(OPINION) A massacre occurred during a Sunday mass, but it wasn’t an ordinary Sunday — this was the great feast of Pentecost, which marks the end of the Easter season. What’s more, the gunmen didn’t strike in tense northern Nigeria, where Christian communities are isolated in a majority-Muslim region. This 30-minute attack was inside St. Francis Catholic Church, located in the safer southwestern state of Ondo.
Read More(OPINION) Americans have seen how ugly culture wars can become when electoral politics are caught in its talons. Witness the vitriol that dominates the news out of Washington and various state capitals these days. The situation in India — the world’s largest Hindu-majority nation with the third-largest Muslim population after Indonesia and Pakistan — is arguably even worse.
Read More(OPINION) In Corinthians, Paul writes that when Jesus comes for his bride, the quality of our work will be revealed with fire. Therefore, the size of our cups of joy is determined by the size of our generosity here, which is formed by the marital gospel: preparing to be presented as a pure bride. Will you drink from a goblet or a thimble?
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the most consequential Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting in decades. Plus, catch up — as always — on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Currently, there is a season of speculation about Pope Francis’ future and whether his newly chosen cardinals are his final bid to shape the conclave that will elect the next pope. Francis has hinted he might consider the idea of resigning, but Vaticanologists figure Francis will not do so as long as another former pope is alive.
Read More(OPINION) A Page 1 analytical feature in the Los Angeles Times about Biola University suggested it was on a downward spiral, perhaps part of an impending implosion of similar schools nationally. And it pointed at Michael Longinow, without naming him, as the faculty adviser to a campus newspaper in which free thought — particularly about race — was not allowed.
Read More(OPINION) There is a noticeable difference between the terminology of the religious freedom cause in Europe and the United States. In the last decade, in the European context especially, the acronym FoRB (freedom of religion or belief) has become the universal acronym. Meanwhile, the U.S. continues to use the standard acronym IRF (international religious freedom).
Read More(OPINION) As we await a final Supreme Court ruling, we could be in for a long summer of violence and vandalism. My criticism here is not in the news coverage this issue has received. Instead, it’s the lack of coverage. The vandalism of the past few weeks and the lack of news coverage could very well be a template of what’s to come once the Supreme Court makes public a final decision.
Read More(OPINION) On June 2, the U.S. State Department delivered its annual report to Congress on international religious freedom. The report identifies the numerous challenges to the right to freedom of religion or belief worldwide. Secretary of State Antony Blinken emphasized some of the main findings of this in-depth research into the situation around the world.
Read More(OPINION) On Pentecost Sunday in Owo, Nigeria, a horrifying massacre took place at St. Francis Catholic Church. Unfortunately, the St. Francis church massacre is only the latest outrageous account of anti-Christian terrorism in Nigeria. There have been countless others.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in opens with God and guns — and the debate among religious people over firearms. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) A hundred years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick threw a bright spotlight on the fundamentalist-modernist controversy, both predicting and demanding that his fellow modernists would win the era’s theological war. Did they?
Read More(OPINION) Everyone’s cup of joy is full in heaven. So why concern ourselves whether the paths we are taking will bring us into the fullness of salvation? Our cups will be full. Yes, but not everyone’s cup of joy will be the same size, “for the measure you give will be the measure you get.”
Read More(PROSE-POEM) Karen Swallow Prior, a professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, reflects on recent findings from an independent investigation that Southern Baptist leaders have systematically ignored, belittled and intimidated survivors of sexual abuse for the past two decades while protecting the legal interests of churches accused of harboring abusers.
Read MoreFor the second week in a row, this week’s Weekend Plug-in leads with the mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) Debates about San Diego Bishop Robert McElroy’s elevation to the Sacred College of Cardinals have focused on divisive issues in Catholic life, although decades of sexual abuse crimes loom in the background.
Read More(OPINION) National news coverage regarding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi being banned by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone from taking Holy Communion because of her continued support — in words and deeds — for abortion rights spanned from very good to baffling and very poor.
Read More(OPINION) Early church writings mention abortion more often than many realize. Their condemnation is even more direct and forceful than that of the Scriptures. And this was without the visual evidence of ultrasounds and without today’s massive improvements in fetal viability. Still, they recognized abortion for the evil that it is.
Read MoreThis week’s Weekend Plug-in opens with the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that claimed the lives of 19 children and two teachers, along with the gunman. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
Read More(OPINION) The whole country is chattering about Politico's revelation of a draft Supreme Court majority ruling that in coming weeks will presumably return abortion for decisions by each of the 50 states. That’s a huge scoop. But few recall that Time scored an equally big scoop when the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling abolished all abortion laws nationwide.
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