Posts in News
First Religious US Charter School Can Move Forward As Legal Challenge Proceeds

National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, on track to become the first religious charter school in the nation, may proceed as it challenges in court an Oklahoma law blocking the school, a federal district judge ruled.

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Why AI Resembles A Charismatic Religious Leader

(ANALYSIS) New religious movements often form around charismatic sources of authority offering new answers to enduring human questions. What makes AI historically unusual is that the charismatic figure no longer needs to stand on a stage. It no longer needs to establish a church or gather disciples around itself.

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Why Do Educated People Attend Church More?

ANALYSIS) What do we do with the time that we have? That’s one of the most important questions we face, in my estimation. It’s certainly something I struggle with on a day-to-day basis. I have a really hard time taking a vacation that lasts more than four or five days because I feel a deep sense of guilt that I’m not doing enough with my life.

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Faith On The Ballot: Guide To The 2026 Midterm Elections

Across several of the country’s most competitive congressional contests, religious identity has become a central issue for many voters. Here’s a look the the Senate and House races where faith has become a major issue.

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Fulton Sheen’s Beatification Tests How The Catholic Church Weighs Holiness

The ultimate finding was consequential because recognition of a miracle is a major step in the process toward beatification. For Catholics, the episode provides a tangible connection between Sheen’s life and his continuing spiritual influence. It also illustrates how the church’s sainthood process operates.

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Under Taliban Rule, Afghan Women Face Renewed Persecution

Experts said that the Taliban is using women’s own Muslim faith to “dehumanize” them. “The very religion that gives them strength is being used against them,” one expert said. In a country where only Sunni Muslims are considered citizens, religious minorities increasingly face danger, imprisonment and even death.

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How American Muslims Are Responding To Rising Hate

Twenty-five years after 9/11, American Muslim communities face record levels of anti-Islamic bias, attacks and political hostility. From Michigan’s police partnerships to Texas’s legal battles, mosques are strengthening security and grassroots vigilance, seeking to protect worshippers while preserving spaces of faith, fellowship and belonging.

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Mormons Becoming A Bit More Liberal, Less Religious

In Hulu’s “Secret Lives of Mormon Wives,” half of the show’s reality TV cast are unceremoniously disinvited from their friend’s baby blessing party. Their alleged transgression? Not being Mormon enough. The episode hits on a larger cultural trend: Mormons appear to have grown less religious, according to a new study.

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The Mainline’s Unexpected 2026 Political Comeback

(ANALYSIS) Long considered politically marginal, mainline protestantism is unexpectedly prominent in 2026 Democratic campaigns. Clergy candidates James Talarico in Texas, Adam Hamilton in Kansas and Sarah Trone Garriott and Lindsay James in Iowa are competing in closely watched races, reviving questions about mainline Christianity’s enduring political influence.

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Sikh Temples Help Tackle India’s Environmental Crisis

Farmers were not burning fields out of ignorance about the harm it caused — they were burning because it was what they had always seen done. The answer? The connecting of agricultural lessons with spiritual truths. For Delhi, whose winter air quality crisis is inseparable from what happens in Punjab’s fields each October, that lesson carries direct and urgent relevance.

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The Curious Case Of America’s Most Atheist State

(ANALYSIS) Remaining believers, committed atheists and the totally indifferent still share the same treacherous roads. They complain about the exact same potholes. So, yes, the Granite State holds the crown for the highest share of atheists in the nation. Yet God still manages to retain a surprisingly active local fan base. In other words, don’t draft the Almighty’s obituary just yet.

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Pope Leo’s Adopted Hometown To Take Center Stage During Tour

The pope’s upcoming South America trip will temporarily double the population of his adopted hometown in Peru. With limited hotel capacity compared to Lima or Cusco, the Chiclayo government is preparing the residents to have rooms available for the visitors who will arrive to see Leo. As part of Leo’s first apostolic journey to South America, he will visit 10 cities in Uruguay, Argentina and Peru.

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La Ciudad Adoptada Del Papa Será El Centro De Atención Durante Su Próxima Visita

The pope’s upcoming South America trip will temporarily double the population of his adopted hometown in Peru. With limited hotel capacity compared to Lima or Cusco, the Chiclayo government is preparing the residents to have rooms available for the visitors who will arrive to see Leo.

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Even The Buddha Experienced Challenges With Meditation

(ANALYSIS) As a scholar of “Buddhist medicine,” I have studied the connections between Buddhism and well-being since the late 1990s. During the course of that research, I would periodically run into sources claiming that meditation could sometimes have unexpected or adverse health effects. When I discovered in 2020 that psychologists were beginning to document the same thing, I began to examine more systematically how Buddhist texts address this issue.

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Malala Yousafzai Wants The Taliban ‘Held Accountable For Their Crimes’

Activist Malala Yousafzai returned to New York this week to discuss the paperback release of her memoir “Finding My Way” — but the conversation moved beyond her story of attending college and growing up. At the center was the issue that has defined much of Yousafzai’s public life: The Taliban’s treatment of Afghan women and girls and its use of religion to justify restrictions on their rights.

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What Colleges Get Wrong When They Define Zionism As Jewish Statehood

(ANALYSIS) Haverford, a small liberal arts college, has become the latest school to settle a lawsuit over how it handled antisemitism. Its president wrote that “students including those who identify as Jewish, and/or Israeli, and those who support Zionism: That is, the right of the Jewish people to self-determination and statehood in the land of Israel, are welcome and enjoy equal access to the College and all of its educational programs and activities.”

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Survivors Build Database Of Accused Protestant Clergy Abusers

Named Protestant Accountability, the nonprofit database launched in August after merging with a similar resource, Baptist Accountability. Its mission is to reveal hidden abuse and misconduct and to “promote transparency, accountability and the protection of those at risk.”

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New York’s San Gennaro Feast The Story Of How Italian Immigrants Became American

For two weeks in September, everyone wants to be Italian — at least judging by the crowds at the annual Feast of San Gennaro in New York City’s Little Italy. Founded in 1926, the largest and longest-running Italian festival in the United States celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, with locals and tourists alike descending upon Mulberry Street in Manhattan to celebrate Italian American culture.

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Southern Baptists Seeing More Adults Seeking Baptism

(ANALYSIS) Obviously, Baptists pay close attention to baptism statistics, along with trends on church attendance and membership. In a new report, Lifeway dug into Southern Baptist Convention Annual Church Profile numbers for 2025 and reported that baptisms rose for the fifth consecutive year. Baptist leaders quickly noted another current trend — adults 30 and older represented 33% of all baptisms.

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