Just three months after he was installed as president of the Rainbow Push Coalition, the Rev. Freddie Haynes II abruptly resigned this week as leader of the historic Civil Rights organization. Last July, the Rev. Jesse Jackson had selected Haynes to lead the organization starting in 2024.
Read MoreFor 14 seasons, Pastor Rod Hairston served as a chaplain for the Baltimore Ravens, where he helped the NFL franchise build a winning culture among the front office executives, coaches and players. After two Super Bowl rings and serving as a sports chaplain from Howard University to UCLA, Hairston, 57, is a “life coach” working with couples.
Read MoreAt Harlem’s famous Abyssinian Baptist Church, the Rev. Calvin Butts III went from counseling engaged couples to counseling the U.S. president — from advising the brothers in Harlem to advising diplomats at the United Nations. That is why a long line has wrapped around the block of the megachurch over the last two days as the ordinary and extraordinary paid their final respects.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the most sacred places in the Latter-day Saints temple in Washington is the Celestial Room on the sixth floor, where people come, sit quietly and pray. The Mormon leaders say this is a place to “feel close to and commune with God.” There are no ceremonies in this space.
Read MoreThe fatal mass shooting inside of a New York grocery store has shaken the faith of national political leaders by echoing a tragic and familiar refrain across the country — another mass shooting that appears motivated by race and hate.
Read MoreJudge Ketanji Brown Jackson has been questioned in hearings this week to become the first Black woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. “I must also pause to reaffirm my thanks to God, for it is faith that sustains me at this moment,” Jackson said.
Read More(OPINION) One year after ReligionUnplugged senior contributor Hamil R. Harris reported from the Capitol rally turned into a siege, he reflects on what’s needed for America to heal deep political and racial divisions.
Read MoreIn life, Colin Luther Powell, the son of Jamaican Anglican immigrants, rose to become an Army general, a White House aide to four presidents and the first Black American to serve as the United States secretary of state. Powell passed away Oct. 18 at age 84 due to complications of COVID-19.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Fans are remembering the legendary Florida State University coach this week after his death Sunday at age 91. Bobby Bowden, who coached senior ReligionUnplugged contributor Hamil Harris and is the second most winningest college football coach in U.S. history, is remembered for fusing the principles of Jesus into his football career, forming a special bond with his players that lasted a lifetime.
Read MoreOlympians like Dominique Dawes and Rochelle Stevens talked to ReligionUnplugged about their faith, wrestling with mental challenges in the Games and supporting U.S. gymnast Simone Biles who withdrew from competition this week over mental health concerns and vertigo-like symptoms. Biles and Dawes have both shared leaning on their Catholic faith in their gymnastics careers.
Read MoreIn an unexpected move, the more than 16,000 “messengers” to the Southern Baptist Convention narrowly elected Alabama pastor Ed Litton, known for preaching racial reconciliation, as the new president of the nation’s largest Protestant denomination. Litton ran against the more conservative candidate Mike Stone in a runoff vote. The election signals an ideological divide in the SBC that is far from resolving.
Read MoreMore than 16,000 “messengers” of the gospel are gathering in Nashville this week for the first meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in two years. They’re expected to vote on several hot button issues, including women’s ordination, approaches to racial justice, resolving sexual abuse and electing a new president. As a temperature check from the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S, the results may be an indicator of the ideological direction of American White evangelicalism and will likely cause further division within the group.
Read MoreThe National Day of Prayer on May 6 featured more prayer and less politics, aiming for unity, but political division arose in the commentaries afterward. Even the live stream frayed into two competing events. And after critics pointed out President Joe Biden left God’s name out of his proclamation issued from the White House, in his evening address, Biden mentioned God twice.
Read MoreMinisters in Minneapolis and across the country have been praying and calling for peace regardless of what verdict is handed down in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd. Nightly protests have rocked Minneapolis again after the police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, on April 11 in a suburb of the city.
Read MoreFor many churches, especially historically Black congregations, the normal traditions of Easter— massive church services, family dinners and music programs about faith— took a back seat to the George Floyd trial and news reports about COVID-19 vaccinations. April 4 is also the anniversary of pastor and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in 1968.
Read MoreNationwide, some congregations across the country are reopening for the first time during Holy Week 2021. But pastors say that reopening their congregation is much more than simply cleaning up and unlocking the doors of the church. Their congregations are emotionally rocked and feeling the effects of disconnection.
Read MoreAfter 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, the church Long was baptized in and other Atlanta-area faith leaders have spoken out about the murders and the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Read MoreAn ecumenical group of church leaders broadcast their vaccinations after an interfaith service where White House officials joined clergy from the around the nation’s Capitol area to encourage others to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Read MoreWhile Donald Trump became the first president ever to take part in the event last year, President Joe Biden is not expected to take part in a smaller and mostly virtual rally on Jan. 29 even though he is an active Catholic.
Read MoreFaith leaders from a handful of different religions and traditions prayed for the unity of the country and President Joseph Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in a virtual prayer service broadcast from the Washington National Cathedral Jan. 21.
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