News

As the U.S. continues its evacuations of American citizens and Afghans who have worked for the U.S. over the past 20 years, faith-based refugee resettlement organizations are leading efforts to help Afghans settle into the country.

The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine mandated Monday that all clergy and staff in the diocese be vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of September. It is one of the first COVID-19 vaccine mandates for clergy in the United States.

Calling the COVID-19 vaccines a “great miracle that God blessed us with,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) urged clergy to encourage vaccination. Cleaver spoke to Word&Way for the Dangerous Dogma podcast as the delta variant sparked a rise in cases in Missouri and across the country in recent weeks.

A Catholic school in Lansing has lost an appeal over a Michigan policy that required masks on young kids earlier in the pandemic. Although the statewide mandate ended, some counties are stepping in and requiring masks in schools when the 2021-22 year starts.

The Rev. Nadia Bolz-Weber was installed this weekend as the first pastor of public witness for the largest Lutheran denomination in the United States.  Bolz-Weber, who has often attracted controversy, is perhaps best known for her New York Times bestselling books.

The great contradiction of Boston’s Old North Church is that a site pivotal to the freedom of the nation is the same place where slave owners and traders once worshiped.

Sri Lanka’s Christian community hoisted black flags at churches and homes on Saturday to express anger over the government’s investigation into the 2019 Easter Sunday bomb attacks, which killed 269 people.

On Friday, Southwest Baptist University announced its new president to lead the school after its previous president resigned amid an ongoing nearly three-year conflict over power and theology. Rick Melson, vice president for advancement at Cedarville University in Ohio, will become SBU’s 26th president.

The return to in-person school in many communities across the country means many houses of worship are grappling with whether children — especially those under 12 who do not have access to a COVID-19 vaccine — should be exposed to adults, vaccinated and unvaccinated.

Indiana University’s Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture recently held an online mini-conference examining “White Christian Nationalism in the United States.” Two separate panels sought to understand this potent and problematic cultural identity.