words by Stephanie Simons “There’s something radical about choosing to dress boldly after growing up in an environment that encourages you to blend in.” Fashion has always been my voice. Growing up in a conservative Christian household, where modesty was prioritised over self-expression, I learnt early on to suppress parts of myself. Dressing up wasn’t…
Tibetan spiritual leader says in a new book that his people’s aspiration for freedom cannot be indefinitely delayed. The Dalai Lama has said that his successor will be born in the “free world” outside of China. In a new book released on Tuesday, the 89-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says that he will be…
ROME – Pope Francis had a good night’s rest early Monday after apparently overcoming a setback in his recovery from pneumonia: He is stable, off mechanical ventilation and shows no sign of new infection following a respiratory crisis late last week. “The pope rested well all night,” the Vatican said in its update from Gemelli…
Manal Elfakhani looks back fondly on childhood memories from the month of Ramadan. She would break her fast at the mosque with family and snack on sweet semolina flour cookies that she’s since learned to bake herself. Ramadan is about spiritual reflection and the value of having enough to eat, she said. For about a…
Hamas freed the first five of six Israeli hostages due to be released Saturday even as heightened tension between the adversaries clouded the future of the fragile ceasefire deal. The five included three Israeli men seized while attending the Nova music festival and another abducted while visiting his family in southern Israel when militants stormed across the border…
When people think of a gay man, they often have an image of a coffee-drinking, well-dressed urbanite with a graduate degree who has never darkened the doorway of a church since he came out to his conservative, religious Midwest parents years ago. Like any stereotype, there are probably people who fit it. But with more…
Love is simple, says Reverend Paul Anthony Daniels, because “in its most visceral form,” it boils down to three things: spit, semen, and sweat. Ok, maybe four. Sometimes there is blood. “To share love in that way is so visceral.” I have a confession, I tell Daniels. I have never been in love—not in the…
More than two-dozen Christian and Jewish groups representing millions of Americans — ranging from the Episcopal Church and the Union for Reform Judaism to the Mennonites and Unitarian Universalists — filed a federal court lawsuit Tuesday challenging a Trump administration move giving immigration agents more leeway to make arrests at houses of worship. The lawsuit, filed in…
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — When American Eagle Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, the Midwest city with a proud aviation history was glowing from a big moment. It had just hosted the next generation of Olympic hopefuls at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the kind of major sporting event that leaders of the largest city…
A Michigan priest had his license revoked by the Anglican Catholic Church after he mimicked a straight-arm gesture performed by Elon Musk during a speech earlier this month that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute. Calvin Robinson, who is listed as the priest-in-charge of St. Paul’s Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, performed the…