(COMMENTARY) On Election Day 2018, we can expect black Protestants, Latino Catholics and Jews will join the “nones” as solidly Democratic while Mormons plus evangelical Protestants go Republican. More interesting two big blocs of religious swing voters - Non-Hispanic Catholics and white “mainline” Protestants - each have a negative view of President Trump at 52 percent, roughly tracking his standing with the over-all public.
Read MoreThe U.S. Supreme Court isn’t only the highest court in the land, its judges have the responsibility to rule on cases that have a lasting impact on American politics, culture and religion. Driving those changes going forward will be a Catholic majority of justices who have become increasingly conservative, shifting the balance of the court for years to come.
Read MoreA whistleblower says the Vatican – and specifically Pope Francis – was aware of immoral sexual abuse behavior years ago. When it was revealed that two Catholic journalists helped him to edit and distribute the letter making those claims, it shed a light on the increasingly polarized Catholic Church and the growth and influence of conservative news and opinion websites that oppose Pope Francis and what they believe is the pontiff’s assault on orthodoxy.
Read MoreAustralia has a new prime minister, which is certainly news. The new prime minister, Scott Morrison, is an outspoken, politically conservative Pentecostal Christian. This mixing of religion and politics may be old-hat at this point for Americans. But it's an entirely new experience for Australians.
Read More(COMMENTARY) The flight from reporting to opinion and advocacy journalism is on full display in the first day reports from the British secular press of the Viganò affair. Like their American counterparts, leading mainstream news outlets are portraying the revelations of coverup and abuse in political left/right terms.
Read More(COMMENTARY) It wasn't a normal Sunday in Catholic pulpits across America, as priests faced flocks touched by sorrow and rage after a sickening grand-jury report packed with X-rated details about decades of sexual abuse by clergy.
Read MoreThe Kenyan media is fighting back against politicians who are determined to restrict them from exposing corrupt deals. This comes after President Uhuru Kenyatta approached the church seeking divine intervention and comfort after he lost friends who were unhappy with his stance against theft of public land.
Read MoreThe last thing an America bishop wanted to see was a letter from the relentless A.W. Richard Sipe, who spent more than a half-century studying the sexual secrets of Catholic clergy. As a psychotherapist, his research files included hundreds of thousands of pages of church reports and court testimony. As a former Benedictine monk and priest, his private files included notes from years of work at the Seton Psychiatric Institute in Baltimore, where he counseled legions of troubled priests sent there by bishops.
Read More(OPINION) This week 20 years ago, Tom Osanjo was running late to report on a press conference between Kenya’s Trade Minister and the U.S. ambassador. It may have saved his life.
Read MorePriests know what it's like to enter the pulpit facing scriptures that appear to have been torn from the headlines.That happened just the other day, with news that one of America's most powerful Catholics – retired Archbishop Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C. – had been accused of the sexual abuse of boys, as well as decades of seminarians. Days later the Sunday Mass lectionary featured the Prophet Jeremiah, speaking for Jehovah: "Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture."
Read More(OPINION) “Mainline” Protestant groups have been ardent in politicking for leftward and anti-Trump causes, perhaps even moreso than with the typical evangelical congregation. You would barely know this, if at all, from reading or viewing most news media reports.
Read MoreDespite one of the most severe crackdowns on North Korean refugees in China in recent years, Steven Kim and his team actively search in villages for North Korean women to support them through Christian counseling and provide humanitarian support.
Read MoreThe biggest star at this World Cup wasn't Messi, Ronaldo, or Neymar. How St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square became the symbol of #Russia2018
Read More(COMMENTARY) Justice Anthony Kennedy’s Supreme Court retirement throws the spotlight on one of the most influential players in Washington, D.C., when it comes to deciding what individuals inhabit the centers of power. Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society and the go-to guy for names of federal court appointees when Republicans rule the White House. Journalists should also be taking a close look at another Republican networker and talent-spotter, Kay Coles James, the president of the Heritage Foundation.
Read MoreThanks to the organizing efforts of Muslim and Christian community leaders, living conditions are slowly improving for some of the poorest people in Indonesia.
Read MoreAmid large increases in religious persecution, Muslims in Indonesia are organizing massive defensive measures to protect Indonesian religious groups.
Read MoreHistorically, Indonesian Muslims have worn loosely wrapped, somewhat transparent, colorful scarves. Now, the most common covering is the jilbab, an opaque square scarf which is tightly wrapped and pinned under the chin, and typically does not show any hair. For Muslims who do not wear one, it is enough to “cover their hearts.” But for *Aya and many other Muslim women, the ritual of physically covering her body is also important, as it puts the religious principle into practice — an external expression of an internal disposition.
Read MoreWearing a full and graying beard, khaki trousers and a woolen vest, 66-year-old Ya’cub ibn Yusuf, puttered around his little shop. Sufi-inspired sounds played by an Israeli musician piped from the speakers above. “Spiritual Books for Sale,” read the sign outside the door.
Read MoreThirty-four Chilean bishops are waiting Pope Francis' decision regarding their future after the recent scandal of concealment of sexual abuse. Many parishioners and church leaders in the region say the Chilean church is at its worst.
Read MoreWhy has a letter by the Archbishop of Delhi to all the Parish priests and religious institutions in the Archdiocese of Delhi with the subject ‘Prayer for our nation’ created a firestorm in India? The media suddenly is abuzz after several different voices across the political spectrum cry foul that the letter is meant to divide the nation on communal lines. Notably, the right wing Hindu organization’s ideologue called it a "direct attack on secularism and democracy."
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