Posts in Christianity
Outrage Over A Catholic Commencement Speech At A Catholic College

(OPINION) While a petition calling for the firing of Harrison Butker, one of the greatest placekickers in the NFL, has gained more than 100,000 signatures, sales of his jersey are skyrocketing. Why all the controversy?

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Garbage City’s Christian Residents Call For Increased Government Representation

Garbage City existed before its Coptic Christian residents, and they are the only ones willing enough to remain among the trash and help Cairo by sorting through it. The main issue, these days, is the lack of political representation and influence caused by a growing Muslim-Christian divide.

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Nancy French’s ‘Ghosted’ Offers A Haunting, Helpful Read, But Not For Everyone

(REVIEW) “Ghosted” focuses on how the Frenches lost friends and colleagues alike when they became critics of Donald Trump, the twice-divorced billionaire who won the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and ascended to the White House. 

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Catholic Site Honoring Mary Draws Thousands Thanks To Its Miraculous Waters

Tucked away in the mountain range of the Kenyan Rift Valley, amid flourishing forests overlooking the vibrant little town of Subukia lies a Marian shrine. This special Catholic site dedicated to prayer regularly hosts of thousands of pilgrims from many parts of the world. It is also the source of the legendary water of the Subukia Shrine.

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Catholicism By Generation A Rapid Collapse Or Steady As She Goes?

Sometimes, an important high-level finding warrants some additional reflection. I have several of these rolling around in my head at any given point. The one I wanted to zero in on is from a post that ran over a year ago. Simply put, Catholic Mass attendance is way down. About half of all self-identified Catholics said that they attended Mass nearly every week in 1972. In the most recent data, it’s about half that rate.

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Q&A With Author Mark David Hall: Christian Nationalism ‘Far More Benign Than Critics Believe’

Hall’s new book — “Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism” — shines a light on the debate around Christian nationalism following the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol, which is often characterized by unfounded claims, lots of name-calling and plenty of fear-mongering. Here’s our interview with Hall on the origin of the term and what it all really means.

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Loving Both Cars And Jesus: Delaware Race Ministry Enjoying ‘Best Year Yet’

Delaware Raceway Ministry is running strong after 31 years. And though the ministry techniques have evolved, the emphasis remains the same: sowing seeds, building relationships and sharing Jesus. Volunteers from area churches worked together to serve the raceway staff and thousands of NASCAR enthusiasts who camped around the track earlier this month.

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The Murder Of A Catholic Priest Highlights Rising Violence Against Clerics In South Africa

The murder last month of a Catholic priest is the latest in a spate of attacks against Christian clerics. Overall, South Africa’s crime rate has spiked to its highest levels in two decades. At the same time, many see these recent attacks against clerics as an infringement on their religious freedom to worship since Christians are increasingly fearful of going to church as a result of the increased violence.

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Evangelical Subculture Has Several Different — And Competing — Components

(OPINION) While political pollsters and the national media tend to lump under one banner those dreaded right-leaning “White evangelical or born-again” Christians, that banner actually includes an anomalous set of people with different belief systems and often competing goals.

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Are ‘Micro Services’ The Cure That Can Help Church Attendance Grow?

Is 15 minutes enough for a church service? It’s the question arousing interest within the U.K.’s Protestant community following the decision by a Welsh minister to offer 15-minute services on Monday evenings. “We’re trying to offer something new, something different for people,” he said.

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Crossroads Podcast: The Catholic Trads Are Coming!

The feature is framed with bad news — that progressive Catholics in the United States are experiencing pain because of the rising numbers of young priests and young adults (especially parents with, wink-wink, lots of children) seeking a more pro-Catholic Catechism approach to faith.

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Most Americans See No Moral Or Spiritual Good In AI

A majority don’t see a moral or spiritual benefit to AI, the American Bible Society said on May 9 in the latest release from its 2024 State of the Bible. Most, 68 percent, don’t believe AI could be used to enhance their spiritual practices and thus promote spiritual health, while 58 percent don’t believe the technology could aid in their moral reasoning.

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Presbyterians’ Latest Sexuality Showdown Follows Methodists’ Historic Shift

(ANALYSIS) While drama with the United Methodist Church continues to develop, the sexuality spotlight shifts to America’s Presbyterian Church (U.S.A)., which has already approved gay clergy and marriage but is heading into a different sexuality fuss that carries some risk of another church split.

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Book Excerpt: ‘Soul By Soul’ By Brazilian Journalist Adriana Carranca

In “Soul by Soul: The Evangelical Mission to Spread the Gospel to Muslims” Adriana Carranca follows the pilgrimage of a missionary family from Brazil as they move to Afghanistan. Carranca brings us on a harrowing journey through the underground passages of the global evangelical movement as it clashes with militant Islamic groups. What follows is an excerpt from Carranca’s new book.

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Gaza’s Christian Presence Dwindles Following 7 Months Of Israel-Hamas War

An estimated 25 percent to half of the 900 to 1,000 Christians who lived in Gaza before the war have fled, and that an additional 25 percent are applying to leave. Israel’s occupation of the Rafah border crossing threatens safe passage to Egypt. Thousands of displaced Palestinians are fleeing Rafah for Deir el-Balah about 12 miles north and were straining a scant supply of fresh water.

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On Religion: Yes, Most Southern Baptists Support Religious Liberty For All

Neighborly Faith studied academic publications addressing this issue and created a detailed, 14-point compromise definition stating, in part: “Christian Nationalism is a movement advancing a vision of America's past, present, and future that excludes people of non-Christian religions and non-Western cultures. Christian Nationalists romanticize Christianity's influence on America's development, attributing the nation's historical provenance to God's special favor.”

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Nearly 50 Christians Killed In Nigeria Attacks, Dozens Wounded

Neary 50 Christians have been killed in a series of militant attacks on villages in Benue, Plateau and Kaduna states in late April through early May, with dozens more wounded and displaced, according to news reports. Militant Fulani killed six Christians in southern Kaduna on May 5 in the latest in a series of attacks.

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Turkey Officially Converts Istanbul’s Iconic Chora Church Into A Mosque

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reopened an iconic Byzantine church in Istanbul as a mosque on Monday, four years after his government had designated it an Islamic house of worship. Despite criticism from Christians around the world, Turkey formally converted Chora Church into a mosque after it had turned Istanbul’s landmark Hagia Sophia into a Muslim prayer space.

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When Wrestling With Anxiety, Here’s How I Pray — And It Helps

(OPINION) Lately, though, I’ve unaccountably become flappable, prone to crippling attacks of anxiety even when there’s nothing to be anxious about. This is new, disconcerting and mysterious. I’m not under any unusual stress, so I suspect this anxiety must be the result of some chemical shift taking place in my brain as I age.

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