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Editor's note:
How the pandemic has affected church finances is all over the map. Some are thriving while others are struggling or just scraping by as the global health crisis continues. Surveys and reports show a mixed picture on congregational giving. I teamed up with AP philanthropy reporter Haleluyah Hadero and together we looked at how COVID-19 has hit collection plates and church budgets. One shrinking North Carolina congregation we spoke with is selling its building, and a Baltimore pastor explained why he has given up his salary. The outlook is rosier at one Tennessee church that is making plans in 2022 for a needed renovation.
Religion News
As rabbi was held hostage, interfaith colleagues gathered to help end the standoff
The congregation’s rabbi is particularly well connected to the larger interfaith community and on good terms with many Muslim leaders. By Yonat Shimron/Religion News Service
Bronx fire victims’ funeral draws huge outpouring of grief
The caskets were brought one by one on a winter day, as hundreds of mourners filled a Bronx mosque to bid farewell to those who died trying to escape their smoke-filled apartment building. By Bobby Caina Calvan/The Associated Press
A cold case team has reached what it calls the “most likely scenario” of who betrayed Jewish teenage diarist Anne Frank and her family. By Mike Corder/The Associated Press
Jewish leaders renew antisemitism fight after hostage case
For many Jewish leaders, the hostage standoff in a Texas synagogue was all too familiar. They’ve seen a rise in antisemitism and high-profile synagogue attacks. By Peter Smith/The Associated Press
Red Lip Theology: Candice Benbow’s love letter to Black women in the Black church
Benbow says Black churches have tended to ‘center Black men and their truths and realities at the expense of women and girls.’ By Adelle M. Banks/Religion News Service
Commentary and Analysis
At the request of his editors, one RNS columnist writes about waiting with hostages’ families. By Omar Suleiman/Religion News Service
Myths related to Jewish conspiracies to control the world have long circulated in the US and continue to fuel hatred. By Jonathan D. Sarna for The Conversation
A scholar of democratic virtues explains why Dominican monk Thomas Aquinas' thoughts on hope are relevant today. By Christopher Beem for The Conversation
The Supreme Court will soon hear oral arguments in Shurtleff v. Boston, which raises questions about free speech and religion in public spaces. By Mark Satta for The Conversation
Men unload the bodies of victims of a building fire from a trailer into a funeral home in the Queens borough of New York, Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022. Many of the victims of New York City's deadliest fire in decades are still awaiting burial after funerals began with services for two children killed by Sunday's blaze in a Bronx apartment building. Community leaders have been huddling to make arrangements for the 17 dead. They included eight children. The vast majority of the dead had ties to the West African nation of Gambia. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
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- This Week in Religion is a publication of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative, a collaboration among the Religion News Service, The Associated Press and The Conversation U.S.
- The three news organizations work to improve general understanding and analyze the significance of developments in the world of faith.
