Posts tagged politics and religion
Belonging And Belief: Why Evangelical Churches Draw Migrants In The US

(ANALYSIS) Congregants described how belief and belonging helped them overcome challenges such as loneliness, “feeling stuck” due to their legal precariousness and being exploited at work. I heard stories of employers holding migrants’ passports hostage, or refusing to pay construction workers seriously injured on the job. Migrants told me their churches empowered them.

Read More
White Evangelicals Only Faith Group With Majority Support For Trump

Well over half, 58 percent, of white evangelical Protestants said they approve of Trump’s job performance, with 40 percent voicing disapproval. But Trump’s approval has fallen among white evangelical Protestants since his term began, when 78 percent approved.

Read More
In Israel’s Election, Netanyahu Faces A Reckoning Over Oct. 7 Failure

(ANALYSIS) With barely two weeks remaining before Israel’s Oct. 27 election, the country has been consumed by an extraordinary confrontation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior former aides over what he knew before the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, 2023, what he did with that knowledge and whether his office subsequently sought to rewrite the historical record.

Read More
US Religious Leaders Condemn Livestream Firing-Squad Execution

Leaders across the religious spectrum have condemned U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s plan to livestream the firing-squad execution of convicted Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan, warning that the decision risks turning state-sanctioned killing into public entertainment.

Read More
Senate Bill Aims To Protect Financial Aid For Those Studying Ministry

Legislation introduced in the Senate could allow students pursuing theological training for a religious vocation to receive federal tuition assistance. Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) filed the Religious Education Fairness Act.

Read More
They Led Protests Against Netanyahu. Can They Turn Outrage Into Political Power?

The election is expected to serve, in large part, as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition’s refusal to take responsibility for the failures of Oct. 7. But the fallout will also appear on the ballot itself, which will include several candidates whose lives were upended on that fateful day and the three tumultuous years that followed.

Read More
The Catchphrases We Inherit Without Thinking

(OPINION) Once we start using this lexicon, we have been successfully “groomed” into a new discourse we might not quite “get” — but which we begin to accept as normal. No, I’m not a signed up conspiracy theorist, and yes, language evolution is part of the dynamic of a lively society whose moods and modes it carries. But is that all it is? 

Read More
Eiffel Tower Dispute Raises Questions About Observance and Public Spaces

(ANALYSIS) A visit by BAPS Hindu monks to the Eiffel Tower sparked a worker strike and broader debate over religious accommodation in public spaces. The controversy centers on brahmacharya, a Hindu discipline emphasizing control of the senses, which monks practice through strict celibacy and spiritual discipline.

Read More
In Red Texas, Talarico Makes Faith Part Of His Democratic Appeal

A private Christian college in a historically red state isn’t usually a campaign stop for a Democratic candidate. But James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, did just that, making it a priority to recently visit Baylor University, the largest Baptist university in the nation. Talarico’s Christian faith — combined with his progressive agenda — has made him an appealing candidate.

Read More
First Religious US Charter School Can Move Forward As Legal Challenge Proceeds

National Ben Gamla Jewish Charter School, on track to become the first religious charter school in the nation, may proceed as it challenges in court an Oklahoma law blocking the school, a federal district judge ruled.

Read More
Under Taliban Rule, Afghan Women Face Renewed Persecution

Experts said that the Taliban is using women’s own Muslim faith to “dehumanize” them. “The very religion that gives them strength is being used against them,” one expert said. In a country where only Sunni Muslims are considered citizens, religious minorities increasingly face danger, imprisonment and even death.

Read More
Crossroads Podcast: When Religious Liberty Wasn’t A Partisan Cause

Today the Christian legal movement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars and has touched many aspects of American life. Firms have been on a winning spree at the Supreme Court, overturning long-standing legal limits on religious expression by public officials, expanding religious exemptions and elevating the place of religious exercise to its highest point in modern times.

Read More
Why Is JD Vance Talking About The Antichrist?

(ANALYSIS) The Catholic church is far from perfect, but the more acceptable it becomes to ignore the Vatican, the easier it becomes to declare almost anything — opposing progressive politics, endorsing Christian nationalism or spreading antisemitism — to be part of Catholicism, no matter what the pope says.

Read More
Mohler Walks Back Christian Nationalism Blasphemy Law Amid Criticism

Mohler’s comments in the 2026 book “Five Views on Christian Nationalism,” which proved contentious, were based on the supposition of drafting a new constitution for a fractured nation in the year 2099.

Read More
California Bill Wants To Track Who Is Jewish. It’s A Bad Idea.

(OPINION) The complexities of Jewish-American identity don’t fit in compartmentalized racial binaries. Jewish identity is inherited, interpreted, and observed differently on an individual-to-individual basis. While heritage and ancestry are certainly technical aspects of Jewish identity, there are several contemporary instances that complicate its resonance.

Read More
25 Years Later, The World That Made 9/11 Still Casts A Shadow

The 9/11 attacks are often remembered as a single event. That morning, 19 terrorists turned commercial airliners into weapons and the modern era of terrorism began. A total of 2,977 people died in the terrorist attacks, the deadliest to ever take place on U.S. soil. To understand 9/11, one need to take a look at the Islamic radicalization of a movement that few in the West took seriously.

Read More
Was Marx Right About Religion?: The Human Brain Has Entered the Debate

(OPINION) Marx saw religion as a top-down sedative administered by elites to dull the pain of feudalism. History offers a different perspective.

Read More
Nigeria Responding Better To Terrorism, But Killings And Abductions Up

Civilian deaths increased 51 percent and abductions rose 153 percent between October and December 2025, compared to the same period a year before, researchers said. Months later, beginning in April, the government began arresting and convicting Boko Haram terrorists and others of related crimes.

Read More
Looking Back On 9/11: Faith, Memory And Hope 25 Years Later

(ESSAY) For millions, 9/11 divided life into a “before” and an “after.” From a Christian perspective, looking back on that day reminds us of the fragility of life. The events of 9/11 changed the world, but they did not change the character of God. He remains the God who sees the brokenhearted, strengthens the weary and promises that one day suffering will end.

Read More