Prayers for Venezuela: Faith and famine in the ongoing economic crisis

Every day, state control intensifies at every level. All forms of demonstrations are prohibited. Cities across Venezuela have become militarized zones littered with heavily-armed soldiers and tanks. My friends, who are also journalists, have been fired from reporting the truth.

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How Christianity's roots in Africa help racial reconciliation in America

A crowd of diverse scholars and Christian influencers gathered in the Central Presbyterian Church on the Upper East Side to remember the life and legacy of the late Dr. Thomas C. Oden.

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Pope's clergy sex abuse summit: 5 questions for the Catholic Church going forward

What next for the church? A few days clearly isn’t enough to heal the deep wound that decades of abuse and inaction have caused. To recap the very busy events of the past few days, here’s a look at five questions to emerge from the Vatican’s summit and how the church hopes to handle cases of clergy sex abuse going forward.

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Indian faith leaders sign pledge to promote harmony, defend religion

The faith leaders, representing Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jewish, Ravidas and Bahá'í  followers, declared to preach harmony and peace amidst rising religious violence in India.

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David M. Bailey On How Racial Reconciliation Heals While Colorblindness Harms

David M. Bailey stood at the podium in the City Room of The King’s College in lower Manhattan, expressing his initial frustration with being black and Christian in America. 

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Fighting for life as Britain’s ‘death culture’ takes hold

(COMMENTARY) One week after Britain’s leading anti-euthanasia activist Peter Saunders stepped down from his charity, the Royal College of Physicians and British Medical Association published new guidelines permitting its members to remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without the need of a judge’s permission.

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Catholic beat memo: Fuzzy math and estimating the number of gay priests

(COMMENTARY) There is an old newsroom saying that I have found often holds true: journalist + math = correction. This comical equation exemplifies how often people working in newsrooms just get math wrong in their stories. From polls and surveys to trying to quantify something by way of statistics, most reporters and editors find themselves befuddled — even fooled — by numbers.

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Jackie Robinson's forgotten Christianity: How being a devout Methodist impacted his life

A lot has been said and written about Jackie Robinson. The baseball legend — famous for breaking baseball’s color barrier — was known for many things. His athletic abilities, courage in the face of racism and the dignity with which he went about it all remain the focal points. What is often ignored — even forgotten — is Robinson’s Christian faith.

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A migrant photographer’s guide to survival from Bangladesh to New York City: 'Do it yourself'

Long before he became an esteemed, internationally-recognized photographer — or even long before he owned a camera — Amir Hamja spent his college years in pharmacy school absorbing articles, books and tutorials of photography online.

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China’s Faithful Endure a Long, Bitter Winter of Persecution

Today, China continues to escalate its massive suppression of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, Jews and Uighur Muslims. 

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PBS’ 'Sacred' documentary gives intimate glimpses of faith around the world

(COMMENTARY) A new documentary film recently aired on PBS beautifully shows faith as something lived-- not just a set of beliefs, traditions or doctrines on paper.

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How will the Pope’s Arabian adventure affect global Islam?

(COMMENTARY) A joint declaration from the Vatican and Al-Azhar University, seen as the intellectual hub of Sunni Islam, called upon world leaders “to stop using religions to incite hatred, violence, extremism and blind fanaticism, and to refrain from using the name of God to justify acts of murder, exile, terrorism and oppression.”

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Politics trump religious freedom for Russia's Jehovah's Witnesses and China's Uighur Muslims

(COMMENTARY) Russian Jehovah's Witnesses and Uighur Muslims in China are persecuted by their governments, in part because they’re seen as insufficiently loyal, and in part because the global community prioritizes good trade relations.

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Who are The Evangelicals? Frances FitzGerald studied American history to explain

Historian Frances Fitzgerald reported on white evangelicals for The New Yorker. Now she’s written a book delving into their place in America’s founding and history, long before President Trump.

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Hard to avoid religion when fighting about 'fourth-trimester abortions'

(COMMENTARY) Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) favored a state bill that would allow ‘super’ late-term abortions. President Trump has since called for legislation to ban late-term abortions because the child can feel pain in the mother’s womb.

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What do Valentine's Day, Jeff Bezos and Catholicism have in common? Time to read some 'explainers'

(COMMENTARY) Complex issues and topics have always been boiled down for ordinary readers to understand. After all, that’s what journalism is really all about. The same goes for understanding religion — and this is where journalism can be a wonderful tool to help people understands different belief systems, traditions, how they intersect with politics and how it impacts our culture and society.

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