(OPINION) Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has defended Russia’s actions and blamed the conflict on the West.
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(OPINION) Is the church the bride of Christ? What does this mean? Michael Metzger makes a connection between the Gettysburg Address and the salvation meaning of Jesus' birth.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in explains why news of sexual harassment inside Christianity Today magazine was so shocking. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Once upon a time, Southern Baptists in Bible Belt communities knew how to talk to people who didn’t go to church. Things changed as the greater Greenville-Spartanburg are welcomed waves of high-tech firms and industries with global brands such as BMW, Bosch and many others. Today’s newcomers speak German or Japanese.
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(OPINION) In this, the 50th anniversary year of the 12.9 million-member United Methodist Church’s fierce debate over the Bible and sexuality, a late summer General Conference was set to settle how to split. But a March 3 bombshell announcement canceled this all-important meeting, already postponed twice due to COVID-19.
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(OPINION) The latest bid to shape public perceptions of the concept of Christian nationalism is a 63-page “Report on Christian Nationalism and the January 6 Insurrection,” issued last month by the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Freedom From Religion Foundation.
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(OPINION) Ukraine has one of the five largest Jewish communities in Europe. Prior to the start of the current civilian refugee exodus, Ukrainian Jews numbered an estimated 100,000-200,000 individuals, down from nearly a half-million in 1989.
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(OPINION) Orthodox leaders with ties to the European Union and highly European Western Ukraine have issued fierce statements after the Russian invasion. Many Orthodox churches with roots in Russian Orthodoxy have also condemned the invasion of Ukraine and urged a ceasefire.
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(OPINION) As U.S. Protestant evangelicalism copes with internal divisions and problematic status in the broader society, along with the usual brickbats from the left, nonpartisan journalists and evangelical strategists alike should carefully monitor the thinking of knowledgeable insiders who are not wedded to customary loyalties and assumptions.
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(OPINION) Some recent careful articles have tried to analyze and illuminate the divisions of American evangelicals, but they are often one-sided, which means that they may simply exacerbate the very tensions they lament.
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(OPINION) How do you look at the cross of Christ? Metzger reflects here on the meaning of Lent in the Christian faith and the importance of this period of repentance and preparation in recognition of the divine sacrifice.
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(OPINION) Along with assorted financial and moral scandals, Warren Cole Smith of MinistryWatch.com has been examining what he calls the “Bible translation industry.” This is a very popular cause among U.S. Protestants, with revenues of around $500 million a year. The biggest group, Wycliffe Bible Translators, took in $227 million in 2020.
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(OPINION) Simplicity: the practice of a life detached from material possessions and profits, as a means of living one's faith. Christians must understand the connection between the simplicity preached by Jesus and the overvaluation of possessions experienced nowadays.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the religion angles key to understanding the Russia-Ukraine war. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Desta Heliso, an Ethiopian-British lecturer on early African Christianity, used to believe in Western intervention in Africa. Today he does not. Here’s why.
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(OPINION) As the author of a recently published book on anti-Jewish violence in Ukraine and a historian of the Holocaust, Jeffrey Veidlinger knows why the accusations of Nazism and genocide have resonance in Ukraine. But he also understands that despite episodic violence, Ukrainian history offers a model of tolerance and democratic government.
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(OPINION) The impact of the beginning of the new war crosses local borders, and to try to prevent an even more serious situation, countries begin to impose economic sanctions and take judicial measures against the Russian government.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the role that some experts see religion playing in Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Plus, catch up, as always, on all the week’s best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) We’re at the publicity apex for what David Brooks — and movement outsiders and insiders — is calling a “crisis” for this conservative Protestant movement. In recent months, The Guy has, less elegantly, pondered a “crack-up.”
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(OPINION) Yes, baptism-gate has been all the rage. News coverage of it, however, has not been so good. The specifics of the doctrines surrounding baptism are often too difficult for many journalists to write about fairly. When they do tackle these issues, they tend to assume the Vatican is wrong and rigid. After all, the experts they consult agree with that very notion.
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