The Rev. William Barber recently spoke with The Post and Courier during a recent visit to North Charleston. He reflected on King's legacy and explored themes of race, religion, poverty and politics.
In a bid to solidify his evangelical base, President Donald Trump vowed to protect prayer in public schools and took new steps to give religious organizations easier access to federal programs.
On Sunday evening, the local Jewish community, joined by other religious and political leaders, said enough was enough — not just to a recent increase in anti-Semitic attacks, but to South Carolina's status as one of just four states without hate crime legislation.
Pundits on both the left and right spew hate. Our columnist calls on people of faith to turn off their TVs and start talking to each other.
The Gathering may have ended, but faith leaders feel that it demonstrated what true racial reconciliation looks like, while also pointing out the challenges with merging two distinctly different cultures.
SLED's investigation into millions of dollars sent to Emanuel AME Church after the 2015 massacre involved five interviews and one emailed statement.
Amid a potential denominational split aimed at resolving the church's divide over LGBTQ rights, United Methodist Church leaders in South Carolina are issuing calls for prayer and are urging members to engage in meaningful discussions around controversial topics.
God knows our important stats. He knows how many resolutions we’ve failed to complete. He knows how many of his passes we’ve missed. He knows how many times we’ve fumbled the ball. He knows all of this and yet he still loves us.
Summerville author Cheryl Oliver has kept alive the memory of her daughter, Jennifer Castor, who at age 28 was killed by a drunken driver in a hit-and-run.
Summerville author Cheryl Oliver has kept alive the memory of her daughter, Jennifer Castor, who at age 28 was killed by a drunken driver in a hit-and-run.
United Methodist Church leaders from around the world and across ideological divides unveiled a plan Friday for a new conservative denomination that would split from the rest of the church in an attempt to resolve a yearslong dispute over gay marriage and gay clergy.
By the 12th day of Christmas, your true love probably has thrown out the Fraser fir.
The chaplain offers some family and life updates.
I suppose yuletide emotions can differ between person and place, but it occurred to me that there may be a reason that I experience the Christmas spirit best between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.
Dec. 8 marked 190 years since Sisters of Charity of Our Lady of Mercy, one of the first permanent religious congregations of women in the nation, was founded in Charleston.
Recruiting new talent is perpetually on the minds of college football coaches, and Swinney, who will lead Clemson against Ohio State in the Dec. 28 Fiesta Bowl, has struck a chord with prospects who come from strong Christian backgrounds.
In the midst of medical uncertainty, the family rekindled and celebrated their own truths. The ritual helped them navigate the harsh maze of medicine and restored meaning to their world.
In an age marked by acts of violence against minority faith groups and schools, the new head of school is striving to make Addlestone Hebrew Academy more community-focused while maintaining a safe environment where children receive a high-quality education and gain a deep appreciation for Jewish culture.
The church conducted a reverse offering where, across its 13 physical campuses, church leaders had put $30,000 into 5,500 envelopes. Members were instructed not to give the money back to the church or spend it on themselves, but to instead conduct a spontaneous act of kindness.
“When you’re 20 years old,” he said, “and you start fishing bodies out of the harbor, you don’t last very long. It’s a part of the war that I can hardly talk about because these guys had tried to swim in burning water to get to shore."
It’s no secret that the Christian church in America is hemorrhaging members at an alarming rate.
Today, I say a big “thank you” to those who’ve made this column possible for the past 18 years. Yes, it’s time for a Beatles quote: “I get by with a little help from my friends.”
Hundreds of LGBTQ residents in the tri-county region fear they'll lose their jobs over their sexual orientation, lack access to quality and informed healthcare, and have been physically and verbally attacked in public, according to a recent survey released by a local advocacy group.
Months after responding to the mass shooting, the Rev. Edinson De Arco finds himself in another city impacted by senseless gun violence.
This won’t be my usual inspirational column. It’s about my brother who is dying one brain cell at a time.
It’s a dilemma people have when they assume there are only two explanations for unanswered prayer. They either believe there’s something wrong with their faith or there is something wrong with them.
It's rare that a mafia boss can leave the violent life of crime and live to tell the story. But that's what happened with Michael Franzese, a former member of a notorious New York mafia family, who abandoned crime for Christ.
The "Lights of Magnolia" installation would include Chinese figures, including dragons and foo dogs, but also figures that represented the flora and fauna of Magnolia Plantation, such as peacocks and camellias.
How could I tell my wife that I wanted to go to Iraq to fathom the sorrow that had become my job to understand, not just regret? More than that, I wanted to tell families that I had seen how their loved ones handled the act of dying.
Ahead of the 18th annual Charleston Leadership's Prayer Breakfast on Nov. 19, readers recount the power of prayer in their own lives.
Emanuel AME Church recently donated more than 50 boxes worth of correspondences it received following the 2015 church shooting to the S.C. Historical Society, which will preserve them for survivors, researchers and others.
We feel safer living in a California community that implements “fire-wise” practices in spite of living with a few inconveniences like my jammed electric recliner and no TV to watch.
THE POWER WORSHIPPERS: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism. By Katherine Stewart. Bloomsbury. 326 pages. $28.
After former Vice President Joe Biden was refused communion at a South Carolina Catholic church, Charleston area faith leaders reacted to the incident, pointing to the different ways denominations engage in one of Christianity's holiest practices.
The annual gathering of university gospel choirs aims to draw students closer to God while also offering courses on finances, mental health and stress management.
“If you’re not planning to live, you are planning to die.”
The Charleston Leadership Foundation’s 18th annual prayer breakfast on Nov. 19 will feature keynote speaker Michael Franzese, who walked away from a life of organized crime.
My doubts used to worry me a bit, but as I’ve aged I’ve come to see those doubts as an honest wrestling match, the kind of struggle that sharpens my wit, keeps my mind open and builds my spiritual strength.
Fifty years since a monumental uprising helped spark the modern LGBTQ civil rights movement, members of the Charleston area faith community say there's still work to be done.
Norris Burkes revisits his first column for a newspaper on Oct. 11, 2001, in response to the terror attacks of Sept. 11.
Thousands of Clemson students participate each year in worship services and mission trips organized by the university's Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter.
Charleston-based choral ensemble The King's Counterpoint specializes in early music and sacred music.
For the longest time, I assumed that anyone born in my decade is “too young to die.” I made that assumption in my 20s and I’ll probably feel the same way 20 years in the future.
A new Charleston church hopes to illustrate there are many millennials who want to experience God through age-old sacraments, songs and traditions.
Instead of looking at the sin everywhere, I started searching for genuineness.
The Taylor Festival Choir, led by its founder Rob Taylor, will open its 2019-20 season with a concert titled "Oktoberfest in Song: Bach and Brahms, Beer and Brats."
It was founded by local business leaders who were determined, as the end of WWII neared, to not let Charleston "slide back into the obscurity" as it did after World War I, said Hugh Lane Jr., whose father, Hugh Lane Sr., served as one of the founders.
Seminole warrior Osceola ended up in prison on Sullivan's Island, where he died at age 34 in 1838.
If you knew what you were going to die from, would that change the way you live?
Serving as the synagogue's sexton, Dessaure has worked at Emanu-El as long as the building itself existed.
A collection of audio tapes and other material includes speeches by Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy and Ku Klux Klan Grand Dragon Robert Scoggin.
At 10:22 a.m., the exact time of the bombing in Birmingham, a bell will toll to honor the four victims: Addie Mae Collins, 14, Denise McNair, 11, Carole Robertson, 14, and Cynthia Wesley, 14.
I’m a chaplain who doesn’t always like to go to church. Truthfully, some churches make me uncomfortable.
