(ANALYSIS) Despite Berlin’s reputation as Europe’s most secular city, during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Berliners have sought solace in religious communities and their rituals as a means of connection and control in a time of isolation and confusion.
Read MoreNick Hall founded the Christian ministry organization Pulse to bring Jesus to the next generation in innovative ways, like digital campaigns and local revival events. After training and mentoring young evangelists online during the pandemic, partly on how to spread the gospel on social media, more than a million people have responded — more than the ministry’s previous 15 years combined.
Read MoreNumerous congregations across the U.S. also have opened their buildings — allowing state and county health officials to take over their facilities for varying amounts of time to help inoculate residents. Along with churches, many Christian universities have opened the same services for the community.
Read MoreA new Holocaust Museum in Porto, Portugal tells the story of the more than 100,000 Jewish refugees who passed through Porto and Lisbon desperate to book passage from the neutral country to the United States during WWII to escape the Nazis.
Read MoreAs a minority religion of about one percent Zimbabwe’s population, what most citizens know about Islam in the southern African country is largely based on stereotypes shaped by the media. The Muslim community aims to change that.
Read MoreThe Minneapolis Central Church of Christ, led by Russell A. Pointer Sr., is the only predominately Black Church of Christ in the state. The church serves its community, feeding over 200 families a week and more. And, just six miles away from the convenience store where George Floyd was killed, the church has become a center fighting for justice. “The fight has just started,” Pointer Sr. says.
Read MoreThe “God Bless the USA” Bible includes America’s founding documents in its last pages and lyrics to the popular song “God Bless the USA” that became the chorus of Trump rallies. It will ship to customers this September to mark 20 years after 9/11.
Read MoreThe pandemic has exacerbated the discrimination and social isolation Dalits face. And while many Dalits are on the forefront of essential sanitation work, they are also struggling to survive. Even without contracting COVID-19, many Dalits say with irregular wages and employment uncertainty, they’re concerned about feeding their families.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Mister Rogers must be posthumously pleased with the recent decision by Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Congregation to hire “starchitect” Daniel Libeskind to remodel the synagogue complex desecrated by a White supremacist gunman in October 2018. After three years, life may begin to return to normal in Squirrel Hill, Mister Rogers’ all-American neighborhood where love and tolerance used to trump the bile of hate and racism.
Read MoreThe National Day of Prayer on May 6 featured more prayer and less politics, aiming for unity, but political division arose in the commentaries afterward. Even the live stream frayed into two competing events. And after critics pointed out President Joe Biden left God’s name out of his proclamation issued from the White House, in his evening address, Biden mentioned God twice.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Many Catholic bishops believe that President Joe Biden should not be allowed to take Communion because of his stance on abortion. But mixed responses within the Church point to a widening divide.
Read MorePopular social video app TikTok has become a hotspot for Christian leaders in the age of virtual church. Many are repurposing memes created on the app for a Christian specific audience and offering short sermons, prayers and Bible readings. Others are using the unconventional platform to attract an unconventional crowd — like those who have left the church or feel their beliefs aren’t welcome in the traditional church.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The deadly second wave of COVID-19 currently sweeping India is causing a cultural change in the way the country handles the treatment of the dead.
Read MoreFor many decades, Nigeria's Muslim north has been prone to religious intolerance and violence. Kaduna, where over 20,000 people have died in different religious conflicts since the 1980s, is one of the country's most volatile states. It’s also the hub of interfaith mediation groups working to prevent violence, including a pastor and imam who used to lead violence against each other’s groups, and the region’s first women-led mediation council founded by an Irish Catholic sister.
Read MoreEvery year on Holy Saturday, the day before Pascha (Easter), Orthodox Christians believe that the Holy Fire appears inside the Tomb of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. They believe this light, captured by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, is the confirmation of the Resurrection. For them, it’s a miracle, a manifestation of Holy Spirit.
Read MoreA recent shooting of a Catholic bishop highlights the dangers of living in South Sudan and the tenacity of clergy who refuse to leave people behind in the region, even while death threats to Christian leaders there are rising. South Sudan has been trying to implement a new peace agreement in a civil war that’s plagued them since 2011, but their national forces are up against civilian rebel groups with even more gun power. More than 50,000 people have died in war and 4 million forced to relocate since 2013.
Read MoreIsrael observed a day of national mourning on Sunday, May 2 for the 45 Jewish worshippers crushed to death in a stampede just after midnight Friday. It’s the biggest civilian mass causality in Israel’s 73-year history. More than 150 pilgrims suffered injuries. An estimated 100,000 ultra-Orthodox Jews had gathered for the annual Lag b'Omer festival, despite warnings for years that the site was not safe for big crowds.
Read MoreHe’s an evangelist, a DJ, a radio host, a newspaper publisher, a gun violence mediator, an immigration law facilitator and much more. An immigrant from Jamaica, Rev. Terry Lee is a hustling, innovative, inner city preacher, the kind of unsung ministerial hero who works tirelessly and like a renaissance man to advance the common good inside and outside his community. And this weekend, he’s going to the White House.
Read MoreAfter an embarrassing number of wrong prophecies and bungled predictions about the 2020 election, a group of charismatic Christian leaders have released a four-page statement of “prophetic standards” to help correct abuses in the movement.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The FBI wants to work with Hasidic Jews to lower antisemitic hate crimes. But the FBI has a complicated history with Judaism.
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