Like Uber for mosques, new website connects Muslims to Islamic services

As greater numbers of Muslims in the West seek Islamic communities outside local mosques, the new website Imam Connect aims to connect the so-called “unmosqued” to Islamic services they want, from match making to art lessons, counseling and funeral and wedding rituals.

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Evangelical leaders talk COVID restrictions and religious freedom

Prominent evangelicals Francis Chan, John MacArthur, Sam Rodriguez, Andy Stanley and religious freedom experts weighed in on how churches should navigate changing COVID-19 guidelines that some say unfairly target houses of worship.

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Should Churches Like John MacArthur's Resist COVID-19 Restrictions?

(OPINION) Governments have often overstepped their bounds in restricting religious gatherings more than other types of gatherings in restaurants, protests or casinos. Media has unfairly blamed churches for spreading COVID-19 cases when they make up a tiny portion of the overall case spread. But should churches defy orders and worship in-person?

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Freethought Caucus in U.S. House reflects the political potential of the non-religious

(OPINION) The House’s Freethought Caucus attracts more members from the rising number of religious ‘nones’ in U.S. politics. With the growth of groups like these that promote the representation of the ‘nones,’ what is the future of the U.S. House’s religious standpoints?

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Christian women are fighting immigrant family separations

These evangelical women say their faith called them to action to help end child-family separations of migrant families in immigration detention. The COVID-19 pandemic created an opportunity for some to engage with legislators in the nation’s capital via Zoom.

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India opens pellet fire on Muslim procession for first time

Over the weekend Indian security forces fired iron pellets into a peaceful Muslim procession in Kashmir that included children, citing the pandemic restrictions on large gatherings even though several Hindu pilgrimages have been allowed to continue. Although pellet fire has been used to quell political protests, this is the first time the government has used the condemned use of pellet fire on the Shia Muslim Muharram procession.

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Rev. Al Sharpton leads March on Washington against police brutality

Thousands gathered Friday for the March on Washington 57 years after Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech to condemn police brutality against Black Americans in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting this week in Kenosha, Wisconsin, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.

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Christian Icons And Art Before The Rise Of The Blue-Eyed Jesus With Blond Hair

(OPINION) The Christ Pantocrator, an icon preserved in a montasery by Mount Sinai, is one of the most famous depictions of Jesus. Portrayed as a Palestinian man in this image, the Pantocrator speaks to the political implications of dicussing Jesus’s race.

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RNC Recap: ISIS, criminal justice reform and Trump's nomination to 'God Bless the USA'

The Republican National Convention ended with a bang, literally, as fireworks lit up Washington to blasts of ‘God Bless America’ and ‘Hallelujah.’ President Trump talked about American exceptionalism and the God-given right to life of the unborn in his nomination speech. Franklin Graham, criminal justice reformer Alice Johnson, her life sentence in prison pardoned by Trump, and Carl and Marsha Mueller, whose daughter Kayla was killed by ISIS, also spoke.

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Film about miraculous Fatima apparitions heaven-sent during the pandemic

(REVIEW) The new movie Fatima, which details the story of three Portuguese children who were visited by an apparition of an angel and six times by the Virgin Mary, is moving, hopeful and inspiring. These are the very qualities in a movie audiences crave, especially during a pandemic.

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Time for a pop quiz: 7 questions about the stunning exit of Jerry Falwell Jr.

How well did you pay attention to the news concerning Jerry Falwell Jr.? This week’s Weekend Plug-in asks seven “pop quiz” questions concerning the stunning end of Falwell’s tenure with Liberty University, the world’s largest evangelical university.

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Is it news when a U.S. senator claims Catholics are under attack?

(OPINION) This post isn’t some esoteric exercise in press freedom or news judgement. It’s about something real that is plaguing the national press in this country at this very critical moment in time.

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RNC Recap: On Third Night, a Rabbi, Nun and former NFL player praise Trump

The third night of the Republican National Convention (RNC) opened with a prayer from Rabbi Shubert Spero and included White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, Catholic nun Deirdre Byrne, a mother whose doctor told her to abort her son with Down Syndrome and former NFL player Jack Brewer all discussing their faith in God, and in Trump to keep his promises.

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Let Liberty University be a lesson in unchecked power

(OPINION) Many of this week’s headlines about the resignation of Jerry Falwell, Jr. from his role as president of Liberty University, the world’s largest evangelical university, have centered on the salacious parts of his downfall. But those headlines don’t capture the most important part of the story.

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