Watch this documentary, produced in 2008 and remastered in HD in May 2023, from the National Council of Churches and the IBC.
“It was a turbulent time. Amid social unrest, American Indian activists and organizers struggled for sovereignty, justice, and civil rights. Standing together, Native nations and the National Indian Lutheran Board emerged to speak out with a unified voice.”
Read MoreIn an article for Religion News Service, Daoud Kuttab writes that religious affiliation regulates everything from inheritance to divorce in the Middle East. Read the full article at Religion News Service, or excerpts in this post.
Read MoreAmerica is burned out. The feeling is particularly acute for those who have traditionally been society’s bridge builders — teachers, health care workers, faith leaders — as they increasingly find themselves in the cross hairs of our divisions.
Dan White Jr. was a pastor in New York for nearly 20 years until the stress of trying to mend the chasms within his church led to his physical collapse. When he went searching for a place to heal and find support, he found few options. So he decided to create his own.
[You can listen to this episode of “First Person” on Apple, Spotify or Google or wherever you get your podcasts.]
Read MoreAs Bishop Eaton calls us to learn more about the inhumane history of the transatlantic slave trade as part of International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, we share historian Dan Carlin’s recent podcast on the subject.
“The Atlantic Slave Trade mixes centuries of human bondage with violence, economics, commerce, geo-political competition, liberty, morality, injustice, revolution, tragedy and bloody reckonings. That sounds like a lot, yet this show merely scratches the surface of this enormous subject.” Available free for a limited time on the show page, Apple podcasts, or in this post.
Read MoreMore than 1 billion people — nearly 15% of the world's population — experience some form of disability. In the United States alone, about 61 million, or 1 out of every 4 adults, live with at least one disability.
In her book Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally, Emily Ladau shares thoughts on how both nondisabled and disabled people can collectively make the world a more inclusive and accessible place. NPR’s Life Kit features an article and 17-minute listen featuring Ladau here.
Read MoreThe Russian church hopes to reunite with the independent Ukrainian branch under a single patriarch in Moscow that would allow it to control the holiest sites of Orthodoxy in the Slavic world.
If Ukraine prevails against the Russian invasion, the Moscow church will all but certainly be ejected. If Russia wins, the Ukrainian church is unlikely to survive inside Ukraine. Read the full article at the New York Times.
Read MoreThe Associated Press provides an explainer on the role of religion in the Russia Ukraine war: “Even though Russian President Vladimir Putin justified his invasion of Ukraine in part as a defense of the Moscow-oriented Orthodox church, leaders of both Ukrainian Orthodox factions are fiercely denouncing the Russian invasion, as is Ukraine’s significant Catholic minority.”
Read MoreBillions of people on every continent are suffering because of climate change, according to a major new United Nations report released on Monday. And governments must do a better job of protecting the most vulnerable communities while also rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Read the article or give a 3-minute listen on NPR.org.
The New York Times has five takeaways from the U.N. Report on Climate Hazards:
Climate hazards have worsened significantly in the past decade.
If warming isn’t slowed, the dangers will multiply.
Societies have not done enough to adapt and stay safe.
As warming continues, it will become harder and harder to cope.
Poor countries face much bigger challenges than rich ones.
Released February 9, 2022, this report is the most complete accounting to date of how Christian nationalism contributed to the events leading up to January 6 and the day of the attack itself, and it looks at responses to January 6. A recording of the webinar presenting the report is also available online.
Featuring contributions from scholars, historians, advocates, and researchers, this report was a joint project of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Christians Against Christian Nationalism.
Read MoreA common environmentally friendly solution to flooding, rain gardens satisfy a common theological thread running through many faiths. Read the article from Religion News Service.
Read MoreTish Harrison Warren’s opinion article, Why Churches Should Drop Their Online Services, drew a huge response, which she followed up with in her next article, 7 Thoughtful Reader Responses on Ending Online Church. Read the full articles in The New York Times, and excerpts in this post.
Read MoreOver the past two years a refrain has become common in churches and other religious communities: “Join us in person or online.” I was a big proponent of that “or online” part. Now I think it’s time to drop the virtual option. And I think this for the same reason I believed churches should go online back in March 2020: This is the way to love God and our neighbors.
The New York Times produced “Postcards From a World on Fire” a remarkable report from each of the 193 United Nations member states. Some of these stories may seem small, like an ancient drawing flaking off a cave wall in Indonesia; others are undeniably harrowing, like the stories of hungry people fleeing their homes in Guatemala; others may even seem hopeful, like the move toward building wooden skyscrapers in Norway.
Read the introduction here, experience the full project here.
Read MoreThe tornadoes hit mostly Southern states where Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams as well as Samaritan's Purse are well trained to respond. Read the article from Religion News Service.
Read MoreRefugee resettlement has always been a public-private partnership, relying on the generosity of American communities who come together and welcome newcomers. Read the article from Religion News Service, cowritten by Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, president and CEO of Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS).
Read More'It also feels like a particularly good year for Advent. It feels like, this has been a whole Advent year, a whole Advent two years,' said The Porter’s Gate founder. Read the article from Religion News Service.
Read MoreI asked a pastor what he says to people in pain. One thing he says is, “I want more for you.” I repeat that sentence to you not with any illusion that the world does what I want, but simply as an expression of good will, an acknowledgment of how we all sit with our common fragility, and a recognition that life is unpredictable. It changes. In many pilgrims’ progress, the slough of despond gives way to enchanted ground. Read the full article at The New York Times.
Read MoreSince the first Swig opened in 2010 in St. George, Utah, dozens of soda-shop chains and independent soda shacks have opened from Idaho to Utah to Arizona, an area of the Mountain West sometimes called the Mormon Corridor.
A significant portion of the region’s population belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the church’s prohibition on tea and coffee has spurred a niche beverage market that has intensified in the last decade, hitting a fever pitch during the pandemic. Read the article at New York Times.
Read More‘The issue of when life begins has been hotly debated by philosophers since the beginning of time — it’s still debated in religions,’ said Justice Sonia Sotomayor as the court heard oral arguments. Religious supporters and opponents of abortion rights demonstrated outside the U.S. Supreme Court, giving voice to competing faith-rooted views as justices heard oral arguments in a case that could upend decades of debate over abortion policy.
The demonstrations began earlier that morning at Washington’s Lutheran Church of the Reformation, where the National Council of Jewish Women, Catholics for Choice and other religious groups hosted an interfaith service featuring speeches from faith leaders and lawmakers in support of abortion rights.
Read MoreAn eccentric monk’s singular scrap cathedral reveals the chaos and genius of his mind. Justo Gallego Martínez, who died November 28th, 2021, spent 50 years of his life dedicated to his work. Read the article at Hazlitt.net.
Read More‘The stories of the Maccabees are coming to life before our eyes,’ said one member of the group that excavated the site. Read the article from Religion News Service.
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