The New York Times feature marking the band’s 50th anniversary — the hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast — starts with U2 returning to Mount Temple to celebrate on the stage where the quartet did one of its first gigs. The lengthy interview: “50 Years In, What’s the Point of U2? Bono and the Edge Have Answers.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) No doubt about it, artificial intelligence agents are great at providing answers to basic questions that shape ordinary life.
Read MoreIt’s a big news story — at the denominational and local levels — when one of America’s biggest, richest, most powerful and most strategic United Methodist congregations votes to remove the word “United” from its name. Imagine this: What if a dozen members of the Highland Park flock, next to Southern Methodist University, released a manifesto explaining why 90% of the voters in the Dallas pews backed that decision?
Read More(ANALYSIS) A 2025 Vantage Point Counseling Services study found that 28% of adults say they have had an intimate AI interaction or relationship. The same study said 54% of Americans mentioned AI friends, colleagues or confidants.
Read MoreWithin a decade of hitting the religion beat, around 1980, it was obvious to me that the demographic collapse of the “seven sisters” of liberal Protestantism was going to create a giant hole in American life. We are talking about these flocks — American Baptists, the Disciples of Christ, the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Presbyterian Church (USA), the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The planned execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan sparked renewed debate among Christians over capital punishment. Catholic leaders cited church teaching opposing the death penalty, while some evangelical leaders defended it biblically. Disagreement also centered on whether televising executions promotes justice or glorifies violence.
Read MoreThis week’s topic was religion-news coverage of the White House call to execute Major Nidal Malik Hasan by firing squad, in response to the U.S. Army psychiatrist’s 2009 mass-murder of 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, while injuring 32 others.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Journalists called Bakker a “televangelist,” but he never showed interest in being a pastor or an evangelist. His hero was Johnny Carson. Moore noted that Bakker's “goal was clearly to be a talk-show host. That was his life. ... He loved sitting behind that desk in front of the cameras.”
Read MoreI am convinced that with Shepard’s skills at investigative reporting, and my religion-beat sources in Charlotte-area groups, we could have broken the story several years earlier, perhaps saving the bank accounts and pensions of many PTL donors. But Shepard never gave up and did untold hours of work on his own, starting with a crucial lead in my notes, the caller’s farewell statement: “Just remember this name — Jessica Hahn.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) The war between Auburn and Alabama has verged on a crusade, with fans so devoted some seem possessed. In the most infamous moment on “The Paul Finebaum Show,” “Al from Dadeville” offered this explanation, quoting former Alabama football player Tommy Lewis, for his poisonous attack that killed Auburn's Toomer's Corner oak trees: “I just have too much ‘Bama in me.”
Read MoreToday’s urgent questions about artificial intelligence, consciousness and morality are all the rage. This week, we examine Anthropic’s efforts to teach Claude virtue, the theological implications of AI “souls,” and humanity’s growing struggle to define — and control — machine choices.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Shortly before her “Para(site)dise” exhibition at the William King Museum of Art in Abingdon, Virginia, artist Jocelyn Mathewes used a pillowcase and 30 pieces of fabric to create a 7-by-9-foot floating sculpture called “The Bed (Horizontal Time).” This experience touches minds and souls, as well as bodies.
Read MoreOn this week’s episode, the “60 Minutes” interview featuring Patrick Clancy — ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy — where he talked about the children’s killings in his first televised interview.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In Narnia, Aslan is the Christ figure, repeatedly described by Lewis — an Oxford don and Christian apologist — as the “King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-Beyond-the-Sea. ... The Lion, the great Lion.” In “The Magician's Nephew,” Narnia's creation story, Aslan is first described as “a Lion. Huge, shaggy and bright," with a basso profundo voice "deep enough to be the voice of the earth.”
Read MoreToday the Christian legal movement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has touched many aspects of American life. Firms have been on a winning spree at the Supreme Court, overturning long-standing legal limits on religious expression by public officials, expanding religious exemptions and elevating the place of religious exercise to its highest point in modern times.
Read More(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.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Yes, I’m a sports fan. I have discovered, over the years, that many of my readers do not care much about sports, at least not enough to pay attention to news coverage of sports. This is interesting, since sports is a powerful force in the lives of ordinary folks in America and around the world.
Read MoreWe revisit Peter Jennings’ warning about the faith gap in newsrooms, using a teenager’s reported healing and vision of the Virgin Mary to argue that journalists should investigate religious claims with the same rigor, curiosity and openness they bring to other complex mysteries.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Strip has not vanished, and its “Sin City” label remains relevant. The Nevada Gaming Control Board reported $8.82 billion in gross gaming revenue (what operators keep after payouts) for the Strip in 2025. But the world has changed. Researchers struggle to describe online gambling today — from $100 billion global GGR in 2023 to a Gaming Compliance International estimate of $5.9 trillion in unregulated activity.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I learned she had died while gazing around inside an airplane approaching the Rocky Mountains. Someone with the funds to buy on-board WiFi had a news program playing on his tablet and I saw the headline. I was stunned, even though I have been following her health struggles for several months. She managed to hide any information that pointed to cancer.
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