What do Texans want to find if they have the financial ability and the time to get away from that searing reality? To be blunt, they are looking for water, breezes, dry air and, yes, altitude. This brings us to the tragic headlines at the heart of this week’s “Crossroads” podcast.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Are Superman and Jesus headed for an American revival? For better or worse, people’s love of Superman and devotion to God have always been tightly fused. Whether this will lead to a long-term revival for both or just a short-term connection remains to be seen. For now, a lot more people are looking up to the heavens than were before.
Read MoreBill Moyers was arguably among the best reporters on the religion beat. Even if it wasn’t always the main focus of his work or what comes to mind for those familiar with his legacy, still, he was a lifelong spiritual seeker.
Read More(ANALYSIS) This is a mountainous and, until recently, remote area that is culturally and historically distinct from the rest of India. It is also the most thoroughly Baptist region in the world. For example, the church in Mon, a town of approximately 17,000 people, is the largest Baptist church in Asia. It dwarfs surrounding buildings and can seat 10,000 worshippers.
Read More(ESSAY) When I began exploring the history of Christianity and the art it inspired, I had no idea it would lead me to one of the closest friendships of my life. That friend was Alexei Mihailovich Lidov, a world-renowned scholar of Byzantine art and architecture. The path to that friendship began in 1999, when our family traveled to Turkey for the first time.
Read More(EXCERPT) Could the flourishing history of journalism provide clues for enabling it to flourish in future? Why is society’s watchdog, the press, with its long and often honorable pedigree, going feral? Failing to bark at misrepresentation and fraud, while snarling at truth? Why does journalism have the privileged position it does?
Read More(ANALYSIS) Throughout his career, you see the outlines of a man burdened by the myth he helped build. A man who stared down America’s worst tendencies and tried to warn us, only to watch them metastasize. And in that exhaustion, there’s something quietly Christlike — not in purity, but in genuine suffering.
Read More(ANALYSIS) With the increasing secularization of America, there’s far more freedom for Hollywood writers to tell stories about the afterlife that are in conflict with Christian narratives. There’s less cultural pressure to conform to Christian norms, so filmmakers are now freer explore alternative or ambiguous views of the afterlife.
Read More(OPINION) When was the last time you laughed in order to cope with some personal or social situation? 10 minutes ago? Today? Yesterday? Laughter can be a most effective coping medicine. In that way, laughter is an important spirituality tool. In many cultures, it always has been.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When I think about the 2024 election, the biggest sentiment that comes to my mind is a simple malaise. It’s like all the momentum went out of the room and it was impossible to get it back. And guess what? That’s exactly the story that emerges from the data.
Read MoreIt was during a June 22 service, a jihadi — Syria blamed the Islamic State group — entered with a rifle and began firing. As worshippers tackled him, he detonated an explosive vest. In seconds the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch had more names to add to its two millennia of saints and martyrs.
Read MoreAt a time when the Trump administration has renewed a travel ban on various Muslim majority countries in Africa and across the Middle East, the Quran owned by John Adams is but one indication that our nation’s founders regarded Islam — as well as other, non-Western, non-Christian faiths — as worthy of respect and protection under the law.
Read MoreTapio Luoma’s words were the latest in a series of apologies through which the former state churches in Scandinavia have sought to reset their relations with the Indigenous population of Sápmi, the natural and cultural area of Sámi people. Today, the region is divided between Finland, Norway, Sweden and Russia.
Read More(OPINION) We know that the Holy Spirit convicts the world (unbelievers) of sin (John 16:8). But he also convicts believers of our sins. I have never again felt the weight of conviction as I did that time in 1979. But I am thankful how God cleared my conscience through the work of his Holy Spirit.
Read MoreOver 6,000 years old and still a site for worship, Stonehenge remains a unique place. As the first rays of the sun shine into the Stone Circle at the recent summer solstice, thousands of worshippers gathered to celebrate, just as people have done throughout history. Druids, Wiccans and other pagan groups gathered to watch the sun’s arrival following a long winter.
Read More(REVIEW) “Squid Game” is a series that’s no stranger when it comes to weaving religious imagery into its narrative. Season 3 culminates that thread with both subtle and striking references, particularly when it comes to Christian symbolism. The season, it turns out, is more parable than sermon. The six episodes that form the final season are bloodier than ever.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Who voted how in 2024? The two most important surveys on U.S. election patterns are now available and among the findings is this bulletin: Along with its various current woes, in the long term the Democratic Party faces weakening support from many religious groups that is nearing a political emergency. No effective game plan for a turnaround is in sight.
Read MoreThe director’s most recent film, “The Phoenician Scheme.” very explicitly affirms faith. This is all the more surprising because his previous film was one of the most moving anti-faith films of the past 20 years. What explains this? Why did Anderson change his portrayal of faith so radically between his last film and his latest one?
Read More(ANALYSIS) The 12-day confrontation between Iran and Israel in June 2025 may not have escalated into a full-scale regional war, but it marks a potentially critical turning point in Iran’s internal political landscape. Though the Islamic Republic has entered into direct conflict with a foreign adversary before, it has never done so while so militarily weakened, internally fractured and increasingly alienated from its own population.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Taiwan’s international rating on freedom of religion is undisputedly very high. The 2021 Report on International Religious Freedom, published by the U.S. Department of State, also noted Taiwan’s constitutional protection of the freedom of religion as well as the diversity of religious beliefs, but questions are asked about how freely can one practice their religion.
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