Anyone who has been paying attention to religion news has heard of the “Nones” — the “religiously unaffiliated” people who have little or no connection to any form of institutional religion. Then there are “Nons,” the term that religion-data expert Ryan Burge has pinned on the other big trend (“The Future of American Christianity is Non-Denominational”) that is reshaping the religion marketplace.
Read MoreIt's baseball playoff time, and six remaining teams look to make it to baseball's proverbial promised land. Here's why some of their fans have such a special — even spiritual — connection to the teams.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Oct. 4, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that gender and nationality alone are sufficient for a country to grant asylum to Afghan women. The case concerned Afghan women who were seeking international protection in Austria, and their asylum applications were rejected in 2015 and 2020.
Read MoreThe website, AtoneNet, posted the responses — no names attached — for public perusal, and before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, published a pamphlet compiling them. Printed out and tucked inside a holiday prayer book, the community’s confessions gave the liturgy — and the act of repentance — a 21st-century refresh and personalized feel.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I don’t know if you have heard or not, but there’s an election coming up. And it may be “the most important election in the history of the cosmos.” Or it may just be like every other presidential election we’ve had in the last 50 years. This election also gives me the opportunity to do something that I have always wanted to do, but just never had a great reason.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the realities of being a journalist of a “certain age” is constantly hearing people ask, in digital and analog contacts, questions that sound like this: “What do you think of (insert a trend in the modern world or a specific event in news or entertainment)?”
Read MoreHank Greenberg was also Jewish, and he is often called America’s first Jewish sports superstar. As Greenberg wrote in his autobiography, that was not an easy honor to bear. Greenberg played during a time of rising antisemitism, and the cruel taunts he suffered from players and fans lasted throughout his career. Here's a look back at the man known as the "The Hebrew Hammer."
Read More(ANALYSIS) Many Black leaders are swinging into action for the Harris-Walz campaign — and clergy are no exception. On Aug. 5, The Black Church PAC hosted a “Win With the Black Church” webinar to register voters, sign up volunteers and raise funds for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Read More(ANALYSIS) ”Women are much more supportive of the LGBT population than men.” That came up in a Q&A session that I did after a talk. The person asked if women were leaving conservative churches more quickly because of their views of same-sex marriage and gender identity. OK, so let me just figure out if that’s true or not.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A thumbsucker on the news business could review all those disheartening statistics about dying dailies and weeklies, declining ad and circulation income and shrinking newsroom staffs — all of which have escalated since the 21st century dawned.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I thought the Google Maps website could provide me with crucial information for this post. Alas, that was not the case. I thought that I could call up a map of Burnsville, North Carolina, and then, after enlarging it, I would be able to count all the Baptist churches between I-26 near Mars Hill and Burnsville on U.S. Highway 19 — but very few of them showed up.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Earlier this year, “God Versus Aliens" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. The documentary, directed by award-winning filmmaker Mark Christopher Lee, shines a light on the Vatican's secretive investigations into UFOs. It suggests, in no uncertain terms, that the Vatican has been quietly exploring extraterrestrial phenomena for years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Afghanistan’s new “vice and viture” law seeks to completely silence women in public. They are prohibited from speaking, singing or praying aloud. The law also attempts to literally erase them from view, ordering women to cover every part of their body and face in public.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I am not young, but I too have turned to Anglicanism. In fact, I did so many years ago. For me, it was a much longer journey than it has been for many of the young people Sarah Carter describes. It is a journey that, with your permission, I will describe here.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I have studied the complex and ever-evolving role of religion in American politics. I argue that this election year, while the Christian character of each candidate is discussed everywhere, religious freedom, one of the core freedoms of American democracy, is not.
Read MoreIn the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, faith-based disaster relief ministries are working alongside neighbors to feed survivors and clear damage.
Read MoreSeveral decades ago, talented news-feature writers began using an interesting writing technique to offer readers doors into complex, often overwhelming stories. The theory went something like this: Don’t tell me a story about 100,000 people — tell me a story about one person who represents those 100,000 people.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A seasoned ministry colleague wrote to me last week asking for assistance. “I need some help with exegesis of Luke 13:31-32,” he said. “I spoke at a conference last week with many pastors who used that passage where Jesus calls Herod a fox as their rationale for using coarse language about Harris/Walz and the other political side.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Sept. 23, 2024, when speaking at a side event on “The Inclusion of Women in the Future of Afghanistan” at the U.N. General Assembly, Oscar-winning actress and activist Meryl Streep addressed the dire situation of women and girls in Afghanistan. As she noted, “Today in Kabul a female cat has more freedom than a woman.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) The New Atheists failed because they underestimated the human need for meaning. Religion, for all its faults, provides a framework for understanding the world, a sense of community and a way to cope with life's challenges. By dismissing religion, the New Atheists offered nothing to fill the void. Rationality and science are, of course, crucial, but they don't address the existential questions that religion grapples with.
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