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 MoreA law criminalizing gender transition care for minors in Idaho can be applied while two anonymous teenage plaintiffs’ challenge to the law continues in court, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on April 15.
Read More“We must fight Christian nationalism. It’s what fueled Jan. 6 and the pews in our churches, every Sunday, are filled with them.” That isn’t the only time I’ve heard that ominous warning offered up by an earnest, well-weaning pastor, non-profit leader or Christian influencer. It’s shaped by a narrative repeated often by the press, echoed in a seemingly unlimited new genre of books and accepted as gospel even by many people of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the most important components of the Democratic coalition is the Black church. But I have to wonder if there are not cracks beginning to form in the alliance between the Democratic Party and Black Protestant Christianity.
Read MoreWith nearly a dozen releases timed strategically around the electoral period, Indian cinema is amplifying Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his party's Hindu nationalist political agenda. The slew of new films — ahead of the April 19 national elections — are helmed by major production houses that rely on storylines that overtly either promote Modi and his government’s policies or target rival politicians.
Read MoreSunday is the start of the Israeli workweek, but schools and many government offices were closed for the day. This cosmopolitan city’s typically crowded light rail was sparse and remarkably silent, with the few passengers glued to their smartphones looking for answers nobody could seem to find.
Read More(OPINION) What did the Founding Fathers really believe about the role of religion in America? When Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Madison appeared, they were trying to figure out what they believed personally about God even as they debated religion’s role in a fledgling nation. These guys didn’t fit into our 21st century boxes.
Read MoreAmid what many consider an increasingly hostile climate for Jewish students on campus, Hillel has updated its college guide, including a new feature that indicates whether students at a particular school have held a vote to boycott Israel.
Read More(OPINION) There is no neutrality when it comes to Donald Trump. To the contrary, he is arguably the most polarizing figure in America, if not in the world, and at the mention of his name, temperatures rise. To his loyal supporters, he is a courageous hero of superhuman proportions. To his fervent detractors, he is the incarnation of evil itself in exaggerated form. Why, then, does Trump bring such extreme polarization? Why is he so hated?
Read MoreChristians are divided on how to address this growing issue. One camp sees this as a problem — something that needs to be solved by helping people get married. The other sees the problem as the privileging of marriage — and that it’s the church that needs to adapt to reflect such societal changes. Here’s what some books are saying about the issue.
Read MoreEven as countless books, newspaper articles and cable TV segments devote intense attention to Christian nationalism, the term has become so pervasive that it risks losing any real meaning, according to a growing group of scholars both on the left and right. Nonetheless, expect its use to grow as another presidential election nears.
Read MoreDespite opposition from Catholic bishops across the continent, the European Union voted on Thursday to enshrine access to abortion as a “fundamental right” in its charter. The proposal — approved 336 votes for to 163 against — was passed in Brussels with support coming primarily from left-wing and centrist members.
Read More(OPINION) As for those who are not familiar with the term “replacement theology,” or, more technically, “supersessionism,” this refers to the idea that the Church has replaced (or superseded) Israel in God’s plan of salvation, as a result of which, the promises God once gave to national Israel now apply to the church.
Read MoreThe revival of an 1864 Arizona law criminalizing abortions for providers, expectant mothers and advertisers will likely face a November state ballot measure asking voters to enshrine abortion rights in Arizona’s constitution.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The title, “1946: The Mistranslation that Shifted Culture,” summarizes well this feature documentary, which argues how the misuse of a single word forever changed the course of history. Two researchers trace the origins of a grave mistranslation of the Bible in 1946 when the Revised Standard Version committee that two poorly understood and rarely-used Greek words would be combined and translated as homosexual.
Read MoreIndia’s increased use of Facial Recognition Technology has led to the arrest of those the government deemed “troublemakers” for their involvement in recent protests. It was not the first time video technology had been used to identify people taking part in such activity against the government. As a result, there’s the potential on the part of police to increasingly target religious minorities.
Read More(ANALYSIS) White evangelicals vote for Trump because White evangelicals are Republicans, and Donald Trump is the standard bearer of the GOP. That’s the same reason they voted for McCain in 2008 and Romney in 2012. But have White evangelicals always been Republicans, or is this a very recent phenomenon?
Read MoreFour months after supporting blessings for same-sex couples, the Vatican on Monday declared gender-affirming surgery and surrogacy as violations of human dignity — making them equal to abortion and euthanasia as practices that reject God’s plan. The Holy See’s office that handles doctrine issued “Infinite Dignity,” a 20-page document that had been in the works for five years.
Read MoreIowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a ceremony on April 2. The legislation is similar to the federal act signed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. More than half of U.S. states have passed their own versions of the law since 1997.
Read MoreHoosier Jews for Choice and four others can proceed in a class action challenge to Indiana’s abortion ban, claiming it violates their individual rights under the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), an appeals court has ruled.
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