Beliefs
American Hindu parents are finding innovative ways to pass the faith on to their kids
By Richa Karmarkar — July 9, 2024
(RNS) — 'It's a religion of understanding and of knowledge, not of faith. And I think that kind of vibes with the modern generation,' said Instagram's The Hindu Grandma.
The Americans with Disabilities Act is still doing its work. Churches should join in.
By Russ Ewell — July 3, 2024
(RNS) — A church that includes people with disabilities is a more radiant church.
Pakistani court sentences Christian man to death for posting hateful content against Muslims
By Asim Tanveer — July 3, 2024
MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — In August 2023, groups of Muslim men burned dozens of homes and churches after some residents claimed they saw two Christian men tearing out pages from Islam's holy book, the Quran.
The Camino, a Catholic pilgrimage, increasingly draws the spiritual but not religious
By Ellie Davis — July 1, 2024
(RNS) — Today people embark on the Camino for all kinds of motivations beyond religion: health, grief, transition, history and adventure.
New York City celebrates the 10th International Day of Yoga
By Richa Karmarkar — June 21, 2024
NEW YORK (RNS) — In bustling Times Square, hundreds of yoga practitioners gathered to celebrate International Day of Yoga: an initiative from the UN that marks a decade this year.
Southern Baptists may have rejected a constitutional amendment opposing female pastors, but that does not mean they are changing their views on women’s leadership in church
By Susan M. Shaw — June 18, 2024
(The Conversation) — A scholar who studies Southern Baptists explains why the denomination’s ultraconservative beliefs about women remain the same.
A church where wellness meets spirituality
By Ellie Davis — June 17, 2024
NEW YORK (RNS) — With today’s emptier church pews and fuller yoga studios, churches like The Well are attempting to bridge the two worlds for spiritual fulfillment.
AP PHOTOS: Cambodian village prays for good fortune, prosperity, and rain in ‘He Neak Ta’ ritual
By Sopheng Cheang — June 11, 2024
PHUM BOEUNG, Cambodia (AP) — This ancient ritual ceremony has been celebrated annually for several hundred years by Phum Boeung villagers during the beginning of rainy season. Though marked in almost every village throughout the country in ancient times, the ceremony has become rarer.
In secular France, chaplains prepare to provide Olympians with spiritual support during the Games
By Giovanna Dell'orto — June 10, 2024
PARIS (AP) — As athletes rev up their training and organizers finalize everything from ceremonies to podiums before the Paris Olympics, more than 120 faith leaders are preparing for a different challenge — spiritually supporting some 10,000 Olympic athletes from around the world, especially those whose medal dreams will inevitably get crushed.
A court ruled embryos are children. These Christian couples agree yet wrestle with IVF choices
By Tiffany Stanley and Laura Ungar — June 5, 2024
(AP) — The dilemma reflects the age-old friction between faith and science at the heart of the recent IVF controversy in Alabama, where the state Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos have the legal status of children.
‘The Chosen’ announces release of Season Four, parts ways with Angel Studios
By Kathryn Post — May 29, 2024
(RNS) — Series creator Dallas Jenkins told RNS The Chosen LLC and Angel Studios had ‘different ideas of how to interpret both the contract and what’s going to sustain us in our future.’
Why Poland’s new government is challenged by abortion
By Patrice McMahon — May 24, 2024
(The Conversation) — Many Poles were outraged by abortion restrictions put in place during the previous government. That doesn’t mean they agree on the path forward.
From schools to the Olympics, how France’s staunch secularism affects religion in public life
By Giovanna Dell'orto — May 24, 2024
MARSEILLE, France (AP) — As the world’s eyes turn to France, host of the Olympics in two months, this unique way to define the role of religion in public life is getting more scrutiny.
‘Mary gardens’ bring Catholic piety to the garden
By Bridget Retzloff and Kayla Harris — May 20, 2024
(The Conversation) — In the 20th century, an engineer from Philadelphia encouraged others to create their own Mary gardens and established a company that sold seeds with Marian plant names.
Why US Catholics are planning pilgrimages in communities across the nation
By Peter Smith — May 20, 2024
(AP) — The pilgrimage amounts to an effort to revive a type of mass devotion that was once more common in past generations of Catholicism in the U.S. and beyond.
