King Abdullah II’s annual iftar has become a highly anticipated Ramadan event where members of the royal family, religious leaders and local notables, as well as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and key members of his government, are all invited to…
The story of the Great Migration often overlooks Black businesses that built Detroit
Black businesses were essential to facilitating the Great Migration of African Americans out of the South between the 1910s and 1960s. Yet, the traditional narrative of the migration as a movement of laborers seeking high-wage jobs obscures the history of African Americans who moved…
Vatican says Pope Francis no longer needs mechanical help to breathe as his health improves
Pope Francis ’ condition continued to improve Wednesday and he hasn’t needed to use the mechanical ventilation mask to help him breathe, the Vatican said in signalling further progress in his recovery from double pneumonia.
Church Kitchens Are Getting Chopped
Church kitchens are disappearing. They are disappearing from rural, suburban, and urban churches. From liberal and conservative churches, contemporary and liturgical, megachurches and the medium-sized.
A Palestinian man in Philadelphia served kosher bagels for decades. Then customers found his Facebook profile.
The tale sounded almost too heartwarming to be true: A kosher bagel store, just down the road from a few synagogues, was owned by an Arab American who had grown to be beloved by the local Jewish community.
Remembering China’s Buddhist Empress Who Paved The Way For Future Female Rulers
In sixth-century China, a woman known to history as Empress Dowager Ling ruled over an empire called the Northern Wei. Historians do not know her birth name or in what year she was born, but they do know that she…
Is America in 2025 What ‘Disenchantment’ Looks Like?
I’ve always found the performative use of religious language, as an excoriation or a scold, to be laughably ineffective. To call someone “godless” was a way to make me curious, not a way to convince me that someone was morally…
Before Nita Lowey died, Trump’s DOGE eviscerated the $250M Middle East peace fund named for her
Just over four years ago, Congress achieved a major breakthrough when it came to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: It allocated up to $250 million for people-to-people peace-building efforts.
Pope pens letter to the editor while in hospital as Buckingham Palace announces King Charles’ visit
Pope Francis said in a letter published Tuesday that his lengthy illness has helped make “more lucid” to him the absurdity of war, as his top deputy rejected any suggestion of resignation and Buckingham Palace announced plans for an upcoming audience…
Civil Rights Icon Whom Trump Called A ‘Hero’ Erased From Arlington Cemetery Website
Medgar Evers — who served with the U.S. Army in World War II before coming home to fight segregation in the civil rights movement — is among notable Black veterans that have seen their histories wiped from sections on the Arlington National Cemetery’s website.
After welcoming far-right politicians, Israel’s antisemitism conference is hemorrhaging speakers
A growing number of participants in the Israeli government’s upcoming conference on combating antisemitism have dropped out, citing the proliferation of far-right politicians on the docket.
Protestant denominations try new ideas as they face declines in members and money
When the Episcopal Church recently announced cuts to its national staff, it was the latest in a long-running cycle among historic U.S. Protestant denominations — declines in members leading to declines in funding and thus in staff.