The Explainer: MLK’s “beloved community” has inspired social justice work for decades – what did he mean?

In an article first published on The Conversation, Baptist minister and theologian JASON OLIVER EVANS looks at what Martin Luther King, Jr, meant when he urged people to build the “beloved community”…
Lifestory: Bill McCartney, legendary US football coach who founded Promise Keepers, dies at 84

BOB SMIETANA, of Religion News Service, reports that a religious conversion in his 30s helped inspire McCartney to found Promise Keepers, which drew millions of men to events in the early 1990s….
Essay: When Carter ran for president, advisers worried Christian faith would be a liability

DANIEL K WILLIAMS, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says Carter’s encounters with social justice-minded Georgia Christians convinced him that following Jesus led to interracial alliances and poverty relief, not conservative evangelical politics…
Essay: Five takeaways from the 2024 election

US Catholic commentator THOMAS REESE points out, in an article first published on Religion News Service, that Harris did worse with women, Hispanics and young people than did the Democratic candidates in the last two presidential elections…
Sight-Seeing: The Gospel according to Bill Pannell

JIM WALLIS, in an article first published on Religion News Service, says Pannell was a preacher who was an antidote to the spirit of fear and hate in our world and politics today…
Online hate against South Asian Americans rises steadily, report says

Washington DC, US Reuters Online hate against Americans of South Asian ancestry has risen steadily in 2023 and 2024 with the rise of politicians from that community to prominence, according to a report released on Wednesday by non-profit group Stop AAPI Hate. A person holds up a sign during a Rally Against Hate to end […]
Europe’s racial disparities cannot be untied from historical wrongs, report says
Reuters Racial disparities in some European nations cannot be tackled if legacies of colonialism and slavery are ignored, a report by a EU-wide network of anti-racism groups said on Wednesday. The “Europe’s Original Sin” report analysed the historic use by six former colonial powers – Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain – of […]
For Black Britons, UK riots leave lasting scars

London, UK Reuters “Please do not go out until this blows over,” Sarah Akinterinwa, messaged a friend on 7th August. “I’m going into town tomorrow. Should be okay,” came the response. “Alone?” she asked. A screenshot from 7th August, 2024 shows a message exchange between Sarah Akinterinwa and her friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, […]
Anti-racism protests sweep Britain after far-right riots

London, UK Reuters Thousands of police and anti-racism protesters gathered on streets across Britain on Wednesday to challenge expected far-right groups that failed to materialise following more than a week of violent racist attacks targeting Muslims and migrants. Britain has been hit by a series of riots that erupted early last week after three young […]
Essay: When Shirley Chisholm paid a visit to George Wallace

ADAM NICHOLAS PHILLIPS, chief strategy officer at Interfaith America, says – in an an article first published on Religion News Service, that visiting in Wallace, the Black congresswoman showed our country that it always has the opportunity to be more than it is…