(OPINION) Though Christianity later became preponderant in Europe and America, the assertion that it is a White man’s religion is neither historically accurate nor theologically correct.
Read More
(OPINION) How do we assess what can be known about people and events from long ago that we ourselves did not witness? One approach is the ideology known as “logical positivism,’ which rules out supernatural claims in advance by definition and thus wipes out many assertions by the great world religions. That’s a simple method, but other philosophers say it’s far too simple.
Read More
(OPINION) In the first decade of the 21st century, the Pew Research Center began charting a surge of religiously unaffiliated Americans, describing this cohort in a 2012 report with this newsy label – "nones." But, hidden under that "nones" umbrella are divisions that deserve attention. For example, the 2018 Cooperative Congressional Election Study found that 5.7% of the American population is atheist, 5.7% agnostic and 19.9% "nothing in particular."
Read More
(ANALYSIS) The study characterizes the Supreme Court’s previous approach to religious freedom as one that interpreted the First Amendment’s religion clauses to offer “weak but meaningful” safeguards for minority faiths from adverse treatment by public policies that privileged “mainstream Christian organizations, practices, or values.” But the study’s authors also admit that conservative Christian values are no longer mainstream.
Read More
Bobby wrestles with a nasty finger infection. Meanwhile, evangelical leaders encourage congregants to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and a crucifix in a Michigan church was finally restored after being destroyed by a squirrel.
Read More
(OPINION) Sarah J. Robinson, author of “I Love Jesus, but I Want to Die,” offers crucial information about shame for mental health disorders in the modern church through her own experience as someone diagnosed with suicidal depression.
Read More
(OPINION) If the bike tire’s losing air, first fix the flat. Then reinflate. Our three awakenings quickly deflated because American Christianity kept trying to reinflate a leaking tire instead of first fixing it. Will “wokeness” have the same effect?
Read More
(OPINION) Does Christianity believe in the “immortality of the soul”? No — Instead, Christianity teaches that just as Jesus arose bodily from the grave, so the promise of everlasting life involves a person’s eventual resurrection that unites the soul with the body in a newly glorified state.
Read More
(OPINION) A recent New York Times piece about an ancient manuscript that seems to validate the book of Deuteronomy was nicely timed for Jewish Passover and Christian Holy Week when media often dig into biblical mysteries and controversies. But the news here is the April publication of Israeli-American scholar Idan Dershowitz's book "The Valediction of Moses: A Proto-Biblical Book."
Read More
(OPINION) This year’s Holy Week started badly in that it coincided with the kick-off of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former policeman accused of causing the death of George Floyd on May 25 last year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is an event that opens wounds in many hearts.
Read More
(OPINION) After a media firestorm ignited by a Vatican condemnation of same-sex unions – because God "cannot bless sin" – Catholic progressives immediately looked for hope in the words of bishops, President Joe Biden and even Pope Francis. In his Sunday Angelus address after the March 15 ruling, the pope stressed that modern seekers want to "see Jesus" in acts of love, not persecution.
Read More
(OPINION) This week the Seymour Institute for Black Church and Policy Studies, led by Dr. Jacqueline Rivers and Rev. Eugene Rivers, released a statement, “How the Equality Act Harms the Black Church”, writing that while the Black Church has historically - and continues - to act as “the central institution in the life of the African American community... the Equality Act poses a threat to the ability of the Church to continue to play this role.”
Read More
(ANALYSIS) In the current crisis in northern Ethiopia, religion is used as a tool to misinform the international community, Ethiopian scholar Desta Heliso writes. The resulting diplomatic tensions are endangering not just the future of Ethiopia’s 110 million people, but peace in the whole Horn of Africa.
Read More
(OPINION) On his first day as president, Joe Biden issued an “Executive Order on Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities.” It essentially gives government agencies the right to take whatever measures it deems necessary to achieve equal outcomes. But this confuses equality with equity — principles with drastically different meanings and biblical grounds.
Read More
Another week. Another mass shooting. Another round of questions concerning the 21-year-old suspect's religion. This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the massacre at a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, and highlights other top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.
Read More
(OPINION) Catholics in Nigeria had buried many priests and believers killed in their country's brutal wars over land, cattle, honor and religion. But this was the first time Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of the Sokoto Diocese had preached at the funeral of a seminarian. A suspect in the crime said 18-year-old Michael Nnadi died urging his attackers to repent and forsake their evil ways.
Read More
(OPINION) The harsh reality is that news consumers will need to read a wider variety of news sources if they are interested in finding solid facts, on-the-record sources and some sense of balanced reporting. On issues linked to religion, culture and politics, that will mean paying more attention to independent religious publications — including Catholic websites — that are now punching way above their weight.
Read More
(OPINION) After a new report released by Grace Church School in lower Manhattan that outlines new guidelines involving removing gender pronouns, how does one respond relating to the work of mainstream journalism?
Read More
(OPINION) Religions evolve and accommodate as they migrate around the globe. A contemporary religious travel story is the Westernization of Asian Buddhism. Tricycle, a leading American Buddhist publication, deconstructed the phenomenon in its Spring 2021 issue.
Read More(OPINION) After two mass shootings in the U.S., many are examining the motives of the shooters. But people are complex creatures. We may be driven by hate, by anger and greed, and also by fear, insecurity, guilt, shame, jealousy and envy. Sometimes motives may be impossible to fathom.
Read More