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A humanitarian is criminally charged, Hijabs in women’s rights, LGBTQ culture in Asia, young scientists from Colombia, and more!
Wayuú student shows the solar cell he built in a science workshop at the Ricardo Gomez School in Manaure, La Guajira, Colombia. Photo credit: Daniel López @dlopezphotography
On June 20, a rocket is scheduled to blast off from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, USA, carrying a precious cargo: a solar cell science project from Nestor Epinayu, 16, and his fellow science club members from a small indigenous community in Colombia. More than just a children's science project, solar energy plays a huge role in bringing electricity to this community in La Guajira, on the border with Venezuela.
Opportunity Zone Program: Federal Investment in Low-Income Neighborhoods or a 'Trickle-Down Scheme'?
But, embedded in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zone program does not include mandatory reporting provisions. This means federal agencies will not know where capital flows or about the consequences of spurred development in communities.
Adoption and religious freedom, a moral budget, Muslim persecution in China, intersectionality debates, and more!
Some faith-based adoption agencies have a greater ability to adopt antidiscrimination policies than others; nondenominational agencies like Bethany can often change their policies after winning board approval, while Catholic agencies are beholden to Catholic doctrine on same-sex marriage. Due to the structure of the Catholic Church, Catholic adoption agencies would have to shed their Catholic identity to serve LGBTQ couples — something that St. Vincent would likely have had to do.
Photo by insung yoon on Unsplash
As more states pass laws to legalize commercial gestational surrogacy, which involves paying the surrogate a fee for the pregnancy on top of reimbursing her for medical and living expenses, voices from across the Christian spectrum are speaking out both for and against the practice and exposing a theological rift not just about surrogacy, but about all reproductive technologies available today.
Muslim worshipers kneel for prayer outside of Id Kah Mosque in Kashgar, Xinjiang province western China. Oct. 2, 2008 / Shutterstock
Uighur leaders and experts located outside China have warned that the situation could worsen, and “mass murder” could not be ruled out. With upwards of 10 percent of the Uighurs being held against their will, it is being called the worst and the most neglected humanitarian crisis of the past 10 years. Why is this is happening, and what makes the Chinese government see Muslims as a threat?
U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick arrives for a meeting at the Vatican in 2013. REUTERS/Max Rossi/File Photo
Theodore McCarrick, once one of the most powerful men in the U.S. Catholic hierarchy, was expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood in February after he was found guilty of sexual crimes against minors and adults.
Screenshot via YouTube
A private organization supported by some of President Donald Trump’s most ardent supporters announced Monday that it constructed a short section of border fence over the weekend.
Walrond said she is pleased “to have the opportunity to show all women that there are still many opportunities to be ‘the first.’”
Resurrection of Asian Jesus, resuscitating from the tomb which is full of religious fundamentalism and caste based violence. Artist Rev. Jebasingh Samuvel
Jesus came to liberate people. That’s what Jesus has done in his ministry. When we read Jesus’ parables and quotes in Luke’s gospel, as well as in Matthew, you can find out that Jesus is a social reformer. So that is in the Palestinian context. When we see Jesus as our God, we should contextualize him in our own context, so then we can see Jesus as our God, or else he’ll be a normal human being — like Martin Luther, Martin Luther King — but he is different from other liberators.
Black Millennial faith, bodies in deserts, global religious persecution, climate warriors, and more!
“In a representative democracy, if our legislators are not legislating in accordance with the moral law that we’re given by God, then it’s really on us to select representatives who will legislate in accordance with that law,” she said.
Tim Bowman Jr. and Teddy R. Reeves speak during the #gODTalk session at Something in the Water. Photo by Nalan Smartt, courtesy Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
For nearly a decade, pollsters have been reporting the trend of disaffiliation with the church, particularly among millennials. This shift is playing out in the black church, though the rates of disaffiliation and eschewing overall spirituality are less pronounced. Black millennials are more likely to pray and believe that a higher power exists than other races, but a steady percentage of black millennials are still disengaging — and they are not returning to the church as they age. Instead, they are finding new ways and places where they can be free to stand in their identity.
An Adivasi woman standing at the alleged site of a violent police encounter. Photo by Raksha Kumar
Trying to superimpose Western democratic ideas of a state, electoral democracy, the police, and the criminal justice system onto their societies does not bode well. To add, the protracted conflict has made villagers suspicious of the state security forces, who they already see as violent oppressors.
Memorial for Sandra Bland in Prairie View, the town where she was arrested. Photo by Marjorie Kamys Cotera for The Texas Tribune
The 39-second cellphone video shot by Bland remained in the hands of investigators until the Investigative Network obtained the video once the criminal investigation closed. Bland’s family said they never saw the video before and now call for Texas officials to re-examine the criminal case against the trooper who arrested Bland, which sparked outrage across the country.
In the past the results of shareholder activism with private prisons, at best, have been mixed. A very similar resolution was introduced in 2016; it garnered a mere 24 percent of shareholder votes. But even if the upcoming resolution were to get 50 percent or more of the shareholder votes at the meeting, resolutions are not binding for any private company.
Israel Palacio / Unsplash
The Pentagon said there were 6,053 reports of sexual assaults last year, according to an anonymous, bi-annual survey. It is the highest since the U.S. military began collecting this kind of survey data in 2004.
Father Theodore Hesburgh
The new documentary Hesburgh, which premieres nationwide on Friday, May 3, and is directed by the Emmy-nominated filmmaker Patrick Creadon (Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A.) gives us a thorough look at Father Hesburgh’s walk. From Hesburgh’s origins to his decision to devote his life to the priesthood, to his appointment — at the young age of 35 — as president of the University of Notre Dame, to all the personal, national, and global adversities that the man of the cloth later faced afterward, Hesburgh weaves a beautiful and engaging story of faith lived out.