WASHINGTON (RNS) — The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, a bipartisan organization created 20 years ago, concludes in its 2019 report that “innumerable believers and nonbelievers across the globe continued in 2018 to experience manifold suffering due to their beliefs.”
PEMBA, Mozambique (BP) -- With Mozambique suffering its second major cyclone in the past six weeks, Baptist Global Response has requested prayer for ongoing disaster relief ministry in the southeast African nation.
PARIS (RNS) — To Americans who drop coins into the collection plate, write a check or perhaps text in their Sunday donation, the idea that the state would charge an annual tax to support their church can seem strange and off-putting indeed. Not so in
As inmates are being released from prison, states, cities and municipalities are recognizing the need to provide services to help people reenter society if they are to remain out of prison.
“Harry Potter and the Sacred Text” is a popular podcast that uses the seven-book series by author J.K. Rowling as the basis for discussions of virtues and for spiritual practices. The chance to discuss the series from a spiritual standpoint brought 300 fans to a live
(RNS) — The suicide rate is on the rise, contributing to a drop in life expectancy. In the midst of the shock and pain that often attends such unexpected deaths, it's crucial that clergy and congregants reach out to those left behind, offering a message of
(RNS) — When 61% of Americans have seen at least one "Harry Potter" film and just 45% of us can name all four Gospels, it's no stretch to say that Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff are better known in American society than Matthew, Mark,
“Church can no longer simply be an experience to be passively consumed; rather, we are called into the participatory life of a community," wrote C. Christopher Smith in “Reading for the Common Good.” "Reading is a vital practice for helping our churches navigate this shift.”
(RNS) — The Satanic Temple announced this week that the IRS now recognizes it as a church. As courts wrestle with the First Amendment implications of what is — and isn’t — a religion, scholars who study religion agreed that the term is slippery.
Nobody likes becoming an outsider. We humans are wired to instinctively avoid it. Perhaps this is why there is a growing lack of curiosity about why people hold different beliefs.