(ANALYSIS) The 2025 Story of the Year in religion is obviously the surprise May 8 election of the first Pope from the United States, Leo XIV. The second-place story, less publicized but important, is the Oct. 16 proclamation of a planned split among the worldâs 97 million Anglican Christians over their anguishing dispute on the Bible and sexual morality.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I can pretty much pinpoint the moment I got the inspiration for this post. I was riding my spin bike in the basement, watching a series on my phone called âBand of Brothers.â I know, I know â I should have watched it multiple times by now.
Read MoreEvery December, the same chorus returns â pastors, pundits and pious influencers lamenting that Christmas has been âcommercialized.â But gift-giving isnât a betrayal of Christmas. In truth, itâs a reenactment of it. The problem is pretense, not presents. Itâs when generosity becomes performance, and the spirit of giving becomes a selfie opportunity.
Read More(REVIEW) In âMiracles and Wonder,â historian Elaine Pagels examines the life of Jesus through historical, textual and theological lenses. Balancing faith and skepticism, she revisits questions of the virgin birth, miracles, crucifixion and the resurrection â ultimately portraying Christianityâs enduring power as rooted not in certainty, but in hope.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I keep a little list in the notes app on my phone â just a running log of potential ideas for the newsletter. Most of them are only a few words, just enough to remind me to poke around in the data when I get back to my computer. If Iâm being honest, about 75% of those ideas go nowhere. Either the data doesnât tell a compelling story, or that âgreat datasetâ someone mentioned turns out to be nothing like they described.
Read More(ANALYSIS) âNews as we have hitherto known it has died and been laid to rest.â So wrote illustrious former BBC war correspondent Martin Bell, ending his autobiography, âWar and the Death of News.â He was not writing the BBCâs obituary, but he could have been. No, he was arguing the BBC no longer knew the difference between fairness and neutrality.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the most important questions we are trying to answer in The Nones Project is: Do non-religious people have feelings of self-worth and satisfaction that are similar to traditionally religious Americans? In many ways, this may be the most important issue to address when talking about the rising share of nones in the United States.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Itâs been over a decade since Boko Haram abducted 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Borno, in April 2014. The abduction received international attention, with the hashtag #BringBackOurGirl being shared globally, including by Michelle Obama.
Read More(ANALYSIS) During the Renaissance, it was a common motif in paintings. There would be a skull in the background or possibly an hourglass.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Israelâs chief rabbis â known as the Rabbinate and the top authority for the countryâs Orthodox institutions â do not recognize women as rabbis or permit their ordination. A big change came this year when Israelâs High Court of Justice ruled women must be allowed to take the exams.
Read MoreConflicts like these are not common, but they can happen. I moved them into present tense for reasons that will become obvious, as I connect them to news coverage we discussed in this weekâs âCrossroadsâ podcast, focusing on tensions between a few Christian schools and Turning Point USA.
Read MoreIn 1982, a 3-month-old girl named Rebecca became the 13th child adopted through Lifeline Childrenâs Services. The Birmingham, Alabama, nonprofit â launched the previous year â grew out of an evangelical crisis pregnancy ministry called Sav-a-Life.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Studentsâ sense of religious and spiritual belonging comes from everyday relationships â authentic connections and conversations that faculty and staff can help foster. I believe universities can create an environment where all students, including religious minorities, feel seen, accepted and appreciated.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A majority of mainline Protestant Christians voted for Donald Trump in 2024. They also supported him in 2020 and 2016. In fact, even during Barack Obamaâs landslide election in 2008, the mainline was evenly divided at the ballot box.
Read More(ANALYSIS) In the most talked-about film from the final year of the 20th century, âThe Matrix,â a computer hacker named Neo finds that the world he lives and works in isnât real. Itâs a virtual reality, created by artificial intelligence.
Read More(ANALYSIS) OK, so thereâs this response option to a single survey question that has intrigued me for a very long time. Itâs about religious attendance. Across different surveys, the number of response options can vary. The standard is typically six increments, but others â like the General Social Survey â use eight.
Read MoreOnce again, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops gathered for debates and votes with serious implications for the current occupant of the White House and his supporters.
Read MoreIn the early 1960s, Ron Bever paid 50 cents â roughly $5.34 in todayâs dollars â for an old religious book at an estate sale. A rare books enthusiast, even Bever didnât realize at first what a treasure heâd acquired.
Read More(ANALYSIS) It would be a mistake to assume that everyone in these movements adheres to one viewpoint, or is interested only in stopping abortion. In reality, there are many motivations that lead to people using the phrase âpro-life.â When reporters asked Pope Leo, he said, âItâs important to look at many issues that are related to the teachings of the church.â
Read More(ANALYSIS) Elected on Tuesday during the bishopsâ fall meeting in Baltimore on the third ballot, Coakley, who turned 70 this past May, succeeds Archbishop Timothy Broglio, promising a leadership style that balances moral conviction with pastoral sensitivity in a time of deep political and cultural polarization.
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