Posts in Religion
Judge rules doctors can decline to perform transgender surgery on religious grounds

A U.S. federal court ruled on Tuesday that doctors will not be required to perform gender transition surgeries if it runs contrary to their religious beliefs. The decision reversed a requirement put forth by the Obama administration three years ago.

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Hope in the face of despair: Ethiopian PM Abiy’s rise to the Nobel Peace Prize

Abiy Ahmed is an inspirational leader and an evangelical Christian hailed as a Moses figure for Ethiopia. He ended nearly two decades of a stalemate from a war with Eritrea that had killed 70,000 people. But the country is far from peaceful yet, and his leadership challenges are just beginning.

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As the vaccine debate continues, religious exemptions face scrutiny

Amid a measles outbreak, New York became the second state this year to end religious exemptions from vaccines. Forty-five states still allow religious exemptions, and 15 states allow exemptions for personal beliefs, which can encompass religion or can be philosophical or moral.

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Mourning the death of John Samuel Mbiti, ‘father of modern African theology’

There is one person’s body of work that came to define outsiders’ views on African religion more than any other in the past 50 years: Prof. John Samuel Mbiti, a Christian philosopher, Anglican minister and writer from Kenya.

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Why Did Some Media Show Brandt Jean’s Courtroom Hug But Edit Out his Remarks?

(OPINION) After several clicks and searches, we did find full-length versions of the video provided by Fox News and the Dallas Morning News. It makes us wonder why some media felt the need to excise Brandt’s words, which were so incredible.

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Why the Vatican is debating priestly celibacy in the Amazon

A discussion in Rome this week will include whether the church should allow flexibility in its traditional vow of celibacy for priests to ordain married men in the remote Amazon. The decision could very well impact Catholicism around the world.

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Everything you need to know about Yom Kippur

Considered the most important holiday on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur is also known as the day of atonement. It begins at sundown on October 8 and ends at nightfall the following day. The holy day also marks the end of the “10 Days of Repentance.”

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Chaput-Martin feud highlights media distortion of Catholicism

Who is made a cardinal can be loaded with intrigue. It’s why the Catholic church is covered like a political institution and less like a religion. It is this dangerous tendency, largely on the part of the secular press, to reduce theological positions to political ones that has fueled divisions during the Pope Francis era.

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What does 'Evangelical' mean in 2019?

(OPINION) “Evangelicals” is often used as a stand-in for conservative white Protestants. This misses the diversity and changing nature of a religious movement that is important in its own right, not just for its political clout.

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TED Talks For The Religiously Minded

Out of more than 3,200 talks listed on the TED website, less than 80 center on religion, and the ones that do often approach the topic from a secular humanist perspective. We rounded up our top seven picks focused on religion and faith.

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A female Muslim lawyer to watch on religious liberty issues

(OPINION) Asma Uddin is the author of the provocatively titled “When Islam Is Not a Religion.” Her advocacy for all religions, including those with adherents who might oppose hers, is a lesson in the universality of freedom of religion that the Constitution intends.

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Meet the Greek Orthodox wood carver chiseling sacred artifacts for a living

For a man who has encountered hardship from his youth in Greece to dealing with the loss of his wife in 2012, Papadakis says the craft of carving is more than just a job or hobby. It relates to his own Orthodox Christian faith. “I love my God,” he says in between taps on a gouge. “I have to do something best. If I give something, it needs to be as godly as God is. It has to be worthy.”

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NFL turns 100: Lombardi's faith and the story of the Hail Mary pass

(OPINION) It’s the NFL’s birthday. Looking back at great plays and memorable Super Bowl performances are a given. What about what players and coaches believed? What about their motivations? How about religion and the impact it left on the game?

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The BBC predicts religion will fade from importance. The numbers say otherwise.

(OPINION) Projections about the future of religious beliefs vary depending by prediction method, and perhaps bias. A recent BBC article saw a coming decline in favor of science and legal systems. Other statistics tell a different story.

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Meet the Catholics who practice Voodoo in New Orleans

For many, the thought of Voodoo conjures images of witchcraft and nefarious supernatural forces. But for these Catholics who grew up around it, it’s a part of their city’s heritage and inseparable from the practices they were raised with.

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Why many evangelicals believe climate change is a hoax

Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old from Sweden, received widespread support for her recent actions to combat climate change — except from those who believe it’s a hoax. Among them: evangelical Christians. Here’s why so many of them oppose the politics of climate change.

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The U.S. must speak directly with Iran's religious and ethnic minorities

(OPINION) President Trump announced Sept. 23 that the U.S. would devote $25 million to religious freedom issues and continue pressuring countries to end religious persecution, but in Iran, the U.S. is neglecting ethnic and religious minorities. Baha’is, numbering 300,000 in Iran, are particularly persecuted.

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Jewish pilgrimage to a Ukrainian rabbi’s grave is growing

Pilgrimages to Rabbi Nachman’s grave site resumed at a trickle under communism. Now, more than 70 years after the devastation of World War II and communism, Jews of all kinds are visiting Uman and moving back.

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