While we were recording the podcast this week, I told Lutheran Public Radio listeners that I was well aware that much of the information I was sharing was rather complex, if not downright confusing. That was kind of the point. When it comes to statistical trends in religion, we live in a very, very confusing age.
Read More(OPINION) The international conversation about Gaza has long circled the same grim question: What would it take for the population to rise up against Hamas? We just might have the beginnings of a response: The resumption of war, after Israel broke a two-month ceasefire following 15 months of devastating conflict. The prospect of more death with no end date, all because Hamas refuses to free more hostages until Israel agrees to leave it in power as part of a more permanent truce, appears to be too much to bear.
Read MoreConditions in Afghanistan and India continued to deteriorate and remained poor in Nigeria and Vietnam, USCIRF commissioners said March 25 in its 2025 Report on International Religious Freedom, calling out countries where Christian minorities face murder, torture and other ills either sanctioned by the government or with little governmental intervention.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Rev. Stephen Tong is a polymath and multitalented person whose stunning range of activities remain firmly and deeply rooted in his Christian faith. He is perhaps most alive in his preaching, which consistently challenges his hearers to follow Jesus Christ to the point of death. This remarkable man is now 85 and rather than slowing down, he asks for prayer that he might live until at least the age of 90 so that he can complete a series of Farewell Gospel Rallies worldwide.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As a rule, I am not a fan of sequels — other than movies that complete a cycle of stories that exist in some existing form of literature (think “The Lord of the Rings”). I am also not a fan of live-action remakes of classic animated films.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Thirty-eight days have gone by since Feb. 14, when Pope Francis left the Vatican to be hospitalized at the Gemelli Polyclinic Hospital. These weeks have been challenging for an 88-year-old patient battling bilateral pneumonia. Medical reports did not downplay the severity of his condition, the crises he endured, or the complexity of his clinical picture.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The American comics industry was largely started by the children of Jewish immigrants. Like most publishing in the early 20th century, it was centered in New York, home to the country’s largest Jewish population. Though they were still a very small minority, immigration had swelled the United States’ Jewish population more than a thousandfold: from roughly 3,000 in 1820 to roughly 3,500,000 in 1920.
Read More(REVIEW) There’s a kind of soothing boredom that settles in throughout the film. Everything about it is mild. The jokes are gentle. The characters’ anger restrained. The sadness subdued. The animation is beautiful, but unremarkable. The voice actors deliver their lines without much intensity. Because the emotional highs and lows are nonexistent, the experience is more like watching a screensaver.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The goal was to create local educational events about smartphones and digital technology that would let parents interact with representatives from Troomi and other major companies in the “minimalist” phone marketplace — such as Gabb, Bark, Pinwheel and The Light Phone. What happened next?
Read MoreThe best week in sports is upon us once again. The men’s NCAA basket tournament — a time known as “March Madness” — brings with it office pools and, very often, plenty of surprises. It’s a long road to the championship game and a lot will happen between now and April 7. Here are five religiously-affiliated schools that could turn into Cinderella teams and pull off some upsets.
Read More(ANALYSIS) To many, George Berkeley is little more than a bishop — a distant historical figure whose name happens to adorn the University of California at Berkeley. A polymath of epic proportions, he sought to dissect reality itself. While Elon Musk pursues a future of technological transcendence, Berkeley strived for clarity in the present, reducing reality to its bare bones.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, an important aspect of their faith is their role as stewards of God on Earth. One way Muslims do this is through the practice of Zakat, an obligatory kind of charity that’s one of the five pillars of Islam.
Read MoreDuring a typical week, readers (or podcast listeners) send me emails or messages through various social-media platforms. Often, these people are frustrated or even angry. Most folks are not upset with me. More often than not, they are ticked off about something they have seen — or failed to see — in mainstream press coverage of the news.
Read MoreSixty years after John Lewis and hundreds of civil rights activists were beaten by the Alabama State Police, thousands returned to Selma and the Edmund Pettus Bridge to remember one of the bloodiest campaigns of the 1960s.
Read MoreThere’s no doubt that like a religion, giving value to crypto requires faith. Those evangelizing for it certainly seem to be on a moral mission. For now, they seem unstoppable — and there’s more than the hard-earned savings of believers at stake. A glance at X is enough to demonstrate how much crypto has become not just another spurious get-rich-quick scheme, but a new way of life.
Read MoreWhen a pope is ill, resigns or passes away, who steps in? And who else helps lead the Holy See?
Read MoreThe majority of U.S.-based Christian ministry executives are optimistic about the impact the new administration of President Donald Trump will have on the ministries they lead, according to a MinistryWatch survey.
Read MoreAt the start of the war, nearly 17 million Ukrainians fled the country, but fewer than 7 million remain abroad, Bloomberg reported. Among those who returned is Tatyana Pavlenko. She and her husband, Oleg, once worshiped with a Church of Christ in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, just a few miles from the Russian border.
Read More(OPINION) Marty died on Feb. 25 at the age of 97, a quarter of a century after retiring from teaching at the University of Chicago Divinity School. The research center he launched in 1979 was then rebranded as the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. He received numerous other awards, including more than 80 honorary degrees.
Read MorePastors have reported that they have been forced to shelter rebels inside their churches as well as within their surrounding communities. The rebels are well aware that hiding in these sanctuaries guarantees them protection, given the government’s longstanding commitment to ensuring that attacks do not target civilians, churches or hospitals.
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