This week, the bishop of Washington delivered a sermon in front of President Trump urging him to show mercy towards LGBTQ+ and migrant communities. The president condemned it as ‘nasty’. We reproduce it in full

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on Earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Jesus said, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell – and great was its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Joined by many across the country, we have gathered this morning to pray for unity as a nation – not for agreement, political or otherwise, but for the kind of unity that fosters community across diversity and division, a unity that serves the common good.

The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde is the Episcopal bishop of Washington

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Women from all over West Bengal and beyond travel to Vrindavan for a life of prayer, many having suffered abuse, stigma and abandonment by families who see them as cursed. Up to 20,000 widows – nearly 20% of the city’s population – have found refuge in ashrams and shelters that have sprung up to support them

• Words and photographs by Rana Pandey

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Federal government appeals against law critics say disproportionately affects hijab-wearing Muslim women

Canada’s top court has agreed to hear a challenge to Quebec’s controversial secularism law, paving the way for a fierce debate over provincial powers and the fundamental rights of ethnic and religious minorities.

The supreme court signaled on Thursday that it would grant leave to appeal against the 2019 law which prohibits certain public workers in positions of authority – including judges, police officers, prison guards and teachers – from wearing religious symbols while at work. Other public workers such as bus drivers, doctors and social workers must only keep their faces uncovered.

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Rev Alex Frost calls for church to encourage vocations as an alternative to theological studies

Plumbers, builders and other people from working-class backgrounds who are called to the priesthood should be offered apprenticeships as an alternative to studying at theological college, a Burnley vicar has said.

Rev Alex Frost, who left school at 15 and worked for Argos before becoming a priest, is calling for the Church of England to develop an urgent national strategy to encourage vocations among working-class people.

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Mariann Edgar Budde defends sermon asking president to show compassion to immigrants and LGBTQ+ people

The bishop at the National Cathedral prayer service in Washington on Tuesday who urged Donald Trump to “have mercy upon” immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, has defended her remarks and said that she will not apologize.

The Right Rev Mariann Edgar Budde’s sermon on Tuesday garnered national attention when she made a direct plea to Trump to show mercy and compassion toward scared individuals, including “gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families”, as well as immigrants, and those fleeing war and persecution.

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Francis calls for close oversight of technology that raises ‘critical concerns’ about humanity’s future

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Pope Francis has warned global leaders in Davos that artificial intelligence raises “critical concerns” about humanity’s future and it could exacerbate a growing “crisis of truth”.

Francis said governments and businesses must exercise “due diligence and vigilance” to navigate the complexities of AI.

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Leaders paint Kamala Harris as Jezebel, who is cast out – from a window, trampled by horses, and eaten by dogs

As the sky darkened on the National Mall in DC last Saturday, evangelical pastor Ché Ahn addressed the thousands of worshippers gathered there and issued a decree.

Trump, Ahn said, was a figure akin to the biblical King Jehu, and “Kamala Harris is a type of Jezebel, and as you know, Jehu cast out Jezebel”.

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The novelist and short story writer on her new book about Azrael, the angel of death, her encounters with Raymond Carver and Richard Yates, and why fiction should be uncanny

Joy Williams, 80, has written five novels and four story collections and is the recipient of numerous awards. Her most recent book of short stories, Concerning the Future of Souls : 99 Stories of Azrael (Tuskar Rock), was published earlier this year. Her work ranges from the philosophical examination of being, belief and morality to urgent engagements with environmental catastrophe; James Salter wrote of her that she belongs in the company of Céline and Flannery O’Connor. Born in Massachusetts, she now lives in the Sonoran desert.

An earlier collection of yours was called 99 Stories of God , and now you’ve moved on to Azrael (the angel of death and transporter of souls) as the subject. What drew you to him?
I read in a WS Merwin collection his translation of Hadrian’s deathbed poem to his soul – Animula vagula blandula – so sorrowful and succinct. The soul, a worthy subject. And Azrael has always fascinated me: he was death, but not death exactly. He was more a gorgeous creation of Islam. I picture him as responsible for all the souls of this ensouled Earth.

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Recognized as a religion by the IRS, the group uses the religious right’s tactics, and their victories, against them

The devil works hard, but the Republican party works harder. Not a day seems to go by without anti-abortion zealots on the right advancing some cunning new plan to strip women of their bodily autonomy. As well as shutting down abortion clinics, Republican states are trying to essentially outlaw abortion pills: on Friday, Missouri, Kansas and Idaho renewed a legal push to drastically reduce access to mifepristone.

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