Once again, the Gulf Coast Church of Christ is serving as a relief hub after a major hurricane pounded Florida. But this hurricane, Ian, surpassed anything church members had seen.
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As a college student, Odd Inge Tangen found comfort with his university chaplain during his seminary years, confiding his biggest secret to her. Now, Tangen is a chaplain to Norwegian students in North America working for the Norwegian Seamen's Church.
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(ANALYSIS) The mounting anger and dissatisfaction in Iran have translated into recurring protests in the country, which the state has suppressed with brute force. But despite the brutality of state crackdowns, over the years, the frequency of these protests has surged.
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According to the 2022 Bank of America Private Bank Study of Wealthy Americans, most well-to-do people of all ages feel compelled to give to philanthropic causes. However, although 82% of parents believe their children share the same vision and goals when it comes to giving, members of younger generations feel the need to pave their own way in the world of philanthropy.
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Tenzin Peljor runs a popular Buddhist blog that addresses controversies in Tibetan Buddhism, especially regarding abusive spiritual teachers. After choosing a guru, students take vows to see their teacher as an enlightened being — questioning or criticizing them can send one to a Tantric hell. Peljor, a monk himself, says he is exposing harmful practices while remaining faithful to the Buddhist tradition.
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Until recently, Pre-Born! has flown under the radar and operated in the background of the pro-life movement by supporting pregnancy help centers as a grant writer and support system. But in the last couple years, it has seen exponential growth by engaging in partnerships with Christian and conservative radio programs.
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Pinkie Makua founded her faith-based nonprofit, Agape Flows, out of her Southern Africa Bible College dorm room to provide impoverished girls with menstrual products so they won’t miss school due to limited access to necessary hygienic items — an unconventional ministry, but a “fulfillment of pure religion.”
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(ANALYSIS) Since mid-September 2022, when a young woman named Mahsa Amini died in detention after being detained for not wearing her headscarf “properly,” protests against the morality police and the broader regime have erupted across the country and from sympathizers around the world.
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Eboo Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on building religious understanding between students, in 2002. It now has 52 employees, an entire floor of lake-view offices at the Chicago Board of Trade, and an annual budget of $13 million. Now IFYC has rebranded as Interfaith America. The dropping of the word “youth” is another signal — that both the organization and its founder have wider goals than changing the world one kid at a time.
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A Forsyth County historical marker erected just last year recounts the 1912 lynching of Rob Edwards, a 24-year-old Black man accused of raping and murdering a young White woman. More than a century later, about 600 Christians — Black, White and Hispanic — filled the pews of the Grace Chapel Church of Christ for a special unity service.
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Church members and relatives in Ukraine have been unable to find out who is holding Council of Churches Baptist Pastor Leonid Ponomaryov and his wife Tatyana, where and why. Armed and masked men in military uniform seized them on Sept. 21 from their home in Russian-occupied Mariupol. Neighbors “distinctly heard groans and cries” as the masked men took them away “in an unknown direction,” local Baptists said.
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(ANALYSIS) Mauna Kea, a 13,802-foot dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, is one example. The mountain is managed as public land by the state of Hawaii. Native Hawaiians have protested the state’s management of Mauna Kea for decades, saying Hawaii has allowed too many research buildings on their sacred mountain, which disrupts their ability to practice their religion.
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Bloomberg’s bottom line: “A small but growing number of wealthy Americans (have) discovered how to bypass rules designed more than a half-century ago to ensure philanthropists stay accountable for the billions of dollars in tax breaks they receive each year.”
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Following a historic election, William Ruto took the oath of office as Kenya’s fifth president. Ruto is known for being a man who values prayer and brought Pentecostal zeal to his political campaign. But some citizens are concerned that he may turn Kenya into a theocracy.
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The recent establishment of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council and a call for Congress to appropriate additional funding to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program highlighted the federal government’s focus on security and anti-terrorism initiatives for churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious institutions.
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A documentary made by VICE News about the alleged sexual abuse cases at Kanakuk camps in southwest Missouri won a 2022 Emmy award for “Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Long Form.” The 17-minute film, “A Christian Summer Camp’s History of Abuse,” features interviews with survivors and gives details about litigation and settlements that have occurred.
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A years-long Mississippi scandal ended up giving $77 million to $94 million in welfare funds to nonprofits, which doled out the money to friends and family members who weren’t qualified to receive it and who never delivered the work they were contracted to do.
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A majority of Catholic voters agree that President Joe Biden should not run for a second term in 2024, while Republicans are also favored by this voter bloc in the upcoming midterm elections, a new poll has found. At the same time, support for Biden among Hispanic Catholics continues to wane, a worrying trend for Democrats heading into next month’s midterms.
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In his weekly Sunday address from the Vatican, Pope Francis appealed to Vladimir Putin to end the military escalation in Ukraine, decried the threat of nuclear war and asked the Russian leader to “stop this spiral of violence and death.” The pontiff added he was “saddened at the immense suffering of the Ukrainian people as a result of the aggression they have suffered.”
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As Zimbabwe battles a measles outbreak, government and health care officials blame religious sects whose doctrines are emphatically opposed to Western medicine.
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