Religion News Service - NewBostonPost (Page 2)

muslim

Meet Jewish America’s first ambassador to Muslims

(RNS) — Bob Silverman, a Jew who spent most of his diplomatic career in Muslim-majority nations, will now reach out to Muslims in his own country. The American Jewish Committee recently hired him as its first U.S. director of Muslim-Jewish relations. As a U.S. Foreign Service officer for 27

africa

African Methodists worry about church that brought them Christianity

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Rev. Jerry Kulah has nothing but gratitude for American Methodists. In 1833, they sent their first missionary to his country, Liberia, which was founded for freed American slaves. Melville B. Cox died four months after he arrived in Africa, but the missionary's legacy lives on

islam

Q&A: Meet first Jewish American ambassador to Muslims

Bob Silverman, a Jew who spent most of his diplomatic career in Muslim-majority nations, will now reach out to Muslims in his own country. The American Jewish Committee recently hired him as its first U.S. director of Muslim-Jewish relations. As a U.S. Foreign Service officer for 27 years,

Faith

Study: Congregational diversity leads to church attendance decline

The more mixed the Sunday morning pews are, the fewer people are likely to be in them. That's the primary finding of a new study from Baylor University published in the current Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion.

Catholic

Biden, Boehner receive high Catholic honor

Vice President Joseph Biden stood at the University of Notre Dame's commencement ceremony on Sunday (May 15) with a medal signifying American Catholicism's highest honor slung on a blue velvet rope around his neck. The longtime Democrat turned and looked to former Speaker of the House

Iraq

World Vision president: Treat refugees as guests

Rich Stearns, head of World Vision, the evangelical relief and development group, says Christians should follow a model pioneered by Chaldean churches in Iraq's Kurdistan region in which displaced people are treated as "guests" not refugees. Recently returned from Lebanon and Iraq, Stearns said that Christians

racism

French government battles intolerance with new public relations campaign

PARIS (RNS) — On a sunny spring morning, an 18-year-old college student wrapped a scarf around her head to feel what it would be like to wear a veil. "I felt stressed," said Valentine Cannepyn, who comes from a Christian background and studies at Sciences Po, an elite Paris

Faith

Report: Religious freedom deteriorating around the world

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Religious freedom remains under "serious and sustained assault" around the globe, according to a new annual report from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "At best, in most of the countries we cover, religious freedom conditions have failed to improve," commission chairman