(ANALYSIS) This is the question that I have been thinking about ever since Memorial Day: What role do movie theaters play in Godās glorious and fallen creation? Yes, thatās a strange question. Let me explain. Back in my professor days when I taught Introduction to Mass Communication 101, I explained the whole ātechnology shapes cultureā equation (again, think āthe medium is the messageā) by asking a series of questions.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Civic engagement ā including volunteering and registering to vote ā rather than religiosity was more correlated with giving by Muslim American women, according to research we conducted with our colleagues at the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative. Muslims are required to contribute zakat, a form of giving. To meet this obligation, Muslims are required to give 2.5 percent of their wealth to charities.
Read MoreJason and Jennifer Carroll pray for Haiti as the poor, developing nation deals with unrelenting gang violence. Two American missionaries and a Haitian national were killed in an ambush last week.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk formed a coalition government in 2023 committed to making āhistoric changes,ā he promised to improve the countryās track record on womenās rights. Noticeably absent in the coalitionās agreement, however, was any specific wording on access to abortion, one of the most controversial issues under the previous government.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A new piece of legislation introduced earlier this month would require not-for-profit organizations to report grants they make to foreign entities. The Foreign Grant Reporting Act is authored by Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) He says his goal is to bring more transparency into the growing tax-exempt sector.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The sudden death of President Ebrahim Raisi is unlikely to drastically alter Iranās foreign and domestic policies, but it has left a power vacuum. As stipulated by the constitution, Raisi was replaced by his first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, as interim president before presidential elections are held in 50 days.
Read More(ANALYSIS) This bitter divide resurfaced during the May 11 Benedictine College commencement speech by Harrison Butker, a three-time Super Bowl champion from the nearby Kansas City Chiefs. While remarks about women and family life dominated headlines, most of the placekicker's 20-minute address focused on divisions inside Catholicism.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In May 2024, the U.N. Childrenās Fund (UNICEF) reported that nearly 2,000 children in Ukraine were killed or injured amid ongoing and escalating war. The statement made it clear that this tally of childrenās deaths is likely to be higher. The report comes shortly after Russia escalated its attacks in the Kharkiv region that killed several children.
Read More(ANALYSIS) How do U.S. Army chaplains perceive the legitimacy of American drone strikes and why should we care? Though chaplains are entrusted by regulations to shape the moral use of force, scholars have not studied what accounts for their perceptions of legitimacy. Yet legitimacy is āpotentā in shaping the durability of policy and strategy.
Read MoreI am old enough to remember when ā60 Minutesā was must-watch television for journalists. In those days, this CBS News āmagazine for televisionā had a crack research team that dug deep and found the documents and evidence needed to support tough questions for political, cultural and business leaders who granted interviews.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Today, these new non-denominational churches are replacing older traditional forms, creating thousands of new island churches, unconnected form any larger sense of community or social vision. Can this new generation of non-denominational churches somehow work together to form new networks that provide some measure of community? Time will tell.
Read MoreTwenty years ago, I worked as a Dallas-based religion reporter for The Associated Press. Many of the stories that dominated the headlines then remain relevant today.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The team's star placekicker stressed that ābeing Catholic alone doesn't cut itā while attacking many famous Catholics, including President Joe Biden, for, among other choices, making the sign of the cross during a Florida abortion rights rally. Butker spent most of his address criticizing many American bishops while also offering blunt defenses of Catholic teachings on sexuality.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Association of Religion Data Archives posted an absolutely fascinating dataset called āClergymen in Revolutionary America (1763-1783).ā Itās exactly what you think it is ā a big spreadsheet of clergy in the colonies. Thatās awesome. The data comes as a result of the efforts by Lewis Frederick Weis in the 1930s to collect this information.
Read More(ANALYSIS) On May 20, the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan filed applications for warrants of arrest before Pre-Trial Chamber I of ICC in the āSituation in the State of Palestine.ā This follows the March 2021 opening of the investigation into the situation in the state of Palestine and a statement from Oct. 10, 2023, to confirm that the recent escalation of the situation is within the mandate of the ICC.
Read MoreA recent series of crosscurrents and eruptions remind us that Catholic voters may well decide this odd contest between unwelcome nominees. As with Americans in general, Pew Research Center polling shows they give fellow Catholic Biden an unfavorable rating of 64 percent and 57 percent unfavorable toward Trump.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In my work as a religious history scholar, Iāve learned that throughout history artists created images of Christ that would speak to different communities. In 1915, Norwegian artist Emanuel Vigeland created an image of Christ with golden hair and fair skin despite a popular illustration showing Christ as Middle Eastern with dark hair.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The church was once considered a resource for understanding how reality works. Thatās less the case today. To return to being a resource for things like artificial intelligence, weād have to learn what the Bible says about technology and sorcery.
Read MoreThis would be a shock to the countercultural Catholic matriarchs who birthed this influential network.
Read MoreJelly Roll is on a roll. The āSon of a Sinnerā artist ā whose songs feature raw, religious lyrics that wrestle with his troubled past ā won another big award on Thursday night.
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