Posts in North America
VidAngel CEO talks filtering content for faith-based streaming and creating ‘The Chosen’

Neal Harmon is the CEO of a streaming service called VidAngel that initially started as a "content filtering" service, for families to stream TV and movies without sex, language or violence. Now it has begun to produce original content — such as "The Chosen," a drama series about the life of Jesus. Harmon talks to contributor Joseph Holmes about the service, some of their current projects and what's next.

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Are Democrats Influenced by Religion as Much as Republicans?

Is religion a force in American life that pushes people to be more politically conservative or liberal? Do certain types of political partisans place a great emphasis on their spiritual life? Or do other competing identities seem to shape people more? The Democracy Fund made public a huge dataset of over 300,000 respondents and they asked them how important a number of identities were to them. When those are broken down by party affiliation, the results are fascinating.

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Trump's daughter-in-law joins pastors in 'call to prayer' for president's recovery

On Sunday, President Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump and his closest faith advisors hosted a prayer service on Facebook Live, praying for Trump, the First Lady and several White House, campaign officials and Senators who’ve recently tested positive with COVID-19. One pastor who attended last weekend’s Supreme Court nomination event that spread the virus says he was one of the few wearing a mask.

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Muslim college grads split over Jews. What makes the difference?

(OPINION) A recent four-year national study by Ohio State University, North Carolina State University and Interfaith Youth Core traced how Muslim college students saw Jews from the beginning to end of their college experiences. The results are both encouraging and unsettling.

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How South Dakota Got Its First Rabbi In Nearly 30 Years

South Dakota used to be the only state in the U.S. without a Chabad center, despite its history of Jews in the region since the 1800s when German and Russian Jews settled in the Black Hills following a gold rush. Then a visiting rabbi from Brooklyn decided to change that.

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Senate Should Question Amy Coney Barrett About Her Ties To People Of Praise

(OPINION) SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett has faced questions and criticism about her Catholic faith since 2017. But she has rarely been asked about her ties to People of Praise, a unique Catholic group. Questions like these are necessary to make an accurate choice in appointing Barrett to the Supreme Court.

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‘Zoombombing’ Lesson: Racist Attack On Black Church Highlights Security Concerns

This past Sunday, online trolls interrupted a North Carolina Black congregation’s online service with racial slurs and hate speech. They’re far from the first church to experience an internet hijiacking. Security experts say sharing Zoom meeting IDs publicly in hopes of attracting newcomers to church can allow such breaches.

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'Catholic questions' ahead of the Biden-Trump presidential debate

(OPINION) The election season goes into hyperdrive with the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden that will take place Tuesday in Cleveland.

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How student sports ministries are adapting this fall

During Yom Kippur, on Sept. 27 this year, Rabbi Ellie Bachman and students part of his campus ministry prepared meals with holy food for students in self-quarantine who couldn’t leave their rooms. He’s one of many campus ministry leaders forced to adapt and think of ways to safely encourage students off of Zoom as student athletes wait to see how and when they can resume their games.

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What you need to know about SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett's faith

Here’s everything you need to know about Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett’s faith, her past statements regarding abortion and whether religion should impact judicial philosophy.

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'Infidel' Isn’t Good, But It Serves a Market that Feels Unserved

(REVIEW) “Infidel,” the new faith-based political thriller, has attracted several Christians and political conservatives — giving it a reasonably good box office opening. But the movie is lacking in quality, and may disappoint the audience it seeks to please.

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Marilynne Robinson’s New Novel 'Jack': An American Romeo and Juliet

(REVIEW) Marilynne Robinson won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005 for her novel Gilead. Jack is the fourth book in her Gilead series that goes back in time to show Jack’s point of view in an interracial friendship and forbidden romance that reflect God’s love.

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It's Not Too Early To Start Gathering String On Catholic Cardinals On The Rise

(OPINION) Will age play a role in determining the next Pope? Some will say the rule of thumb has moved to older popes, as with the U.S. presidency.

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Trump wants to allow churches to endorse political candidates: Why that’s a legal conundrum

(ANALYSIS) The repeal of the Johnson Amendment has become a cause celebre among the Christian right and President Trump campaigned on a promise to overturn it, but it’s more complicated than a simple executive order. And left-leaning religious groups are more likely to be politically involved than their right-leaning counterparts.

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