Essay: After mass shootings like Uvalde, national gun control fails – but states often loosen gun laws
In an article published on The Conversation, CHRISTOPHER POLIQUIN, a professor at UCLA who has researched gun policy, looks at what’s happened legislatively in the past after mass shootings – and why we should look beyond Washington for action on gun policy…
Doctor’s orders: ‘Nature prescriptions’ see rise amid pandemic
CAREY L BIRON, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, writes that with the coronavirus pandemic highlighting the health benefits of spending more time outdoors, a growing faction of the US medical community is prescribing time outside the same way they would traditional medication…
Amid Catholic opposition, US states are legalising composting of human remains
RNS Washington, Colorado and Oregon are now among the US states that have legalised the process of converting human bodies into soil, a procedure the Catholic Church said fails to show “respect for the body of the deceased”. Meanwhile, California and New York are seeking to be next in line to allow human composting. The […]
Biden attends Mass at DC church where he worshipped as VP ahead of busy first week
Washington DC, US AP President Joe Biden attended Mass for the first time since taking office, worshipping Sunday at the church he frequented when he was Vice President. Biden, the nation’s second Catholic president, picked Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Washington’s Georgetown neighbourhood, a few kilometres from the White House. It’s where the nation’s only other Catholic […]
Joe Biden’s family Bible anchors faith-infused inaugural events
RNS President-elect Joe Biden plans to be sworn in with his hefty family Bible when he becomes the 46th president of the United States on Wednesday. It’s one of many ways religion will be a facet of the inaugural activities surrounding the country’s second Catholic president. “it’s just been a family heirloom on the Biden […]
Trump taxes report highlights nearly $US400,000 payment from Billy Graham group
RNS A new report from The New York Times citing Trump’s tax information alleges the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association paid nearly $US400,000 to the President’s Washington hotel in 2017, raising questions about the potential conflicts of interest in making money off his religious allies while in office. The Times reported that the BGEA paid the Trump International […]
US Episcopal diocese suspends Communion wine, drains baptismal fonts due to coronavirus
RNS After an Episcopal rector at a Washington church tested positive for coronavirus, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington is instituting a sweeping set of policies designed to help stop the spread of the disease – including suspending the use of wine during Communion. This week officials announced Rev Tim Cole, a rector at Christ Church […]
FAITH AND THE DEAF: AT GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY, DEAF CULTURE AND FAITH MIX TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW
JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, reports…
Russian-backed Syrian army sweeps in after US announces abrupt exit
Beirut, Lebanon/Ankara, Turkey/Washington DC, USReuters Russian-backed Syrian forces took rapid advantage of an abrupt US retreat from Syria on Monday, deploying deep inside Kurdish-held territory south of the Turkish frontier less than 24 hours after Washington announced a full withdrawal. Washington’s Kurdish former allies said they invited in the government troops as an emergency step […]
In the US, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory tapped to lead Washington, DC, Catholics
Washington DCRNS Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta has been tapped to head the influential US Archdiocese of Washington, filling a slot left vacant in October after its previous archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, was accused of mishandling cases of sexual abuse by priests during his time in Pittsburgh. Gregory had been widely expected to fill Wuerl’s seat […]