How Can We Enhance Our Moral Attention Span?
August 3, 2018
I have been making preparations with a neuroscientist for a forum on depression in the context of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). In the course of our preparations, we discussed the need to help care-givers understand that these matters are extremely complex. We all need to increase our attention span on the subject. As a result, statements like “Will yourself to stop being depressed” is not sufficient for addressing psychological and mental health concerns.
Read more from Patheos>>
Trump Considering Reducing US Refugee Cap By Over 40 Percent; Christian Groups React
August 2, 2018
Christian groups are speaking out after a report this week indicates that President Donald Trump is mulling a 40 percent cut to the already historically low limit on refugees being resettled to the United States.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the White House is considering reducing the refugee resettlement cap for the next fiscal year, although the 45,000-refugee cap set by the president for fiscal year 2018 is already the lowest limit set by a president since the passing of the Refugee Act of 1980.
Read more from The Christian Post>>
Some Christian Leaders Criticize Paula White for Saying Jesus Wasn’t an Illegal Refugee
July 13, 2018
Both conservative and left-leaning Christian leaders are speaking out in response to President Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser, Paula White, after she claimed in a recent interview that Jesus as a child refugee was different than refugees crossing into the United States illegally today.
“Maybe there should be a moratorium on Protestants quoting or citing the Bible when discussing border policy or immigration,” Mark Tooley, president of the Washington-based think tank Institute on Religion & Democracy, wrote in a blog post Tuesday. “Whether conservative or liberal, the end result is typically unpleasant.”
Read more from Black Christian News Network One>>
Trump’s Spiritual Adviser: Sure, Jesus Was A Refugee, But He Didn’t Do Anything Illegal
July 11, 2018
In the face of a global refugee crisis, Christians from Pope Francis to American evangelicals have tried to inspire sympathy for people fleeing violence and persecution by pointing out that Jesus himself was once a refugee.
The Christian Gospels suggest that Jesus’ family fled to Egypt shortly after he was born to escape a massacre ordered by a tyrannical king. The family lived in Egypt until the death of that king.
Read more from The World News>>
US Accepts Record-High Percentage of Christian Refugees
June 29, 2018
The United States is accepting an increasingly large share of Christian refugees, primarily from Africa, while the number of total arrivals remains on track for a historic low this fiscal year, federal data show.
With three-quarters of the fiscal year over, and amid massive cuts to the U.S. refugee program under the Trump administration, nearly 68 percent of arriving refugees this fiscal year are Christian — a 16-year high, according to State Department statistics reviewed by VOA. Prior to this year, the highest proportion was in fiscal 2007, at 60 percent.
Read more from VOA News>>
America Loves Refugees, Celebrates World Refugee Day Nationwide
June 25, 2018
In honor of refugees worldwide on Wednesday, June 20, World Relief celebrated World Refugee Day with national and local activities to highlight refugees’ stories and equip Americans to welcome and resettle those newly arrived in their communities. Since 1979, World Relief has helped 300,000 refugees make America their home, and the results were celebrated across the country this week.
Read more from The Buffalo News>>
Latest Immigration Controversy Points to Possible Political Shift Among Evangelicals
June 22, 2018
White evangelical Protestants may be among President Trump’s strongest supporters, but some evangelical leaders have spent the past decade quietly steering the movement away from hardline views on immigration, culminating in their public opposition to Trump’s policy of family separation at the border earlier this month.
One leader credits evangelical opposition with playing a role in Trump’s decision this week to reverse the policy.
Read more from National Catholic Register>>
Pelosi Backs Catholic Bishops in Declaring That ‘Separating Babies From Their Mothers is Immoral’
June 22, 2018
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) on Thursday backed a statement that had been put out earlier by Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which declared that “separating babies from their mothers is immoral.”
Both Pelosi and DiNardo were making the point while, as DiNardo put it in his statement, “condemning the continued use of family separation at the U.S./Mexico border as an implementation of the Administration’s zero tolerance policy.”
Read more from CNS News>>
Southern Baptist Convention Reaffirms Support for Immigrants
June 22, 2018
The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) overwhelmingly passed a resolution affirming its support for immigrants and call for immigration reform during its annual meeting Tuesday.
The resolution highlights the importance of maintaining family unity, the need for a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants with appropriate restitutionary measures, and the importance of secure borders.
Read more from El Lider USA>>
Christian leaders divided on Trump border policy, family separations
June 22, 2018
The images and sounds of the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy flashed across television screens and social media posts: Wailing toddlers flanked by armed Border Patrol agents. Children huddled under foil blankets in detention centers. A seven-minute recording of weeping youngsters crying out “Mami!” and “Papa!”