A
    Antonia Blumberg

    Antonia Blumberg

    Reporter, HuffPost

  • Trump Signs Executive Order To Impose Sanctions On Turkey

    The president also said some U.S. forces would remain in Syria, marking a reversal of his call for withdrawal from the region.

  • Ousted Ukraine Ambassador Tells Congress Trump Removed Her Over 'False Claims'

    U.S. diplomat Marie Yovanovitch told impeachment investigators she was attacked "by people with clearly questionable motives.”

  • Elizabeth Warren Releases Plan For LGBTQ Rights And Equality

    The 2020 candidate said she would reverse Trump's transgender military ban on day one of a Warren administration.

  • More Details Emerge About How White House Officials Reacted To Trump's Call With Ukraine

    The president's July 25 call with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky reportedly sent shockwaves through the White House.

  • Southwest Pilots Sue Boeing Over Lost Wages During 737 MAX Grounding

    The pilots claim they lost $100 million in wages when Boeing was forced to ground the jets following two fatal crashes.

  • Mitch McConnell Criticizes Trump's Syria Decision

    The Senate majority leader joined other Republicans who are speaking out against the president's decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.

  • Rick Perry To Resign As Energy Secretary: Reports

    The former Texas governor is expected to leave Trump's Cabinet by the end of the year.

  • Litha 2015: Pagans Welcome The Summer Solstice

    The summer solstice arrives in the northern hemisphere on June 21, 2015 at 12:39 p.m. EDT, bringing us the longest day in the year -- which means lots of extra sunlight for festivities. The day is also considered to be sacred by many pagans and Wiccans around the world who celebrate the solstice among their other yearly holidays. Some refer to the summer solstice as "Litha," a term that may derive from 8th century monk Bede's The Reckoning of Time.

  • Faith Community Rallies Around Charleston Church After Shooting

    At about 10 p.m. on Wednesday night, Senior Bishop John R. Bryant received news of a tragic shooting that would send shock waves through the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Nine people were shot dead during Bible study at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina. Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church's pastor and a state senator, was among the victims.

  • Dark Side Of Life Discovered In A Medieval Oxford Nunnery

    The excavation of the Littlemore Priory, which was founded in 1110 and dissolved in 1525, has revealed nearly 100 skeletons of men, women and children. Team leader Paul Murray of John Moore Heritage Services, said in a statement: “This was perhaps a penitential act to atone for their sins or the sins of their families. In her book Medieval English Nunneries, Eileen Power describes it as “in such grave disorder that it might justly be described as one of the worst nunneries of which records survived.

  • Pentecost 2015: History, Facts And Traditions

    Pentecost marks the end of the 50-day Easter season for Christians and falls on Sunday, May 24 in 2015. History The second chapter of the Book of Acts in the Bible's New Testament provides the context for Christian Pentecost. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

  • Shavuot 2015: Celebrating The Giving Of The Torah

    History Shavuot is a Jewish holiday which celebrates God's giving of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. It is also known as the "Feast of Weeks." It has connections to an ancient grain harvest festival and is one of three pilgrimage holidays celebrated in ancient Israel. Dates Shavuot is celebrated seven weeks after Passover, exactly fifty days after the first seder.

  • Prayers And Meditations For Healing In Nepal

    The devastating, magnitude-7.8 earthquake that hit Nepal on Saturday has left at least 4,000 dead with many more feared to have perished. Below, we offer these thoughts, prayers and meditations in support of the suffering people of Nepal from religious leaders, activists, and many others. Click here or visit Hindu charity Sewa International's website for information on how to help, or donate to Crowdrise's "Nepal Earthquake Relief" here.

  • Exploring The Delicate Strength Of Interfaith Friendships

    Below is an excerpt used with permission from author Carla Power’s If the Oceans Were Ink, which explores her friendship with Sheikh Mohammad Akram Nadwi. Not long after his lecture on Yusuf, Akram and I met in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford for a lesson. “Come,” I said to the Sheikh.

  • Mecca May Soon Have Its First 'Halal' Sex Shop

    An entrepreneur says he hopes to open the first “halal” sex shop in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Aouragh, who founded online Arabic sex shop El Asira, hopes the store will challenge the stereotype of women in Islam. Abdelaziz Aouragh hopes to sell Islamic-approved love aids at the store.

  • Train Passenger Stands Up For Muslim Woman Against Hateful Rant

    A commuter has been caught on camera defending a fellow passenger from a hateful tirade on a train in Sydney, Australia. Shocked, Stacy Eden jumped to the woman’s defense. In the clip, Eden is heard telling the woman: “She wears it for herself, she wears it because she wants to be modest with her body okay?

  • Incarcerated Women Reflect On Jesus' Seven Last Words On The Cross

    On Good Friday, many Christians reflect on what are known as the seven last words -- the final statements Jesus Christ said while on the cross, as recorded by the canonical gospels. David Carr, a professor at Union Theological Seminary, teaches a course called "Trauma and the Bible" to female inmates at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, New York state’s only maximum security prison for women. Half of the students in the course are prisoners finishing degrees in sociology in the Marymount Manhattan College Bedford Hills College program, while the other half of the students in the class are enrolled at Union Seminary.

  • Celebrating The Persian New Year

    The Persian New Year is called Norooz (also Nowruz, Nawroz, among other spellings) and marks the first day of spring. It's also the Baha'i New Year, but the holiday is celebrated by Iranians of all religions. History Norooz celebrates renewal and rebirth, symbolized by the coming of spring.

  • The Religious Backstory To St. Patrick's Day

    St. Patrick's Day is best known for parades, beer, and turning rivers green, but the holiday has a long history that's more somber than its current incarnation. Saint Patrick St. Patrick was born around 387 C.E. in Scotland, and turned to God once he was kidnapped by slave traders and brought to Ireland to be a shepherd. Patrick was tasked with the mission of bringing Christianity to Ireland, where he was enormously successful in converting much of the mainly Druid and pagan population.

  • Mardi Gras: History, Traditions And Little-Known Facts

    As it is commonly understood, Mardi Gras is a raucous celebratory affair that serves as a final shebang before the 40-day abstinence of Lent, but there are several key characteristics of this holiday that may have gotten lost in transition. Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday," is the culmination of Carnival, which by its latin roots means the "removal of flesh/meat." Author Greg Tobin writes that, due to lack of refrigeration, Christians often abstained from dairy and meat products altogether during this period -- which of course would make for much leaner Carnival season than people today celebrate. Mardi Gras only became a holiday in 1582, when Pope Gregory XIII placed it on his Gregorian calendar on the day before Ash Wednesday.