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In farewell, Obama urges faith and political engagement

c. 2017 Religion News Service

CHICAGO (RNS) In his final speech as president of the United States, President Barack Obama spoke of his faith in American democracy and warned his supporters not to retreat into despair.

Obama had returned to his adopted hometown of Chicago for his farewell address January 10 at McCormick Place.

It’s the city where his political career began—where he had given his victory speeches on election night in 2008 at Grant Park and in 2012, also at McCormick Place.

In black Charleston, a struggle to find both justice and mercy

(The Christian Science Monitor) Charleston variety store owner Leon Fields pondered the question of whether Dylann Roof should die for his unthinkable crimes or have his life spared as an act of grace.

Fields has witnessed all sorts of senseless violence in his neighborhood. Thoughts of vengeance, forgiveness, and God’s judgment aren’t theoretical here, but viscerally real, said the African-American businessman.

Bomb threats called in to 16 Jewish community centers in one day

c. 2017 Religion News Service

(RNS) At least 16 Jewish community centers received bomb threats on Monday (Jan. 9) in an apparent attempt to rattle American Jews, who have seen a spike in anti-Semitism incidents in the past year.

The threats—some by live callers, some by robocall—were made to JCCs in Florida, Maryland, New Jersey, Tennessee, South Carolina, and at least four other states.

Iconography classes draw non-Orthodox in search of spiritual images

For Lara Neri, painting icons is a kind of prayer.

“It’s probably the most intense prayer that I do,” said Neri, a Byzantine Catholic from Dallas, referring to the dozens of hours she spent in a class at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

The rise of such classes is a sign of growing interest in iconography, with short-term courses offered by experts.

Some students at St. Sophia said the process helps them become more patient, while others said it motivates them to concentrate on the needs of others.

Sacred and secular unite on Basque church’s walls

The Iglesia de San Miguel is the pride of Antezana de Foronda, a tiny town in Spain’s Basque Country. Yet the 16th-century church, with its spectacular wooden carvings and baroque altarpiece, had fallen on hard times.

Residents had saved the church once, decades ago, when they mobilized to fight an airport extension steps away from the sanctuary. In recent years, forces of nature and the passage of time were taking their toll on the town shrine.

Surgeon in Burundi wins $500,000 medical missionary prize

Jason Fader, one of a dozen surgeons serving the nation of Burundi, won the first-ever Gerson L’Chaim Prize for Outstanding Christian Medical Missionary Service.

The $500,000 prize is given by the African Mission Healthcare Foundation, which supports medical missionaries and mission hospitals. The president is Jon Fielder, a medical missionary in Kenya, who founded the organization with his friend Mark Gerson, an entrepreneur and author.

“Dr. Fader and his team are a link in a string of unsung heroes,” Gerson said in a statement.

Restoration for Rio’s iconic Christ the Redeemer statue

The Archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro has launched an international appeal for donations to help restore Christ the Redeemer, Brazil’s 98-foot-tall statue, considered one of the modern Seven Wonders of the World.

“Christ the Redeemer, with its open arms, is the greatest showcase for Rio and Brazil,” said Cardinal Orani João Tem­pesta, the archbishop of Rio, at the recent launch of the Friends of Christ the Re­deemer campaign. The initiative is a way of “continuing to spread the Christian faith.”

How a toy figure of Luther sparked charges of anti-Semitism

Cloaked in black robes, Playmobil’s toy figure of Martin Luther holds a quill in one hand and his German translation of the Bible in the other.

But the inscription on the open pages of the Bible led to a theological controversy and a change to the toy’s design for this year of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Back in 2015, after consulting with a Protestant theologian, Playmobil, one of Germany’s leading toy manufacturers, rolled out a three-inch plastic figure of Martin Luther.