What Ails American Evangelicalism And Where Is This Movement Headed?

(OPINION) We’re at the publicity apex for what David Brooks — and movement outsiders and insiders — is calling a “crisis” for this conservative Protestant movement. In recent months, The Guy has, less elegantly, pondered a “crack-up.”

Entering A Religion-Beat Minefield: What Is The Proper Definition Of The Word 'Cult'?

(OPINION) Take a deeper look into what it means when a type of religion is considered a cult. The Guy proposes this definition: A marginal religious group we’re not supposed to like much or at all that deviates from accepted practices or long-familiar beliefs, typically controlled by a dictatorial leader or leaders and often isolated from mainstream society.

In Post-Pandemic America, Will Sagging Church Health Damage Public Health?

(OPINION) America's religious congregations have, over all, suffered steady erosion in attendance, membership and vitality since around 2000. Analysts fret that worse may occur after the current COVID-19 emergency finally subsides because myriads of members are now accustomed to worshiping online rather than in person.

In Reportage On Russia And Ukraine, Don't Neglect The Importance Of Two Rival Churches

(OPINION) Ukraine's ecclesiastical history, like its political history, is highly complex. Whether the nation faces a military invasion or less bloody subversion and hoped-for domination, journalists these next few years will need to understand and depict the religious aspect of Ukraine’s nationalism and resistance against Russian expansionism.

Is America As Divided As Ever And Are Christians Making It Worse?

(OPINION) The start of 2022 has brought many conversations and books that talk about America being led to another Civil War. Americans are more divided than they were during the first civil war, David French, a political and Christian conservative, explains.

Update To New Revised Standard Bible Makes Substantive — And Controversial — Changes

(OPINION) As religion writers and historians know, the 1611 King James Version of the Bible begat the 1952 Revised Standard Version, which begat the 1989 New Revised Standard Version which now begets the new "Updated Edition" of the NRSV, the “NRSVue” — a surefire news topic — available in e-book format by Christmas and print around May.

Opinion, Richard OstlingRichard OstlingDecember 9, 2021catholicism, Episcopalians, Orthodox, Scriptures, WORSHIP, MainlineComment

Have Conservative And Progressive Christianity Become Two Separate Religions?

(OPINION) Is Christianity in the United States becoming two different religions? The scenario is explored at book length in "One Faith No Longer" (New York University Press) by Baylor University sociologist George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk, a visiting scholar of religion at the University of Georgia.

As Right To Euthanasia Spreads, Where Do Religions Stand?

(OPINION) By count of the Death with Dignity organization — which devised Oregon’s pioneering 1997 law under which 1,905 lives have been ended as of Jan. 22 — 10 states plus the District of Columbia have legalized euthanasia. And assignment editor’s note: 14 more states are currently debating such proposals.

'Ruthless' Top Taliban Leader Poses Challenge For Journalists As He Rules From Shadows

(OPINION) Afghanistan is probably the most heavily Muslim of nations, and the Taliban who regained power in August proudly proclaim totalist governance based upon strictly interpreted and enforced Shariah — Islamic law. This example of Islam in action presents a huge challenge to the world religion.

Opinion, Middle EastRichard OstlingNovember 22, 2021women, Scriptures, Religious liberty, politics, persecution, missionaries, richard ostlingComment

Latter-Day Saints Address Their Church's History Of Polygamy And 'Plural Marriage'

(OPINION) How do Latter-day Saints view the polygamy in their faith's past? The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, was founded in 1830 by the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr., who later began practicing and advocating polygamy, a controversial teaching.

Another Big Supreme Court Case: State Aid For Students Attending Religious Schools

(OPINION) Media eyes are trained on the U.S. Supreme Court's Dec. 1 argument on Mississippi's abortion restrictions, preceded by a fast-tracked Nov. 1 hearing about the stricter law in Texas. But don't neglect the Court's Dec. 8 hearing and subsequent decision on tax funding of religious schools in the potentially weighty Carson v. Makin case.

Richard Ostling, OpinionRichard OstlingNovember 9, 2021baptists, catholicism, Church and State, education, lawsuits, mormons, Religious libertyComment

Press Eagerly Watches Evangelicals Fracture As Elites Argue Over Politics

(OPINION) The Guy suggests that something far deeper than just a chatter-fest among self-appointed Twitter leaders is occurring in the Trump Era, which continues, to some degree — something that has the potential to wound or reshape what has been the largest and most dynamic segment of American religion: evangelical Protestants.

Opinion, North AmericaRichard OstlingOctober 28, 2021politics, baptists, Church and State, Evangelicals, Richard OstlingComment

People have been asking: Is the COVID vaccine the Bible's sinister 'mark of the beast'?

(OPINION) Is the COVID vaccine the biblical "mark of the beast"? Many odd anti-vaccination rumors with murky origins are floating around social media, alarming healthcare workers as they combat a virus that has killed 720,000 Americans and counting.

Crucial Question In All Those Newsworthy Abortion Debates: When Does Life Begin?

(OPINION) When does life begin? The religion guy’s answer: Those four words are regularly posed in the current abortion debate, so let's scan the lines in pregnancy that have been drawn by experts — religious and secular — in the past.

Opinion, North AmericaRichard OstlingOctober 21, 2021abortion, catholicism, Church and State, ethics, women, Jews and Judaism, vatican, richard ostlingComment

God Becomes The Latest Subject Of The 'Woke' Pronoun Wars

(OPINION) An older campaign by feminists — including those working in the world of liturgy — sought to shun male pronouns, particularly when either gender is meant, in favor of plural they-them-their usage with singular antecedents. As you would expect, references to God himself — or is that "themself"? — is now part of this debate.

Protestant Pro-Abortion Rights Groups Absent From Supreme Court Abortion Case

(OPINION) Pro-abortion rights activists — including the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, the Unitarian Universalist Association and major non-Orthodox Jewish organizations — have filed their briefs for the Supreme Court hearing on Mississippi’s abortion law. But Protestant denominations are notably missing.

Opinion, Religion, WomenRichard OstlingOctober 7, 2021abortion laws, opinion, Abortion rightsComment

Are We Finally Witnessing An Evangelical Fracturing?

(OPINION) Those impossible-to-ignore and hard-to-define White evangelicals have, for decades, been the largest and most dynamic sector in U.S. religion. Are we finally witnessing an evangelical crack-up as so long anticipated — and desired — by critics?

North America, OpinionRichard OstlingSeptember 21, 2021Richard Ostling, white evangelicals, Donald TrumpComment

Reporters Should Understand The Rigid Form Of Islam That Dominates Afghanistan

(OPINION) Reporting on the Taliban’s rise must understand the rigid form of Islam that dominates Afghan culture. In rural villages across the countryside, where most live, mullahs with rudimentary schooling are part of the influential elite establishment.

Middle East, OpinionRichard OstlingSeptember 7, 2021Richard Ostling, Afghanistan, Taliban, terrorismComment

United Methodist Prelude: Small Denomination Faces Its Own Split Over Bible and Sex

(OPINION) The Reformed Church in America, one of those small denominations that usually get little ink despite rich history and accomplishments, is set to celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2028. But what will the RCA consist of by then?

What Is An 'Evangelical?'

(OPINION) In America, the term “evangelical” essentially covers the conservative wing of Protestantism — a varied constellation of denominations, independent congregations, parachurch ministries, media outlets and individual personalities that is organizationally scattered but religiously coherent. But is that really the best definition?

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