Christian leaders and organizations condemned the killing of nine African-American men and women at the Bible study of a Charleston church this week, acknowledging the "sin of racism" in America, even as more than 4,000 residents and leaders of different faiths came together for a vigil in the shaken city.
Is racism a sin? And if so, who must repent? A panel of faith leaders met Thursday evening at Northland, A Church Distributed in Longwood to tackle these and other weighty issues, during a discussion about the role religion can play in improving race relations in Central Florida and beyond.
Pope Francis' increasingly powerful statements on global warming highlight that climate action is becoming a growing moral imperative for all people of faith. Why? Because climate action is about saving people. The pope's highly anticipated encyclical will come after a long history of the Christian community pushing for climate action.
As pockets of East and West Baltimore erupted in flames and riot on Monday night over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray who died on April 19 after suffering serious injury while in police custody, a diverse coalition of Christian leaders from across the country gathered at First Baptist Orlando church in Florida Tuesday to discuss ways in which the church can intervene and prevent these eruptions before they even start.
Sanford and Ocoee have tried what other cities only talk about: bridging the divide between black and white. In 1999, Ocoee created its West Orange Racial Reconciliation Task Force. In 2012, black and white pastors formed Sanford Pastors Connecting following the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.
In an Altamonte Springs movie theater, several hundred members of black and white churches gathered together to watch the movie "Selma." Afterward, pastors led a discussion of the movie. "Most of the blacks wanted to express their feelings about how they felt about it.
WASHINGTON (RNS) Beheadings, enslavement, kidnappings and rape plague minority religious communities across the Middle East, and it's time for President Obama to fill a job created to address their plight, a group of prominent evangelicals, scholars and other religious leaders told the White House.
Central Florida faith leaders have signed letters to Florida lawmakers urging the state legislature and Gov. Rick Scott to expand health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of Floridians who can not afford insurance.
Last September 40,000 people attended London's largest ever climate march. This was a big achievement for an issue that struggles to catch people's attention. After all, as psychologists point out, it is notoriously hard to mobilise people around issues that are invisible, uncertain, set in the future and require them to make sacrifices.
Dr. Hunter served as senior pastor of Northland Church in Longwood, Florida for 32 years. In 2017 he transitioned from that role on a mission to “go from my best interpretation of what the Bible says to my best imitation of how Jesus lived.” In 2018, Orlando Magazine listed him as the #1 most powerful voice for philanthropy and community engagement. And 2019 was his sixth year to be highlighted as one of Orlando's "50 Most Powerful." Now, Dr. Hunter serves as Pastor of Community Benefit at ACTION CHURCH. He is the chairman, of the CENTRAL FLORIDA PLEDGE campaign. Daily, Dr. Hunter can be heard on Z88.3 radio sharing one-minute devotionals that encourage listeners “Let’s go help somebody!”
