World
With a final flourish, United Methodist conference eliminates all anti-LGBTQ policies
By Yonat Shimron — May 3, 2024
CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (RNS) — The reversals came in the wake of a schism that saw the departure of a quarter of its US churches — more than 7,600 congregations — over the past five years.
Eastern Orthodox Church ordains Zimbabwean woman as its first deaconess
By Fiona André — May 3, 2024
How ‘apocalypse’ became a secular as well as religious idea
By Erik Bleich and Christopher Star — May 3, 2024
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Damaged in war, a vibrant church in Ukraine rises as a symbol of the country’s faith and culture
By Jill Lawless — May 3, 2024
LYPIVKA, Ukraine (AP) — It’s one of 129 war-damaged Ukrainian religious sites recorded by UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural organization.
Lebanese Christian leader says Hezbollah’s fighting with Israel has harmed Lebanon
By Abby Sewell and Bassem Mroue — May 2, 2024
MAARAB, Lebanon (AP) — His comments came as Western diplomats try to broker a de-escalation in the border conflict amid fears of a wider war.
Police arrest Polish teenager suspected of throwing firebombs at synagogue
By Associated Press — May 2, 2024
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Police in cooperation with the Internal Security Agency arrested the 16-year-old Polish male in Warsaw on Wednesday evening.
Renewed hopes for ecumenical date for Easter could spell end to longest-running culture war
By Katherine Kelaidis — May 2, 2024
(RNS) — The ordering of time became a fight about the ecclesiastical implications of scientific discovery and societal change.
Azerbaijan named among religious freedom violators by religious liberty watchdog
By Adelle M. Banks — May 1, 2024
(RNS) — The commissioners recommended the State Department also retain the dozen countries that are currently designated as ‘countries of particular concern.’
United Methodists strike down ban on ordination of gay clergy
By Yonat Shimron — May 1, 2024
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (RNS) — With a simple vote call and without debate, delegates to the General Conference removed the ban on the ordination of ‘self-avowed practicing homosexuals’ — a prohibition that dates to 1984.
The biblical character who goes ‘down the rabbit hole’ into an alternate reality − just like Alice in Wonderland
By Ryan M. Armstrong — May 1, 2024
(The Conversation) — The Book of Job and ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ both make fun of preachy know-it-alls and resist conventions of their genres.
For the ancient Maya, cracked mirrors were a path to the world beyond
By James L. Fitzsimmons — May 1, 2024
(The Conversation) — Broken mirrors can be associated with bad luck, but for the ancient Maya, a cracked mirror was often desirable.
South Asian groups work to break cultural, religious stigmas around domestic violence
By Richa Karmarkar — April 30, 2024
(RNS) — In Sexual Assault Awareness Month, advocates hope to reshape the conversation around intimate partner violence within the diaspora.
Abducted retired Catholic bishop who mediated between cartels in Mexico is located, hospitalized
By Mark Stevenson — April 30, 2024
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The church leadership in Mexico said in a statement earlier that Msgr. Salvador Rangel, a bishop emeritus, disappeared on Saturday and called on his captors to release him.
A gunman kills 6 worshippers inside a Shiite mosque in western Afghanistan, the Taliban say
By Associated Press — April 30, 2024
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Local media reports and a former president of Afghanistan said the mosque was targeted because it was a place of worship for the country’s Shiite Muslim minority.
Despair in the Holy Land
By Thomas Reese — April 29, 2024
(RNS) — We have to persevere for peace and have hope because the alternative is too terrible to imagine.
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