The Catholic Church’s office for liturgical practices released guidelines Jan. 12 for clergy performing Ash Wednesday ceremonies next month during the coronavirus pandemic.
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(OPINION) To combat a plague of Christian nationalism, seen on display in the recent Capitol violence, Christian leaders should teach the right Christian theology: that Christians should never seek to have the government privilege one religious group over another, God gives good ideas to all people, not only Christians, and our advocacy in the public square should not pretend everyone believes the Bible.
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Antioch Orthodox priest Rev. Paul Abernathy is on a mission to provide resources to skeptics in his Pittsburgh, Pa. parish and community—skeptics of the COVID-19 vaccine. For months, Abernathy has visited majority Black communities door to door, discussing their views on the COVID-19 vaccine, answering questions and even ushering in a Moderna vaccine trial. Religion Unplugged spoke with him about his work, the role of faith-based organizations in the pandemic and how a spiritual life fuels a medical mission.
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A day of reckoning has come for modern-day “prophets” in the Pentecostal/charismatic movement who falsely foretold a victory for President Trump in 2020. Privately and on social media, these prophets and their thousands of followers are slugging it out in an orgy of self-blame, recriminations and fantastical hopes that somehow before Jan. 20, God will bring about a victory for Trump. Others who’ve apologized for getting it wrong have gotten accusations, curses and even death threats.
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On the first Sunday since a pro-Trump insurrectionist mob sieged the U.S. Capitol, pastors offered comfort and some rebuke to their congregations concerned for the future of American democracy. “The American nation will be healed when the American church repents. We must repent for making the person who occupies the White House more important than the one who occupies our hearts,” said Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference who became known for his support of Trump.
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(OPINION) The violence at the Capitol on Wednesday was a horrific assault on our essential democratic institutions, but it calls attention to the importance of sustaining the institutions of government, even when those institutions themselves are flawed.
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Catholic clergy showed concern for the future of the United States and displayed a rare public patriotism after an insurrectionist mob broke into the Capitol building and resulted in the deaths of at least five people.
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(OPINION) Conservative-leaning Christians, who are being blamed nationally and globally for making a Trump presidency possible, should be in the vanguard of this honorable undertaking to restore American democracy.
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Many Christian leaders rushed to condemn the violent mob that disrupted the Congressional proceedings to certify the presidential election results. Some in the mob carried a Christian flag.
Read More(ANALYSIS) As thousands of Trump’s most ardent supporters stormed the Capitol building Jan. 6, one must wonder how he managed to generate so much devotion from his followers. The answer can be found in the data.
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On Wednesday, thousands of pro-Trump protesters gathered outside the Capitol building claiming election fraud. Some installed a giant wooden cross on the lawn. Others carried flags and banners with Christian symbols and messages, like “Jesus Saves.” Dozens of the demonstrators pushed past police to enter the Capitol, loot art, pose for photos and wreak havoc inside the building.
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As the mob swarmed the Capitol steps, climbed the inaugural scaffolding and even scaled the building like it was a gym climbing wall, the now commonplace red, white and blue “Trump 2020” and “Make America Great Again” flags flew alongside flags and banners with a range of Christian symbols, including a white flag with a pine tree inspired by the Old Testament and used in the Revolutionary War.
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(ANALYSIS) Mike Pence has remained one of the only constants in the often chaotic Trump administration. But that humility and loyalty are being tested as his tenure as vice president draws to an end.
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Rev. Raphael Warnock, pastor of the historic church of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, has won Georgia’s U.S. Senate Race to make history as the first pastor and Black Senator from Georgia since Reconstruction. Investigative journalist Jon Ossoff is also expecting historic win for the Democrats in an election that counted on high Black voter turnout.
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(REVIEW) “Soul” follows the journey of a musician who dies, fights to get his life back and learns what the purpose of living is along the way. It offers a challenge to anyone who’s felt burned out or as if they’ve lost their purpose.
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(OPINION) The high court’s ruling on whether Gordon College, an evangelical school, can require its professors to adhere to its doctrinal statement on LGBTQ relationships could have nationwide impacts. The arguments hinge on whether professors at religious institutions qualify for “ministerial exemption” from workplace anti-discrimination laws because of their role in faith formation of the students.
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When a bomb exploded in downtown Nashville on Christmas Day, millions in the area loss their internet phone service. Without connectivity, one couple experienced communion in an unlikely place — a McDonald's parking lot.
(OPINION) After I became a Christian in 1973, in my early 20s, I lost interest in politics for a while, because there were new spiritual dimensions of reality to investigate and map. But around 1978 something awakened my interest again. That was the campaign in Santa Ana, Calif., to run the Rescue Mission out of town. I realized that a lot of land use law in our country is based on a not very Christian concept of who is “undesirable neighbors.”
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Many take the start of a new year as the chance to renew themselves physically and spiritually. Explore the use of meditation in major world religions and see some of the best tools for reflection and prayer in 2021.
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A professor who departs from Gordon College’s religious views on LGBTQ is suing to protect her promotion, while a federal judge turned down Michigan Catholic parents’ plea for an exemption to a mask mandate. Read five of the latest religious freedom struggles.
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