Nation

DALLAS (BP) -- Personal belongings are confiscated, and a participant is stripped of his or her individuality. They become a number. Government workers with stern faces instruct them to face forward. No talking.

During this refugee camp simulation, participants are to grab three items from buckets. They haven't been told why. No one tells them where they're going.

Eighty-three percent of U.S. inmates were arrested at least once within the nine years following their release from incarceration, according to a U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) report released on May 23.

WASHINGTON (BP) -- Churches that haven't updated their wireless sound system may have trouble being heard on any given Sunday, as the federal government is phasing out the 600MHz frequencies many congregations use.

The Supreme Court today ruled today in favor of a Christian baker in Colorado who refused to design a case for a same-sex wedding, a controversial case that was widely seen as a standoff between claims of religious liberty and LGBTQ rights.

(RNS) — At a dinner last year with prominent evangelical Christians in the Blue Room of the White House, Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, invited their table mates to discuss the issues most important to them.

Nearly 51 million households in the U.S. lacked funds to buy basic necessities in 2016, according to a United Way study published on May 17.

(RNS) — Like many Muslims, Chicago attorney Nura Maznavi pays zakat during the holy month of Ramadan.

And like many Muslims, she usually fulfills her zakat, an obligatory tax meant to purify Muslims’ wealth, by giving to local social service organizations and international relief groups. This year, she’s chosen a less traditional cause: helping people who are stuck in jail make bail.

RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) — Under sweltering 94-degree heat in front of the General Assembly building, a hardy group of progressive activists gathered to revive the 40-day Poor People’s Campaign, the civil disobedience movement founded 50 years ago by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

WASHINGTON (RNS) — President Trump plans to unveil a new initiative that aims to give faith groups a stronger voice within the federal government and serve as a watchdog for government overreach on religious liberty issues.

Not only do social safety nets "play a pivotal role" in reducing poverty and lowering income inequality but they also have been demonstrated to be effective in doing so.