Inside the latest changes rocking Liberty University: the unconventional replacement of longtime board chairman Allen McFarland came on the same day that Liberty filed a lawsuit against its former president and founder’s son, Jerry Falwell Jr. As the school works to remove Falwell Jr.’s influence, it shows signs of returning to its foundational roots.
Read MoreIn the midst of a deadly second coronavirus wave and medical care shortage, Moin Mastan and his team of 25 volunteers have been working round the clock to perform the last rites, cremations and burials of 40 to 50 Indians every day who have died with COVID-19 infections in the central Indian state of Maharashtra—all while fasting daily for Ramadan, a holy month in Islam for tightened devotion in spiritual reflection, worship and prayer.
Read MoreSikh houses of worship, called gurdwaras, are discussing how to ramp up security measures around the country to protect the community after the mass shooting at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis that killed eight people, including four Sikhs. Perhaps the most prominent tool is The Sikh Coalition’s recently revamped gurdwara security kit, launched in January, to help the Sikh houses of worship and community members prevent and prepare for such unexpected tragic events.
Read MoreReligion Unplugged interviewed Dr. John Jackson, President of William Jessup University, a California-based private Christian university in the Sacramento area. In our conversation, Dr. Jackson explored the spiritual and practical impacts of COVID-19 on the Jessup community, reflected on challenges to religious freedom during the pandemic and offered a vision of religious freedom lived responsibly and stewarded for the benefit of others during the pandemic.
Read MoreMeasured over the past five years or even this year alone, new Anti-Defamation League Study shows significant percentages of Jews suffered online harassment, in-person verbal attacks, or physical violence.
Read More(ANALYSIS) White Christians were significantly more likely to get the vaccine than the general public between January and April. In the latest survey results, nearly 60% of White Catholics had been vaccinated and just about half of White evangelicals said the same. It was the religious “nones” that were lagging far behind, with only 31% indicating that they had received one dose.
Read MoreOn Friday, April 23, Christie’s in New York will auction the late Elaine and Alexandre Rosenberg’s unparalleled collection of 17 illuminated medieval Bible manuscripts and more than 200 books from before 1501. Alexandre played a leading role in recapturing his family’s looted artwork from the Nazis and later retired in Manhattan where he built his Bible collection with Elaine.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Four members of Indianapolis’ Sikh community were killed at the FedEx facility shooting. The community mourns, and some are calling for an investigation of bias as the shooter’s motive.
Read MoreMinisters in Minneapolis and across the country have been praying and calling for peace regardless of what verdict is handed down in the murder trial of former police officer Derek Chauvin over the death of George Floyd. Nightly protests have rocked Minneapolis again after the police shooting of Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, on April 11 in a suburb of the city.
Read MoreThe monastery Visoki Decani is one of the holiest sites of the Serbian Orthodox Church and is now considered endangered by Europe’s leading heritage site preservation organization.
Read MoreChristian school College of the Ozarks has filed a federal suit against the Biden Administration for a directive made in the Department of Housing and Urban Development on gender identity. The school claims the change forces religious schools to violate their beliefs.
Read MoreA humble Congregationalist minister, with a Bible in one hand and a geologist’s pick in another, was at the center of discovering one of the richest troves of fossils in the world. He is Thomas Condon, the only clergyman with a national park visitor center named after him and a man who understood early on how religion and science could fit together.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Massive crowds are expected to gather at India’s northern city of Haridwar throughout April 2021 for the religious festival of Kumbh Mela, despite the country’s grappling with a COVID-19 surge. The Kumbh Mela is a Hindu pilgrimage held every 12 years and is the world’s largest religious festival, with a total 100 million pilgrims expected over several weeks.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Across the country, houses of worship are shuttering by the thousands. Municipalities have a role in finding new uses for abandoned buildings that have long anchored communities and neighborhoods.
Read MoreANALYSIS — For all the predictions and talk of a slump in support among evangelicals, it appears Donald Trump’s election loss was not at the hands of religious voters. There was very little notable change in the vote choice of religious groups between 2016 and 2020 – in fact, for most faiths, support for Trump ticked up slightly. Instead, it was among those who do not identify with any religion that Trump saw a noticeable drop.
Read MoreRamadan, which spans the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, is a full month of religious fasting. The associate professor of religious studies and director of the Muslim Studies Program at Michigan State University answers six questions about its importance.
Read MoreHeraldic achievements — a personal ecclesiastical coat of arms — have historically been one of the most important possessions of high-ranking Catholic clergymen and contain layers of meaning. But today they are an increasingly ignored art form inside and outside the Church. Will the Church abandon heraldry traditions going back centuries or will more bishops resurrect the practice?
Read MoreAn Afghan official told Religion Unplugged that the country plans to repatriate various ancient artifacts they believe were looted from their national museum in the nineties during civil war, including a medieval Hebrew prayer book now in the Museum of the Bible’s possession in Washington, D.C. The 1200-year-old prayer book is the world’s oldest Hebrew manuscript after the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Read MoreThousands of Kashmiris are flocking to Sufi shrines this Ramadan, where their faith and worship is taking a leading role in their healing from trauma, depression, PTSD and other mental health issues.
Read MoreMinisters from Churches of Christ on Monday joined Texas lawmakers and the family of Botham Jean at the Texas State Capitol in Austin to promote the Botham Jean Act — a bill proposed to ensure systemic accountability for Texans in their own home in response to Botham Jean’s murder in 2018.
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