Posts tagged politics
What The Declaration Of Independence Says — And Doesn’t Say — About God

(ANALYSIS) Knowing what the declaration actually says, and how its first listeners reacted, might not sway Americans at the extremes. It provides evidence for less polarizing, more nuanced views about the founding generation’s convictions and compromises as Americans commemorate their nation’s 250th anniversary.

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Islamophobic Rhetoric Leaves Impact On The Mental Health Of Muslim Americans

(ANALYSIS) Muslim Americans can often feel helpless in combating the hate they experience – more awareness and advocacy could reduce Islamophobia and address the mental health needs of an already vulnerable community. As the war with Iran continues, these issues will continue to persist among America’s Muslim community.

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What A Muslim Folk Trickster Can Teach A ‘Might Makes Right’ World

(ANALYSIS) Stephen Miller’s “might makes right” worldview reflects a broader shift toward prioritizing power over understanding in global affairs. Through the tales of Nasreddin Hoja, the piece argues that curiosity, humility, and engagement with other cultures are essential — and that relying solely on strength risks blinding societies to complexity, difference and their own limitations.

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Trump, Pope Leo And A New Chapter in America’s Religious Politics

(ANALYSIS) American religion has rarely, if ever, seen anything quite like these past weeks. Start with President Donald Trump’s profane Easter Sunday message to Iran. Making matters worse, the president then took on Pope Leo, saying the pontiff is a “very liberal person” who is “weak on crime” and “terrible on foreign policy.”

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New Book Examines Claims of State-Directed Organ Harvesting In China

China’s Communist Party runs an industrialized system of forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, enabling transplants and surgically removing the organs while they’re still alive, the book claims. Its publication fuels bipartisan U.S. efforts to impose sanctions, raise accountability, and confront what it portrays as a defining feature of China’s authoritarian rule.

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God, Death And The Right To Choose: A Religious Divide On Assisted Suicide

(ANALYSIS) Several years ago, Canada began a program called Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID). It’s a government initiative that’s beginning to reshape how Canadians are facing end-of-life situations.

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Trump vs. Pope Leo: A Conflict Over Faith, War And Power

The clash between Trump and Pope Leo highlights the conflict between political power and moral authority amid the ongoing U.S.-Iran war. The pope condemns violence and rejects religious justification, emphasizing dignity and restraint. Trump counters by politicizing the pope, framing criticism as opposition.

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Why Forgiveness — Not Weapons — May Be Our Best Response To War

(OPINION) Most of us can recognize and control that primitive impulse to club everything in sight in favor of safety and civilization. Between wars from way back, humans dropped the club and learned to speak, to convey meaning from sounds and symbols, and I kinda like the words-over-weapons thing we had going. You can make friends with words, only enemies with weapons.

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Pope Leo’s Africa Trip: How Each Stop Reflects A Message Of Peace

(ANALYSIS) Pope Leo XIV will begin his journey to four African countries — Algeria, Cameroon, Angola and Equatorial Guinea — on April 13. Africa represents the fastest-growing part of the Catholic Church worldwide, seeing an increase from 281 million members in 2023 to over 288 million in 2024.

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King Charles’ Easter Silence Raises Questions on Faith and Leadership

(ANALYSIS) A year ago, King Charles III, in an Easter message that made little news, proclaimed that the love Jesus showed “when he walked the Earth reflected the Jewish ethic of caring for the stranger and those in need, a deep human instinct echoed in Islam and other religious traditions. ... The abiding message of Easter is that God so loved the world — the whole world — that He sent His son to live among us to show us how to love one another, and to lay down His own life for others in a love that proved stronger than death.”

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Ohio Church Prevails In Right To Run Housing Shelter

Dad’s Place, the temporary housing shelter in Bryan, Ohio, that has been fighting for its right to operate, has finally reached a conclusion to its ongoing legal matters.

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Dozens Killed In Nigeria As Violence Mars Easter Celebrations

At least 54 Christians were killed early Easter in Nigeria’s Middle Belt, many during worship, with dozens more abducted from Evangelical Church Winning All Souls and other sites, International Christian Concern reported.

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Pastors Back Legal Immigration, But Split On Enforcement

Protestant pastors overwhelmingly view legal immigration as beneficial and support increasing or maintaining it. Most favor combining stronger border security with a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants. While divided on deportation levels, pastors prioritize removing violent offenders and emphasize family unity and human dignity.

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Democrats To Weigh Condemning AIPAC, Fueling ‘Antisemitism Concerns’

The meeting is being held during an election cycle in which rejecting AIPAC support has become a defining issue in Democratic races. It also comes amid concerns from some Jewish Democrats — including ones critical of AIPAC — that the group’s emergence as a bogeyman in American politics is inappropriate or even antisemitic.

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Why Finland’s Conviction Of Päivi Räsänen Reverberates Beyond Europe

(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.

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Hegseth Announces Changes To Faith Codes And Uniforms For US Military Chaplains

Secretary 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.

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Iranians Rebelled In 1979: What About In 2026?

Before the war broke out, knowledgeable observers agreed that a vast majority of long-suffering Iranians despised the ruling theocracy’s incompetence and oppression. So a revolution now might seem as likely as in 1979, when such widespread revulsion brought down one dictator, only to be replaced by another one.

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After Moody Bible Institute Sues, Chicago Opens Teaching Internships

Moody Bible Institute will be allowed to participate in Chicago Public Schools’ student teaching program after the college alleged religious freedom violations in being excluded. Chicago Public Schools (CPS) first said Moody couldn’t participate in the student-teacher internship unless the institute abandoned its religious-based hiring practices, but agreed to drop the requirement after Moody filed a federal lawsuit.

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