In its more than 1,400-year existence, the majestic domed structure of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has served as the Byzantine Empire’s main cathedral, as a mosque under the Ottoman Empire, and as a museum in modern Turkey, attracting millions of tourists each year.
To pastor Rosa Cándida Ramírez, it’s evident that the same institutional systems that dehumanize immigrants perpetuate the mistreatment of black Americans.
“We cannot say that immigrant lives matter if we can’t say that black lives matter,” said Ramírez, 31, who helps lead the largely Latina and immigrant La Fuente Ministries in Pasadena, California.
At least two religious publishers have cut ties with Catholic composer David Haas after nearly a dozen women have accused him of sexual and spiritual abuse.
GIA Publications, which publishes one of the most popular Catholic hymnals in the US, said in a June 13 Facebook post that it had become aware of the accusations against Haas in early 2020: “In response, we suspended our sponsorship and publishing relationship with Mr. Haas, and have not sponsored his work since late January.”
Donald Heckman, who goes by Bud, withdrew from West Ohio Conference membership June 10 under complaint, the conference announced. That means he surrendered his credentials as an ordained elder.
This development comes nearly six months after Heckman and conference leadership reached a resolution of an earlier complaint of sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse brought by four women. Neither the women nor their two advocates were involved in the settlement, which avoided a church trial.
A new study examining Americans’ response to COVID-19 shows that with the exception of white evangelicals, a majority of Americans are not comfortable returning to in-person religious services.
The results of the survey from the American Enterprise Institute suggest that despite political pressure to reopen houses of worship—from President Donald Trump as well as from some conservative Christian leaders—Americans aren’t quite ready to take a seat in a sanctuary.
The Supreme Court elated religious free exercise advocates and alarmed secular groups with its June 30 ruling on public funding for religious education, a decision whose long-term effect on the separation of church and state remains to be seen.
In Espinoza v. Montana Department of Revenue, the high court ruled 5–4 that states must give religious schools the same access to public funding that other private schools receive, preserving a Montana scholarship program that had largely benefited students at religious institutions.