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Church of God in Christ announces new Presiding Bishop to lead organization worldwide

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Memphis, Tenn. — The Church of God in Christ has a new leader, the church announced Saturday.

Bishop J. Drew Sheard of Detriot, Michigan takes over as the head of the worldwide organization whose headquarters resides in South Memphis.

He said the opportunity to serve the church in this manner is a dream come true by the grace of God.

“I am humbled and incredibly grateful for the opportunity to serve this extraordinary organization, the Church of God in Christ, as its new leader and Presiding Bishop,” Sheard said. “To be elected to serve as the Presiding Bishop for the Church in which I was born, raised, and have learned and served all my life, is a dream and desire that can only be fulfilled by God’s loving grace and guidance. The opportunity to serve such an extraordinary organization at our highest recognized level of priesthood is beyond humbling. I am so grateful for the unparalleled support of my loving wife, Karen, who has served diligently alongside me in ministry, and for my children. I could never adequately honor or appreciate my parents for demonstrating holiness by sheer example. With complete excitement and joy, I look forward to serving the Lord’s people.”

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Vatican bars gay union blessing, says God ‘can’t bless sin’

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ROME (AP) — The Vatican declared Monday that the Catholic Church won’t bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.”

The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response to a question about whether Catholic clergy have the authority to bless gay unions. The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”

The note distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions. It argued that such unions are not part of God’s plan and that any sacramental recognition of them could be confused with marriage.

The note immediately pleased conservatives, disheartened advocates for LGBT Catholics and threw a wrench in the debate within the German church, which has been at the forefront of opening discussion on hot-button issues such the church’s teaching on homosexuality.

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Goodwill Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu, King of the Zulu Nation, Dies at 72

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JOHANNESBURG — Goodwill Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu, the king of South Africa’s Zulu nation, who shepherded his people from the apartheid era into a modern democratic society, died on Friday in the eastern coastal city of Durban. He was 72.

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the king’s prime minister, announced the death, at Inkosi Albert Luthuli hospital. He did not state a cause. King Zwelithini was admitted there last month to be treated for diabetes.

Born on July 14, 1948, he was the eighth monarch of the Zulu nation, South Africa’s largest ethnic group, and a direct descendant of the Zulu warrior kings who fought against colonial rule. The eldest son of King Cyprian Bhekuzulu ka Solomon and his second wife, Queen Thomozile Jezangani ka Ndwandwe, he was educated at the Bekezulu College of Chiefs and then privately tutored at the Khethomthandayo Royal Palace.

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A Small Nation With an Outsize Global Influence

A Small Nation With an Outsize Global Influence

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For a tiny island in the Caribbean, Jamaica has long enjoyed an outsize global reach — there are the songs of Bob Marley and the gold medals of Usain Bolt, as well as the millions of sun-seekers flocking to the island’s pristine beaches. It is quite an accomplishment for a nation “barely the size of Connecticut,” as Orlando Patterson notes in his fascinating study, “The Confounding Island: Jamaica and the Postcolonial Predicament.” But shadows hang over this sunny picture, not least distressingly high rates of poverty and homicide.

Patterson is a Jamaican who has long lived in the United States, working as a sociology professor at Harvard University, which allows him both an intimacy with the island and a degree of distance through which to analyze it. Although he provides extensive citations and robust discussions of theoretical frameworks, he also offers a personal story of affection and frustration, perhaps most evident in the questions that form all but one of the eight chapter titles. These include: “Why Has Jamaica Trailed Barbados on the Path to Sustained Growth?” and “Why is Democratic Jamaica So Violent?” Indeed, these two questions are so significant, he devotes the first half of the book to them.

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Amazon Prime Stops Streaming Clarence Thomas Documentary During Black History Month

Amazon Prime Stops Streaming Clarence Thomas Documentary During Black History Month

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Recently, Amazon Prime dropped Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words, an acclaimed and popular PBS documentary on Justice Clarence Thomas, making it unavailable to stream during Black History Month. Thomas is our nation’s only black justice currently serving on the U.S. Supreme Court, and one would think that between Amazon’s claim to “building an inclusive culture” and the fact that it’s Black History Month, Amazon would want to stream this inspiring documentary on its platform.

 

In fact, Amazon Prime created an entire Amplify Black Voices page on its site that “feature[s] a curated collection of titles to honor Black History Month across four weekly themes (Black Love, Black Joy, Black History Makers, and Black Girl Magic).” There are scores of films available to stream, including four films available on the Amazon Prime site to stream (two docudramas and two documentaries) on Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, a liberal icon and our nation’s first black Supreme Court justice. There are even two films (one docudrama and one documentary) on Anita Hill, who came forward during Thomas’ confirmation hearing to claim that Thomas had sexually harassed her. (Hill’s story never added up and, and as reflected in a NY Times/CBS News poll after the Senate confirmation hearings, American men and women believed Thomas by a 2-1 margin.)

 

Amazon has made a significant effort to celebrate black voices on its site during Black History Month, including films of Thurgood Marshall and even Anita Hill, but can’t find any space for a documentary on our only sitting black Supreme Court justice? This makes no sense at all, other than Amazon made a decision to not show this film because Justice Thomas is a black justice who has conservative views.

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