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Firefighters work near a church destroyed in the Palisades Fire, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 10, 2025. REUTERS/David Ryder
As images from the cataclysmic firestorms engulfing Los Angeles County emerged, one word came up consistently in the captions: apocalyptic. The devastating effects of unusually wet winters followed by record-dry foliage and the incendiary whip of Santa Ana winds created the conditions for what Sammy Roth, the Los Angeles Times’ climate columnist, called “apocalyptic infernos.” But for faith and justice leaders in LA, the fires were apocalyptic in another way.
Palestinians react as they wait for news of a ceasefire deal with Israel, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Jan. 15, 2025. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Israel and Hamas agreed to a deal to halt fighting in Gaza and exchange Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, an official briefed on the deal told Reuters on Wednesday, opening the way to a possible end to a 15-month war that has upended the Middle East.
Wisconsin resident Derrick Simonson walks into the Central Assembly of God church polling place to vote in the Presidential primary election in Douglas County in Superior, Wisc., April 2, 2024. REUTERS/Erica Dischino
As countless Christians have expressed their disappointment with the results of the presidential election, many have heard in response platitudes such as “God is still on the throne” or “God is not Republican or Democrat.” Zach Lambert has heard those messages before. But as lead pastor of Restore Austin, he and his Texas team took a different approach. Instead of trying to “turn eyes heavenward,” his team worked to remind their church that God was with them in their grief and struggle.
A person walks, as people vote in the 2024 presidential election, on Election Day, at Church of Heavenly Rest in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City, Nov. 5, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
During the 2024 August primary election, a Detroit man called the Election Protection Hotline to report an accessibility issue at a polling location. The man, who had a mobility disability, went to vote at a church in the city where he was met with a flight of stairs but no ramp. He was forced to get out of his wheelchair and climb the stairs on his hands and knees before he could cast his vote.
Pope Francis meets with the Italian pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago cared for by the Don Guanella organization at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Dec. 19, 2024. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane
An Israeli government minister criticized Pope Francis on Friday for suggesting the international community should study whether Israel’s military offensive in Gaza constitutes a genocide of the Palestinian people.
A person is arrested, briefly detained, and subsequently released after a group of protestors block the entrance to the lobby of the Center City office of Sen. Bob Casey, in Philadelphia, on Oct. 10, 2018. The group gathers in support of undocumented immigrant Carmela Apolonio Hernandez and daughter Keyri Artillero Apolonio, 14, after they left their sanctuary church to occupy the Senators office. Photo by Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Reuters.
After news broke Wednesday that President-elect Donald Trump planned to nix a policy discouraging immigration arrests in places like churches and schools, Indiana pastor Zach Szmara fielded questions from churches across the country about how to prepare.
Supporters of legal abortion rights gathered in Freedom Plaza and marched to the White House on Jan. 20, 2024. Robyn Stevens Brody/Sipa USA via Reuters
Megan Boyd wasn’t surprised when she first heard her child Daisy describe the phrase “your body, my choice” being used at school. Saddened, yes. Disappointed, absolutely. But for Boyd, the surge in misogynistic rhetoric following the election was just another sign of a growing boldness she’d seen in her New Hampshire town.
A still from a video of Loyola Marymount University’s campus at sunset. Courtesy LMU media relations.
Last year, Sammi Mrowka, a graduate student at San Diego State University who is nonbinary and transgender, completed the legal process for changing their name and gender marker on IDs. Mrowka, who uses “he” and “they” pronouns, participated in a name and gender marker change clinic run by law students at the University of San Diego, who helped him fill out the paperwork.
A sidewalk Santa rings his bell on 5th Avenue as people gathered on the streets of New York to do their last minute shopping Dec. 24, 2001. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
In my favorite home video ever, it’s 2020 and my kids are opening their Christmas morning gifts while wearing new ski jackets, even though it was 75 degrees in South Texas, where we live. My son’s 4-year-old hands are still pudgy, and he hasn’t learned to glide his “l” sounds yet, so his raspy morning voice is extra adorable. As he unwraps his gifts, he shouts and cheers and stares at some Power Rangers in adoration.
Jesuit Father Patrick Hyland celebrates Mass at Hospice Divina Providencia where Saint Óscar Romero was murdered on March 24, 1980, while celebrating Mass. Photo by Jorge Palacios, Jr., courtesy Ignatian Solidarity Network.
When Ryan Medina stepped off the plane in San Salvador, capital city of El Salvador, he felt the thrill of being in a new country. He was eager to meet the fellow pilgrims he’d only known online and excited about the journey ahead. But as their van left the bustling city streets and began the drive to the gravesite of four U.S. churchwomen, the atmosphere shifted.
“I realized we were quite literally retracing the same route these women took after they were picked up from the airport on the night they were ambushed and killed,” said Medina, a teacher at Loyola Blakefield High School near Baltimore, Md.
A supporter of President Donald Trump holds a crucifix during a “Stop the Steal” protest after the 2020 U.S. presidential election in Phoenix on Nov. 11, 2020. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart
For faith activists and leaders committed to continuing their work to oppose and resist Christian nationalism, President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House is disappointing but not a sign of total defeat. Ahead of Inauguration Day, many activists are continuing their coalition-building efforts and sounding the alarm on specific policies they believe Trump may sign executive orders on, day one in office.
Mike Huckabee looks on as Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump reacts during a campaign event at the Drexelbrook Catering and Event Center, in Drexel Hill, Penn., Oct. 29, 2024. Trump, now President-elect, has said will nominate Huckabee as U.S. ambassador to Israel. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
An evangelical Christian, Huckabee has been a vocal supporter of Israel throughout his political career and a longtime defender of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. A former Republican presidential hopeful, Huckabee hosted a weekly Fox News TV show for six years ending in 2015.
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby looks on as he speaks with the press after a visit to the grave of Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero, during a visit to El Salvador, at The Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador, El Salvador, June 4, 2024. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas
Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby resigned “in sorrow” on Tuesday, saying he had failed to ensure there was a proper investigation into allegations of abuse by a volunteer at Christian summer camps decades ago.
Doors to a church in Raleigh, N.C. Photo by D Guest Smith / Alamy via Reuters Connect
Rev. Jes Kast started planning for the Sunday after the election in midsummer, before her three-month sabbatical. She’d timed her leave intentionally, wanting to return to her congregation well-rested, right before one of most contentious elections in U.S. history. “I had a sense in my spirit that this next phase in ministering, whatever the outcome of the election, would require me to be as spiritually grounded as possible,” said Kast, who pastors Faith United Church of Christ in State College, Pa.
A barricade with the word “Stop” stands in front of the White House, after President-elect Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election, in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6, 2024. REUTERS/Hannah McKay
Trump’s campaign was marked by racist and misogynistic rhetoric, promises of authoritarian tactics including dramatic expansion of executive power and retribution for his political rivals, as well as policies that appealed to the anxieties of conservative religious communities, especially Christians.
As faith and justice leaders absorbed the news of a second Trump term, many pointed to the importance of fostering and caring for self and neighbor while figuring out what to do over the next four years.
President-elect Donald Trump takes the stage in West Palm Beach, Fla., following results from the 2024 U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6, 2024. REUTERS/Callaghan O'Hare TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
President-elect Trump, according to the Associated Press, has won the White House. He won the election in part by courting conservative religious communities — and appealing to their anxieties — on the campaign trail. His policy agenda will likely be shaped by these groups, influencing the White House on a range of issues from education to reproductive rights.
President Joe Biden gestures during a performance, at Gila Crossing Community School in Gila River Indian Community, Ariz., on Oct. 25, 2024. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
“This to me is one of the most consequential things I’ve ever had an opportunity to do in my whole career,” Biden said in his apology at an outdoor football and track field in Laveen Village, Arizona, near Phoenix. “It’s a sin on our soul. ... I formally apologize.”
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the vice president’s residence at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., Oct. 23, 2024. REUTERS/Bonnie Cash
In an interview with NBC’s Hallie Jackson on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris suggested she would not make concessions for religious exemptions on abortion laws, one of her strongest allusions yet to where she plans to take the abortion debate if she wins the White House in November.
A pack of birth control pills is displayed in this illustration picture taken in Philadelphia, Penn., July 11, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah Beier
The Biden administration's proposal to require private insurance agencies to cover certain over-the-counter contraceptives is getting nods of approval from faith-based reproductive rights advocates. But it’s unclear how other religious groups will respond.
Abortion stories presented on a quilt from Catholics for Choice. The quilt was brought to Vatican City in hopes to persuade Pope Francis and other Catholic officials to rethink their approach on abortion. Courtesy Catholics for Choice.
Early in the morning on Oct. 3, reproductive choice advocacy group Catholics for Choice unfurled a 50-foot long, 41-pound quilt on the road leading to St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City. Their words, written in bold, large letters across the bottom of the quilt summed up their message: “POPE FRANCIS, LISTEN.”