and kim lawton on the continuing legacy of the chabad lubavitch rebbe menachem mendel schneerson 20 years after his death. >>> plus comfort dogs to soothe the pain of people who are hurting. >> dogs are part of god's creation. >> major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by the lillie endowment, a private family foundation dedicated to founders' interest in religion, community development and education. additional funding also provided by mutual of america. designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. >> welcome. i'm hari sreenivasan sitting in for bob abernethy. as the u.s. and international groups increased humanitarian aid to iraq, u.n. officials raised grave concerns that crimes against humanity were being committed by isis. this week the u.n.'s human rights chief accused isis of ethnic and religious cleansing citing brutal attacks against christians and yazidis. younan said the actions of isis were "pure and simple religious cleansing and attempted genocide." memorial services were for journalist james fo

. >>> we want to talk more about the events in ferguson now with our managing editor kim lawton, dr. alton pollard iii, dean of the howard university school of divinity and dr. russell moore, president of the ethics & religious liberty commission of the southern baptist convention. welcome to you all. let me begin with a question to both of you, please. dr. pollard, what are the messages from ferguson for the whole country and especially people of faith? >> i think the message from & our own congregational life, when we have congregations where reconciliation is modeled within the pews of the church. >> you wrote something to that effect on your blog this week and i noticed there was a lot of pushback from some evangelicals who didn't like the idea of suggestions of racial disparity continuing or bristled about the notion of white privilege, those kinds of things. to what extent do you think evangelicals in particular, christians in the pews, are open to talking about things like systemic injustice? >> i think most evangelicals are, but i think where you see white evangelicals who ar

i'm kim lawton, sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. people of faith around the world continue to pray for a permanent truce between israel and hamas. during this week's pause in the fighting, groups were able to deliver aid to people in gaza. many decried the humanitarian impact of the conflict. a catholic relief services official described the situation as quote "a complete catastrophe." many religious leaders continued to protest the large number of civilian casualties. in washington, on tisha b'av, the jewish day of mourning, activists held a vigil for those on both sides who were killed. the gathering urged an end to the war. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said hamas should be held accountable for what he called the tragic loss of civilian lives. he said israel's actions were justified and proportional. >>> in west africa, authorities raced to contain the ebola virus amid news that another christian missionary, a spanish priest, was infected. the priest was airlifted to madrid. the world health organization said it would

i'm kim lawton, sitting in for bob abernethy. thank you for joining us. religious leaders across the country called for prayers about the tense situation in ferguson, missouri, after a police officer shot and killed michael brown, an unarmed african-american teenager. in missouri, faith leaders have been appealing for peace and trying to defuse anger amid sometimes violent confrontations with police. many national religious groups are urging more dialogue about issues surrounding justice, race and the use of police force. the faith-based pico network called on its member congregations to sponsor "live free sabbaths" this weekend, in order, the group said, to create space for healing and hope in the wake of this and other similar incidents. >>> this week the international faith community ramped up concern and activism about the plight of religious minorities in iraq as islamic state militants continued their brutal offensive against christians, members of the ancient yazidi sect and others. more than 50 american religious leaders and academics issued a sta

and kim lawton on the continuing legacy of the chabad lubavitch rebbe menachem mendel schneerson 20 years after his death. >>> plus comfort dogs to soothe the pain of people who are hurting. >> dogs are part of god's creation. >> major funding for religion and ethics news weekly is provided by the lillie endowment, a private family foundation dedicated to