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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.
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.
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.
Black churches do better weathering decline in number of Christian faithful
At Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, the pews start to fill more than half an hour before the service begins. Ushers guide people of all ages to their seats. Some stand and wave their hands in the air as the large, robed choir begins to sing.
Churches fight predatory payday lending with political pressure, small loans
Anyra Cano Valencia was having dinner with her husband, Carlos, and their family when an urgent knock came at their door. The Valencias, pastors at Iglesia Bautista Victoria en Cristo in Fort Worth, Texas, opened the door to a desperate, overwhelmed congregant.
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.
Frank Lloyd Wright synagogue continues 60 years later as work of art
Sixty years ago, just before the Jewish High Holy Days, members of a Conservative synagogue processed into their new sanctuary, marking a new era in their congregational life and in modern religious architecture.
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.
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.
Climate crisis increasingly a refugee crisis, faith resettlement groups say
For Monique Verdin, the apocalypse came in 2005.
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.
Mother Teresa lifted to sainthood
Mother Teresa, the tiny nun who devoted her life to the poor, was declared a saint by Pope Francis at the Vatican as he celebrated her “daring and courage” and described her as a role model for all people during his year of mercy.
Baltimore cemetery offers Easter sunrise dramatization of the resurrection
Just before he started practicing his exit from a replica of Jesus’ tomb, Andre Roberson admitted that, at first, playing the key role in a cemetery’s dramatization of the resurrection was just “something to do.”
Jamestown interpreter tells the story of 'Angela,' one of the first Africans in Virginia; her faith is a mystery
Wearing a yellow head wrap, gray skirt and soiled apron, a woman who says she is “called by the name of Angela” stood by the James River and told her story, one of faith and courage, darkness and hope.
‘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.
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.
Support grows for new hate crime reporting bill
Nearly three years ago, Khalid Jabara, an immigrant from Lebanon, died on his own doorstep in Tulsa, Okla., when his neighbor gunned him down.
Justice Clarence Thomas talks about his faith in new documentary
U.S. Supreme Court Jus- tice Clarence Thomas, who is known for his reticence, speaks for much of a new two-hour documentary about his life.
‘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.”
