The online editorial staff comprises Betsy Shirley, Jenna Barnett, Josiah R. Daniels, Mitchell Atencio, Heather Brady, Kierra Bennning, and Zachary Lee.

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5 Wheaton College Football Players Facing Charges for Battery, Mob Action Against Teammate

by the Web Editors 09-19-2017

Image via rchdj10/Flickr

DuPage County Judge Joseph Bugos signed arrest warrants and set $50,000 bonds against the players — James Cooksey, Kyler Kregel, Benjamin Pettway, Noah Spielman and Samuel TeBos — late Monday afternoon. Prosecutors charged the athletes with aggravated battery, mob action, and unlawful restraint.

Ex-St. Louis Police Officer Acquitted of Murdering Anthony Lamar Smith

by the Web Editors 09-15-2017

Jason Stockley, an ex-St.Louis police officer pictured in this police handout photo obtained by Reuters August 10, 2017. Harris County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

"I’m sad, I’m hurt, I’m mad,” the Reverend Clinton Stancil of the Wayman AME Church in St. Louis said by telephone. “But this was expected. We haven’t made any progress since Ferguson, that’s clear. Cops can still kill us with impunity."

Weekly Wrap 9.15.17: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

by the Web Editors 09-15-2017

1. Americans Have Given Up on Public School. That’s a Mistake.

“Unfortunately, the current debate’s focus on individual rights and choices has distracted many politicians and policy makers from a key stakeholder: our nation as a whole. As a result, a cynicism has taken root that suggests there is no hope for public education. This is demonstrably false. It’s also dangerous.”

Faith Leaders Wash the Feet of DACA Recipients, Pray Outside Paul Ryan’s Office

by the Web Editors 09-13-2017

Photo by Jessica Cobian / Sojourners

In a pointed message to lawmakers in the aftermath of President Donald Trump’s decision to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, a group of faith leaders gathered at the U.S. Capitol Building to wash the feet of DACA recipients and rally in favor of the Dream Act.

Pope Francis: Rescinding DACA Is Not ‘Pro-Life’

by the Web Editors 09-12-2017

Image via Shutterstock.com/Martin Podzorny 

"The President of the United States presents himself as pro-life and if he is a good pro-lifer, he understands that family is the cradle of life and its unity must be protected."

Weekly Wrap 9.8.17: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

by the Web Editors 09-08-2017

4. Houston Flooding Always Hits Poor, Non-White Neighborhoods Hardest

“You’re talking about a perfect storm of pollution, environmental racism, and health risks that are probably not going to be measured and assessed until decades later.”

DeVos Vows to Revamp Obama-era School Sexual Assault Policy

by the Web Editors 09-07-2017

Image via a katz / Shutterstock.com

She said the Obama- era directives were created with good intentions, but good intentions in this case are not enough. Her vision, she said, is to return to a system that prioritizes due process rights for students that are accused in an attempt to uncover “the whole truth.”

 

More Than 150 Faith Leaders Call for Denouncing White Supremacy

by the Web Editors 09-05-2017

Image via Christopher Penler / Shutterstock.com

"Our faith is rooted in the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and his teachings claim authority in life and in death.
We reject as false doctrine any other claim on our lives—whether contrived of state or reason—that violates Jesus’ ethic of the equal and inestimable dignity of all people, each created in the very image of God and as such equally created with the divine call and capacity to sustain, protect, and serve the world."

Attorney General Jeff Sessions Announces End to DACA Program

by the Web Editors 09-05-2017

FILE PHOTO: Attorney General Jeff Sessions speaks at a briefing on leaks of classified material threatening national security at the Justice Department in Washington, Aug. 4, 2017. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

As expected, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced today the administration is ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that protects from deportation about 800,000 young immigrants who were brought to the country as children.

‘It Was By the Grace of God’: DACA Recipient Turned Missionary Shares His Story

by the Web Editors 09-05-2017

Gabe Salguero, president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, is urging evangelicals to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which has given about 800,000 young immigrants protection from deportation. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is set to announce the end of the program with a six-month delay.

Wrap Weekly Wrap 9.1.17: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

by the Web Editors 09-01-2017

1. Here Are Ways You Can Help People Affected by Hurricane Harvey

Texas Monthly offers a comprehensive list.

Trump Expected to Rescind DACA

by the Web Editors 08-31-2017

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in Springfield, Missouri, U.S., August 30, 2017. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Trump received pressure from many conservatives: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and nine other state attorneys general threatened to sue the administration if he didn’t announce an end to the program by Sept. 5, next week. Trump has not been clear about a decision, but during his campaign promised to terminate the program along with all other immigration executive orders by President Obama

Thousands of Christians Respond to Nashville Statement with Emphatic ‘No’

by the Web Editors 08-31-2017

On Tuesday, a group of 150 Evangelical leaders representing the Council of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood released a document called the “Nashville Statement,” which delineates their conservative theological position on human sexuality and gender. The statement not only condemns those who are bisexual, lesbian, gay, and transgender, but also anyone who supports them — claiming that agreeing to disagree on human sexuality is sinful in itself.

Though little in the document is new, the response from countless other Christians — ranging from evangelicals to progressives — has been swift and emphatic.

ICE Officials Leave 50 Women and Children at Bus Station in Face of Hurricane Harvey

by the Web Editors 08-28-2017

A family walks through flood waters in Houston, Texas. Image via Adrees Latif/Reuters.

The women and children, fleeing violence in Central America, were asylum seekers and had been cleared to travel to meet families throughout the United States. Many had no money, and spoke no English.

Weekly Wrap 8.25.17: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

by the Web Editors 08-25-2017

1. Northeast D.C. Gets a New Mural Honoring the Workers Who Built the Lincoln Memorial Statue
The mural features the African-American men who quarried the stones that built to memorial.

2. I’m a Historical Curator. Removing Confederate Statues Isn’t Erasing History.
He works to contextualize a statue of Jefferson Davis at a Southern University. Here, Ben Wright knocks down each of the arguments being made for keeping Confederate statues one by one.

Faith Activists Call on Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Council to Step Down

by the Web Editors 08-21-2017
Trump speaks to a gathered audience before an American flag backdrop.

In the wake of the white supremacist rally and subsequent violence in Charlottesville, VA last week, faith activists are calling upon members of the president’s Evangelical Advisory Council to resign. " The Resistance Prays " — a daily newsletter which describes itself as “fueling the resistance to Trumpism” — has created and disseminated a spreadsheet with contact information for each member of the advisory council, encouraging people to contact council members directly. Meanwhile, Donald Scherschligt — a California-based faith activist and graphic designer — has organized a petition which is being shared widely and rapidly gaining signatures.

Jerry Falwell Jr.: Trump ‘Says What’s in His Heart, What He Believes’

by the Web Editors 08-20-2017

Amid calls for President Donald Trump's evangelical advisers to step down from his Evangelical Advisory Board in the wake of the president's statements on last weekend's events in Charlottesville, one of those advisers, Jerry Falwell Jr., went on ABC's This Week to defend Trump and explain why he still supports him.

Weekly Wrap 8.18.17: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week

by the Web Editors 08-18-2017

1. What Trump Gets Wrong About Confederate Statues in One Chart

There are two peaks in the timelines of Confederate statue installations across the country. Guess what the two time periods have in common.

2. Young Immigrants at Risk as Sept. 5 Deadline Looms

An Obama-era executive action allowed 800,000 young undocumented immigrants to register with the government, get work permits, and avoid deportation. Now 10 state attorneys general are threatening to sue the Trump administration if he doesn’t cancel the program by Sept. 5.

‘Secret’ Candlelight Vigil in Charlottesville Draws Massive Crowd

by the Web Editors 08-17-2017

A Charlottesville vigil reading of "Still I Rise," by Maya Angelou. Image via Rick Stillings/Flickr.

 Chanting "love wins" and singing hymns and songs, the vigil attendees in Charlottesville held small candles in a striking visual rebuke to the torches that swept through just days earlier.

More Than 350 Christian Ethicists Release Statement Condemning White Supremacy

by the Web Editors 08-16-2017

Photo by Heather Wilson (@aNomadPhotog) / Dust & Light Photo 

"White supremacy and racism deny the dignity of each human being revealed through the Incarnation. The evil of white supremacy and racism must be brought face-to-face before the figure of Jesus Christ, who cannot be confined to any one culture or nationality. Through faith we proclaim that God the Creator is the origin of all human persons. In the words of Frederick Douglass, “Between the Christianity of this land and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference."