Many African American SBC churches have women pastors on staff

Many African American SBC churches have women pastors on staff. Will they be expelled next?
Religion News Service: A letter from the president of the SBC’s National African American Fellowship expressed concerns over recent SBC decisions to bar churches with women pastors.

American confidence in higher ed hits historic low*
Inside Higher Ed: A Gallup poll shows only 36 percent of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in higher education, which is down by about 20 percentage points from eight years ago.

Church of England votes to bring back ‘defrocking’ as punishment for clergy
The Guardian: Priests or deacons guilty of serious misconduct may be stripped of holy orders, a measure which was abolished 20 years ago.

Jews and Muslims come together at Srebrenica anniversary of Europe’s only post-World War II genocide
The Associated Press: Jews and Muslims came together on Monday in Bosnia on the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, Europe’s only acknowledged genocide since the Holocaust, to talk about ways of using their shared pain to help rid the world of hate and bigotry.

Vivek Ramaswamy leans into his Hindu faith to court Christian voters*
The New York Times: The Republican candidate for president makes a pitch that the faiths have much in common, but for many religious conservatives, the difference is a hurdle.

 

After Quran burnings, UN rights body calls for more action to combat religious hatred
The Associated Press: The U.N.’s top human rights body overwhelmingly approved a measure calling on countries to do more to prevent religious hatred in the wake of Quran burnings in Europe, over the objections of Western countries who fear tougher steps by governments could trample freedom of expression.

Ruth Fitzpatrick, crusader for letting women be priests, dies at 90*
The New York Times: Feeling called to the Roman Catholic priesthood but denied entry, she became a leader of a national group that has pushed the Vatican to ordain women.

The Rev. Stephen Pieters, who helped shift views on AIDS, dies at 70*
The Washington Post: His 1985 interview, conducted by televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker, was considered a groundbreaking moment in changing public perceptions on AIDS.

Report finds a growing exodus of Jews from Russia and Ukraine
Religion News Service: If trends continue, both Russia and Ukraine could lose a majority of their Jewish populations in the years ahead, the Institute for Jewish Policy Research reports.

Mormon leaders – whose church is often associated with the GOP – push back against one-party politics
The Conversation: In a letter that local leaders read during worship meetings nationwide, the church’s president and his two counselors instructed church members not to vote solely for one political party. Latter-day Saints have overwhelmingly supported Republicans in recent decades.