is the Wheaton war about Donald Trump? Yes — and no. Accurate reporting requires information noting that campus conflicts of this kind have been raging — yes, often behind the scenes and out of the headlines — for decades. The conflicts are doctrinal, cultural and sometimes political. But doctrine is the most crucial reality in these voluntary, private, academic communities.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Many of the ad's photographs are easy to interpret, such as a man removing “GO BACK” graffiti from a home, a woman helping a weeping man in a grocery store, a firefighter hard at work and a young football player comforting a defeated opponent. But the John 3:16 hat raised the theological stakes in the pride photograph.
Read MoreI’m not suggesting that the New York Times team that produced this recent feature — “Seeking God, or Peter Thiel, in Silicon Valley” — needed to dig into the works of this Orthodox monk. This business-desk feature was the hook for this week’s “Crossroads” podcast.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Moments after the Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX, quarterback Jalen Hurts offered a familiar word of testimony: “God is good. He is greater than all of the highs and lows.” If those words sounded familiar, it's because Hurts — the MVP — shared them earlier on press day, along with several other times when he was in the spotlight: “My faith has always been a part of me.”
Read MoreUnder normal conditions, a pope releasing a highly personal memoir about his life would create quite a few headlines. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case with “Life: My Story Through History,” the new autobiography from Pope Francis, co-written with Carlo Musso, founder of the Italian publishing company Libreria Pienogiorno. That’s strange, since this is being hailed as the first memoir from a sitting pope.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Chaplains work with hospitals, hospices, military units, legislatures, schools, sports teams, corporations, prisons and police and fire departments. Many, but not all, are ordained ministers. For most Americans, the chaplains they know best serve in the nation's 6,000 or more hospitals. Pastors visit the sick and dying from their own congregations. For hospital chaplains, this is the heart of their work — every day.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Looking at the calendar, I see that the Kansas City Chiefs and Taylor Swift have one more game this year. Thus, let me ask two questions that — when placed back to back — create a paradox that points to some ironic tensions in this culture of ours.
Read MoreThe bottom line: Next year, more journalists need to attend some of the worship services linked to the March for Life. They will hear plenty of voices, young and old, stressing that the sanctity of human life is too complex to be discussed in political terms, alone.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The questions at the 2025 March for Life were familiar ones for D.C. Beltway insiders: Would major politicians show up, and what would they say?
Read MoreEpiscopalians own the cathedral of D.C. culture Thus, journalists embedded in Beltway life applauded Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde.
Read More(ANALYSIS) While many critics accuse the Babylon Bee of spreading political misinformation — the website's motto is “Fake News You Can Trust” — controversies about its work usually center on clashes between religious doctrines and powerful trends in modern life, such as the sexual revolution.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The date was October 4, 1997, and the MSNBC producers on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., had a problem. Actually, they had several problems. The main problem was that the million or so Promise Keepers men (D.C. crowd estimates were already a highly politicized affair) gathered for the Stand in the Gap rally keep singing, praying, reading their Bibles, listening to sermons and confessing their sins.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When describing his life, Denzel Washington often notes a mysterious encounter on March 27, 1975, offering it as a parable about his Christian faith and his acting career.. The young Washington was in his mother's Mount Vernon, N.Y., beauty parlor, after horrible grades forced a leave of absence from Fordham University. An elderly woman, Ruth Green, who many believed had unique spiritual gifts, looked him in the eye and asked for a piece of paper.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Journalists frequently cover important news stories, but miss key facts and themes that — for half of America, or thereabouts — are linked to morality or religion. Thus, these stories are haunted by “religion ghosts.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) Truth is, the former president was part of two endangered groups — populist Southern Democrats and progressive Southern Baptists. In 1976, he fared well with evangelical voters, for a Democrat, but exit polls basically showed a toss-up. In 1980, many evangelicals rejected him and helped create Ronald Reagan's landslide win.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Consider this post an early take on Lent 2025 or, maybe, a very late meditation on this year’s stack of New Year’s Resolutions.
Read More(ANALYSIS) This feature makes it clear that abortion is a painful, even tragic, reality in the lives of many women. Readers can see that in the personal experiences of the women quoted in the piece. Is abortion a positive, even “blessed” act? Or is it possible that abortion is “wrong” — or even a “sin”?
Read More(ANALYSIS) Over the past quarter century of so, I have spent a large chunk of my time trying to get Christian liberal arts colleges to ponder this question: Why do they have drama departments and not programs to make short films and pilots for television?
Read More(ANALYSIS) Almost two decades ago, the reigning editor of The New York Times admitted, during a speech to the National College Media Association, that the world’s most influential journalism cathedral had changed one of its core doctrines.
Read More(ANALYSIS) President Donald Trump is returning to the White House, convinced — after a close encounter with an assassin's bullet — that he had God on his side in the election. While opinions differed on that theological question, Trump drew support from voters that frequented pews. Members of Religion News Association selected the presidential election as the year's top national religion story.
Read More
