Politics
Jim Wallis: What that Bible Trump is selling says about truth
By Jim Wallis — April 2, 2024
(RNS) — Take a look inside that ‘God Bless the USA’ Bible and you’ll find that in the truth lies real freedom.
In crime-stricken Haiti, Catholic priests and nuns are targeted as kidnap victims
By Eduardo Campos Lima — April 1, 2024
SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Kidnappings by criminal gangs have continued to terrorize the country's residents, not least Catholic priests and other missionaries. In 2024 alone, at least 14 priests and religious brothers and sisters were abducted.
Israel’s high court says the government must stop funding seminaries. Could that topple Netanyahu?
By Julia Frankel — April 1, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — The politically powerful ultra-Orthodox, who make up roughly 13% of Israeli society, have traditionally received exemptions while studying full time in religious seminaries, or yeshivas.
Israelis stage largest protest since war began to increase pressure on Netanyahu
By Melanie Lindman, Wafaa Shurafa, and And Samy Magdy — April 1, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — Protesters blame Netanyahu for the failures of Oct. 7 and say the deep political divisions over his attempted judicial overhaul last year weakened Israel ahead of the attack.
The Trump camp and the White House clash over Biden’s recognition of ‘Transgender Day of Visibility’
By Josh Boak — March 31, 2024
WASHINGTON (AP) — In 2024, the March 31 designation overlaps with Easter, Christianity's holiest day. Trump's campaign accused Biden, a Roman Catholic, of being insensitive to religion, and fellow Republicans piled on.
High court ruling on Haredi draft exemption may set Israel on course for new elections
By David I. Klein — March 29, 2024
(RNS) — The draft exemptions, long a flashpoint issue in Israeli politics, have become even more fraught since the start of the war in Gaza, as Israel has called up over 300,000 reservists to active service while still exempting Haredis studying Torah.
Palestinian Christians make an Easter call for relief from war’s tightening grasp
By Mitri Raheb — March 29, 2024
(RNS) — An appeal to the world's Christians to pressure political leaders to find a way to peace.
Ministers aid seafarers caught in Baltimore bridge crisis
By Adelle M. Banks — March 28, 2024
(RNS) — ‘Everyone’s still kind of rattled and trying to figure things out,’ said the Rev. Joshua Messick, who has Bibles ‘in every conceivable language’ to distribute upon request.
Joe Lieberman’s religiously promiscuous campaign
By Mark Silk — March 28, 2024
(RNS) — A missed opportunity for the first Jew on a major-party presidential ticket.
With its soldiers mired in Gaza, Israel fights a battle at home over drafting the ultra-Orthodox
By Melanie Lidman — March 28, 2024
JERUSALEM (AP) — Among Israel’s Jewish majority, mandatory military service is largely seen as a melting pot and rite of passage. The ultra-Orthodox say that integrating into the army will threaten their generations-old way of life.
That terror attack in Moscow: What the world does not realize
By Jeffrey Salkin — March 28, 2024
(RNS) — From Oct. 7 to Moscow: This is the real battle.
Right-wing media descends into theological row over Israel-Hamas war
By Jack Jenkins — March 27, 2024
(RNS) — Over the weekend, right-wing pundits fiercely debated whether the phrase ‘Christ is King’ is antisemitic.
The Trump Bible is the Bible America deserves
By Tyler Huckabee — March 27, 2024
(RNS) — A $60 ‘God Bless the USA’ Bible to help pay off Trump’s legal fees is evangelicalism’s inevitable culmination.
Staying awake to the threat of Christian nationalism
By Nathan Empsall — March 27, 2024
(RNS) — Some Christians are asleep to the machinations of political actors who are hijacking their faith.
US Jews upset with Trump’s latest rhetoric say he doesn’t get to tell them how to be Jewish
By Peter Smith and Tiffany Stanley — March 26, 2024
(AP) – This week, Trump charged that Jewish Democrats were being disloyal to their faith and to Israel.
