This week’s Weekend Plug-in explores the role of Christian denominations in taking Indigenous children from their families in Canada and the U.S. Plus, check out all the top headlines and best reads in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The Census Bureau reports the “unprecedented environment” during the COVID-19 pandemic fueled a boom in “pandemic pods” as well as parents considering virtual schools and home-school organizations beyond the neighborhood public school. The Census Bureau reported home-schooling among Black or African Americans increased by five times to 16.1% of households last fall.
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(OPINION) Whether you’re a Catholic or just like to root for the underdog — or both — then you’ll be watching Croatia at this summer’s European Championship.
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(REVIEW) “Otherwise/Revival” was co-curated by Cara Lewis and independent curator Jasmine McNeal. It presents the work of 31 contemporary artists exploring the impact that the Black church and, more specifically, the Black Pentecostal movement has had on their lives.
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(OPINION) The U.S. bishops used their recent spring gathering to urge the church to be welcoming to migrants. In the spirit of Mother Cabrini, the church needs to continue to reach out to immigrant communities. The bishops have pinpointed some of the issues. It’s time now for talk to be put into action.
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(OPINION) Faith-based foster care services are one essential element to providing children with loving families in a system where too many children languish. As recent research indicates, there are high turnover and recidivism rates among foster parents, yet more than 80% of foster parents cite faith or church support as an element that contributes to successful and sustained fostering. As the unanimous Court stated in Fulton, “[t]he City apparently prefers to risk leaving children without foster parents than to allow CSS to follow its religiously dictated policy, which threatens no tangible harm.”
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the crucial developments at the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Barring an intervention from Pope Francis himself, the U.S. bishops will consider, and vote on Thursday, a plan for a document about Holy Communion that includes denying the sacrament to politicians who repeatedly support policies advocating abortion rights. That includes President Joe Biden, only the country’s second Catholic commander in chief ever.
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(OPINION) While The United Methodist Church debates societal issues — LGBTQ rights, Black Lives Matter, welcome of refugees and the like — its congregations’ real estate is eating away at the denomination and threatening its viability.
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(OPINION) Rifkin explores his Jewish heritage and religion as he grapples with the death of his son. He explores the cultural tie to traditional burial and how his son opted against it — choosing cremation over a Jewish cemetery.
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(OPINION) It's often said religious couples generally tend to have more children than non-religious ones. Journalists should ask local observers and national experts if that remains true, and why so, and what impact growing secularism in places like North America will have upon the looming Birth Dearth.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in summary highlights the drama expected to unfold at next week’s Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. Plus, find links to all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The “common-good capitalism” model is based on Catholic social teaching, a pre-Enlightenment work ethic that President Joe Biden subscribes to. Why don’t we use that?
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(OPINION) With the Supreme Court’s agreement to review the new, strict abortion law developed in Mississippi, it is crucial for religion reporters to understand which religious groups are advocating for and against it. The media will and should press American religious bodies to restate what they believe.
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(OPINION) A Texas court ruling is sparking debates about an obscure First Amendment doctrine that exempts religious institutions from certain civil lawsuits to protect them from government interference in their internal matters. The ruling’s interpretation raises concerns about how lay people can hold these institutions accountable when abuses happen.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in summary explores why the Southern Baptist Convention is preparing for its biggest annual meeting in a quarter-century. Plus, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Pope Francis — paying a visit on May 24 to the Dicastery of Communications — used the occasion to call the Vatican’s in-house media to stay relevant during a challenging media landscape.
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(OPINION) A viral video of His Holiness Abuna Mathias, a Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOTC), describing barbaric killings of civilians in Tigray has prompted heightened concern in the international community about human rights abuses, while many Ethiopians remain cautious and skeptical about whether disinformation campaigns driven by anti-government activists, geopolitical forces, “Ethiopia analysts” and media outlets are influencing Western communities and governments.
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(OPINION) The media has neglected to portray the cultural and demographic challenges facing Judaism, the nation's second-largest religion behind Christianity. Jewish news coverage in the mainstream press tends to focus on Democratic Party politics, trends in anti-Semitism and attitudes toward Israel and the unending Mideast mess. A new Pew Research Study demonstrates much more.
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(OPINION) n April 28, 2021, the European Parliament adopted a joint motion for a resolution on the blasphemy laws in Pakistan calling for more comprehensive approaches to address the abuses of blasphemy laws in Pakistan in response to a Christian Pakistani couple convicted of blasphemy in 2013. Blasphemy laws have always been problematic since they rely on the notion of causing offense, which is subjective and vague and usually directed towards religious minorities.
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