Since the early New Testament church met in homes, many startup churches and church plants have met in eccentric, odd and unusual locations, calling themselves churches without walls. As younger Americans continue dropping out of the pews, ministries like Christ Chapel’s college outreach in Ft. Worth leave traditional spaces behind and come to their audience in bars, coffee shops and Zoom.
Read MorePete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., hosted a virtual town hall this week aimed at young, religious Americans in support of 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Read MoreAfter China’s latest security law restricting several freedoms, Hong Kongers are increasingly drawing parallels between China’s treatment of the Uyghurs and themselves, while fears heighten in Hong Kong’s Muslim minority for speaking out against the government.
Read MoreMany studies in education focus on testing, graduation rates and college entrances. For the first time, a new study by the Institute for Family Studies and the American Enterprise Institute links different types of schooling to marriage and family formation.
Read MoreReports in the Ministry Watch database show that the CEOs of the U.S.’s 50 largest faith-based nonprofits are overwhelmingly white and male.
Read MoreMany evangelical Christians are giving money to International Fellowship of Christians and Jews despite the fact that the fellowship does not promote the Gospel and pays its leaders large salaries. Do they know what organization they’re giving to?
Read MoreTaylor University fired professor Jim Spiegel for refusing to remove a video entitled “Little Hitler” from YouTube. In doing so, they may have violated an agreement signed with all faculty members.
Read MoreThe struggle for a just and equal society isn’t only about Black people and racism, said Rev. William Barber at the 16th Street Baptist Church 57 years after the Ku Klux Klan bombing that killed four young girls. He called for communities of faith to unify around shared values and concern for the vulnerable, and to reject the divisiveness that leads to violence.
Read MoreA New Delhi-based Sikh organization is sponsoring dozens of Afghan Sikhs to settle in India after the March terror attack on a Kabul gurudwara, a Sikh temple. Although Sikh has ancient history in Afghanistan, Sikhs now make up only a tiny minority in the country, while the Indian government welcomes Sikhs, whose faith formed from Hinduism.
Read MoreThe data reveals a surprisingly complex picture of a religious group that can feel pulled in opposite directions on issues of policy and partisanship, still seeking to find an identity in American politics. While American Muslims support the Democrats by a landslide, they don’t agree on many progressive policy priorities.
Read MoreIn emails with Religion Unplugged, former editor of evangelical magazine Christianity Today Mark Galli explains the timeline of his recently announced conversion to Catholicism and how it overlapped with his last two years at the influential publication, including his viral 2019 editorial calling for President Donald Trump’s impeachment.
Read MoreIn 1977, an archbishop was shot dead for protesting human rights abuses. Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, in power for 34 years, denounces clergy activism. But this year, several pastors have joined in political activism for an opposition party, with one even running for president. They say Uganda needs leaders who understand religious freedom and Christian values.
Read MoreIn East India, a popular mystic musician has been traveling and singing to spread awareness to the rural masses about COVID-19. Gautum Hazra draws on the syncretic Baul tradition that has influenced Western artists like Bob Dylan and blends Vaishnavite devotional Hinduism, Tantric Buddhism, Sufi thought and other traditions to emphasize religious harmony and tolerance.
Read MoreAt 93 years and 141 days old, Pope Benedict XVI became the longest-living pope in the Catholic Church’s history. His papacy was a tumultuous one, seeing a series of scandals brought to light involving the sexual predation of young boys by members of the clergy and a still on-going battle for transparency within the Vatican Bank.
Read MoreThe son of evangelists, Floyd Brady left the church in his teens and hit the road touring with a metal rock band, singing songs filled with hatred for religion. Decades later, he’s welcoming “outcasts” at Michigan’s Victory Biker Church by embracing, not fighting, the road warrior culture he came to love.
Read MoreJimmy Lai is one of the most prominent Catholics in China, known for his pro-democracy involvement and financing of underground Catholic churches. He was acquitted on Thursday from the charge of intimidating a reporter of a rival newspaper. He will now face several more charges in Chinese courts.
Read MoreAlaska’s Episcopal diocese is America’s largest geographically, with 48 churches isolated across more than 500,000 square miles. Half are in Native communities only accessible by boat, plane or snowmobile. Church attendance is declining along with nationwide trends but for those spiritually hungry, an alternate model is needed to create and train clergy in a state where a college diploma, much less a seminary degree, is an impossibility for many Alaska Natives.
Read MoreBest-selling author Eric Metaxas acknowledged to ReligionUnplugged.com that he hit a protester on Aug. 27 who was verbally harassing Trump supporters as they left President Donald Trump’s speech during the Republican National Convention at the White House.
Read MoreAfter a shooting in 2019 that claimed the lives of two congregants, the West Freeway Church of Christ in Texas rebuilt their worship center. They have now returned to worship after the COVID-19 lockdown and completion of construction.
Read MoreIn a letter from prominent Orthodox Jews, leaders explain that their utmost law must be the Torah — not common law from partisan leaders today. As politics continue to become more partisan, how will Jews stay fixed on the ideals of the Torah, not certain political leaders?
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