[ad_1] (Image source: newsclick.in) Early in April 2024, India’s top educational body quietly made changes to millions of school textbooks. Key amongst these changes was the removal of references to the Babri mosque, a medieval mosque publicly demolished in 1992 by far-right Hindu nationalists, who believed the mosque’s location was home to a former temple […]

[ad_1]  It’s possible to lean into hope to such a degree that responsibility for action can seem either unneeded or futile. That’s just one of the important observations this week’s guest, Brian McLaren, makes to host Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush on The State of Belief, Interfaith Alliance’s weekly radio program and podcast. Brian’s latest […]

[ad_1] (Mount Popa in Myanmar. Image source: Travel Authentic Asia) On the morning of December 26, 2023, a willowy transgender woman huddled on a carpet in front of a wooden structure resembling a house, the size of a telephone booth, placed at the bottom of a giant fig tree in a village bordering Mount Popa […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — As the security crisis in Haiti continues, the humanitarian aid group Haiti Family Care Network is urging U.S. Christian donors to refrain from worsening the situation by donating to orphanages and to redirect their efforts instead toward initiatives helping parents support their children. “There are actually better ways to care for the […]

[ad_1] (Image from the Hulu series Ramy) The following excerpt comes from Pop Islam: Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media (Indiana University Press, 2024) by Rosemary Pennington. The book explores depictions of Muslims and of Islam in American popular culture. The following excerpt comes from the book’s conclusion. *** Muslim communities in the United States […]

[ad_1] On May 1, by an overwhelming margin of 692-51, United Methodist Church (UMC) delegates repealed the longstanding ban on LGBTQ clergy. At the first meeting of the UMC’s General Conference in five years, the delegates removed a rule prohibiting “self-avowed practicing homosexuals” from being ordained as ministers. Applause greeted the vote, a testament to […]

[ad_1] RALEIGH, N.C. (RNS) — A group of Jewish, Muslim and Christian activists gathered outside the state’s General Assembly on Wednesday (May 8) to protest a bill that would codify a controversial definition of antisemitism into state law. The Shalom Act is similar to the Antisemitism Awareness Act that passed the U.S. House of Representatives […]

[ad_1] How have media depictions of Muslims been changing in recent years? Rosemary Pennington, author of the new book Pop Islam: Seeing American Muslims in Popular Media, joins us to discuss the place of Islam in American media. We discuss how Muslims have turned to pop culture to broaden ideas about Islam, how some Muslim […]

[ad_1] Life is everywhere, say the followers of Shinto. The sanctified and blessed may be found in animals, in plants, as well as in things that appear to have no life in them at all, such as a pebble or a waterfall. Shintoism, Japan’s indigenous religion, has been dated as far back the neolithic age. […]

[ad_1] (RNS) — Calls for hope in times like these can seem like toxic positivity — or like a slur. Urging hope seems to ignore charred bodies in a kibbutz and bombed refugee camps, to mock victims of hate crimes, to disregard the failed peace agreements and war machines that crisscross the sky. At the […]