Serbia protests priests’ detention in Montenegro
Podgorica, MontenegroAP Serbia on Wednesday strongly protested the detention of eight Serbian Orthodox Church priests in Montenegro after thousands of people attended a religious procession despite a ban on gatherings because of the coronavirus. Montenegrin prosecutors said that the priests are facing charges of violating health regulations during the virus outbreak by organising the procession […]
In the US, Rev Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign calls for resistance to reopening plans
RNS The Poor People’s Campaign, a grassroots group with branches in more than 40 US states, is urging resistance to or non-cooperation with state plans calling for the reopening of the economy just weeks after the coronavirus put most of the country on lockdown. In its new slogan, the campaign, co-chaired by two Christian ministers, […]
UN chief urges faith leaders to challenge harmful messages
New York, USAP UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged religious leaders on Tuesday to challenge “inaccurate and harmful messages” that are fueling rising ethno-nationalism, stigma, hate speech and conflict as the coronavirus pandemic circles the globe. The UN chief warned a video meeting on the role of faith leaders in addressing the challenges of COVID-19 that […]
Christian leaders push for Pentecost reopening in California
RNS Southern California pastors Jack Hibbs, Rob McCoy, Matt Brown and Dan Carroll agree with Governor Gavin Newsom. It’s time to start opening up their state – including its churches – after weeks of being shut down to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. They disagree, however, on how fast that should happen. And when churches should […]
StrangeSights: Of shaving foam and pingpong balls; “revenge shopping” in South Korea; and, test kits return positives on wrong species…
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
Explainer: Tracking the coronavirus ‘reproduction rate’ as lockdowns ease
Reuters Global alarm was sounded on Monday over a potential second wave of coronavirus infections after Germany reported that the reproduction rate of the pathogen had risen above one, indicating the disease was again spreading just days after the first tentative steps there to reopen the economy. The following explains what a virus reproduction rate […]
Facebook reports spike in takedowns of hate speech, terrorism
San FranciscoReuters Facebook Inc on Tuesday reported a sharp increase in the number of posts it removed for promoting violence and hate speech across its apps, which it attributed to improvements made to its technology for automatically identifying text and images. The world’s biggest social media company removed about 4.7 million posts connected to organised […]
Church leaders in Sierra Leone urge end to violence in nation
Churches in Sierra Leone have voiced concerns over the rising violence seen in the country and urged the government to address the polical crisis in the nation. At least 18 people have reportedly died in riots in the country in recent weeks including an incident at the main prison in the capital of Freetown on […]
Children’s ministry: From flannelgraphs to Zoom, churches bring Sunday school home
EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER, of Religion News Service, reports on how US churches are keeping Sunday schools running despite lockdowns…
“We’ve got to move on” – Rev Franklin Graham
New York City, USAP The Associated Press sat down to talk with Rev Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, during his recent visit to New York, where his Christian relief charity Samaritan’s Purse had operated a Central Park field hospital to treat coronavirus patients. Rev Franklin Graham, president and CEO […]