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Hospital Chaplain J.S. Park’s new book explores grief
“The biggest myth I see is that grief is a poison to get past”
“Everything happens for a reason” might be one of the least helpful things you can say to someone who just lost a loved one, according to veteran hospital Chaplain J.S. Park.
Send-offs show Carlton Pearson’s split legacy spurred by his inclusive beliefs, rejection of hell
Before his peers would label him a heretic, the late Bishop Carlton D. Pearson was once one of the best known preachers in the nation.
Florida faith leader: Black history toolkit gains interest outside the state
When the Rev. Rhonda Thomas decided to create a toolkit to help teach Black history outside the public school system — after Florida legislators approved revisions to its required instruction — she expected Black churches like her own would be the ones to use it.
A Black preacher, ‘no longer at war with her body,’ on connecting flesh with the divine
Lyvonne Briggs describes herself as “a Black woman spiritual leader who is no longer at war with her body.” Her mission, in her new book, “Sensual Faith,” is to help other women stop being at war with their bodies too.
Black churches to receive share of $4M for preservation work
Nearly three dozen historic Black religious sites will receive a $4 million infusion of funding to help them with renovations and preservation of their buildings across the country.
NMAAHC religion exhibit features Little Richard’s Bible, Rev. Ike’s suit
Musician Dizzy Gillespie embraced the Baha’i faith and its belief in universal humanity — a concept he saw reflected in jazz, which he viewed as a blending of musical elements from Africa and Europe. Activist Angela Davis, faced with the horror of bombings by white supremacists as a youth in Birmingham, Ala., took part in interracial discussion groups at her church. Singer Tina Turner practiced both recitations of the Lord’s Prayer and chants of Buddhist Scripture. The religion and resiliency of Black Americans are featured in “Spirit in the Dark: Religion in Black Music, Activism and Popular Culture,” a new exhibition of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.
New dating apps — and ‘in person’ mixers — target religious and political niches
Dating today can be a bit like ordering at Chipotle. The universe of dating apps makes it easier than ever to custom-order a partner of your choosing — their height, their food preferences, their religion.
Episcopal Diocese of Chicago’s first Black female bishop takes office
Everyone would have understood if Bishop Paula E. Clark had stepped away from her call to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago, said her fellow bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde of Washington, D.C.
‘Fifth Little Girl’ of 1963 Klan bombing reunites with nurse
On Sept. 15, Birmingham commemorated the explosion that proved to be a turning point in the Civil Rights Movement
When an initially blinded, and nearly lifeless, 12-year-old girl found in the rubble of a church bombing was wheeled onto the 10th floor of University Hospital in Birmingham nearly 60 years ago, one of the first people to tend to the child was Rosetta “Rose” Hughes, a nurse.
‘You wear out’: How chronic illness grounds and inspires William Barber’s activism
Standing outside a church in rural North Carolina this spring, the Rev. William Barber II leaned on his dented and scuffed wooden cane. With one powerful hand he pushed himself up and into the seat of a long black Chevrolet Suburban, then swung his legs in, using the cane, wedged against the door, as a fulcrum. The effort left him out of breath, his expansive chest heaving as he lay back in the seat, reclined to afford him space. No sooner had an aide closed the door before a man from the church rapped gently on the window. “Rev. Barber,” he said, “you’ve been a role model, an inspiration.”
Climate crisis increasingly a refugee crisis, faith resettlement groups say
For Monique Verdin, the apocalypse came in 2005.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, others encourage U.S. to rebuild refugee resettlement
Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota thanked Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service during an online event June 17, in the name of “all the refugees you have settled and the millions around the world who have benefited from your work.”
Is it safe to sing at church yet? Depends on who you ask
On Pentecost Sunday, some members of Southwood Lutheran Church in Lincoln, Neb., sang hymns without masks for the first time in more than a year.
Poor People’s Campaign, lawmakers unveil sweeping resolution to tackle poverty
Lawmakers and leaders of the faith-based Poor People’s Campaign unveiled a sweeping new resolution on May 20 designed to eradicate poverty in the United States, with activists touting it as a broad-based legislative framework that hopes to do for poverty what the Green New Deal proposes to do for environmental issues.
Dean Yolanda Pierce on grandmother theology, Black Jesus
Dean Yolanda Pierce of the Howard University School of Divinity has been shaped by, and now teaches, womanist theology, the study of religion through the lens of gender, race and class.
Do you see what I see? Planetary alignment to create a ‘Christmas star’
A star, a star will dance in the night on Monday, Dec. 21.
Push for evangelical Christian colleges to address racial justice
After the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on May 25, George Fox University, a Quaker-founded evangelical Christian school in Oregon, announced plans to change its campus culture, improve police engagement and diversify its board of trustees.
How Jesus became white – and why it’s time to cancel that
The first time the Rev. Lettie Moses Carr saw Jesus depicted as Black, she was in her 20s. It felt “weird,” Rev. Carr said. Until that moment, she’d always thought Jesus was white.
As Ramadan nears, prisons urged to accommodate faith needs during pandemic
A coalition of 20 faith groups is pressing prison officials across the country to accommodate all prisoners’ religious needs during the outbreak of the coronavirus, particularly with Ramadan beginning this week.
Human Rights Campaign kicks off election focus on LGBTQ, religious relations
The Human Rights Campaign, which works to promote LGBTQ equality, has started an election season tour in which its president will visit houses of worship of different faiths to build relations between the religious and the gay communities.
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