On Wednesday (Aug. 26), RNS Reporter Jack Jenkins attended a rally held by faith leaders to support the city’s large Haitian community in Salisbury, Maryland, where the loss of federal immigration protections has left many residents fearful of deportation. Prominent activist the Rev. William Barber joined local clergy and dozens of advocates outside a county building, urging officials to resist the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. “If a church is not standing with immigrants that are being terrorized, then it ought to take the name church off and put ‘club’ on the side,” Barber told the crowd. Haitians make up about 10% of Salisbury’s roughly 33,000 residents, many of whom previously held Temporary Protected Status, or TPS. The Trump administration’s move to end TPS for hundreds of thousands of Haitians has left families facing the possibility of deportation to a country where gang violence has displaced some 1.5 million people. This week armed men in Haiti kidnapped 50 people and killed at least 47, including 22 inside a church compound where they had sought shelter. Pastor Roosevelt Toussaint said the fear of deportation is already reshaping his congregation in Salisbury. “My people enclosed themselves in their house,” he said. “They’re so afraid to go out.” Top Stories | SALISBURY, Md. (RNS) — 'When I go to their house, they have to make sure it's me before they even go to the door,' Pastor Jean-Daniel Berard, who leads Passionate LightHouse of God, said of his church members. 'The fear is real.' |
 | (RNS) — The activist Catholic priest spent about six weeks removed from his parish before an independent review found the latest allegation to be unsubstantiated. |
 | (FāVS News) — The Bible-based curriculum, which officials said is open to all regardless of faith, takes children out of class during the school day for religious education. |
Opinion | (RNS) — The answer shouldn't please church-state separationists. |
 | (RNS) — RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will visit New York on Saturday (Aug. 29) to talk about “oneness.” What India is owed is not a lecture on harmony but an apology. |
 | (RNS) — It was not just a moment in Israel's formative history. It was not just a ship. It is a dark memory, and it has something to teach us. |
ICYMI | (RNS) — Country music icon Dolly Parton, who died Tuesday, credited her faith for her career, which crossed religions, races and politics — and the philanthropy that followed. |
 | PALO ALTO, Calif. (RNS) — A group of parents of various faiths sued Palo Alto Unified School District over a 2025 school trip to a mosque, claiming students were gifted Qurans and female students were encouraged to wear hijabs. |
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