Posts in North America
Game On: The Religious Dynamics Of A Biden-Trump Race

(ANALYSIS) Assuming it’s game on for an inevitable rerun of Trump vs. Biden, with a predicted narrow victory margin, what religious dynamics will be playing out?

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Alito Sounds Alarm After Christians Denied Jury Duty Service In Missouri

The barring of two Christians from jury duty in a trial involving a lesbian is evidence that Christians with a biblical worldview are increasingly seen as bigots, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said after Missouri asked the High Court to review the ruling.

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Undeterred By Protests, Christie’s New York Hosts A Show Of Israeli Art

Christie’s New York auction house is hosting a weeklong exhibition of 70 works of art that trace Israeli culture over the past century. The paintings, sculpture, drawings and video have never been shown outside Israel before. The show takes place in the U.S. at a time of unprecedented anger toward the Jewish state over its military campaign in Gaza.

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With Waning Sunday Night Attendance, Churches Look For Change

In recent decades, poor attendance led an increasing number of congregations to end Sunday night activities or try approaches such as small-group meetings or service projects instead of regular assemblies. For many, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated that trend as churches stopped Sunday night services and never resumed them.

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New York’s Cardinal Dolan Defends St. Patrick’s Priests Following Funeral Scandal

Cardinal Timothy Dolan defended the priests working at St. Patrick’s Cathedral this week, saying the funeral held there for a transgender activist came as a surprise and that the prelates “knew nothing about this that was coming up.”

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Is The Michigan Campaign To Protest Biden’s Gaza Policy At The Polls Gaining Steam?

In a new poll, less than a third of Michigan voters said they supported a continuation in the fighting to eliminate Hamas in the ongoing war with Israel. How that will impact President Joe Biden’s chances in the Great Lake State remains to be seen.

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Why Jewish Groups Are Fighting A New Texas Law

A coalition of Jewish groups and other organizations is fighting an effort to replace guidance counselors with chaplains in public schools in Texas. The chaplains are not required to be licensed as mental health practitioners or have any specific credentials and will be paid with tax dollars.

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Christians In Kansas City Love The Chiefs, But Hate The City’s Violence

Even before last week’s shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl rally, Branden Mims was focused on reducing violence in this city that amassed a record 182 homicides in 2023. Mims, the 35-year-old minister for the Greater Metropolitan Church of Christ, leads a nonprofit called Greater Impact that served more than 400 shooting victims last year.

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What ‘God and Country’ Gets Wrong About Christian Nationalism

(REVIEW) A new documentary “God and Country” tries to warn against an American political movement that is corrupting both politics and Christianity — but its misrepresentation of the topic only makes its audience less informed and instead gives strength to the movement.

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Mass Of Reparation: Why New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral Was Forced To Perform One

The Archdiocese of New York condemned the funeral of a transgender leader held last week at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, calling the entire thing “sacrilegious” and that church official had been duped into performing the service. As a result, the cathedral conducted a rare “Mass of Reparation.”

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As Israel-Hamas War Rages On, Students In Ohio Revived A Kosher-Halal Co-Op

Founded more than half a century ago as student-run dining cooperative, Oberlin College’s kosher co-op morphed into a kosher-halal co-op in 1995, a place where Jewish and Muslim students cooked and ate together. It shuttered in 2021 before coming back — and just when the situation in the Middle East was worsening.

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6 Books About The Black Experience With A Connection To Faith

Reading books about African Americans during the month of February has become an essential practice for promoting empathy, understanding and appreciation for what Blacks have contributed to American society. This is not just true of political, cultural and entertainment figures, but also ones that were central to religion.

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‘Prey’ Actress Talks To Students About Stories From Her Heart

Award-winning Cree actress and activist Michelle Thrush spoke to students at Salish School of Spokane — giving them an insight into her life, how she got into acting, her culture and how she wants to tell stories from a place of honesty.

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Magnolia Foundation Honors Legacy of 4-Year-Old Girl Killed By Tornado

Hattie Jo Collins was one of five children and 14 adults killed March 3, 2020, when an EF4 twister battered this community 80 miles east of Nashville. Despite Hattie’s death, Matt and Macy’s faith remained strong. They believe God has a purpose for them. As a result, the Magnolia Foundation was born.

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New York’s Public University System Adds 4 New Official Religious Holidays

Following a vote by CUNY’s Board of Trustees, Chancellor Felix Matos Rodríguez said on Wednesday that the the New York City system will become one of the first in the nation to designate Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Lunar New Year and Diwali as holidays on the school calendar.

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Female Shooter Killed After Opening Fire At Joel Osteen’s Texas Megachurch

Authorities said a woman opened fire with an AR-15 on celebrity televangelist Joel Osteen’s Texas megachurch — one of the largest in the country — before two-off duty police officers shot and killed the suspect. The officers’ actions, police said, averted what could have been a bigger tragedy.

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Roster Of Pentecostal ‘Prophets’ Hits The Road For Trump

This month, a troupe of these pro-Trump “prophets” are headlining seven election-year live events called FlashPoint LIVE to spread the above gospel and “rescue America,” according to ads for the tour. The personalities and themes of the tour are borrowed from “FlashPoint,” a Christian current-events program that appears on the VICTORY television channel, owned by controversial Texas televangelist Kenneth Copeland.

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5 Religious Super Bowl Ads That Made Headlines

Super Bowl ads are not all secular. Religious organizations have often used the annual big game as a platform to spread their message. On other occasions, religious themes have been used in a funny way to sell products. Here’s a closer look at five that stood out.

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Valentine’s Day And Ash Wednesday Coincide This Year: What’s a Catholic To Do?

Not everyone will be enjoying chocolate this Valentine’s Day. For the first time since 2018, Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day fall on the same day. In fact, this rare occurrence is taking place once again in less than a week. It has happened three times in the last century — 1923, 1934 and 1945 — and will happen again in 2029.

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A Different Campus Story: Jewish-Palestinian Cooperation

The Jewish and Palestinian American pair are the force behind Atidna, a student organization of Jews and Palestinians that began at the university’s Austin campus two years ago. Initially, it focussed on similarities between Jewish and Palestinian culture, Kahlenberg said on a call shared with Hashem, stressing “that Jews and Arabs are cousins in one family and we’re not inherent enemies.”

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