Religions Around The World

In the early morning hours, monks can be seen walking on their alms round in Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Showing humility and detachment from worldly goods, the monk walks slowly and only stops if he is called. Standing quietly, with his bowl open, the local Buddhists give him rice, or flowers, or an envelope containing money.  In return, the monks bless the local Buddhists and wish them a long and fruitful life.
Christians Celebrate Good Friday
Enacting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in St. Mary's Church in Secunderabad, India. Only 2.3% of India's population is Christian. 
Ancient interior mosaic in the Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora
The Church of the Holy Saviour in Istanbul, Turkey is a medieval Byzantine Greek Orthodox church.
Dome of the Rock located in the Old City of Jerusalem
The site's great significance for Muslims derives from traditions connecting it to the creation of the world and to the belief that the Prophet Muhammad's Night Journey to heaven started from the rock at the center of the structure.
Holi Festival in Mathura, India
Holi is a Hindu festival that marks the end of winter. Also known as the “festival of colors”,  Holi is primarily observed in South Asia but has spread across the world in celebration of love and the changing of the seasons.
Jewish father and daughter pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Israel.
Known in Hebrew as the Western Wall, it is one of the holiest sites in the world. The description, "place of weeping", originated from the Jewish practice of mourning the destruction of the Temple and praying for its rebuilding at the site of the Western Wall.
People praying in Mengjia Longshan Temple in Taipei, Taiwan
The temple is dedicated to both Taoism and Buddhism.
People praying in the Grand Mosque in Ulu Cami
This is the most important mosque in Bursa, Turkey and a landmark of early Ottoman architecture built in 1399.
Savior Transfiguration Cathedral of the Savior Monastery of St. Euthymius
Located in Suzdal, Russia, this is a church rite of sanctification of apples and grapes in honor of the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord.
Fushimi Inari Shrine is located in Kyoto, Japan
It is famous for its thousands of vermilion torii gates, which straddle a network of trails behind its main buildings. Fushimi Inari is the most important Shinto shrine dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice.
Ladles at the purification fountain in the Hakone Shrine
Located in Hakone, Japan, this shrine is a Japanese Shinto shrine.  At the purification fountain, ritual washings are performed by individuals when they visit a shrine. This ritual symbolizes the inner purity necessary for a truly human and spiritual life.
Hanging Gardens of Haifa are garden terraces around the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel
They are one of the most visited tourist attractions in Israel. The Shrine of the Báb is where the remains of the Báb, founder of the Bábí Faith and forerunner of Bahá'u'lláh in the Bahá'í Faith, have been buried; it is considered to be the second holiest place on Earth for Bahá'ís.
Pilgrims praying at the Pool of the Nectar of Immortality and Golden Temple
Located in Amritsar, India, the Golden Temple is one of the most revered spiritual sites of Sikhism. It is a place of worship for men and women from all walks of life and all religions to worship God equally. Over 100,000 people visit the shrine daily.
Entrance gateway of Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin Temple Kowloon
Located in Hong Kong, China, the temple is dedicated to Wong Tai Sin, or the Great Immortal Wong. The Taoist temple is famed for the many prayers answered: "What you request is what you get" via a practice called kau cim.
Christian women worship at a church in Bois Neus, Haiti.
Haiti's population is 94.8 percent Christian, primarily Catholic. This makes them one of the most heavily Christian countries in the world.

World Religions News

Religion News Service wins global AI grant funded by Google News Initiative

RNS — Religion News Service (RNS) was selected for the second cohort of the JournalismAI Innovation Challenge, a competitive global program funded by the Google News Initiative and run by JournalismAI, an initiative of Polis, the journalism think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science. RNS is the only North American outlet of the 12 publishers chosen to receive funding to use AI technologies to improve their audience intelligence and grow revenue.

RNS will use the $50,000 grant to prototype an AI-supported system that will help RNS capture, analyze, and communicate the real-world impact of its journalism. Nonprofit newsrooms, such as RNS, are increasingly asked by funders to demonstrate their public value, yet the effects of reporting—how stories inform civic participation, shape policy conversations, or help readers navigate complex questions of belief—often surface informally and are lost before they can be analyzed or used.

With the grant, RNS intends to build a Slack workflow that prompts staff to record examples of impact as they occur, while an AI model extracts, analyzes and organizes key details to reveal patterns. Another AI model will scan newly published RNS stories, flagging potential indicators of impact, such as expert citations or engagement spikes, and initiate a Slack conversation to validate or refine the assessment. A dashboard will incorporate audience analytics, social-platform engagement, story shares, and partner republishing data, allowing RNS to explore how impact signals and audience behaviors intersect—informing editorial planning, donor communications, and future revenue strategy.

“By giving us tools to capture and analyze impact in real time, RNS will be able to better communicate our value to funders, sharpen our understanding of who we serve, and build a sustainable future for the kind of journalism that serves everyone, regardless of faith or background,” said Deborah Caldwell, CEO and Publisher of RNS.

The system will organize impact into categories, such as policy influence, community action, civic dialogue, audience understanding, institutional accountability, and story amplification through sharing and republishing. The categories will be reviewed and refined during the project’s early phase, grounded in real examples of how RNS reporting has served readers and communities since the organization’s founding in 1934.

The nine-month JournalismAI Innovation Challenge program provides grants, along with mentorship, technical coaching, and access to a global peer-learning network. The 2025 cohort includes publishers from Brazil, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, the Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Taiwan, and the United States. Projects span churn prediction, content personalization, archive intelligence, subscriber engagement, and impact measurement.

As part of the program, RNS will document its development process and share an implementation guide, technical documentation, and an open case study so other mission-driven newsrooms can build their own impact intelligence systems. A working prototype is expected by October.

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Religion News Service is an independent, nonprofit, award-winning source of global news on religion, spirituality, culture, and ethics, reported by a staff of professional journalists. Founded in 1934, RNS seeks to inform readers with objective reporting and insightful commentary and is relied upon by secular and faith-based news organizations around the world. RNS is a wholly owned subsidiary of Religion News Foundation. Learn more at rns.org.

The JournalismAI Innovation Challenge is a program designed by JournalismAI, an initiative of Polis, the journalism think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and supported by the Google News Initiative. It funds small and medium-sized news publishers to prototype AI tools that enhance audience intelligence and revenue growth. The second cohort supports 12 publishers from 11 countries. Learn more at journalismai.info.

Contact:
Trish Rodriguez Terrell
Chief Development Officer
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Original Source:

https://religionnews.com/2026/03/11/religion-news-service-wins-global-ai-grant-funded-by-google-news-initiative/