Saturday, March 4, 2023

Holy town in India faces future of 'devastation' – photos

Lead story

Joshimath town is seen along side snow capped mountains, in India's Himalayan mountain state of Uttarakhand.

Editor's note:

Sacred sites around the world – shrines, temples, holy cities, sacred forests – are under threat from climate change, environmental hazards and other human interference. Over the coming months, The Associated Press, Religion News Service and The Conversation U.S. will publish a wide-ranging series of stories about these sacred places and why their future is uncertain. The series launched this week with an AP story from Joshimath, India, a holy city in the Himalayas. For months, residents in Joshimath have seen their homes slowly sinking into unstable topsoil. Several are unlivable. They pleaded for help, but it never arrived. The town has long been a destination for Hindu and Sikh pilgrims. Now its future is at risk as unbridled construction to accommodate visitors and accelerate hydro-electric power projects, coupled with climate change, has exacerbated the sinking of land. Stay tuned for more coverage.

A portrait of David Crary, Religion Team Leader at The Associated Press.
 

Religion News

How big Christian nationalism has come courting in North Idaho

‘If we put God back in Idaho, then God will always protect Idaho‚ amen?’ By Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service

Push for clergy to report abuse stalls in deeply Mormon Utah 

A push to mandate clergy to report child sexual abuse when it's brought to their attention flounders in Utah, where four proposals to narrow the so-called clergy-penitent privilege loophole have not received hearings as lawmakers prepare to adjourn for the year. By Sam Metz/The Associated Press   

The SBC’s Executive Committee announced it had lost $6 million over the past fiscal year, mainly due to the cost of responding to the sex abuse crisis. By Bob Smietana/Religion News Service

Saddleback Church doubles down on support for female pastors

The woman pastor at the center of the Southern Baptist Convention’s decision to oust Saddleback Church — the California megachurch founded by pastor and best-selling author Rick Warren — says she will continue to serve as a ministry leader despite her longstanding ties to the SBC. By Deepa Bharath and Peter Smith/The Associated Press 

A wedding is portrayed in a scene during a dress rehearsal for the opera "A Thousand Splendid Suns," in Seattle.

Seattle Opera puts story of Afghan women center stage

An opera based on the popular novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns," which is set in Afghanistan, is making its world debut in Seattle. Afghan filmmaker Roya Sadat is helping bring it to life, as stage director, at a time when the Taliban have increasingly restricted women's role in Afghanistan. By Mariam Fam/The Associated Press 

 

Commentary and Analysis

Secularization has fascinated sociologists for 200 years – but that doesn't mean they always agree on what it is, or how much it's happening. By Phil Zuckerman for The Conversation

With the Church of England considering gender-neutral language to refer to God, a feminist theologian explains how Christianity has historically recognized many pronouns to refer to the divine. By Annie Selak for The Conversation

Black Muslim Americans make up more than 20% of the Muslim American population, often leading the way for all Muslims in the area of civil activism. By Salima Suswell/Religion News Service

A historian  highlights the role of Frances Willard, who helped found the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, one of the major social movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. By Christopher H. Evans for The Conversation

 
A dancer from Dragoes da Real samba school performs during a carnival parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil. They are wearing brightly colored clothes that blur with motion.

A dancer from the Dragoes da Real samba school performs during a carnival parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

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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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