Christian Chinese human rights lawyer Wu Shaoping, who represented persecuted religious believers and other victims of government repression before fleeing China, was released on bond July 24. He had spent nine days in federal immigration custody despite having been granted asylum in the U.S.
Read MoreChristopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” was made for a religious landscape that looks very different from Homer’s original audience. Does the movie manage to honor the beliefs of the source material — or does it impose modern values on the ancient epic?
Read More(OPINION) On the surface, “DTF St. Louis” is a sordid tale presented for voyeuristic yucks or titillation, but it actually offers a serious meditation on the human need for meaning.
Read More“The Odyssey” reflects a distinctly Western “post-atheism” approach to religion. It is a faith-based film, but only using gods nobody believes in anymore. Because of that, these gods can be a metaphor for any divinely ordained pro-social tradition you happen to believe in.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The secular world has engineered a brilliant liturgy of despair and its high priests come with PhDs in economics. You’re no doubt familiar with the prevailing narrative, as familiar as it is depressing. Marriage has become a luxury product, crushed by stagnant wages, soaring living costs and, in many places, a housing market where buying your first home is impossible.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Hundreds of thousands of Haitians in the U.S. are living in uncertain times. On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could proceed with a plan to end Temporary Protected Status — a federal program that allows people to stay in the United States when the government considers their own country unsafe — for around 350,000 Haitians and 6,000 Syrians.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I’ve long been a fan of history. The first paper I can remember writing was on World War II. History was one of the majors I came out of college with, and wrestling with the relationship between history and faith was (is) difficult, formative work.
Read More(ANALYSIS) At the box office, “Toy Story 5” is nearing $1 billion in global ticket sales. The movie isn’t perfect, but some religious leaders should note what Pixar got right about parents getting involved in the digital lives of their children.
Read MorePastor Darryl Baker thought it might be best to cancel the outreach. Days before a scheduled sports camp in a Columbus neighborhood, a husband shot and stabbed multiple times his estranged wife and preteen stepdaughter, murdering them.
Read MoreOver the past decade, churchgoers are more likely to see someone of a different ethnicity in their congregation but less likely to hear about that racial diversity from the pulpit. A Lifeway Research study of U.S. Protestant pastors finds churches have seemingly grown more diverse, while pastors have grown less likely to see that diversity as a goal and preach about racial reconciliation.
Read More(ANALYSIS) To be sure, embryo adoption occupies a small corner of U.S. fertility medicine. Few people choose to donate remaining embryos for procreative use. Nor is embryonic personhood a popular idea: Only 39% of Americans support laws declaring that human life begins at fertilization. A majority of white evangelical Protestants, Hispanic Protestants and Latter-day Saints support that view, yet majorities of these religious groups also oppose banning IVF.
Read More(ANALYSIS) There’s a running joke in American religious life that goes something like this: Ask 10 Catholics what the church teaches on a given issue, and you’ll get eleven different answers. It’s meant to be affectionate, a nod to the big-tent nature of a tradition that has managed to hold together nearly a billion people across wildly different cultures, languages and political contexts.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The military's decision to eliminate a distinct religious code for Native American service members has sparked concern that their unique spiritual traditions and accommodation needs will become harder to identify, potentially undermining religious liberty protections, access to appropriate support and accurate representation within the armed forces.
Read MoreThe World Cup is Planet Earth’s most-watched sporting and cultural event. No one should be surprised that it receives waves of news coverage and that religious beliefs and customs affect some of the drama and tensions. Thus, this week’s “Crossroads” podcast focused on religion news at the 2026 tournament — what was covered and what was not.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The question is no longer “Does mindfulness work?” Scientists now ask: “For whom does it work?” “Under what conditions?” “What kinds of support are needed?” To answer these, there is growing interest in screening, safety protocols and individualized approaches.
Read MoreThe complaint alleges there had been a “conspiracy” among private pro-Israel entities, including the Heritage Foundation, Canary Mission and Betar USA, and senior Trump administration officials to target and prosecute pro-Palestinian activists. The lawsuit names Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller, former DHS secretary Kristi Noem and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.
Read MoreMonths before his death, Houston Christian University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. gave one final, impactful charge to leaders of Christian institutions: Hire professors and staff who are fully committed to your Christian mission.
Read More(ANALYSIS) The share of Americans who indicate that their current religious tradition is the one in which they were raised is 66%. Most people living in the United States will die with the same faith into which they were born, and that’s been true for decades. But how people switch and why they switch may be changing.
Read MoreA 70-year-old Christian artist is facing another day apart from his family and without necessary medical care after almost two years in a Chinese prison, his friends and advocates said. Gao Zhen, part of the famous artistic duo called the Gao brothers, was detained in mid-2024 for “slandering heroes and martyrs,” according to the International Federation for Human Rights.
Read MorePastor Greg Locke told his Tennessee congregation that federal authorities are investigating his financial records, after conducting an early morning search of his home and media business several weeks ago.
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