NEWS BRIEFS

LR rabbi protests migrant treatment

Rabbi Barry Block of Temple B'nai Israel was one of approximately 70 rabbis nationwide who made a pilgrimage to the U.S.-Mexico border this week to protest ongoing humanitarian crises involving migrants.

According to a news release from the Central Conference of American Rabbis -- the main Reform Judaism group of the U.S. and Canada -- the group headed toward the border Monday to call attention to migrants staying on the Paso Del Norte Bridge in El Paso, Texas; migrants and refugees in El Paso being released without access to resources; and migrant children being held in a tent city surrounded barbed wire in Tornillo, Texas. The effort by the rabbis was described as "a bold new effort to mobilize faith communities (particularly Jewish faith communities) around the issues of immigrant justice and human rights."

Block said he flew to El Paso on Wednesday, where he represented the Central Conference of American Rabbis at the "Let Our Families Go" pilgrimage.

"American Jews know and have experienced the benefits of a generous immigration policy and the disastrous results of a cruel immigration policy," Block said. "

"... We identify strongly with those who would seek freedom in the land of the free, and we will continue to raise our voices to support them."

-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Floyd stresses unity at meeting

The Rev. Ronnie Floyd, senior pastor of Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, spoke about racial unity and reconciliation on Tuesday at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.

According to a news release, Floyd was a guest speaker at the state's annual baptist convention meeting this week, and went and at the invitation of Marshall Blalock, president of the state Baptist convention and pastor of Charleston's First Baptist Church.

"We need to stop letting our nation define who we are," said Floyd on Tuesday. " ... We are not black churches, we are not not white churches, we are not Latino churches, we are not Asian churches, we are not Native American churches -- we are the church of Jesus Christ."

Floyd prioritized racial reconciliation during his time as head of the Southern Baptist Convention, and has worked with the mostly black National Baptist Convention to build unity, according to the release.

-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

India to reconsider women in temple

NEW DELHI -- India's top court has agreed to re-examine a ruling that lifted a ban on women of menstruating age from entering a Hindu temple after near-constant protests backed by India's ruling party and the main opposition party.

The Press Trust of India reports that the Supreme Court decided Tuesday to review 49 petitions in open court on Jan. 22.

Since the court ruled against the ban on Sept. 28, busloads of female Hindus have traveled through the dense jungle of the Periyar Tiger Reserve in Kerala, India's southernmost state, to enter the hilltop temple. But Hindu priests and throngs of conservative protesters have blocked them from entering.

-- The Associated Press

Church convention in Memphis in '21

MEMPHIS -- The Church of God in Christ says it is moving its Holy Convocation to Memphis, starting in 2021.

The Protestant church known as COGIC said in a statement that its board, its legislative body and Bishop Charles Blake Sr. have voted to hold the convention in Memphis through 2023. It has been held for the last nine years in St. Louis and will be held there next year.

COGIC is headquartered in Memphis. In a statement, Blake said "Memphis has special significance in the spiritual and cultural life of COGIC and we are pleased to return to the place of our origin."

COGIC's website says it is a Pentecostal denomination with about 6.5 million members worldwide.

-- The Associated Press

Religion on 11/17/2018

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