Essay: Remembering Christians in Indigenous communities this Christmas
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, urges Christians to remember – and pray for – Indigenous communities around the world this Christmas…
Postcards: US renters fall foul of algorithms in search for a home
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how automated screening programs are under scrutiny amid broader concerns about the potential of algorithms to lock in bias and perpetuate inequality…
USDA exempts religious schools from non-discrimination rules to keep kids fed
Washington DC, US RNS The US Department of Agriculture has clarified its guidance for participants in a free school lunch program, stating that faith-based schools can seek religious exemptions to federal restrictions that include barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. The clarification, delivered via a USDA memo dated 12th August, […]
US Christians, Jews and Muslims encounter workplace discrimination differently – study
RNS Christians, Jews and Muslims encounter workplace discrimination, but they experience it differently, according to a new report by Rice University’s Religion and Public Life Program. While Muslims and Jews say they’ve felt targeted by anti-Islamic and anti-Semitic rhetoric, it’s most often in the context of being seen as part of a larger group, they […]
Health care provider pays $US75,000 in ‘scrub skirt’ religious bias suit
RNS A Tennessee-based health care provider will pay $US75,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit involving an Apostolic Pentecostal nurse who wanted to wear a “scrub skirt” to work. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the company denied the nurse’s right to religious accommodation. Wellpath LLC hired Christian nurse Malinda Babineaux in 2019 to […]
DRC: Ebola survivors unite to combat stigma and misinformation
The Democratic Republic of Congo declared an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola in the African nation last week. KAHINDO SIFA BAHATI, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on how survivors of a previous outbreak are challenging the stigma associated with the deadly disease…
Postcards: Indian student’s fight against caste discrimination raises Dalit hopes
ANURADHA NAGARAJ, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports on efforts to tackle caste discrimination at India’s universities…
In the US, Texas judge rules religious businesses exempt from LGBTQ bias claims
RNS For-profit businesses with sincerely held religious beliefs are exempt from LGBTQ discrimination liability under a decision this week by a federal judge in Texas. The ruling om Sunday came in response to the US Supreme Court’s 2020 landmark ruling in Bostock v Clayton County, Georgia, which held that LGBTQ people are protected from discrimination […]
Canada appeals decision on Indigenous children but seeks settlement talks
Toronto, CanadaReuters The Canadian Government on Friday appealed a federal court decision upholding a ruling that it individually compensate Indigenous children and their caregivers harmed by a discriminatory welfare system, but said it would pause the appeal while engaging in talks with the initial complainants. The decision is the latest twist in a 14-year legal […]
Sight-Seeing: The glory in our suffering
RICHARD KINGSLEY THOMAS writes about the challenges – and hope – facing those diagnosed with an incurable disease…