New leader of Jesse Jackson’s civil rights organisation steps down just months on the job
Chicago, US AP A Dallas pastor who took over leadership of Rev Jesse Jackson’s longtime civil rights organisation resigned Tuesday just months after he took the job. Rev Frederick Haynes III told The Associated Press that he submitted a letter with his resignation as head of the Chicago-based Rainbow PUSH Coalition, effective immediately. “After a time of […]
Texas woman who measures her life in eclipses about to see her 21st
Farmers Branch, Texas Reuters Leticia Ferrer is an “umbraphile” – literally, a shadow lover – but what it really means is that she is a chaser of eclipses. The 63-year-old Texas woman says she has traveled to all seven continents and even the oceans between them in pursuit of total solar eclipses, seeing every one […]
A Dallas pastor is stepping into Jesse Jackson’s role as leader of his Rainbow PUSH Coalition
Dallas, US AP The civil rights group founded by Rev Jesse Jackson in the 1970s is elevating a new leader for the first time in more than 50 years, choosing a Dallas pastor as his successor to take over the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. Rev Frederick D Haynes III is set to be formally installed as […]
At least eight people killed by gunman at Texas mall; shooter killed by police
Reuters A gunman shot and killed eight people and wounded at least seven others at a busy mall north of Dallas on Saturday, police said. The gunman, whom authorities said they think acted alone and whose motive was not yet known, was killed by a police officer after he began firing outside of the Allen […]
StrangeSights: World Rat Day; the “Dummy Downhill”; and, rickrolled with a QR code…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
As rabbi was held hostage in Texas synagogue, interfaith colleagues gathered to help end the standoff
RNS If there’s a word that comes up repeatedly when friends discuss Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi who was taken hostage with three others at his Reform synagogue Saturday, it’s “kind.” “Kind doesn’t begin to cover it,” said Lindsey Weiss, who attended Congregation Beth Israel in Colleyville, Texas, since she was 11. “He’s the nicest […]
Hillsong to “pause” operations at Dallas campus, citing leadership failures
RNS Brian Houston, co-founder of the global megachurch Hillsong, announced in an email on Saturday that the church’s leadership had decided to “pause all operations” at its Dallas, Texas, location. “Many factors, all amplified by the pandemic have resulted in the difficult decision,” Houston wrote in the email sent to Hillsong Dallas members and obtained […]
Texas faith leaders condemn new election bills as Jim Crow dressed up in a “tuxedo”
RNS Faith leaders in Texas condemned a pair of controversial election bills Wednesday working their way through the state Legislature, accusing lawmakers of trying to “dress up Jim and Jane Crow in a tuxedo”. An array of clergy and other religious leaders assembled outside the Capitol in Austin to express opposition to the bills, known […]
At nationwide rallies in the US, Christians stand up for Asian Americans
Chicago, US RNS At events in 14 cities across the US, an estimated 5,000 people demonstrated in support of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders on Sunday after attacks on people of Asian descent in the Atlanta area this month. The National Rally for AAPI Lives and Dignity, organised by the Asian American Christian Collaborative, brought hundreds […]
Postcards: Dallas faith groups help shelter homeless Texans during deep freeze
BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports on how, amid the big freeze in the US, in Texas, churches and Christian groups are at the forefront of helping shelter the homeless…