Essay: Do homeless people have constitutional rights?
In an article first published on Religion News Service, author KEVIN NYE says that overwhelmingly, faith groups who filed briefs in the US Supreme Court case Johnson v Grants Pass did so against criminalising homelessness…
Hiking, disc golf, flower arranging: United Methodist Church initiative connects people around non-church interests
YONAT SHIMRON, of Religion News Service, reports that ‘Fresh Expressions’ is a denominational initiative intended to connect people who may not be interested in church but are interested in learning a new skill or making new friends…
Solar eclipse: US watchers may use church parking lots to look toward the heavens
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports on how some US churches are participating in Monday’s event…
Gallup poll: More than half of Americans rarely go to church
United States RNS The most popular church in America might be St Mattress, followed by Bedside Baptist. Those two – euphemisms for sleeping in on Sundays – increasingly describe the attitude of many Americans toward attending churches or other houses of worship. Mark Galli kneels in prayer before Mass at St Michael Catholic Church, on […]
The Interview: Rev Mark Elsdon, editor of ‘Gone for Good’
As BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, speaks with Rev Mark Elsdon, a Presbyterian minister, author, social entrepreneur and editor of ‘Gone for Good’…
Essay: Burned out, exhausted, leaving – new US survey finds clergy are not OK
MICHAEL WOOLF, senior minister of Lake Street Church of Evanston in the US state of Illinois, says, in an article first published on Religion News Service, that this isn’t the time for US congregations to be facing a massive leadership transition…
Study: Most Americans are spiritual but a growing number say they are not religious
United StatesRNS Americans have been abandoning organised religion in droves and while some have walked away from religion altogether, a distinct group of Americans now call themselves “spiritual but not religious”. A new Pew Research study puts their numbers at 22 per cent of Americans and attempts to describe them in greater detail. PICTURE: Marek Piwnicki/Unsplash The […]
“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…
Mental health: Clergy burnout is a growing concern in polarised churches. A summit offers coping strategies
GIOVANNA DELL’ORTO, of Associated Press, reports ahead of this week’s church mental health summit in the US…
In the US, mainline clergy are more liberal than their congregants – survey
United States RNS A new US survey of mainline clergy finds those leading the historic denominations that once shaped the American Protestant scene are far more liberal than their congregants on a host of political and social issues. The Public Religion Research Institute survey of 3,066 mainline clergy, released on Thursday, shows that about half identify with […]