With talk of ‘holy’ conflict, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church is bringing the institution he heads into disrepute Following the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) celebrates Easter this weekend – the most important religious festival of its liturgical year. One priest who will not be leading a service is Dmitry Safronov, a prominent Moscow cleric. In March, Mr Safronov presided over a memorial service at the grave of Alexei Navalny, following the dissident’s death in unexplained circumstances in an Arctic penal colony. He was subsequently sus ..read more

The spooky comedy franchise may seem an unlikely place to find an ethnicity and faith adviser, but productions are increasingly aware of a duty to make sure communities are truthfully represented The “sensitivity reader” is a well-established, if controversial, figure in the publishing world, offering advice on whether a book’s content might cause offence. The film and TV industry has also been forced to confront similar issues, with “intimacy coordinators” now widely employed to ensure that filmed sex scenes neither harm the actors nor outrage audiences. Perhaps less well-known, but now gaini ..read more

Plans for Your Good is not written for Australians at all – but for American evangelical Christians more interested in scripture than statecraft Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast “How good is God?” Some might take that question as a philosophical inquiry about the existence of evil in a world supposedly ruled by a merciful deity ..read more

Antony Barlow on how his grandfather helped introduce a ‘conscience clause’ against compulsory military service in 1916 The report of Trudi Warner’s trial (Judge throws out case against climate activist who held sign on jurors’ rights, 22 April) being thrown out on the basis of jurors having the right to acquit a defendant based on their conscience, relates directly back to the so-called conscience clause introduced by a number of Quakers, including my grandfather, John Henry Barlow, and his MP cousin Sir John Barlow into the 1916 Military Service Act, which would have made military service co ..read more

The government wants to scrap England’s 50% cap on ‘faith admissions’. It will just lead to religious discrimination To gain admission to the local church school near my home, parents were always advised to attend church. Otherwise, they were told, they should try elsewhere. The result was local antagonism: cars and buses filled with local children were ferried to more distant schools. It was a bad system in every sense. In 2010, in an attempt to stem the growth of sectarian free schools, the Cameron government imposed a 50% cap on “faith admissions” where schools were oversubscribed. Now Rish ..read more

Louisiana state police recently served sweeping and unprecedented search warrant The Roman Catholic archdiocese of New Orleans is the target of an active child sex-trafficking investigation, according to a sweeping and unprecedented search warrant Louisiana state police recently served on an organization that for decades has been submerged in the global church’s clergy molestation scandal. The clerk at the state criminal courthouse where the warrant was signed released the 11-page document on Tuesday. It makes clear that troopers involved in a pending rape prosecution against one priest came t ..read more

Guardian food appMicro-massModest MichelleWimbledon’s slave linksDisappearing S-words I recently had a bicycle accident that resulted in a broken leg. My partner prepared a “laid-up” job for me: to sort through a huge pile of Guardian Feast magazines – with scrapbook, glue and scissors – that I, as a keen cook, had set aside over the last three years. Imagine my joy as I sat on the sofa to begin this herculean task to receive details of the new Guardian Feast app. I’m now signed up for the free trial; Feasts suitably recycled. Thank you, Guardian. Phil Webster Harrogate, North Yorkshire • “Mic ..read more

Documentary Bad Faith looks at the history of a group trying to affect and corrupt politics under the guise of religion Bad Faith, a new documentary on the rise of Christian nationalism in the United States, opens with an obvious, ominous scene – the storming of the Capitol on 6 January 2021 – though trained on details drowned out by the deluge of horror and easily recognizable images of chaos. That Paula White, Donald Trump’s faith adviser, led the Save America rally in a prayer to overturn the results for “a free and fair election”. That mixed among Trump flags, American flags and militia sy ..read more

Muslim organisations say they were not consulted before counter-terrorism raids that resulted in arrests relating to a church stabbing in Sydney Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Representatives of the Australian Muslim community have called out what they called “questionable law enforcement tactics” after seven minors were arrested and five of them charged with counter-terrorism-related offences this week. Three major bodies, the Australian National Imams Council, the Alliance of Australian Muslim ..read more

You will laugh and may cry watching these charming youngsters prepare for their bar and batmitzvahs – but with antisemitism on the rise, this film feels bizarrely flimsy In itself, the hour-long documentary Growing Up Jewish is … fine. Gentle and uplifting, it follows three British girls and a boy as they prepare for their bat and barmitzvahs, the Jewish rite of passage that will mark their transition at 13 into adulthood. Dylan, whose parents were raised Orthodox but attend a Reform synagogue, is thoughtful and increasingly nervous as the day approaches. “I wouldn’t describe myself as a confi ..read more