(OPINION) Like secular news outlets, Catholic media also face financial hardships created by the pandemic. This is a trend that has, of course, affected all news media and across many other industries, such as hospitality and tourism to name just two.
Read MoreThe newly ordained must take everything they learned and adapt it to serve their communities during a pandemic. New chaplains in particular are jumping into virtual pastoral care and may have to wait on certifications that lockdowns have delayed.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Both Mormons and white evangelicals lean heavily right-wing in American politics. But while Mormons look like white evangelicals in terms of partisanship and ideology, they don’t vote in lockstep. And one of those reasons may be policy, specifically on gun control, abortion and immigration.
Read MoreLike everything else that involves large gatherings, the global pandemic has forced many schools to either hold their ceremonies online or postpone them to a future date. For the colleges and universities that did decide to hold ceremonies this month, the topic of God wasn’t far from the minds of commencement speakers like actor Tom Hanks.
Read MoreThe FX program airing Friday says Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S., made a “deathbed confession” that she was not pro-life and that pro-life organizations paid her nearly $500,000 during the decades she spoke out for the pro-life cause. However, the film doesn’t make it clear that many of these payments were fees for speaking engagements, and those who knew her insist her conversion to Christianity and repentance of pro-choice activism was genuine.
Read MoreAs the pandemic alters summer plans and disrupts long-held traditions, the Jewish community in Georgia adapts camps and activities to the new reality.
Read MoreThe “love feast” was regularly practiced by early American Methodists who were scattered across the frontier and had to wait for a quarterly visit from traveling ministers to have communion. In the absence of their minister, communities would gather to share stories of how God was working in their lives. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Methodists who had never or rarely held love feasts before are now hosting them online.
Read More(OPINION) The chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed governments across the world the liberty to heighten existing religious persecution. Many religious minorities are discriminated against in healthcare provision and some are even being blamed for the spread of the virus.
Read More(OPINION) From Hitchcock to the Coen brothers, good directors know how to use this sacrament for critical effect in expert storytelling.
Read MoreThe geneticist and physician is a leading voice in the conversation about faith and science, and has been a steady voice urging religious communities to have faith in science. His agency is hard at work in the global race to find treatments for COVID-19.
Read More(OPINION) Second only to India’s much larger but minority Muslim population, India’s Christians receive more than their share of abuse and are frequently accused of producing “forced conversions,” or proselytizing.
Read More(OPINION) On the docket are cases involving tax aid for students at religious schools, contraception, abortion access, LGBTQ rights and more.
Read MoreThe famed Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias died after a short battle with an aggressive cancer.
Read More(OPINION) Go with heavy material. Certain translations of holy books offer valuable insights into our world and this era. Thomas Paine’s skewering of biblical religion is a worthy read, along with classics like “Lord of the Flies.”
Read More(OPINION) Responding to a review of his book Reforming Journalism, Olasky writes that a Christian alternative to mainstream journalism is needed and should follow principles of biblical objectivity rather than try to stay neutral on issues the Bible clearly addresses, like abortion or same-sex relationships.
Read More(OPINION) Believers draw strength from their faith and support from their communities. The coronavirus is straining the remarkable resilience of medical workers, even those who have the added safety nets that religion provides.
Read MoreMonday marks the centennial birth of Karol Wojtyla, who became Pope John Paul II and was canonized a saint following his death. John Paul II was one of the longest-serving pontiffs in church history, the first non-Italian elected pope in 455 years and spent much of the 1980s ending communism in Eastern Europe.
Read MoreMegachurch pastor Brian Gibson of His Churches announced this week that his church would reopen services at three of his four locations across Texas and Kentucky on May 17 and asked other religious leaders to join him in standing up for what he sees as a religious freedom concern during COVID-19 restrictions.
Read MoreAs COVID-19 locks people in their homes and has put others out of work, more people than ever are relying on charities, many faith-based, to fill basic needs. Tree of Life, based in Virginia, has seen a rise in demand from undocumented persons.
Read MoreIn the Weekend Plug-in column, Bobby Ross Jr. reports on positive news concerning Associated Press religion writer Rachel Zoll, who is battling brain cancer.
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