Unaffiliated Americans are the only growing religious group – study
United States RNS Religious churn has been a key fixture of US religion for a long time, but a new survey of changes in American religion finds that motion is not so much a swirling but a one-way stream heading out. A new PRRI survey shows that religiously unaffiliated Americans are the only group that […]
More than 140 global Christian leaders call for Gaza ceasefire in Holy Week letter
RNS More than 140 global Christian leaders, including a Guatemalan Catholic cardinal and the presiding bishops of the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, called for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for an end to foreign military support for Israel in a Tuesday letter to US President Joe Biden and other politicians. […]
Essay: The international community must keep bringing the repression of the Nicaraguan Government into the light
ELLIS HEASLEY, of UK-based religious freedom advocacy CSW, looks at the findings of a new report into President Daniel Ortega’s crackdown on churches…
Congo’s Catholic and Protestant churches demand inquiry into election issues
Kinshasa, Democratic Repiblic of CongoReuters Democratic Republic of Congo’s powerful Catholic bishops conference and Protestant churches on Thursday demanded an independent inquiry be opened into irregularities and alleged legal violations observed during December general elections. Congo’s CENI election commission said on Sunday that President Felix Tshisekedi had secured more than 73 per cent in the […]
Pursuing peace: Congolese faith leaders step up efforts to promote dialogue among warring groups
TONNY ONYULO, in an article first published on Religion News Service, reports that church leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo are conducting weekly workshops to train traditional and church leadership in how to promote peace in their communities…
The Long Read: Four ways to leave your denomination – How churches are disaffiliating from the UMC
To date, 5,550 of the United Methodist Church’s approximately 30,000 US churches have disaffiliated from the country’s second-largest Protestant denomination since 2019. EMILY MCFARLAN MILLER and BELYNN HOLLERS, of Religion News Service, report…
Essay: A reckoning on Native boarding schools in the US is long overdue
In an article first published on Religion News Service, BRIDGET MOIX, general secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, says that there are “gaping holes between our country’s traditional narrative and the realities of how our nation was built and who paid the costs”…
Insurers suddenly raise stakes on German churches’ sex abuse response
RNS Germany’s Catholic and Protestant churches have been criticised for their handling of clergy sexual abuse for years now by victims, believers and the media. Now they face new pressure from an unexpected corner: the insurance industry. VBG, a national association of accident insurance providers, recently complained to the two predominant church bodies in the […]
In the US, Evangelical Covenant Church joins list of Protestant denominations rebuking Doctrine of Discovery
RNS The Evangelical Covenant Church became the latest Protestant denomination in the United States to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery, the theological justification that allowed the discovery and domination by European Christians of lands already inhabited by Indigenous peoples. Delegates at the Covenant Annual Connection voted overwhelmingly (84 per cent) on Friday to approve a resolution acknowledging […]
In the US, more Protestant churches closing than opening, study finds
RNS A new study from Lifeway Research suggests more Protestant churches closed in 2019 than opened – continuing a decades-long congregational slide that is only expected to accelerate. The study, which analysed church data from 34 Protestant denominations and groups, found that 4,500 churches closed in 2019, while about 3,000 new congregations were started. The 34 […]