News

Jenna Barnett 10-16-2020

Praise-band superspreaders, the Supreme Court, and God as Gardener.

Jordan Green 10-14-2020

During a hearing of the Greensboro Truth and Reconciliation Commission, empty seats commemorate the five activists killed on Nov. 3, 1979. Photo: RobinAKirk / CC BY 2.0

On Oct. 6, 2020,  the Greensboro City Council adopted a resolution of apology acknowledging that the 1979 Greensboro police department “failed to warn the marchers of their extensive foreknowledge of the racist, violent attack planned against the marchers by members of the Ku Klux Klan and the American Nazi Party with the assistance of a paid GPD informant.”

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett arrives to continue the second day of her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via REUTERS

President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett said on Tuesday at her U.S. Senate confirmation hearing she is not hostile to the Obamacare law, as Democrats have suggested, and declined to specify whether she believes landmark rulings legalizing abortion and gay marriage were properly decided.

10-10-2020

Rev. David Beckmann, president emeritus of Bread for the World, offers a word on world hunger in advance of the 2020 election.

Betsy Shirley 10-09-2020

Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the vice presidential campaign debate on October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

This week’s picks from our editors include a little bit of humor (a new film that satirizes evangelical media? Yes please!) and stories to remind us of our collective power to overcome the forces of evil and enemies of justice that are so readily on display.

Betsy Shirley 10-02-2020

The White House before dawn after President Donald Trump announced that he and U.S. first lady Melania Trump have both tested positive for COVID-19.  Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

“Schadenfreude,” the German term for “enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others,” became the most searched-for term today on Merriam-Webster.com. But “enjoyment” isn’t the right word for this week in which civil discourse and the U.S. refugee resettlement quotas reached another record low.

Jenna Barnett 10-02-2020

As news spread that Donald and Melania Trump have contracted COVID-19, thoughts, prayers, and tweets have started pouring in from across the U.S.

 People participating in the protest march against President Trump's immigration laws in Manhattan in New York City,  Jan. 29, 2017. Photo by Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com

The Trump administration said on Wednesday it intends to allow only 15,000 refugees to resettle in the United States in the 2021 fiscal year, setting another record low in the history of the modern refugee program.

Priyadarshini Sen 9-30-2020

Pune-based pastor and social worker Sagai Nair prays for a COVID-19 victim. Photo courtesy Manish Patil

Death does not scare Sagai Nair. She lowers the deceased into coffin boxes, carries them by foot to the graveyard with five other volunteers, uses a shovel to dig six feet inside the earth, and recites verses from the Bible for the grieving families. After paying her last respects, she burns her protective gear, sanitizes herself, and prepares for the next burial. In a coronavirus hotspot, 47-year-old Nair is the only woman in India burying the dead—a traditionally male-dominated occupation. 

the Web Editors 9-23-2020

People in Louisville, Ky., react after a decision in the criminal case against police officers involved in the death of Breonna Taylor. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

“The Grand Jury determined that there is no evidence to support a criminal violation of state law caused Ms. Taylor’s death,” said Attorney General Daniel Cameron.

the Web Editors 9-22-2020

Photo: Kari Sullivan / Unsplash

Pamela Ebstyne King believes that “[t]hrough spirituality, people potentially have access to prosocial ideals and beliefs, a community to support them, and a source of transcendence that motivates behaviors aligned with their spiritual ideals.”

the Web Editors 9-22-2020

A nurse wipes away tears as she stands outside NYU Langone Medical Center on 1st Avenue in Manhattan as New York police came to cheer and thank healthcare workers in New York City, April 16, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY/File Photo

The United States hit another grim milestone Tuesday as the death toll from the spread of the coronavirus exceeded 200,000, by far the highest number of any nation. The United States, on a weekly average, is now losing about 800 lives each day to the virus, according to a Reuters tally. 

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivers remarks during a discussion hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C., on September 12, 2019. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger.

Ginsburg, who rose from a working class upbringing in New York City's borough of Brooklyn and prevailed over systematic sexism in the legal ranks to become one of America's best-known jurists, provided key votes in landmark rulings securing equal rights for women, expanding gay rights and safeguarding abortion rights.

Jenna Barnett 9-18-2020

A U.S. flag on a wooden bear outside a home that was destroyed in the aftermath of the Beachie Creek fire in Detroit, Orego. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

We’ve been running out of places to put all this smoke, all this bad, bad news. So we share it, and hope that collectively we can hold it as we fight for a more just reality.

the Web Editors 9-16-2020

Shoes stolen by Germans from Jewish children arriving at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Photo: William Warby / Unsplash

However, overall respondents conveyed a desire for compulsory education of this horrific time in history, with 64 percent of American millennials and Gen Zers expressing that Holocaust education should be compulsory in school.

Jenna Barnett 9-11-2020

While Oregon wildfires consumed nearly a million acres in just 72 hours, domestic and international powers looked for ways to alter the results of the upcoming election. But somehow, joy has also continued, mainly because it must.

the Web Editors 9-04-2020

The roots of Midwest protests, remembering Chadwick Boseman, Bob Ross's hometown, and more.

Connor Goodwin 9-01-2020

Protesters in Omaha, Nebraska demand justice for George Floyd.

“People want to start this narrative when the first building burns,” Howard told me in a phone conversation, “[but] I think it’s more useful to begin it years before. In the case of Omaha, people had been agitating to end racial discrimination as early as the 1940s.”

Meghan Gunn 8-31-2020

Founded in 1872 by the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJs) as a home for ill and retired members, Nazareth found itself among many care facilities making the difficult decision to confine residents to their rooms as the coronavirus tore through the nation in early March. Even with their efforts, the Nazareth community has lost seven Sisters and 30 residents in total to COVID-19.

the Web Editors 8-28-2020

Ongoing lament and protest again police brutality, the problem with chairs, and why 2020 is the most consequential election for Black Americans since 1868.