(RNS) — When asked what she would write about if she could write about anything, Ashlee Eiland’s answer was immediate.

Kindness.

It was 2018, and the pastor said the divisiveness and contention in public conversations was weighing heavily on her. Eiland, the formation and preaching pastor at Mars Hill Bible Church near Grand Rapids, Michigan, said she felt a “holy discontent” to offer an alternative.

She wanted to help people talk across their differences and, at the same time, still be able to recognize each other’s worth as human beings created in God’s image and likeness.

“I wanted to recapture that because I feel like, especially two years ago, some of that was being lost. I was sensing that would take us down a really hard trajectory if things continued in that direction,” she said.

But kindness isn’t all holding doors and letting people merge in front of you in traffic. The goal of kindness is restoration and transformation, Eiland said.

“I think sometimes what kindness means, if we’re doing it well, is that we are righteously angry,” she said.

“We are lamenting, we are grieving and sometimes holding that grief and anger and lament with someone,” she explained. “I’m specifically thinking of people of color in this country and Black people, who, for generations, have endured an injustice. That should not be met with a pithy call to just be nice to…

Pointing to the U.S. Constitution and state law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton last week issued a letter prohibiting local governments from closing private religious schools during the pandemic.

The letter, issued July 17 and addressed to “religious private schools in Texas,” said Paxton “acknowledges the robust constitutional and statutory protections unique to religious individuals and communities at all times.”

Local governments, he said, are prohibited under the governor’s orders from closing Christian and other religious schools during the pandemic.

“Local public health officials have begun to issue orders restricting or limiting in-person instruction in private and public schools,” Paxton wrote. “… Local public health orders issued by cities and counties must be consistent with the Governor’s orders and the Attorney General’s guidance. If local public health orders are inconsistent with these authorities, the local orders must yield.

“Under the Governor’s orders, local governments are prohibited from closing religious institutions or dictating mitigation strategies to those institutions,” he added. “Local governments are similarly prohibited from issuing blanket orders closing religious private schools. Because a local order closing a religious private school or institution is inconsistent with the Governor’s order, any local order is…

While continuing to receive treatment for his stage four pancreatic cancer, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek shared that he has also been writing a new memoir.

In March, Trebek, who is continuing to work through his cancer treatment, stopped recording for new episodes of the quiz-based show when the coronavirus broke out across the United States. Since then, hit reruns of Jeopardy! have been airing in its weekly broadcast, with Trebek recording the introductions from home.

Trebek told the New York Times that he is narrating 20 introductions to old episodes of Jeopardy!, including its pilot episode which originally aired in 1984.

According to the long-time host, the night before recording the new introductions, Trebek was not feeling well and in some pain, but after the cameras came on, his strength began to reappear.

“Oddly enough, when we started taping, I suddenly started to regain my strength,” Trebek told the Times. “It’s the strangest thing. It is some kind of an elixir.”

While Trebek hopes to continue with the show that he has been hosting for 36 seasons, he noted that he would step down if his health hinders his performance.

“It’s a quality program, and I think I do a good job hosting it, and when I start slipping, I’ll stop hosting,” he said.

On Monday, Good Morning America released an interview that was recorded with Trebek at his home. In the…

Correction appended

Resurrection Metropolitan Community Church, a liberal church in Houston, Texas, is now grieving one of its associate pastors who died from the new coronavirus Friday because her heart was “just too weak” to fight the disease.

Vickey Gibbs, 57, died Friday morning just two days after she was rushed to a local hospital, Rev. Troy Treash, RMCC’s senior pastor, said in an announcement on Facebook.

“With a heavy heart, we share with you that our beloved Resurrection family member and Associate Pastor Reverend Vickey Gibbs succumbed to the COVID-19 virus at 7:31 am Central time on Friday, July 10. She had been taken to the emergency room on Wednesday, diagnosed with pneumonia, and placed on a ventilator. The doctors said her heart was just too weak to fight the infection,” Treash said.

“Please keep Cassandra and their daughters Cara and Ariel, along with their precious grandchild Xavier in your prayers. We will let…

A megachurch in Indiana has cut ties with the United Methodist Church in large part so that it can choose its own leadership as its founding pastor steps down.

Granger Community Church, a multisite congregation which had a pre-pandemic weekly worship attendance of around 4,000 people, recently finalized its exit from the UMC.

The UMC Indiana Conference released a statement Monday confirming the dismissal, saying the process was “governed by mutual respect and a prayerful commitment to spread the love of Jesus Christ.”

“We are pleased that the parties’ settlement was amicable and honored the connection that binds all United Methodist Churches in one shared mission as recognized by our Book of Discipline,” stated the conference.

“Granger Community Church has had many ministries that have helped to shape many communities, and the Conference and Bishop Trimble wish them all the best on their…