VATICAN CITY (RNS) — When John Lennon wrote his hit song “Imagine,” eliminating religions and the divisions they entail was in his view a necessary condition for “living life in peace.” A meeting of religious representatives in Rome this week made the case for shifting that paradigm. The Abrahamic Faiths Initiative group united 25 religious leaders representing millions of Christian, Muslim and Jewish faithful to discuss practical ways of promoting peace and fraternity at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome Jan. 14-16. Attendees included Cardinal Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue; Shaykh Abdallah Bin Bayyah, president of the Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim Societies; Riccardo di Segni, the chief rabbi of Rome; and the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem and all Palestine. Many peacemaking efforts have failed because they didn’t consider the religious implications of their initiatives, … [Read more...]

(RNS) — For the Rev. Alvin Herring, executive director of the congregation-based organizing network Faith in Action, wearing a clerical collar is about more than appearances. It prepares him for the task of making social change. “I consider this my uniform,” Herring said, gesturing toward his white collar as he addressed the crowd at the Vote Common Good summit in Des Moines, Iowa, earlier this month. “When I’m ready to go to work, or go to war, I put this on.” Specifically, Herring, a pastor from California, says he and his organization are gearing up for work and war — metaphorically speaking — ahead of the 2020 election. Through partnerships with groups such as VCG and a series of organizing initiatives, Herring and Faith in Action — one of the largest faith-based liberal-leaning groups in the country — are hoping to prove that people of faith can make an impact come Election Day. Or, as Herring later told Religion News Service: “The progressive community has to get it straight: … [Read more...]

WASHINGTON (RNS) — President Donald Trump, surrounded by schoolchildren of a variety of faiths, has announced what he called “historic steps to protect the First Amendment right to pray in the public schools.” Within hours of senators being sworn in for Trump’s pending impeachment trial, the president and nine federal agencies on Thursday (Jan. 16) made moves they said would support the rights of religious people, including students who report their freedom to pray has been violated. “In public schools around the country, authorities are stopping students and teachers from praying, sharing their faith or following their religious beliefs,” said Trump, sitting behind the Resolute Desk of the Oval Office in an event carried online via C-SPAN. “It is totally unacceptable. You see it on the football field. You see it so many times where they’re stopped from praying, and we are doing something to stop that.” Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, standing near Trump, said her … [Read more...]

(RNS) — A new LifeWay Research survey of Protestant pastors reveals that most don’t believe they can speed up Christ’s return by supporting geopolitical changes mentioned in the Bible, but most predict the world will enter a period of moral decline before Jesus comes back. According to the poll, which was released on Tuesday (Jan. 14), only 12% of Protestant pastors in the U.S. said they strongly (5%) or somewhat (7%) agree with the idea that Christians can hasten the Second Coming by backing particular international political developments. The survey did not name any specific events sometimes associated with bringing about Christ’s return, such as activities in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. In his 2006 book, "Jerusalem Countdown," televangelist John Hagee described a future situation in which an Israeli or U.S. strike against Iran would set in motion an “inferno (that) will explode across the Middle East, plunging the world toward Armageddon.” Similarly, Texas … [Read more...]

(RNS) — The U.S. Air Force commissioned its first Muslim woman chaplain candidate last month, marking the first time the U.S. military will have a female chaplain of the Islamic faith. Saleha Jabeen became a second lieutenant in a December ceremony at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. “The fact is America is a place where the Constitution guarantees your freedom to embrace or abstain from religious ideals, and the Chaplain Corps, which Jabeen just entered, exists to ensure every Airman has a religious freedom advocate. This is a big day not just for Muslims, but for persons of all faiths,” said Maj. Gen. Steven Schaick, Air Force chief of chaplains, in a statement published on the Air Force’s website on Friday (Jan. 10). “I could not be more proud of our Air Force for being willing to commission and embrace the first female Imam in the Department of Defense.” Jabeen’s path to the chaplaincy has included graduating from North Park University, an evangelical … [Read more...]

(RNS) — The 16 United Methodist bishops and advocacy group leaders who negotiated a recent proposal to split the denomination explained their reasoning at an event held Monday (Jan. 13) that was streamed live by United Methodist News Service. They also forecast dire consequences if the proposal, officially called "A Protocol of Reconciliation and Grace Through Separation," isn’t approved this May by the denomination’s global decision-making body. United Methodist Bishop John Yambasu of Sierra Leone, who first convened the group that led to the negotiations last summer, said a failure of the proposal would be “catastrophic for the church.” “It would be total disaster," Yambasu said. "It would mean more pain and more harm to the entire church.” The unofficial group, which was joined by veteran mediator Kenneth Feinberg, offered a behind-the-scenes look at how they arrived at the proposal, which was announced earlier this month and is now being written into legislation for … [Read more...]