Adelle M. Banks is production editor and a national correspondent at RNS.

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Pence Addresses Southern Baptists Amid Debate

Vice President Mike Pence, projected on video screens, addresses the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual meeting on June 13, 2018, in Dallas. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks

Vice President Mike Pence touted President Trump’s meeting with North Korean President Kim Jong Un in a speech before Southern Baptists and urged their continuing prayers as the administration moves ahead with negotiations to seek peace on the Korean Peninsula.

Amid a #MeToo Culture, Southern Baptists Mull Ways to Increase Women’s Roles

Women greet Dorothy Patterson, seated with hat, before the Tea at 3 women’s event prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Dallas. RNS photo by Adelle M. Banks

In the hallways of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center and in eateries and hotel lobbies nearby, messengers, as delegates to the meeting are known, are having heart-to heart discussions about future possibilities for women in a denomination that walks a “complementarian” line: the belief that women and men are equal before God but have different roles in church and home life.

New Executive Order Aims to Protect Religious Liberty From Government Overreach

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The White House said those working on the initiative will provide policy recommendations from faith-based and community programs on “more effective solutions to poverty” and inform the administration of “any failures of the executive branch to comply with religious liberty protections under law.”

Remembering James Cone

The Rev. James Cone. Image courtesy of Union Theological Seminary

James H. Cone, the scholar known as the “founder of black liberation theology,” died April 28, Union Theological Seminary announced. He was 79.

U.S. Assemblies of God Elects First Woman Executive in More Than a Century

Image via Ricardo Camacho / Ohio Ministry Network

R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, said that the Assemblies of God, founded in 1914, has had a “fascinating history” of women’s leadership, with women leading congregations and speaking from pulpits in its early days and later often finding their roles restricted.

Jimmy Carter on ‘Faith’ and 'Basic Principles That Shouldn’t Be Ever Questioned'

Image via Nir Levy / Shutterstock.com

I just met with the three children of Martin Luther King Jr. on a number of occasions over a two-year period and eventually they decided themselves to resolve their differences, which had existed only in court with lawsuits against each other.

King’s Death Remembered With Pledges to Confront Racism

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“Certainly, ending racism might seem like an aspiration but, like the very first disciples, we followers of Jesus are called to bear witness to something that the world cannot yet believe is possible,” said the Rev. Sharon Watkins, director of the NCC’s Truth and Racial Justice Initiative and the president of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). “We are called to say this can happen. Racism can end.”

As King Anniversary Nears, 3 Memphis Sites Key to His Legacy Draw Visitors

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As tourists move toward Room 306, they can look out a window past the wreath on the balcony across the street to the partially open bathroom window of the boardinghouse from which the assassin’s bullet was released. “Dr. King never uttered a word after being shot,” reads the display in front of the room.

A Faithful Journey: Q&A With Cleophus Smith, a Reverend and a Sanitation Worker

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I understand you’ve been to the White House with active and retired sanitation workers and met President Obama.

It was awesome. We men were invited to the [Map Room] and we went in, talked with the president, shook his hand. He said, “I want to thank you gentlemen for your efforts and your hard work.” He said, “Because if it hadn’t been for you all, I wouldn’t be standing here where I am today.” He said, “I’m standing on y’all’s shoulders.”

Remembering Dr. King’s Last Sermon With Renewed Hope

Image via RNS/ Karen Pulfer Focht

Linwood Dillard and Smith were among the clergy at a rally this past Feb. 24 at historic Clayborn Temple, the church building from which sanitation workers marched 50 years ago with their iconic “I Am a Man” placards. The rally, featuring union leaders and grass-roots activists, was one of dozens held across the country that day. It followed earlier observances of a moment of silence on Feb. 1, in honor of sanitation workers Echol Cole and Robert Walker, on the anniversary of their being crushed to death when their truck’s compactor malfunctioned.

Black Churches Host Screenings of ‘Black Panther’

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Black youth get tired of seeing negative depictions of people of their own race in movies, said Gary, who wore a yellow and brown African dress to the movie showing. “When we found out that this was going to be an epic tale that actually was written by black writers, costumes designed by black costume designers, we were just, like, ‘We have to go see it.'"

Timeline of the Life of Billy Graham

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Evangelist Billy Graham died on Feb. 21. Here is a timeline of his life.

All You Need Is Love ... and a Sermon

How Clergy Are Approaching Valentine's Day + the Beginning of Lent

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“What are we going to do — put this out under the theme, ‘I love you; I’m sorry’?” he said he joked with church members. “But the more I thought about it the more I thought sometimes when something is odd or uncomfortable the best thing to do is to lean into the discomfort.”

Faith Leaders Mark 50th Anniversary of Memphis Sanitation Workers’ Deaths

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“Echol Cole and Robert Walker represented the struggle of working people then, and still do today,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders. “We honor them and the brave men who took on a racist, rigged system and vow to continue fighting for economic justice for all workers.”

Southern Baptist Convention Named in Suit Against Prominent Layman

Image via J. Stephen Conn / Flickr

The plaintiff, now in his 50s, claims he was abused by Pressler, now in his 80s, starting when the plaintiff was around 14. Rollins alleges that the abuse continued when he was hired as a “boy Friday” in the judge’s home office and ended around 2004 when Rollins was rearrested and imprisoned for driving while intoxicated.

Hurricane-Damaged Houses of Worship Can Receive FEMA Aid

Pastor Charles Stoker looks over damage to Hi-Way Tabernacle Assembly of God Church after Hurricane Harvey in Cleveland, Texas. Photo courtesy of Becket Law Firm

After lawsuits and a Supreme Court decision, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has issued a new policy extending disaster relief to churches, synagogues and other congregations.

Blue Christmas: Churches Acknowledge That the Season of Joy Isn’t Always Joyous

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“We’re all born to live, to love and to die,” he said. “Between the birth and the dying the question is what do we make of it?"

Influential Southern Baptist Layman Paul Pressler Subject of Sex Abuse Suit

Image via J. Stephen Conn / Flickr

The legal document also goes into the movement led by Pressler and Patterson starting in 1979 that turned the Southern Baptist Convention in a more conservative direction after deep theological battles. It claims that the movement was focused on power, which the suit called “a key ingredient in the abuse of children and women.”

Mother Emanuel AME Pastor Shows Solidarity with Sutherland Springs

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It is, of course, bringing up memories and exposing old wounds that we thought may have been healed throughout the process of time. It’s thrust several members back into that June 17, 2015, time when everything was kind of just moving very rapidly and having a lot of people experience the sheer raw emotions of having their church violated and having their ministerial staff and loved ones murdered within the sacred walls of the church.

Strong Link Found Between Worship Attendance and Religious Giving

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Overall, giving to religious causes amounted to close to a third of all charitable giving in 2016, Giving USA says. Religious institutions received $122.94 billion that year, or 32 percent of charitable donations. That figure is more than double the amount received by educational institutions, the next highest sector within nonprofits, which garnered $59.77 billion.