The United States military has become increasingly partisan in recent years. The Armed Forces have become a new political battleground and the forefront of a cultural war between the political left and the right. That’s where Jace Yarbrough, a lawyer and Space Force reservist, found himself as this ideological and religious conflict worsens.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Three men have filed a lawsuit against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – also known as the LDS or Mormon church – and its investment arm, Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. The men, at least one of whom remains an active member of the church, according to the lawsuit, allege that the church had fraudulently induced them into making donations.
Read MoreVoters across the country cast ballots on Tuesday to elect a governor in Kentucky, decide legislative control in Virginia and determine whether the Ohio state constitution should be changed to enshrine the right to have an abortion. Republicans and Democrats are using the results to give them an inkling of trends that could affect next year’s races, including the 2024 presidential election.
Read More(ANALYSIS) American religion is shifting rapidly now. The nones are climbing every single year. Mainline Protestants are losing ground day by day. And evangelicals are still having a huge impact on American culture, religion and politics. The purpose of this post is to give a broad overview of just how much the parties have shifted from the 1970s through today.
Read MoreThe fear of not being able to preach again gripped an Ohio author and pastor when his oncologists told him he had been diagnosed with tongue cancer. Dr. Edward Wishart was diagnosed in 2008 with the aggressive form of cancer of the tongue known as squamous cell carcinoma. It was an experience that would forever transform Wishart’s ministry and his relationship with God and others.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The group that is the most likely to attend services are not the poor, nor the wealthy. Instead, it’s people who are smack in the middle of the income distribution. This analysis points to the following conclusion: The people who are the most likely to attend services this weekend are those with college degrees. In other words, middle class professionals.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Senate Bill 763, enacted in September 2023, allows school officials to hire unlicensed chaplains, either as staff members or volunteers. Those who can pass background checks will be allowed to perform duties typically provided by counselors, such as mental health support. Local boards have until March 1, 2024, to choose whether to allow chaplain programs in their schools.
Read More(ANALYSIS) When Louisiana passed a law in August 2023 requiring public schools to post “In God We Trust” in every classroom — from elementary school to college — the author of the bill claimed to be following a long-held tradition of displaying the national motto, most notably on U.S. currency.
Read MoreThe war between Israel and Hamas may be taking place 5,600 miles away from the United States, but the streets of some of America’s largest cities — and on college campuses in particular — have been highlighted over the past month by incidents of antisemitism. In many cases, students and professors who are pro-Palestine have made threats against Jews.
Read MoreEvery morning, Will Speer leads prayer and worship in his state prison. He is the first death row prisoner to help lead a death row ministry in Texas’s Allan B. Polunsky Unit. Speer was scheduled to be executed Thursday — but less than five hours before the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals stayed his death pending further review of his case, Christianity Today reported.
Read MoreMajority-Korean Methodist churches, which tend to be more conservative and evangelical than other congregations within the United Methodist Church denomination, are finding it difficult to disaffiliate for fear they will lose their land and leaders.
Read MoreWhat should a New Yorker do should they come across a ghost? In other words, who you gonna call? The answer is Scott Orlansky, the lead investigator of Ghost Bros.: Paranormal Research Team, that’s who! Ghost Bros. is based in the the Big Apple and is run by Orlansky and his brother Justin.
Read MoreThe annual celebration of Halloween is marked by fun and frightening traditions, those that involve monsters being the most fun and frightening of them all. These representations of evil are inextricably linked with religion, used to condemn evil, find comfort in suffering and much more.
Read MoreJohnson made ELCA history when he was elected on the fifth ballot to serve a six-year term as bishop of ELCA’s Sierra Pacific synod, which includes Northern and Central California and Northern Nevada. As a result, Johnson is the first openly gay man to be elected bishop in the synod.
Read MoreFor years, school board campaigns remained non-partisan. However, with education issues taking center stage regarding such contentious issues as transgenderism, school boards have emerged as new political and cultural battlegrounds between the political left and right.
Read MoreAs tensions between Moscow and Washington, D.C. rise along the Ukrainian border, an officer responsible for some of the most powerful weapons in the U.S. arsenal tells his men that he knows how to respond to the situation because he has seen it all before — in the Book of Revelation. While the scenario sounds like the plot of a Tom Clancy novel, this is no work of fiction.
Read MorePope Francis led a prayer vigil at the Vatican to recall the plight of migrants and refugees, saying everyone is “called to be neighbors.” The service took place during the Synod on Synodality, a gathering of bishops and laypeople, and comes as large numbers of people have been forced to flee the Global South to places like the U.S. and Europe.
Read MoreThe Palestinian community that lives just outside of Chicago remains in mourning a day after a funeral service was held for 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume. Crowds gathered in Bridgeview — home to a large Palestinian community — to say goodbye to the boy killed in what authorities have called a hate crime fueled by the Israel-Hamas war.
Read MoreFall means NFL football, and NFL football means that staffers with Athletes in Action, the sports ministry of Cru, are busy serving a number of NFL teams. Unlike Major League Baseball, which uses Baseball Chapel to offer players and coaches regular chapel services before nearly every game, NFL teams vary in their commitment to introducing chaplains and pastors to their organizations.
Read MoreAndy Stanley’s sermon on Sunday, which sought to clarify his stance on LGBTQ+ issues, is evoking condemnation from nonaffirming Christian leaders and praise from ones that affirm same-sex relationships.
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