Even before last week’s shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, Branden Mims was focused on reducing violence in this city that amassed a record 182 homicides in 2023. Mims, the 35-year-old minister for the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ, leads a nonprofit called Greater Impact that served more than 400 shooting victims last year.
Read MoreIn an effort to care more for nature over the next six weeks, Christians around the world can improve lives through eco-friendly, sustainable lifestyles emphasizing the transformative nature of Lent. A group based in the U.K. hopes Christians across Britain and around the wold will heed that call this year.
Read MoreThe Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of a transgender leader held last week at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, calling the entire thing “sacrilegious” and that church official had been duped into performing the service. As a result, the cathedral conducted a rare “Mass of Reparation.”
Read MoreIranian Christians continued to face harassment, arrests and imprisonment last year for practicing their faith, according to a new report. The 35-page report, issued by four non-profit organizations advocating for persecuted Christians across the world, found that Christians have been deprived of their right to freely practice their faith.
Read MoreFounded more than half a century ago as student-run dining cooperative, Oberlin College’s kosher co-op morphed into a kosher-halal co-op in 1995, a place where Jewish and Muslim students cooked and ate together. It shuttered in 2021 before coming back — and just when the situation in the Middle East was worsening.
Read MoreAward-winning Cree actress and activist Michelle Thrush spoke to students at Salish School of Spokane — giving them an insight into her life, how she got into acting, her culture and how she wants to tell stories from a place of honesty.
Read MoreHattie Jo Collins was one of five children and 14 adults killed March 3, 2020, when an EF4 twister battered this community 80 miles east of Nashville. Despite Hattie’s death, Matt and Macy’s faith remained strong. They believe God has a purpose for them. As a result, the Magnolia Foundation was born.
Read MoreIt was quite a week for Javier Milei. Not only did he visit Israel in a show of support; the recently-elected Argentine president then flew to Vatican City, where he made peace with Pope Francis. While Milei is a Catholic, he hasn’t been shy about criticizing the pontiff in the past while also flirting with the idea of converting to Judaism.
Read MoreFollowing a vote by CUNY’s Board of Trustees, Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez said on Wednesday that the the New York City system will become one of the first in the nation to designate Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Lunar New Year and Diwali as holidays on the school calendar.
Read MoreIn China, people celebrate Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14, but there are at least three holidays and cultural traditions centered on romantic love. A figure that ties together these other holidays is the Old Man Under the Moon — Yuexia Laoren in Mandarin, or Yuelao for short — who is believed to be a divine matchmaker.
Read MoreValentine’s Day often revives attention on romantic themes in literature. Stories are cited in media with the aim of helping people navigate the demands of the human heart on a day that has become intimately associated with romantic love. One literary tradition rarely highlighted is that of Hindu “bhakti” or ecstatic devotion, which birthed some of the most stirring mystical poetry composed in the world.
Read MoreAuthorities said a woman opened fire with an AR-15 on celebrity televangelist Joel Osteen’s Texas megachurch — one of the largest in the country — before two-off duty police officers shot and killed the suspect. The officers’ actions, police said, averted what could have been a bigger tragedy.
Read MoreForget celebrating Valentines Day with cards, red roses and chocolates, the eastern English country of Norfolk has a very different custom dating back centuries. This mysterious, sometimes mischievous, character placed little gifts on doorsteps, knocked and then disappeared before the door was opened. Enter Jack Valentine.
Read MoreThis month, a troupe of these pro-Trump “prophets” are headlining seven election-year live events called FlashPoint LIVE to spread the above gospel and “rescue America,” according to ads for the tour. The personalities and themes of the tour are borrowed from “FlashPoint,” a Christian current-events program that appears on the VICTORY television channel, owned by controversial Texas televangelist Kenneth Copeland.
Read MoreA modern farming campaign launched six years ago by the Anglican Church of Uganda to transform lives affected by the the Lord’s Resistance Army in northern Uganda has started paying off. As a result, farmers have received quality seeds and hybrid animals such as pigs and cattle to rear.
Read MoreAmong China’s traditional holidays and celebrations, none ranks higher in importance than the Lunar New Year (農曆新年). Also known as the Spring Festival (春節), or simply Chinese New Year, it marks the beginning of the year according to the traditional lunar calendar.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Armenian quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City is facing its biggest crisis in a long time. A Jewish businessman with connections to the radical settler movement is poised to develop a quarter of the neighborhood’s territory, with plans to build a luxury hotel. If this goes ahead, it will significantly change part of the Old City.
Read MoreIt was a New York Times headline that created tremors online: “As Kids, They Thought They Were Trans. They No Longer Do.” But here’s the question that was at the heart of this week’s “Crossroads” podcast: Why was this Pamela Paul essay in the opinion section, as opposed to being a hard-news report out front?
Read MoreInspired by a variety of religious and mystical traditions, the artist Marina Abramović has spent the last 50 years pushing her body and mind to their limits in performances that have captivated audiences around the world. This spring, one of the largest retrospectives of the artist’s work opens at The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.
Read MoreSuper Bowl ads are not all secular. Religious organizations have often used the annual big game as a platform to spread their message. On other occasions, religious themes have been used in a funny way to sell products. Here’s a closer look at five that stood out.
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