Gil Caldwell, a civil rights activist who later in life stood up for gay rights in the United Methodist Church, died September 4 at the age of 86.
The native of Greensboro, North Carolina, struggled with cancer, his son said on Twitter. The United Methodist News Service reported he had been in hospice care in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
On September 13, Mark Galli—a former Presbyterian pastor and former editor in chief of the evangelical magazine Christianity Today—was confirmed as a Roman Catholic.
Last December, Galli penned a Christianity Today editorial calling for Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal from office and arguing that he is “profoundly immoral.” The editorial went viral, earning a rebuke from Trump on Twitter and bringing Galli, who retired from the magazine in January, a tsunami of publicity.
Avery D. Post, president of the United Church of Christ from 1977 to 1989, died on September 7. He was 96.
Post was known as an ecumenist, an advocate for social justice, and a skilled preacher. He led the denomination through years that included Cold War peace dialogues, racial justice activism, and support for emerging movements for women’s and LGBTQ rights and inclusion.
Speaking before a crowd at Fort McHenry National Monument in Baltimore on August 26, Vice President Mike Pence, a self-described “born-again, evangelical Catholic,” sprinkled his address to the Republican National Convention with references to God and prayer.
But Pence, who accepted his party’s nomination for vice president during the speech, sparked outcry in some Christian circles when he closed out his remarks. He combined at least two Bible verses—and replaced references to Jesus with patriotic imagery.
Christian Century contributor and open media advocate William Fore died July 30 at the age of 92.
Fore, who was ordained in the United Methodist Church, spent 25 years leading the National Council of Churches’ broadcasting and film commission. In that role, Fore not only helped create hundreds of educational programs for network television, he also played a key role in improving the balance in television news.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, one of the first Muslim women in Congress, has joined the Congressional Freethought Caucus.
Launched in 2018, the caucus seeks to promote secular government, separation of church and state, freedom of conscience, and policy “based on reason, science, and moral values,” as well as to oppose discrimination against nonreligious people.
Members do not need to identify as nonreligious.