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    Jahnabi Barooah

    Jahnabi Barooah

    Assistant Editor, Religion

  • Evangelical Christians Make Biblical Case For Immigration Reform

    CHICAGO (RNS) On a recent Sunday morning, Jenny Yang stood beside a giant wooden cross and made a case for immigration reform to members of an evangelical church. The talk was part of a broader, cross-country effort to persuade evangelicals to back the bipartisan immigration bill that’s working its way through Congress. Yang, 33, is one of the leading voices behind the Evangelical Immigration Table, a coalition of influential pastors and lobbyists working to drum up support for reform among believers and members of Congress.

  • Pope Francis' First 100 days: What We've Learned So Far

    VATICAN CITY (RNS) When Pope Benedict XVI shocked the world in February in becoming the first pope to resign in 600 years, he left behind a Roman Catholic Church weakened by scandals, beset by infighting and suffering from a general sense of isolation from the modern world. Three months after the election of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis, much of the gloom seems to have lifted. Francis’ simpler, direct style, together with his focus on the poor and the marginalized, has captivated the world.

  • 4 Reasons Why Republicans Are Rekindling Evangelical Outreach

    The vast majority of evangelicals have voted with the GOP in recent elections. In fact, despite some qualms about his Mormon faith, 79 percent of evangelicals voted for Republican nominee Mitt Romney in 2012, the same percentage that voted for President George W. Bush in 2004. “A lot of folks in the faith community stayed home last election,” said Chad Connelly, the party’s new hire.

  • The Fatal Flaw In NBC's ‘Save Me'

    When the chemistry is right, shows built around faith and divine intervention land in the ratings Top Ten year after year, and earn numerous Emmys. CBS had mainstream hits with “Highway to Heaven” in the 1980s and “Touched by an Angel” in the late 1990s. For some reason, audiences have no problem when God, faith and religion are regular elements of animated comedies such as “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy” and “South Park.” Psychologically, a cartoon Jesus on the small screen is okay in ways that a live-action Jesus is not.

  • Virtual Islamic Community: A "Double-Edged Sword?"

    While the proliferation of Muslim websites provides a platform for a multitude of voices, Sahar Khamis, communication professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, said there is a shortage in the amount of rational, critical deliberation and debate taking place online. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life recently released a report suggesting that Muslims who use the Internet tend to have a more favorable view of Western movies, music and television than their offline counterparts. Khamis, who co-authored the 2009 book “Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourses in Cyberspace,” highlighted three mainstream Muslim websites — islamonline.net, islamway.com and amrkhaled.net – in a recent talk at the American Islamic Congress.

  • A Historic Meeting

    VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Francis and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby will meet in Rome on Friday (June 14) for the first time since the two men took office in March. Francis was inaugurated as the head of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics on March 19, while Welby officially took over as Archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual leader of the 77 million-member Anglican Communion on March 21. Welby’s visit to Rome will be “short but very significant,” said the Rev. Mark Langham, the Vatican’s point man on dialogue with Anglicans.

  • Religious Orders Should Not Worry About Vatican Scrutiny

    VATICAN CITY (RNS) Weeks after authorizing a continued investigation of American nuns, Pope Francis told a group of nuns and priests from Latin America not to worry if they found themselves under similar scrutiny. The pope’s purported remarks came during a meeting with top officials of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR) on June 6. During the meeting, Francis seemed to refer to the Vatican investigation of an American nuns’ group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, while telling the Latin American delegates not to worry should they find themselves the target of a similar investigation.

  • Orthodox Yeshiva Set To Ordain Women

    On June 16, three Jewish women will be ordained as Orthodox members of the clergy in the inaugural graduation ceremony of Yeshivat Maharat, which bills itself on its website as “the first institution to ordain Orthodox women as Spiritual leaders and Halakhic authorities.” But even though Yeshivat Maharat also claims to be “actualizing the potential of Orthodox women as rabbinic leaders,” its female graduates will not be granted the title of “rabbi.” Ruth Balinsky Friedman, Rachel Kohl Finegold, and Abby Brown Scheier will instead be ordained with the title of “maharat,” a Hebrew acronym for manhiga hilkhatit rukhanit toranit, or female leader of Jewish law, spirituality, and Torah.

  • 35 Years Later, Some Black Mormons See Lingering Prejudice

    SALT LAKE CITY (RNS) June 8, 1978, was a sacred, momentous event — a revelation — that catapulted Mormonism into a new era of global growth. On that day, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ended its ban on blacks in its priesthood, opening ordination to “all worthy male members,” including those of African descent. In the 35 years since the announcement, Mormonism has spread exponentially in areas formerly off-limits, especially Africa.

  • Activists Rally To Bury The Bodies From Gosnell Abortion Trial

    After Gosnell’s arrest in 2011, then-Archbishop Cardinal Justin Rigali asked the district attorney’s office for the bodies of the aborted fetuses. The bodies were being retained for the trial, but after it ended and Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison, his successor, Archbishop Charles Chaput, has renewed the request to bury the bodies. Francis Maier, special assistant to Chaput, said that he doesn’t know whether or not a service would include a Catholic Mass, but he said it would be quiet and dignified.

  • Why John Calvin Is Shaking Things Up For Southern Baptists

    When Southern Baptist delegates gather for their annual meeting next week (June 11-12) in Houston, they’ll be presented with a report, “Truth, Trust, and Testimony in a Time of Tension,” that focuses on the growing popularity of Calvinism among Southern Baptist pastors and seminaries. At stake are fundamental beliefs on who can be “saved,” the need for evangelism, and whether Baptists will retread familiar battlefields on the proper roles of men and women. Calvinism, which is traditionally the domain of Reformed churches like Presbyterians, differs from traditional Baptist theology in key aspects, particularly on the question of salvation.

  • Churches Move To Cut Ties To Scouts After Gay Policy Change

    The Boy Scouts do not. “We are not willing to compromise God’s word,” said Easley, pastor of the 2,300-member Roswell Street Baptist Church in Marietta, Ga., which has sponsored Boy Scout Troop 204 since 1945. Easley, chairman of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee, said his church will shut down its troop at end of the year because of a recently adopted policy to allow openly gay scouts.

  • Does Scientology Spell Doom For Will Smith's 'After Earth'?

    The news is not good for the new movie “After Earth,” which means the news is not good for Sony Pictures, or Will Smith … or, it seems, Scientology, whose sci-fi inflected religious system inspired what was to be a summer blockbuster. As the NYTimes reports, “After Earth” took in 18 percent less than the lowest of prerelease expectations and may have ended Smith’s reputation as a surefire action-adventure box office draw — not to mention hurting the budding career of son Jaden, his co-star. Oh, and how much further off track could M. Night Shyamalan’s career go?

  • Can A Christian Watch 'Game Of Thrones?'

    The show is certainly entertaining, almost addictively so, and as “Games of Thrones” wraps up its third season on Sunday (June 9), the ratings reflect that popularity: a record of more than 5.5 million viewers have followed the ruthless struggles for power among the teeming clans of Westeros, the medieval-looking world created by fantasy novelist George R.R. Martin. Or, as one tweet put it after the bloody penultimate episode: “Why doesn’t George R.R. Martin use twitter?

  • Evangelicals Launch $250,000 Immigration Campaign

    The ad buy will feature radio ads and billboards in 13 states featuring pastors urging people to support the ongoing efforts in Congress to pass an immigration bill that would allow the nation’s 11 million unauthorized immigrants to apply for U.S. citizenship, strengthen border security and revamp the legal immigration system. Russell Moore, the new head of the Southern Baptists’ Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said evangelicals are more aggressive this time around because more immigrants have joined their congregations, giving members a better understanding of who they are.

  • Cancer Diagnosis Gives Second Life To Christian Music Veteran's Career

    “I thought I could see this coming to a close,” Carman said in an interview. Once one of the biggest names in Christian music who could sell 10 million albums and fill stadiums with his concerts, the man born as Carmelo Domenic Licciardello said he had been rejected by every Christian music label in the last 12 or 13 years and couldn’t even find a record company to distribute one of his CD projects for free. It was only after he went public about his terminal illness that the 57-year-old singer-songwriter from Trenton, N.J., discovered that he still had an audience.

  • Multifaith Coalition To Protect Religious Liberties Fractured On Key Issues

    WASHINGTON (RNS) In a conference full of people who champion traditional religious values, Amardeep Singh knew that everyone might not appreciate his recounting of the “uncomfortable” cab ride he had taken the previous day. Singh, a featured speaker at the second annual National Religious Freedom Conference in Washington on Thursday (May 30), told the several hundred attendees that his D.C. taxi driver had the radio tuned to a religiously minded commentator, who was explaining that women become lesbians because they had been abused. “I felt uncomfortable knowing how our community, the Sikh community, is oftentimes broadly stereotyped and those broad stereotypes are used in a way to literally engage in violence,” continued Singh, director of programs at the Sikh Coalition.

  • Syria Civil War Fuels Sectarian Tensions

    AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) The Syrian civil war is increasingly drawing in nations across the Middle East, a regionwide conflict that threatens to pit world powers against each other and Muslim against Muslim. On Wednesday (May 29), the United Nations Human Rights Council pushed through a resolution to investigate the abuses of the Syrian regime, over the objections of the regime’s ally Russia, who insisted the West was making matters worse. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry continued his travels in the region, trying to get all parties to agree to a peace conference in Geneva in the next few weeks.

  • The Nuns Are Back On The Bus

    JERSEY CITY, N.J. (RNS) With the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, the “Nuns on the Bus” on Wednesday (May 29) kicked off a national tour for immigration reform aimed at giving a faith-based push to legislation that’s now hanging in the balance in Congress. “We have got to make this an urgent message of now,” Sister Simone Campbell, head of the social justice lobby Network, which organized the tour, told a rally on the New Jersey side of the Hudson River. “The next six to eight weeks is going to determine what we can accomplish,” Campbell said as she pointed to nearby Ellis Island, the American gateway for generations of immigrants.

  • Gay Catholic Priest Comes Out To An Uncertain Future

    ST. LOUIS (RNS) On the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the Rev. Gary Meier addressed a congregation of sorts – people who wanted to hear what the Roman Catholic priest had been thinking since, nearly a year ago, he last stood before a flock. Meier, 49, had told his archbishop that he could no longer teach the Catholic church’s stance on homosexuality. “I have tried over the years to reconcile my silence as a gay priest with that of the Church’s increasingly anti-gay stance.