(REVIEW) “Brave the Dark” is easily the best movie the faith-based film industry has released about the struggles of young men. It’s by far the best Angel Studios movie to date. There’s a major gender shift happening in American Christianity. Church pews have largely been filled by women, even as the pulpits were dominated by men. Women are abandoning church and men are starting to flock to it.
Read MoreIn one Kenyan church, most of the congregants were deaf, as were the choristers and choirmaster. The singing was muted — only lips moved, while bodies swayed with swan-like grace — while hands waved to the delightful rhythm of the drum beats. Even the minister, the Rev. George Obonyo, is deaf.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Israel and Hamas’ new ceasefire deal promises to bring much-needed relief to the region after 15 months of brutal conflict. But a series of uncertainties continues to loom large. Many pivotal questions remain unanswered, and their resolution will determine whether this ceasefire is a genuine step towards lasting peace or merely a temporary reprieve.
Read More(REVIEW) Born to Jewish parents who converted to Catholicism, Tamara Rosa Hurwitz married prominent lawyer Tadeusz Łempicki and adopted the feminine version of his last name, Łempicka. They lived in St. Petersburg, Russia, until the Russian Revolution of 1917 forced them to flee the country. The couple moved to Paris, where Łempicka studied under Maurice Denis and André Lhote, both important figures of cubism and fauvism.
Read MoreBy mid-January, the Palisades, Eaton, Kenneth and Hurst fires in the Los Angeles area destroyed thousands of homes and other buildings — including many churches — in an area of greater than 62 square miles, killing at least 24. But Christians outpoured support and supplies.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The Catholic Church was one of the social and ideological pillars of Francoism from the moment of the coup, as evidenced by the ‘Collective letter of all Spanish bishops’, made public July 1, 1937 to support a movement that “has strengthened the sense of homeland” and “has guaranteed order in the territory.” The same regime that was born out of a “crusade” with the purpose of shielding the power and traditional privileges of the church, ended up creating a prison to imprison priests critical of power.
Read MoreThe Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in a case involving a Texas law requiring adult websites to verify the age of their users. Known as Texas House Bill (H.B.) 1181, the legislation requires websites to verify their users are at least 18 years old if at least one-third of their hosted content is considered “harmful to minors,” such as pornography.
Read MoreIsrael and Hamas agreed on Wednesday to a ceasefire deal — pausing a brutal 15-month war in the hard-hit Gaza Strip with an eye towards ending one of the deadliest Middle Eastern conflicts in modern history. The provisional deal came weeks after negotiations in the Qatari capital Doha involving mediators from Qatar and Egypt, working with Israeli and U.S. officials.
Read MoreAfrica, with more Christians than any other continent, has in Nigeria the deadliest nation for believers at the hands of Islamic terrorists and suffers persistently high violence in a dozen countries in its sub-Saharan region. Add to that the civil war in Sudan that has created the largest displacement crisis in the world, as well as lingering civil wars elsewhere, and it’s no wonder that an additional 15 million Christians are suffering high levels of persecution.
Read MorePete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense, avowed that he is a Christian who “robustly supports” Israel and its war against Hamas in Gaza. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, provided favorable coverage of Israel on the network and said that his time in the U.S. Army turned him into a supporter of the Jewish state.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Any presidential election causes a real problem for me. I do get asked to talk to reporters and do webinars and write pieces for major outlets about the role that faith played at the ballot box. There’s one issue: I just don’t have access to any reliable data for a very long time after an election.
Read MoreThe rise in land disputes involving religious institutions in Uganda has triggered a trend of demolishing of churches and mosques throughout the country, raising religious freedom concerns over safety regarding places of worship. The issue has become a major problem across the country, a trend that has intensified over the last four years.
Read MoreThe book, six years in the making, vividly recreates Pope Francis’ childhood in Buenos Aires and offers few new insights into his papacy. The book is enhanced by remarkable photographs, including private and unpublished material made personally available by Francis himself. He tackles a series of topics, including the future of the church, social policy, migration and the environmental crisis.
Read MoreDepending on the source, Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement that Meta platforms will jettison fact-checking protocols in favor of community notes is either a threat to democracy or a return to the spirit of free speech from when he co-founded Facebook in 2004.
Read More(ANALYSIS) President Jimmy Carter, who died at age 100, was eulogized last Thursday at his state funeral in Washington, D.C. in a Scripture-filled service recalling a lifetime of good deeds and spirituality. Overlooked in all the tributes to the 39th U.S. president and born again evangelical Baptist was Carter’s role in 1979 from preventing the demolition of the mausoleum of Chassidic Rebbe Nachman of Breslov in Uman.
Read MoreLaws in 20 states aimed at shielding minors from online pornography are under fire as the U.S. Supreme Court hears a legal challenge this week. At issue is Texas House Bill 1181, one of a string of 20 such laws passed since Louisiana began the charge in 2022 to require websites containing at least 33 percent pornographic materials to verify that a user is at least 18.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Could it possibly have been coincidence? The very day Congress certified Donald Trump’s election as the next U.S. president, the Vatican announced the transfer of San Diego’s Cardinal Robert McElroy to become the politically significant archbishop of Washington, D.C. There’s no doubt Pope Francis wants McElroy to keep an eye on Trump.
Read MoreKhairunissa, along with her siblings and parents, spent years living in a multi-religious and multicultural apartment in Gujarat state’s Ahmedabad city. When communal tensions and targeted violence against Muslims erupted in the Indian city on Feb. 28, 2002, her family initially felt secure, confident that their neighbors would be able to protect them.
Read MoreCzechia, known until recently as the Czech Republic following its split from Slovakia, is a stark contrast to many countries where religion shapes societal norms and family structures. Czechia used to be predominantly Catholic, but has undergone a dramatic secularization, leaving many with the question of what institution or institutions the Eastern European nation is built upon.
Read More(REVIEW) Compelling and comprehensive, this book may nonetheless be an uphill climb for lay readers with little more than a basic Sunday school education. Helpful maps, a glossary and a timeline offer context and reorienting for those who may get lost in the thickets of such esoterica as apocalyptic hypostasis. None of this should dissuade the curious who want a deeper understanding of Christianity’s complex, layered early history.
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