Posts tagged On Religion
Pat Robertson: A Broadcaster Who Preached To His Own Choir

(OPINION) Pat Robertson avoided blunt faith language when facing the press during that high-wire political campaign. However, he kept blending subtle biblical references into remarks about economics, foreign policy and hot cultural issues. He knew fans of his daily “The 700 Club” broadcasts could break the code.

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Many Catholics No Longer Go To Confession: Does It Matter?

(OPINION) In the movies, the penitent enters a confession booth, kneels and whispers to a priest behind a lattice screen, “Forgive me, father, for I have sinned.” This drama was, for centuries, at the center of Catholic life. But in recent decades, the number of Americans who go to confession has plunged to a shocking degree that church leaders have struggled to explain.

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Massacres And Miracles From Colombia to Nigeria: Who Will Tell These Stories?

(OPINION) The future journalist was both shocked and inspired by her contact with Christians caught in that land's toxic climate of paramilitary warfare, drug trafficking and kidnappings. She struggled to grasp how someone like pilot Russell Martin Stendal, after years held for ransom, could forgive his kidnappers and then start a missionary effort to convert them.

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Covenant’s Pastor Preached On Grief Before The Attack

(OPINION) The Bible’s shortest verse — “Jesus wept” — is also one of its most important. That was the message delivered by the Rev. Chad Scruggs in a March 5 sermon — “Death’s Conqueror” — as the faithful at Nashville’s Covenant Presbyterian Church continued their Lenten journey toward Holy Week and Easter’s promise of new life after death.

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UK’s Religion-Free Speech Debates Enter ‘Thoughtcrime’ Zone

(OPINION) Father Sean Gough was praying silently when he was arrested near an abortion facility in a Public Spaces Protection Order protected zone while holding a “Praying for free speech” sign. His car was parked nearby, with a small “Unborn lives matter” bumper sticker.

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Raquel Welch Found Some Personal Peace In A Church Pew

(OPINION) Raquel Welch wasn’t trying to hide during the later decades of her life when she faithfully attended Calvary Presbyterian Church in Glendale, Calif. She was simply looking for people she could trust. Welch died on Feb. 15 at the age of 82, inspiring waves of tributes focusing on her iconic beauty in “Fantastic Voyage,” “100 Rifles,” “The Three Musketeers” and dozens of other movies and TV programs.

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The Archbishop Of Canterbury Prepares To Stand Down

(OPINION) In England, proclaiming God’s blessing on same-sex relationships has become the new orthodoxy for clergy with established ties to the powers that be. But that’s not the case in Nigeria and the Global South, where Anglican leaders have urged the Church of England to consider the impact of its actions on believers facing conflict with Jihadi terrorists.

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How the Pope and an American Cardinal Ignited New Debates On Sex And The Eucharist

(OPINION) When popes talk about sex, it tends to make headlines. This was certainly true when Pope Francis told The Associated Press last month the Catholic Church opposes criminalizing homosexuality and that “we are all children of God, and God loves us as we are.” The pope then noted that homosexual activity is “not a crime. Yes, but it’s a sin.”

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When Prayer Become Acceptable To The NFL

(OPINION) The establishment was shocked when players and coaches from Denver and Washington, D.C., held a prayer meeting on the eve of the 1988 Super Bowl. But the electric wave of prayer that swept America after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s heart-stopping injury was a “critical mass” moment and a sign of changing times — maybe.

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The Haunting Final Sermon Of Cardinal Pell

(OPINION) Cardinal George Pell had no way to know, as he rose to preach during a spiritual retreat in southern Italy, that this was his last sermon — opening with the biblical cry, “Repent, because the Kingdom of God is near.”

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Holy Water And Orthodox Memories Of A Vase Of Fresh Flowers

(OPINION) After the Christmas season and before Lent, Orthodox priests have — for centuries — rushed to visit church members’ homes to bless them with prayers and splashes of holy water flung about with a foot-long brush or handfuls of basil.

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Pope Benedict Lived His Life With Europe In The Rearview

(OPINION) In a rite before the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Vatican officials placed unique symbols of his pontificate inside his cypress casket, along with a scroll in Latin describing his ascent to the Chair of St. Peter. Old tensions surfaced during Pope Benedict’s funeral and the events — or the lack thereof — surrounding it.

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No. 1 US Religion News Story? The Fall Of Roe V. Wade

(OPINION) Churches were always active in abortion debates, with some embracing centuries of doctrine on the sanctity of human life and others becoming strategic abortion-rights supporters. Thus journalists in the Religion News Association named the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as the year’s top American religion-news story.

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This Christmas, Some Churches Need To Think About Widowers

(OPINION) Refuge Widowers retreats last three days, with volunteers, including several widowers, helping newcomers share their stories in a safe setting. The goal is to create a network that lives on through calls, texts, emails and online small-group sessions. Many of the conversations focus on the needs of the men’s children.

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Long History Behind Bitter Orthodox Schism In Ukraine

(OPINION) Caught in the middle, leaders of the historic Ukrainian Orthodox Church say the “Holy Rus” is a historical reality but insist that this makes Russia’s invasion even worse — the sin of brothers killing brothers.

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Latest Empty Tomb Inc. Numbers: Do Churches Still Have Funds For Charity And Missions?

(OPINION) Danger signs began decades ago. Giving to religious groups — defined in terms of potential donations based on after-tax incomes — peaked in 1960 and then began to decline, even as church membership numbers and budgets kept rising.

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Olasky Flashback: Back To The Evangelical Clashes Over Character And Two-Party Politics

(OPINION) The stakes are high since White evangelicals play a strategic role in GOP primaries and national elections. In 2016, the Pew Research Center found that 78% of White evangelicals planned to vote for Trump — but 30% said they backed Trump, himself. Trump’s evangelical numbers remained strong in 2020, after he filled several SCOTUS slots.

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Teachings On Sin Changing? Priest In Ireland Disagrees

(OPINION) For centuries, Irish Catholics have heard priests deliver sermons about sin, hell, repentance, grace and heaven. Times have changed, and an 80-year-old priest in County Kerry didn’t get the memo. The problem was that Sheehy’s Oct. 30 sermon stressed ancient Catholic doctrines on behaviors many modern Catholics refuse to call “sins.”

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