The Columbian

Churches & Religion

The persistent freezing weather has led to a busy time for warming shelters. The icy conditions also thinned the ranks of volunteers and staff at the shelters.

Clark County shelters, nonprofits stretched to limit by cold

January 20, 2024, 6:05am Churches & Religion

As many people across Clark County struggled to leave home during this week’s icy conditions, people experiencing homelessness desperately sought to get indoors. They overwhelmed warming shelters as freezing temperatures persisted. Read story

A group of nuns in Haiti has been kidnapped. The church is asking for prayers

January 20, 2024, 6:04am Churches & Religion

Six Haitian nuns and two companions were kidnapped at gunpoint Friday in the nation’s capital, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Port-au-Prince confirmed to the Miami Herald. Read story

The U.S. Supreme Court building as seen on Sunday, July 11, 2021, in Washington, D.C. A 2023 SCOTUS decision set the stage for more religious discrimination cases to be filed in the year ahead, experts say.

Why lawsuits over workplace prayer breaks and religious time off might increase this year

January 20, 2024, 6:00am Business

In a lawsuit filed last month, Crystal Kemp, a Jehovah’s Witness, alleged that her employer, SEPTA, the regional transit authority based in Philadelphia, refused to adjust her schedule so she could attend religious meetings on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings. She alleges she was ultimately terminated for refusing to work… Read story

Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli addresses a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024. Ukraine is locked in an existential battle for its survival almost two years into its war with Russia and Western armies and political leaders must drastically change the way they help it fend off invading forces, a top NATO military officer warned on Wednesday.

A Russian border city cancels Orthodox Epiphany events due to the threat of Ukrainian attacks

January 18, 2024, 8:48am Churches & Religion

A Russian city near the Ukrainian border canceled its traditional Orthodox Epiphany festivities on Friday due to the threat of attacks as Kyiv’s forces pursue a new strategy with the war approaching its two-year milestone. Read story

Shelby Ruch-Teegarden, center, of Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary, joins other protesters Feb. 26, 2019, during the United Methodist Church’s special session of the general conference in St. Louis.

LGBTQ inclusion divides Christian churches

January 13, 2024, 5:58am Churches & Religion

Catholics around the world are sharply divided by the Vatican’s recent declaration giving priests more leeway to bless same-sex couples. Supporters of LGBTQ inclusion welcome the move; some conservative bishops assail the new policy as a betrayal of the church’s condemnation of sexual relations between gay or lesbian partners. Read story

Newly elected Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, right, receives his biretta from Pope Francis on Sept. 30, as he is elevated in St. Peter’s Square at The Vatican.

Vatican’s doctrine chief’s book alarms

January 13, 2024, 5:16am Churches & Religion

The Vatican’s new doctrine chief, who is already under fire from entire bishops conferences for his approval of blessings for same-sex couples, is now raising eyebrows over a book he wrote as a young priest describing orgasms in graphic terms. Read story

Tukwila church tries to keep asylum-seekers warm with little help

January 12, 2024, 7:40am Churches & Religion

A large group of asylum-seekers are set to be left outside in record-breaking cold temperatures by local and state agencies. Read story

FILE - Cardinal Fridolin Among Besungu receives the red three-cornered biretta hat from Pope Francis during a consistory inside St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican, Oct. 5, 2019. In the greatest rebuke of Pope Francis yet, the Catholic hierarchy of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday, Jan.

Africa’s Catholic hierarchy refuses same-sex blessings, says such unions are contrary to God’s will

January 11, 2024, 3:14pm Churches & Religion

In the greatest rebuke yet to Pope Francis, the Catholic bishops of Africa and Madagascar issued a unified statement Thursday refusing to follow his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples and asserting that such unions are “contrary to the will of God.” Read story

FILE - Hasidic Jewish students sit behind a breach in the wall of a synagogue that led to a tunnel dug by the students, Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, in New York.

FACT FOCUS: Discovery of a tunnel at a Chabad synagogue spurs false claims and conspiracy theories

January 11, 2024, 11:24am Churches & Religion

News of a brawl between police and worshippers on Monday over a secret underground tunnel found connected to a historic Brooklyn synagogue was picked up quickly on social media, with posts spreading baseless claims about the passage, many laced with antisemitism. Read story