(OPINION) The killing of George Floyd and the riots following his death have perpetuated the idea that a burning of America must happen to create justice. But this violence does more dehumanizing of all parties than it does good.
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(OPINION) Imagine if Zeus, Poseidon, Hera or others lived in the U.S. today. How would the ancient gods and goddesses identify in modern politics and culture? Their wisdom and weaknesses fit into the modern religious and secular landscape surprisingly well.
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(OPINION) Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan’s decision to convert the ancient Christian church Hagia Sophia into a mosque is indicative of his dislike of Christians. However, the building still remains a safe space for Christians worldwide.
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(OPINION) An Israeli Jewish journalist proposes a solution to offending monuments that’s straight out of the Old Testament.
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(OPINION) The media and the American public are engaging in bigger debates than ever about cancel culture, marking a tumultuous time in culture and for the news media.
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(OPINION) Baseball is deeply ingrained in American life, from the ritualistic way viewers consume the sport to the faith of the individual players. Bryan Steverson, author of "Baseball: A Special Gift from God," talks about the spiritual role of baseball.
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(OPINION) Recent Supreme Court decisions have dealt heavily with LGBTQ rights and religious exemptions for these rights. It presents mainstream journalists with a test: to manage fair coverage of religious traditions that resist both same-sex relationships and gender identity as a replacement for DNA biology.
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(OPINION) The July 8 Supreme Court decision allows religious institutions to choose teachers who align with their spiritual commitments. This is especially important for minority faiths like Judaism and Islam.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in explores news coverage of churches as superspreaders of the coronavirus, plus top reads on a megachurch investigation, a Washington, D.C., church’s history and the faith angle on Kanye West’s potential White House bid.
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(ANALYSIS) For all the fallout caused by the virus (and how various states have handled it) and the divisions in this country around issues like race, the presidential election could — once again — be decided by a handful of majority Catholic counties in four states by voters who care about abortion and religious liberty.
Read More(OPINION) Take a look back at “The Bible Code,” the 1997 book that claimed that the Hebrew Bible’s text contained secretly coded, uncanny predictions of phenomena across the subsequent thousands of years that could only be revealed through modern computers. Did it ever prove anything?
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(OPINION) Pope Francis, who has consistently drawn the ire of Catholic media on the doctrinal right, gave his view of what the religious press should look like in the United States.
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(OPINION) The Hagia Sophia was once a Christian Orthodox church in the Byzantine era. Now, Turkish leaders want to convert Hagia Sophia – a museum for decades – back into a mosque.
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(OPINION) As Italians gained in power, Columbus Day officially became a U.S. federal holiday starting in 1968. Amerigo Vespucci, however, is barely mentioned in American classrooms.
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As Americans celebrate the Fourth of July, Weekend Plug-in marks its six-month anniversary and offers its usual lineup of insight, analysis and top headlines from the world of religion news.
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(OPINION) Many Americans rely on politicians instead of priests or other religious leaders to guide their views of gun control in the United States. The data tells a compelling story — Americans of all religious faiths are less supportive of gun control now than at any point in the last two decades.
Read More(OPINION) A sexuality which severs our spiritual selves from our bodies leaves women with nowhere to go – quite literally. But is that not just the other side of the same coin as Harvey Weinstein, where men assume that a friendly woman wants something?
Read More(OPINION) We are living in a moment of deep suffering for African Americans: the modern Zipporahs of the U.S. Too many Americans, like Miriam, think and speak with bias or hatred. Too many Americans, like Aaron, go along with it, whether through laughter, shrugging or silence. The Bible does not let us deny this problem; it presents a solution.
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(OPINION) Despite the international connections of Hong Kong’s religious minorities, especially Christians, the American media has largely ignored new threats from China on the democratic region.
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(OPINION) India needs to urgently tackle its problems of obvious intolerance and police brazenness against members of the minority Muslim community and those who protest the government. Recent viral videos show physical attacks and intimidation have become commonplace, particularly under the guise of enforcing COVID-19 lockdown measures.
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