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Christian gay rights campaigners protest in the grounds of Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, southern Britain, Jan. 15, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville
The Church of England will refuse to allow same-sex couples to get married in its churches under proposals set out on Wednesday in which the centuries-old institution said it would stick to its teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Attendees bow their heads in prayer during a vigil at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Kaila Nichols/Sojourners
“Help us find the courage to reject the unholy and harmful ideologies of white supremacy and Christian nationalism, and to not be silent about the crisis of our democracy,” Mary Novak prayed.
Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, waves from a balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, April 19, 2005. REUTERS/Max Rossi
Former Pope Benedict, who in 2013 became the first pontiff in 600 years to resign, died on Saturday at age 95 in a secluded monastery in the Vatican where he had lived since stepping down.
In summer 2022, the Humane Society of the United States rescued nearly 4,000 beagles from an Envigo breeding facility in Virginia after officials found multiple animal welfare violations. / Carolyn Cole / Getty Images
I REMEMBER HEARING that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry had adopted one of the beagles [from] the largest rescue that the Humane Society has ever done.
What struck me was how long people had been trying to whistleblow and alert authorities. It took years for real action to be taken, but [that’s] not surprising, especially when you’re dealing with a large corporation. I have found [animal welfare activism] incredibly challenging and at times discouraging. Criticisms I’ve received personally in the church [imply] animal welfare is a peripheral issue. The fact is these are God’s creatures who are suffering, and we’re responsible, as part of our Christian vocation, to be stewards of our earth and of all the animals.
Members of the U.S. House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol sit beneath an image showing former President Donald Trump speaking on the telephone in the Oval Office during the the committee's final meeting on Dec. 19, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
The U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Monday asked federal prosecutors to charge Donald Trump with obstruction and insurrection for his role in sparking the deadly riot.
President Joe Biden is applauded as he signs the “Respect for Marriage Act,” a landmark bill protecting same-sex marriages, during a ceremony on the South Lawn at the White House in Washington, D.C., Dec. 13, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Joe Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law on Tuesday at a jubilant celebration that featured singer Cyndi Lauper performing “True Colors” in front of thousands of supporters on the White House lawn.
People wearing anti-semitic clothes wave Nazi flags, as they protest outside the Tampa Convention Center where Turning Point USA’s (TPUSA) Student Action Summit (SAS) is being held, in Tampa, Fla., July 23, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello
President Joe Biden is establishing an inter-agency group to coordinate efforts to counter antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination, the White House said on Monday.
Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect one of churches of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine Nov. 22, 2022. REUTERS/Vladyslav Musiienko
Ukraine’s top security officials have ordered punitive measures against seven senior clerics, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday, part of a crackdown on a branch of the Orthodox Church with longstanding ties to Moscow.
A pride flag hangs at the First Congregational Church United Church of Christ after a mass shooting at LGBTQ nightclub Club Q in Colorado Springs, Co., Nov. 23, 2022. REUTERS/Isaiah J. Downing
Thom Andreas was a gay Christian kid in the 1990s when his hometown of Colorado Springs, Co. was becoming known as the “evangelical mecca” or “evangelical Vatican.” And this gave Andreas a front-row seat as the movement advocated against LGBTQ rights and dignity in politics and faith.
A customer picks up a bag of free pastries from the worker-owned Arizmendi bakery in the morning. in San Francisco, Calif., March 17, 2020. Arizmendi, a worker-owned cooperative, is named after Fr. José María Arizmendiarrieta, the father of modern cooperatives. REUTERS/Stephen Lam
“I’ve realized that the current state of economics is violence, since it violates human dignity,” said Dani Bodette, senior coordinator of Catholic Campaign for Human Development in Chicago. “But cooperatives are a form of nonviolence — they’re a nonviolent economics.”
2022 Kennedy Center honorees including actor George Clooney, contemporary Christian and pop singer-songwriter Amy Grant, singer Gladys Knight, Cuban-born American composer, conductor and educator Tania Leon, U2 band members Bono, The Edge, Larry Mullen Jr., Adam Clayton, pose for a group photo with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Kennedy Center board members during the reception for Kennedy Center honorees ahead of the official gala at the State Department in Washington, D.C., Dec. 3, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
Brandi Carlile noted the U2 artists’ and Grant’s support for LGBTQ rights while representing their Christian faith to the world.
A protester waves an LGBTQ rights pride flag as activists gather outside the Supreme Court, where justices were set to hear arguments in a major case pitting LGBTQ rights against a claim that the constitutional right to free speech exempts artists from anti-discrimination laws in a dispute involving an evangelical Christian web designer who refuses to provide her services for same-sex marriages, in Washington, D.C., Dec. 5, 2022. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The Supreme Court’s conservative majority signaled sympathy on Monday toward an evangelical Christian web designer whose business refuses to provide services for same-sex marriages in a major case pitting LGBTQ rights against a claim that freedom of speech exempts artists from anti-discrimination laws
Ukrainian law enforcement officers inspect one of churches of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra monastery, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine Nov. 22, 2022. REUTERS/Vladyslav Musiienko
The Ukrainian government will draw up a law banning churches affiliated with Russia under moves described by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as necessary to prevent Moscow being able to “weaken Ukraine from within.”
Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.) speaks during a news conference following the weekly Democratic caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., Nov. 29, 2022. REUTERS/Sarah Silbiger
The Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would protect federal recognition of same-sex marriage, a measure taken up in response to worries the Supreme Court could overturn a 2015 decision that legalized it nationwide.
Outside of the sanctuary at Congregation Beth Israel in Austin on Nov. 1, 2021. Late the night before, a fire was set at the synagogue. Franklin Barrett Sechriest, then a student at Texas State University in San Marcos, was charged in the incident. Michael Gonzalez/The Texas Tribune
As other kids in Austin, Texas recovered from trick-or-treating on Halloween last year, Sarah Adelman worried about white supremacists, her mom, and their synagogue. After a series of antisemitic incidents around Central Texas, someone set fire to Congregation Beth Israel, where Sarah’s mother, Lori, is a leader.
Delores S. Williams in 1996. Courtesy Union Theological Seminary.
Delores S. Williams, a trailblazer and founder of womanist theology, died on Nov. 18. She was the author of Sisters in the Wilderness: The Challenge of Womanist God-Talk and a professor of theology.
The U.S. Capitol is seen at sunset in Washington, D.C., Jan. 5, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
The bill garnered the 60 votes required to limit debate before a final vote on its passage. It would serve as a legal backstop against any future Supreme Court action by requiring the federal government to recognize any marriage that was legal in the state it was performed.
Filipinos respond following the October 2022 killing of journalist Percival Mabasa (also known as Percy Lapid). At least 22 January 2023 journalists were killed in the Philippines between 2016 and 2022. / Lisa Marie David / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ritche T. Salgado, OCarm, is director of the Carmelite Center for Social Pastoral Communications in Quezon City, Philippines. He spoke with Sojourners’ Mitchell Atencio.
BEFORE I BECAME a priest, I was a journalist. I was writing for an alternative news outfit, Bulatlat. They asked me to write about a priest who was killed in Central Philippines. I was inspired by [his] story, and I wanted to be a priest. The [Carmelite order] I entered has very strong journalist and media advocacy. In fact, our patron saint in the Philippines, St. Titus Brandsma, is the martyr of press freedom and free speech. I never thought that I’d be in a congregation so involved in the pastoral care of media workers. As a priest, I continue as desk editor for Bulatlat.
A woman wears a jacket with a QAnon logo while hundreds of vehicles including 18-wheeler trucks, RVs, and other cars are parked as part of a rally at Hagerstown Speedway after some of them arrived as part of a convoy that traveled across the country headed to Washington, D.C., to protest coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related mandates and other issues in Hagerstown, Md., March 5, 2022. REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
About one in five Americans mostly agree with ideas consistent with the QAnon conspiracy theory, according to a new survey from the Public Religion Research Institute. That’s an increase from one in seven since last year.
A local fire chief and his daughter drop off goods for a neighbor in July near Drushal Memorial Brethren Church in Lost Creek, Ky. At least 39 people died due to floods in eastern Kentucky. / Seth Herald / AFP via Getty Images
Sally Monroe is an elder at First Presbyterian Church of Hazard, Ky. With her husband Lawrence, she spoke with Sojourners’ Mitchell Atencio.
OUR HOUSE IS completely gutted. All the Sheetrock is gone, the flooring’s gone. It’s just a shell. The water came very quickly. Our neighbor who had a house on River Caney got about two and a half feet of water in his house, but it came very rapidly, and their house was washed away. Our situation is different. We live in the valley a half-mile from the river. We had no idea how high the water could get. We didn’t get the current, and the water came up rapidly ... some pictures from this flood where buildings were just washed off their foundations — it’s horrible to see those homes like that.