The Slingshot: 2018 predictions; billionaire Catholics; Mormon baptisms

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Need to know: Friday, December 22, 2017

What’s coming for religion in 2018?

We’re taking readers’ predictions, so send us your thoughts. Today is your last day to submit!

Conservative donors aim to shape Catholic narrative for the wider culture

A group of billionaire Catholics are pouring money into advocacy groups and think tanks that aim to influence church institutions with their conservative political agenda.

Mormons perform baptisms on Holocaust victims

Printouts and screenshots from ex-Mormon Helen Radkey’s latest research shows in the past five years proxy baptisms were performed on at least 20 Jewish victims despite church rules against the practice.

Why the Vatican thought Law’s funeral Mass was the right thing to do

Many Americans questioned the Vatican's decision to stage a funeral Mass for U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law, but there are at least four reasons why it went ahead.

Inside the ‘spiritual abuse’ allegations against a celebrity imam

Muslim preacher Nouman Ali Khan of Dallas has been accused of manipulating his female followers into sham marriages.

‘The Sultan and the Saint’ revives 800-year-old interfaith exchange

A PBS documentary recounts the unlikely friendship between St. Francis of Assisi and the nephew of the great Muslim leader Saladin.

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Humanity finds itself at a major crossroads: Do we choose the path of selfish separatism and inequality based on greed and competition, leading to the destruction of ourselves and planet Earth; or the path of cooperation and sharing leading to global peace and prosperity?

Latest news from RNS

Head underground for Gotham’s new Catacombs by Candlelight tour

NEW YORK (RNS) — Under the nave of the Basilica of Old St. Patrick's, a tour guide takes the curious through Catholic catacombs only recently opened to the public.

UN rejects US recognition of Jerusalem as Israeli capital

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The nonbinding resolution declaring U.S. action on Jerusalem "null and void" passed by a vote of 128-9 — a victory for the Palestinians.

Prayer may help relieve stress, but fewer Americans make time for it

(RNS) — As society grows less religious, fewer people are turning to prayer.

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More views from RNS

Still giving birth like Mary

(RNS) — Women in developing countries today know firsthand what it must have been like for Jesus and His mother on that long-ago night in the manger.

Bernard Law, a cardinal of scandal and disgrace

(RNS) — Cardinal Law’s life is a cautionary tale of what can happen to an ambitious cleric who loses sight of his duty to serve the people of God.

The spiritual reason we should never drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

(RNS) — An encounter with a grizzly reminded me that the price we pay for our disconnection with God’s creatures and wilderness is vast and life-threatening.

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