After backlash from church-state separation groups — who say PPP loan forgiveness from the U.S. government should not be accepted by religious organizations — Joel Osteen’s megachurch is repaying millions of dollars it borrowed to provide full salaries and benefits to its 370 employees during the pandemic.
Read More(OPINION) For a variety of reasons, many African Americans face barriers to mental health care. But as a sociologist who focuses on community-based organizations, Brad Fulton finds that strengthening relationships between churches and mental health providers can be one way to increase access to needed services.
Read MoreEngiven is a cryptocurrency donation management platform formed in 2018. Its roster of churches and charities includes major groups such as The Salvation Army, Compassion International and March of Dimes, and CEO James Lawrence predicts it’ll be serving 1,000 clients by the end of 2021.
Read More(OPINION) It remains true to this day that “money is a root of all kinds of evil” — as Paul said, writing in 1 Timothy 6:10 — which is why greed can corrupt the best of us if we are not careful. And that’s why it shouldn’t surprise us if Big Pharma, along with the abortion industry, has been influenced by greed. Why should they be exempt?
Read MoreLarry Holley of Grand Blanc, who is the pastor of Abundant Life Ministries in Flint, and Patricia Gray of Flint were indicted by a federal grand jury in April 2018 on several counts of fraud and money laundering. Both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and mail fraud and received prison sentences this month.
Read MoreFred Gray, a 90-year-old civil rights lawyer and longtime Church of Christ elder, represented Rosa Parks when he was only 24 years old and serving as an attorney for Martin Luther King Jr. Now, the Alabama city where Parks famously refused to give up her bus seat to a White male passenger in 1955 — Montgomery — is naming a street after him.
Read More(OPINION) An older campaign by feminists — including those working in the world of liturgy — sought to shun male pronouns, particularly when either gender is meant, in favor of plural they-them-their usage with singular antecedents. As you would expect, references to God himself — or is that "themself"? — is now part of this debate.
Read More(OPINION) By the time of Spong’s death at the age of 90, many of his once-heretical beliefs — especially on sex and marriage — had become normalized in most Episcopal pulpits and institutions. However, his post-theistic doctrinal approach was too blunt for many in the mainline establishment.
Read More(REVIEW) Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker has been broadcasting “The Jim Bakker Show” since 2003, nine years after his release from prison. Today, it reflects an empty shell of his former glory, featuring prophetic apocalyptic preaching.
Read MoreLike many millennials, Brenda Marie Davies, a former model, left an evangelical Christian church and found a home for her faith in progressive Christian spaces online. Now she dives into the “grey” answers to life’s questions on her popular podcast and YouTube channel “God is Grey.”
Read More(REVIEW) Entering the main gallery is a religious experience of sorts — the sequences of tableaux that punctuate all four sides of the space serve as stations for reflection. Büttner leaves us with a restorative vision of the future, encouraging us to earnestly consider the meaning of faith, hope and love.
Read MoreAll but one of the top 20 Christian Facebook pages operating in Oct. 2019 were fakes, according to an internal Facebook report entitled “How Communities Are Exploited on Our Platforms” that was publicly released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in September.
Read MoreIn an interview with Religion Unplugged, bestselling Christian author Philip Yancey discusses his new memoir, “Where the Light Fell,” about a painful upbringing in poverty and fundamentalism with his brother and single mother that birthed a passionate curiosity and a writing career of many celebrated Christian books over the last 40 years.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The data is in: Christianity is aging, younger generations are having fewer children, and without a great influx of new members, thousands of churches will close over the next few decades. But smaller religious groups in the U.S. — like Hindus and Muslims — have younger members who are having more kids.
Read More(OPINION) A new bill Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced in California would allow children access, without parental consent or knowledge, to sex-change operations, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and abortions through their family’s insurance plan.
Read MoreThe dedication ceremony paid tribute to Botham Shem Jean, a Christian who died in 2018 when an off-duty police officer entered his apartment in Dallas and shot him.
Read More(OPINION) Comedian Norm Macdonald — who died on Sept. 14 after a secret nine-year fight with cancer — wasn't a typical funny man. He openly identified as a Christian, while making it clear that he didn't consider himself a very good one.
Read MoreTrustBridge — an organization founded by atheist-turned-Christian Robert Collins — tries to make it easier for Americans to give directly to foreign ministries. Its approach cuts out the usual intermediary charities, which sometimes take a significant portion off the top for their expenses, while still allowing donors to get a tax deduction.
Read More(OPINION) Celebrating the culmination of Sukkot, thousands of ultra-Orthodox, Hasidic Jews in Brooklyn held hands and danced in the streets this week with yellow flags proclaiming “the Rebbe” as the Messiah and blue flags proclaiming “Trump 2024.”
Read MoreThe relic belongs to the first millennial considered for sainthood and was requested by the Diocese of Brooklyn to help reach the younger generation. The Catholic Church placed Carlo Acutis, a computer genius, on the path to sainthood after he coded a website that cataloged miracles and sightings of the Virgin Mary.
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