Posts in protestants
Brent Leatherwood, Head Of SBC’s Public Policy Arm, Resigns

Brent Leatherwood has resigned as president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, ending nearly nine years of service that began in 2017 as director of strategic partnerships. The ERLC Board of Trustees accepted Leatherwood’s resignation in a called meeting Thursday in Nashville, gratefully noting his character and achievements in the role he began in 2021 in an acting capacity before becoming president in 2022.

Read More
Yellowstone A ‘Sacred Wonderland’ Of Spiritual Power For Centuries

(ANALYSIS) Nearly five million travelers visit Yellowstone National Park each year, most in the summer months. They come for the geysers, wildlife, scenery and recreational activities such as hiking, fishing and photography. However, few realize that religion has been part of Yellowstone’s appeal throughout the park’s history.

Read More
250 Years Of Faith and Service: Army Chaplain Corps Celebrates Historic Milestone

As the U.S. prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary next year, another significant institution hits that milestone this week. The Army Chaplains Corps formed on July 29, 1775, at the behest of the Second Continental Congress and the request of General George Washington. The Navy Chaplains Corps would follow in November of that same year.

Read More
So What If Preachers Endorse Political Candidates?

(ANALYSIS) Unless a federal court challenge succeeds, American clergy are now free to endorse political candidates in sermons during worship. The Internal Revenue Service has just erased the pulpit prohibition that for 71 years was among conditions to obtain federal tax exemption on income and donor gifts.  The impact is tough to predict.

Read More
In The Land Of ‘The Savior,’ Bibles Are Always Welcomed

This regular school day at the Professor Humberto González School Center would have been impossible four years ago. The neighborhood surrounding the campus used to be the grounds of a turf war between the MS-13 and 18th Street gangs. The student body, which once numbered 1,200, dropped to about 50

Read More
Mainline Pastors Less Likely To Hold Historic Christian Doctrine

While there are likely numerous theological differences between evangelical, Catholic and Black Protestant pastors, they share core convictions that aren’t as common among mainline pastors.

Read More
Evangelical Pastors More Likely To Be Bivocational These Days

Working nine to five doesn’t cut it for many pastors. Neither does working strictly at one church. The National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) report revealed 35 percent of all clergy in the U.S. serve bivocationally, holding an additional job outside of their congregational ministry.

Read More
100 Years Since The Scopes Trial: Evolution, Religion and America’s Classroom Conflicts

(ANALYSIS) One hundred years ago this month, Americans were transfixed as a Tennessee courtroom hosted challenge to the state’s new law barring “the teaching of the Evolution Theory” in public schools, including colleges. The prohibition covered “any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible.

Read More
America’s Founders And The Quran: A Forgotten Legacy Of Religious Freedom

At a time when the Trump administration has renewed a travel ban on various Muslim majority countries in Africa and across the Middle East, the Quran owned by John Adams is but one indication that our nation’s founders regarded Islam — as well as other, non-Western, non-Christian faiths — as worthy of respect and protection under the law.

Read More
Religion And The 2024 Vote: Data Shows A Crisis Point For Democrats

(ANALYSIS) Who voted how in 2024? The two most important surveys on U.S. election patterns are now available and among the findings is this bulletin: Along with its various current woes, in the long term the Democratic Party faces weakening support from many religious groups that is nearing a political emergency. No effective game plan for a turnaround is in sight. 

Read More
Memory, Melody And Meaning: The Rock Star Who Refused To Hide His Faith

(ANALYSIS) Bono has never been backwards in coming forward, especially when it comes to God. He doesn’t mumble about “spiritual energy” or dodge the name of Jesus. He says it straight: “The Son of God.”  He talks about Christ carrying his shame, not because it sounds poetic, but because he believes it. His faith isn’t necessarily neat or polished, but it's real.

Read More
Does Religious Tolerance Remain A Distant Dream In Taiwan?

(ANALYSIS) Taiwan’s international rating on freedom of religion is undisputedly very high. The 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, published by the U.S. Department of State, also noted Taiwan’s constitutional protection of the freedom of religion as well as the diversity of religious beliefs, but questions are asked about how freely can one practice their religion.  

Read More
‘There Is Grief In Good Things’: Q&A With Writer And Minister Jeff Chu

Roughly two-thirds of the way through his new book, “Good Soil: the Education of an Accidental Farmhand,” Jeff Chu, then a student at Princeton Theological Seminary and a worker at the school “Farminary” (working farm), reflects on the New Testament parable of the seed sower. What was its significance for him, a gay child of immigrants from Hong Kong raised in a conservative Christian family teeming with preachers and Sunday school teachers?

Read More
On Religion: Who Will Lead America’s ‘Small Churches’?

(ANALYSIS) One of the crucial services the Rev. Tony Marr provides as the leader of the Higher Ministries consulting firm is to connect young pastors — fresh out of seminaries and Bible colleges — with churches that need new leaders. There's a problem. Most of these churches seeking pastors have fewer than 150 members and are considered “small churches” in the Protestant marketplace.

Read More
More Than ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’: U2, Faith and the Fight Against Sectarianism

(REVIEW) When it comes to U2, perhaps the only thing harder to find than a nuanced opinion of them is an accurate portrayal of their faith. It was a shock to some that the Dublin-based band — who became big in the 1980s — refused to be pigeonholed as apologists for Irish nationalism. Anyone who looks at their religious makeup shouldn’t have been surprised.

Read More
Sanctuaries Of Identity: African Christians Thrive Amid Growing Diaspora Challenges

As African migration — driven largely by economic hardship and the search for better opportunities — continues to grow, churches are becoming more than just places of worship. In fact, churches have evolved into spiritual lifelines and vital community hubs that help preserve cultural identity, reinforce moral values and provide a sense of belonging far from home.

Read More
Most Pastors Lead Small Congregations, But Majority Attend A Large Church

When thinking about the number of people attending their church each week, the experience of the average pastor is vastly different from that of the average churchgoer. The most recent Faith Communities Today study revealed seven in 10 U.S. congregations have 100 or fewer weekly service attendees. The average U.S. congregation sees 65 people gather each week.

Read More
‘Destroyed By Modernization’: Medieval Berlin’s Diverse Religious Roots Unearthed

Berlin faces growing intolerance of immigrants and their religions, especially Muslim Arabs from countries like Turkey and Syria. right-wing extremist political parties like the Alternative for Germany echo Nazi talking points and pine for a homogenous, white and Christian society. History, however, shows that such a time never existed.

Read More
Special Report: Amid Decline, Clergy Reimagine A Future Through Connection

Your view of the health of American Christian congregations and of their clergy may very much depends on the angle taken: Up from the orchestra or looking down from the balcony. One thing seems evident: In a country in which Christian affiliation has declined (though there are signs it has stabilized) many Catholic and Protestant clergy face significant challenges.

Read More