“No congregation is an island”: In tough times, churches can’t afford to go it alone, new book advises
Samford University sociologist Jennifer McClure Haraway looks at the way congregations in Alabama work together — and what congregations around the country can learn from them. BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports…
The Interview: From ‘Nights on Broadway’ to ‘1963’ – Candi Staton recalls 16th St. Baptist bombing
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, speaks with the Grammy-nominated singer about her memories of 1963 bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama, church, what it was like being a child singer in a Gospel trio, and why she returned to Gospel music later in life…
StrangeSights: When a prince takes a restaurant booking; promoting Italy using Slovenia; and, alone atop Mexico’s highest peak
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Lifestory: Alabama sidesteps compensation for survivor of ’63 KKK blast
JAY REEVES, of Associated Press, speaks with Sarah Collins Rudolph, a survivor of a 1963 church bombing which killed her sister and three other Black girls, about her ongoing fight for compensation for her injuries…
Game on: Christians join in prayer and outreach as Birmingham hosts Commonwealth Games
GILLIAN MCDADE-HASTINGS reports on some of the prayer and evangelism activities Christians have been involved in around the Commonwealth Games…
Wow!: Former coal hub Nottingham aims to become Britain’s first net zero city
SAMUEL BAUGH, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how former fossil fuel industry hub Nottingham is aiming to slash its carbon emissions to reach net zero by 2028…
Last parent of a child killed in 1963 church bombing dies
Birmingham, Alabama, USAP The last living parent of any of the four Black girls killed in the 1963 Alabama church bombing died Sunday. She was 93. Maxine McNair’s family announced her death in a press release. A cause of death was not given. Maxine McNair, right, and Jewell Chris MacNair, seated at left, parents of […]
UK prayer wall builders to give a million bricks to social housing projects
Those behind the construction of a new “prayer wall” in the UK have announced they plan to donate a million bricks to social housing projects, enough to build 100 new homes. The ‘Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer’ will be located on the outskirts of the city of Birmingham and, taking the form of a giant […]
Alabama Governor apologises to ’63 church bombing survivor
AP Alabama Governor Kay Ivey has apologised to a survivor of a racist 1963 church bombing that killed four Black girls, calling the blast an “egregious injustice”, but declining Wednesday to pay restitution without legislative involvement. Ivey, responding to a request submitted by an attorney for Sarah Collins Rudolph, said the bombing of the 16th […]
Survivor of 1963 US church bombing seeks apology, restitution
AP More than a dozen sticks of dynamite planted by Ku Klux Klansmen exploded at a Birmingham church in 1963, killing four Black girls. The “fifth little girl”, Sarah Collins Rudolph, survived but still has shards of glass in her body from the blast that took her sister, her right eye and her dreams of […]