Christianity
(COMMENTARY) The women’s soccer team representing the Vatican — yes, the Vatican has a women’s soccer team — canceled its planned international debut in Austria when sports, religion and politics made for a bad mix.
Two very different French sites — Lourdes, one of the holiest in the world for Roman Catholics, and the American cemetery at Normandy — have the ability to bring visitors closer to God in very different ways.
A fragile Christian alliance that supported Pres. Bolsonaro’s election to office in October is weakening amid rising unemployment, budget cuts to education, and their leader’s negative comments about women, black people and the LGBT community.
A new survey named the Holy See’s famous museums first among its top 10 travel experiences — beating out second-place Chicago for their architectural river cruises — and the only religious tour to crack the global list.
(COMMENTARY) On the one-year anniversary of the revelations that exposed the past misdeeds of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the story doesn’t look like it is subsiding anytime soon.
(COMMENTARY) The Italian director is known for many things, but will be most remembered for is his deep Roman Catholic faith, his an ardent support for the anti-abortion movement and his 1977 masterpiece movie Jesus of Nazareth.
Rebuilding Notre Dame will be a painstaking task. Estimated to cost in the billions, the cathedral has also become a political pawn in a broader fight between traditionalists and secularists. In a country divided politically — the recent European election was another reminder of this — the fate of Notre Dame very much rests in the hands of the country’s warring lawmakers.
Do you vver wonder what happened to Osho’s ranch in Wild Wild Country? Young Life, a Christian student ministry, bought the land for a camp retreat center 20 years ago this month. We paid a visit.
(COMMENTARY) Pope Francis is a great example of an international leader whose handlers like to control the message. Not too different from the White House press office, where access can often be very limited. That makes the papal news conference, the one that takes place aboard the pope’s flight on the way to Rome at the end of very trip, very important.
One nun acted as the church’s contractor and another the mechanical engineer to build this $2 million Greek Orthodox church and its surrounding monastery, including a popular bakery and coffee bar that locals and tourists drive more than 50 miles through Indian country to reach.
We talked with Steven Waldman, founder of BeliefNet and author of the new book Sacred Liberty, about America’s battles for religious freedom— how the notion that the US was founded with religious liberty in mind is wrong— our current challenges for preserving it, and much more.
(COMMENTARY) What has been lacking throughout the ongoing abortion debate, from a media coverage standpoint, has been broader context. This is especially true of covering those who are adamantly opposed to abortion.
(COMMENTARY) If an Evangelical crisis is coming, journalists need to spring into action immediately.
(COMMENTARY) As 2020 approaches, two key issues morally bind Christian voters: abortion and immigration. Any voter — secular or spiritual — should shed themselves of political jargon and focus on the platform of the Republican and Democratic candidates.
(COMMENTARY) Echoing papal pronouncements, a position paper and then a columnist of the Southern Baptist Convention’s seminary said that Jesus Christ appointed only male apostles. Evangelical author Beth Moore was one among many voices to push back on Twitter.
There can’t be talk of the future without God and faith. Depending on the speaker (or the college/university), God can often be the focal point of a commencement address. This spring has been highlighted by a few notable speeches, including Vice President Mike Pence’s at Liberty University and Peggy Noonan at Notre Dame.
(NEWS ANALYSIS) Matteo Salvini, who leads the League party, could take his anti-immigration stances to Brussels if opinion polls prove correct. His hardline stance on the issue has put him at odds with the Catholic church in Italy as well as with Pope Francis, who has repeatedly spoken in favor of refugees seeking asylum in Western Europe.
(COMMENTARY) A month after the Notre Dame blaze, there continues to be little to no coverage when it comes to the rash of suspicious fires and vandalism that plagued French churches in the weeks before the Paris incident, which was quickly deemed unintentional by Parisian authorities.
(COMMENTARY) Christians are called to be in the world, not of it. So why do our churches strive to copy the culture?
(COMMENTARY) The attempt by Pope Francis to finally create some accountability and transparency is well intentioned, although misguided given that it largely ignores the role of laypeople and relies primarily on clergy self-policing.
(COMMENTARY) At a time when humor is struggling with political correctness and fallout from the #MeToo movement, there’s little material for late-night hosts and stand-up comedians to work with. However, the people you’re allowed to pick on (at least from the material you see on TV) are Christians across all denominations.
Evans, known for her progressive take on the faith, was only 37 when an infection quickly turned fatal. Her last blog post, about Lent and before she announced any illness, was a reminder that we will all return to dust.
While the death and resurrection of Jesus marks the holiest time on the Christian calendar, different cultures and nations celebrate in very unique ways. Here’s a look at seven international traditions from Bermuda to the Philippines.
Trinity College in Dublin, to be exact, holds many a wondrous treasure for the insatiable scholar and fewer curiosities for the vaguely obligated tourist. For me, it held one of the crown jewels of literature, The Book of Kells.
As investigators continue to sift through the damage — which includes three massive holes in its vaulted ceiling — in an effort to pinpoint the cause of the inferno, French officials and architects are working on trying to determine how much money and time it will take to restore Notre Dame to its former glory.
(NEWS ANALYSIS) In the wake of the devastating fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, insightful reporting of the event and reflections of its significance could be found across Twitter a day after the catastrophic blaze. Here are eight perspectives that stood out to us.
(COMMENTARY) Before Monday’s fire in Paris, a string of arson cases and other acts of desecration took place inside Catholic churches in France during Lent. In a country with a recent history of terrorism, these incidents somehow didn’t warrant any kind of attention from American news organizations. Even major outlets with a presence in Paris failed to adequately do so.
(COMMENTARY) While many Christians of various denominations have had to reconcile church teachings with that of who they prefer at the ballot box, the issue has not been fully explored in the mainstream press. At a time when pandering to one side is better for the bottom line, such journalistic discoveries of this grey zone are left underreported. Is covering both sides fueling political polarization?
(COMMENTARY) Amid all the immorality, crime, violence and ultimately Michael Corleone’s final despair (for anyone who could sit through The Godfather III), this isn’t just a series of mob movies. The Godfather book and movie trilogy is loaded with religious symbolism.
(COMMENTARY) The religion of presidential candidates and history with the dogma of their respective faiths — what they believe, why they believe it and, in some cases, when they changed their minds — is an issue many Americans care about.