Matthew Peterson speaks with reporter Joseph Maina about how African AI developers are using their skills to in church services and how pastors view the rise of artificial intelligence.
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(OPINION) An international investigator will visit Nigeria to assess the religious persecution occurring across the country, and there are so many issues that it’s hard to know where she should begin. Will she detail the mass kidnappings that have occurred regularly over the past decade? The religious and tribal fighting? The terrorist organizations wreaking havoc on the country?
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At the dawn of the new millennium in northern Nigeria, while a Christian man was petitioning God with his midnight prayers, his 19-year-old Muslim neighbor was calling upon Allah, also through prayer. What the Muslim teen didn’t know is that he would someday convert to Christianity, something that in the African nation can prove to be dangerous.
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Travel to Cairo and you’ll find Muslims and Christians intertwining their faiths, borrowing one another’s saints and celebrating religious festivals side by side. The official iconography of Saint George, for example, shows a knight on horseback — an image that echoes ancient Egyptian depictions of Horus striking a hippopotamus with a spear.
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The Ugandan government has announced the postponement of this year’s Uganda Martyrs’ Day celebrations, scheduled for June 3, in response to an Ebola outbreak affecting both Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has claimed over 130 lives thus far.
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The fledgling country has yet to hold its first democratic general election, while the South Sudanese suffer from extreme poverty, ethnic violence, lack of water and more. Local and international faith groups lend a measure of stability, working to meet everyday needs while providing a measure of hope.
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Earlier this year, a 15-year-old walked through the gates of her high school in Kenya, wearing her hijab. The student and her parents had been assured by the principal that she could continue wearing it, just as she had throughout primary school. A few weeks later, that assurance fell apart. It has become part of a broader fight regarding religious freedom in the country.
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Maria lives in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo, along with her husband and four children, content with being farmers and living in the fields. But the 27-year-old woman, who did not want to be identified by her full name, has always faced persecution for being Christians. She isn’t alone. It’s the type of violence many in Africa have had to deal with for years.
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Militant Fulani killed more Christians in Nigeria over the past year than any other aggressor, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said May 8 in naming the militants a nonstate violator of religious freedom.
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In Zimbabwe, 200 in every 100,000 women die in childbirth — a rate far higher than in many Western countries, and far exceeding international standards. While the focus is always on reducing maternal deaths, some pastors are supporting newly widowed husbands, too.
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Pope Leo XIV’s first international apostolic journey was clouded by heated disputes with President Donald Trump, criticisms of appearing to appease the Islamist persecution of Christians and ongoing conflicts over homosexuality and polygamy among those who are members of the Catholic Church.
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(ANALYSIS) Pope Leo XIV, during his recent Africa visit, warned Catholics against mixing Christian faith with superstition or other religious practices. He emphasized fidelity to Church teachings amid rapid growth in African churches, while renewed attention to past imagery linked to Pachamama has sparked debate about syncretism and theological clarity.
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After several churches and other places of worship were demolished, a public outcry forced Uganda to pause a project that aimed to clean up cities and enforce zoning regulations. But now, government officials say, the project is back on, and more unsanctioned structures might be on the chopping block.
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(ANALYSIS) More questions remain. Will the Vatican seek to impose doctrine, potentially provoking further resistance from the West? Or will it allow a degree of local experimentation, accepting the risk of inconsistency in the name of pastoral responsiveness? Leo’s statements on the issue suggest a preference for the former.
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The rise of charismatic Pentecostal churches in Zimbabwe in the last two decades has resulted in the faith groups using open spaces and acquiring stands within residential suburbs to conduct church services. The services include prayer meetings, all-night fellowship and praise and worship concerts.
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The Pew Research Center analysis, released on Thursday, based on surveys conducted in 24 countries, examined “religious switching” — when people adopt a different religion than the one in which they were raised. The findings reveal a complex picture within Christianity, particularly between its two largest branches: Catholicism and Protestantism.
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Tucked within the settlement’s remains stands the Jamestown Church Tower, its weathered bricks rising above the landscape like a sentinel. It’s the last visible remnant of a series of churches that once anchored the colony’s spiritual life. As America celebrates its 250th anniversary, Jamestown is a reminder of what helped to create a new nation.
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After the first wave of Bible chatbots, independent developers are now building AI tools to solve problems that arise during live worship, and that can operate despite Nigeria’s spotty internet. However, some groups question just how involved an AI tool should be during Sunday services. Critics have said AI will only help spread misinformation in Nigeria and across Africa.
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(ANALYSIS) Stephen Miller’s “might makes right” worldview reflects a broader shift toward prioritizing power over understanding in global affairs. Through the tales of Nasreddin Hoja, the piece argues that curiosity, humility, and engagement with other cultures are essential — and that relying solely on strength risks blinding societies to complexity, difference and their own limitations.
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A Nigerian federal court convicted nearly 400 individuals on terrorism charges this month in what persecution watchdog International Christian Concern said is one of the largest criminal crackdowns in the nation’s history, but none appeared to face murder charges.
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