What's New
Hospital patients who don’t express their end-of-life wishes can receive aggressive treatments that even their doctors say they wouldn’t want for themselves; after 40 years of singing for social justice, this a capella group has released a music video tribute to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr; a historian discusses the significance of the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. More
“It’s a very painful situation that we find ourselves in, of looking at where we’ve been and perhaps making the wrong assumption that so much progress has been made, when we see ourselves retreating right back to some of the same behaviors,” said Sweet Honey in the Rock member Nitanju Bolade Casel.
More
Recent ISIS-linked bombings in Istanbul took place near two of the city’s top tourist destinations, which are also two of the city’s most important religious monuments: Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Watch scenes of both as author and Ottoman scholar Scott Rank, who lives in Turkey, discusses their historic spiritual and political significance for Istanbul, formerly known as Constantinople, and for Christians and Muslims. More
Many religious leaders and organizations approve of President Obama’s new gun control measures; there is growing state interest in physician-assisted suicide legislation in the US; and an interfaith coalition of long-term shareholders and investors tries to influence companies to behave ethically More
“Surveys show that Americans are divided on this issue, and so [the White House] hopes that the faith community, by using moral arguments, can help them in their cause,” says managing editor Kim Lawton. More
“People in this generation have had a lot of control over their own lives. They’ve had a lot of choices that they were able to make, living in relatively good financial circumstances, for example, and maybe they want choices to have at the end. They want to control how they go out,” says University of Maryland philosophy professor Sam Kerstein. More
“Our argument has been quite simple,” says Rev. Seamus Finn, board chairman of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. “The more a company is able to integrate a good, solid social and environmental policy and governance policy into their model of business, then they will be around a lot longer.” More
What will be among the most important religion stories to watch for in the New Year? More
As the New Year begins, three journalists discuss the top religion stories they will be keeping an eye on in 2016 with guest host and correspondent Fred de Sam Lazaro, who is joined by managing editor Kim Lawton, Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne, and Jerome Socolovsky, editor-in-chief of Religion News Service.
More
We review the top religion and ethics stories of the past year. More