(ANALYSIS) Rocker Steve Taylor penned a snarky tribute in 1985 called, “Used To Be A Cute Cathedral.” Four decades later, the song surfaced during online chatter about dance nights held earlier this month inside Canterbury Cathedral, the Church of England’s most hallowed sanctuary.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Feb. 15, 2015, both were among the men beheaded by Islamic State soldiers on a beach in Libya. All 21 — 20 Egyptian Copts and a Ghanan who professed his Christian faith — were soon declared martyrs by the Coptic Orthodox Church.
Read More(ANALYSIS) If punk music is about being countercultural, then religious punk is, perhaps, the most punk of all. In an increasingly secular world, to deviate from secularism is to embrace the outcast mentality. The rebels of today, it seems, are those pitting themselves against a purely material reality.
Read MoreHere’s another matter seemingly unrelated to religion. Why care about a pending bill in Congress deals with electromagnetic fields in hybrid and electric vehicles?
Read More(REVIEW) The series deserves applause for dealing with difficult social and theological topics and for the ways it gets them right. But its agonizing repetitiveness and its social and theological missteps need to be noted as well so that we make sure we can actually solve the problems it is so eager to critique.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Armenian quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City is facing its biggest crisis in a long time. A Jewish businessman with connections to the radical settler movement is poised to develop a quarter of the neighborhood’s territory, with plans to build a luxury hotel. If this goes ahead, it will significantly change part of the Old City.
Read MoreAhead of the Super Bowl, this week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the rise of sports betting and people of faith’s stance on it. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read MoreIt was a New York Times headline that created tremors online: “As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do.” But here’s the question that was at the heart of this week’s “Crossroads” podcast: Why was this Pamela Paul essay in the opinion section, as opposed to being a hard-news report out front?
Read More(ANALYSIS) With its lilting pop melody and sweet God talk, “On Eagle's Wings” is the hymn that conservative Catholics love to hate and Catholic progressives often wave like a red flag. President Joe Biden loves it.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in opens with the top headlines from the International Religious Freedom Summit. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and big news in the world of faith.
Read MoreThe founder of the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and prison reentry program in the world is a mystic, a Jesuit priest who does not believe that God has a plan for your life. Having buried 260 young men and women, Father Greg Boyle rejects the idea that it is God’s plan that anyone should die of a gang member’s bullet.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On Jan. 26, the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, ordered provisional measures in the case of the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).
Read More(ANALYSIS) The two biggest feminist films of 2023, “Barbie” and “Poor Things,” are poised to be heavy hitters at this year’s Oscars. And yet, despite the fact that both films claim to be overt pro-feminist manifestos, what both also have most in common is that they actually encourage the very toxic masculinity that they claim to be deconstructing. evangelicalism may hold the true answer they’re looking for.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Nigerian Christians have been slaughtered in the tens of thousands by Nigerian Muslims. When press coverage hasn’t been M.I.A., it’s resorted to a lazy “climate change” explanation. Not even the Biden administration seems to care.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Churches have been targeted in the United States and around the world in what has easily been one of the most underreported (in some cases not reported at all) stories of the last decade. The problem? When it comes to press coverage, not all religious sanctuaries are created equal.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in features a retrospective from columnist Bobby Ross Jr. on his 25 years on the Godbeat. Plus, a major new study on ‘nones’ — and, as always, all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights plans for the annual March for Life, expected to draw 100,000 abortion opponents to the nation’s capital. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The #WithoutJustCause campaign, highlighting the fates of a broad range of political prisoners including faith leaders, civic activists, businesspeople and former government officials, aims to shine the light on their stories, raise awareness and increase pressure to secure their release.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The story of Michael Foster got me thinking about how two concepts (environmentalism and religion) may be deeply intertwined with each other. In the current discourse about religion, climate change has not really taken center stage. It seems the debate is focused on social issues: same-sex marriage, the rights of transgender Americans and abortion.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In an age in which Christian colleges and universities face intense legal pressures on moral issues — especially policies linked to sex and marriage — it is now especially important to note whether schools require faculty, staff and students to sign "doctrinal covenants" defining commitments on behavior and beliefs.
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