The Church of Christ Cluj, which meets in the northwestern Romanian city of Cluj-Napoca, has become a center of refuge as war rages in Ukraine, about four and a half hours away. The church offers them housing in a rented facility next door, and its free grocery store has served more than 9,400 customers since the war began in late February.
Read MoreUkrainian-American family members detailed their difficult journey from the Eastern European nation of Ukraine to the U.S. during a recent missions class at the Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City.
Read MoreFive of the nine known prisoners of conscience in Kazakhstan jailed for exercising freedom of religion or belief were punished for participating in an online Islamic discussion group. The other four are also Sunni Muslims.
Read More(OPINION) Russia’s security strategy gives prominent weight to concerns about traditional religious values. Diplomatic negotiations between Russia and the West to end the war in Ukraine will likely center on some of these concerns for many years to come.
Read More(ANALYSIS) “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and its popularization in films and cartoons have greatly shaped our perceptions of the famous cathedral and the story of Quasimodo and Notre Dame is one of many stories that have become part of our collective worldview. For that reason alone, how and why Victor Hugo portrayed the cathedral are worth a close look.
Read More(REVIEW) Emerging from a small sect within Judaism, early Christianity absorbed much of the religious, cultural and philosophical traditions of the Greco-Roman world at the time. A new book looks at the centuries that followed the crucifixion of Jesus, which were ones of intense persecution. Christianity would eventually flourish and become the state religion of the Roman Empire.
Read MoreState censorship and control of religious communities increased following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Lutheran Archbishop Dietrich Brauer, who has left Russia, said that, at the start of the war, President Putin's administration made “a clear demand” of religious leaders to speak out in favor of the invasion.
Read MoreA tireless desire to share their message with the people of Berlin — and Germany as a whole — has helped the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ mission in Berlin persevere over the years, up to the present day.
Read MoreChurches throughout Romania are helping Ukrainian refugees by coordinating shipments of supplies, helping with resettlement, collecting funds to help in relief efforts, making quilts, offering shelter and food, and praying.
Read More(OPINION) With the barrage of horrors from Ukraine, it wasn’t hard to distinguish between the messages released by the Eastern Orthodox leaders of Russia and Ukraine to mark Holy Pascha, the feast known as Easter in the West.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Something akin to a Catholic “Trial of the Century” has gotten underway in Rome and there’s plenty of palace intrigue to go around. The trial involving corruption, bad real estate deals and financial wrongdoing has placed Pope Francis in the center of a controversy that for the first time doesn’t involve doctrine or theology.
Read MoreAn Anchorage congregation with members from Ukraine, Russia and other Slavic nations is working to feed and support families forced to flee their homes. “We can’t just sit here,” church member Zori Opanasevych says. “We have to do something.”
Read MoreAs Russian forces withdraw from the capital and western Ukraine, Christians in Ukraine report that they’re concerned attacks will intensify in the cities of the east, including Dnipro and Mariupol. In Mariupol, a port city that has been all but obliterated by Russian artillery, 33 Christians were taking refuge in the meeting place of a Church of Christ.
Read MoreThe war instigated by President Vladimir Putin of Russia has caused Europe’s largest refugee crisis since World War II, with over 4 million Ukrainians displaced and another 7 million internally displaced in western Ukraine, according to U.N. agencies. Photos and videos from formerly Russian occupied towns like Bucha showing executed and tortured civilians only add to the horror and fervor for the war to end.
Read More(ANALYSIS) A newly released journal issue of “Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe” explores the Russian state’s dependency on a morally compromised Russian Orthodox Church to legitimize its quasi-religious fascism. Meanwhile, pastors in Bucha, Ukraine, where hundreds of civilian bodies were recently found shot to death, reflect on the theology needed to survive so much pain and suffering.
Read More(ANALYSIS) At around the same time a Russian Orthodox anti-war statement was distributed to collect nearly 300 signatures, several of Ukraine’s evangelical theological educators expressed to Russian evangelical leaders deep disappointment over their failure to speak out against Russia’s unprovoked attack. Some Russian evangelicals have issued their own anti-war statements.
Read MorePope Francis offered up a special prayer for Ukraine and Russia in connection with a Marian apparition that’s over 100 years old. The pope called on all bishops, priests and believers to join him in the consecration of Ukraine and Russia, an act triggered by a 1917 apocalyptic vision of Mary to three children in the Portuguese city of Fatima.
Read MoreFolk and rock anthems in response to the Russian invasion have created an air of nationalism and unity among Ukrainians. Besides the explicit protest in their lyrics, they recall other historical periods of conflict in the country.
Read More(OPINION) Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has defended Russia’s actions and blamed the conflict on the West.
Read MoreOn March 11, President Ilham Aliyev signed further religion law amendments handing responsibility for naming prayer leaders in all mosques from the Caucasian Muslim Board to the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations.
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