Culture

(COMMENTARY) One week after Britain’s leading anti-euthanasia activist Peter Saunders stepped down from his charity, the Royal College of Physicians and British Medical Association published new guidelines permitting its members to remove food and fluids from brain-damaged patients without the need of a judge’s permission.

(COMMENTARY) There is an old newsroom saying that I have found often holds true: journalist + math = correction. This comical equation exemplifies how often people working in newsrooms just get math wrong in their stories. From polls and surveys to trying to quantify something by way of statistics, most reporters and editors find themselves befuddled — even fooled — by numbers.

A lot has been said and written about Jackie Robinson. The baseball legend — famous for breaking baseball’s color barrier — was known for many things. His athletic abilities, courage in the face of racism and the dignity with which he went about it all remain the focal points. What is often ignored — even forgotten — is Robinson’s Christian faith.

Long before he became an esteemed, internationally-recognized photographer — or even long before he owned a camera — Amir Hamja spent his college years in pharmacy school absorbing articles, books and tutorials of photography online.

Today, China continues to escalate its massive suppression of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong practitioners, Jews and Uighur Muslims. 

(COMMENTARY) A new documentary film recently aired on PBS beautifully shows faith as something lived-- not just a set of beliefs, traditions or doctrines on paper.

(COMMENTARY) Russian Jehovah's Witnesses and Uighur Muslims in China are persecuted by their governments, in part because they’re seen as insufficiently loyal, and in part because the global community prioritizes good trade relations.

Historian Frances Fitzgerald reported on white evangelicals for The New Yorker. Now she’s written a book delving into their place in America’s founding and history, long before President Trump.

(COMMENTARY) Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) favored a state bill that would allow ‘super’ late-term abortions. President Trump has since called for legislation to ban late-term abortions because the child can feel pain in the mother’s womb.

Complex issues and topics have always been boiled down for ordinary readers to understand. After all, that’s what journalism is really all about. The same goes for understanding religion — and this is where journalism can be a wonderful tool to help people understands different belief systems, traditions, how they intersect with politics and how it impacts our culture and society.

(NEWS ANALYSIS) Jordan’s King Abdullah II received the Templeton Prize for religious tolerance in November. Does he deserve it? Abdullah has invited prominent American Evangelicals to visit, including pro-Israel advisors to Trump, while one critical report says the government has shut down their churches and barred visas for foreign Christians.

What has largely been forgotten over the course of the last two centuries is George Washington’s faith and dedication to religious freedom. Although he was a member of the Anglican church, Washington recognized America’s pluralism and the constitutional role of religion in public life.

The mainstream media’s response has been to try and get Pope Francis to talk about — and even endorse — the notion of married priests, with no regard for the Catholic church’s Roman rite traditions.

As you walk a long, bricked and gravel pathway to the hill, you start to notice odd and sundry versions of the cross and crucifix emerging from the strange mound. High crosses. Low crosses. Gold crosses. Black crosses. Silver crosses. Some forged from metal. Others carved from wood.

There are faiths that people may be hesitant to understand. Some wouldn’t dare walk through the church doors because of the group’s radical theology. And the Black Hebrew Israelites are one of those faiths that many would pass by.

The country is grappling with a deadly drug war, where criminal gangs recruit children to work for them.

The UK’s top journalists’ union could be in breach of the law on religious equality.

(COMMENTARY) A new biography on the famous African-American abolitionist explores his public and private life, including his Protestant (and anti-Catholic) faith.

(COMMENTARY) How have generally more traditionalist Africa, Asian and Latin American missionaries fared in the Global North? The recent Economist article hints at problems, but fails to explore them in any depth.

(COMMENTARY) Libresco wants to encourage Christian hospitality to go beyond typical young adult gatherings offering shallow chitchat over wine and cheese.

India’s ruling party is pushing for a controversial immigration bill to pass ahead of the general election that excludes Muslim migrants.

(NEWS ANALYSIS) Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro — dubbed by some political commentators as the “Trump of the Tropics” — has been dogged by controversy and scandal. The result? That Christian coalition of supporters, a U.S.-style religious right, could very well abandon Bolsonaro if he ultimately fails to deliver.

A list of the Top 10 stories that appeared on Religion Unplugged in 2018.

These five film series trending on Netflix deal with the human evils and conflicts that plague religious communities, no matter how holy.

The Roman Catholic Womenpriest (RCWP) movement began in 2002 when two Catholic male bishops ordained seven women. Those women, and the ones after, have continued to ordain women to the priesthood. There are currently 264 ordained women in the RCWP movement throughout the world.

Politics and religion have come to loggerheads after Catholic conservatives called for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to be excommunicated, splitting the church’s hierarchy on how to deal with politicians who further an agenda contrary to the traditional teachings of the church. The call came after Cuomo signed into state law a measure that expanded abortion rights across the state.

A review of the book From Fire, By Water, which recounts Sohrab Ahmari’s spiritual journey from revolutionary Iran to membership in the Communist Party before he finds a spiritual home in the Roman Catholic church.

(COMMENTARY) While the United Methodist Church homepage notes a tension between upholding the sanctity of unborn human life and also the life and well-being of the mother, Bishop Timothy Whitaker spoke out against abortion referencing the Didache, a doctrinal statement on “gross sins” like murder.

(COMMENTARY) British evangelicals have mounted a protest against “extremism” policies they claim are “a real threat to gospel freedom”.