This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights a new report on rising antisemitism in the U.S. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) In a rite before the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Vatican officials placed unique symbols of his pontificate inside his cypress casket, along with a scroll in Latin describing his ascent to the Chair of St. Peter. Old tensions surfaced during Pope Benedict’s funeral and the events — or the lack thereof — surrounding it.
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(ANALYSIS) A new study from Springtide Research Institute not only suggests that popular narratives about Gen Z’s abandonment of religion aren’t the full story but also that religion and spirituality can contribute to flourishing mental health among this generation.
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(OPINION) The 2022 report from the Open Doors organization says “persecution of Christians has reached the highest levels” since it began accumulating data for its annual “World Watch List” three decades ago. Hostile incidents have increased by 20% since just 2014, and some 360 million Christians, or 14% of the worldwide total, are said to have faced persecution, harassment or discrimination.
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This week we launch a new and improved version of Weekend Plug-in, the best roundup of religion news you’ll find anywhere. The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is our big story.
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(OPINION) Churches were always active in abortion debates, with some embracing centuries of doctrine on the sanctity of human life and others becoming strategic abortion-rights supporters. Thus journalists in the Religion News Association named the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade as the year’s top American religion-news story.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights ReligionUnplugged.com’s best stories and projects of 2022, as selected by the senior editors. Plus, check out the Top 10 most-shared editions of Plug-in from this past. year.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the best religion journalism of 2022, as picked by some of the nation’s top Godbeat pros.
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(OPINION) Refuge Widowers retreats last three days, with volunteers, including several widowers, helping newcomers share their stories in a safe setting. The goal is to create a network that lives on through calls, texts, emails and online small-group sessions. Many of the conversations focus on the needs of the men’s children.
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(OPINION) The advent of my own motherhood brought with it a deepening appreciation of the incarnational elements of religious freedom. My family is a living testimony to the religious freedom this country affords, at its best. And yet, there is more to do.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in prepares for the Christmas holiday. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headline in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) Russia’s war on Ukraine and its attempt to destroy the very identity of Ukrainians is an unmitigated disaster. If there is any silver lining in this present nightmare it is the army of angels of mercy that has stepped forward to comfort and care for millions of Ukrainian refugees.
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(OPINION) So far, Hindutva’s overseas influence is limited. It is usually manifest in seeking political influence in diaspora countries and support, financial and otherwise, for Hindutva activities in India itself. However, there are increasing threats to academics and others critical of the Sangh Parivar agenda. Finally, in the last two years, there have been incidents of violence. The situation is likely to worsen.
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(OPINION) Caught in the middle, leaders of the historic Ukrainian Orthodox Church say the “Holy Rus” is a historical reality but insist that this makes Russia’s invasion even worse — the sin of brothers killing brothers.
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(OPINION) Danger signs began decades ago. Giving to religious groups — defined in terms of potential donations based on after-tax incomes — peaked in 1960 and then began to decline, even as church membership numbers and budgets kept rising.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights religion and gay rights clashes happening around the world. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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(OPINION) The stakes are high since White evangelicals play a strategic role in GOP primaries and national elections. In 2016, the Pew Research Center found that 78% of White evangelicals planned to vote for Trump — but 30% said they backed Trump, himself. Trump’s evangelical numbers remained strong in 2020, after he filled several SCOTUS slots.
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(OPINION) If you live in a major city of America, then you have probably been well aware of the Black Hebrew Israelites for a few decades. But for many other Americans, their numbers, their influence, and their beliefs are coming as quite a revelation — and a shocking one at that.
Read More(OPINION) All of us have been through a lot the past few years: a pandemic, insane political upheavals, inflation, general economic uncertainty. The problems we face are real, no question about that. But it’s also easy for us to overblow them, to obsess over the negatives and fail to recognize the positives.
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This week’s Weekend Plug-in highlights the latest news in the Southern Baptist Convention’s ongoing sexual abuse crisis. Plus, as always, catch up on all the best reads and top headlines in the world of faith.
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