Over the past decade, Passion Plays have become a feature of U.K. life. Over the past few years, the London Passion Play has lead the way when it comes to such re-enactments. The idea, however, dates back to the Middle Ages, when individual scenes would be performed at different sites around a city or town by the local guilds.
Read MorePresident Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, is one of the GOP’s most prominent “Christian Zionists” — a phrase often associated with conservative evangelicals’ support for Israel. But Christian Zionism is much older than the 1980s alliance between the Republican Party and the religious right.
Read MoreThe Texas House passed a bipartisan bill banning nondisclosure clauses in sexual abuse settlement agreements April 8, championed on the House floor by Rep. Jeff Leach, a Southern Baptist who is among the bill’s five authors. Known as Trey’s Law, the bill outlaws the use of NDAs in settlement agreements regarding sexual abuse, regardless of the age of the abused.
Read MoreEver since the repeal of the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine in the 1980s, AM radio has maintained a reputation as the domain of free market capitalist advocacy. But now that automakers such as Ford and Tesla have been removing AM radios from some new models, many groups are fighting to save the format through government regulation.
Read MoreAttempting 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) 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 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 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 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.
Read MoreMany stopped attending churches in January when the sensitive locations limitations were lifted on ICE arrests — impacting churches and schools. But the end of the humanitarian parole program, and the Temporary Protected Status program in August, will together inflict a multilayered wound upon churches, families and Gospel witness.
Read MoreHoping to persuade Missouri lawmakers to end nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and the statute of limitations for child sex abuse victims, multiple survivors of abuse at two evangelical ministries testified powerfully in a hearing last week.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When the National Urban Ministry Conference began in the 1990s, the focus was on starting churches and ministries that would reach the urban poor in the downtown areas of large cities. Yet, the city — speaking in a general sense — is constantly changing.
Read MoreThe number of deaths is likely to rise further, as many parts of the country have been cut off. Getting help to those in need — and even assessing the extent of the destruction — has proved difficult in a country where key infrastructure was badly damaged and where a civil war had already been raging before the 7.7 magnitude quake struck last Friday.
Read MoreWorship centers in Kenya are increasingly facing scrutiny for conducting activities at noise levels that exceed acceptable limits. Concerns have been raised in various parts of the country about religious services blatantly violating existing regulations, disturbing the peace and quiet of neighborhoods.
Read MoreGrief can take many forms — the echo of a loved one’s laugh, a favorite saying or even a silly joke. It’s a belonging on a living room table, clothes you can’t quite bring yourself to donate or a domestic animal who wanders the house aimlessly after a loved one’s death.
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