How do Christians celebrate Halloween?
It might depend on their pastor, according to a survey, released October 18, by Lifeway Research.
More than 90 percent of pastors across the United States encourage their congregations to observe October 31 in a particular way, but that ranges from avoiding Halloween completely to inviting people to Halloween-adjacent events at their churches, the survey found.
Calvin O. Butts III, the senior pastor of New York’s historic Abyssinian Baptist Church, who followed in the footsteps of prominent Black ministers and paved his own path of leadership in education, health and political circles, died Friday, his church announced.
Two years ago on Election Day, Lee May, pastor of Transforming Faith Church, a predominantly Black congregation in Stonecrest, Georgia, served as a poll chaplain, posted at a local voting site to promote calm at a time of intense political divisions. Most of the difficulties that day, he said, involved people who weren’t sure they were at their correct polling place.
Forty-five percent of Americans believe the US should be a “Christian nation,” one of several striking findings from a sweeping new Pew Research Center survey examining Christian nationalism.
But researchers say respondents differed greatly when it came to outlining what a Christian nation should look like, suggesting a wide spectrum of beliefs.
As evening darkness fell over Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 12, a big screen erected on the front lawn of Christ Church lit up with a message for all to see:
“Here Lies Darby Vassall.”
A controversial deal between the Vatican and the Chinese government on the appointment of bishops was extended on Saturday, according to church officials, who defended the controversial accord as an important step in restoring relations between the two countries.
Yeshiva University announced Monday that it would recognize a new undergraduate LGBTQ student group grounded in “Halacha and Torah values,” according to a press release from the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents the Orthodox Jewish university.
The group, called the Kol Yisrael Areivim Club, was approved by the university’s administration and, according to the press release, was informed by input from current and former LGBTQ students as well as Yeshiva’s educators and rabbis.
The acting general secretary of the World Council of Churches met this week with Patriarch Kirill, the Russian Orthodox Church head who has drawn global criticism for lending spiritual support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A coalition of Pennsylvania faith leaders and activists have launched a multi-faith and multi-racial bus tour to oppose Christian nationalism and defeat its proponents in the upcoming midterm elections.
The Freedom Express Bus Tour began with an October 18 rally in Philadelphia to kick off a planned three-week journey to canvass the state with messages challenging White supremacy and urging pro-democracy voters to make their voices heard on Election Day.
The former administrator of the Clergy Assurance Fund, a nonprofit insurance corporation that has served the families of Episcopal clergy in Pennsylvania for centuries, is under investigation after a forensic audit found he misappropriated more than $1.4 million from the fund.