Posts in North America
The Politics Of Organized Nones And Voting In 2024

(ANALYSIS) I like studying an organization like the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It’s a self-selected collection of individuals who become members and pay dues because they feel it’s a good use of their time and resources. But how much do members of a group like FFRF represent the larger nonreligious group they come from?

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Separation Of Church And State Debate Over Schools Heats Up

A series of recent court cases in several states regarding faith and schools have tested the separation of church and state guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, but variously interpreted by legal experts and judges. Questions of separation of church and state will likely be settled by the nation’s highest court.

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Amid Calls For Bibles in Schools, Some Religious Voters Are Tuning Out

Republican leaders have been pushing for Christian values in public schools, with mixed results. Many Christians are disillusioned with both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, and the polls suggest that many may not vote in the upcoming election.

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On Religion: When A Doritos Meme Turns Into A Clash About Holy Communion

(ANALYSIS) In her campaign against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump — whose 2016 victory angered her — the Harris team has used Doritos as a symbol of the feisty, combative side of the vice president’s personality.

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Jews — United By Tree of Life Shooting — Divided By Election And War

The election is not only coming on the heels of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks, but nine days after the sixth anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre, where a gunman murdered 11 Jews. The election has further divided the community, with disagreements over Israel’s response and whether former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris is best suited to handle the fallout.

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Mothers Who Keep Their Fatal Pregnancies Turn To Faith: ‘Who am I to kill this baby?’

No publicity has gone to women who have chosen a different path. The Catholic Church, for example, opposes aborting the handicapped unborn on the grounds that all life — no matter how disabled — has “inherent dignity.” This debate has been reignited as Vice President Kamala Harris, who favors expanding abortion rights, runs for president.

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Walz On The Front Lines In An Effort To Win Over ‘Persuadable Men’

Vice President Kamala Harris has chosen Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in part to appeal to white working-class male voters, but the gender gap continues to persist. The Harris-Walz campaign has been ramping up its outreach to male voters and Walz has been deployed to the frontlines of that campaign.

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US Churchgoers Want to Hear Pastors Address Current Issues

American churchgoers are looking for more than biblical explanation from their pastor each week. Many expect the sermons to help them understand and address modern cultural issues. Four in five U.S. Protestant churchgoers believe a pastor must address current issues to be doing their job, according to a Lifeway Research study. Only 16% disagree and 4% aren’t sure.

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East Tennessee Churches Mobilize To Help Hurricane Helene Survivors

The flood waters trapped one of Geren Street’s neighbors as he tried to escape in his truck. First responders were able to answer the neighbor’s distress call and freed him as the force of the water pinned the truck door closed. In the days that followed, Street housed the man at First Baptist Church of Roan Mountain along with several other families who lost everything.

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‘Souls To The Polls’: Harris Highlights Her Faith In Bid To Connect With Voters

With two weeks left until Election Day, Vice President Kamala Harris has made visiting churches an integral stop along the campaign trail, urging voters to cast early ballots as part of her “souls to the polls” campaign. The push comes as Harris attempts to motivate Black Christians who have traditionally been a part of the Democratic Party’s voter base.

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Vance Event With Christian Leaders May Have Violated Tax and Election Laws

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance’s appearance at a far-right Christian revival tour last month may have broken tax and election laws, experts say. On Sept. 28, Vance held an official campaign event in Monroeville, Penn., in partnership with the Courage Tour, a series of swing-state rallies hosted by a pro-Trump Christian influencer that combine prayer and public speakers.

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Inside The Growing Rift Between Canada And India Over Sikh Separatists

(EXPLAINER) Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation last year that agents — acting on behalf of the Indian government — were connected to the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader near Vancouver sent relations between the nations spiraling. A year later, the rift has grown worse.

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US Jews Say Trump More Supportive Of Israelis, But Harris Better On Gaza War

American Jews think Vice President Kamala Harris would handle the Israel-Hamas war better than former President Donald Trump by a wide margin — 54% to 36% — according to a new poll, but most also see Trump as more supportive of Israelis. The poll found that 65% of U.S. Jews think Trump only or mostly supports Israelis over Palestinians, while 42% believe Harris offers “equal support to both.”

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Which Religious Groups Are The Most Politically Active?

(ANALYSIS) I’ve written before about the political activity of a bunch of different religious groups. But I wanted to revisit that prior work and take the level of analysis down one layer of granularity to look at specific Protestant denominations.

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Crossroads Podcast: Is it ‘News’ That Many Religious Voters May Stay Home?

If an editor wanted to craft a headline that would ignite the telephone switchboards for conservative and Christian talk shows, this would probably be it: “Study says 32 million Christians likely not to vote.”

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Cru Discontinues LGBTQ Training Program for Staff

Battered by months of criticisms for controversial staff guidance on how to handle LGBTQ+ students, a major evangelical campus ministry is distancing itself from a controversial curriculum. Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) will be removing its “Compassionate and Faithful” curriculum by the end of the year, according to reporting by WORLD.

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Trump Roasts Harris At Al Smith Dinner While Courting Catholics

Former President Trump headlined the New York Archdiocese’s annual Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday night, trading a few jabs with Vice President Kamala Harris while also using the event as an opportunity to connect with Catholic voters. Harris did not attend the event in person and instead appeared in a pre-recorded video.

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Samaritan’s Purse And The Real Gospel In Action

(OPINION) To the shock of the state of North Carolina, where my wife Nancy and I have lived in 2003, Hurricane Helene wreaked massive devastation, taking at least 118 lives with at least 92 still missing. No one saw this coming, and it has brought unimaginable suffering to whole communities living in the mountains of our state, where horrific, unprecedented flooding wiped out little towns and destroyed countless homes, businesses and roads.

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Pastors Paint Poor Picture Of Economic Impact On Churches

A new study found 66% of U.S. Protestant pastors say the economy is very or somewhat negatively impacting their church. The two in three pastors who report a negative economic impact is the highest since 2011, and the 14% who say the impact has been very negative is the highest ever recorded in the 15-year history of the study.

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