Anyone who has been paying attention to religion news has heard of the “Nones” — the “religiously unaffiliated” people who have little or no connection to any form of institutional religion. Then there are “Nons,” the term that religion-data expert Ryan Burge has pinned on the other big trend (“The Future of American Christianity is Non-Denominational”) that is reshaping the religion marketplace.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court failed to intervene during this session in a dispute over whether the 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act requires doctors in the anti-abortion state of Texas to perform abortions to stabilize patients seeking emergency room care.
Read MoreThe new movie "You Gotta Believe," about a youth baseball team's improbable journey all the way to the Little League World Series, offers a fleeting glimpse of faith. But in real life, religion played a more crucial role.
Read MoreTwo days after a four-alarm fire ripped through the historic sanctuary at First Baptist Dallas, the church gathered for worship services in the nearby Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center on Sunday morning.
Read MoreSouthern Baptist Disaster Relief units have deployed in and around Houston up into Texarkana in response to Hurricane Beryl, which made landfall early Monday morning, July 8. Units with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), Texans on Mission, Arkansas and Alabama are providing meals, showers and chainsaw work to survivors.
Read MoreSome find the constant pop of the wiffle ball batted about by oversized ping pong paddles annoying. Others see a sport encouraging exercise, multigenerational competition, and camaraderie. Regardless, pickleball is here to stay. It’s called the fastest-growing recreational sport in the U.S., although it has been around since 1965.
Read MoreMulberry Springs Baptist Church, about 15 miles northeast of Longview, doesn’t see a lot of traffic on a typical day. Yet the rural congregation, founded in 1892, is building a new worship space to seat nearly 800 people. Nearly two decades ago, attendance was a little over 100 and the discouraged congregation had moved back to its older, smaller meeting space. These days, the place is packed.
Read MorePastor Bob Bynum has become somewhat of a rancher’s helper, wrestling cattle at times and helping when needed among the 20 or so ranchers who worship at Locust Grove Baptist Church. The Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest in Texas history, came within a mile of a church member’s ranch, Bynum said, but none of the church’s members have reported any direct losses.
Read MoreA coalition of Jewish groups and other organizations is fighting an effort to replace guidance counselors with chaplains in public schools in Texas. The chaplains are not required to be licensed as mental health practitioners or have any specific credentials and will be paid with tax dollars.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights five takeaways from the shooting at Joel Osteen’s Lakewood Church. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Senate Bill 763, enacted in September 2023, allows school officials to hire unlicensed chaplains, either as staff members or volunteers. Those who can pass background checks will be allowed to perform duties typically provided by counselors, such as mental health support. Local boards have until March 1, 2024, to choose whether to allow chaplain programs in their schools.
Read More(OPINION) There’s no evidence that hanging the Ten Commandments on school walls curbs rowdy youthful hormones. As a tool for improving schoolkids’ behavior, that’s a zero. If you absolutely felt compelled to post something Christian, why wouldn’t you post something straight from the lips of Jesus himself?
Read MoreSteven Spainhouer arrived before most first responders to the scene of the nation’s latest mass shooting. The massacre lasted less than four minutes but left eight dead, including three children, and seven wounded.
Read MoreClashing messages about God and guns came a day after an assailant opened fire at a Dallas-area outlet mall, killing eight people — including three children — and wounding seven.
Read MoreA Texas congregation responds to nation’s latest mass shooting with prayer, tears — and discussion of solutions.
Read MoreThis is the fourth in a five-part series about a Norwegian journalist’s perspective on the changing dynamics of Christianity in America. Home schooling in the U.S. has risen during the COVID-19 pandemic. Religious beliefs are one of the top reasons American families decide to home-school their children.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in opens with the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers, along with the gunman. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read MoreTuesday night was supposed to be Adult Game Night at the Getty Street Church of Christ in Uvalde, Texas. But then a gunman opened fire at Robb Elementary School, less than a mile from the church building. Leaders of the South Texas congregation, about 85 miles west of San Antonio, canceled the scheduled event and planned a special prayer vigil.
Read More(OPINION) A recent decision requiring Texas to grant a convicted murderer his Baptist pastor’s audible prayers and comforting touch during his execution was a rare moment in which activists on both sides of America’s culture wars cheered for “religious liberty” — a freedom that until recently didn’t require cynical “scare quotes” that suggest uncertainty.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the top storylines that have emerged after last weekend’s hostage standoff at a Texas synagogue. Plus, catch up, as always, on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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