4+ day, 8+ hour ago (937+ words) Religious leaders" "powerful prophetic and moral compass" comes to fore amid ICE arrests, teargas and violence For weeks, Chicago has been at the center of the Trump administration"s brutal immigration crackdown. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Department of Homeland Security officials have arrested 800 people as of 1 October, while also using violent tactics such as body-slamming and deploying teargas in residential areas. Amid the raids and arrests, which have created a pervasive sense of fear, faith leaders have stepped up, putting themselves on the front lines of resistance. One of clergy"s most visible actions has been holding regular Friday gatherings, where dozens of people from various faith communities rally outside the Broadview processing facility, where ICE holds people slated for deportation. Rev David Black of the First Presbyterian church of Chicago says that sometimes faith leaders show up…...

3+ mon, 3+ day ago (1788+ words) The movement towards simple, Christian living can be a yearning for order in a chaotic age. It's also alarmingly retrograde A cool evening air was descending on the 25-acre farmstead, blowing across the pond, around the barn, through the apple orchard and into the windows of Mike and Jenny Thomas's two-century-old, red brick farmhouse. The dinner hour had come. Edith, five, and George, three, enthusiastically rang a bell hanging near the kitchen door, sending metallic peals back into the early dusk. Mike sat down at the head of a wooden table, his wife at the other end, their four children along the benches between. He recited a prayer in Latin, then led a short grace: "Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to receive " Everyone crossed themselves, and Jenny began serving homemade pizzas. A decade…...