Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker has pleaded for viewers to send him $1 million, saying his ministry will be shut down if he doesn’t get the funds. Bakker, who was at the heart of a notorious religious financial scandal in the 1980s, said he needs cash now to keep running Praise the Lord (PTL) Network, and his program, “The Jim Bakker Show.”
Read MoreOn a recent 78-degree Saturday afternoon, a U.S. flag and the Detroit Tigers’ four World Series championship banners — from 1935, 1945, 1968 and 1984 — flapped in the Comerica Park breeze. For nearly four decades, Home Plate Detroit has brought fans together to pray and hear player testimonials. In the Motor City and elsewhere, these events mix a faith-based message with a major league game.
Read MoreJerry Falwell Jr., the former president of Liberty University, may have resigned in disgrace in 2020 following a sex scandal, but he now has a $15.3 million payment from the school to show for it. In an IRS filing provided by the Lynchburg, Virginia, school to The Roys Report, Liberty said it paid Falwell, son of the school’s late founder, the money in 2024 to settle lawsuits the former leader filed against it.
Read MoreNearly one in three U.S. adults say they consult astrology, tarot cards or fortune tellers at least once a year — though most do so for entertainment rather than a form of religious guidance, according to a new survey. The Pew Research Center study found that 30% engage with at least one form of metaphysical or mystical insight annually. However, Pew researchers noted that few Americans report making major life decisions based on what they learn from these practices.
Read MorePublishing or distributing sexually explicit material of a person without their consent is now a federal crime, and social media platforms and other websites must remove such images within 48 hours of notification.
Read MoreFormer doctoral students suing Grand Canyon Education (GCE) over its representations about the requirements of doctoral programs prevailed against a motion to dismiss and can continue their lawsuit.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Despite the disruptions of global economics and trade, and a couple dozen other hot disputes, let's not neglect such perennial realities as the way religion can affect politics and vice versa. As President Donald Trump promised, this is a central aspect of his agenda, underscored by the recent establishment of the new Religious Liberty Commission.
Read MoreA week doesn’t go by without President Donald Trump talking about “needing” to acquire Greenland. As reporters rush to cover this mysterious territory, much has been said the island’s politics and melting ice — but nothing about the island’s eclectic religious mix of Lutherans, Pentecostals, Baptists, Baha’is and Catholics.
Read More"The Damned" is a film that focuses on the human element of war, particularly faith and individual stories, during the Civil War. Unlike many modern war films, it connects viewers with characters through their personal beliefs and struggles. Director Roberto Minervini used nonprofessional actors and improvisation to create an authentic experience.
Read MoreTop evangelical leaders are among the 15 signatories of a letter urging President Trump against deporting Afghan Christians, who face potential arrest, torture and death in their homeland under Taliban rule.
Read MorePastor Landon Schott and his Mercy Culture Church gave Michael Brown a hero’s welcome, with confetti and applause, as he returned to ministry this week following sex abuse allegations.
Read MoreMore Americans describe the Bible as true, life-changing and helpful today, compared to a 2016 Lifeway Research study. Additionally, more than two in five Americans say the Bible is a book to read over and over again, up four points from the previous study. Yet 9% say they’ve read it all more than once, unchanged since 2016. Half of Americans have engaged with the Bible beyond just a few stories.
Read MoreAs a Christian ecologist and professor at Gordon College, Dorothy Boorse has endeavored to connect science to faith communities for over 30 years. Throughout her writing, she links the core Christian values of justice, compassion, and caring for the least of these to pressing climate issues. She recently spoke with Religion Unplugged about her career shift from pre-med to wetland ecologist, loving your neighbor, and polarization on environmental issues during the Trump administration.
Read MoreThe Conversation U.S. asked Maureen Day, a researcher at the University of Southern California who has written several books about the contemporary church, to explain what Catholicism looks like in the U.S. at this high-stakes moment.
Read MoreWhether or not this gender swap happens in the film, this should not be a surprise. Hollywood is moving toward a full-scale change in how it treats faith. Instead of elevating secularism over faith, Hollywood is adopting it as good when driven by women, but bad whenspearheaded by men. This change is putting it on a collision course with a growing alternative media, setting the stage for a new gender-coded culture war.
Read More(ANALYSIS) One of the most important questions that one has to ask in doing data work is pretty simple: “Compared to what?” Sure, religiosity in the U.S. has dropped over the last half-century, but how does our religious behavior compare to Europe?
Read MoreMany of the nearly 31 percent of Americans whose mothers have died, as the U.S. Census Bureau counted, experienced the loss when they were not ready to process the pain. For them and others, such milestones as Mother’s Day come with complicated floods of emotions. That’s a reality GriefShare, a ministry popular among Southern Baptist churches, seeks to address in “Remembering Mom.”
Read MoreThe big issue here is what that cross necklace means when it is worn by blonde women who are members of the Donald Trump team. Is this a matter of religious faith or political identity?
Read MorePeace be with you! Dearest brothers and sisters, this was the first greeting of the risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave His life for the flock of God. I, too, would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families and all people, wherever they are; and all the peoples, and all the earth: Peace be with you.
Read MoreIt was the white plume of smoke that ushered in a new pope — and the reaction that the head of the Catholic Church is an American sparked reaction across the nation. Everyone had something to say about Cardinal Robert Prevost, now known as Pope Leo XIV. The pope, who hails from Chicago’s South Side, had made history as the first U.S.-born pontiff in the church’s 2,000-year history.
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