after another is…
It’s easier to be a bully today, author explains
The rise of social media and hate-based politics has helped transform the United States into a nation of bullies where acts of rage and intimidation have become normative and even celebrated, character educator Elaine Parke warns. “What’s unique about social…
At long last, Trump’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy appears to be dead
The White House is pulling the plug on the Migrant Protection Protocols after a federal judge on Aug. 8 lifted an injunction requiring the continued use of the Trump administration anti-asylum policy. The action by Judge Matthew J. Kacsmaryk in…