Weekly religion news roundup (March 13-19, 2026)
Photograph by Utsav Srestha via Unsplash
Hannah Estifanos
Died: John M. Perkins, Who Lived and Preached Racial Reconciliation. John M. Perkins, a bold evangelical voice who proclaimed the gospel against racism, died on Friday at the age of 95. (Christianity Today)
Religious leaders condemn Michigan synagogue attack – but moving forward together tricky. Jewish and Arab American leaders decry violence at Temple Israel, but US-Israel war on Iran complicates healing. (The Guardian)
Pope highlights plight of vulnerable adults in abuse and meets with top Opus Dei critic. Pope Leo XIV indicated growing concern Monday with the next frontier in combatting abuses in the Catholic Church, highlighting the plight of “vulnerable” adults and meeting with an investigative journalist who uncovered alleged abuses in the powerful Opus Dei movement. (Associated Press)
Chavismo faces split among evangelical Christian political allies in Venezuela. Once hailed by evangelical Christian leaders of different stripes for his support of their churches, Venezuela’s former President Nicolás Maduro, currently awaiting trial in a Brooklyn jail along with his wife, Cilia Flores, has apparently lost most of his Christian backers in his native country. (Religion News Service)
Pakistan and Afghanistan agree to temporary Eid al-Fitr ‘pause’ in conflict. Pakistan and Afghanistan have agreed to a temporary “pause” in hostilities during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr this week, officials said, amid weeks of deadly violence between the neighboring countries. (Al Jazeera)
Each week in The Christian Citizen, we publish a Religion News Roundup with summaries of religion news stories and links for those who want to read more.
Arkansas Ten Commandments law ruled unconstitutional. An Arkansas law requiring Ten Commandments displays in all public-school classrooms is unconstitutional because its sole intent is to convert students to Christianity, a federal court has ruled. (Baptist News Global)
Georgian Orthodox Patriarch Ilia II, hailed as an ‘epochal figure,’ dies at 93. Ilia II led the church for nearly five decades. He assumed the leadership role in 1977, when Georgia was part of the Soviet Union and religious practices were restricted, and remained a dominant spiritual and public figure after Georgia regained independence. (Associated Press)
Over 100 Latino Christian leaders say Trump adviser Samuel Rodriguez’s reach is misrepresented. More than 100 Latino Christians leaders signed a statement saying the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, an evangelical adviser to President Donald Trump and a go-to voice for Hispanic evangelical perspectives, and news media have exaggerated the size of Rodriguez’s reach as president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. (Religion News Service)
Second Baptist Memphis seeks to save life of Afghan immigrant. A Baptist minister and other refugee advocates in Tennessee are working to prevent the Trump administration from deporting an Afghan Christian asylum seeker to almost certain death in her native country. (Baptist News Global)
Judge orders Texas voucher program deadline be extended amid controversy over exclusion of Islamic schools. U.S. District Judge Alfred Bennett ruled Tuesday that Texas must extend its deadline for private schools to apply for the state’s voucher program after a lawsuit alleged Islamic schools have been excluded from the school-choice initiative. (The Hill)
Hannah Estifanos is the copyeditor of The Christian Citizen.
The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of American Baptist Home Mission Societies.
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