News
Ugandan faith leaders weigh idea of accepting Israel's African refugees
Israel's government has offered financial incentives for thousands of asylum seekers to leave the country voluntarily—threatening to detain or deport them if they didn't.
In historic votes, Lutherans elect two African American women bishops
Patricia A. Davenport and Viviane Thomas-Breitfeld will each lead a regional body in the predominantly white mainline Protestant denomination.
Black Church Food Security Network brings fresh food to Baltimore
A group of Baltimore congregations is connecting with black farmers to promote healthy eating and economic empowerment.
United Methodist bishops encourage local option for same-sex marriage
The bishops recommended removing prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBT clergy in the global denomination's Book of Discipline—while allowing new regional rules.
Church acts as mediator in Nicaragua unrest, addresses corruption in Honduran government
Nicaraguan church leaders are among those decrying a violent response to protests. And in Honduras, a Jesuit-run radio station has charged the government with becoming a dictatorship.
Baylor seminary names 12 leading preachers among English speakers
The seminary's Lake Center for Effective Preaching surveyed homiletics professors and chose from more than 800 nominees.
Immigrants reinvigorate Methodist churches in Britain, home of tradition's founders
Congregations that might've closed their doors received an influx of Methodists from West Africa and elsewhere.
Black liberation theologian James Cone dies at 79
In portraying Christ’s blackness, he upended the assumptions of a field dominated by white theologians and helped spawn other theories of liberation.
Despite being targets of violence, Congolese priests and aid workers continue to confront crisis
Several priests and aid workers have been kidnapped, and earlier this month a priest was murdered. Conflict in several regions has left millions in need.
U.S. Assemblies of God elects first woman executive in more than a century
Donna L. Barrett is stepping into a top leadership role in the world’s largest Pentecostal denomination.
Francis admits misjudgment in Chile sex abuse case
The pope said he lacked full information about a bishop, but other Chilean bishops said they told him the truth. He summoned them all for a rare emergency meeting.
Church of England goes cashless for worshipers’ contributions
With fewer people carrying cash, churches plan to use special card readers for collecting fees and the offering.
Christians were key bloc in Egypt’s election
Many Copts fear a resurgence of militant power more than the autocratic tendencies of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Bob Ricks, FBI's main spokesman in Waco standoff, looks back to 25 years ago
“Probably the best description of him is a master manipulator,” Ricks said of David Koresh, who died in a fire in 1993 along with dozens of his Branch Davidian followers.
Red Letter Revival seeks to give voice to those on evangelical margins
A group of progressive Christians gathered near Jerry Falwell Jr.'s Liberty University, both critiquing Falwell's theology and asking to pray with him.
NCC draws faith groups to antiracism event
The ecumenical National Council of Churches has also launched a Truth and Racial Justice Initiative, “a nationwide accounting of how churches and their leaders have been complicit in, and have perpetuated, racism in America.”
Settlement will prevent illegal NYPD surveillance of Muslims
Police spied on ordinary people at mosques, restaurants, and schools starting in 2002.
Indian state recognizes 800-year-old tradition as a separate religion
Lingayat Dharma “started as a revolt and protest against Hindu orthodoxy,” said a leader in the movement advocating status as a minority faith.
Southern California mosques welcome rising number of Latino Muslims
Groups are meeting growing interest through efforts such as Friday prayers in Spanish and #TacoTrucksatEveryMosque events to break Ramadan fasting.
Linda Brown Thompson, school desegregation pioneer, dies at age 75
The lifelong AME Church member was at the center of the 1954 Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education.