US Catholics affirm seeking asylum is not a crime as Central American caravan draws closer to US border
Three prominent US Catholics have issued a statement affirming that “seeking asylum is not a crime” as a caravan of thousands of Central American migrants heads across Mexico to the US border. In a statement issued this week, Bishop Joe S Vásquez, chairman of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on migration, Sean Callahan, president […]
Archbishop of Canterbury reveals his favourite hymn
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has revealed his favourite hymn is the classic And Can It Be in an interview with BBC’s Songs of Praise. The archbishop explained that the song – full name, And Can It Be That I Should Gain An Interest In My Saviour’s Blood – was the first hymn sung at his […]
BOOKS: THE ART OF TRAVEL IN THE CHRISTIAN CONTEXT
DAVID ADAMS takes a journey with Peter Grier, author of a new book Travel: In Tandem With God’s Heart…
Producing bitcoin currency could void climate change efforts – scientists
Thomson Reuters Foundation Demand for bitcoin could single-handedly derail efforts to limit global warming because the increasingly popular digital currency takes huge amounts of energy to produce, scientists said on Monday. Producing bitcoin at a pace with growing demand could by 2033 defeat the aim of limiting global warming to two degrees Celsius, according to […]
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions speech interrupted by Methodist, Baptist clergy
RNS Attorney General Jeff Sessions was only moments into a speech on religious liberty Monday before he was interrupted by two ministers who called on him to “repent” for his role in enforcing Trump administration policy. Sessions was speaking about “The Future of Religious Liberty” at a meeting in Boston hosted by the Boston Lawyers […]
Big brands pledge to turn tide on global plastic waste
Thomson Reuters Foundation Big brands – from Coke to Kellogg – pledged on Monday to cut all plastic waste from their operations in what the United Nations called the most ambitious effort yet to fight plastic pollution. The initiative comes as public pressure mounts on manufacturers and retailers to pare back the deluge of plastic […]
STAYING IN HARMONY
I’ve got my guitar with me again today. We’ve been talking about the need to stay in tune, not just in a band, but in your life – otherwise discord is the result. PICTURE: Marius Masalar/Unsplash. But have you ever wondered – where do the notes come from? We call them ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ – […]
IMMIGRATION: FOR DETAINEES IN THE US, ACCESS TO CLERGY IS INFREQUENT OR ABSENT ALTOGETHER, RIGHTS GROUPS SAY
TOM VERDE, of Religion News Service, reports from the US…
Pittsburgh suspect’s hatred of Jews, HIAS part of larger anti-immigrant surge
RNS No one knows yet why a gunman singled out the Tree of Life Congregation, out of all of Pittsburgh’s synagogues, as the site for a virulently anti-Semitic shooting spree. But Robert Bowers, the man accused of gunning down 11 congregants in a rampage Saturday in the city’s Squirrel Hill neighbourhood, was known to hate Jews […]
ESSAY: WHY PITTSBURGH MATTERS
Rabbi JEFFREY SALKIN, in an article for his column first published on Religion News Service, says the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh was not only an attack on Jews or Judaism but an attack “on all that we hold sacred”…