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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Weekly Wrap 4.19.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Holy Week, cults, spring healing, prison abolition, and more!
Weekly Wrap 4.12.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Nielsen’s role in family separation, Islamophobia in Brazil and in the past, friends officiating weddings, and more!
Weekly Wrap 4.5.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Buttigieg and the Religious Right, God as mother, oceans drowning in plastic, Jesus in trap music, and more!
Weekly Wrap 3.29.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Jordan Peele, youth leading on climate change, reauthorizing VAWA, faith and fear amid gun culture, and more!
Weekly Wrap 3.22.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
New Zealand reflections, churches tackling affordable housing, harassment in housing, the diverse Texas legislature, and more!
Weekly Wrap 3.15.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
The resurgent Sanctuary Movement, becoming a peace church, sex education, newsroom diversity, and more!
Weekly Wrap 3.8.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Women shaping church, post-purity culture, Colombian scientists, Captain Marvel, and more!
Weekly Wrap 3.1.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
United Methodist vote causes pain, ancient resistance for women’s history month, anger is contagious, grace amid cancel culture, and more!
United Methodists Pass 'Traditional Plan' Strengthening LGBTQ Restrictions
Photo by Karl Fredrickson on Unsplash
The decision-making body of the United Methodist Church on Tuesday voted to clarify and strengthen the restrictions on LGBTQ members, in a plan that many observers say is unconstitutional. The Traditional Plan passed by a vote of 438-384.
Weekly Wrap 2.22.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
United Methodists decide their future, Southern Baptists respond to sex abuse report, church aid at the Venezuela-Colombia border, history of the public library, and more!
Southern Baptist Convention Announces Call to Action on Sexual Abuse
Shutterstock.
The announcement follows a stunning report on hundreds of sexual abuse and misconduct cases in the Southern Baptist Church.
Weekly Wrap 2.15.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Parkland anniversary, sexual abuse and reformation, prisoners of hope, urban agriculture, deconstruction, and more!
US Supreme Court Denies Request for Imam's Presence During Execution
Light from the setting sun shines on the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., Jan. 20, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
A Muslim man was executed in Alabama on Thursday, as originally scheduled, after the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 to allow the execution, denying his request for an imam's presence in the execution chamber.
Attorneys for Domineque Ray, 42, had argued that Alabama's execution policy favored Christian inmates because a chaplain is allowed in the room, often kneeling next to the death row prisoner, and praying with the inmate if requested.
Weekly Wrap 2.8.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
The Catholic Right, state of the union, Sandra Cisneros, blackface, problems with “Religious Left,” and more!
Pope Francis Acknowledges Longstanding Sexual Abuse of Nuns
Image via Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
He pointed out that this is not a new problem, confirming that the Catholic Church knew about the abuses against nuns even if the public did not.
Weekly Wrap 2.1.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Polar vortex, global warming, assimilation, Kirk Franklin, women leading churches, Democratic Socialism’s biblical values, and more!
Shutdown Deal Reached to Reopen Government for Three Weeks
At the end of a stormy day, the setting sun breaks through the clouds to illuminate the White House in Washington, D.C. Jan. 24, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Speaking from the White House Rose Garden on Friday, President Trump announced that a deal had been reached to temporarily end the partial government shutdown.
U.S. to Start Sending Asylum Seekers to Mexico on Friday
Migrants from Central America are seen escorted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials after crossing the border from Mexico. Dec. 3, 2018. REUTERS/Jose Luis Gonzalez
The U.S. government will return the first group of migrants seeking asylum in the United States to the Mexican border city of Tijuana on Friday, U.S. and Mexican officials said, marking the start of a major policy shift by the Trump administration.
The policy, dubbed the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) and first announced on Dec. 20, will return migrants, including non-Mexicans, who cross the U.S. southern border back to wait in Mexico while their asylum requests are processed in U.S. immigration courts.
Weekly Wrap 1.25.19: The 10 Best Stories You Missed This Week
Americans’ global warming concerns, Roma’s Yalitza Aparacio, clergy abuse survivors, Catholic curricula and Native Americans, sex robots, and more!
SCOTUS' Inaction on DACA Undercuts Trump's Shutdown Proposal
DACA supporters hold signs during the Women's March rally in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 21, 2018. REUTERS/Steve Marcus/File Photo
The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily closed the door on President Donald Trump's effort to end protections for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants with the justices again silent on Tuesday on three related appeals.
With the lower court’s ruling against the administration and the high court not yet taking action, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program remains in place for now, essentially maintaining the status quo for current DACA recipients. DACA protects about 700,000 immigrants, often called "Dreamers" based on the name of the Dream Act legislation that failed to pass Congress, from deportation and provides them work permits, though not a path to citizenship.