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.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Easter, U.S. churches fill with worshippers, yet few are led by women despite rising numbers in clergy training. This disparity contrasts with Gospel accounts that name women, especially Mary Magdalene, as the first to witness and proclaim Jesus’ resurrection, underscoring their foundational role.
Read MoreIn Wales, hymn singing is not just for church services. It is part of the national culture, a unique choral tradition. You can hear them sung in pubs, concerts, choral competitions and even rugby games.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Finland’s Supreme Court convicted Päivi Räsänen and Bishop Juhana Pohjola over a 2004 booklet on homosexuality, ordering its removal. The ruling, alongside developments in Canada and Iceland, raises concerns about expanding hate speech laws and their impact on religious expression and free speech in Europe and beyond.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Israel briefly barred Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on Palm Sunday, citing wartime security and triggering concerns over religious freedom. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reversed the decision, highlighting tensions between security measures and preserving Jerusalem’s sensitive religious status quo.
Read MoreShe walked for days through jungle mountain paths to escape the Myanmar military's campaign of terror. The medical care she needs is out of reach. What keeps her and the more than 600 people around her alive is a fragile web of church donations, local tithes and the tireless intervention of faith-based organizations — a web now stretched to breaking point.
Read More(ANALYSIS) March 31 marks 50 years since a landmark decision that shapes American patients’ rights every day: the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling in the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, who had suffered an irreversible coma. Quinlan’s case established for the first time that decisions near the end of life should be made by patients and families, not by doctors and hospitals alone.
Read MoreSecretary of War Pete Hegseth announced two historic changes to the military’s chaplaincy corps this week after previewing those updates this past December. The first was the consolidation of the faith codes associated with chaplaincy and the second was the replacement of rank insignia from chaplains’ uniforms with their religious insignia.
Read MoreThe affected residents occupy a plot in Kyadondo, West Buganda, under a 49-year lease granted on Sept. 1, 1972, which expired on Aug. 31, 2021. Following the lease’s expiration, the Kampala Archdiocese Land Board formally told occupants to vacate by April 30 to pave the way for what the church describes as a modern estate redevelopment project.
Read MoreLast year, 570 years after Gutenberg, more than 19.1 million Bibles were sold in the U.S., according to market research firm Circana. Bible sales increased by 12 percent over 2024 and have more than tripled over the past 10 years.
Read MoreOn Antarctica’s King George Island, the 22-year-old Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church stands as a striking symbol of faith and craftsmanship. Built in Siberia, shipped across the world and rebuilt near Russia’s Bellingshausen Station, the wooden chapel draws visitors awed by its beauty, resilience and unlikely presence amid ice and penguins.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In theory, many Christians support pacifism or non-violent resistance, but for Iranian Christians, those theories are challenged by the harsh realities of a hellish regime and an ongoing war. This question of ‘just war’ has a long history, going back to the first centuries of the church.
Read MoreLegal experts said that the rise in divorce filings cannot be understood solely through a moral or religious lens. Zimbabwe’s prolonged economic challenges, labor migration and shifts in gender dynamics have also played significant roles. At the same time, many women have long faced persistent abuse within their own homes or at the hands of a partner.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It’s Oscars season and some of Hollywood’s most notable films about religion — from “Ben-Hur” to “A Man for All Seasons” — were made many decades ago. Why do explicitly faith-centered films appear less often in mainstream Hollywood today? How does spirituality continue to shape storytelling in different ways? We answer all these questions and more.
Read MoreThe Rev. Jesse Jackson was honored at the South Carolina Statehouse as national leaders, civil rights veterans and family members paid tribute to his life and legacy. Presidents Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and Joe Biden were invited to attend his funeral on Friday in Chicago, an event billed as “The People’s Celebration.”
Read MoreVenezuela's president has been in U.S. custody for two months now. But has the situation in Venezuela improved, and what does it mean for religious freedom? We talk with human rights experts about concerns for Latin American liberty at large.
Read MoreThe assassination — announced by President Trump hours after Saturday’s airstrikes — is expected to throw the Islamic Republic of Iran’s future into doubt and raises the prospect that the country’s theocratic government could be overthrown after nearly five decades. Trump said the airstrikes and Khamenei’s death is “the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) Recent events in Minnesota have exposed a thin understanding of religious freedom, reducing it to boundary enforcement rather than sustaining institutions that form moral life. The moment calls for deeper discernment: protecting worship without criminalizing dissent.
Read MoreGreenland, a remote, ice-covered territory three times the size of Texas, has just one Catholic church, Christ the King, in Nuuk, where Pastor Tomaz Majcen serves a tiny, mostly immigrant congregation. Amid harsh conditions, social struggles and global attention, the Catholic community provides faith, support and connection in the world’s least-Catholic land.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Of Jesus’ 12 disciples, Saint Peter is one of the most important. In the Book of Matthew, Jesus declares that Peter is the “rock” on which “I will build my church.” Catholic tradition considers him the first pope. Martyred in the first century, Peter asked to be crucified upside down so he would not die the same way as Christ. That story, however, is not in the Bible.
Read More
