Tag Archives: Prayer

A tense day of protests and prayers in New York City on Oct. 7 anniversary

Smashed windows, red paint and graffiti discovered spray-painted on the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

Important Takeaways:

  • In the largest planned pro-Palestinian action of the day, protesters are expected to march through Manhattan, from Wall Street to Columbus Circle
  • A vigil to remember those killed and missing in last year’s Hamas attack on Oct. 7 will come within blocks of a pro-Palestinian march Monday night.
  • NYPD officials are planning to keep both groups separate in what is expected to be the culmination of a tense day of protests and prayers.
  • Smashed windows, red paint and graffiti including “divest now” was discovered spray-painted on the CUNY Advanced Science Research Center on the City College of New York campus in Hamilton Heights on Monday morning.
  • At Columbia University, access is limited to ID holders in an effort to keep out outside agitators.
  • More walkouts are expected in the afternoon, with both students and faculty from CUNY and city public schools gathering at Washington Square Park, to join the larger protest marching north.
  • Blocks away in Central Park, a candle lighting ceremony with members of the Jewish community will remember those killed, with music and prayer
  • Police officials say they are most concerned about the protest in Times Square, and the pro-Israeli prayer vigil in Central Park.

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Society moving away from traditional Church in exchange for “Spiritual but not Religious”

loss-of-trust-in-religious-institutions-1024x585

Important Takeaways:

  • Church attendance has gone down a lot in the U.S. over the past ten years. More people say they don’t belong to any religion.
  • Western Europe is now very secular, with non-practicing Christians being more common than church-goers.
  • The way people think about religion and spirituality is changing. Less people trust organized religion.
  • The number of Americans who never go to church went up from 23% in 2014 to 31% in 2023.
  • But, a lot of adults still believe in God or something similar. Many also believe in spiritual things like angels, heaven, and prayer.
  • Protestantism and Catholicism have seen fewer people in their ranks, too. The Protestant population went from 51% to 43% between 2009 and 2019. Catholics dropped from 23% to 20%4. But atheists and agnostics have seen a slight increase in the same time period4.
  • Church membership is dropping every year. For the first time in over 80 years, it fell below 50% in 2020. In 1947, a high of 76% was recorded, but by 2021, only 47% of Americans were still members
  • Rise of the “Spiritual but Not Religious” Population
    • Many oppose strong religious views against LGBTQ+ communities and are alarmed by abuse scandals in religious bodies9
    • A wish for spiritual communities that are more welcoming and up-to-date
    • More exposure to different spiritual views through the internet and other technologies
  • Millennials and Gen Z stand out as the least connected to religion. Gen Z, especially, shows this with 34% not claiming any religious affiliation. This is higher than millennials at 29% and Generation X at 25%. Also, 18% of Gen Z considers themselves atheist or agnostic, much more than older generations
  • In the last decade, trust in religious groups has shrank. This is due to many scandals and arguments about what they teach. People are now questioning if these organizations are truly honest and needed in their lives.
  • Confidence in many major groups, like the church, has fallen. From 2004 to 2003, it dropped from 43% to 26%16. Even in 2023, this trust was only 32%. This is a big drop from the 60% right after 9/11 in 200116.
  • Trust has fallen across different groups, like age and political beliefs. Younger Americans, aged 18-34, show the least trust in the church at 24%. This is less than the 55+ group at 35%16.
  • For churches to cope with changes, they need to get creative. They should focus on spiritual growth and reaching out to their communities. Using digital platforms can help. It’s also important for them to tackle social issues. This way, churches can be strong and keep playing an important role for the believers. Changing to meet the new demands and preferences of their members is key. This will help them build a space that supports spiritual growth and makes strong community ties, even as things change. Through these changes, faith communities can become more welcoming, more united, and ready to meet the spiritual needs of new generations.

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Power of Prayer: St. Louis carjacker surprised when victim begins praying. Police say thief just walked away

Man-with-Ax

Important Takeaways:

  • ‘God Is Good’: Prayer Saves Man from Axe-Wielding Carjacker in St. Louis
  • A St. Louis man did something unexpected when he found himself in a dangerous situation on October 18.
  • Police say his decision to pray and not let fear overtake him resulted in an axe-wielding suspect leaving him alone after an attempted carjacking in the city’s downtown area on North Seventh Street, KMOV reported Sunday.
  • Social media users were quick to comment on the story, one person writing, “Amen God is good. ALL DAY EVERYDAY.”
  • “The power of prayer, and faith!” another user exclaimed
  • [The Suspect] was charged with first-degree attempted robbery and felony robbery regarding two unrelated incidents.

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Pikes Peak erupts with blizzard causing whiteout conditions

Pikes Peak June Blizzard

Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

Important Takeaways:

  • June blizzard atop Pikes Peak becomes terrifying 4-hours for Colorado ranger: ‘A day I’ll never forget’
  • A blizzard Monday at the summit of America’s Mountain will be a day one Colorado ranger says he will never forget.
  • “One of the most stressful days I’ve had at work in a long time,” said ranger Stephen “Pete” Peterson, who captured footage of whiteout conditions in June on Pikes Peak near Colorado Springs. “A day I’ll never forget!”
  • Peterson arrived at the 14,000-foot summit at noon and then, “BAM!” he detailed in a post on social media.
  • “A major storm erupts, and we’re in blizzard conditions within minutes,” he said as the storm forced evacuations due to the heavy snow and winds topping 50 mph. “We had 20-30 cars up on and near summit who were all leaving just as the blizzard arrived.”
  • Peterson said the conditions worsened to the point where all the drivers had to stop because the roads were icing up with no visibility.
  • According to Peterson, they got a break in storm about 45 minutes after he and three other rangers gathered in prayer in the midst of the storm.

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UK Parliament rules against Prayer near abortion clinics, yes even silent ones

Matthew 5:10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Important Takeaways:

  • UK Bans Prayers Near Abortion Clinics, Even Silent Ones: ‘When Did It Become Against the Law to Pray?’
  • In a 297-110 vote, members of Parliament backed an amendment to the Government’s Public Order Bill that would outlaw the offering of prayer and advice to women outside of abortion clinics
  • A person caught praying outside an abortion clinic in England can now face up to six months in prison–even if they pray silently.
  • The U.K. has already taken steps to implement censorship zones that prohibit someone from using a mic to audibly pray and recite scripture outside of a clinic or kneel 500 feet outside a facility, according to the Christian Initiative.
  • MP Fiona Bruce. “But when did it become against the law in this country to pray? Well, unfortunately, five councils have now defined protests as including the word ‘prayer.’ Indeed, during the course of court proceedings, this has even been confirmed as including ‘silent prayer.'”

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Washington state High School Coach vindicated by Supreme Court ruling in favor of his right to pray

Exodus 18:21 “Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

Important Takeaways:

  • Supreme Court Upholds Religious Rights, Vindicates Football Coach Who Was Fired for Praying
  • “SCOTUS sides with a high school football coach in a First Amendment case about prayer at the 50-yard-line. In a 6-3 ruling, SCOTUS says the public school district violated the coach’s free speech and free exercise rights when it barred him from praying on the field after games.”
  • Coach Joe Kennedy has been battling the Bremerton School District since 2015. The district claimed that his actions violated the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

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Ukrainian-American Pastor has been released. Friends and family say he won’t leave his flock

Revelations 6:3-4 “ when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

Important Takeaways:

  • Family Says Ukrainian-American Pastor Taken by Russian Forces Has Been Freed: ‘Prayer Does Make a Difference’
  • A Ukrainian-American pastor who was reportedly taken captive from his home by Russian forces on March 19 has been freed, according to his family.
  • Dmitry’s family has still not been able to speak directly with him since they found out about his release. All internet and cell services have been disrupted in the Russian-held city of Melitopol.
  • Pastor Otis Gillaspie of Open Door Church in Burleson, Texas is a friend of the Bodyu’s. Said “He won’t leave his people, his flock,” Gillaspie said. “He feels a mandate from God to do what God has told him to do, no matter what is happening around him.”

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One city ‘ready to explode’ as U.S. murder rates surge in pandemic

By Nathan Layne

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (Reuters) – Elijah Ross stood watch last Friday by the candles, flowers, liquor bottles and balloons at a memorial for his 31-year-old friend, Eric Ruise, among the latest victims of a murder spree gripping the city of Rochester, New York.

It had been two days since Ruise was gunned down in a barrage of bullets, from multiple shooters, outside a pharmacy. Ruise had been recently released from prison. He had committed, Ross said, to be a better father to his 10-year-old daughter, Jumyria.

“It makes no sense,” said Ross, 34, adding that no witnesses have stepped forward in the “broad daylight” murder. “This is the streets, the ‘hood.”

As Ross spoke, Jumyria’s mother picked up litter around the makeshift memorial. Such tributes have become a common sight in the poorer neighborhoods of Rochester, a city of 206,000 people in the northwestern part of the state. And the bloodshed in Rochester reflects a wave of violence in cities nationwide since last year.

With 34 homicides already this year, Rochester is on pace for a record-high 70 murders in 2021 – a per-capita rate that exceeds Chicago, one of America’s most violent large cities. Among cities with fewer than 500,000 people, Rochester saw the third-largest jump in its per-capita rate during the 12 months ending in April, according to americanviolence.org, a crime-mapping website led by Patrick Sharkey, a Princeton University sociology professor. Only New Orleans and Oakland saw bigger increases.

The rising violence in Rochester and nationally came as the coronavirus pandemic caused an economic crisis and the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police last summer ignited nationwide protests and undermined relations between police and communities.

The per-capita murder rate climbed 30 percent in 2020 among 34 major cities surveyed by Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri in St. Louis. Murders in New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago accounted for 40 percent of the 1,268 additional people killed in 2020, compared to the previous year, in the cities Rosenfeld studied.

In the first quarter of 2021, the research showed, the murder rate had declined from a peak the previous summer but was still up 24 percent over the first quarter of 2020. U.S. President Joe Biden pledged on Wednesday to go after the “merchants of death” who traffic illegal guns and to boost funding for local law enforcement nationwide.

The factors driving the violence are complex. Economic shocks such as the pandemic often spark a rise in crime. And some criminologists believe the national uprising over police killings of Black people, including Floyd, made residents of high-crime areas even less likely to assist police investigations, exacerbating a longstanding problem and emboldening violent criminals.

Rosenfeld said murders in the cities he studied peaked last summer as protests over Floyd’s killing raged and police departments nationwide came under intense public scrutiny. He believes, however, that this summer will be less deadly and noted that violent crime rates still remain well below a peak in the 1990s.

That’s little comfort right now in Rochester, where murders are still on the rise. Malik Evans, who this week defeated incumbent Mayor Lovely Warren in the Democratic primary, made combating gun violence a central campaign theme. In the heavily Democratic city, Evans is all but assured of winning the Nov. 2 general election.

Evans said the murder surge reflects rising problems with drug trafficking, criminal gangs and illegal firearms during the pandemic. While campaigning, he proposed naming a gun czar to work with federal officials to address the smuggling of guns into New York. He pointed to a 2016 state attorney general’s study that concluded three-fourths of seized guns came from other states.

“It’s a combustible fire that is getting ready to explode when you put all those things together,” Evans told Reuters shortly before his primary election victory, during a tour of Genesee Street, a thoroughfare and the site of many recent shootings.

The Rochester Police Department did not respond to questions about the causes of the rising homicide rate and its strategies to address the violence. The city’s police union, the Rochester Police Locust Club, said the department has only 12 investigators to pursue murder cases. Police data show that about two-thirds of this year’s cases remain open and unsolved.

‘PANDORA’S BOX’

Christopher Wood, 18, left a corner convenience store on June 12, walking with a 13-year-old boy down Genesee Street when they were both shot. Wood died. His companion, who has not been identified, survived.

Rochester Police have not disclosed any suspects or motives. The shooting illustrates troubling trends: Of the 186 shooting victims so far in 2021, nearly half were 25 years old or younger, and 90 percent were Black, police data show.

Wood’s sister, Shamarla Grice, told Reuters her brother had been devastated by the death of their mother in August from COVID-19. Afterward, he started hanging out with “older guys that were probably in gangs.”

Demond Meeks, a state lawmaker representing Rochester, said the city needs to provide better jobs for young people and to educate parents on signs that their children are involved with gangs.

“We do know that there is gang violence,” Meeks said at a gathering of 20 anti-violence advocates in a local park on June 16, following the Ruise shooting. “We have to come to grips with that.”

During the two-hour meeting, members of nonprofit organizations proposed violence prevention strategies including conflict-resolution training in schools and door-to-door canvassing in troubled neighborhoods. One man discussed his “Men Made Better” program to engage with young men through chess.

Midway through the meeting, Wanda Ridgeway of the nonprofit Rise Up Rochester slapped the table in disgust. She had just gotten a call about another shooting.

“I’m tired of our kids going around killing each other,” said John Rouse, 53, at the meeting. “It’s like Pandora’s box is open, and chaos is everywhere.”

‘WORSE THAN EVER’

Many community advocates in Rochester have called for better police protection while also demanding more accountability for police misconduct. It’s a delicate balance: Some worry efforts to rein in rogue officers may have the unintended consequences of restraining legitimate police work and empowering violent criminals.

The Ruise shooting occurred a few blocks from where Daniel Prude had an altercation with police in March 2020. Prude, who is Black, stopped breathing at the scene. He was revived but died a week later at a hospital.

The incident ignited protests and led to the resignation of Rochester’s police chief. Police body-camera footage released months later shows Prude naked and facedown in the street. Officers put a hood over his head after Prude, apparently suffering a mental crisis, said he had contracted COVID-19.

A grand jury earlier this year voted not to indict the officers involved. The outpouring of anger over the incident has sparked new efforts to combat police misconduct, including a $5 million city grant to hire 50 employees to investigate allegations against officers.

Rochester police did not respond to questions about efforts to prevent police misconduct.

Many community leaders cheered the extra scrutiny on the department. Clay Harris isn’t among them. He’s the founder of Uniting and Healing Through Hope of Monroe County, a local advocacy group focusing on violence. He said he’d rather see that $5 million spent on more officers to fight violent crime, which he attributes to a breakdown of families and an abandonment of Christian faith.

“They are not the problem,” said Harris, who is Black, of the city’s police force. “We are the problem as citizens.”

One evening last week, Retha Rogers and other members of anti-violence groups toured the neighborhood where her son was fatally shot in 2009.

“Every time that I hear that someone has been shot, it brings back memories of my son, and my heart goes out to the mothers,” Rogers said as she handed out flyers seeking information about her son, Michael Washington, Jr. “It’s worse than ever.”

At about the time Rogers’ group ended its meeting in prayer, police rushed to the scene of yet another murder across town. Brandon McClary, 22, had been gunned down by multiple shooters on Genesee Street.

(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Rochester, New York; additional reporting by Hussein Waaile and Lindsay DeDario in Rochester; editing by Brian Thevenot)

Protective gear, cellphone, video chats: How America’s clergy minister to COVID-19 patients

By Rich McKay

(Reuters) – Reverend Manuel Dorantes closed his eyes, took a breath to calm his fear and prayed when word came that Cardinal Blase Joseph Cupich had put out a call for volunteers.

Cupich, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago, needed two dozen young priests to take on the sacred duty of administering the last rites to those dying from the new and highly contagious coronavirus.

For the priests, like doctors, nurses and other frontline workers, it means putting their lives at risk to care for the sick in hospitals.

“I know the consequences,” said Dorantes, 36. “We are called to do this.”

Throughout history, priests and other clergy have risked their lives ministering to the dying through population-decimating plagues and on the battlefields of wars.

But in the face of COVID-19, which has killed more than 150,000 people worldwide and about 33,000 in the United States, the Vatican last month waived the requirement for in-person worship and sacraments, including a special dispensation for believers who cannot receive the last rites.

Many faiths and denominations in America have taken similar unprecedented actions, as the coronavirus has upended one of the most sacred duties of clergy of most major faiths – ministering to the dying and comforting the bereaved.

The disease has forced clergy to rely on technology. Cell phones or iPads are held at the bedsides of very ill patients by nurses and orderlies.

During funerals, they preach to empty pews during services shared using sites such as Zoom and FaceTime. Graveside prayers can be attended by the barest few, sometimes just three mourners.

For clergy, this is the new normal, said United Methodist Bishop Thomas Bickerton, a member of the denomination’s ruling council of bishops, which has halted in-person worship services.

JUMP SUITS AND MASKS

Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner, head rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in Closter, New Jersey, said many hospitals won’t allow bedside visits by anyone, including clergy.

“We don’t even bother to ask,” said Kirshner, 46, who leads a conservative congregation of about 800 families. “It’s too dangerous.”

But the rabbi asks nurses or orderlies to hold an iPad so patients can see it. They then pray together. “It’s very, very important that we at least offer that.”

Some burials that under Jewish tradition should be held within a day have to wait a week or more, the rabbi said, in places where cemeteries and funeral homes are beyond capacity.

One Muslim imam said many funeral homes in the United States are no longer allowing the Islamic ritual of washing the body before burial, for fear of spreading the disease.

“For the family it’s tough because they cannot mourn the same,” Daoud Nassimi, an imam in Washington D.C., told the online publication Middle East Eye.

About 3 million Americans identify as members of the Episcopalian Church, which is largely relying on video chats and phone calls by priests to make that last connection with those on the brink of death, according to Reverend Lorenzo Librija of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.

A few weeks ago, he came up with a plan to organize the effort. It is called “Dial-a-Priest” and is aimed at helping people who do not have a relationship with a local church, but still want to receive the last rites.

“We picked that name because it’s easy to remember and easy to Google,” said Librija.

His group has about 100 retired ministers who have volunteered to man telephones around the clock, ready to give the ritual ministration of death from the Book of Common Prayer.

The Archdiocese of Chicago, with its 24-member last rites team, is one of the few places in the nation where in-person visits to patients near death have continued in hospitals.

Dorantes, pastor of Chicago’s Saint Mary of the Lake parish, said he has conducted several bedside rituals since he volunteered in late March.

He and the other priests don protective jump suits and N95 respirator masks. Wearing gloves, they take a dab of blessed oil and make the sign of the cross on the patient’s forehead and hands using a Q-tip.

“Laying on of hands and anointing, this is the sacrament of the church, a visible sign of invisible grace,” he said. “I could see it in their eyes, incredible moments of grace.”

(Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

Prayer in schools, New Guidance from the White House to Protect Students’ Rights

Folded hands over Bible.

By Kami Klein

Prayer in schools is a hot button topic but receives very little attention from mainstream media. Last week on National Religious Freedom Day this issue received the White House’s full attention when President Trump announced that it is taking action to further safeguard students’ constitutionally protected right to pray in school.

In 1962 the Supreme Court ruled that leading public prayer in classrooms violated a First Amendment clause forbidding the establishment of a government religion. Contrary to popular myth, the Supreme Court has never outlawed “prayer in schools.” Students are free to pray alone or in groups, as long as such prayers are not disruptive and do not infringe upon the rights of others. But this right “to engage in voluntary prayer does not include the right to have a captive audience listen or to compel other students to participate.” (This is the language supported by a broad range of civil liberties and religious groups in a joint statement of current law.)

In a White House article, The Department of Education has said that it is proposing additional regulations and guidance, including a regulation laying out that “a public institution of higher education cannot deny a religious student group the same benefits, privileges and rights that other secular student groups have.” With the updated guidance on prayer in public schools, the department will also be “fulfilling a statutory requirement to issue guidance on constitutionally protected prayer in public elementary and secondary schools.” This guidance is required to be updated every two years but hasn’t been updated since 2003. The guidance will now spell out processes for reporting allegations of religious discrimination in schools to the department.

Foremost on the guidance are requirements giving education providers and students the most current information concerning prayer in public schools. This update will help safeguard students’ rights to prayer, making clear that students can read religious books and material or pray during recess and other non-instructional periods, organize prayer groups, and express their religious beliefs in their assignments.

Local educational agencies must confirm that their policies do not prevent or interfere with the constitutionally-protected rights outlined in the guidance in order to receive Federal funds This new action will also help improve individuals’ ability to file a complaint if they are denied participation in protected religious expression.

To ensure that the Nation’s religious organizations are treated equally by the Federal government the administration is also issuing nine proposed rules to protect religious organizations from unfair and unequal treatment by the Federal government. The proposed rules would eliminate burdensome requirements that unfairly imposed unique regulatory burdens only on religious organizations.

Federal agencies will also be receiving a memo requiring them to safeguard grantmaking practices of state recipients of Federal funding to comply with the First Amendment to ensure religious organizations can compete on a level playing field for funding without discrimination.

During his first year in office, President Trump signed an Executive Order upholding religious liberty and the right to engage in religious speech as well as signing an Executive Order recognizing the essential contributions of faith-based organizations and establishing the Faith and Opportunity Initiative.

Last year, President Trump hosted a Global Call to Protect Religious Freedom event at the United Nations and called on the international community and business leaders to work to protect religious freedom around the world.

Resources:  CNN, White House Government briefing , Freedom Forum Institute , Voice of America