Faith & Culture

NEW YORK (AP) — Charitable giving by individual Americans in 2018 suffered its biggest drop since the Great Recession of 2008-09, in part because of Republican-backed changes in tax policy, according to the latest comprehensive report on Americans’ giving patterns.

(RNS) — A new report on family caregivers details how congregations can play a role in supporting the increasing number of members caring for elders.

TULSA, Okla. — Oh, Kenneth Hearrell has stories to tell. But ask the 87-year-old about his role as the “disaster deacon” for his church in Oklahoma, and he has less to say. It’s as if he can’t understand why anyone would need to ask why he feels compelled to help.

(RNS) — A diverse band of faith leaders and at least one presidential candidate descended on a park outside the White House on Wednesday (June 12), gathering to decry what organizers called the “evil” policies of the Trump administration.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (RNS) — The Rev. Sarah Howell-Miller, a United Methodist minister, once opposed needle exchange programs for opioid addicts — a stance shared by  legislators in some three dozen states. Then she fell in love with a drug user.

Adults who maintain an active social life with their family, friends, and social organizations maintain higher mental functions and are more satisfied with life than those who “cocoon socially” in their retirement years. As we age, here are three social things we need to do to improve our mental functions.

ST. LOUIS (RNS) — Adaptive reuse has become an answer particularly for those parts of aging cities that are revitalizing as millennials and retirees move downtown for inexpensive real estate, walkable lifestyles and craft beer.

(RNS) — In the world of Bible teachers, Beth Moore is an author and rock star, packing sporting arenas and big-name churches. But among some of the male leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention, where she is a member, she has also become a liability.

BOSTON (RNS) — Two weeks ago, the government walked back its plan to replace President Andrew Jackson on the front of the $20 bill with abolitionist Harriet Tubman’s face for eight additional years. But that didn't end the matter at Hope Central Church in Boston.

(RNS) — After her unexpected death at age 37 at the beginning of May, Rachel Held Evans’ loved ones gathered Saturday (June 1) to remember her in a funeral service.