White House: Under Biden, faith-based office bookended by COVID-19, war in Gaza
ADELLE M BANKS and JACK JENKINS, of Religion News Service, report on the work of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships during Biden’s presidency…
Cecil L ‘Chip’ Murray, influential pastor and civil rights leader in Los Angeles, dies
Los Angeles AP Rev Dr Cecil L “Chip” Murray, an influential pastor and civil rights leader who used his tenure at one of Los Angeles’ oldest churches to uplift the predominantly Black neighbourhoods of South Los Angeles following one of the country’s worst race riots, has died. He was 94. Murray died on Friday, according […]
Twenty year anniversary: US grapples with forces unleashed by Iraq invasion
ARSHAD MOHAMMED and JONATHAN LANDAY, of Reuters, report…
Taliban minister defends closing universities to women as global backlash grows
Kabul, Afghanistan Reuters Afghanistan’s Taliban-run administration said on Thursday it had closed universities to women partly due to female students not adhering to its interpretation of the Islamic dress code, in a decision that was condemned globally. Female university students were turned away from campuses on Wednesday and the higher education ministry said their access […]
“Colin loved the church”: Powell recalled as Episcopalian at cathedral funeral
Washington DC, US RNS Former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Colin Powell, known as a four-star general and as a one-time Secretary of State, was remembered at his funeral at the Washington National Cathedral on Friday as a man of the Episcopal faith. Longtime colleague and friend Richard Armitage, who served as deputy secretary of […]
Popes and presidents: A look back at the history of US presidential visits to the Vatican
CLAIRE GIANGRAVÉ, of Religion News Service, looks at the history of meetings between popes and US presidents…
US ex-Presidents Bush, Clinton, Obama band together to aid Afghan refugees
New York City/Washington DC, US Reuters Three former US presidents – Republican George W Bush and Democrats Bill Clinton and Barack Obama – have banded together behind a new group aimed at supporting refugees from Afghanistan settling in the United States following the recent American withdrawal ending 20 years of war. The former leaders and […]
Twenty years on, US commemorates those lost during 9/11 attacks
New York/Shanksville, Pennsylavania/Washington DC, US AP The 9/11 anniversary commemoration at ground zero began with a tolling bell and a moment of silence, exactly 20 years after the start of the deadliest terror attack on US soil. President Joe Biden, former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, members of Congress, and other dignitaries joined a […]
Biden order re-establishes faith-focused White House office
Washington DC, US AP President Joe Biden signed an executive order Sunday relaunching a White House office aimed at fostering cooperation between the federal government and faith-based and secular community organisations. The order reestablishes the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a 20-year-old initiative first put in place by President George W Bush. The White House said […]
Biden, former presidents, urge Americans to forgive and unite at National Prayer Breakfast
RNS The message of the 2021 National Prayer Breakfast can be summed up in the title of a book by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Prize-winning South African cleric: No Future Without Forgiveness. Indeed, Andrew Young, civil rights leader and former ambassador to the United Nations, referenced the title of the book in his prerecorded […]