Fifty years ago, America celebrated its Bicentennial. The 200th anniversary of the nation’s founding occurred on a Sunday. For many, celebrations mixed faith, family and fireworks.
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Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr. is passionate about Major League Baseball. In recent years, his love for the game has inspired him to delve into the trend of MLB teams hosting faith days.
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When Maurice Costabile first showed up at a Houston church a few years ago, members had no clue his late father, Duilio, was a beloved TV cameraman dubbed the “Mayor of Yankee Stadium.” They just knew he looked homeless — and desperately needed a bath.
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The Southern Baptist Convention, meeting in Orlando, Florida, this week, moved forward on banning churches with women pastors and elected a right-wing president concerned the denomination has become too woke and liberal.
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Female. Conservative. Young. Pope Leo XIV’s appointment of Maria Montserrat “Montse” Alvarado to lead the Vatican’s communications office stands out for three major reasons.
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After yet another deadly attack, the focus turns — once again — to protecting houses of worship. The shooting at a San Diego mosque hit close to home for a Jewish engineer more than 1,300 miles away.
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Jackson Lahmeyer and Frederick D. Haynes III couldn’t be any more different politically. But both are pastors. Both are running for Congress. And both could win in November.
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In a ballroom surrounded by fellow Godbeat pros, our columnist immediately thought this when he learned of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner shooting: There’ll be a religion angle. Why? There always is.
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As Weekend Plug-in columnist Bobby Ross Jr. connects with fellow Godbeat pros in Atlanta, he highlights a trend he’s noticed — the rise of religion newsletters.
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As those who’ve followed Artemis II’s record 252,756-mile journey from Earth have discovered, faith is extremely important to Victor Glover, the moon mission’s pilot.
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Two friends and brothers in Christ — Brent Hankins and Tracy Lamm — flew to Florida this week to witness the launch of humanity’s first lunar voyage in 53 years. Both had special reasons for doing so. Hankins serves as an elder of the Southeast Church of Christ in Texas, the congregation about six miles from NASA’s Space Center Houston that Artemis II pilot Victor Glover and his wife, Dionna, call home.
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A new documentary film “explores how baseball and faith intertwine in powerful and surprising ways.” It’s based on the 2013 book “Baseball as a Road to God: Seeing Beyond the Game” by former New York University President John Sexton.
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Inevitably, international reporting trips produce a memorable moment, be it frightening, frantic or funny. Sometimes, the notable occurrence relates to the actual story. Other times, an indelible personal experience stands out.
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Since December, the Department of Homeland Security has deployed about 3,000 federal agents to the state where Minnesotas’s Tim Walz — the 2024 running mate for Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris — serves as governor. Over that time, ICE agents have killed two people, unleashing violence and protests across Minneapolis.
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On this week’s episode of the podcast, we sat down with Bobby Ross Jr. to discuss not only the news trends he anticipates in the year to come — but his career of 25 years covering faith through on-the-ground reporting in all 50 states and in 20 different countries.
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“Why not keep busy?” That’s Richard Ostling’s response when asked why he’s still covering religion at age 85 — after six decades on the Godbeat.
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Nearly six decades after a renowned evangelist’s death, hundreds of Christians lined up at a Nashville, Tennessee, church — where the son of former slaves preached his first sermon in 1897 — to see a new exhibit honoring his legacy.
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When nuns listed a vacant Catholic girls’ school for sale in this sleepy French village in 2017, American Jerry Jones saw an opportunity to expand Christian influence and higher education in Europe. But his British wife, Zoobi Jones, gave a quick, succinct reply to his suggestion that the couple use their savings to buy La Maison de Perrine — “The House of Perrine” in English.
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In 1982, a 3-month-old girl named Rebecca became the 13th child adopted through Lifeline Children’s Services. The Birmingham, Alabama, nonprofit — launched the previous year — grew out of an evangelical crisis pregnancy ministry called Sav-a-Life.
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Deion Sanders can’t — or won’t — stop talking about the Lord. Especially now. This week, Colorado’s head football coach mentioned God and faith at least three dozen times during a 40-minute news conference to discuss his private battle with bladder cancer.
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