Once again, the Gulf Coast Church of Christ is serving as a relief hub after a major hurricane pounded Florida. But this hurricane, Ian, surpassed anything church members had seen.
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As a college student, Odd Inge Tangen found comfort with his university chaplain during his seminary years, confiding his biggest secret to her. Now, Tangen is a chaplain to Norwegian students in North America working for the Norwegian Seamen's Church.
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(ANALYSIS) Whether it’s on issues like abortion or same-sex marriage, transgenderism and school curriculums, faith voters will play their part. If the recent past is any guide, Catholics will play an outsized role in the outcomes depending on the state, especially in the so-called swing states.
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Tenzin Peljor runs a popular Buddhist blog that addresses controversies in Tibetan Buddhism, especially regarding abusive spiritual teachers. After choosing a guru, students take vows to see their teacher as an enlightened being — questioning or criticizing them can send one to a Tantric hell. Peljor, a monk himself, says he is exposing harmful practices while remaining faithful to the Buddhist tradition.
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Until recently, Pre-Born! has flown under the radar and operated in the background of the pro-life movement by supporting pregnancy help centers as a grant writer and support system. But in the last couple years, it has seen exponential growth by engaging in partnerships with Christian and conservative radio programs.
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Eboo Patel founded Interfaith Youth Core, a Chicago-based nonprofit focused on building religious understanding between students, in 2002. It now has 52 employees, an entire floor of lake-view offices at the Chicago Board of Trade, and an annual budget of $13 million. Now IFYC has rebranded as Interfaith America. The dropping of the word “youth” is another signal — that both the organization and its founder have wider goals than changing the world one kid at a time.
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A Forsyth County historical marker erected just last year recounts the 1912 lynching of Rob Edwards, a 24-year-old Black man accused of raping and murdering a young White woman. More than a century later, about 600 Christians — Black, White and Hispanic — filled the pews of the Grace Chapel Church of Christ for a special unity service.
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(ANALYSIS) Mauna Kea, a 13,802-foot dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii, is one example. The mountain is managed as public land by the state of Hawaii. Native Hawaiians have protested the state’s management of Mauna Kea for decades, saying Hawaii has allowed too many research buildings on their sacred mountain, which disrupts their ability to practice their religion.
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Bloomberg’s bottom line: “A small but growing number of wealthy Americans (have) discovered how to bypass rules designed more than a half-century ago to ensure philanthropists stay accountable for the billions of dollars in tax breaks they receive each year.”
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The recent establishment of the Faith-Based Security Advisory Council and a call for Congress to appropriate additional funding to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program highlighted the federal government’s focus on security and anti-terrorism initiatives for churches, mosques, synagogues and other religious institutions.
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A documentary made by VICE News about the alleged sexual abuse cases at Kanakuk camps in southwest Missouri won a 2022 Emmy award for “Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Long Form.” The 17-minute film, “A Christian Summer Camp’s History of Abuse,” features interviews with survivors and gives details about litigation and settlements that have occurred.
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Boasting a flawless 29-0 record, Khabib “The Eagle” Nurmagomedov notched eight wins by knockout and 11 others via submission during a 12-year pro career. But his story goes far beyond his dominance in the octagon. Throughout his career, Nurmagomedov has shown how important discipline, faith and family can be for a pro fighter.
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A years-long Mississippi scandal ended up giving $77 million to $94 million in welfare funds to nonprofits, which doled out the money to friends and family members who weren’t qualified to receive it and who never delivered the work they were contracted to do.
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A majority of Catholic voters agree that President Joe Biden should not run for a second term in 2024, while Republicans are also favored by this voter bloc in the upcoming midterm elections, a new poll has found. At the same time, support for Biden among Hispanic Catholics continues to wane, a worrying trend for Democrats heading into next month’s midterms.
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(OPINION) Prohibition, as you’ve probably heard it, was the age of insanity, when a bunch of sanctimonious busybodies briefly cast the country into chaos, thirst and violence by trying to ban liquor … and fun itself. But there’s a big problem with that trope: as Schrad establishes, hardly any of the conventional wisdom is true.
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(REVIEW) Since its first season, Hulu comedy “Ramy” has been devoted to providing a genuine look at Islam and American Muslim culture. One episode of its latest season discusses the existence of polygamy in Islam, a sensitive topic that the show handles incredibly well.
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(REVIEW) “Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul” is a movie about a lot of the worst parts of church culture: hypocrisy, prosperity gospel, abuse, misplaced loyalty and celebrity church culture. Most importantly, it’s about the expectation placed on Christian women to submit to people who actively hurt them and bear the full weight of the wrongs of others.
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(OPINION) In Michael Gerson’s piece titled “Trump should fill Christians with rage,” he asks “where’s the rage over Trump?” I can think of one reason: ritual prostitution.
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(OPINION) Baylor University professor Rodney Stark passed away at his home in Woodway, Texas, on July 21, 2022. He is remembered for his alternative assumption that people employed rational choice in their religious identities, which more convincingly explained both the growth and decline of religion and ushered in a new paradigm in the scientific study of religion.
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Even before the pandemic, a church in central Ohio struggled to increase its flock, much less match the area’s rapid growth. The past few years only exacerbated the numerical concerns as the congregation — like many churches — grappled with COVID-19 restrictions, George Floyd’s murder and the nation’s political polarization.
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