Religion News Service – Jana Riess

• Rabbis to forgo annual High Holy Days call with president over Charlottesville remarks August 23, 2017
  (RNS) — Rabbis deemed President Trump's Charlottesville statement "so lacking in moral leadership and empathy for the victims of racial and religious hatred that we cannot organize such a call this year."
  Kimberly Winston
• Did the solar eclipse create an image of the cross in the heavens? Nope. August 23, 2017
  (RNS) — Snopes, the online fact-checking organization, ruled the image 'fauxtography' and slapped it with its most negative ruling: 'FALSE' in bright red capital letters.
  Kimberly Winston
• Enlisting SpongeBob and ‘Game of Thrones’ to counter anti-Sikh prejudice August 23, 2017
  (RNS) — 'I'm obsessed with Star Wars,' says a turbaned man who appears in one of the videos that are part of the 'We Are Sikhs' media campaign.
  Adelle M. Banks
• ‘Blood and Faith’: A new book links white nationalists to Christianity August 23, 2017
  (RNS) — A new book traces how white nationalists have cherry-picked Scripture to craft their exclusive ideology.
  Kimberly Winston
• Post-Charlottesville, evangelicals sticking with Trump August 23, 2017
  As are his Jewish supporters.
  Mark Silk
• Why are Jewish celebrities silent about Charlottesville? August 23, 2017
  (RNS) — The Piano Man's yellow star was a good start. We need famous Jews to be activists against hate.
  Jeffrey Salkin
• New book addresses congregational learning August 23, 2017
  In How Your Congregation Learns: The Learning Journey from Challenge to Achievement, Center for Congregations president Tim Shapiro introduces churches and leaders—both lay and clergy—to the process of the learning journey. By understanding learning dynamics and working to become a learning community, congregational leaders are able to move more purposefully to achieve their goals.
  Religion News LLC
• With bathroom bill dead, Texas pastors’ council looks to future fights August 23, 2017
  Founded in 2003 as a group of Houston-area pastors, the Texas Pastor Council has grown into a burgeoning statewide apparatus with eyes on someday becoming a nationwide force.
  Andy Duehren
• Why is sexuality such a big deal for the church? August 22, 2017
  (RNS) — Why do these conflicts — over same-sex marriage, transgender people and the ordination of openly gay people — keep popping up in Christianity?
  Emily McFarlan Miller
• On Confederate statues and other graven images August 22, 2017
  (RNS) — 'Idolatry is counter to any religious idea worth its weight in salt. We Jews have a name for the tearing down of images that amplify and idolize racist hatred, anti-Semitism or bigotry of any kind. ... We call it: Judaism,' writes Rabbi Aaron Alexander.
  Aaron Alexander