Likes and prayers: Facebook tests new ‘prayer post’ feature
RNS When the unfamiliar pop-up touting a new feature appeared on Robert P Jones’ Facebook, the CEO and founder of PRRI (Public Religion Research Institute) posted a screen grab to Twitter. “Wondering what fb algorithm thinks it knows about me?” Jones mused. Facebook is currently testing a new prayer post feature. ILLUSTRATION: Kit Doyle The new […]
“A ministry of listening”: In the US, Minnesota churches caught in standoffs between protesters and police
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, speaks with the leaders of two congregations in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Center which have found themselves at the centre of standoffs between police and racial justice demonstrators over the past week…
Russia, China, Myanmar recommended for State Department list of religious freedom violators
RNS A religious freedom watchdog is urging the State Department to name four additional countries to its list of the worst religious liberty offenders. In its 2021 annual report, released on Wednesday, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said India, Russia, Syria and Vietnam should be considered “countries of particular concern.” Those nations have been […]
Essay: Derek Chauvin’s guilty verdict might be an exodus for America
CHARLIE DATES, senior pastor at Chicago’s Progressive Baptist Church and an affiliate professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, reflects on what the verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin might mean…
Sri Lankan Archbishop asks Muslims to reject extremism
Colombo, Sri LankaAP A Sri Lankan Catholic archbishop appealed to the country’s Muslims on Wednesday to reject extremism and join Catholics in determining the truth behind Easter Sunday suicide bombings in 2019 that killed 269 people. Archbishop of Colombo Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith made the appeal during a commemoration of the second anniversary of the attacks. […]
Postcards: Cubans turn to herbal remedies, barter amid medicine scarcity
RODRIGO GUTIERREZ, of Reuters, reports from Havana on the impact of medicine shortages amid Cuba’s worst economic crisis in decades…
In Minnesota and beyond, faith leaders hope Chauvin verdict lifts racial justice work
AP Faith leaders in Minnesota and across the United States expressed hope that their advocacy work for racial justice will gain momentum from the guilty verdict rendered against Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of killing George Floyd. “It’s very encouraging for our overall work around racial justice to see the system, in this […]