The percentage of U.S. adults not affiliated with a religion has flatlined at 26% since 2022 after decades of growth, the American Bible Society said in its latest release from the 2024 State of the Bible.
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(EXPLAINER) Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation last year that agents — acting on behalf of the Indian government — were connected to the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader near Vancouver sent relations between the nations spiraling. A year later, the rift has grown worse.
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(ANALYSIS) In the company of endless superhero comics and Japanese pirate manga lives a delightfully sizable population of religious graphic novels. This is fitting, as perhaps the oldest comics are religious. Regardless of intention, what do ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics read like if not a comic strip? Here’s a look at three stories that touch upon faith.
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It is said that all dogs go to heaven. At least, these two certainly will. In fact, Eric and Florence are no ordinary assistant attendants undertaking duties at England’s Tewkesbury Abbey located northwest of London. These special helpers are two Labrador dogs belonging to the head attendant, Chris Skepper, who come to work on a regular basis within the abbey.
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(ANALYSIS) At the current synod, whose purpose is to address “communion, participation, and mission” in the church, women’s role is on the agenda. But Catholic women have historically found ways to speak to and about their church leadership, even when they have been excluded from its proceedings.
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(ANALYSIS) One year ago, on the last day of the celebratory Feast of Sukkot, the unthinkable happened, and a living hell was unleashed on Israel. That was Oct. 7, a day that will live in infamy in the decades to come, a day that has still not ended for the hostages and the families of the victims.
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American Jews think Vice President Kamala Harris would handle the Israel-Hamas war better than former President Donald Trump by a wide margin — 54% to 36% — according to a new poll, but most also see Trump as more supportive of Israelis. The poll found that 65% of U.S. Jews think Trump only or mostly supports Israelis over Palestinians, while 42% believe Harris offers “equal support to both.”
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(ANALYSIS) I’ve written before about the political activity of a bunch of different religious groups. But I wanted to revisit that prior work and take the level of analysis down one layer of granularity to look at specific Protestant denominations.
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An Army veteran and father of three was found guilty of praying silently in a large abortion buffer zone in England and fined the equivalent of $11,700, Alliance Defending Freedom UK (ADF UK) reported. Adam Smith-Conner could face jail time under the conditional discharge the court granted, his attorneys said, if he commits the same crime within the next two years.
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Battered by months of criticisms for controversial staff guidance on how to handle LGBTQ+ students, a major evangelical campus ministry is distancing itself from a controversial curriculum. Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) will be removing its “Compassionate and Faithful” curriculum by the end of the year, according to reporting by WORLD.
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Former President Trump headlined the New York Archdiocese’s annual Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday night, trading a few jabs with Vice President Kamala Harris while also using the event as an opportunity to connect with Catholic voters. Harris did not attend the event in person and instead appeared in a pre-recorded video.
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(ANALYSIS) If you’ve spent time on Facebook, you may have noticed photorealistic images that are too good to be true: children holding paintings that look like the work of professional artists, or majestic log cabin interiors that are the stuff of Airbnb dreams. Others, such as renderings of Jesus made out of crustaceans, are just bizarre.
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A new study found 66% of U.S. Protestant pastors say the economy is very or somewhat negatively impacting their church. The two in three pastors who report a negative economic impact is the highest since 2011, and the 14% who say the impact has been very negative is the highest ever recorded in the 15-year history of the study.
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(ANALYSIS) It was the rare Trump quote that caused groans as it rocketed through conservative media. But this soundbite came from an upcoming memoir from former first lady Melania Trump: “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman's fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy.”
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Hurricane Katrina’s destruction in 2005 to New Orleans and surrounding areas prompted a yearslong response by Southern Baptist churches and Disaster Relief personnel, with volunteer recruitment for the latter spiking up to 80,000. Coy Webb, director for Send Relief Crisis Response, wouldn’t be surprised to see something similar for the damage from hurricanes Helene and Milton.
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Across the U.S., churches are closing or merging by force — no longer able to maintain membership numbers or funds to support their buildings and staff. But for Northside and Sunrise Churches of Christ, union was borne out of a love for each other and a desire to combine their strengths — and put aside their differences — to point more people to Jesus.
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Without any physical distinction from their neighbors and without any open religious congregations of their own, many Jews in Zimbabwe couldn’t resist the lure of joining mainstream society in which they lived. This assimilation trend by younger members of the Lemba community prompted soul searching by some, resulting in a decision to retrace the way back to their original Jewish faith.
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Now an issue involving a Pittsburgh church — Beverly Heights Presbyterian Church — is raising more questions about whether the Evangelical Presbyterian Church is going to follow its original vision. Beverly Heights is trying to leave the EPC following the stated process but has clashed repeatedly with the presbytery, culminating in a civil suit.
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(ANALYSIS) At University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, we decided to bring together our collective research on evangelicalism to develop a broader template to understand the dynamics of American evangelicalism.
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The nonpartisan groups reported the numbers of refugees and asylum seekers the U.S. has accepted in recent decades, including Christians and others fleeing religious persecution, and explored how U.S. presidential platform policies will impact the ability of those persecuted for their faith to find refuge here after the November elections.
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