Founding fathers: Methodist racial history recalled on 250th anniversary of Asbury’s US arrival
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, looks to remember the role Francis Asbury played in helping develop Methodism in America – and in the Black Christian experience in Philadelphia…
Conversations: Faith, endurance of civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer revealed in new biography
ADELLE M BANKS. of Religion News Service, speaks with historian Kate Clifford Larson about her new book on Fannie Lou Hamer…
Most Black ‘nones’ believe in God or higher power, fewer pray regularly – study
RNS The vast majority of African Americans who are religiously unaffiliated say they believe in God or some other kind of higher power, the Pew Research Center reports. About half of Black “nones” say they pray at least monthly, but far fewer attend religious services. PICTURE: zefe from Pixabay/Creative Commons The findings, released on 17th […]
Want to understand Black experience? Learn about African American faith, survey finds
RNS Most religious Black Americans say understanding the role of religion in the lives of Black people is essential for understanding the African American experience, a new Barna Group survey finds. Four out of five Black adults in the US who have ties to a faith group agree to some extent (41 per cent “strongly” […]
The Interview: DC’s Wilton Gregory, first African American cardinal, on Joe Biden, race and COVID-19
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, talks to Wilton Gregory, the Archbishop of Washington, after he was made the first African American cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church…
Essay: COVID-19 virus puts a spotlight on inequality and racism
US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says the coronavirus pandemic has exposed inequalities in the US…
Essay: Voter suppression is a theological issue
Writing from the US in an article first published on Religion News Service, JIM WALLIS, founder of Sojourners, and BARBARA WILLIAMS-SKINNER, co-convener of the National African American Clergy Network, write about why voter suppression is a “spiritual offence” to God…
US churches: Black clergy memorialise the dead, ask government to address disparities
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports…
In the US, Black church leaders push for census participation despite coronavirus
RNS Community of Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church in Maryland is switching gears as it promotes the need for African Americans to fill out the 2020 census form in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Prince George’s County congregation had planned to hold block parties with other churches in the Washington metropolitan area to […]
ESSAY: THE POWER OF SONG IN A STRANGE LAND
In an article first published on The Conversation, DONNA M COX, professor of music at the University of Dayton, looks at how songs known as spirituals evolved amid the horrors of slavery…