(ANALYSIS) Technology, AI and social media have been developed for the common good, to make our lives easier, one way or another. However, they can also be abused — and this is precisely what we have seen across contemporary cases of genocide.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The installation was a two-month project in religion, technology and art titled “Deus in Machina,” created at the University of Lucerne. The original Latin phrase literally means “god from the machine”; it refers to a plot device used in Greek and Roman plays, introducing a god to resolve an impossible problem or conflict facing the characters.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The genre faces a demographic cliff. The market for faith-based films has always been driven by Christian moms. And as I wrote last year, with fewer women getting married and having kids (and single women increasingly leaving Christianity), that market is inevitably going to shrink. A big shift may actually save the long-term future of faith-based films: The rise of a more masculine American church.
Read More(ANALYSIS) An estimated 18 million Americans are invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Federal Reserve. And the United States just elected a pro-crypto president. But is cryptocurrency a good ethical investment?
Read More(ANALYSIS) The creative economy is about translating the inspiration of culture and ideas into high-value businesses and enterprises. For billions of people around the world their faith is a big source of inspiration and creativity. Artificial intelligence will be a major disruptor of our economy. It will also allow many people to join the ranks of the creative economy like never before. In essence, faith has a role to play in the unfurling of the next chapter in humanity’s economic story.
Read More(OPINION) Our grandson Connor made a very interesting comment when he was a little boy. His parents (our daughter and son-in-law) were praying for him when he was fighting some minor illness, asking God to heal him. When nothing happened, he said, “Jesus doesn’t have enough hands to heal everyone.”
Read More(ANALYSIS) As the star of the scathing documentary "Religulous" — "religious" plus "ridiculous" — Bill Maher has never hidden his agnostic views about faith. But that doesn't mean the stand-up comic doubts the reality of evil. Consider his blistering comment on smartphones, drawn from his “Real Time” talk show earlier this year.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I have been keeping an Artificial Intelligence folder for several weeks now, with a focus — naturally — on topics that should interest religious leaders.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Maybe churches should consider a strategic change in their worship plans, said the Rev. Russell Moore in a podcast conversation with Jonathan Haidt, author of the bestseller “The Anxious Generation” and the Thomas Cooley Professor of Ethical Leadership at New York University. Check out Part 1 of 2 of Terry Mattingly’s latest “On Religion” column.
Read MoreChristian men and women use pornography more today than in 2016 when Barna spotlighted the sin among pastors and congregants, an updated study found in calling the church to be a place of healing for those impacted by the pervasive and destructive phenomenon.
Read More(ANALYSIS) If you’ve spent time on Facebook, you may have noticed photorealistic images that are too good to be true: children holding paintings that look like the work of professional artists, or majestic log cabin interiors that are the stuff of Airbnb dreams. Others, such as renderings of Jesus made out of crustaceans, are just bizarre.
Read MoreThe website, AtoneNet, posted the responses — no names attached — for public perusal, and before Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, published a pamphlet compiling them. Printed out and tucked inside a holiday prayer book, the community’s confessions gave the liturgy — and the act of repentance — a 21st-century refresh and personalized feel.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Shroud of Turin, the world’s most famous and most-examined artifact, is revered by devotees as the actual burial cloth that covered Jesus Christ’s body after his crucifixion. Many will consider that inconceivable, but is there reason to accept the claim? Or is this celebrated cloth merely a pious artwork, or a clever fraud, that originated in medieval times?
Read MoreOver the last five years, a growing number of single Muslim women in their mid-30s in Islamic countries — including the UAE, Qatar and Egypt, among others — have been choosing to freeze their eggs to ensure motherhood later in life. It was previously not seen as an option in these countries — owing primarily to cultural beliefs and religious restrictions.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In my “On Religion” column — “Jonathan Haidt: It's time for clergy to start worrying about smartphone culture” — I focused on what the author of “The Anxious Generation” had to say about the decisions faced by religious believers in the age of digital-screens culture.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Preaching to teenagers has always been a challenge. In the smartphone age, clergy need to realize that the odds of making a spiritual connection have changed — radically. Young people who spend as many as 10 or more hours a day focusing on digital screens will find it all but impossible to listen to an adult talk about anything, especially in a religious sanctuary.
Read More(REVIEW) Cryptocurrency is a really fascinating topic worth talking about. It’s gratifying to see it being talked about in the context of faith. If the documentary had only trusted the audience more to inform them rather than advertise to them, it would have added something even more valuable to the conversation.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Christianity, with its rich history of metaphysical claims and moral imperative, offers a bulwark against a descent into chaos — not for everyone, I know, but for a chunk of humanity. It provides a narrative that encompasses human suffering, offers redemption and asserts the inherent dignity of the individual, grounded in the image of God. Peter Thiel is aiming to bring that to the tech world.
Read MoreBibleDojo, an interactive online platform, merges faith and technology in an effort to increase biblical literacy and fluency among Christians. Launched this past January, the program features click-through, dojo-themed lessons that aim to strengthen Christians’ reading skills for different genres of the Bible.
Read MoreArtificial intelligence could organize worship music sets, plan church budgets and perform administrative tasks as well as or better than humans, half or more of Christians said in new research from Barna Group and Gloo.
Read More
