The White House said those working on the initiative will provide policy recommendations from faith-based and community programs on “more effective solutions to poverty” and inform the administration of “any failures of the executive branch to comply with religious liberty protections under law.”
‘On fire for God’s work’: How Scott Pruitt’s faith drives his politics
The Sunday before Scott Pruitt’s confirmation hearing to run the Environmental Protection Agency, Pruitt stood on the stage of his hometown church, bowed his head, and prayed.
No safe place for truthtellers: A larger frame for the House chaplain brouhaha
Chaplains historically act as priests and consolers but never act (successfully) as prophets. The encyclopedias tell us that in the old days, royal chaplains might be involved in secular policy matters, but any such involvement occurred strictly on the side of the monarch.
Dr. James Cone: A brief remembrance
I was traveling when the news of Dr. James Cone’s death was reported on Saturday. The first thought that came to mind was what seems to be a providential concurrence: His passing came two days after the opening of the National Peace and Justice Memorial.
Inside the spectacular implosion of Religion News Service
The country’s leading religious news wire hired a new publisher in 2016. Then it all fell apart.
James Cone, ‘founder of black liberation theology,’ dies at 79
Cone’s theology contrasted sharply with traditional theological approaches in that he articulated God’s identification with U.S. blacks. In portraying Christ’s blackness, he upended the assumptions of a field dominated by white theologians and helped spawn other theories of liberation.
Evangelicals have displaced Catholics as the anti-abortion movement’s base
The relationship between the number of Catholics in a state and the intensity of the state’s anti-abortion policies is completely inverse.
Why Liberty University chose a liberal evangelical icon for its commencement speech
In a move that might surprise some, the conservative evangelical Liberty University has chosen the liberal evangelical icon Jimmy Carter to give its commencement speech this year.
House chaplain who prayed about GOP tax bill fired by Paul Ryan
Democrats say the speaker was peeved with Patrick Conroy for praying about no “winners and losers” under the tax bill.
As editor in chief of Religion News Service is ousted, staff fears loss of editorial control
“The country’s awash in religious media but there’s nothing else like RNS,” says Laurie Goodstein, a national religion correspondent for The New York Times. “It’s the AP of religion news, it’s a daily report covering news about all religious faiths without promoting any religion in particular.”
Church leaders wonder if evangelicals can recover from their identity crisis
The discussion was full of prayer, repentance and painful conversations about how the church has aligned itself so closely with Trump that the gospel, once synonymous with good news, has lost its meaning.
Misremembering 1968
By allowing King and Kennedy to become empty historical figures who stood for nothing controversial, we do a disservice to the causes they fought for.