This week’s Weekend Plug-in explores news coverage over whether President Biden, a Catholic, might be denied Communion because of his support for abortion rights. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Many Americans imagine the stimulus money as manna from heaven. That isn’t quite true. Metzger explores how many Christians who don’t need the $1200 will receive it, while those that need it — namely unemployed Hispanics — will be left without it.
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(OPINION) Since the COVID-19 pandemic, searches have increased greatly for prayer. How does faith — and disbelief — play into the fears of people?
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(OPINION) It should be noted that secular newsrooms don’t dislike organized religion like many may believe. Instead, they just don’t like religious leaders who attempt to defend traditional dogmas that govern said faith. Therefore, news coverage is often framed this way: Biden can be both “very Catholic” and pro-choice.
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(OPINION) Despite having just 16% of the world’s population, Africa accounts for 52% of all global armed conflicts. Most of these crises have lingered for decades and many are religious conflicts with social and political undertones, making them even harder to curb. These crises have been fueled and sustained by uncontrolled arms movement across the continent.
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(OPINION) What happened in the 2020 election? Polls consistently knock down the social-issues theory. Contrary to what some suppose, Catholics as a whole are only slightly more conservative than the general public on abortion and LGBTQ issues, with weekly worshippers moreso.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the ongoing discussions related to COVID-19 vaccines and religion. Plus, catch up on all the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) John Stott, who served as the Queen's chaplain, shepherded Her Majesty in her faith, sold millions of books, was named one of Time Magazine’s most 100 influential people, and yet, remained a humble man. Here’s why his centenary is being celebrated by churches and organizations on every continent.
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(OPINION) “White privilege” is about the distribution of material possessions and honor in this world. It is a reality that White people are better off in terms of both material riches and honor at the present moment. But this is not the type of privilege that should concern Christians, who are passers-by in this world.
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(OPINION) The complicated history of the royals, past and present, loomed over the short, dignified funeral for Prince Philip in St. George's Chapel, Windsor — with only 30 mourners due to COVID restrictions. The prince’s liturgical choices shaped an Anglican rite that stressed images of service, eternal hope and the beauties of God's creation.
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(OPINION) Will German Catholicism Go Protestant, Five Centuries Late? A significant phalanx of German bishops, united with prominent lay activists, seem intent on revisionist change to come from their "Synodical Way" project, which the Vatican has sought to suppress, so far without success.
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(OPINION) April 24 has long been observed worldwide as Armenian Genocide Memorial Day. In 2021, President Joe Biden chose to formally acknowledge that the systematic murder of more than a million Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Empire was, in fact, a genocide.
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(OPINION) When in the foreseeable future will there be a better chance for church goers to demonstrate that they’re more than the anachronisms that the skeptics and demographic trends portray them as—that their faith can bring hope to where darkness and pain persist after the pandemic is “over”?
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in covers the key faith angles after former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin’s murder conviction in the death of George Floyd. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) On April 22, 2021, British Parliamentarians recognized the atrocities perpetrated against the Uyghurs as genocide. This debate was only the second time the U.K. House of Commons was asked to recognize ongoing atrocities as genocide, with the first being in the case of Daesh atrocities against Yazidis, Christians and others.
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(OPINION) The Catholic news world has also seen its share of startups since the internet has changed the news industry. It’s these changes that have brought more issues like fake news and misinformation, but also allowed journalists to become entrepreneurs and build start-ups of their own.
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(OPINION) Any study of the COVID-19 pandemic's financial impact on America's nearly 17,000 parishes had to start with the early lockdowns that turned Easter 2020 into a virtual event, with millions of Catholics stuck at home, along with their wallets and checkbooks. The Pillar found that total offerings were 12% lower in 2020 than the previous year.
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(OPINION) Will the international community — and in particular the United States and other democracy-espousing nations — punk out as it did with the Nazi-run 1936 Berlin Olympics for the winter games in China in 2022? Or will the International community find some righteous backbone and either boycott the games, or make its opposition to Beijing’s policies known in another significant and unmistakable manner?
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Mainstream rapper DMX (birth name Earl Simmons) passed away on April 9 after being in a coma for a week and suffering a heart attack. While his lyrics referenced the violence and drugs he knew well, DMX also aspired to be a pastor and ended his albums with gospel music and prayer.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in features Justin Bieber, $300 Bibles and all kinds of other interesting reads in the world of religion. As always, we round up all the week’s top headlines and best stories.
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