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“Focus on the idea that everybody’s narrative and every human being is worth so much in the eyes of God. Regardless of your state, or regardless of your faith, you have essence of dignity as a human being.” More
The Holy Land meeting of Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew should “reaffirm our commitment to the dialogue of love, to the dialogue of truth, and to a sense of unity moving toward a sense of communion.” More
“Pope John Paul II played a very important role in ending the Soviet era in Poland. I would like to see this pope saying, ‘The Holy Land did not experience peace for the last 3,000 years. Isn’t it overdue?'” More
Baptist pastor and Mississippi state senator Phillip Gandy sponsored a law he says will restore and protect people’s freedom to practice religion. Others interpret it as a means to legalize discrimination. “It’s aiming at keeping government in its place,” Gandy explains. But National Council of Churches president and general secretary Jim Winkler describes it as “a rearguard action by those concerned by changes taking place in society.” More
Rwanda Genocide: 20 Years Later; Young Gay Men and HIV in Chicago; Meaning of Yoga More
(Photo: AP) “When I first saw him, I was so traumatized I had to be taken to the hospital for 10 days,” says Alice Mukarurinda, recalling her first encounter with Emmanuel Ndayisaba at a reconciliation group. He nearly killed her during the genocide. “I managed to forgive him. I believe it was God’s power.” More
The rate of HIV infections in America is rising for young gay men. Groups like the Chicago-based Night Ministry are meeting them where they are, offering free testing right out of a van on the street. “Churches have been powerful communities of support for people living with HIV,” says Matt Richards of the University of Chicago Medicine’s community programs. “On the other hand, churches have often been a primary driver of really shaming, stigmatizing, inaccurate messages about HIV.” More
“Yoga’s techniques and goals move in and through and outside of religion in very interesting and complex ways,” says Debra Diamond, associate curator of south and southeastern Asian art for the Smithsonian Institution’s Freer and Sackler galleries. Following its Washington debut, “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” an exhibition on yoga in Indian art history, was at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and it will soon travel to the Cleveland Museum of Art for the summer. More
Death Penalty; Women, Religion, Violence and Power; Jordan River Baptism Site More
“The country’s long been divided over whether to have it. But that only led to even more difficult questions. How do you do it? How do you implement it? And can you do it fairly and rationally?” More