Two years after British Islamist Thomas Evans (aka Abdul Hakim) died in a hail of Kenyan military bullets, his younger brother, Michael, is still searching for answers.
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(COMMENTARY) The International Football Association Board's "Laws of the Game" – used at the FIFA World Cup – state: "Equipment must not have any political, religious or personal slogans, statements or images." This rule "applies to all equipment (including clothing) worn by players," according to IFAB guidelines. BUT Does this apply to religious symbols woven into the flags and traditions of many nations?
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America was divided, tense and angry in 1969, when Fred Rogers faced a U.S. Senate Subcommittee poised to grant President Richard Nixon his requests for deep budget cuts for public broadcasting. Rogers told the senators why he kept telling children they were unique and special. But he also talked about fear, anger and confusion – because that's what children were feeling. The senators nixed the cuts, and the Rev. Fred Rogers – an ordained Presbyterian minister – continued with his complex blend of television, child development and subtle messages about faith.
Justice Anthony Kennedy's 7-2 majority opinion in favor of the baker at the Masterpiece Cakeshop focused on evidence that the Colorado Civil Rights Commission had demonstrated open hostility towards owner Jack Phillips and his Christian faith. Meanwhile, Phillips says he is looking forward to creating more wedding cakes, now that he is free to do so while following his Christian convictions.
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(COMMENTARY) The internet furore over the violent Greek Orthodox baby baptism has seeped into the press. The story in itself is amusing, but it also provides a teaching moment on how not to do journalism.
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(COMMENTARY) It’s been nearly three years since the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case that the Constitution provide same-sex couples the right to marry. The justices are soon expected to render a decision on whether it also protects business owners with religious objections from providing their personal wedding services to gay couples.
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(COMMENTARY) The “trial of the century” of Cardinal George Pell - the Vatican’s “number 3” man and head of its finances - on sexual abuse charges has been passed by a Melbourne Magistrate to the Victoria County Court for adjudication. Magistrate Belinda Wallington found sufficient evidence to justify a trial for the 76-year old former archbishop of Melbourne and Sydney, who has been placed on leave by Pope Francis to respond to the charges.
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After 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.
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In 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.
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One by one, Billy and Ruth Graham's children – Gigi, Anne, Ruth, Franklin and Ned – took the pulpit in a 28,000-square-foot tent erected at the Billy Graham Library, in Charlotte, N.C. They praised their famous father, of course, but also their mother who died in 2007. The family's patriarch died with 19 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren.
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(COMMENTARY) Republican Jeffrey Bell died in February, after a career in which he ran for the U.S. Senate in New Jersey – in 1978 and 2014 – but was better known for work behind the scenes helping others, following beliefs that escaped easy political labels.
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(COMMENTARY) The Russian media scene presents a sobering picture for those who hold to theories of the inevitable progress of mankind. Though the collapse of the Soviet Union ushered in a decade of a press freedoms in Russia under Boris Yeltsin, with Vladimir Putin the situation has tightened. The state does not pervade all aspects of intellectual life. But where its interests are concerned - dissent is not tolerated.
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(OPINION) The mood at the recent National Prayer Breakfast was affectionate when Rep. Cedric Richmond of New Orleans introduced House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. People keep asking how the two can be such close friends when they disagree on about "80 percent" of the issues facing America. The key, Richmond said, is to understand that faith can transcend politics.
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(COMMENTARY) As Christians enter the season of Lent, the church's mission is as paramount as ever – to spread the Gospel and inform parishioners, through news stories and commentary, about the politics and culture around us. The mainstream press is not the least interested in such a mission – so it has largely become the role of the religious-based press – and the communication tools of the 21st century – to fill the void.
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(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.
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(COMMENTARY) For the Branch Davidians, everything hinged on Book of Revelation texts about the Seven Seals and "the Lamb," a mysterious figure who would open those seals in the Last Days. That was the infamous Branch Davidian drama summed up in one tense exchange, according to the creators of the six-part Paramount Network miniseries "Waco," which runs through Feb. 28.
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(COMMENTARY) “German Cardinal Endorses Homosexual Heresy” states the headline of a Sunday story in the Daily Caller. It is a wonderful headline crafted to drive readers to the religion section of the well-respected online political news portal. But is it true?
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A heated debate continues in Sweden after a church chose to use a gender neutral pronoun when describing Jesus in an advertisement for a Christmas worship service.
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The awesome spectre of another Ebola epidemic haunts Sierra Leone, as villagers revert to traditional burial rituals.
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Is Oprah the "pope" of the religiously unaffiliated? If that label fits anyone, it would be Winfrey. "She talks about God, but for Oprah that can almost be the God of the week, the spiritual flavor of the week. … How she talks about spirituality and about truth is constantly changing. That's her gift. That's who she is. For her, that stuff will preach."
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