(OPINION) Polling can tell us a lot about voting trends, but many pollsters are failing to ask about key religious attitudes and perceptions. That leaves Democrats in the dark about a group that will be critical in this year’s election.
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(REVIEW) Reel Redemption is a new documentary that breaks down the history of the complicated and sometimes contentious relationship between Hollywood and Christianity, ending with the current rise of faith-based films. The director Tyler Smith told Religion Unplugged that while people have often rightfully criticized Christian films, some of the best moments and films in the faith-based genre are overlooked by secular critics who don’t agree with the values expressed.
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Suman Amara Ahmad has always known that her future was not hers to chart. The journey of a waqf-e-nau begins in the womb, when a mother pledges her unborn child to God. At age 15, Amara continued the pledge. “I could be sent anywhere in the world,” she says. “It’s all up to the Khalifa.”
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(OPINION) One researcher suggests that pastors would do well to engage congregants who attend services occasionally but step up their participation during this crisis.
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Pentecostals belong to an evangelical sub-group that believes that the supernatural “gifts of the Holy Spirit” are operative today. Of those who are active in politics, the best-known is televangelist Paula White, who says she led President Donald Trump to the Lord before his 2016 presidential run and is now an advisor to the White House. One prominent group, Pentecostals and Charismatics for Peace and Justice (PCPJ), is fueling a movement of charismatic scholars, religious professionals and activists who are passionate about social justice and defeating Trump in the 2020 election.
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(OPINION) American Catholicism lost one of its giants following the death of 89-year-old Joseph O’Hare, a Jesuit priest who served as president of Fordham University for nearly two decades as well as the editor of America magazine.
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A recent poll found that two-thirds of evangelical pastors say their tithe incomes have fallen in the past two weeks, since the spread of coronavirus hit the U.S. Churches are responding with salary cuts, temporary layoffs and reorganizing budgets while filling food pantries for those stuck at home without work.
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(OPINION) During this pandemic, people will have to learn to do without rights that once seemed inherently given. Those include the right to assemble as millions of Americans are asked to shelter in place. What does that mean for freedom of religion?
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With restrictions on pubic gatherings due to COVID-19, Jewish life has had to adapt. While several religious gatherings have transferred to online formats, some rituals cannot go remote.
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(OPINION) As our lives are forced to slow down and spend more time with our children working from home and conducting school online this spring, it’s an opportunity to embrace our own children, strengthen our own families and deepen our faith. And perhaps Fred Rogers is a perfect guide in that process for adults and children.
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(REVIEW) The first season of eight in the biggest crowdfunded media project of all time sticks to Biblical accounts of the life and character of Jesus while imagining how he may have spent his leisure time, prayed about his struggles and changed lives. The show’s makers have just allowed free streaming until Mar. 30 to help people quarantined by the novel coronavirus outbreak.
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A bat mitzvah livestreamed, a growing virtual kaddish minyan to recite prayers and remember loved ones, a shivah service to mourn a death — digital tools are redefining what it means to be Jewish during a pandemic.
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In the news these days — including religion headlines — it’s all coronavirus all the time. Our Weekend Plug-In columnist explores some of the COVID-19-related big ideas and questions emerging in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The roles that religion and religious leaders play during crises have consequences for how people regard religion long after the crisis ends. We should consider the past to understand the implications the coronavirus pandemic will have.
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(OPINION) The Bible and the CDC both impose isolation on us, requiring us to use a higher power to overcome our human instincts to comfort each other with touch.
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Catholics have called for the intercession of a great number of saints (such as Saint Pope Gregory the Great) throughout history to help defeat widespread illness, plagues and epidemics. There are scores of saints that can be called upon in a time of crisis. While the world continues to battle the coronavirus pandemic, Catholics are looking for the intercession of these five saints to battle COVID-19.
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(OPINION) For many clergy, taking their services online is a new phenomenon, but the liturgy at the heart of these services has been passed down through many times like this one.
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The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ push toward Deaf inclusion recently culminated in the publication of the first complete ASL (or American Sign Language) Bible, passing their 1,000th language mark for Bible translations. It was a long road to get there, the Deaf community in the church says.
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Social distancing is important, but social avoidance is not okay, says Ron Lewis, pastor of the multicultural church Every Nation NYC as they moved services online. The church was formed during another crisis— 9/11— and sees its mission, to help people grow their faith, uninterrupted during the current pandemic.
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Passover seders are often cherished family memories. But this will be remembered as the year when a public health crisis prevented generations of family from gathering together, when those who did not travel watched on a computer screen as the story of the exodus from Egypt was retold.
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