(ANALYSIS) Sotomayor’s dissent poses an interesting inquiry, regardless of one’s personal opinion of where the court should have landed on affirmative action: Does the Constitution uphold the spiritual and religious freedom of faith-based higher education institutions to engage in holistic, race-conscious admissions practices as an expression of their sincerely held institutional religious beliefs?
Read More(REVIEW) Joseph Lovett’s “Children of the Inquisition” is a feature length documentary exploring the worldwide Sephardic diaspora and recounting the history of various Jewish families seeking refuge during the Spanish Inquisition.
Read More(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.
Read More(OPINION) The 2022 report from the Open Doors organization says “persecution of Christians has reached the highest levels” since it began accumulating data for its annual “World Watch List” three decades ago. Hostile incidents have increased by 20% since just 2014, and some 360 million Christians, or 14% of the worldwide total, are said to have faced persecution, harassment or discrimination.
Read MoreThe majority of Americans live with less than half of the legal protections of religious freedom available in other states, according to new research by the conservative think tank Center for Religion, Culture and Democracy. CRCD is part of First Liberty Institute, the largest nonprofit law firm in the country solely focused on religious freedom.
Read MorePrison officials finally allowed Catholic and Orthodox Christian political prisoners pastoral visits after more than a year but prevented one from attending a worship meeting. Meanwhile, a court in Gomel Region punished a Council of Churches Baptist for baptizing his son in a lake in a ceremony attended by about 25 people.
Read MoreIn the aftermath of horrific killings, a local Korean-American leader in Atlanta explained that he appreciated the empathy shown by the Jewish community. She claimed that the Jewish community paved the way for others in the area.
Read More(OPINION) Imagine that Jack Dorsey contacts you, as a Christian on social media, and asks how he could improve his platform. His belief in self-government on the Internet is valid—but how does it differ from the Founding Father’s impression of self-government being directly tied to religion.
Read MoreThe Temple in Atlanta, Ga. experienced a major cyberattack on Friday night, prohibiting viewers from reaching the MLK Day service collaborated with Ebenezer Baptist Church for over an hour. This act was assumably fueled by racism and anti-Semitism.
Read MoreThe World Watch List 2021, a list compiled by Open Doors, an international NGO advocating on behalf of persecuted Christians, paints a concerning picture of the situation Christians face around the world. The most likely and violent place for Christians to be located is in North Korea, though the list grows daily as countries shift towards religious persecution.
Read More(OPINION) As Biden prepares to step into office, he has his sights set on the Equality Act for LGBTQ+ individuals. How will this shift religious freedom rights for those opposed to same-sex marriage?
Read MoreOngoing court battles pit religious groups vs. governmental regulations designed to slow the spread of COVID-19. Weekend Plug-in highlights the latest developments and runs down the week’s top reads in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Based on reports by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), Aid to the Church in Need, Open Doors and many more, Christians along with many other religious groups continue to be persecuted in the East. Red Wednesday, Nov. 25, attempts to raise awareness for this kind of persecution.
Read More(OPINION) The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) is a new regional government that has become known as a defender of religious freedom and equality. The area is under particular threat, particularly neighboring Turkey.
Read More(OPINION) A 2020 Executive Order prioritizes international religious freedom and promotes USAID and the U.S. State Department to infuse religious freedom with foreign policy. What will these organizations continue to do to advance the United States’s notion of religious freedom in and out of its borders?
Read More(OPINION) In Columbus, Ohio, a network of churches and faith-based organizations is providing safe, supervised spaces for kids without the resources at home to log into online learning. The school district is not endorsing or sponsoring the learning centers but are making sure parents know about them.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the religion angles tied to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s selection of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate.
Read More(OPINION) The way that Democrats handle faith in politics—particularly with issues of same-sex marriage—will play into the way Christian voters swing in the 2020 election.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court gave religious liberty advocates a victory by ruling 5-4 that Montana’s no aid clause, also known as the Blaine Amendment, cannot exclude religious schools from public programs that provide scholarship to students attending private school. The ruling makes it easier for families to obtain tuition help for religious schools of their choice.
Read More(OPINION) With Turkey President Erdoğan’s AKP party having suffered losses in municipal elections, his response to these drawbacks has been to emphasize his Sunni-Islamic credentials and to link these to the restoration of the splendors of the Ottoman Empire. One aspect of this propaganda effort has been to threaten the status of Hagia Sophia.
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