Religion
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John MacArthur, megachurch pastor and voice of ‘Grace to You’ radio ministry, has died
(RNS) — John MacArthur, megachurch pastor, culture warrior, author and longtime voice of the “Grace to You” radio program, has died. He was 86. “John MacArthur went to heaven at 6:17pm California time,” Phil Johnson, executive director of Grace to You,” told RNS in a text message. During a Sunday (July 13) service at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley,…
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‘What makes this place magical is not the mushrooms’
COLORADO SPRINGS (RNS and NPR) — The door to the Colorado Psychedelic Church doesn’t look like much — a walkout basement to a home in an eastern Colorado Springs neighborhood. Faux foliage dangles from the walls, a tabletop fountain trickles nearby, and on a recent Tuesday in May, about 20 people were seated on couches under dim green lighting, while…
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Families react to SCOTUS LGBTQ+ books decision
(RNS) — On Friday (June 27), the Supreme Court ruled in favor of religious parents from Maryland’s Montgomery County who sought to remove their children from classes that discussed LGBTQ-themed storybooks. Conservative justices voted 6-3, with liberal justices dissenting, in Mahmoud v. Taylor, brought before the court in April. The lawsuit represented Muslim and Christian families who argued Montgomery County…
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Prayer in school divides Americans as Texas law takes effect
(RNS) — A new Texas law mandating that schools set a time for students to pray will likely be popular with many residents of the Lone Star State. A new report from the Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center found that 61% of adults in Texas say they approve of allowing teachers to lead Christian prayers in the classroom. That makes…
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The LDS historical department just published an 1886 polygamy revelation
(RNS) — In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion built on modern revelation, perhaps no revelation has caused as much controversy as one attributed to President John Taylor, who presided over the church in the 1880s during one of its most tumultuous decades. In 1886, while the federal government sought to stop all Mormons who practiced…
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In evangelical churches, a rift over Trump’s immigration policies
NASHVILLE (RNS and NPR) — The Sunday before the Tennessee Legislature voted to pass a sweeping immigration law, Republican State Sen. Brent Taylor, of Memphis, walked out of his home church before the service began. During the pre-service announcements at Trinity Baptist Church on the last Sunday of January, Pastor Matt Crawford criticized the end of sanctuary policies for churches,…
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After a decade of controversy, clergy psychedelic study is published
(RNS) — “I was the kid who never even smoked pot. I was very cautious, and a rule follower,” said Rabbi Julie Danan, spiritual leader of Seaside Jewish Community in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. So when Danan took the short train ride to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore in the summer of 2016 to receive a legal 20…
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Hasidic Real Estate Fraud: Chaim Bediner’s Legal Fight
🛑 Exposing Hasidic Influence & Real Estate Fraud: The Case of Chaim Ben Dovid Bediner Sullivan County, NY — What began as a decades-long commitment to a small Jewish bungalow colony has now become a legal and ethical battleground. Chaim Ben Dovid Bediner, also known as Dmitri Bediner, is a 60-year-old Jewish refugee, stroke survivor, and brain surgery patient who…
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Why Southern Judaism Matters — with Shari Rabin
(RNS) — When I look back on my career as a Reform rabbi, I come to the following observation: For almost half of those years, I was a Southern rabbi. I served congregations in Georgia and south Florida. Mind you: Some people think that south Florida is another county of New York City. Wrong. Florida is the South. If you…
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Can we fix campus antisemitism?
(RNS) — “Of course, you know that Hitler negotiated with Herzl.” I heard those words in a university classroom as a sophomore in college in 1974, in the wake of the Yom Kippur War. I raised my hand, and I said: “How is that even possible? When Theodor Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, died in 1904, Hitler was 15…
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