In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, faith-based disaster relief ministries are working alongside neighbors to feed survivors and clear damage.
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Before we get to the issue of modern women fleeing church pews, let’s pause and do something that — as a rule — I try to avoid doing when discussing matters of cultural, morality and faith. Let’s consider some political numbers. In a recent Pew Research Center package of survey data, there is this headline: “Partisanship by gender, sexual orientation, marital and parental status.”
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During another divisive political season, preachers across the nation are expressing messages that put “politics in perspective.” While many permit or even encourage participation in the political process, they advise church members to measure their political beliefs against the Gospel.
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(EXPLAINER) Riots have erupted across the United Kingdom over the past week as far-right groups launched attacks against hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques. A heavy security presence on Wednesday and a series of arrests across Britain has prevented a repeat of widespread rioting involving racist attacks targeting Muslims and other migrants that started late last month.
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(ANALYSIS) On July 25, a Hong Kong court dismissed Jimmy Lai’s defense’s mid-trial submission of “no case to answer” and adjourned the trial for four months until the end of November 2024, when Lai is expected to give evidence.
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(ANALYSIS) Why rake muck? For one thing, it’s biblical. Recall Scripture’s narratives about the venerated King David’s adultery and homicide or St. Peter’s multiple denials of Jesus Christ. It encourages healthy reflection on the forgiveness of sins, the ways power is misused, the dangers of celebrity worship, the ongoing impact of racial evil and the value in continually taking fresh looks at our own attitudes rather than remaining captive to the cultural assumptions in which we were born and raised.
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(OPINION) The trend of converting underused houses of worship into affordable housing is sweeping America. The state of California last year passed a law rewarding faith-based organizations that use their surplus properties to build 100 percent affordable housing. Maryland, New York and Virginia are considering the same, and the cities of Atlanta, Pasadena, San Antonio, San Diego and Seattle have passed similar legislation.
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(ANALYSIS) In our post-pandemic, technologically-infused culture, burnout is on the rise across all sectors of the economy. People are struggling with the frenetic pace of the modern workplace. The church is no exception. In fact, pastors and clergy find it difficult to keep up with the evolving demands of church life in a digital age.
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Oklahoma Christian is the only site outside of New York City to have survivor trees from both tragedies. Just west of the university’s library stands a tall American Elm, an offspring of a tree that remained standing after the Oklahoma City bombing. The April 19, 1995, attack, an act of domestic terrorism that claimed 168 lives, destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.
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A large majority of U.S. Catholics have a positive view of Pope Francis — although his popularity has slipped since he became pontiff in 2013, a new poll has found. Furthermore, when it comes to whether priests should be allowed to marry, among other hot-button issues, Catholics in the United States remain divided primarily along political lines.
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(EXCERPT) My purpose in writing “Motorhome Prophecies” is to help bring others out of isolation. To let them know that "death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). My father prophesied my death if I left his cult. I internalized those curses, and as a result, suffered many close scrapes with the demons of mental illness. But to quote author Linda Schubert, “While my failures were ‘legendary,’ the love of God was even more legendary.”
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Authorities said a woman opened fire with an AR-15 on celebrity televangelist Joel Osteen’s Texas megachurch — one of the largest in the country — before two-off duty police officers shot and killed the suspect. The officers’ actions, police said, averted what could have been a bigger tragedy.
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Dave Canales is ready to start his journey as head coach of the Carolina Panthers nearly two years after co-authoring a book with his wife Lizzy about working through problems with infidelity, addiction to pornography and binge drinking. Canales credits his wife’s support and Christianity for helping him improve his life.
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(REVIEW) Famous musician Lil Nas X is making his “comeback” to music — to do it, he’s paying homage to Jesus, “who had the greatest comeback of all time.” The single, “J Christ,” and its music video are saturated with over-the-top, “scandalous” religious images that have generated more than their fair share of controversy.
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A Christian group that has called the seaside town of Ocean Grove in New Jersey home for over 150 years is in a battle with state officials over beach access on Sundays. The town has kept its beach closed on Sundays from 9 a.m to noon — a total of 45 hours a year — each summer so that residents can attend church services. But New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection has issued a violation letter stating the town is disobeying the law by cutting off access to the ocean.
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(REVIEW) In the third season of “The Righteous Gemstones,” the fictional Gemstone family members — wealthy leaders of a prominent megachurch — are as outlandish and chaotic as ever. But this season, the challenges they face begin to feel trite and their redemption feels less genuine.
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(REVIEW) “Weird Al” Yankovic, the polka superstar and master of parodies, is one of the most unique artists of our time. It’s only right that the biopic chronicling his life is just as unique as he is.
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(REVIEW) Defining photographer David LaChapelle is known for his celebrity portraits and his use of surreal stages highlighted with bright colors. His work is also deeply religious, often modernizing popular Renaissance art and imagining Jesus in the present day. His exhibit “make Believe” at Fotografiska in New York is a spiritual environment to take in his work and belief.
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(OPINION) C.S. Lewis, in his lecture De Descriptione Temporum, noted that “somewhere between us and Jane Austen’s Persuasion in 1816 runs the chasm between Old Western Man and New Western Man — the Great Divide.” It represents a “vast change” between Jane Austen’s time and ours. That’s when he says the Western world entered a post-Christian age.
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Mark Dowdy was a band director at Morningside, the community where televangelist Jim Bakker broadcasts tapings of his show, in 2011. When he began, he hoped he would be able to do good through Bakker’s ministry — but his view quickly changed. He talked to ReligionUnplugged about his time at Morningside and what he thinks of Bakker.
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