This week’s Weekend Plug-in tackles five questions related to the United Methodist Church’s long-awaited General Conference, which starts next week in Charlotte, North Carolina. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read MoreA 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.
Read MoreCatholics around the world continued to debate the decision by Pope Francis to allow priests to bless same-sex couples. Many rejoiced in seeing the headlines about the decision, while others across the doctrinal spectrum argued it could sow confusion and exacerbate tensions further between progressives and conservatives.
Read MoreThe 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago has ruled in favor of a Roman Catholic church that was sued by a former employee fired for his same-sex marriage, saying churches and religious groups have the right to hire and supervise staff according to their beliefs — without government intrusion.
Read More(OPINION) Is Christianity in the United States becoming two different religions? The scenario is explored at book length in "One Faith No Longer" (New York University Press) by Baylor University sociologist George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk, a visiting scholar of religion at the University of Georgia.
Read MoreSafe Families for Children, a national nonprofit that markets itself to churches and evangelical donors as a faith-based alternative to foster care, is losing some of its 100 local chapters that are starting new, independent groups to work only with traditional heterosexual couples.
Read MoreMany leaders of faith-based adoption and foster care agencies anticipated the outcome of the case of Fulton v. Philadelphia, which pitted a Catholic foster agency against the city over whether faith-based organizations can decline to place children with adoptive same-sex couples according to their religious beliefs. Several say they were encouraged both by the protection of the Philadelphia charity’s religious freedom and by the unanimity of the decision.
Read More(OPINION) Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone, the head of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, speaks on whether public leaders who support abortion rights in politics should receive the Eucharist.
Read More(OPINION) After a media firestorm ignited by a Vatican condemnation of same-sex unions – because God "cannot bless sin" – Catholic progressives immediately looked for hope in the words of bishops, President Joe Biden and even Pope Francis. In his Sunday Angelus address after the March 15 ruling, the pope stressed that modern seekers want to "see Jesus" in acts of love, not persecution.
Read More(ANALYSIS) German bishops have brought what they call reforms back to the forefront over the past few weeks with a series of moves that could forever change Roman Catholicism.
Read MoreThe landmark Supreme Court ruling protecting gay and transgender people from employment discrimination has raised concern among religious organizations, who say that the religious exemptions are too weak.
Read More(OPINION) Responding to a review of his book Reforming Journalism, Olasky writes that a Christian alternative to mainstream journalism is needed and should follow principles of biblical objectivity rather than try to stay neutral on issues the Bible clearly addresses, like abortion or same-sex relationships.
Read MoreCivil rights activist and Baptist minister Al Sharpton talked to Religion Unplugged about the support for Donald Trump among some black evangelicals. With Trump's opposition to abortion and support for traditional family values, some black evangelicals say they have no choice but to vote for Republicans while others like Sharpton question how a majority of white evangelicals can support Trump. About 80 percent of African Americans have voted Democrat since the 1960s.
Read MoreThe United Methodist Church’s vote to uphold traditional views on marriage and clergy is playing out with particular intensity at an unconventional Methodist church in San Francisco. The denomination has filed a lawsuit that could result in drastic changes for the congregation and its community.
Read More(COMMENTARY) Amid headlines of the gay Catholic schoolteacher in Indiana who lost his job at a Catholic school, journalists and church leaders should pay attention to the different nuances and meanings of being gay and Catholic.
Read More(COMMENTARY) After the United Methodist Church’s decision to uphold its ban on same-sex marriage and clergy by only a narrow margin, what’s the status on other church policies globally?
Read MoreAfter decades of fighting about sex and marriage, the world's 12.5 million United Methodists are still waiting for a final shoe to drop. It's less than a year until a special General Conference that has been empowered to choose a model for United Methodist life after the Sexual Revolution – some path to unity, rather than schism.
Read MoreIn a rare and dramatic display of opposition to a “lifestyle-altering” legislation in recent history, hundreds of Filipino Bible-believing Christians trooped to the Senate recently and held a peaceful rally against the Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE), also referred to as the Anti-Discrimination Bill.
Read More(Commentary) Our review of the U.S. press coverage of claims that Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the president of the Deutsche Bischofskonferenz (DBK), had given his permission to clergy to bless same-sex unions has sparked rigorous debate on social media. George Conger responds with his perspective on what is causing the discord.
Read More
