Attempting to determine which American city is the “most Christian” is no easy task. The outcome of a new study came with some surprises. The survey, out in time for Easter, has determined that the urban center with the highest religious engagement for Christians, using a variety of metrics and factors, is New York.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Shakespeare’s works are, and have always been, profoundly theological — not because they provide answers but because they compel us to confront fundamental questions of existence. Is there justice in the universe? Do our actions have eternal consequences? Can the worst among us be saved? These questions not easily answered, if they can be answered at all. These are questions that still haunt us.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Zenger Prizes each year come from a Christian foundation, Zenger House, that honors feature stories based in on-the-ground reporting. I’m the chairman and one of the five judges, all veteran journalists. We like Christian journalism but give awards to journalists of any religion from around the world who write deeply reported stories consistent with a biblical ethic.
Read MoreFive cases addressing religious liberty ranging from parental rights to age verification on pornographic sites will be decided when the Supreme Court announces its decisions in the coming months.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Why empower a small group of unelected, perhaps unrepresentative, people from some religious communities with official privileged access to the governor? Why treat seven people as if they could speak for the millions of religious believers in Texas? Can a Baptist properly reflect Catholic concerns, or an Orthodox Jew reflect Muslim concerns?
Read More(REVIEW) Six months after the invasion of Ukraine, the Putin regime announced a document titled “State Policy for the Preservation and Strengthening of Traditional Russian Spiritual and Moral Values.” The document aimed to shape the worldview of Russians, including a “strong family.” Putin has utilized the rhetoric surrounding traditional values, which the Russian Orthodox Church has promoted, for his own purpose.
Read MoreEvery church aims to welcome guests in some way. Those efforts may just look different in different churches and may have changed over the last decade. According to a Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors, more than 99% of churches welcome visitors in at least one of 11 ways. Fewer than 1% say they don’t do any of the almost one dozen efforts.
Read MoreAlthough a recent study reveals that Lent is largely ignored by many Christians in the United States, there is a trend among members of some conservative Protestant denominations to incorporate it in their Easter observances. Some who are members of conservative Presbyterian denominations have even taken up Lent in a break from tradition.
Read MoreA Texas man has pleaded guilty to scamming a Georgia church out of millions of dollars, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia. Authorities say the man posed as an insurance adjuster to defraud a church that was seeking to fix damage caused by Hurricane Michael in 2018.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Presbyterian Church (USA) is nearing the latest turning point in its half-century struggle over same-sex clergy and marriage that could give liberals powerful new leverage against traditionalists — if they choose to exercise it. The coming clash would pit the liberals’ anti-discrimination principles against the evangelical minority's freedom of conscience claims.
Read MoreAn endless pilgrimage around the U.K. involving an object rather than a person has attracted considerable attention in every place it visits. Known as the Coat of Hopes, it has traveled over 1,500 miles. Along the way, the loose blanket style robe has been covered with ever increasing numbers of colorful patches bearing the hopes and dreams of those who encounter it.
Read MoreCliff Graham, author of the “Lion of War” series of books based on the wars of the Old Testament, is looking for redemption as he resumes publication of his series through a partnership with Kavod Family Ministries in North Carolina. Graham, now 43, is the subject of criticism for the panoply of failed ventures he has engaged in.
Read MoreTheodore McCarrick — once one of the Catholic Church's most influential figures in the United States who was later defrocked following a Vatican investigation that found he had abused both adults and minors — has died at age 94. McCarrick, who served as the archbishop of Washington from 2000 to 2006, remains one of the highest-ranking U.S. prelates accused in a sexual abuse scandal.
Read MoreThe Word for Word Bible Comic is not trying to reinvent the Bible. Rather, it is a genuine attempt to represent the scriptures as accurately and as faithfully as possible for a new generation of readers for whom images hold the key to a greater understanding of the world’s best-selling book. This is not the first project that has transformed the Christian scriptures into a comic.
Read MoreA bill to stop the use of nondisclosure agreements to prevent sexual abuse victims from telling their stories has advanced in the Texas legislature. On March 19, the Texas House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence voted unanimously to report House Bill 748 favorably to the full House of Representatives and recommend passage.
Read MoreAs executive orders from President Trump, budget slashing by tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and cuts enacted by Cabinet secretaries or the Office of Personnel Management reduce the federal workforce, area Christians and congregations feel the impact.
Read MoreThe world became familiar with Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams’ unplanned nine-month stay at the International Space Station. Only recently, though, are we learning the tenuous story of how they got there. In an interview, Wilmore shared never-before-heard details on the Boeing Starliner craft’s approach with the ISS last June and the “very precarious situation” he and Williams encountered.
Read MoreFormer Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger has joined Gloo, the technology platform that serves churches and ministries, as its executive chair and head of technology. Gelsinger has been an investor and board member for Gloo for 10 years but now will take on the expanded role of leading the Gloo product and engineering efforts, including Gloo AI.
Read MoreMost immigrants at risk of deportation are Christian, researchers deduced, with 61 percent of them Catholics. But 13 percent are evangelicals, seven percent are from other Christian groups, seven percent are from other religious groups and 12 percent have no religious affiliation.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As a medievalist, I appreciate Francis’ contrasting approach: A religious leader who embraces history and scholarship, and encourages others to do the same — even as book bans and threats to academic freedom mount.
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