Buddha at the door: Coronavirus lockdown opportunity for spiritual practice

(OPINION) A chance to attend an online multi-day silent retreat during the coronavirus lockdown helped this Buddhist author use a time of crisis for greater spiritual growth, self-care and inner joy.

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Buddhist Influencer Tyler Knott Gregson offers spiritual tools to cope during COVID-19

Combining Buddhism, Haiku poetry and meditative photography, Tyler Knott Gregson offers insight into coping with chaos, loss and isolation experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic through his experiences struggling with autism. He shares his artwork and his journey with more than 350,000 Instagram followers, self-identified “Chasers of the Light.”

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Phyllis Schlafly cast as feminism’s anti-hero in new series ‘Mrs. America’

(REVIEW) The new series on Hulu debuting April 15 and starring Cate Blanchett tells the underrecognized story of the counterrevolution in the women’s movement: a battle against Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan’s brand of feminism led by Catholic political activist-lawyer, self-identified housewife and mother of six children, Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly successfully led a conservative grassroots movement to squash the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).

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Notre Dame anniversary coverage: Which news outlets had the best coverage?

(OPINION) A year later, there remain so many unanswered questions about the cathedral’s future, how and when it will be rebuilt and what hurdles remain. The pandemic has shifted attention and journalistic resources away from a story like the status and future of Notre Dame. Journalists are limited in their ability to travel and France remains on lockdown.

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India changes residency rules in Kashmir under cover of COVID-19 lockdown

Days after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a 21-day countrywide lockdown to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Hindu nationalist-led government ushered in a new residency law for Kashmir, opening up India’s only majority-Muslim region for settlement by outsiders.

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Remembering Noël Choux, the French priest who resisted Soviet communism

The French Father Choux helped his colleagues in normalization-period Czechoslovakia, a time following the 1968 Soviet invasion of the country marked by secret police and threats to clergy. He died at age 74 on April 10, after suffering with a neurodegenerative disease.

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Tanzanian churches are a hub for prevention (and potential hotspot) for coronavirus

Tanzania is one of several East African countries still allowing religious gatherings, while this Easter weekend marked the steepest rise in confirmed coronavirus cases so far. Churches have been a foundation of trust between communities and government officials, and some say they are the key to disseminating prevention tips like good handwashing practices. But others are teaching that the virus cannot infect a godly person.

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This Easter, Christians worldwide are fighting not just COVID-19 but persecution too

(OPINION) Since last year’s church attacks in Sri Lanka, persecution of Christians around the world has only gotten worse. With the spread of coronavirus, this Easter is unlike any other we’ve seen. But there is hope.

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One Year Later, Sri Lankan Easter Bombing Survivors Rely On Their Faith To Recover

The coordinated Easter 2019 terrorist attack in Sri Lanka killed 290 people and injured about 500 others at three churches and three hotels. Survivors struggle to pay for their medical treatment and regain financial stability, despite government compensation, and insist their faith in Jesus has grown even stronger.

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Quarantines Resurrect Church Attendance Just In Time For Easter

With a long-trending decline in the number of Americans who identify as Christian, stay-at-home orders are testing churches’ ability to maintain connections with followers or lose more of their flocks. During Holy Week, many churches report higher views online than can fit in their sanctuaries. Some are even hosting virtual activities like an Easter egg hunt to engage kids.

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This journalist did her job: She hopes it didn't expose her to COVID-19

The 27-year-old San Antonio Express-News reporter hopes her dedication to her profession didn’t expose her to the coronavirus.

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Christian and Muslim gatherings are Africa's greatest risk of spreading COVID-19

(OPINION) Many churches and mosques in Africa are continuing to hold religious gatherings, some with government approval, despite the imminent threat of the novel coronavirus.

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Finding answers to the pandemic in the writings of Saint Pope John Paul II

(OPINION) Who’s to blame for the coronavirus pandemic? It’s not really a difficult whodunit to figure out. Just look to a system that rejects God and freedom: China’s Communist Party for the culprit.

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How the Black Death built the modern West

(OPINION) Coronavirus is not the world’s first pandemic. The Black Death in the 14th century brought sweeping changes in Europe: the loss of people to the plague gutted the Church of its most faithful clergy, allowed survivors in lower classes to fill higher social positions and even encouraged innovation to replace the lost human labor with machines, including the printing press that made possible the Protestant Reformation.

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Large companies are complicit in Chinese religious liberty violations

(OPINION) The Chinese Government facilitated the transfer of Uighur Muslims and other ethnic minorities from Xinjiang to factories in various parts of China, and big companies have profitted from the forced-labor.

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Rev. Al Sharpton on the black evangelical vote

Civil rights activist and Baptist minister Al Sharpton talked to Religion Unplugged about the support for Donald Trump among some black evangelicals. With Trump's opposition to abortion and support for traditional family values, some black evangelicals say they have no choice but to vote for Republicans while others like Sharpton question how a majority of white evangelicals can support Trump. About 80 percent of African Americans have voted Democrat since the 1960s.

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