Faith
7 years after genocide, plight of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh is exacerbated by camp violence
By Nasir Uddin — September 4, 2024
(The Conversation) — Hundreds of thousands of minority Muslims fled Myanmar in 2017 amid a government crackdown. Seven years on, they remain in refugee camps.
A Pakistani religious leader is tried in his absence for allegedly threatening Geert Wilders
By Mike Corder — September 4, 2024
SCHIPHOL, Netherlands (AP) — “Every day you get up and leave for work in armored cars, often with sirens on, and you are always aware somewhere in the back of your mind that this could be your last day,” Geert Wilders, leader of the party that won last year's general election in the Netherlands, told the court.
The Meeting House, once one of Canada’s largest churches, shuts down after scandal
By Bob Smietana — September 4, 2024
(RNS) — Nine of the megachurch's satellite sites have relaunched as a network of churches with shared preaching and support services — while The Meeting House will continue to collect donations to support those congregations. The rebranding came after The Meeting House lost its liability insurance due to an abuse scandal involving former pastor Bruxy Cavey.
Want to write a hit worship song? Invite a few friends to church.
By Bob Smietana — September 4, 2024
(RNS) — When the CCLI Top 100 chart first appeared in 1988, most of the songs had one writer. Today, the average hit worship song has at least two writers — who often have ties to the so-called Big Four megachurches that dominated modern worship songs.
At Quaker World Plenary, Americans are seen as key to building peace
By Bridget Moix — September 4, 2024
(RNS) — An informal survey showed how U.S. policy impacts communities around the globe.
What is the Shroud of Turin and why is there so much controversy around it?
By Eric Vanden Eykel — September 4, 2024
(The Conversation) — Many believe the Shroud of Turin to be the cloth used to bury Jesus after his crucifixion. Scientists have investigated the claim and here’s what they found.
Is Usha Vance’s Hindu identity an asset or a liability to the Trump-Vance campaign?
By Deepa Bharath — September 4, 2024
(AP) — While some political analysts say her strong presence as a Hindu American still makes the community proud, others question whether the Republican Party is really ready for a Hindu second lady.
How HIV/AIDS got its name − the words Americans used for the crisis were steeped in science, stigma and religious language
By Anthony Petro — September 4, 2024
(The Conversation) — The nascent LGBTQ+ rights movement and the Christian right each strongly shaped the early years of HIV/AIDS, a historian explains.
Time for a cease-fire in the childhood culture wars
By Joshua Hammerman — September 4, 2024
(RNS) — Let our kids feel all the love we can give.
You need to abandon God to find God
By Thomas Reese — September 3, 2024
(RNS) — Our understanding of God has to mature as we do.
National Baptists hold annual meeting as leadership questions continue
By Adelle M. Banks — September 3, 2024
BALTIMORE (RNS) — The Rev. Jerry Young, pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi, has been president for two five-year terms and cannot run for a consecutive third term.
Neo-Buddhists push back against Hindu claims on ancient cave monasteries in India
By Priyadarshini Sen — September 3, 2024
GUJARAT, India (RNS) — In western India, where thousands of monks once worshipped in caves chiseled into the rocky hills, a fight is on to keep Hindu chauvinists from erasing a 2,000-year-old Buddhist site.
Trump’s Arlington affair harks back to Bill Clinton
By Mark Silk — September 3, 2024
(RNS) — Trump’s is not the first affront to the American civil religion.
Catholic diocese sues US government, worried some foreign-born priests might be forced to leave
By Giovanna Dell'orto — September 3, 2024
In his own border diocese of El Paso, Texas, Bishop Mark Seitz is facing the possibility of losing priests whose permanent residency cases now have little chance to be approved before their visas expire. The law mandates them to leave the United States for at least a year.
What to know about the rescued hostage’s Bedouin community in Israel
By Mariam Fam — September 3, 2024
(AP) — One significant long-running source of tensions is that tens of thousands or so Bedouins in the Negev eke out an existence in villages that the Israeli authorities don’t recognize. The villages are largely cut off from basic services and the government wants to tear them down.
