(OPINION) This week 20 years ago, Tom Osanjo was running late to report on a press conference between Kenya’s Trade Minister and the U.S. ambassador. It may have saved his life.
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Priests know what it's like to enter the pulpit facing scriptures that appear to have been torn from the headlines.That happened just the other day, with news that one of America's most powerful Catholics – retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C. – had been accused of the sexual abuse of boys, as well as decades of seminarians. Days later the Sunday Mass lectionary featured the Prophet Jeremiah, speaking for Jehovah: "Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture."
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(OPINION) “Mainline” Protestant groups have been ardent in politicking for leftward and anti-Trump causes, perhaps even moreso than with the typical evangelical congregation. You would barely know this, if at all, from reading or viewing most news media reports.
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The Benda family faithfully observed the rites that defined their lives inside of their second-floor apartment. Every day, they prayed together, studied together and found ways to enjoy themselves – while doing everything they could to show others there was more to life than the rules of a paranoid police state.
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At long last, the United Methodist Church has posted detailed proposals (.pdfs here) from its emergency “Commission on a Way Forward” to address what it calls the “deepening impasse” over whether to approve actively gay clergy and same-sex weddings.
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Mary McAleese, an attorney and the former president of Ireland, assailed her Catholic Church for its practice of baptizing infants shortly after birth with parents making vows on their behalf. She argues that this treats children as “infant conscripts who are held to lifelong obligations of obedience,” and is a violation of their human rights.
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In Kashmir, the Amarnath Pilgrimage showcases the perfect symbol of unity and bonding between Hindus and Muslims.
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Two years after British Islamist Thomas Evans (aka Abdul Hakim) died in a hail of Kenyan military bullets, his younger brother, Michael, is still searching for answers.
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(COMMENTARY) The International Football Association Board's "Laws of the Game" – used at the FIFA World Cup – state: "Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images." This rule "applies to all equipment (including clothing) worn by players," according to IFAB guidelines. BUT Does this apply to religious symbols woven into the flags and traditions of many nations?
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The Religion News Service column “Flunking Sainthood,” as the title indicates, expresses the outlook of liberal Latter-day Saints. But author Jana Riess, who comes armed with a Columbia University doctorate in U.S. religious history, is also interesting when writing about broader matters.
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(OPINION) Public betas are out and updated with the Stocks app, major updates to Apple News and more. Here’s what journalists need to know before dark mode takes over this fall.
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America was divided, tense and angry in 1969, when Fred Rogers faced a U.S. Senate Subcommittee poised to grant President Richard Nixon his requests for deep budget cuts for public broadcasting. Rogers told the senators why he kept telling children they were unique and special. But he also talked about fear, anger and confusion – because that's what children were feeling. The senators nixed the cuts, and the Rev. Fred Rogers – an ordained Presbyterian minister – continued with his complex blend of television, child development and subtle messages about faith.
(COMMENTARY) Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement throws the spotlight on one of the most influential players in Washington, D.C., when it comes to deciding what individuals inhabit the centers of power. Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society and the go-to guy for names of federal court appointees when Republicans rule the White House. Journalists should also be taking a close look at another Republican networker and talent-spotter, Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation.
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Justice Anthony Kennedy's 7-2 majority opinion in favor of the baker at the Masterpiece Cakeshop focused on evidence that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had demonstrated open hostility towards owner Jack Phillips and his Christian faith. Meanwhile, Phillips says he is looking forward to creating more wedding cakes, now that he is free to do so while following his Christian convictions.
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The right to self-governance the world over is and continues to be a battle hard won. As a Trinbagonian, I’m proud to be celebrating fifty-five years of Independence this year and I’m reminded that as a citizen, independence comes with responsibility, and accountability.
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(COMMENTARY) Europe was once the heart of Christendom and sent waves of missionaries around the world. Now it’s is suffering from "vocational sterility," in part because of a "dictatorship of money" that is seducing the young. In a recent speech to Italy's bishops, Pope Francis offered a sobering sound bite: "How many seminaries, churches, monasteries and convents will be closed in the next few years? God only knows."
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The soap opera that is Italian politics has taken a dramatic turn in recent weeks as two populist parties on opposite ends of the spectrum have decided to join forces as the Catholic Church opposes the wave of anti-immigrant sentiment that has engulfed the country over the past year.
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Anger is timely, along with grief, as waves of #MeToo and #ChurchToo messages about sexual abuse and domestic violence have triggered a series of stunning headlines. Most have been linked to the work of Paige Patterson after news about sermons in which he critiqued a teen-aged girl's body, knocked female seminary students who weren't striving hard enough to be attractive, and advised an abused wife to stay with her husband rather than seeking legal help.
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Ann-Marie Wilson, a doctor of psychology and a midwife who trained in Pakistan, recently completed a paper on the origins of FGM, claiming that the mummies in the British Museum show clear signs of the practice. Now three countries, Egypt (97 per cent), Ethiopia and Indonesia (the most populous Muslim country in the world) account for more than half of the 200 million women and girls who have undergone what can be a life-threatening procedure.
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(COMMENTARY) Robert E. Lee grew up in a "household divided by a common faith," with a father whose Episcopal convictions centered on honor and duty and an "almost Unitarian" rejection of anything hinting at superstition or human emotions. His mother, however, was a fervent evangelical Episcopalian.
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