Lead story
Editor's note:
Celebrating a communal festival is already perilous when your city is being bombed. On top of that, Ukrainian Jews are dealing with a crippling food shortage, particularly with specialty foods like matzah, an unleavened flatbread which is indispensable at the Passover dinner table. The AP Religion Team's Deepa Bharath talked to global Jewish organizations including Chabad, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Center and the Jewish Federations of North America, which are helping refugees putting together ritual Passover dinners or Seders in war-torn regions in Ukraine, as well as in other parts of Europe and Israel. She spoke with a doctor from Dnipro whose family had sought refuge in Vienna, where they plan to celebrate Passover. He said the celebration will be the closest thing his three children would have had to a community event since they fled Ukraine in early March.
Religion News
Jains celebrate the founder of their small but ancient faith
A contemporary of the Buddha, Mahavir preached his own way of nonviolence, or ahimsa. By Kalpana Jain/Religion News Service
The Passover meal has already made room for vegan entrees. Next up? Cell-based meat
In recent years, many Jews have passed over the brisket, chicken, chopped liver and even the gefilte fish. How will they take to cell-cultured meat? By Yonat Shimron/Religion News Service
A lay committee looking into historic child sex abuse in the Portuguese Catholic Church says it has it received witness statements from 290 alleged victims in its first three months of work. Cases involve children as young as two years old. By Barry Hatton/The Associated Press
3 churches in Ukraine contemplate faith, hope and charity
It’s almost Easter in Ukraine, where a trio of churches on the far edges of the capital have faith, hope and charity to consider. By Cara Anna/The Associated Press
Pastors sue AME Church over missing retirement funds
Retired pastors have filed at least two federal lawsuits in recent weeks against the African Methodist Episcopal Church along with several subsidiaries and financial firms the church used, alleging tens of millions of dollars from a pension fund were mismanaged and missing. By Mike Schneider/The Associated Press
Commentary and Analysis
A folklorist explains the prehistoric origins of the mythical Easter Bunny and why this longstanding cultural symbol keeps returning each spring. By Tok Thompson for The Conversation
Originally a spring harvest festival, Baisakhi acquired religious significance after the10th Sikh guru created the Khalsa, a distinctive Sikh identity, on this day. By Simranjit Khalsa for The Conversation
Christians cannot understand the Eucharist unless they understand the Jewish Passover. By Thomas Reese/Religion News Service
A collaboration between advertiser Joseph Jacobs and the famous coffee company produced the classic U.S. haggadah. The book sets out the ceremony for the Seder meal. By Kerri Steinberg for The Conversation
In Southeast Asia, Songkran is a time to celebrate the coming year with water fights, honoring elders and offering prayers. By Andrew Alan Johnson for The Conversation
Students perform a noon prayer during the first day of the holy fasting month of Ramadan at Ar-Raudlatul Hasanah Islamic Boarding School in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Sunday, April 3, 2022. Muslims around the world are observing Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, where they refrain from eating, drinking, and smoking from dawn to dusk. (AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara)
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- This Week in Religion is a publication of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative, a collaboration among the Religion News Service, The Associated Press and The Conversation U.S.
- The three news organizations work to improve general understanding and analyze the significance of developments in the world of faith.
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