Aleja Hertzler-McCain

@alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

Reporter @RNS.org covering Latino faith & Catholicism | 🇵🇷 del DMV | disabled and proud | Se habla español | Signal: AlejaCorazonHM.47

@jackjenkins.meReposted by @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

NEW: There are an unusual number of pastors, former pastors and seminarians on the ballot this year, and a lot of them are locked in tight races.

So I've rounded up the major races that feature faith leaders, and broke down which ones @rns.org is keeping an eye on. religionnews.com/2026/10/13/a...

religionnews.comFaith leaders on the ballot: 11 races to watch(RNS) — The Democratic clergy running are making some races unexpectedly tight.
@jackjenkins.meReposted by @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

Note: The spectrum of religious groups that have sued/are suing the Trump administration over his immigration policies is, uh, broad.

Sorted by individual plaintiffs and their legal claims, the tracker reveals some clear patterns about who is suing and why. Among them: Fifteen religious denominations — collectively representing millions of Americans — are themselves listed as plaintiffs. Eleven are mainline Protestant, including the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Three are Jewish, such as the Union for Reform Judaism, and one, the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, is Black Protestant. Another 23 plaintiffs are regional denomination bodies, such as Lutheran synods or Catholic dioceses. Of the 81 religious plaintiffs — which includes state-level councils of churches, faith leaders, individual practitioners and faith-based organizations in addition to denominational bodies — roughly half are mainline Protestant, followed by Catholics (20%), and Jewish traditions (nearly 9%). At least 14 of the 22 cases claim the federal government has violated the religious rights of the litigants, either by infringing on the First Amendment’s right to free exercise of religion or, more often, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 — a statute previously known for showing up in high-profile cases involving conservative religious groups. Four separate lawsuits, involving dozens of religious groups representing millions of religious Americans, are challenging the administration’s decision to rescind an internal government policy that had discouraged immigration raids at “sensitive locations” such as churches, hospitals and schools. “It’s not just a lot of cases, but cases with some really significant actors,” said Elizabeth Platt, Director of the Law, Rights, and Religion Project at Union Theological Seminary.
@jackjenkins.meReposted by @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

Big ‘ol subtext: USCCB issues statements all the time, but as @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social suggests here, they tend to avoid naming the president or addressing him directly the way they do here. This is unusual.

@jackjenkins.meReposted by @alejacorazonhm.bsky.social

Really powerful new minidoc from @fiona-murphy.bsky.social as part of an ongoing @rns.org series.

This one focuses on Rev. Eduardo Fabián Arias, a Lutheran pastor at Saint Peter’s Church in NYC, who accompanies immigrants attending court hearings at Federal Plaza. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4Pi...