The pandemic has prompted composers to create new sacred music of all kinds — hymns, liturgical music, prayers, praise music and more. These are not limited to one religion, but have cropped up in Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Catholic and Protestant circles.
Read MoreFor many churches, especially historically Black congregations, the normal traditions of Easter— massive church services, family dinners and music programs about faith— took a back seat to the George Floyd trial and news reports about COVID-19 vaccinations. April 4 is also the anniversary of pastor and Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination in 1968.
Read MoreThe Monastery of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem is believed to mark the spot where the tree was felled to make the cross upon which Jesus was crucified. Several legends theorize about its founding, linked to Abraham’s nephew Lot; the mother of Byzantine Emperor Constantine the Great, the first Christian emperor who sojourned in the Holy Land in 326; and Emperor Justinian in the 6th century, said to have founded the monastery at the behest of a Georgian prince.
Read MoreSeattle Pacific University President Daniel J. Martin will resign April 5 to take a new leadership role at the foundation of a national healthcare system. The school has been facing challenges from LGBTQ activists.
Read MoreIn response to reporting by ReligionUnplugged.com and The Washington Post in 2019, a prominent former LDS Church member filed a federal lawsuit last week against the LDS Church seeking to regain more than $5 million in tithing he gave the church. The 2019 reports exposed that the LDS Church had amassed a $100 billion secret investment firm and used member tithes without their knowledge. The IRS has not confirmed whether it is investigating the church.
Read MoreGonzaga (the saint) and Gonzaga (the basketball team) are two different things. Nonetheless, the patron saint of Christian youth (who also died in a pandemic) can help inspire the school to capture its first national championship.
Read MoreAs Christians all over the world entered Holy Week, a pair of exclusive, high-priced athletic shoes emblazoned with a pentagram and made with drops of human blood sold out in less than a minute. Singer Lil Nas X created the “Satan shoes” with the company MSCHF to coincide with the drop of his newest music video that features him giving Satan a lap dance. The backlash has sparked a conversation about LGBTQ people leaving Christianity or feeling hurt by Christians and also sparked a lawsuit from Nike.
Read MoreNationwide, some congregations across the country are reopening for the first time during Holy Week 2021. But pastors say that reopening their congregation is much more than simply cleaning up and unlocking the doors of the church. Their congregations are emotionally rocked and feeling the effects of disconnection.
Read MoreKanakuk Ministries is one of the largest Christian camps in the United States. An analysis of new financial statements reveals that founder Joe White and his wife Debbie-Jo were paid $2.6 million by Kanakuk from 2014-2017.
Read MoreReligious non-profits lost 10% of their workforce during the pandemic, according to a recent report. Faith-based groups like the Logan Baptist Church daycare and Convoy of Hope say PPP loans allowed them to keep serving essential workers and people in need.
Read MoreWorldwide, more than 2.6 million deaths have been attributed to COVID-19. Christians are reflecting on the loss of their family members and loved ones to the virus. “This is an opportunity for the church to mourn with those who mourn. And there are a lot of people mourning,” said one pastor in Ohio.
Read MoreThis year’s Passover, the annual Jewish holiday, will offer families the chance to reflect on the hardships of the previous year. It also prioritizes looking with hope to the future.
Read MoreThe government of Mozambique claims that religious fundamentalism rather than its own failures is the primary cause of a fast-escalating conflict that has killed over 2,500 people and displaced another 700,000. In March, the U.S. began training Mozambique defense forces in counter terrorism. But some journalists, researchers and clergy on the ground say that this narrative only serves the authoritarian government, accused of torturing and killing critics.
Read MoreSince 2013, the Christian Culinary Academy has flourished in an artsy coastal getaway, barely two hours away from Portland, sometimes called America’s best food city. The program is part of Christian Chefs International, a 23-year-old organization of 2,000 members having its annual conference this week in Cannon Beach.
Read MoreIt’s clear, thanks to COVID-19, that the church is not a building. In a post-pandemic world, some ask: Why have a building at all?
Franciscans in the Holy Land, a Catholic order that’s preserved Christian sites in Jerusalem since the Middle Ages, have celebrated Lent for years by following the path step by step that Jesus may have taken nearly 2,000 years ago on his 40-day fasting journey through the Judean Desert.
Read MoreAsma Uddin, a religious liberty lawyer and a fellow at the Aspen Institute, writes in her new book The Politics of Vulnerability about how American Muslims and conservative Christians can engage better to protect their religious freedoms.
Read MoreTanzania’s President John Pombe Magufuli died of a heart attack on March 17 after frequently citing prayer as the best way to ward off the coronavirus. His political opponents are claiming he died of COVID-19, there is not evidence of that claim.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Medieval imagery has been on display repeatedly at far-right rallies and riots. Conspiracy theorists may love to use the symbols, but they fundamentally misunderstand the Byzantine Empire.
Read MoreAfter 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot and killed eight people, including six women of Asian descent, the church Long was baptized in and other Atlanta-area faith leaders have spoken out about the murders and the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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