The landmark Supreme Court ruling protecting gay and transgender people from employment discrimination has raised concern among religious organizations, who say that the religious exemptions are too weak.
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A group of black ministers from Churches of Christ across the country penned a letter calling for justice in the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Dreasjon Reed, Breonna Taylor and Floyd. The letter has been signed by a diverse group of more than 300 Christians.
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Renewed fighting between Sudan’s army and militants killed an Anglican priest last week, despite a negotiated peace agreement and the pause of a church-mediated peace process when the Rome-based organization began grappling with coronavirus in Italy. Since 2013, Sudan’s civil war has displaced thousands of civilians. Now they must grapple with displacement during a pandemic and food insecurity.
Read MorePeaceful Muslim protesters in New York City prayed together and decried anti-black racism in the Muslim community, calling it an issue that requires the attention of all faithful Muslims and saying it must be addressed before racism outside the community can be dismantled.
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John Perkins, an author and activist, sat down with a reporter to discuss the role of faith in healing racial divisions. In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the subsequent protests, Perkins says the present moment is an opportunity to progress toward unity and reconciliation through abundant love and forgiveness.
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Family and friends of George Floyd, along with several celebrities, politicians and Christian leaders gathered today in Houston for Floyd’s final memorial at The Fountain of Praise Church in Houston, Texas.
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Black alumni in a letter last week called for Jerry Falwell Jr. to change his behavior or step down as Liberty University president after he tweeted an image of a face mask imprinted with a photo of one man in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan robes.
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An alumnus of the private Christian university in Arkansas says the daily chapel venue’s namesake, George S. Benson, was “a vocal racist and supporter of segregation.” The petition proposes renaming the auditorium in honor of Harding graduate Botham Jean, a black man who was shot to death by a white police officer in Dallas in 2018.
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Locked and loaded parishioners acting like John Wayne of the church pews may be a new chapter in church history. Historically, Christians were hesitant to deploy violence for self-protection. While the Bible and church history illustrate tension around violence, armed resistance isn’t completely foreign to Christendom.
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Tim Keller, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church, announced his diagnosis with pancreatic cancer on Sunday.
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The charity United Sikhs has organized volunteers to regularly clean and sanitize some of India’s most prominent religious sites of every faith to allow religious leaders and devotees to worship with minimized risk of infection from coronavirus. Many religious sites in India begin reopening Monday, June 8.
Read MoreIn the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Breonna Taylor in Louisville and Ahmaud Arbery near Brunswick, Georgia, segments of Atlanta’s Jewish community decried violence against African Americans and called for greater efforts to counter racism at the individual and institutional levels. The statements they issued struck common themes as well as differences reflecting how each views its mission.
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Dr. Syra Madad, the senior director for the System Wide Special Pathogens Program for New York City Health and Hospitals, has been on the front line preparing for pandemics before the novel coronavirus hit. Now she's a leader in the response to COVID-19 in New York. Religion Unplugged sat down on Zoom with Dr. Madad to talk about the role her Muslim faith and religion overall plays in her medical mission to fight the spread of disease.
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St. John’s Episcopal Church, where Trump posed with a Bible on June 1, is known as the “Church of the Presidents.” Here are five facts about the historic church that you probably didn’t know, involving Abraham Lincoln, a marriage record of both enslaved and free African Americans, a presidential pew and more.
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After four nights of violent clashes between police and protesters and looting in New York City, more than 100 congregations organized a peaceful protest march in Brooklyn against police brutality and racism.
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A Virginia church’s building, in the heart of downtown Richmond, was just one of many structures damaged by rioters and protesters over the weekend. “We’re more concerned with the personal damage than the physical damage — the souls of those who did the damage,” said James Nesmith, minister for the West Broad Church of Christ, a predominantly black congregation.
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Tension between protesters demanding justice for George Floyd’s death and New York police officers fizzled out for a time when a church van playing gospel music strategically inserted itself into the mix. The crisis response team is led by Jamaican immigrants with a passion for Jesus and a history of social justice and community outreach.
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A church in the historically black neighborhood of St. Paul reopened this weekend after loosened coronavirus guidelines and days of violent protests nearby after the death of George Floyd. Pastor Dwight Buckner remembers the riots in the sixties and conjures Martin Luther King Jr.’s calming words, while a 22-year-old church member whose mother is recovering with COVID-19 tells how a white man stopped him at gunpoint on Saturday.
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Scores of African-American players have called the Israeli Basketball Premier League home, drawn there for a chance to play professionally and earn decent money. In the process, these players have become ambassadors for the Jewish state — some marrying Israeli women, serving in the country’s army and converting to Judaism.
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After George Floyd’s death in police custody May 25, his Houston pastor and ministry friends recall his role in their neighborhood outreach.
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