When Randy Hall and wife Kim walked into First Baptist Church of Garner in early 2025, it didn’t seem like an extraordinary Sunday. That is, until Randy sensed the Holy Spirit moving.
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(ANALYSIS) Thousands of Americans prayed on the National Mall on May 17, during “Rededicate 250”: a day-long rally to “come together in prayer and worship ahead of the nation’s 250th birthday,” as organizers described it. U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, one of many Republican politicians and conservative Christian leaders to speak, led a prayer to “rededicate the United States of America as one nation under God.”
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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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Move over, pastors. New research reveals your counseling and pastoral care may no longer be needed. A new study shows that congregations might increasingly be turning to AI to deal with their spiritual needs and help with personal growth. The research shows 1 in 3 adults now believes AI's spiritual guidance is just as trustworthy as that of a pastor.
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(ANALYSIS) “Rededicate 250” was billed as a prayer rally celebrating America’s 250th anniversary. But the event on the National Mall also became a revealing snapshot of how faith, politics and national identity are increasingly intertwined during the Trump era.
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A national movement to void agreements that silence sex abuse victims slammed into a barrier Thursday when the Oklahoma Legislature killed two reform measures, one named after a state resident who accused Gateway Church founder Robert Morris of sexually abusing her.
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(ANALYSIS) As the United States approaches its 250th birthday this summer, the fight over “Rededicate 250” underscores a deeper question about the future of American democracy: Can a nation that is religiously diverse maintain a shared civic identity without elevating one tradition — in this case Christianity — above all others?
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In just a few days, crowds are expected to descend on Washington for an explicitly Christian event, celebrating the U.S. 250th anniversary. Later this month, many churches will swap hymns for patriotic songs and dress their sanctuary in American flags, mingling patriotism and Christianity. When do these patriotic actions cross over into Christian Nationalism?
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The Big Idea for this podcast? The social-credits system shifted into high gear the year after China, in 2018, launched sweeping new regulations to crush religious activities that lacked formal government approval. Digital technology is at the heart of China’s efforts to control the beliefs of its citizens.
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Paulo Silas Pereira se está preparando para la próxima Copa Mundial como comentarista deportivo. Al hacerlo, su enfoque ha pasado de los goles y las tácticas a algo mucho más personal: contar la historia de su vida y de su fe cristiana.
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Gateway Church and its disgraced founder Robert Morris have agreed to arbitration to settle their multimillion-dollar retirement dispute, rather than continue battling in court. Morris, 64, resigned as Gateway’s senior pastor in 2024, after reports surfaced that he had molested 12-year-old Cindy Clemishire in 1982 while a traveling evangelist in Oklahoma. In May 2025, Morris sued Gateway to get millions in retirement benefits.
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(ANALYSIS) Abortion has become a defining partisan issue, with Republicans generally anti-abortion and Democrats pro-abortion rights. Yet lawmakers like Charlie Baker, Susan Collins and Bob Casey show exceptions can succeed in some states. At the same time, long-term polling reveals growing support for abortion access across most religious groups.
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A retired Baptist pastor is the latest Christian convicted for religious activity in an abortion buffer zone in the United Kingdom, this time for holding a church service on the outskirts of a zone.
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(ANALYSIS) Mother’s Day seems like a strange time to celebrate birth control, which, on its most basic level, is about helping people to not become mothers — or not become mothers again.
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Paulo Silas Pereira is preparing for the upcoming World Cup as a broadcaster. In doing so, his focus has shifted from goals and tactics to something far more personal: Telling the story of his life and Christian faith.
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(ANALYSIS) The general admonition is the same in many faith communities: Try to marry someone who shares your faith background. That’s certainly a well-established norm in Jewish communities.
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Pastor Greg Locke retracted years-old allegations accusing Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen and others of abuse, admitting he lacked any evidence. The claims unraveled after scrutiny from apologist Mike Winger, prompting Locke to admit he had been misled and been used as an “amplifier.”
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To fully understand Atlanta, you have to look beyond its highways and glass towers, back to the broader history of Georgia and its unusual role during colonial America. In that earlier era, a quiet but consequential force — religious diversity — helped shape a mindset that would eventually contribute to the movement for independence in 1776.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has stayed a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals nationwide ban on mail-order abortion pills, the main mode of pregnancy termination in the U.S.
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In a new book, a religious studies scholar discusses how the concepts of conversion, testimony and purity can be used to study the vaccine hesitancy movement. Author Kira Ganga Kieffer explains how the vaccine hesitancy movement became bound up with religious liberty activists in trying to preserve their rights.
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