All posts tagged: Government & Politics

Amid protests at Delaney Hall, a Catholic nun has been offering ‘radical hospitality’

Amid protests at Delaney Hall, a Catholic nun has been offering ‘radical hospitality’

Published by Sam Flores

NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) — For five days, Delaney Hall, an immigrant detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, has been in the news for large and loud protests over conditions inside the facility. After some 300 detainees began a hunger and labor strike over what they said were inhumane conditions, the protests have grown to include members of Congress, such as Sen. Andy Kim and Rep. Robert Menendez, both Democrats from New Jersey.  But for the last year, one woman, Sister Susan Francois, has overseen a “Radical Hospitality” tent outside Delaney Hall, bearing witness and ministering to families and friends visiting detainees. She started coming in May 2025, when there was a major protest over conditions in front of Delaney Hall, and a New Jersey gubernatorial candidate and a member of Congress were arrested. Soon after, Francois started visiting about twice a week and documenting her work on TikTok, hoping to inspire other people to take action and spread hope. Watch a day in her life and the first episode of  “Faith on the Immigration Frontline,” …

Christian nationalists need to look again at their religious DNA

Christian nationalists need to look again at their religious DNA

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — In honor of the 250th birthday, many believers gathered this weekend to celebrate the Christian roots of America. As Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has previously said: “America was founded as a Christian nation. It remains a Christian nation in our DNA, if we can keep it.” The Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, echoed the point by saying the lineup of speakers at Rededicate 250 — most of them evangelical and Christian — is “pretty much a depiction, a screenshot of (America’s) foundation.” Whatever you may think about the role of religion in the public square today, these leaders had better check their religious DNA tests again. The religious ancestors of the modern evangelicals leading the event in Washington, D.C. — not to mention the Catholics and the sole rabbi who also spoke at the rally — were outcasts in 1776. Much of the criticism of the event Sunday (May 17) has been that it conflicts with separation of church and state (and it does). But I want …

Thomas Paine helped start America. In the Trump era, he’s under fire.

Thomas Paine helped start America. In the Trump era, he’s under fire.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., was revving up a crowd of tens of thousands gathered in Philadelphia for the first major No Kings protest last June. His speech, like the demonstration itself, was focused primarily on pushback against President Donald Trump, whom critics such as Raskin likened to a would-be monarch. But after railing against the president, Raskin paused to focus on one of his favorite Founding Fathers: Thomas Paine, an English-born political writer who supercharged the American Revolution with his wildly popular pamphlet “Common Sense” 250 years ago. Noting that he named his own late son after Paine, Raskin recalled the corset-maker-turned-revolutionary’s dream of an America that would operate as “an asylum to humanity.” Paine, he told the crowd, envisioned “a place of refuge for people seeking freedom from religious and political and intellectual and economic repression from around the world” — and then helped spur a revolution to make it a reality. Less than a month later, at the inaugural service of Christ Church DC — a congregation organized by self-described Christian …

Trump and the Supreme Court are undermining democracy. Here’s what voters can do now.

Trump and the Supreme Court are undermining democracy. Here’s what voters can do now.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — President Donald Trump and the U.S. Supreme Court have destroyed decades of progress in American democracy by gutting the Voting Rights Act last week and instituting a gerrymandering war to win more elections in red states. The Democrats have responded by gerrymandering blue states. The result will be fewer Black candidates elected to office and fewer competitive elections where the voters have a real choice between the parties. How did this happen?  Trump knows he and his supporters are going to be in trouble in the November midterm election. The party controlling the White House traditionally loses seats during midterm elections. These losses are greater if the president is unpopular, as is Trump currently. But the losses can only occur in districts that are competitive. It’s very unlikely districts that are overwhelmingly Republican will go blue. So now, Trump and other Republicans are trying to protect their majority in the House of Representatives by asking Republican officials in red states like Texas to redraw the House district lines to find him additional safe Republican …

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Black churches know exactly what to do.

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Black churches know exactly what to do.

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — The U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision on Wednesday (April 29) that struck down a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, making it nearly impossible to challenge racially discriminatory voting maps without proving intentional discrimination. Hours after the ruling, Florida’s Legislature approved a new congressional map, skewed in Republicans’ favor, and many experts are predicting a historic drop in Black representation in Congress — and much longer lines for Black voters.    None of this is surprising. The history of civil rights in America is one in which there is progress followed by retrenchment, expansion followed by restriction.    In 1870, the 15th Amendment promised that the right to vote could not be denied on account of race. Within a generation, that promise was hollowed out by poll taxes, literacy tests and racial terror. Nearly a century later, there was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 — recognizing that discrimination in voting was systemic and required federal oversight of states with histories of disenfranchisement. Black voter registration surged. Representation followed. And then, …

A priest vanished two years ago. South Sudan’s churches say he’s not alone.

A priest vanished two years ago. South Sudan’s churches say he’s not alone.

Published by Sam Flores

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) — Two years ago, a Catholic priest and his driver set out on one of the most dangerous roads in South Sudan and were never seen again. Now​, church leaders in the country say they want to know what happened to the two, and they’re putting a spotlight on the growing number of disappeared in the country.   “It’s ​a question of justice. We want the government to take its responsibility regarding the disappearance of these two. They are not alone; many people have also disappeared,” said Catholic Bishop Eduardo Hiiboro Kussala of the Tombura-Yambio Diocese​ in South Sudan.  The Nagero-Tombura Road in South Sudan is a critical transit corridor that priests and pastors travel to bring the gospel to remote South Sudan communities, such as Western Equatoria. The road cuts through territory where armed men commit deadly robberies, kidnappings and other attacks.   It is on this road that the Rev. Luke Yugue Mbokusa, pastor of the Nazareth Nagero parish, and his driver, Michael Gbeko, disappeared without trace  while traveling from Nagero …

How the sanctuary movement became the faithful’s answer to ICE raids

How the sanctuary movement became the faithful’s answer to ICE raids

Published by Sam Flores

This is the second in a series of articles about faith and protest. (RNS) — In January 2025, President Trump signed an executive order lifting a 14-year ban on enforcing immigration laws at sensitive locations like churches and schools. It was part of a larger crackdown on mass arrests and deportations that instilled fear in immigrants across the country — and galvanized faith communities and leaders, who drew on a tradition stretching back to the Hebrew Bible to protect and advocate for immigrants.  The crackdown reignited tension between the U.S. government and religious communities over immigration that has flared on and off ever since the birth of the “sanctuary movement” in the early 1980s, when churches and synagogues began offering shelter and support for undocumented immigrants, believing they were obeying a higher moral obligation than U.S. laws. Today the movement continues — and is still led by clergy and religious groups — though the focus has shifted from offering physical shelter to providing aid to immigrants too fearful to leave their homes.   The concept of …

A ‘humiliating’ Ramadan inside ICE detention centers

A ‘humiliating’ Ramadan inside ICE detention centers

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — It was early in Ramadan, and a group of Muslim detainees in a Folkston, Georgia, immigrant detention center set up a makeshift dinner table. Using clean trash bags as a tablecloth and prayer mats as seats, they broke their fast on small portions of ramen noodles and brown rice, microwaved with water and sardine sauce, topped with fish and spice packets. “We gathered our leftovers to see what we can put together,” said Yaakub Ira Vijandre, a Muslim Filipino American who has been in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody for five months. Sometimes the guards don’t pass out enough pre-dawn breakfasts, and the detainees share that too. Only by befriending Muslim cooks at the center who share extra food after their shifts does Vijandre feel fed after his 14-hour fast.  The iftar meal that breaks the Ramadan fast is traditionally an occasion for abundance and communal gathering. But Muslim detainees, such as Vijandre, are struggling to observe the holy month with inadequate access to nutritious halal food, no Qurans in their language …